millennium bug

it could be down to the Olympics but this is the only time i've measured my efforts in Metric.

mindful of the old Yorkshire adage "same shite in, same shite out", last Sunday I decided to add some variety to my training with 10 x 160 metre sprint reps along the Millennium Walkway at the end of my road.

the walkway rises about 30 feet along its 160 metre length so there's plenty to test the legs. well i could definately feel it the next day so something must have worked.

Cracken Edge fell race 7m/1450'

I'd done all of this route in separate parts during club training runs and solo jaunts so was pretty familiar with the terrain. at 7 miles this is getting on a bit for a midweek race and the climbing involved meant we were going to be in for a cracker.

despite a couple of showers before the race the weather cleared up to give great views of the hillside above us and back over Hayfield to Kinder as we made our way to the start line.

the first few miles are all uphill but deceptively gentle enough that you end up running them, until coming out on Over Hill Road before the long pull up to New Allotments.

this climb always gets me and i tucked in between a Glossopdale vest and a KMRT runner for a brisk walk up to the top, ready for the section of flat trail to take us gradually downhill to meet the road again and turn back up past Chinley Churn and Cracken Edge.

this race was one of those where i was glad i'd been optimistic and just worn my vest as it was hot work all the way through and my head had a bit of a wobble as we crossed the stile that takes you onto the churn past all the old mine workings.


at this point the lads in front of me started to walk and i made the same mistake; if i'd been on my own or not behind those two i might have gone a bit quicker on this section.

this race is a real tough one, there's no hiding from it as the uphills are runnable for the main part, as are the flats and the last 2 miles or so are all downhill so it's a real intense race.

pretty happy with my run overall, should come back faster next year but a good trot out nonetheless.

my time of 1h07 for a 7 mile fell race says it all really - the most fun you can have (legally) for £4 on a Wednesday night!

Crowden Horseshoe 2012 8m 1700'

the car park

Nothing is easy round Glossop. Today saw my second encounter with the Crowden Horseshoe, and I was hoping that forewarned would mean forearmed and help me do a bit better on this tough course.

Pretty similar to the Kinder Downfall route in profile and terrain, the Crowden Horseshoe’s got rocky scrambles, narrow paths with big drops off the side, plenty of bogs and a cheeky dose of flagstones just to offer an extra chance to break your neck, in case you had missed it during the first part of the course.

This one climbs steadily upwards for the first 4 miles or so up to Soldier’s Lump which is just about as high as Holme Moss TV mast which is visible in the near distance. Rivers and streams that were trickles last year were well up this time round, which made for interesting running and crossing. Recent downpours had also given the bogs a helping hand and they were at their shoe-sucking best, coming just after the trig point and the previous few miles ascending to add an extra dimension to the race.

Once the turn is made at the trig point you strike back down a parallel route towards Crowden YHA, this part is undulating through groughs and bogs for a good few miles until some tricky descending back into the campsite.

I had a good few tussles with some other runners and everyone said how tough it was this time round – the weather was pretty fine except a brief downpour and a hailstorm over the tops.

I think there were 4 of us from Pennine there today, the rest of whom came in before me but I was just happy I managed to run all of the race as my comeback since chipping my ankle in April.

Next stop Cracken Edge on Wednesday!

http://fellrunner.org.uk/results.php?id=1423

Weber A fracture - ankle

I'm writing this post as an aid to anyone who sustains a Weber A fracture of the ankle, as I could find little help or information on the internet after chipping the outside of my ankle earlier this year.


A Weber A fracture is the least severe type of fracture in terms of implications on tendons, ligaments or surrounding muscles - in my case I bent my foot prety much all the way back on itself running down a skate ramp and somewhere along the line managed to chip the bottom of the bony lump on the outside of my ankle.


It hurt like hell at the time and my ankle pretty soon swelled up to the clichéd size of a golf ball. Mrs theoptimisticrunner took the opportunity to have a good laugh at my predicament, which was severe enough for me to roll around in a puddle groaning, oblivious to the soaking i was getting.




 I took a fair whack of Ibuprofen and paracetamol and was put in a half/open plaster the next day at Buxton Hospital. They were unable to diagnose me from the X Ray and so booked me in at the Fracture Clinic the following Monday.

the docs at the fracture clinic saw straight away the ankle was fractured, explaining it as a Weber A fracture. They said I was ok to walk on it as long as I could manage the pain, but advised against running for 6-8 weeks.

my return to mobility looked like this:

1 week - back walking again
3 weeks - 5 mile walk over flat ground with little discomfort
4 weeks - all clear and referred to physio
6 weeks - 1 mile gentle run, some hills
7 weeks onwards - walking 5 miles daily as part of my commute and dog walking
8 weeks - 5 mile fell run (moderate hills)
9 weeks - 9 mile fell run (moderate hills)
10 weeks - 13 mile fell run (easy hills)

As the docs explained to me, all bones have a 6 week healing process no matter who you are. I eat a reasonably good diet (5 a day and only a modest amount of cake, which is stricly earnt by doing exercise) so had a decent starting point in terms of vitamins and goodies existing in my body to help the healing process.


I had two subsequent physio sessions which involved being given some exercises to do - along the lines of standing on the affected foot and raising my body up and down, also hopping on the spot in different directions (imagine a 2 x 2 grid, starting with your foot in the bottom left box and jumping to and from the various other boxes)

I don't go much for physio and stretching, I found that by listening to my body and building a good foundation of walking before trying anything too adventurous I was able to get back running within a reasonable time. I hope this helps. If anyone has any questions please leave a comment on here and i'll do my best to help.

thanks

TOR

My Downfall

10 mile fell race with about 2,000' of climb up kinder scout? no problem.

walk in the park with the dog? =

spot the difference

thinking i was clever after my little run in the morning, whilst out with the Optimistic clan i spotted a skate ramp in the park and ran up it. unfortunately it had been raining that day so coming down the ramp my right foot got caught under itself, with the result being mrstheoptimisticrunner in stitches at my predicament, and my right foot in plaster =

looks like a 6-8 week layoff, suspected chipped bone in my ankle but we will see. Max is now in the hands of mrs t.o.r. who is less than happy at the prospect of picking up dog poo for the next two months

Kinder Downfall 9.6m c. 2200'

i don't think a novice runner such as myself can add much value to a route description of this race, and if you want a laugh then have a read of this write up from yesteryear on the Pennine website.

Kinder Downfall from Lantern Pike

having said that, i was really looking forward to this one - it's funny how your body tricks you into feeling non-existant niggles in the days before a race, and i was a bit worried to get a touch of the DOMS on Friday after Herod Farm, but after walking the dog, a decent bowl of porridge and some positive energy by way of the BBC1 London Marathon coverage, i was on my way to the scout hut in Hayfield and race HQ.

Kinder was shrouded in mist as i approached from New Mills, but i didn't mind this - if anything it would give me an incentive to stay in touch with other runners instead of bimbling round the edge of the plateau when we got up there.

with this being a Category M race, there were certain kit requirements in force, unfortunately Nick Ham was missing a couple of bits of essential kit as i bumped into him at registration. there wasn't any other option than to nip home and get him the map and compass that would enable him to pass the spot kit checks carried out at the start.

all runners i know are totally accepting of the rules under which we run, this was just a technical oversight on Nick's part - even though he had enough kit and equipment to set up a small holiday camp on the Kinder plateau, the contents of his kit bag as they stood at 10:55 a.m. meant a quick jaunt back to Optimistic Towers in New Mills to resolve the issue for him.

well that was one way to get the metabolism going! i got back to Hayfield with a few minutes to spare, we assembled on the bridge for starter's orders and were soon off up the Snake Path.

up towards Twenty Trees and the shooting cabin

i'd run the first part of the route in reverse the week previous and had resolved to take a high line up through the grassy field, avoiding the rocks and boulders along the path past Twenty Trees and up to the shooting cabin.

coming up to the shooting cabin with the Downfall in the distance -
taken on a clearer day!

I covered the first part of the climb in decent order and tucked along a pack of runners along White Brow, keeping up a steady pace as we made our way towards the foot of William Clough. this is a key part of the route as it involves the worst of the climbing and route choice is vital.

still being a novice round these parts, i spotted a Pennine vest who later turned out to be Graham Parker, who took some great lines up and spurred me on to keep running where i would normally have stopped to walk. i introduced myself at the top, just before the final climb onto the plateau, where he eventually took off into the mist.

the run along the top was its usual rocky, bouldery self, a clearer day and some reccying of the route might have led me a different way, but i was happy to get my head down and get behind a pack of 5 other runners as we made our way round the edge.

visibility was down to about 30 feet as we ran along, and there were plenty of walkers out and about. everything was hurting by this point, a swig of water grabbed whilst waiting for the stile above Sandy Heys helped things, but i still lost a few places and was struggling to keep the Penistone runner ahead of me in sight.

the flagged section round the side of Swine's Back eventually loomed into view, and i was glad of a stretch of downhill running, even though it was over treacherous flagstones. we hit Edale Cross where the path becomes quite bouldery, this really takes it out of the legs at this point of the race and i slowed down quite a bit.

once we'd dropped out of the clouds however, a clear day was revealed and it was a great run down the grassy fields through Tunstead Clough and the campsite, onto Valley Road.

another runner had a nibble at me over my left shoulder as we came through the campsite, a bit far to go to be giving it full throttle yet so i lengthened my stride to put some distance between us. there's still a good few hundred yards to go at this point, and the road rises slightly uphill to give a bit of a twist in the tail.

i had just enough left to nick a couple of places before coming to the finish field and bumping back into Nick Ham - it turns out i came in around 20 seconds after Nick - if i'd had chance to warm up properly, i would have had him :-)

pretty happy with my time of 1h45 but the bigger picture is that i ran 90% of the race, i would have expected William Clough to destroy me before the race but once that was in the bag the rest was relatively straighforward. 

makes you fell guilty that this much fun only costs £4!

Herod Farm 3m 1100'

with the happy arrival of optimisticjunior v 2.0 in February, my time on the hill has been pretty limited so far this year, but i have managed a couple of 10 mile / 2 hour sessions over recent weekends, along with running the Edale Skyline through to the Mam Nick checkpoint, where i pulled out as i'd been running with a raging flu infection and was actually shivering despite temperatures of around 20 degrees C - but i'd still done around 3000' so had a good trot out none the less.

so with an almost (relatively) respectable amount of longer running in my legs, but a lack of short sharp stuff, i was slightly nervous about my second attempt at this race.

i'm hoping to 'race myself to fitness' in the absence of a decent training schedule, so was ready to give this one all i had. at least i knew about the second hill as i'd be really gutted if i thought the race was over once i'd got to the top first time round!!

took a wrong line into the heather!

conditions on the night were pretty drizzly, and the foot of the second climb was a quagmire by the time us mere mortals came to plough our furrows through it, but i managed to run most of the course to clock a time that was 1m20 faster than 2011's time.

This was also my first run as a Pennine member - unfortunately i've not got round to getting a vest yet - John Jodrell was on his jols when i spoke to him to try and arrange one - and a sense of not wanting to let the side down helped spur me on.

It was good to speak to George Scott and another Pennine runner whose name escapes me.

happy with my race, didn't set the world on fire but after a pretty hectic start to the year, it's a pleasure to be out on the hill. next stop: Kinder Downfall on Sunday!