10 miles, 1240 feet, 1 hr 40 mins. Sun was shining and for the first time since last May I felt I could put some effort in and not have to worry/think about my knee.

Felt good to be back out on the trails with only my (lack of) fitness as the limit

First 10k in a long while. Amazing what sunny weather and flat terrain can do.

14.4 miles, 1650 feet, 2 hr 23 mim. Went out to Freshwater on the lower path that runs parallel to the ridge and back along the ridge for the views....

Despite being chalk downland the lower path was surprisingly muddy (over the top of the shoes) and the ridge was in the mist so no views

Still a nice couple of hours in the country. Full hard effort for the last half mile to try and get back to the van before the rain which was just starting, and obviously stopped as soon as I did get to the van

Looked at this thread a few times and tbh I won't be running the big distances like some in here and despite being rather pants at running I've always enjoyed a run so today I ran (first for a while), 3.6 mile off road in the rain with big muddy puddles. Great stuff

processed-202c1e7f-4576-4d78-b775-4b9431bce16e_1hJ4a7Lt by Lee Rowe, on Flickr

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 11:33 pm 3.6 mile off road in the rain with big muddy puddles. Great stuff

There's a childlike carefree pleasure to running in the rain and through puddles that non-runners just don't get. People* are so conditioned to avoid getting wet in the rain they do all they can to avoid it. Often, if it's chucking it down as I leave work the boss will ask if I want to leave my bike there and he'll give me a lift as it's raining, he just can't grasp that it's on to be outside in the rain

*I'm excluding runners/bike riders/wild swimmers etc from 'people'

To be fair my missus thinks I'm fairly insane just for running, let alone running in the rain

On that note, the doctor has told me to cancel my marathon so that's 4 months training up in the air. I won't say wasted because it wasn't - I've even been accused of being fit by the doc which I found mildly amusing since they obviously don't know how slow I am compared when running or cycling compared to most on here. Hopefully I'll just be able to reschedule for later in the year.

Leerowe76 wrote: ↑Tue May 09, 2023 11:33 pm Looked at this thread a few times and tbh I won't be running the big distances like some in here and despite being rather pants at running I've always enjoyed a run so today I ran (first for a while), 3.6 mile off road in the rain with big muddy puddles. Great stuff

For me, it doesn't really matter how far I go, it's more just getting out doors and not stuck at my desk all the time. The only reason I started going a bit further was because I was talked into it

I too get the "do you need a lift home?" question when it is anything but dry outside. My usual response is "No thanks, I quite like weather." It beamuses people.

Life has very much migrated towards people avoiding any sort of physical discomfort these days. It's not a healthy thing IMHO. Potential Darwinism pitfall.

Very much in agreement about the rain bit. Warm and rainy earlier in the week, ended up doing most of my run shirtless which was great but drew some very strange looks from walkers in full waterproofs!

Nearly gave in and took the lift home yesterday as the rain was so heavy that the roads were overflowing the kerbs and I'd forgotten my jacket... Decided to toughen up and get riding, rain stopped after 3 miles and the other 11 were lovely weather and it was generally a surprisingly pleasant ride home.

Local, ish, orienteering race today. Brown course, 22 controls, 11km and 350m of climbing.

Breathing not quite up to hurting myself standards yet. So took it somewhat easy on the climbs. Just powerhiked. Made one stupid error that lost me 4 mins or so...which turns out was the win. 3rd overall, 2nd V40. Happy at how I navigated bar my one stupid error.

Orienteering and summer mean two things:

1) wearing tights and hating it beause it is too hot and "full leg cover" is a stupid rule but you get over it by wearing nearly see through nylon pants that no one wants to see on a mid 40's man.

2) Sprint racing, the finest form of orienteering. Abusively short and fast. Game on Wayne. Game. On.

Local race, two sprints, time combined, 90mins from first start to second start. An area I'd never raced in. But hilly, and technical enough that the pure urban lot would get confused as there were not any paths.

4th after the first round (<16 mins, smidge under 3km, for 17 controls) and with a whooper of a mistake had me running hard on the second round. 17mins, 16 controls again, much much hillier. Hit a new HRM max of 185 which could explain the woozy feeling at the end when I was trying not to barf over the man insisting I download RIGHT NOW.

Either way, I'm now 7th in Yorkshire (though race for a Lancs clcub) and second in my age group. Happy at that. Was a good day all round.

*barf*

Heh! Nice one Greg.
What's the idea with the full leg cover rule? Gorse, thistles, ticks?

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 6:52 pm Heh! Nice one Greg.
What's the idea with the full leg cover rule? Gorse, thistles, ticks?

I did one orienteering course when at school that I thought I'd wear shorts for. Never again! My legs looked like the prime exhibit for an S&M convention

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 6:52 pm Heh! Nice one Greg.
What's the idea with the full leg cover rule? Gorse, thistles, ticks?

It's from the concept that it reduces the chance of passing blood borne infections onto others as you go through "sharp" undergrowth. On some races (sprint and urban) it is not required.

Sounds lovely!

The only orienteering I've encountered has been the nice gentle sort in parks, invariably trailing round after one of the mini bears (and despairing of their navigation...).

The Bamford Sheepdog Trials fell race, up Win Hill and back down.
A nice warm up, a steep walk, then a long way down and a sprint to finish.
And a beer.

I was that slow for some of it that Strava has me down as not moving for about 10 minutes of it.

Austwick Amble fell race today. Fast, entirely runnable allegedly 11km (but 12.5 on my watch). Didn't intend to run it, but we're on holiday nearby and I had fell shoes in the boot. Felt very off to not have my dark peak vest on my back for a race though!

Finished mid-pack I think, in just over an hour.

More importantly, it was my daughter's first ever fell race and she was no where near last, and happy too! Not sure she's going to be joining me too often, as she's obsessed with her football, but will do them at village fetes now

Nice 3 hours local in the sun yesterday. Surprisingly quiet on the trails. As if people have stopped going to Calderdale for a while and started exploring! Suits me just fine.

90mins with the wife while child was in holiday club. Both of us are doing some BIG alpine races in September so it was great to run together and talk s**t. I showed her some new trails and dropped her on the downs, she made me work on the flats and gentle ups. In the sun, perfect run.

What a weekend. Main highlight, was guiding a good friend towards finishing his "Twenty for 20 round" to celebrate 20 years working for the M3 project - a charity supporting young homeless people in Rossendale (Lancs). He completed 20 peaks with 20,000ft of climbing in 20 hours over 80km.

I got the "fun" legs 2 and 3 taking him from Buttermere to Langdale, via Wasdale Head. Just under 30km, 2,400m vertical, 8 Wainrights, and a very heavy bag with all his s**t and mine in it.

At night.

Worth it for the sunrise, just as we hit the summit on Scafell Pike:

5210A905-D972-44FF-A34C-7FA895CE6BBD_1_201_a by Greg.May, on Flickr

Weird week. Expected to be very tired after last weekend - wasn't.

Have had a few "short" but fast runs over 10km and with the weather hotting up it's been a great chance to test out my warmer weather kit for CCC in September.

Tomorrow I've planned a Vk run on a local ascent to set a vague benchmark - probably would go better if I wasn't drinking beer at the moment though :)

I tried my first 10k in 6 weeks and it didn't go so well - it was very very warm and legs felt dead so ended up walking up most of climb up the hill at the north end of town and then ran out of water by the time I got to the top. Discretion was the better part of valour so walked the remaining 3.5k or so home instead of running it. By the time I'd got home my hands had really started to swell up but that seemed to calm down pretty quickly once I'd had a drink. I probably need to just start getting up early to run while its cooler.

Usual post work Tuesday run, I knew it would be hard as the van said it was 28 degrees on the drive to the start.

Took it steady and tried to keep in the shade. Having no particular plan and just making it up meant I ended up doing just over 10 miles with just under 1600 feet of climbing.

I know I shouldn't complain about good weather but if it could be just a bit cooler it would be nice.

Back on it after a few weeks recovering from the Snowdon Skyrace - which was excellent, 3,000m of climbing in 40km. Lumpy.

Had been dealing with a tweak to my right foot since the race but have managed to get it to the point where I'm happy enough to run again. Did a nice 28km on Friday (strike day helped) then when my DofE weekend had to be cancelled due to thunder warning, took Saturday off, and went out for a great 11km in the early morning warmth.

Feeling like I'm back to normal now. 9 weeks to go until CCC and I'm feeling pretty damn positive.

The most I've had in a single run is 350m of climbing, lumpy indeed.

Slowly getting back up to distances again, it's been hard work getting back into the habit of getting out the door on a lunchtime, especially while it's been so warm.