[mini]

Good effort 'Lard! Couldn't make it last night, but one on my list to tick off.

I was hoping to do Round Hill tomorrow, but logistics aren't allowing it. However, my name has moved from the waiting list to THE list for Pendle 3 Peaks in a couple of weeks time. It'll be my first AM class race so looking forward to albeit with a wee pinch of trepidation. Just hope my tight calves / achilles sort themselves out in the next week or so. Any tips, other then heel drops and rollering??

[uptown]

Did my first fell race in the Lakes last week, really enjoyed it despite the weather! (Clag, rain, wind)
Definitely doing Round Hill tomorrow now - who else will be there?

[bigtuboflard]

It's definitely worth doing mini, classic racing. I'm having to miss Round Hill tomorrow now too, was hoping to go up and race then see family in Otley but got work to do now. Best of luck uptown and hope it goes well, heard there's a massive bog somewhere on the route.

For Achilles I'd stick with the heel drops and some light foam rollering, had some problems myself a few years back and the drops worked best but it took some time to sort.


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[uptown]

Thanks Lard, shame you and mini can't make it.
I'll fly the flag for UKb and report back on how it goes.

[Stabbsy]

I'm heading to Round Hill too - there is a bog, size dependant on recent weather. Looking forward to it.

Hoping to recce Pendle midweek this week too - climbs definitely more savage on that than anything Round Hill has to offer!

[andy_e]

I injured my knee running 18km as my fourth run of the year so I'll have to give Round Hill a miss I'm afraid!

[Stabbsy]

You all missed out on a good one - weather looked threatening before the off but nothing worse than some light drizzle for a few minutes. The bogs were tame compared to running Blubberhouses 25 in March/April and the descent was as much fun as I remembered from last year.

[bigtuboflard]

Sounds like a good one, will have to pencil it in for definite next year.


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[uptown]

Round Hill was great; I struggled against the wind going up and took a good tumble coming down but its a really nice route and the bogs added to the fun.
Nice to put a face to the name Neil, good effort on your run!
Definitely be on the calendar for next year.
Any other Yorkshire recommendations happily considered.

[andy_e]

Yes, any other good beginner ones coming up soon?

[Stabbsy]

There's not many Yorkshire Dales ones I can think of (although it's worth having a trawl through the fixtures on fellrunner.org.uk), but there's a few Peak and North Yorkshire ones I can think of.

- Longshaw (Burbage Valley loop, early Sept)
- Shelf Moor (Bleaklow from Glossop, same weekend as Longshaw)
- Levisham Limping (my club's race, south edge of North York Moors, early Oct)
- Saltergate Gallows (another Moors race, early Nov)

[bigtuboflard]

This is a helpful list of Yorkshire/Derbyshire races too

http://www.steelcitystriders.co.uk/local-race-calendar/

Although I'd never condone using a rival club's website of course...

[steveri]

Any of these suit?
http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?m=august&y=2016
http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?m=september&y=2016

If you shout with possibilities someone might have run it before.
The secret code, eg AS -

Amount of climbing:
A steeper
B steep
C less steep

Distance:
S take spare lungs
M takes a while
L take sandwiches

[wintermute]

This should be perfect. Fully flagged, not much climbing and probably a lot of 'easy' ground - http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?id=4443

[andy_e]

Thanks, looks good!

[mini]

This should be perfect. Fully flagged, not much climbing and probably a lot of 'easy' ground - http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?id=4443

I did this a couple of years ago. Very runnable course on good mostly soft grassy paths with a few stoney trails. Definitely not too hilly, so quite a quick course. Thoroughly enjoyed it if I hadn't had been flued up and almost being beat by a V70 despite finishing 25th!!!

The Moorland Tea of various sandwiches and cake for the finishers make it a worthwhile outing and a great tradition - do it Andy!

[andy_e]

Just remembered I'm in France! Damn!

[T_B]

How's everyone's year going so far then? I've been running now for 6 months and have done 5 races. I definitely feel like I've built a reasonable base of endurance/strength and have thoroughly enjoyed the races I've made up in the numbers in .

My most recent was Holme Moss (first AL), which was a learning experience. I was painfully slow the last 10km, due to a lack of endurance and inability to maintain a decent pace after about 17km. Loved the steep bits of the course, especially the descent into Crowden Great Brook below Laddow, where I actually passed quite a few people (they all passed me later I might add!). If anyone is thinking about doing this race it was incredibly well marshalled, they even humped water up to Black Hill and Laddow!

Had a bit of a breather since then, but am now focussed on putting in a decent effort on the Lngdale Horseshoe, which is my main objective for the rest of the year. I'm trying to work out what to do to maximise my time between now and then. I think I just about have the base endurance for this type of course, given that I don't struggle so much on the hills, but my speed on the flat is still woeful. I'm thinking about focussing on hill reps and shorter more sustained efforts over the next few weeks, without too much ascent. Throw in the odd longer run or longer outing with more hills, but basically spend less time on Win/Lose Hill/Kinder/Derwent Edges.

I've got 8 weeks to go but with a family holiday in Font in the middle, would it make sense to focus on speed work now/generally trying to improve my running ability, then remind the legs later what walking up hills is like? Or get the ascent out of the way then work on speed in the final few weeks leading up to 8 October? Or mix it up? Any thoughts? I'm definitely still recovering from my hamstring tear and that is affecting my speed on the flat. If I’m honest I’m finding it tough still being so slow and feel like I need to find a new gear to keep the psyche high.

[Plattsy]

Personally T_B I wouldn't worry about flat speed for Langdale. There is not much flat stuff on the course. From the start (after a short flat mad dash) to the top of the first the hill will take an hour or so. I found getting to the top of this as fresh as possible worked best and so I spent my time doing reps of Parkin Clough on Win Hill in preparation. Working on running downhill too. The last descent could take half an hour on jelly legs. Of course mix in some speed for fun/change/sanity etc but I wouldn't focus on it for this race.

The blue walking circuit around Dame Jouanne, Manoury and L'Elephant is a good fun route to run on those rainy days in Font if you get chance. All runnable and a few steep sections. Loads of others options in Font I'm sure to keep ticking over.

[JulieM]

Morning guys. Long time lurker here, popping out to join this thread. I've just started fell running in the last month or so, having been inspired by a friend of mine doing a BGR. I haven't got a running background (the trauma of being forced to do muddy cross country in knickershorts as a teenager put me off for a long time) and I've got arthritis in one of my ankles so it's going to take a long time before I'm not totally shit but it's really good fun!

I'm not planning to race really (at least until I'm slightly less slow) but I have signed up for the next Rab mini mountain marathon up in the Lakes at the end of the month. Any of you guys going?

[T_B]

Cheers Plattsy. Maybe I just continue doing what I've been doing then, seemed to work OK for B-S in May. I am gonna do some shorter, harder efforts though, as the whole 'increasing your V02 max also increases your stamina over longer distances' makes sense. And for being less out of breath at the top of the hills and being able to get going again quickly.

[T_B]

I'm not planning to race really (at least until I'm slightly less slow) but I have signed up for the next Rab mini mountain marathon up in the Lakes at the end of the month. Any of you guys going?

Not doing the Rab MM but that's the sort of thing I'm interested in getting into next year. For me the races have been more about taking part in an event/the camaraderie, which feels very different to going out on your own/with mates.

[JulieM]

You guys make racing sound appealing but at the moment I really am painfully slow! I think until I get a bit fitter I'd find it quite stressful - there's coming in at the back and then there's coming in so far off the back that everyone's packed up and gone home!

I'm looking forward to the MM. I've never done any orienteering and I'm treating it as a nice run with some nav practice. And people will be starting and finishing at different times so it feels much less competitive than a race to me.

[SA Chris]

Must admit I'm a bit inspired too. Having done no running whatsoever since the late 80s until last month, I've now managed to get my road running up to 10k in under an hour, and have started looking at the local hill-race calendar.

I expect I'll now have to start including some hill repeats in my training too, fortunately where we live has a streetlit tough climb going right through the middle, so I'll need to work on that.

[Monolith]

You guys make racing sound appealing but at the moment I really am painfully slow! I think until I get a bit fitter I'd find it quite stressful - there's coming in at the back and then there's coming in so far off the back that everyone's packed up and gone home!

That's extremely unlikely to happen and the best advice I was given was to just get involved. You'll only put it off and lose interest if you don't take the leap at some point. A local short evening race should be just the ticket to get you hooked.

Must admit I'm a bit inspired too.

Ditto to you Mr F!