Arthur 2 Times

That’s the name of the MTB route Duncan and I decided to do today, starting at a little village called Cilcain near Mold in North Wales.

I wanted to do a ‘moderate’ MTB route but am loathe to go to trail centres because, as with fell running, I do this sport to get away from the crowds so why would I want to go to a trail centre full of people? I want to be in the great outdoors on natural terrain, not on purpose built trails.
　

Arthur 2 Times is all on bridleways and with the odd bit of C road and is around 18 miles long with around 2,500 feet of ascent.
　

After parking in the village, the route then climbs up the road before arriving at a bridleway and then makes its way along into forests. The weather was lovely today and the bridleway was full of fallen leaves, which crumpled under our tyres.
　

One of the things I enjoy about mountain biking, again like fell running, is that there’s no shame in stopping for photo opportunities. With road running and road riding, it’s just relentless forward motion with the aim of just getting where you’re going as quickly as you can but with mountain biking, it’s much more leisurely and relaxing.
　

With that in mind, there were plentiful stops of admiring and photographing the scenery, as well as food stops, brake pad changing stops and puncture stops.

This is where mountain biking is inferior to fell running – there’s so much faffage involved. With fell running, or any running, you just get your shoes on and off you go but with mountain biking there’s lots of messing about before hand getting everything together, oiling your bike chain, checking the tyres etc. If you’re not riding from home you have to mess about putting your bike onto the bike rack. Then there’s dealing with any mechanical breakdowns out on the trail and washing your bike off when you get back home.

　
The other problem with my new hobby of mountain biking is that if I want to do it with Duncan, where does that leave Ruby dog? I was sent a video the other day of a doggy backpack which fits a dog about the size of ruby is and you strap her to your back with her paws on your shoulder, which looks ace but I’m not sure Ruby would enjoy that and also, what happens if you fall off? Thankfully, we have the lovely Dawn and Dan to look after Ruby for us (although I am a little concerned that one day I may return to pick her up only to find they have left the country with her). However, we would be very bad parents if we kept fobbing our dog off on other people all the time so I might have to find somebody else to ride without, although they would have to be either very patient or equally as useless!
　

Anyway, back to the ride…

　
Whilst the majority was on easy bridleways there were a few gnarly (well, to me anyway, not so much to Duncan) descents, one of which saw me having an ‘unintentional dismount’ resulting in me coming down quite heavily on my cross bar. Thank goodness I’m not a man!

　
The climbs were tough too. I don’t know whether I have lost fitness in the last couple of months or whether my new bike isn’t as good at climbing as my crappy old bike, but Duncan was way ahead of me which, in all honesty, upset me a little. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way towards Duncan it’s just that I should be much fitter than he is so I couldn’t get my head round why I couldn’t climb the hills, especially as I had done so well at it the first time I went out a couple of months back. I wasn’t even breaking a sweat back then, wasn’t in the easiest gear and wasn’t out of breath. It was a doddle. But today, and the last couple of times I have been out, I’ve been finding it really hard work. It could also be due to the fact that on all these times I have struggled, I have done a lot of other exercise on the lead up to it, for example yesterday I did a very tough S&C workout in the morning which has made my hamstrings ache like mad and I followed that with a six mile run, the second half of which was at a decent speed. I also did a spin class on Friday night and ran on Thursday night and, at the minute, that is quite a lot for me.

　
Duncan did suggest that I raise my seat a little which might help and he started quoting studies at me about how a slight increase in seat height can give a 10% power increase or something like that. He has been insisting I raise my seat for ages now but I don’t like the feeling of not being able to touch the ground at all. At the minute, I can only just touch the ground with the very tip of my toes but Duncan wanted to raise it so I couldn’t touch it at all. Eventually, I relented and let him raise it and I actually think he might have been right. It did feel a bit better. However by this point, some 15 miles into our ride, I was already incredibly tired so I’m not sure just how helpful it was and will have to see next time I go out and am feeling fresh.

　
About three miles from the end of our ride, a group of mountain bikers that we had earlier been chatting to said they were going a different way back into Cilcain and Duncan fancied going that way too because it looked quite gnarly. I didn’t want to though and so, for the first time in ten years of Garmin ownership, I actually used the ‘back to start’ function on my watch. It’s amazing! The route we did involved going out for a few miles, then doing a loop and then coming back in those same few miles and as I was past the loop point by now, the way back was the same as the way out. I used the watch and every so often it would beep and vibrate on my wrist and display ‘turn approaching’ which I thought was great. Small things eh? I’m going to buy a cheap mount for it now so I can put it onto my handlebars which will make it easier than being on my wrist.

　
Duncan changed his mind about going the other way back. He made out it was because he was being chivalrous and not wanting to leave me on my own but I don’t buy that because the last few miles were all downhill and he left me for dust so I didn’t see him at all until I was back at the van.
　

There was a little café/shop where we had parked in the village and, even though we needed to get back as we were going out for a meal for my mum‘s birthday, Duncan insisted that no MTB ride could end without a coffee.
　

Really enjoyed the day out and now that I have discovered how great my Garmin is, I’m looking forward to programming routes into it for me to follow so I can go out on my own a bit more.

　
Total distance – 17.6 miles

On a Whim

On the way home from my strength and conditioning one to one session this morning, I was driving along Horrobin Lane when I saw John Coope, Hazel and Nicole running towards me.  On a whim I decided to pull over and have a little jog out with them, seeing as I was already in athletic gear and had some time to kill.

I ran along The Street with them and then towards the Yew Tree and along to the bridleway at Healey Nab.

Part way along the bridleway, there is a public footpath sign on the right which goes into a field. I've never been along this path before, but believed it led out to the bend near Watermans Cottage where all the steps are so I decided to give it a go and I left John and the girls there as they continued on to White Coppice.

It was lovely to have their company for the first few miles and I'm really glad I saw them rather than just driving home and slobbing out on the couch.

The 'new' track was lovely, if a little on the muddy and slippery side.  It was a nice little trail through woodland skirting Anglezarke Reservoir.  When I uploaded to Strava later on, the only one of my friends who has done the route before (or at least Strava'd it) was Adrian H so it doesn't look like it's a route many people do.

At the end of the trail, I followed the road past Watermans Cottage and then turned right after it, through the woods on the other side of Anglezarke.

I then followed the Anglezarke trail out onto the road and then ran along and up the 'cascade' towards Yarrow Reservoir.  From there, I just ran back down to the van on Horrobin Lane, had a quick stretch and drove home.

P.S. No foot pain!

Total distance - 6.1 miles

Pooped!

I went out for a plod at lunchtime today.  My aim was to just run along to the top barn and back.

To say it was an easy plod, it felt like a lot of hard work.  My legs felt like they needed a good oiling to make them work properly, probably due to the pasting Dave gave me at the gym yesterday.

My feet felt fine though and when I got back home, I had an e-mail waiting for me from my healthcare people who are now making me an appointment with a consultant to discuss my options.  It's weird at the minute because there is so little pain left, but there is a dull ache and a feeling that all isn't well but I'm in a kind of limbo land of not knowing what to do about it.  Hopefully this consultant will have dealt with MTP synovitis before and know what he/she's doing.  I really hope so because so far I feel like I haven't had any helpful advice from anyone.

Total distance - 4.15 miles 

Fitness Assessment # 3

As you probably know, I have been doing some strength and conditioning training for the past few months.  I started with a fitness assessment, then did six weeks of training followed by a second fitness assessment where I had improved considerably.  I was then set a further six week programme and, at the end of that, we decided not to do a further assessment because my progress had been so good the last time.  I therefore started my next six week programme and that ended on Saturday.

I had an appointment at Sportesse this morning for what I thought was the first session of my new six week programme but, when I got there, I found that I was having another fitness assessment.  Oh no!  Ah well, I'm just glad that I didn't have time to worry about it beforehand.

I went through all the tests again and had improved again on almost everything.  My squat was now as good as it was possible to get as I could get all the way down.  On my first assessment, I only got to a 90 degree angle. My stride had also increased again and I was able to do more press ups and plank for longer.  There were other tests too which I had improved on and I must remember to ask Dave for a copy so that I can post my results on here.

The only tests I was worse on were:

- I didn't manage to stand on one leg with my eyes closed for as long.

- My sit to stand wasn't as good.  I managed to get to the bottom step but didn't manage to get up whilst holding weights (last time, on my right foot I got up whilst holding a stone in weight).  I think the reason for this though is that my quads have been really tight recently from the mountain biking.

- My VO2 max test on the rowing machine wasn't as good.  This isn't much of a problem though as my cardio work has decreased more and more the past few months since stopping running so I can't expect great results here.  I also hadn't really eaten this morning as my house was devoid of food so I probably didn't have enough energy for a VO2 max test.

All in all though, it was really positive and I'm now looking forward to starting my next six week programme.

Bring it on!

Improving on the MTB

Duncan and I went out on the bikes this morning but I made sure he didn't take me on any silly routes this time and that we stayed relatively gentle so that I could practice my new found skills.

We rode along to the school then to Liverpool Castle and then followed the reservoir along to the prep school.  From there, we rode to the bowling club and turned down the track towards Yarrow Reservoir.

We then continued on into Lead Mines Clough and I had to face that big climb up towards Jepsons Gate.  I did better this time than I had last time (last time I accidentally changed into a harder gear rather than an easier one and ended up stopping dead and not being able to get moving again) but I still didn't quite make it to the gate.  I was less than ten metres away from it though so was really mad at myself for not making it.  If at first you don't succeed, try try try again! 

On the other side of the gate, it is still quite a climb but, legs now incredibly tired, I managed to make it to the top of that one.

We came out at Jepsons Gate and rode down the road to Watermans Cottage.  We then headed into White Coppice and, just before arriving at the cricket club, bumped into Adrian H and Echo out for a run so we stopped for a natter before continuing on our way through the cricket club and up the road.  At the top of the hill we turned left along the road and then right into the bridleway along Healey Nab.  I'm not ready yet to go onto the mountain bike single track trails there so we just continued along the bridleway coming out onto Back Lane.

We rode along to the Yew Tree and then up the 'cascade' back towards Yarrow.  It was tough climbing the cascade but I managed it OK.

We then rode back to the bowling club and along past the side of the prep school, turning left after it and heading up to the road.  We crossed the road and then went up the track onto the path which comes out behind the high school and then we just went home via dog poo alley.

Whilst I was much faster on the descents today, due to my increase in confidence, I was pretty tired and finding the climbs particularly difficult.  They felt harder than they had done when I did practically the same route a few weeks ago.  I have been doing a lot in the past few days though, including my longest run in five months yesterday so I'm not going to beat myself up about it.  I'm just going to concentrate on the positives - I wasn't squeezing my brakes for dear life all the time and felt much more in control on the descents.

Total distance 12.3 miles 

Good Morning Winter Hill, It's Been a While

The pain in my feet has largely gone away now, however I do get occasional dull aches and my second to on my right foot is still numb and tingling.  Even though there is very little pain, I'm aware that there is still a problem.  It's quite difficult to describe but the best I can do is to say that they don't feel very 'well oiled'.

Still, I've reached a point where I just want to get back out running again so have decided to just go out a couple of times a week for short distances relatively slowly.

Usually on a Saturday morning I go to the gym to do my strength and conditioning workout but I did that yesterday and so decided that I'd meet the WFDBWGUA lot this morning and get back up onto the hill.

At the UTUP were EtU and TLoB.  We set off and headed towards the top barn then up through the terraced gardens out onto George's Lane.  We had walked the majority of this but I decided that I wanted to keep the promise I made to myself a few years back of never walking up the Pike.

On the way up, we bumped into Dave J and Charlie-dog who were out for a morning jaunt.  A short natter later and we carried on up to the Pike and I'm pleased to say that I did make it all the way up and my toes didn't seem to give me any grief (I usually feel the pain most when running uphill on my toes).

I decided to rein myself in on the descent and take it nice and slowly mostly because my Hoka trail shoes have absolutely appalling grip on them.  I wonder whether they'll ever make a fell shoe?

At the bottom of the Pike, we ran into Lindsey B and Andy S.  Lindsey was saying she was knackered but I think her achievement in the past few months is absolutely massive.  That girl really is a machine!

After a chat, we carried on along to the kennels then up to Two Lads.  From there, we headed over to the mast, but took the road route rather than the wet route.  Even though I ran it all, it was tough going and my legs felt like lead.

We carried on round to the trig point (I didn't go up to the trig with the others though as I didn't fancy sliding around in my useless shoes and so stayed on the tarmac).

We then ran down the diagonal and I don't think I have ever descended it so slowly.  Again, partially due to my shoes - not only have they got very poor grip but they aren't overly tight around my ankle and so I found my foot slipping around in them - but also because, if I'm completely and utterly honest, I'm scared!  I'm scared of overdoing it and hurting my foot again.  The pain I felt on that day out with John when my foot problems came to a head is not something I ever want to repeat.  It's the most painful thing that's ever happened to me.

At the bottom of the diagonal, I decided to head back as I didn't want to do too much too soon and so I left the others to carry on along towards Hordern Stoops.  I ran along a bit and then hopped over the stile and went down through the plantation to the bridge near Dangerous Corner.  I then carried on to the pigeon tower car park, along to the top barn and then back down to the bottom barn.

I really enjoyed myself this morning and it was great to be back out and with good company.  Thanks for the company guys!

As I'm sat typing this, my big toe on my left foot is throbbing a little but, other than that, I haven't had any problems during or since running.  Fingers crossed...

Total distance - 6.5 miles

Secondary to Primary

Having struggled to fit in any exercise lately due to work, I was determined to do something today, even if just a short run... which is exactly what I did.

I ran from home for the first time in five months and headed down to Rivington & Blackrod School. I then ran along to Liverpool Castle and followed the reservoir towards Go Ape.  I realised that I was feeling really good and running well, although as in previous posts, I probably shouldn't be going well at the minute and should just be plodding during my recovery.  Ah well, I knew I wasn't going very far so what's the worst that can happen.

I finished my run by the prep school where Duncan was walking Ruby and gave me a lift back home.

On uploading my Strava later on, I found that I actually had my second fastest (out of 27) time on the segment 'secondary to primary'.  Oops, probably went faster than I should have done!

Total distance - 2.2 miles

MTB Core Skills Day

As you might be aware, I have recently bought myself a brand new shiny mountain bike, in a bid to get into a different sport which doesn’t involve the use of my decrepit feet as much as running.

I’m pretty useless at it though and am absolutely terrified when the terrain gets a bit rocky, especially when it’s also going downhill. 

Duncan suggested that I book myself onto a skills day so that I can try to build up some confidence and I decided to do a one to one day rather than a group day as I thought I’d get more out of it and, as always, I’m self-conscious so wanted as few people as possible observing my patheticness.

I booked a course in Otley run by Iain Johnson at MTB Cycle Yorkshire.  I decided against doing a local course for the above mentioned reason – my self-consciousness.  I can just imagine being at a crucial moment and then Josie & Co come running around the corner with Josie giggling away at me and stopping to watch. 

Duncan decided that he also wanted a skills day, but a more advanced one than mine so he booked himself one on the Sunday and we decided to make a weekend camping of it. 

We travelled to Otley on Friday evening in the van and drove to a campsite not far from Chevin Forest, where I was meeting Iain the next day for my course. 

We met Iain at the Cheerful Chilli Café and had a good natter before Iain and I left Duncan and Ruby and headed out into the forest to start the course. 

Firstly, I learned the ‘attack position’.  Duncan had already taught me this but had taught me the downhill position where you put your weight right back, whereas Iain showed me the general attack position.  He also told me to keep my heels down and it made quite a lot of difference when I was using the brakes as I felt much more in control. 

After that, he taught me how to keep the bike moving without pedalling but I can’t really explain this in writing.  You use this same technique to pull up the front wheel to go over obstacles, without having to pull with your arms and thus expend more energy than necessary. 

We then went through correct use of gears and I wasn’t too bad at this going into the granny ring at a good time, keeping the chain in a straight line, and not leaving it too late so the chain was at an angle. 

We then learned how to best to take corners and where to control the speed, etc. 

The last thing we went through before lunch was the aforementioned lifting of the front wheel.  I was pretty damn terrible at this and I think the most I got it off the floor was an inch, if that!  Iain but a branch (a very thin one) along the ground for me to try to jump the front wheel over but I kept jumping too early and not high enough.  I think I might have got over it once but I probably did still touch it with the front wheel. 

I forgot to mention earlier that Iain had five go-pros which he was using to film everything and he is going to create a DVD for me so that I can see where I was going wrong/right.   Should be interesting viewing!

We then went for lunch back at the café where Duncan and Ruby joined us as they had been sitting chilling out in the van. 

After lunch we headed back into the forest and moved onto some single track with tree roots.  Iain told me to stand up over the roots and not pedal as they would be slippery.  By the time I got to them (all of 30 seconds later) I had completely forgotten this and sat down pedalling over them.  Iain was quite surprised that I had managed to get over them so easily though when I had completely ignored my advice.  I think it was beginners luck.  He then made me go back over them a few times, picking out my line and standing up doing it properly.  After a few attempts I got the hang of it so we then moved on to something a bit trickier in that it was a hill with tree roots on it.  It wasn’t a terribly steep hill but some of the tree roots stuck out a lot and there were also a couple of protruding tree stumps to avoid riding into.  I was quite good at doing it uphill and managed fine but when it came to riding down it I was a nervous wreck.  Every time I got to a particularly protrusive root, I bottled out and slammed on my brakes. 

The forest was particularly busy today as, despite it being wet earlier on,  the weather was now really nice so every man and his dog (lots of dogs to be precise) were out.  The thing is, people kept stopping to watch me!  Nightmare!

Eventually, after about ten attempts, I finally managed to man up and get the job done.  It’s funny because once you actually do it, you then wonder what all the fuss was about. 

The final part of the day was learning drop offs. 

I had to ride down a slight hill and then drop down a step which looked to be about a foot high.  Only about a metre or so after this drop there was another one of a similar height and I had to go down this too.  When I looked at it I was terrified!  Iain said that I should roll down the hill, get into attack position and then when I was coming up to the first step I should stand tall to see over to where I was going and I should then put my weight back and roll down it, then do the same for the next one. 

I actually managed to do it no problem.  I couldn’t believe it as it looked so frightening I thought I’d end up bottling it at the last minute but I didn’t. 

I was so pleased with myself by the end and my confidence has definitely grown.  I just need to keep it up now so I don’t lose confidence again.  I also need to pay no attention to Duncan when he tries to make me go along stupid routes that no beginner should do, like descending from Two Lads!  

Lunchtime Canal Run

I’ve been so busy at work since I came back from holiday that I’ve been struggling to fit any exercise in so today I made a concerted effort to get out for a short run at lunch along the canal.

The problem with road/canal running is that I go too fast at the start.  I shouldn’t be running fast at all at the minute because I’m recovering from injury so should be taking it easy but I just can’t help it.  I try to slow down but before I know it I’ve unconsciously sped up again.

The canal was closed a short way down so I had to come off and run through the streets which should have slowed me down but vanity made me keep going faster.  I can’t be seen to be plodding through the streets of Manchester!

Needless to say, when I turned around after 1.5 miles and headed back I was knackered. 

I think I just can’t get it into my head that I can’t do the things I was doing pre-injury at the minute and need to build back up again.  Pre-injury, three miles was absolutely nothing so to get tired from it now is pretty rubbish but I don’t want to end up doing too much too soon and making my injury even worse.  It hasn’t completely resolved yet so I really do need to chill out and take it easy!

Total distance – 3 miles 

'The Street'

There’s nothing worse than your first day back at work after a holiday although, luckily for me, I managed to wangle working from home today so that I could trawl through the multitude of e-mails I have been sent in my absence, most of which just announce the arrival of the sandwich lady or enquire after a missing mug. 

After a couple of weeks off, I headed along to Sportess PT in Chorley for an overdue strength and conditioning workout, although I did make up my own workouts a few days on holiday around the pool, using 2.5 litre bottles of water as hand weights.

On my way to the gym, I stopped on Horrobin Lane and decided to go for a little run along The Street.  I had hoped to do a short loop, going up the ‘cascade’ and then down to the bowling club but it was still dark and I had no head torch so decided to stay on the smooth surface of The Street and just do an out and back. 

I felt like I was running quite fast, even though I was comfortable and was rather pleased with myself until I finished and saw that I had only been nine minute miling!  No wonder I felt comfortable!

Total distance – 2 miles

Gozo

My blog seems to have dwindled off of late, due to the fact that I haven’t been running. 

I have just returned from a couple of weeks on the Island of Gozo (part of the Maltese islands), where I did have a few runs out on the cliffs here and there, purely in a bid to burn off some of the excessive calories I have been eating.

My feet still aren’t 100% and I’m in the process of getting more specialist treatment on them but am having to wait for what feels like an age for my healthcare providers to get back to me. 

In the meantime, I’m doing a bit of running here and there, a bit of mountain biking and spinning and, of course,  my strength and conditioning workouts. 

Anyway, back to Gozo…

As previously mentioned I went out a few times onto the cliffs behind our villa.  I was going out first thing in the morning before it got too hot and the scenery was beautiful as the sun was just coming up. 

One day I ran around 3.5 miles into a little town called Xlendi and Duncan rode there (after giving me a head start).  We met up and had breakfast in one of the restaurants and then I ran and he rode back again.  The return leg was just over 2.5 miles as there was a shortcut so I did just over 6 miles altogether which I was quite pleased with given my lack of running during the previous four months.

My total holiday distance was about 20 miles.  It’s funny that I’m pleased with doing that in two weeks when before my injury I was doing that distance in just one morning. 

Gozo itself is lovely and anyone who has been to Malta before but not enjoyed it (it seems to be a bit marmite) shouldn’t dismiss Gozo as it’s completely different.  It’s far more laid back and quiet.  It’s not one for the party animals though, thank goodness!