After that last post, I dont want to seem like I am going to become obsessed with numbers. The enjoyment of a sport can be dampened by the participants thirst for making the numbers better. How fast they are going, how many calories they are burning etc.
As soon as running and biking stops becoming the main priority- as soon as I am going out only for numbers, that is when I am going to stop using my watch. That is the point where it gets silly.
For the moment, I intend to use numbers as a guide, to show me when I am getting faster, but the over-riding principle is, the activity itself has to remain fun.
In that vein, I went out on my second run of the week today, up over Bleaklow, again not really looking at numbers, (I have to admit here that I havent started the Heart rate monitoring yet- I'm only using it as a retrospective tool) and just ran across the moor and back again.
It was misty and claggy, I saw no-one else, save a couple of sheep and a couple of Hares which are half grey and half white at the moment. Picked out a couple of trods that I've never seen or been along before and had a rather fantastic time. As I came back over the top, the mist lifted and the entire hill was in view, the sun was out in places, and there was a great atmosphere, I need to start running with a camera more.
I must hasten to add that I fell over 5 times, which wouldn't really have done a camera much good. It would seem that its got a bit wet and slippy for Roclites. If you are up on the tops in anything less than something with a ridiculous amount of grip- take care, and be ready to fall.
Baregrips are the way forward for the time being.
Unless I see my way to getting a pair of Mudclaws... mmmm. More stuff to break.
Showing posts with label roclite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roclite. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Bog bashing to Hope
The morning saw Lynne and I over at Chew Valley hiding in holes in bivvy bags waiting for SARDA (search and rescue dog association) dogs to find us. All part of a training session for handlers and their dogs from various Mountain Rescue Teams from around the country. I sat there in my Lamina 35 and a Rab Storm Bivvy Bag and stayed dry and warm for a good few hours with 3 lots of dogs finding me.
The Storm bivvy beaded well- as you would expect for something just out of the bag on its first use, though the top of the Lamina got a bit damp around the top- mostly from moisture from my respiration in the Bivi bag.
Glad I had a synthetic bag not a down one that would have lost a lot of insulation almost immediately.
So we stayed there for a few hours, helping them out by lying in holes and, in my case, having a bit of a kip.
The afternoon needed a bit more of an active tilt, and as we were due over in Hope for the evening, and I have kind of volunteered my services for a High Peak Marathon bid, I thought it might be nice to have a look at a bit of the route I don't know- which goes from the trig at Brown Knoll in a South Easterly direction to Rushup edge and along to Hollins Cross. I decided to head up over from Hayfield rather than from Glossop, as I really didn't fancy the trog along the side of Kinder which I know pretty well anyway, and the clag was really down, so there was little chance of seeing anything up there apart from cloud.
Cloudbase was somewhere around 430m or so- the vast majority of the hill was totally obscured, and it was heavy fog (known by less optimistic people by drizzle), as I don't yet own any of the lightweight waterproof jackets which are on my list, I put on my Dragon Jacket- with windstopper membrane- not waterproof, but very windproof and certainly enough for the weather.
The first part of the run just went up into the cloud base, but its a route that I've done before, so all I needed to really worry about was temperature regulation. Feet were wet within seconds, but were kept warm with the somewhat thick Teko Wool socks that I had on.
I had a bit of a dilemma with the shoe choice, yes, it was going to be muddy and slippy, but there were also parts of the run that went along bridle ways as well. Baregrips would have been an ideal choice, but I'm just not comfortable enough running along hard ground in them, so Roclites it was instead. Grippy to a point, but more comfortable along harder ground.
I was certainly happy I had the Roclites on as I toiled my way up the bridleway to Edale Cross, rocky and gnarly, basically looking like the bottom of a river bed. At times I was ankle deep in water, but thats all part of the fun.
Passing Edale Cross, I hit the path crossing the bridleway and went south, with the wind hitting me from the west. Underfoot changed to flat paving slabs across the moor, just like the rest of the bridleway over across Bleaklow. I followed this for a while again being glad of the Roclites, and then I had to turn off the slabs and onto bog proper in order to get to the Trig point. I took a bearing and followed that, though to be honest, all I really needed to do was follow the muddy boggy trail of footprints in the vaguely correct direction. There was a little bit of confusion as I got to a place that was basically a massive grough, but thankfully, I had gone this way before, on the 15 trigs, and was able to pick my way directly to the Trig point.
The Trig point was ankle deep in water, so I stood there, took another bearing, sighted through the mist and cloud, and worked out what kind of direction I was going in. Also- time for a quick snack. I bought some Torq bars the other day, there are 4 flavours, apparently divided into 1, 2, 3 and 4. I broke out the 1- which is Tangy Apricot. The website says that its a "moist and chewy energy bar // with TORQ ribose. Made with Fairly Traded fruit. Very low in fat. Easy to eat."
Well, I broke it in half and stored some for later, and yes, its moist and chewy, but I would certainly not call it easy to eat, especially on the move- but a little more on that later as I have more problems with it later in the run as I was trying to eat it while running.
Off I trotted, away from the trig point into the cloud, following a very well defined path along the moor. This was perfect territory for Baregrips, but unfortunately, as previously mentioned, I wasn't wearing them. So I pounded through some rather bog-tastic terrain, mostly with decent grip, but also slipping and sliding a fair amount. The worst bit was keeping running momentum going as I disappeared shin deep into sucking mud. It was like trying to run with my legs half bent instead of straight, which was fairly amusing, and quite tiring. I only nearly twisted my ankle once, and got out of it by going with the fall and rolling into a pile of muddy peat. Up again, and on and on. With the cloud down as it was, it was almost like running forever in a landscape where time had no meaning, but eventually, my bearing following got me to exactly where I wanted to be. Hang a right and a left, and I was on the bridleway over Rushup edge.
Once more, now off the bog, I was happy with the shoe choice, and that pretty much continued all the way to the end. Up over Lords seat I picked up the pace a bit and had a glorious run through the rain with an ocean of cloud around me. I thrashed over to the road into Edale, crossed it, seeing a party of somewhat bedraggled and not entirely happy "youths" being led by an equally bedraggled leader up to the top of Mam tor.
I thought about going that way as well but being on a recce, I figure that following the plan was the best idea, so off contouring around the hill on the Bridleway and down the hill to Hollins cross. All good fun, but again, partially on flagstones, not my favourite thing to have underfoot.
From Hollins Cross I went along the ridge, and on my way up to Lose hill I thought I'd have the rest of the Torq bar. Used to being able to eat and run at the same time I started to tuck in. And succeeded in nearly choking myself to death. The amount of chewing you need to do to make the food into manageable pieces to swallow, even from a bite sized piece is unbelievable. By the time I finally managed to finish it I was so out of breath from trying to eat the damn thing I was nearly stopped. Not the greatest advert for an energy food. I wonder what numbers 2,3 and 4 are going to be like? Probably the same. It was just too chewy for its own good, and I certainly didn't feel any better than had I had a Geobar.
Up and over Lose hill, had a couple of route finding issues coming off the hill as I wanted to end up in Hope. Having gone up the hill a number of times, I can do that, but coming down in the mist was a little more amusing. I think I shall do a few more runs around there to make sure I know quite what I'm doing.
I ended up in Hope pretty much bang on 2 hours after I left Hayfield. A tad muddy, a little tired, but with my need for exercise a bit sated.
Today is a rest, recuperation and washing day.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, I didn't have a camera, and to be honest, it was a bit nasty up there and I didn't have time to take any. As a consolation, I do have a garmin track for it. I've taken to putting it in the back of the rucksac and hoping it does its thing, as wearing it on the wrist is a complete waste of time. (see my recent garmin blog). Here is the track
The Storm bivvy beaded well- as you would expect for something just out of the bag on its first use, though the top of the Lamina got a bit damp around the top- mostly from moisture from my respiration in the Bivi bag.
Glad I had a synthetic bag not a down one that would have lost a lot of insulation almost immediately.
So we stayed there for a few hours, helping them out by lying in holes and, in my case, having a bit of a kip.
The afternoon needed a bit more of an active tilt, and as we were due over in Hope for the evening, and I have kind of volunteered my services for a High Peak Marathon bid, I thought it might be nice to have a look at a bit of the route I don't know- which goes from the trig at Brown Knoll in a South Easterly direction to Rushup edge and along to Hollins Cross. I decided to head up over from Hayfield rather than from Glossop, as I really didn't fancy the trog along the side of Kinder which I know pretty well anyway, and the clag was really down, so there was little chance of seeing anything up there apart from cloud.
Cloudbase was somewhere around 430m or so- the vast majority of the hill was totally obscured, and it was heavy fog (known by less optimistic people by drizzle), as I don't yet own any of the lightweight waterproof jackets which are on my list, I put on my Dragon Jacket- with windstopper membrane- not waterproof, but very windproof and certainly enough for the weather.
The first part of the run just went up into the cloud base, but its a route that I've done before, so all I needed to really worry about was temperature regulation. Feet were wet within seconds, but were kept warm with the somewhat thick Teko Wool socks that I had on.
I had a bit of a dilemma with the shoe choice, yes, it was going to be muddy and slippy, but there were also parts of the run that went along bridle ways as well. Baregrips would have been an ideal choice, but I'm just not comfortable enough running along hard ground in them, so Roclites it was instead. Grippy to a point, but more comfortable along harder ground.
I was certainly happy I had the Roclites on as I toiled my way up the bridleway to Edale Cross, rocky and gnarly, basically looking like the bottom of a river bed. At times I was ankle deep in water, but thats all part of the fun.
Passing Edale Cross, I hit the path crossing the bridleway and went south, with the wind hitting me from the west. Underfoot changed to flat paving slabs across the moor, just like the rest of the bridleway over across Bleaklow. I followed this for a while again being glad of the Roclites, and then I had to turn off the slabs and onto bog proper in order to get to the Trig point. I took a bearing and followed that, though to be honest, all I really needed to do was follow the muddy boggy trail of footprints in the vaguely correct direction. There was a little bit of confusion as I got to a place that was basically a massive grough, but thankfully, I had gone this way before, on the 15 trigs, and was able to pick my way directly to the Trig point.
The Trig point was ankle deep in water, so I stood there, took another bearing, sighted through the mist and cloud, and worked out what kind of direction I was going in. Also- time for a quick snack. I bought some Torq bars the other day, there are 4 flavours, apparently divided into 1, 2, 3 and 4. I broke out the 1- which is Tangy Apricot. The website says that its a "moist and chewy energy bar // with TORQ ribose. Made with Fairly Traded fruit. Very low in fat. Easy to eat."
Well, I broke it in half and stored some for later, and yes, its moist and chewy, but I would certainly not call it easy to eat, especially on the move- but a little more on that later as I have more problems with it later in the run as I was trying to eat it while running.
Off I trotted, away from the trig point into the cloud, following a very well defined path along the moor. This was perfect territory for Baregrips, but unfortunately, as previously mentioned, I wasn't wearing them. So I pounded through some rather bog-tastic terrain, mostly with decent grip, but also slipping and sliding a fair amount. The worst bit was keeping running momentum going as I disappeared shin deep into sucking mud. It was like trying to run with my legs half bent instead of straight, which was fairly amusing, and quite tiring. I only nearly twisted my ankle once, and got out of it by going with the fall and rolling into a pile of muddy peat. Up again, and on and on. With the cloud down as it was, it was almost like running forever in a landscape where time had no meaning, but eventually, my bearing following got me to exactly where I wanted to be. Hang a right and a left, and I was on the bridleway over Rushup edge.
Once more, now off the bog, I was happy with the shoe choice, and that pretty much continued all the way to the end. Up over Lords seat I picked up the pace a bit and had a glorious run through the rain with an ocean of cloud around me. I thrashed over to the road into Edale, crossed it, seeing a party of somewhat bedraggled and not entirely happy "youths" being led by an equally bedraggled leader up to the top of Mam tor.
I thought about going that way as well but being on a recce, I figure that following the plan was the best idea, so off contouring around the hill on the Bridleway and down the hill to Hollins cross. All good fun, but again, partially on flagstones, not my favourite thing to have underfoot.
From Hollins Cross I went along the ridge, and on my way up to Lose hill I thought I'd have the rest of the Torq bar. Used to being able to eat and run at the same time I started to tuck in. And succeeded in nearly choking myself to death. The amount of chewing you need to do to make the food into manageable pieces to swallow, even from a bite sized piece is unbelievable. By the time I finally managed to finish it I was so out of breath from trying to eat the damn thing I was nearly stopped. Not the greatest advert for an energy food. I wonder what numbers 2,3 and 4 are going to be like? Probably the same. It was just too chewy for its own good, and I certainly didn't feel any better than had I had a Geobar.
Up and over Lose hill, had a couple of route finding issues coming off the hill as I wanted to end up in Hope. Having gone up the hill a number of times, I can do that, but coming down in the mist was a little more amusing. I think I shall do a few more runs around there to make sure I know quite what I'm doing.
I ended up in Hope pretty much bang on 2 hours after I left Hayfield. A tad muddy, a little tired, but with my need for exercise a bit sated.
Today is a rest, recuperation and washing day.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, I didn't have a camera, and to be honest, it was a bit nasty up there and I didn't have time to take any. As a consolation, I do have a garmin track for it. I've taken to putting it in the back of the rucksac and hoping it does its thing, as wearing it on the wrist is a complete waste of time. (see my recent garmin blog). Here is the track
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Wreck run with IDP
Blowing a hooley this morning, and rain battering against the window. Certainly not conducive to getting up and heading out for a run, especially not with the slightly soggy shoes from last night.
The orginal plan was to go out onto Bleaklow with Ian from Dark Peak (IDP) and nav around all the aircraft wrecks, that was the plan until we worked out how much running and racing we were both intending on doing in the surrounding couple of weeks.
An alternative plan was hatched that we would do a few of them, and then this morning it seemed like the apocalyse had come, I went for a run last night and I was feeling a bit like I really didn't want to go out.
IDP on the phone convinced me that it would be lovely to meet at the Blacks and head out up the moor to find a couple of the wrecks up that way. He was meant to be leading out on a run this evening, so it was going to be relatively easy going. Perfect. I'll get me kit on then.
The weather was changing from relatively sunny and bright to hammering down with rain (sometimes horizontal) and force 4-6, apparently gusting up to 7+ on the tops. Right. So a pertex top might not quite be warm enough, Windstopper is probably the way forward, so the Dragon Jacket it is then, and a vaguely waterproof layer of a pertex Litespeed jacket in the bumbag just in case it gets really really nasty as a spare layer.
Shorts or tights? C'mon, its still "summer". Shorts all the way.
We met up over at the Blacks and had a rather good run up onto the moor. The peat was slippy, but he had no more grip in his old Mudclaw 330s than I did in my Roclites- for the majority of the time anyway. I felt that the 2litre bum bag was just a tad small for what I needed, basically because I can't fit a full size map in there, or water, which would have been useful.
Having said that, a 3litre bag wouldnt be able to fit a map in either...
We went past 2 wrecks and followed a few trods that are used for the High Peak Marathon. Good to see places where they lead, even if, with the cloud down, you couldn't really see where they were coming from or going to...
After going up Near Black clough we went skirted over a fair amount of moorland, and then came back down Far Black Clough. My Dragon Jacket held up well, despite some periods of driving rain, and the underarm vents were most useful- as ever, a good choice, even though its meant for very cold mountainous conditions.
Ian had the Kamelika Smock and sung its praises. The fabric is very good, breathable and stretchy, and certainly nowhere near as expensive as an eVent top. He was saying that if it got really really nasty then the Goretex Proshell just gets pulled out. Interesting. We both were still relatively dry despite the changable and ocassionally foul conditions.
A delightful run was finished off with a bit of a stream crossing which cleaned off the shoes, and even though the Garmin was fine up until that point, I managed to turn it off as we got out- I suspect that it was a bending back of the wrist that did it this time, as opposed to it spontaneously switching off.... so I'm going to have to keep an eye on it. (Its odd, lots of people are obssessed with stats on the run, I barely look at the watch when I'm out, hence why I'm always astonished when I get to the end of a run and its not on).
The track of the day is here, I didnt have a camera, the bag wasnt big enough, so I don't have any delightful shots of a misty and wind blown Bleaklow. Next time maybe.
The orginal plan was to go out onto Bleaklow with Ian from Dark Peak (IDP) and nav around all the aircraft wrecks, that was the plan until we worked out how much running and racing we were both intending on doing in the surrounding couple of weeks.
An alternative plan was hatched that we would do a few of them, and then this morning it seemed like the apocalyse had come, I went for a run last night and I was feeling a bit like I really didn't want to go out.
IDP on the phone convinced me that it would be lovely to meet at the Blacks and head out up the moor to find a couple of the wrecks up that way. He was meant to be leading out on a run this evening, so it was going to be relatively easy going. Perfect. I'll get me kit on then.
The weather was changing from relatively sunny and bright to hammering down with rain (sometimes horizontal) and force 4-6, apparently gusting up to 7+ on the tops. Right. So a pertex top might not quite be warm enough, Windstopper is probably the way forward, so the Dragon Jacket it is then, and a vaguely waterproof layer of a pertex Litespeed jacket in the bumbag just in case it gets really really nasty as a spare layer.
Shorts or tights? C'mon, its still "summer". Shorts all the way.
We met up over at the Blacks and had a rather good run up onto the moor. The peat was slippy, but he had no more grip in his old Mudclaw 330s than I did in my Roclites- for the majority of the time anyway. I felt that the 2litre bum bag was just a tad small for what I needed, basically because I can't fit a full size map in there, or water, which would have been useful.
Having said that, a 3litre bag wouldnt be able to fit a map in either...
We went past 2 wrecks and followed a few trods that are used for the High Peak Marathon. Good to see places where they lead, even if, with the cloud down, you couldn't really see where they were coming from or going to...
After going up Near Black clough we went skirted over a fair amount of moorland, and then came back down Far Black Clough. My Dragon Jacket held up well, despite some periods of driving rain, and the underarm vents were most useful- as ever, a good choice, even though its meant for very cold mountainous conditions.
Ian had the Kamelika Smock and sung its praises. The fabric is very good, breathable and stretchy, and certainly nowhere near as expensive as an eVent top. He was saying that if it got really really nasty then the Goretex Proshell just gets pulled out. Interesting. We both were still relatively dry despite the changable and ocassionally foul conditions.
A delightful run was finished off with a bit of a stream crossing which cleaned off the shoes, and even though the Garmin was fine up until that point, I managed to turn it off as we got out- I suspect that it was a bending back of the wrist that did it this time, as opposed to it spontaneously switching off.... so I'm going to have to keep an eye on it. (Its odd, lots of people are obssessed with stats on the run, I barely look at the watch when I'm out, hence why I'm always astonished when I get to the end of a run and its not on).
The track of the day is here, I didnt have a camera, the bag wasnt big enough, so I don't have any delightful shots of a misty and wind blown Bleaklow. Next time maybe.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Quick run
On Tuesday I decided that I needed to go for a quick run to make sure that my legs still worked. Having not run since a couple of weeks ago, and having last week off because of the osteo (I asked if I could run that evening or that week and he replied I could if I was an idiot).
So I refrained.
Lynne went off around Shire Hill and I thought I'd have a quick run up to Shelf Benches and back, nothing strenuous, just a bit of a run really.
We started off together and ran up through the trees on the road side of Shirehill, then over into Mossy Lea where we split and I went up while she went down. I kept a decent speed on up the hill. Having watched the BBC programme on the Jura Fell Race, and a seeing a clip of one of the current Ultra Champions from the US, it struck me just how easy they make going uphill appear. None of this struggling stuff, just good, economic motion and power in spades.
So I thought I'd try to emulate it a bit, and got up to Shelf Benches relatively well, enjoying the weather and the location.
I was wearing a helly top and some CW-X tights... the helly came off pretty quickly after the ascent began, and stayed off for the remainder of the run. The tights are quite old and have a couple of holes in them, so it wasn't too bad wearing them, but it did get a little warm, it has to be said.
I felt good on Shelf Benches, so decided to carry on going up and over onto Shelf moor, but not straning myself, walking where necessary, and not running the whole way up. I didn't want to wear myself out for the race tomorrow. Going up the hill onto the moor I stopped to look at the view going back down the hill, across to Kinder, and down into Glossop several times.
I'm SO glad that I no longer live in London. It was one of those moments where you are just happy with your lot in life.
Delightful.
I wandered my way up, and then turned North West(ish) across the moor/bog to the top of Yellowslacks in order to get round to Dog Rock (the down-up approach was not a consideration today, but will be used as a training route in the not so distant future!) It was going across the moor that I found out that not everything that looks like a trod is in fact a trod. Some of them are lines in the soil where streams have eroded through the peat and are slightly covered over knee deep linear traps for the unwary. I only went over once, but that was enough to make me pretty careful about where I was putting my feet.
Across the trackless moor, down and across the stream, up the other side and a hard left down the track to Dog Rock. Bouncy peat now the order of the day, the terrain would have suited the Baregrips much more than the Roclites that I was wearing, but not to worry.
I took the descent fairly conservatively, letting my feet do the route taking, not wanting to twist an ankle (well, not that that I want to twist an ankle anyway...) I felt my ankles giving way a couple of times on dodgy ground, but my body, under self-control always seems to self right itself and I just carry on running with no issue. Its odd when I think about the amount of people that seem to twist their ankles on almost a daily basis on a seemingly innocuous flat piece of ground, and here I am running across what could only be described as very patchy and broken ground with added heather, and I can feel the ankle beginning to turn, there is enough time to get some power out of the stride before the foot is taken out of the equation and the chance of injury seems to go. Maybe its down to speed of reation of the peroneal muscles to potential twisting territory, I'll read up on that.
Down Yellowslacks, down lightside, and I see the first people since I split off from Lynne. Down the hill, and onto the path. A quiet jog to the bridge and I walk up the hill to Shire hill, and run down the other side.
I don't THINK I've overdone it, my legs are feeling pretty good, but I have been out for an hour, and I did q bit of a significant hill.
Ah well, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
The route and stats can be seen here
So I refrained.
Lynne went off around Shire Hill and I thought I'd have a quick run up to Shelf Benches and back, nothing strenuous, just a bit of a run really.
We started off together and ran up through the trees on the road side of Shirehill, then over into Mossy Lea where we split and I went up while she went down. I kept a decent speed on up the hill. Having watched the BBC programme on the Jura Fell Race, and a seeing a clip of one of the current Ultra Champions from the US, it struck me just how easy they make going uphill appear. None of this struggling stuff, just good, economic motion and power in spades.
So I thought I'd try to emulate it a bit, and got up to Shelf Benches relatively well, enjoying the weather and the location.
I was wearing a helly top and some CW-X tights... the helly came off pretty quickly after the ascent began, and stayed off for the remainder of the run. The tights are quite old and have a couple of holes in them, so it wasn't too bad wearing them, but it did get a little warm, it has to be said.
I felt good on Shelf Benches, so decided to carry on going up and over onto Shelf moor, but not straning myself, walking where necessary, and not running the whole way up. I didn't want to wear myself out for the race tomorrow. Going up the hill onto the moor I stopped to look at the view going back down the hill, across to Kinder, and down into Glossop several times.
I'm SO glad that I no longer live in London. It was one of those moments where you are just happy with your lot in life.
Delightful.
I wandered my way up, and then turned North West(ish) across the moor/bog to the top of Yellowslacks in order to get round to Dog Rock (the down-up approach was not a consideration today, but will be used as a training route in the not so distant future!) It was going across the moor that I found out that not everything that looks like a trod is in fact a trod. Some of them are lines in the soil where streams have eroded through the peat and are slightly covered over knee deep linear traps for the unwary. I only went over once, but that was enough to make me pretty careful about where I was putting my feet.
Across the trackless moor, down and across the stream, up the other side and a hard left down the track to Dog Rock. Bouncy peat now the order of the day, the terrain would have suited the Baregrips much more than the Roclites that I was wearing, but not to worry.
I took the descent fairly conservatively, letting my feet do the route taking, not wanting to twist an ankle (well, not that that I want to twist an ankle anyway...) I felt my ankles giving way a couple of times on dodgy ground, but my body, under self-control always seems to self right itself and I just carry on running with no issue. Its odd when I think about the amount of people that seem to twist their ankles on almost a daily basis on a seemingly innocuous flat piece of ground, and here I am running across what could only be described as very patchy and broken ground with added heather, and I can feel the ankle beginning to turn, there is enough time to get some power out of the stride before the foot is taken out of the equation and the chance of injury seems to go. Maybe its down to speed of reation of the peroneal muscles to potential twisting territory, I'll read up on that.
Down Yellowslacks, down lightside, and I see the first people since I split off from Lynne. Down the hill, and onto the path. A quiet jog to the bridge and I walk up the hill to Shire hill, and run down the other side.
I don't THINK I've overdone it, my legs are feeling pretty good, but I have been out for an hour, and I did q bit of a significant hill.
Ah well, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
The route and stats can be seen here
Friday, 5 August 2011
Inov8 268 destroyed
Its been a while since this happened, but as I've run a couple of races in my new ones, I figured I should post a couple of thoughts on the shoes that I have used for the vast majority of my offroad running in the past year or so, Inov8 roclite 268.
Yes, I know its a girls shoe, but they fit me better than the guys ones, and when they're covered in mud, you barely notice the fact they are blue and grey. They are more... bog coloured.
I have no idea how many miles I ran in them, I don't tend to keep count of distance over long periods of time. However, they have definitely done 2 12 hour and a 24 hour adventure race, a good number of "hill" sessions in Greenwich park, 6 actual races, and a decent amount of training runs in the Peak district.
Over the year they have proved to be an excellent choice for the occasional raid onto tarmac, with enough padding that the lugs aren't forced into your feet, very good on shorter, muddier races, comfortable on ridiculously long days out over peat, bog, road and moor and versatile enough to adventure race in without needing to change once. They drain pretty well, lock around my feet well, and the uppers didn't start deteriorating until the last run I did with them, well over a year after buying them.
They were still fine when I got to Glossop about 4 months ago. Still grippy, I was confident on ascents and descents, off cambers weren't an issue, and I could tear it up on whatever ground I came across.
However, on Kinder Trog I found myself losing grip, falling over (7 times at least) even on fairly tame ground. At that time I thought it was because I was knackered. A long race, ok, not over particularly dodgy terrain, but it felt long, I wasn't hydrated or eating enough- it could well be down to human error. However, I couldn't quite shake that nagging feeling that the shoes I was wearing weren't quite giving me the grip and confidence that I once had.
I ignored it for the time, but next time I went out with the Harriers, Jules, Mark and I went out over to Chew res'r, the terrain was totally different to that on Kinder, boggy moorland, splashing through stuff and generally beautiful.
But.
I was slipping all over the place. This isn't me losing my mojo, its got to be to do with the shoes. A quick conversation with Jules confirmed this. Neither of us is particularly keen on replacing shoes every few months, but when things are going downhill because of the wear on the bottom of the shoe, that can't be a good thing. Imagine getting injured because your kit needs replacing. Bummer.
However, I didn't get around to ordering a new pair before the 15 trigs which is where I ended up properly breaking them.
It was about 18miles into the 55miler, just coming up to Bamford Edge, bashing through heather and bracken. As we got to the top of the climb and onto the Edge to the Trig point, I looked down and noticed that one section where the laces attach to the shoe no longer attached. Damn. Ah well, I've seen worse.
I tightened them up and we carried on.
To be fair, the shoes performed admirably despit being slightly jury rigged and having next to no actual grip on the bottom. Yes, I have seen shoes with less knobbles on the bottom- but the roclites felt particularly slippery.
(as a side note here in terms of grippy and slippy shoes, I adventure raced for about 3 years in a pair of Salomon XA pros, which don't appear to have much grip on the bottom in the first place. They were surprisingly grippy on everything I came across. Even after 3 years, and with basically bare rubber with no knobbly bits on the underside, I was still running around in them quite happily, only really slipping on horrendous muddy, boggy banks. I have to say I was quite impressed)
So anyway, as they say, pictures speak louder than words, so I'll just show you how then ended up. A year or so down the line from being bought. All things considered, thats not too bad for a pair of shoes, especially as my Baregrips appear to be getting holes in them despite being on my feet only about 10 times, but more about that in a later blog.
So they served me well. I bought the same shoes to replace them, because they fit well in that size. I can feel my big toe just against the end as I head down hills, but my feet are held in them really quite well- where as the shoes like the Mudrocs and baregrips just seem to be a little too... long really. I can still run in them, but these roclites have just enough padding to make road running bearable, and enough grip to launch me down hill after people who can climb faster than me, with enough confidence to know I won't fall over.
Until a years time when the grip goes again.
A good compromise between crazy light shoes that seem to die fast, and clunky unresponsive shoes that feel like lead weights.
Yes, I know its a girls shoe, but they fit me better than the guys ones, and when they're covered in mud, you barely notice the fact they are blue and grey. They are more... bog coloured.
I have no idea how many miles I ran in them, I don't tend to keep count of distance over long periods of time. However, they have definitely done 2 12 hour and a 24 hour adventure race, a good number of "hill" sessions in Greenwich park, 6 actual races, and a decent amount of training runs in the Peak district.
Over the year they have proved to be an excellent choice for the occasional raid onto tarmac, with enough padding that the lugs aren't forced into your feet, very good on shorter, muddier races, comfortable on ridiculously long days out over peat, bog, road and moor and versatile enough to adventure race in without needing to change once. They drain pretty well, lock around my feet well, and the uppers didn't start deteriorating until the last run I did with them, well over a year after buying them.
They were still fine when I got to Glossop about 4 months ago. Still grippy, I was confident on ascents and descents, off cambers weren't an issue, and I could tear it up on whatever ground I came across.
However, on Kinder Trog I found myself losing grip, falling over (7 times at least) even on fairly tame ground. At that time I thought it was because I was knackered. A long race, ok, not over particularly dodgy terrain, but it felt long, I wasn't hydrated or eating enough- it could well be down to human error. However, I couldn't quite shake that nagging feeling that the shoes I was wearing weren't quite giving me the grip and confidence that I once had.
I ignored it for the time, but next time I went out with the Harriers, Jules, Mark and I went out over to Chew res'r, the terrain was totally different to that on Kinder, boggy moorland, splashing through stuff and generally beautiful.
But.
I was slipping all over the place. This isn't me losing my mojo, its got to be to do with the shoes. A quick conversation with Jules confirmed this. Neither of us is particularly keen on replacing shoes every few months, but when things are going downhill because of the wear on the bottom of the shoe, that can't be a good thing. Imagine getting injured because your kit needs replacing. Bummer.
However, I didn't get around to ordering a new pair before the 15 trigs which is where I ended up properly breaking them.
It was about 18miles into the 55miler, just coming up to Bamford Edge, bashing through heather and bracken. As we got to the top of the climb and onto the Edge to the Trig point, I looked down and noticed that one section where the laces attach to the shoe no longer attached. Damn. Ah well, I've seen worse.
I tightened them up and we carried on.
To be fair, the shoes performed admirably despit being slightly jury rigged and having next to no actual grip on the bottom. Yes, I have seen shoes with less knobbles on the bottom- but the roclites felt particularly slippery.
(as a side note here in terms of grippy and slippy shoes, I adventure raced for about 3 years in a pair of Salomon XA pros, which don't appear to have much grip on the bottom in the first place. They were surprisingly grippy on everything I came across. Even after 3 years, and with basically bare rubber with no knobbly bits on the underside, I was still running around in them quite happily, only really slipping on horrendous muddy, boggy banks. I have to say I was quite impressed)
So anyway, as they say, pictures speak louder than words, so I'll just show you how then ended up. A year or so down the line from being bought. All things considered, thats not too bad for a pair of shoes, especially as my Baregrips appear to be getting holes in them despite being on my feet only about 10 times, but more about that in a later blog.
 |
| The offending lace tie that bust on me, going through some heather. The shoe still held onto my foot for the rest of the 55 miles though, and to no ill effect in terms of rubbing or blistering. |
 |
| The material only JUST going at the toe, despite being worn quite a lot. My Baregrips are going there already and I've barely even worn the things- I think in the future all inov8s I buy will be around the 300gram mark. |
 |
| The "grip" on the base of the shoes. Yes, there are lugs on there, but have a look at the next couple of photos. |
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| Brand new 268s on the left, Girlfriends in the middle (been used a bit) and the broken ones on the right. You can see the break down of the rubber on the "fascia band" strips on the far right. There are a couple more photos below showing the detail on the grips. |
 |
| The Broked ones. Rounded lugs, chipped rubber, general ice skates. |
 |
| Brand new grippy ones. I had no idea I was missing that much grip. Explains quite a lot. Mind you, if you can run well in inov8s that are old and slippy, imagine what you can do in brand new grippy ones. |
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| Again, brand new on the left, broked on the right and mid way through in the middle. The brand new ones have lugs that are a bit deeper, but I think it might be the lack of sharpness around each of the lugs which really cause the massive lack of traction. I might try cutting the lugs of the old ones to make them "sharper" and see if it makes any difference. You never know. |
Until a years time when the grip goes again.
A good compromise between crazy light shoes that seem to die fast, and clunky unresponsive shoes that feel like lead weights.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
out with the harriers
Quick burn with the Harriers last night as a try out and see if my legs were recovering as well as I thought. Only a few hours after the Burpee Breathing ladder, which began the frying of my legs, the charge up to Kinder Downfall certain killed them off.
Pace was set rather fast on the first part, I wasn't sure if it was my legs still being knackered, or if it was just a really fast pace. I'd like to think it was the former, but am a bit worried that it might be the latter! An overall pace of 8mins per km, which includes all the stops for catch ups etc, means that a decent pace was kept up for pretty much the entire circuit, which was good- although my legs felt heavy, I could still generally keep the pace up, which was encouraging. As I've had to consign my Roclites to the bin, the Baregrips came out with a vengeance. They were perfect for the long peaty descent, and were a dream even scrambling up the river to Kinder Downfall. I'm still getting used to the remarkable thinness of the soles on sharp rocky ground though...
Today is a day of rest- though I'm going over to Rockover for work (and a bit of climbing) later on, so thats my recovery for the day- Tomorrow is another recovery day, but focussing on unweighted movements, which should be fun.
In the meantime, the Garmin track for yesterday can be found here
Pace was set rather fast on the first part, I wasn't sure if it was my legs still being knackered, or if it was just a really fast pace. I'd like to think it was the former, but am a bit worried that it might be the latter! An overall pace of 8mins per km, which includes all the stops for catch ups etc, means that a decent pace was kept up for pretty much the entire circuit, which was good- although my legs felt heavy, I could still generally keep the pace up, which was encouraging. As I've had to consign my Roclites to the bin, the Baregrips came out with a vengeance. They were perfect for the long peaty descent, and were a dream even scrambling up the river to Kinder Downfall. I'm still getting used to the remarkable thinness of the soles on sharp rocky ground though...
Today is a day of rest- though I'm going over to Rockover for work (and a bit of climbing) later on, so thats my recovery for the day- Tomorrow is another recovery day, but focussing on unweighted movements, which should be fun.
In the meantime, the Garmin track for yesterday can be found here
Friday, 24 June 2011
Out with the Harriers
Went out for a run with a somewhat diminished group of Harriers on Tuesday for a midsummer run. Reasons for being diminished were probably 2 fold- firstly the Kinder Trog at the weekend was probably still in a number of legs- it certainly felt like it for me- but I didn't realise until half way up the first hill, and also on Wednesday was Round the Resers race, which is a midweek counter, so a lot of people wanted good times for that.
So only 6 of us turned up for the run, it turned out that we were going clockwise around the circuit, which meant that the start of the run was up a hill directly up to Tintwistle quarry. We started off, and about a minute and a half later I was in oxygen debt. I could feel the fatigue in my legs from the Trog at the weekend, and try as I might to tag along behind Julien and Mark- who were idly chatting as they went up the hill, I slowly got dropped, puffing and panting in their wake. It seems that Julien has Wolverine-like recovery abilities and Mark is pretty much the fastest Harrier around at the moment, Im not making excuses, Im just saying.
So we carried on up and over the bogs and round to one of the cloughs where the other 3 opted for the B route- which left me with Julien, Mark a load of bog, aching legs and a slight feeling of forboding about the next hour or so.
Off we headed out toward Featherbed moss, through the peat bogs up Hollins Clough and over to the trig point, several times being nearly tripped up by Brae- the ever present collie. Dry shoes, never an option, we pounded through the bog, and passed a Fir tree in a clough, pretty remote, which is pretty much begging to be decorated come Christmas. Over to the Reservoir at Chew. Then a turn east, I swear that Julien was taking the most circuitous and treacherous route through the groughs that he could possibly find- but I managed to keep in touch as we bog-trotted back.
My inov8s really feel like they are losing their grip- its a wierd feeling and I'm trying to work out if its in my head or if they actually are... they don't seem to be losing it if you look at them, but when I run, its like they are slowly getting slippier. Wierd.
As we came over to the wall on Laddow moss, we saw the familiar shapes of 3 other Harriers who had waited a little too long in the leisure centre (while the rest of us had congregated outside and left), and had decided that they would do the route in an anticlockwise direction. John had brought up some homemade fruit moonshine and a load of plastic shot glasses, and we found a nice sheltered grough to toast Midsummer.
A good touch.
At least I have something to look forward to at midwinter as well!
Then off we went down into Oakenclough brook and down to the bottom of the valley, then back down along a reservoir to the cars.
(where we had a minor issue with the car, a tyre that looked like it had been punctured and a dodgy jack, but it all came good in the end).
As a note to self, its a really bad idea to have Pasta AND a whole garlic and cheese bagette before heading out on a club run. Maybe one or the other, but both may have been a little silly...
Heres the link to the run. We didnt go in the reservoir, I think the map pic might be a tad out....
So only 6 of us turned up for the run, it turned out that we were going clockwise around the circuit, which meant that the start of the run was up a hill directly up to Tintwistle quarry. We started off, and about a minute and a half later I was in oxygen debt. I could feel the fatigue in my legs from the Trog at the weekend, and try as I might to tag along behind Julien and Mark- who were idly chatting as they went up the hill, I slowly got dropped, puffing and panting in their wake. It seems that Julien has Wolverine-like recovery abilities and Mark is pretty much the fastest Harrier around at the moment, Im not making excuses, Im just saying.
So we carried on up and over the bogs and round to one of the cloughs where the other 3 opted for the B route- which left me with Julien, Mark a load of bog, aching legs and a slight feeling of forboding about the next hour or so.
Off we headed out toward Featherbed moss, through the peat bogs up Hollins Clough and over to the trig point, several times being nearly tripped up by Brae- the ever present collie. Dry shoes, never an option, we pounded through the bog, and passed a Fir tree in a clough, pretty remote, which is pretty much begging to be decorated come Christmas. Over to the Reservoir at Chew. Then a turn east, I swear that Julien was taking the most circuitous and treacherous route through the groughs that he could possibly find- but I managed to keep in touch as we bog-trotted back.
My inov8s really feel like they are losing their grip- its a wierd feeling and I'm trying to work out if its in my head or if they actually are... they don't seem to be losing it if you look at them, but when I run, its like they are slowly getting slippier. Wierd.
As we came over to the wall on Laddow moss, we saw the familiar shapes of 3 other Harriers who had waited a little too long in the leisure centre (while the rest of us had congregated outside and left), and had decided that they would do the route in an anticlockwise direction. John had brought up some homemade fruit moonshine and a load of plastic shot glasses, and we found a nice sheltered grough to toast Midsummer.
A good touch.
At least I have something to look forward to at midwinter as well!
Then off we went down into Oakenclough brook and down to the bottom of the valley, then back down along a reservoir to the cars.
(where we had a minor issue with the car, a tyre that looked like it had been punctured and a dodgy jack, but it all came good in the end).
As a note to self, its a really bad idea to have Pasta AND a whole garlic and cheese bagette before heading out on a club run. Maybe one or the other, but both may have been a little silly...
Heres the link to the run. We didnt go in the reservoir, I think the map pic might be a tad out....
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Misty Marple
Maybe this blog should be called mud, blood and sweat.
Headed out for a MTB ride today, over to Marple (on the Misty Marple route from Vertabrate Publishings Dark Peak Mountain bike rides) for a quick 2 hour blast.
I was on my Whyte 901, which has had some front suspension issues in the past- they are Reba Airs, and the air cartridge went after about 200 miles. I took it back and it was replaced, but a friend who has exactly the same bike, and the same issue, has had the replacement replaced because it blew out on him again- just from commuting... so I'm basically just waiting for the forks to go again.
I started the ride in the middle of the route in the book- at the high point. So there was a lot of going down to begin with, which is never a bad thing.
Bearing in mind that I nearly snapped my leg in half (backwards) at the lantern pike race at the weekend (if you haven't read that blog, its over in the GlobalTherapies blog), I am still a little ginger about putting excessive weight through the extended knee. On the way to the beginning of the ride- just going up the road, I thought I could feel the hamstrings tighten a little bit too much, but after a while, they loosened off, and it was all good.
Much hilarity ensued as I came bombing down a track, avoiding puddles, until there was one which really couldnt be avoided- so I thought I'd go straight through it. Nope. Man swallower. It pretty much came up to half way up the wheels. No way was I getting through that one at that speed. Not for the first time was I glad that I had flats, not spds on the mountain bike, that could have ended up a lot more muddy and wet than it did.
I carried on and there weren't too many issues for a while, the descents were only slightly technical, and going along the Goyt way was a pleasant enough experience.
It was only on the second half of the ride that the hills got really interesting.
Cycling up a steep slope, littered with stones and rocks, with step ups every so often, when you're quite tired already make for an interesting problem.
I make no bones of the fact that I'm not a brilliant biker, I certainly couldn't hold my own in an enduro- certainly not in my current state of fitness, and I take my hat off to people that can ride on this stuff non-stop for 12 or 24 hours.
My feet stayed pretty much glued to the pedals- I had the Roclites on- but they still don't feel as secure as the Mudrocs did on the V12s. There must be a very different rubber compound going on there.
On a side note, the V12s, even though they have been used for thousands of miles, through bog, rain, commuting in London etc, and they have long since lost their original colour, they are still going strong, and as my shin bears testament- they are still as spikey as the day they were bought.
Ouch.
I continued on, and back to the gear cave, a delightful route, but with a fair few stoppages for map reading etc. The Garmin says that I spent 2:15 actually moving, and 2:30 for the entire ride- which sounds about right- 15 mins of faff.
Now I've done the route, I think that a sub 2hour blast from home is an easy possibility, though if I do it in muddier conditions, I'm going to be needing some new tyres pretty soon.
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