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Christmas.......it's cancelled!

The Weekly roundup

Another week where the minutes become hours, the hours days etc. Sleep has been poor this week for me, I have fits and starts of bad sleep and it seems this is a bad patch, one that's lasted about 10 years mind but hey ho! It's affected the weeks training total but only marginally really.

Monday was another 10 mile start to the week and becomming an integral part to my training regime for mental stamina if nothing else, never an easy feat on tired legs and after the days preceeding 15 mile race at the Roaches I was surprised I felt as sprightly as I did. I always do my hilly run too on a monday and it's a route with soooo many easy cut back temptations. I do it on purpose to push my self mentally. It would be just too easy to head back for home and not carry on, so I'll perservere with this method!

Tuesday, more tarmac, this time a shorter loop at 7 miles

Wednesday, Imogens birthday so a rest night.

Thursday a speed session. well I was supposed to go spinning as I do with my mum every thursday followed by a track session with Oliver straight after but the instructor was so shockingly awful I walked out after 5 minutes and figured I would better off doing something else! So, it was 3 miles on the treadmill in 19 minutes which nearly killed me, then Oliver turned up for some intervals. We covered about 3 miles taking the daily total to 6.

Friday after only a few hours sleep all week I was just so tired. I felt pretty grim really and couldn't haul myself out the door. I didn't beat myself up about it, I've had some long weeks and knew I had a long run sunday, it was just an off day.

Saturday - party day!

Sunday. A tanky's recce. 19 miles from Marsden to Crowden then the return. Jo, Linda and I had perfect weather and a grand day!

errr, which way up again?

Linda - pointing out the local landmarks Jo striking a pose.

The weekly total sees me at 41, less than planned especially as this week is an easy week with the Full Tour of Pendle on Saturday but the legs needed that friday rest and wednesday was not about me.

One good thing..

about birthdays in November and December is the fact it delays the run up to Christmas. The adverts are on the tele, the presents in the shops with those all enticing 'bargains galour' All we need now is our mad neighbour to put up the tree which will be done at the end of November as is done every year, then we really know it's here!

My eldest has a birthday mid December and every year we give him the option of the tree up before or after. I like birthdays, I think they should be embraced so giving him the choice means his birthday isn't drowned in the chaos of Christmas. I think birthdays are the one day that should be yours and yes it's ok to feel and be treated a bit special, to be suprised and maybe even spoilt it's also your's and you can cry if you want to!

first to arrive!!

It was party day on Saturday for my little princess and all went reasonably well, the fairy cakes baked, the candles packed the cake bought (she had the homemade one on her actual birthday, I'm afraid it was High School Musical for the party bags!) We headed off to Buddy's to meet and greet the guests. Now I'm a mum and I do love my kids, very much, but these play centres are my idea of a living hell. How can people go and sit in these places.....for FUN? All that noise, screaming kids and my God, DISGUSTING coffee. Still, it was Idgie's day, that was where she wanted to have the party, so that is where we went. In all fairness it was just the face painting she wanted, had I known I'd have bought a set from Toys R Pants and saved myself a whole load of hassle!

Blowing out the candles.

Still, I have to say of the 12 other children she invited they all behaved impeachably. It took another little oik from a different party to spoil the day! It seemed the party frock was a hit, so much so another little girl decided to try and rip it from Imogen and when she took a dislike to being manhandled made a point of saying so, the retaliation for such was to attempt to pull off her glasses then bite her! I have to say I was a bit shocked to see Idgie come screaming towards me, hot tears causing long streaks in the carefully painted butterfly. The remainder of the party was spent applying cold compresses to her reddened and very sore skin and filling in accident forms! I felt quite saddened as well as annoyed that this event will now inevitably be the most prominent memory of her 7th birthday, not something I'd taken into consideration when trying to give her a day to remember!

Buddy the 'dragon' getting attacked errr hugged.

"did you know emma, it's just a man in a costume"!!

It’s been quite a tough week running wise, lots of miles and as much climb as I can manage given the topography of my local running networks. The last fortnight has seen a steady rise in the weekly mileage, the legs, body and head seem to be in the right place to make the concerted effort to begin to make an idea actually happen. As ever, and indeed this will continue to be a heavy issue, time is always a factor. I am driven by routine though although I am a woman so naturally that is subject to change! The last fortnights routine has been going well and it’s allowed me to start building the miles in earnest, I’m confident given the nature of family life and the season that is almost upon us this will all too soon be working against me. It’s now where it really matters to get out when I can, regardless of painful legs, lashing rain and howling wind because if I even momentarily think I’ll have a night off the likelihood of being able to make up for it the next day is practically impossible.

With that in mind and given I raced yesterday and have climbed in excess of 1200 steps at work today (yes I counted!), Mondays long run is still on the agenda. This does mean however the weekly shop will see me setting off for the supermarket at 10pm tonight, I think this will certainly be treated as a mental aptitude test all from a training perspective obviously!

As I said I raced yesterday, in the loose sense of the word that is. I felt heavy legged from the start but then that is due to the amount of miles in them so only natural really. I didn’t want 2 days off prior to the run as the only agenda was to beat last year’s time and treat it as mileage and climb towards that weekly total. With such a demanding long term goal in mind my training has to be specific and that doesn’t mean 20 miles a week and lots of rest in order to fly round shorter distance race courses.

The Roaches is 15.7 miles for the pedants among us but is billed at 15, either way long enough in all the mud! There’s about 4000ft of climb although I have to admit to not realising that until this morning when looking at Marks blog as it actually didn’t feel like it. I've certainly taken a posotive from this as was felt I am clearly getting better at the ups - surely?!

From the off I managed to do nothing better than the usual shuffle and got a bit peeved at getting stuck in all the traffic on the way up to the roaches trig as there was no way of passing people along the single track path and I’d already fallen behind with having to wait in the queues for the various stiles. I had the bit between my teeth though by the time the descent through the woods came managed to dodge by a dozen or so people all tip toeing on the rocks, I really love those technical rocky descents and decided tactically from the off to really try to use my best bit to my advantage and take no prisoners! I always find people that pass me on the way up relatively easily but rarely stay ahead on the way back down, I’m just buggered at the next climb and the same people pass me again and it then becomes the proverbial cat and mouse race with those around me!

The clock was ticking on this one though and with a time to beat the glances at the watch were frequent. I knew I was up on last year certainly in the first half as I’d got a lot further on the route before the front runners were coming back the way. I like these out and back races as it gives you a chance to see the leaders and familiar faces, of course the downside is every lovely decent you zip down you now know you have to climb on the way back!

I started to bonk in the woods on the way back and although had had 2 gels by this point realised the legs didn’t want to respond. Mentally rather than think ‘oh sod it’ which a few months ago I certainly would have done and no doubt would have stopped to ‘admire the scenery’ I now compare every climb to Yewbarrow on a scorching hot day, nothing does compare therefore nothing can be so bad. My methodology is to concentrate on continuing to climb regardless. Each step is one step nearer the top, each step should be as strong as the last and each step will not get more painful than it currently is. It worked, although aching and tired I did NOT stop on the climbs I climbed as strong as I could and no, not as fast as others around but then it may have been more efficient? I kept the breathing controlled and the heart rate as low as I could all with the view these climbing weeks will get tougher and tougher and this is all early days training wise and that is the perspective I am taking and the way I need to approach it in respect of that 2010 goal.

All that aside I pushed where I could and enjoyed the run, well when it was over! I managed a pb and DID beat last year’s time by a whole 20 minutes, can’t ask for more than that, over a minute a mile faster on the back of 2 long and heavy weeks and with faulty asthmatic lungs! I must be doing something right??

My Girl

The end of a busy week saw me get some precious time with the youngest of the brood. As a baby she was the one permanently on my hip, probably because she didn't walk until she was nearly 2 out of sheer laziness! Both boys are away this weekend, Laurence is in respite for 3 nights, the first time he's been away for that long so I am, it's fair to say, not exactly relaxed! It's a double edged sword, he goes away so we can get much needed time to recharge and I spend the whole time worrying! I know he'll be alright, he always is but a child with no 'voice' is always going to be a worry. Oliver is away down south visiting grandad on the proviso it's a very early trip back sunday so he doesn't miss his rugby - he was more than a bear with a sore head last weekend after the waterlogged pitch led to the match being cancelled. So that leaves me and my princess. We spent the evening singing and dancing to Mamma Mia, when we eventually worked out how to use the DVD player - it seems she's a dab hand at it! Tomorrow is an early start and a very busy day! Just as well I'm on rest day, although I don't suppose it will feel much of a rest. Since September began and the beginning of the academic year there has been a sudden surge in extra curricular activities for the children and I seem to be to-ing and fro-ing more than I ever have, that and the fact they are older these activities now finish a lot later, there really are NOT enough hours in the day.

Still managed to run this week though. I won't quite have hit the target by sunday by am not far off.

Monday was a wet and windy 10 mile road run, as hilly as I could make it although the playlist on the Ipod really needs looking at as I'm getting very bored with it, pavement pounding needs some seriously motivational tunes, I must address this post haste! Tuesday was 7 miles, road again, rain again. Wednesday was up in the fells with zero visibility! It was mild though, no real rain to speak of although damp, no wind but lots of mist! The head torch just didn't cut the mustard at all, could barely see a thing and if I went over on the ankle once I went over on it a hundred times. Still, over 2 hours running covering a fair distance it was a good and enjoyable trot out. Thursday was a bit of cross training with a spinning class cycling on the static bike and going hell for leather I felt sick at the end only to get straight out of the class to do a speed session around the 200m indoor track with Oliver. He did really really well, I was very proud of him, his running is really coming on and what's more he enjoys it. I wouldn't entertain taking him if he didn't want to go but he managed a good strong session. After a mile warm up etc we did some sprints with jog recovery then some 200m fast efforts then I gave him a 75m or so head start on a lap and had to catch him, jesus, that was a serious effort from me that's for sure, It certainly constituted a tough session by the end of it!

So, almost at the end of the week and I wanted to get a friday run done before our girls night in. Another miserable day of non stop rain but the running window was 4pm out the door or not at all. OMM smock on again, I seem to be getting more use out of the thing then ever before, I headed out minus dave who would NOT budge off the sofa. He shouldn't be on it anyway but is using the 'I'm scared of fireworks' thing to his full advantage! The river paths were as muddy as I've seen them and the feet were soaked within 5 minutes of setting off. I ran my lovely muddy off road route in the opposite direction and found it a lot harder...it seemed a lot more up hill so I'll make an effort to do that more often when I can. I took the headtorch as thought I might need it. At one point I felt I might get away without using it but with about a mile to go I had to give in to the fact I obviously haven't been eating enough carrots and reached into the bumbag.

hey, I even ran through a field with a BULL in it. There's a first.

Legs a bit achey tonight now, so a rest tomorrow, if you can call it such. Imogen and I have a full girls only day tomorrow, we're off to the salon and then onto a friends for lunch after a spot of shopping and I'm really looking forward to spending a day with her, they seem so few and far between these days.

Racing sunday and all being well a weekly total of 53 miles will have been reached.

Starter for 10

Motivation Monday. Always the toughest day in the week to get out the door, probably due to a long weekend and a tiring day at work. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds running on the dark winter nights a bit of a chore? Not so much because I don't want to run, I do. I am however, reduced to a limited number of routes all involving lots of tarmac and traffiic. My new method ensuring I definately drag myself out is to get in from work, get my jobs done and get changed into the running gear so I'm 'ready' as soon as my husband walks in to hand the baton over! Invariably in winters gone by I've had a tendancy not to do this and end up getting engrossed in some task or other meaning the minutes tick by leading to the inclination diminishing at a rapid rate!

My 'plan' is to ensure I do a double figured run on a monday. It's so nice to start the week with 10 miles in the bag. 2 miles shorter than last monday but last night was a hilly run, the hilliest I can make it from out of my door and to be honest I felt really good at the end. I've a slight niggle on my left leg that I don't want to exacerbate. One method of knowing I was running a bit quicker was the fact I had run further before my favourite song came on the playlist on the Ipod! A fool proof method at measuring progress I feel?!

Tanky's

Tanky’s trog is basically a run from Marsden to Edale it offers a wonderful challenge crossing Black Hill, Bleaklow and Kinder Scout during the route. This is not as easy as it may appear on paper as it is tough and demanding especially in poor weather. It equates to about 24 miles and 5400ft of climb over some of the most peat bogged terrain I have ever seen, with only three road crossings, the choice of route is huge it’s as much a logistical nightmare as anything else too. You need to have a vehicle at both Edale and Marsden which are some 90 minutes drive apart in order to ‘shuttle’ to and from the race start and finish.

With the fact the route choice is so vast, it’s more than prudent to go and have a look at least a couple of times before the event. Race day is December the 6th, I couldn’t do this race last year and running over that neck of the woods is predominately unfamiliar territory for me. This in mind it was an early start heading for Crowden on Saturday in anticipation of a long day out. It couldn’t have been more perfect weather wise; visibility was excellent as was the precipitation in that there was NONE! I do love running in the winter months, well when it’s not hoofing down! At long last though, I stop over heating!

We picked up the race route from the Youth Hostel at Crowden turning left crossing the busy road and almost immediately over a path on the right drops onto a concessionary path by Torside Reservoir. We followed this up the end of the reservoir, crossing over by the weir and up through a small wood to the road. From here we ran onto Reaps farm picking up the Pennine Way on the right and beginning the climb onto the fell. There were a few other runners out too but all coming in the opposite direction – I started to wonder if they knew something we didn’t! After a fair bit of route considering and map deliberation we continued throughout the morning making our way over to Bleaklow Head looking out to Kinder in the distance with Black Hill behind. We bypassed Wainstones, fell in and out of bogs, hopped over heather and scrambled in and out of peat hags, sliding all over, cursing the lack of grip no matter how superior the technology!

Keeping with the Pennine Way going south down Hern Clough to the top of Alport Low then veer off over the rough moor slipping into the head of Upper North Grain. There’s a good path once you reach an old shooting cabin, fording the stream and bringing you down to the A57 Snake Pass road. We veered off left quite a bit earlier than this though to see if the more direct route would be an advantage but after coming back the above way I’d say not! It was tough ground going the way we did and certainly no gain on the time front. I think another look would be worth the trip out though as I started to get very confused with it all by the end of it! We ran as far down as the Snake pass road and stopped for a quite nibble on a cereal bar before making the return journey back to Crowden. The run back wasn’t as straightforward either as the day was all about route choice. We got back to Bleaklow head and opted for a run to Lawrence edge. Taking a bearing at the Head we scanned the horizon for a feature and pin pointed something that was unlikely to move!

It was another slog over bog after bog until reaching the ridge at Rollock Stones. There is a fence line to follow but never having run there we initially opted for the direct route until realising that was another section of very rough ground and energy sapping peat! The path to Lawrence edge is easy enough though although the sound of gun shots at the firing range was a worry! I was hoping it really was just a clay pigeon range and they weren’t about to take pot shots at the moving targets further up the fell!

We took a completely wrong descent down to the quad track however and had to slide and scramble down a rocky ridge, wet algae covered boulders are not much fun and the bruises on the knee are living proof!
Eventually making it back to the reservoir it was a short run back to the car and a clean dry pair of socks!

Until the next time…..