Just take your time and it'll come. No point in rushing.

Friday - commute to and from work, weather on the way home was biblical but worked as a good test of my ideas for winter running. Warm and wet, no problems there. Just need to tweak it for a 75km race in December now - at night.

Saturday - orienteering in Manchester with the family. 45 minute score event around a park we used to live near by. Took it as an opportunity to visit some old haunts. Race was good. I wasn't feeling it from a performance perspective, but think I did well. Results not out yet. EDIT: 7th overall, 2nd V40.

Sunday - racing a regional orienteering race not far from home. Ranking points on offer, so I'll be a bit more on point than I was today :)

Regular Saturday morning run along a trail with the ever more reluctant dog. After a mile and half, 10m in front, a deer came out the bushes on one side and went across my path to the other side and into a field...then came a second...then a third...and then a fourth. Stood watching them for a few minutes. They turn and waved. I waved back. I then stood and made sure they made it across a road. A car slowed for them and off they went. Off I went with the dog, until the rain started and he gave me that 'wtf' look. So, we went home. Him to lie in the warm. Me to spend a couple of hours by a pitch in the peeing rain, watching my daughter warm the bench as a sub. As my Wife said, here we are in the rain, watching someone else's Kids play football.

Raced again today. Harder… regional race, black course, 34 controls in 7km of running and 360m of elevation.
Was going well until about 29 controls abs the wheels came off. Messed up three I’m a row and any advantage I’d gained from fast running. Ahh well.

Greg, have you got a shot of the course map you could upload? Struggling the visualise 34 controls in 7km of running…

—

My running has been a bit off pace lately, but after a decent recovery from the BB300 I ran 15km today, which is the farthest I’ve ever run, and at a decent pace (5’15” /km) so I’m pretty happy with that.

Don't worry, I was troubled to visualise them too :)

I'll take images when I get home later!

I'd already doodled on them - pink route is the route I planned to take, will check it against the GPX file later when Routegadget is sorted. They double sided the map to make it "less confusing" and it would have been near impossible to work off the single sided map.

Controls 1-2 are side 1
Controls 3 - 14 are side 2
Controls 15 -21 are side 1
Controls 22 - 34 + finish are side

Side 1: https://ibb.co/M29myZM

Side 2: https://ibb.co/3TFsShL

First run in absolutely ages today. Staying in leominster with a few other families and 3 of us went for a very gentle 6k this morning. Next to no hills, super slow, but very social and pleasant non the less.

PaulE wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 8:43 pm First run in absolutely ages today. Staying in leominster with a few other families and 3 of us went for a very gentle 6k this morning. Next to no hills, super slow, but very social and pleasant non the less.

Nice, my kind of running

GregMay wrote: ↑Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:53 pm I'd already doodled on them - pink route is the route I planned to take, will check it against the GPX file later when Routegadget is sorted. They double sided the map to make it "less confusing" and it would have been near impossible to work off the single sided map.

Fascinating, thanks. Do the symbols in the 6 columns right of the control number relates to the feature the control is on?

Yes,

• first column control order number,
  second the number physically on the control box,
  third which side of the feature,
  fourth feature type
  fifth appearance of the feature
  sixth is physical size (in m)

Then there are the optional columns.

And there are different control descriptions for sprint races....

If you want to see what they all are: https://www.maprunner.co.uk/resources/M ... s-2018.pdf

Again squeezed in a half hour run at lunchtime, 5k ish in just under 30 minutes, cut short by needing the loo. Hopefully I'll get a longer run in at the weekend.

In and out from work today. Really tired! But still some easy miles in the bank so to speak.

Child duty tomorrow will have me not running, but I've 4/5 hours planned for Sunday!

Had 3/4 of an hour free before I had to go pick up my eldest so managed to fit in 7k in just over 40 minutes so had to pick him up while still wearing my running gear. The last 10 minutes or so were a bit brisker than I’d planned when I realised I might not get back in time.

Tour of Pendle Fell Race. That's all really

Canal bike for my daughter while I ran. 45 mins of Fartleks for me as she alternated between smashing it, and stopping to watch ponies/ducks/poo. The joys of training at 4 year old mentality :)

Johnallan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 11:30 pm Tour of Pendle Fell Race. That's all really

Nice race that. Except for the whole it’s on Pendle thing

GregMay wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 9:06 am

Johnallan wrote: ↑Sat Nov 20, 2021 11:30 pm Tour of Pendle Fell Race. That's all really

Nice race that. Except for the whole it’s on Pendle thing

I quite like Pendle. Except for the whole it's near Burnley thing

Didn't fancy 7 hours in a car to go to the planned race, so opted to run local instead. Packed a sack with all the mandatory kit for an upcoming race. Took water for the sake of simulation, but drank very little.

Picked a route that was going to be challenging to maintain a reasonably easy effort on - but that was what I wanted to try for. Mostly trail with some short chunks of fell and road to link it all but, but worked out well. 550m of climbing, a near constant climb for the first 14km based on following an old narrow gauge railway cutting used to move rock from the reservoir at Widdop down to the canal in Hebden Bridge. Cold up on the tops and as I was in the shade for most of the run, cold for most of the morning!

2hrs 35 mins to cover 24km over that "small" amount of climbing was good. Happy with how I ran, didn't eat anything, kept a really even effort, HR very occasionally drifting above aerobic (avg 138 - my peak is 182 - VT is 165). This should set me up well for the ultra I have in a few weeks.

One more "big" week of training, mostly aimed at faster running, then the slow process of tapering can begin in December. Feeling good. Moderately worried about how flat the race is compared to what I normally train on, but it'll be 'reet.

GregMay wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 4:23 pm Didn't fancy 7 hours in a car to go to the planned race, so opted to run local instead. Packed a sack with all the mandatory kit for an upcoming race. Took water for the sake of simulation, but drank very little.

Picked a route that was going to be challenging to maintain a reasonably easy effort on - but that was what I wanted to try for. Mostly trail with some short chunks of fell and road to link it all but, but worked out well. 550m of climbing, a near constant climb for the first 14km based on following an old narrow gauge railway cutting used to move rock from the reservoir at Widdop down to the canal in Hebden Bridge. Cold up on the tops and as I was in the shade for most of the run, cold for most of the morning!

2hrs 35 mins to cover 24km over that "small" amount of climbing was good. Happy with how I ran, didn't eat anything, kept a really even effort, HR very occasionally drifting above aerobic (avg 138 - my peak is 182 - VT is 165). This should set me up well for the ultra I have in a few weeks.

One more "big" week of training, mostly aimed at faster running, then the slow process of tapering can begin in December. Feeling good. Moderately worried about how flat the race is compared to what I normally train on, but it'll be 'reet.

I'm intregued about the railway cuttng is some of that through hard castle crags? on the western side of the Brook.? I can picture where the trestle Bridge was near Blake Dean.

It’s above the remains of the old bridge. It’s a continuation of the track that runs behind the scout hut.

From the hut, walk down to the bridge, cross over and stay in the road, as you climb up you’ll notice a path leading left down off the road, take that, and follow the track to the cutting and the old quarry working.

GregMay wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 6:56 pm It’s above the remains of the old bridge. It’s a continuation of the track that runs behind the scout hut.

From the hut, walk down to the bridge, cross over and stay in the road, as you climb up you’ll notice a path leading left down off the road, take that, and follow the track to the cutting and the old quarry working.

ta

Not that one would ever ride a bike on a footpath… but it’s nice. Few bits you have to Harry over.

I'm still slogging away. I found I was getting tired/unmotivated and also had the first twinges in the shins* so reduced my mileage last week. Down to 32 from 54 the week before. I also noticed that it's my legs that are tired, I struggled to run fast enough to get my pulse up. I'm struggling to get above 140 bpm and most of the time it's 120 to 135. Either I've suddenly gained a new level of fitness or I need to rest my legs? Strangely despite the lower pulse I'm not going that much slower for the commute.

Got a lift in yesterday and ran home. Couldn't decide on the route, chose on the fly and chanced upon this



It's less than half a mile from the Carisbrooke Castle one, see BAM thread earlier in the year. Perhaps I should get a map up on the wall and add pins for the locations of them to narrow down the location of the culprit, like they do on detective shows.

* I did think it could be my shoes, they are now quite old at over 900 miles, so have lost their cushioning? Strava suggested replacing them at 250 miles but who can afford to do that? I do have some new ones and wore them last Wednesday. Despite being identical to the old ones (minus the holes in the sides) I got a blister on the top of my big toe, there was an off-cut of thread/fabric inside. Back in the old shoes whist the toe heals or I'll just keep making it worse.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:54 am *.. Strava suggested replacing them at 250 miles but who can afford to do that?

Me, total milage this year a half mile so there is another 500yrs in them
But they don't make like they used to, they fall apart after 12 years....
sleep and rest are under rated, keep moving maybe an alternative exercise...or. doing stretchin core or upper body?

FWIW Sean I tend to replace mine based on when they don't grip on mud rather than distance! But at that distance....yes, I'd say the cushioning is dead. Especially if you're running on road or harder trails.