Stupid. Really?

Language is a funny thing, and it is the cause of some constant irritations to me, especially in terms of running.

The amount of times I have seen or heard people say
" I'm going to do something stupid" in reference to a long, hard run,
or
"I'm going to do X, I must be MAD!!!!!" (generally with far too many exclaimation marks)
is far, far too many.

These comments tend to come to light when someone decides that they are going to do the 3 peaks, or run a marathon, or something like that. Something out of the ordinary for them. Now, I have no issue with them doing that. In fact it is generally healthy to step outside of your comfort zone, what really annoys me is that anything which is challenging is immediately seen as "stupid" or "mad" or some other idiotic title.

No.

Jumping out of a plane with no means of stopping yourself plummeting into the ground is fairly "stupid". Using an axe to get through your front door when you have a key in your pocket is pretty stupid too.
Running 26 miles is not "stupid" neither is is "mad". Ditto for fellrunning or climbing.
Yes, it may be challenging. Yes, it might be difficult. However there are those of us who do these things for fun. That is not "mad" either. It is just different to what other people may do with their spare time. It's almost insulting that something I do on a general basis is defined by others as something no-one in their right mind would enjoy doing.


Actually, looking back on this, it doesn't really matter what people say about what they do or what I do. I'm simply being a pedant. I don't care what people think of my pastimes, or what label they attach to me. It is of no importance if something out of the ordinary for someone else is important enough for them to label it as stupid.
However, next time you are about to embark on something along those lines, try using the word "challenging" instead. Yes it has more syllables, but that might just make you seem just a little bit more educated.

A visit to the Velodrome

Waiting my turn

Something that I meant to get around to last year, but never actually did, was get a go in the velodrome. During the first part of the year I always seemed to be too busy, or doing something else, and then once the olympics had come, been and gone, everyone and their aunt was going there for a taster session.

Imagine my surprise when I was given a taster session for Christmas! Brilliant, my chance to pedal the boards and see what its like. It always seems like a good idea to have some kind of back up plan in terms of wet weather training in case it really is too nasty and gnarly to do anything outside as the turbo trainer can get just a little dull.

Thankfully it was not a gorgeous day when we went to the Velodrome. Anything but. It was claggy, foggy and a general miasma of mist had graced the land, so we were only too happy to wander into the building, have a cup of coffee and await my go at cycling around in circles.
It was a pleasurable surprise to meet a friend there who is currently working with British Cycling - and would have a grandstand view of me pelting around the track.

Ready to go

Amongst the various advice I had been given by others who have more experience in velodromes, the better pieces were these...
"don't stop pedalling"
"don't fall off, it hurts just as much as falling off on the road"
"don't go and look down the banking before you start"
and
"go straight, turn left. Go straight. Turn left."

I changed into my biking clothes, got my hired shoes, and went to find my bike, a fixed wheel, brakeless machine, which doesn't actually scare me all that much. Having spent an awful lot of my commuting time in London on a single speed, and having ridden a fixie a couple of times before I was fairly sure of what was going on. It was the banking at either end of the oval that concerned me a bit - (which, incidentally, I didn't look down before I got on the track).

We were given a safety briefing, and then watched as we went around the track once or twice, and then pretty much let loose to do what we wanted. I thought that 15 people on the track was going to be quite crowded, but it was anything but. At times it felt like I was the only person going around. To begin with I was a little leery of going up the banking, but by the time I'd been around a few times I gained the confidence to work my way up the sides.
I had a fabulous time, zooming around in circles (or rather, ovals), but the only minor disappointment was the lack of interest the staff seemed to have in what any of us were doing. I would like to have gained the infamous "blue slip" which enables a rider to continue on in the accreditation scheme, but was never actually able to talk to a coach about what it entailed or how I could get one - they were too busy chatting to each other and telling riders off for drinking water in the wrong place.

I'm sure they get fairly weary of doing taster sessions and watching idiots ride around in circles for an hour, but a bit more interest in us would have been nice.

I spent a lot of the time practicing going around on the Blue line, and peeling up the sides and back down to the blue again, and also following other people - trying to keep an even speed all the way around. The last 10 mins I just decided to go round as much as possible as hard as I could so as to get a bit more exercise out of it which was good fun.
Having done a taster session, I will be going back, and hopefully get my blue slip. Though progress through the sessions appears to mean that you can then get involved in other more structured sessions, but none of them seem to be at particularly convenient times, so it may be best for me to just go and take my velodrome time in during other taster sessions, which seems a little odd.

Anyway, I had a great time, and the swish of going around the track will call me back before long.

Festive Disorientation

At the end

I really haven't done many races this year, which is the reason why there haven't been many race reports- stands to reason really.
This, however, is the final race of the year, as far as I am concerned, a good reason to get out and about in the Dark Peak with a map, not following hordes of people, and making your own way between a number of checkpoints that may, or may not necessarily be there.

Chatting with a load of the regulars in the Bulls Head beforehand - it was the starting point, we weren't just there having a pre-race beer, Marvin (who isn't actually called Marvin) mentioned something about looking forward to the race report... so I thought I'd better do one.
This is for you Marvin.

Mr. Boyle coming in at the end

This was never going to be a fast one, more of a navigational amusement to get some distance in before the end of the year. The staggered setting off was all good, and I went quite late on. Struggling to see the map, I made a quick decision that Clockwise around was going to be the best way, though I had a hint of indecision about what to do in the middle.... but more on that later.
The first 2 checkpoints were fairly straightforward, and as I headed on up to the spot height I noticed that a couple of people who set off before me were already behind, but I hadn't overtaken anyone. Odd. But a nice feeling that I was holding my own really.
From the spot height, the old adventure racing rule of Ohms law came into play. Although the straight line to the next Check might look appealing on the map, its going to be over a bit of a fight through knee deep heather. The intelligent line, and the line of least resistance was along a path, past the reservoir.
At this point I passed John Stephenson, and we cheered each other on our way. We overtook a couple of others who had opted for the "straightline" route, which turned out to really not be the fastest way across.

There's the map. 

I battled through knee deep heather on the way up to the Checkpoint on the inspection cover, and was overtaken by Tom Brunt on the way up. Unsurprising. I think I need longer legs.
Got to the inspection cover and then kind of headed East, dithering whether to go up to the Trig point, quite a way away, or whether to go up there via another Check, which I was likely to get on the way back... I didn't make a decision for a long time, and lost out on a lot of height that I could have gained easily. As a result, Julien barrelled past me along the top as I struggled through bog, mire and heather. Dan C was up there too, but Julien just did his "thing" of keeping a relentless pace up on whatever is underfoot. He just disappeared further and further into the distance. Levitation. That's the only explanation I can come up with.

I got the Trig and then started the descent south, meeting Andy A and Andy O who were going Anti-clockwise around, making good time, and then, POW. Stitch.
I couldn't run, I could barely breathe or walk and was making some pretty spectacular noises. Rob Taylor, who was around the same area made sure that I wasn't about to keel over, and John Boyle zoomed past us at a rate of knots.

Wandering back to the pub

And I limped and hobbled my way down toward the next point. It was going well, my navigation had been excellent, (though decision making wasn't quite as spectacular), and I was running ok, but the constant lifting legs over heather while breathing heavily was taking a real toll on my hip flexors.

Matt D, having won a prize on Short score

Got to the next point and then found the pipeline across the top, which was heather free, and I managed a shuffling run round the Knarr. Down and up Arnfield clough to the shooting cabin, still nursing a bit of pain in my diaphragm, and then a final (relatively) slow run off the hill back to the Bull.

1 hour 50 mins or so. The winner was Tom Brunt in just over 1.5 hours. Impressive. So that puts me in about the normal place I would have expected to be in terms of time. Not disappointed with that, but a bit annoyed that the stitch came back.

The Food at the end was delicious, and the craic in the pub was excellent. A superb turn out from a decent number of clubs, and I'm off out tomorrow to collect some of the kites for Des.
A good day out was had by all, and thanks to Lynne for the photos.

And a race report wouldn't be complete without a picture of Brae. 

Postscript - as it turns out I was 8th out of 43. Not too bad considering the stitch, but annoying nevertheless.