Ilkley Trail Race

Another lazyish day, but one where I feel I get some karma back - marshaling at Ilkley Trail Race.  I do so many races where other people give their time to stand on street corners clapping, it feels like I ought to do my bit when Harriers put one of their races on.  Now not being so altruistic that I want to freeze to death in the name of athletic endeavour I choose the Trail Race, a late May classic that seems to have decent weather most years.

In order to get some exercise I rode over Halton Heights and Langbar to get to Ilkley, and I must say Langbar's starting to feel ok again - I experimented with sitting down most of the way up the steep bit and only got out of the saddle for the last 50m or so.

Once at the Lido I set about finding Laurence and getting my briefing, which was to untie the gate to "the horse field" (easily identified by the large number of horses in it) then retie it after everyone had gone through.

The weather had improved from yesterday, so whilst it was a bit chilly it wasn't an unpleasant couple of hours, and apart from the sore hands from being "friendly and supportive" (as all the best marshals are) it passed pleasantly enough.

The race was won by Ilkley's Tom Adams, seen here zooming back down from the moor, and I like to think I gave Steve Coy the verbal boot up the arse he needed to catch Richard Reeve (who must be getting a bit sick of being caught on the line, as it was he I stealth sprinted past at Rothwell).

Back down to the Lido for a brew and a sausage butty, then a ride home into the stiff breeze brought up 25 miles at 15mph average and a boost to my self-esteem.  Bike ride with the kids today, then probably a few miles later in the day.

A run home and Parkrun en famille

After my 8m effort on Wednesday I wasn't sure what to do Thursday, but in the end the diary intervened and no chance to run at lunch meant I would have to go at the end of the day.  I decided that I needed to get back to doing a few miles, so as the weather was fair I got The Herb to drive my car home and determined to run to his house at the bottom of the village - about 13m.

I didn't get away til 5:15, so called K (who had a rounders match) and said I'd do my best to be home just after 7.  I'm not sure what sort of hole there is in the space-time continuum somewhere on the stairs in Crossflatts, but it was actually 5:30 when I started running.

Conditions were great, and apart from an altercation with a yappy dog owner (see what I did there?  You're not sure which one was yappy - both!) I had a great run along to the end of the cycle track.  I decided that I was going to stick with the hard stuff, so ran along "my" lane to Silsden and then over the hill to Kildwick.  Having said it's not bad on a bike, it's a long way to run, but this was about miles not pace, so I just got my head down and got on with it.

I got back to The Herb's just after 7, with the watch on 1:42, so an average pace of 7:40 which is fine given the hill in the middle.

Yesterday was a stupid o'clock start to London and a beer or two on the way back, so no running.  Then K suggested a family trip to the Parkrun today.  The Herb announced that he and his daughter were running, so amazingly Maisie decided she was running too.  Rebecca (like her father) is tall and athletic-looking, so we decided she'd run with Lily and I'd pootle along with Maisie at the back.  After a couple of hundred yards Becca was walking, so we decided to swap partners and I ran with Lily.  She was going really well today, and managed to run pretty much the whole thing and at a faster pace than previously.

She came in 24th (I think) in a watch time of 26:46, a 1:15 PB and signs of more to come - really enjoyable.  What was also great is that Maisie was enjoying herself and ran all the way back from the top of the steep hill to be a long, long way from last - so well done to her too.  K looked back to form and must've been one of the first women to finish.

A cake 'n' lucozade picnic in the bandstand afterwards made for a great morning.  I'm going to marshall at the Ilkley Trail Race tomorrow, then Hinsley's bailed on the Chester marathon, so will maybe try and get a few miles in on the moor if the weather's nice.

That's more like it.

I know I said I needed a rest, and I did, but when I realised it's a week since I ran - and that was the John Carr 5k - it dawned on me I was in danger of getting out of the habit.  I've been tired, and a few days off has been good, but as I left work tonight I was thinking to myself I could just go home, eat, watch telly, and then get a few miles in after work tomorrow.

But the problem is, that way lies idleness, pies and porkiness.  So once I got home I set off for a run, over towards Halton East without any clear idea of what I was going to do.  I reached Halton East feeling like I'd not done much, so decided to carry on over to Bolton Abbey, and on the way down did toy with the idea of doing 10 or even 12 miles, but in the end I turned with the watch on 4m outside the village hall.

Quite surprised to see I was only a touch over half an hour, and even found the climb back up reasonably straightforward.  Finished with 8m done, in 1:01 so an average pace of 7:35 - which as it never felt hard I think shows I've not lost much fitness. 

I'm supposed to be doing Chester Marathon with Hinsley as a team of two on Monday, but we may decide to take a raincheck if it looks too hot.  May run home from work tomorrow, as the weather looks ok and a nice slow 14 miles will give me a decent workout with plenty of time to recover for Monday.

Some gentle cycle action

After a bit of a hangover yesterday when I did nothing except be mildly grumpy, the weather was so fab today I decided that Something Must Be Done. So having toyed with the idea of a steady run to Bolton Abbey and back I decided to cycle over to watch the ladies of the family run in the Race for Life at Broughton Hall. I wondered about riding via Grassington but the thought of the traffic put me off, so in the end I headed over Halton Heights as usual then took a right at the bottom. I hit 50mph on the descent, showing what a difference no wind makes to confidence, as we struggled to hit 40mph down here last time with a side wind.

Over Langbar, and again I felt pretty good for not having done anything since Wednesday night, then through a horribly busy Ilkley and over Addingham Moorside to Silsden.

I rode over Skipton road to Kildwick, which when I've run over there has felt like quite a substantial hill, but on a bike it's pretty short, then I hit what turned out to be the biggest climb of the day out of Cross Hills. It's actually almost 5m of uphill before the drop down into Elslack, and whilst it's never steep it certainly does go on.

A great drop into Elslack, a chip butty and some pop then I watched Lily and Karen come somewhere in the top 15 or so on what must have been a really tough day to run. Maisie and Auntie Ann strolled in about 15 minutes later, having had a rather less energetic time of it.

I then rode the 5m of so back home, giving just on 35 miles at an average speed of 14mph - but over 3,000' of ascent.

John Carr Race 3 (well, Race 1 for me...)

Finally managed to make the final race of the John Carr 5ks last night, having watched my clubmates knocking out great times for a fortnight - and unfortunately knew from the start it wasn't going to be a great night.  Legs were still really heavy from Sunday's 110 miler, and just felt in need of a rest.  A few desultory strides to try and get some speed up but just felt lethargic and crap.

Set off and tried to stay in touch with Richard.  Then Henry. Then Steve. Then Mark.  However I was quickly 30 yards down and within half a k wishing it was over.  1st k was 3:24, but it's downhill, so the second at 3:38 was just about on my normal pace - however I was already slowing.  3rd and 4th in 3:49 and 3:52, which is slower than 10k pace, although at least Mark Iley had the decency to slow down and give me something to chase, and I did actually pass him on the climb back up.  In the last k I was with a group of about 4 runners, with one guy making a break for home.  Normally I'd have tried to go with him, but the "can't be arsed" feeling was still there and I sat back and waited, thinking I'd maybe try and summon up a sprint right at the end.

I did manage a barely perceptible acceleration at the death, and came in 47th in 18:02 - which is a lot closer to my PB of 17:54 than I felt like I was running, but disappointing all the same as I know I could run a lot quicker on fresh legs - and of course it's the last race of the series.  Having put it into Fetch it shows as a WAVA score of 79.86%, so respectable without being quite what I hoped for.

I really think I need a week without any big endurance sapping efforts, and also to get back to some speedwork and structure.  It's all been effort/recover since Blackpool, so I think a weekend with a gentle bike ride and maybe a 7 or 8 mile easy run is what's called for.

Finally a very steady run

Out with The Herb and Tomes at lunchtime today - decided to do a steady 5, and we managed to keep the pace down around 8:20 most of the way - until I had a brief stretch/stomach gurgle break and did a few hundred yards at 6:30 to catch up!

What's pleasing is the very low HR in the slow bit - 120 or less for lots of it.  Legs feel a bit worked over from Sunday so no idea what tomorrow's John Carr will be like, but as I get curry after - who cares?

Etape du Dales - a bit of a wake-up call!

 Me on the run down to Halton Gill, after the climbing is over...

EDD today, which I must admit I'd been dreading.  I've done relatively little hilly cycling in the early part of the year because of marathon build-up, and 110 miles over virtually every big hill in the Dales was always going to be tough.

The Herb going over the top of Buttertubs

Set off with the Herb as the Harrowgays have sacked us, and managed to pick up a fairly brisk tow all the way to the start of Fleet Moss.  This wasn't too bad, but I could already feel my legs going "Hello! What's going on here?  We not running today then?".  Buttertubs was also ok, and we were passing people up the hills then getting passed on the descent as we tried to conserve a bit of energy.  Down Swaledale was quick, but the climb over to Arkengarthdale was steep and gnarly.

Swaledale

As we turned up towards Tan Hill we realised that the wind was in pretty much the worst direction - a stiff north-westerly.  There's two climbs in succession heading straight into it, and they're both long - about 6 miles each.  On a short steep climb like Park Rash the wind doesn't have much effect, but on these two climbs you really need a still day of some help - we got neither.  At one point we had about a dozen riders strung out behind us and got no help at all.

After Nateby I started to feel awful, and was glad to sit on the back of a bunch to the Moorcock.  A few sandwiches and a pork pie gave me the necessary fortitude to head for the Coal Road.  I was really worried about a complete shed collapse, so took this very steady indeed - although I must have passed a dozen people walking.  Once we descended into Dentdale it became clear that The Herb was having his bad patch, and for once he didn't get away on the climb.

Ribblehead - one more climb to go

The ride down to Stainforth was hard, but by now the "miles to go" on my Garmin was heading down towards 20, and, barring accidents, we were going to get round, which had been my only real objective.

Dropping into Littondale - no more up!

We got a real second wind down Littondale and did the last 16 miles at an average speed of over 20mph.  We finished in 8:12, which includes about 30mins of stops - remarkably close (considering the wind and how slowly we did some bits) to a silver standard, which is 8hrs.

Suppose it means we'll have to do it next year...