SportsShoes Blog

I’d entered the Hobble as a solo runner but on Thursday my Bingley Harriers teammate Andy Jebb called me up and asked if I’d like to run it as pair with him.

After running together in last year’s OMM we know that we’re reasonably well matched although Andy’s been piling in the miles recently so I suspected I was in for a rough ride.

This year the race headquarters moved to the junior school which proved a great base for the race although the loo queue before the start suggested a few more porta-potties might be in order for next year….

The race starts on the historic Haworth main street and it’s always fun to see the looks on the early morning shoppers and tourists faces as 200+ runners go haring up the cobbles.

We soon strung out across Haworth moor and Andy and I tucked into the second group of around 6 runners just 50 yards or so behind the lead pack. The weather was fine but as we made our way up to Top Withins the cloud rolled in and it looked like it was  to be a mirky day.

Once we were over the top and on to Widdop the cloud lifted but the wind was cold and straight in our faces. We held our position of around 7th as we passed the windmills and headed off towards Todmorden on the Calderdale way.

A dead sheep hanging upside down from two ropes from the front of a tractor greeted us as we trotted up one field - the things you see when you’re fell running…

My leg, which I’ve been struggling with recently,  felt pretty good as we weaved our way down the hill to cross the road near Tod and I was glad as it’s at this point, around 18 miles in, that the race really starts.

We worked our way up the steep climb to the Mankinholes checkpoint where I picked up a nice jam donought to help me up to Stoodly Pike.

From Stoodly you can look back towards Haworth and see the waves of climbs spread out ahead of you that are pretty relentless on the homeward 13 miles. At this point the race opened up and the top boys kicked splitting the field and pulling out a decent lead over us - we weren’t phased and knew that rather than chase a lost dream we needed to keep mashing on at our pace if we were to reach the finish in reasonable shape.

After the thigh burning decent into Hebden Bridge it’s straight back up the other side of the valley to Heptonstall where we ran into an old friend of ours John Cordingly on his post round - no wonder he’s so fit if he’s Heptonstall’s postie!!

It’s then down to Horse bridge for a quick slurp of water before tackling the long drag of a climb up through Hardcastle Crags. Here I started to fade a little and Andy was strong but I still manged to run every step and we dropped a Horwich runner who we earlier thought was a contender for the overall win.

Into the final checkpoint at the bottom of Stairs lane and we were told we we had 5 solos and 1 team ahead of us - this was a position we’d be happy to hold.

The climb up Stairs is a toughy after 30 miles of running but again despite feeling a bit jaded I managed to tap it out without resorting to a walk. Andy was setting a good pace for me running just about 10 yards ahead to keep me going.

As we dropped off the back of Stairs lane towards Oxenhope we knew we had just one last climb to go up to Penistone Hill and even though it’s only around 1/2 mile long it’s brutal.

From Penistone Hill it’s a ‘quick’ trot across the moor back to Haworth and when Andy said there were two runners just behind I managed to dig deep and find another gear.

We finished in 4 hours and 33mins and second team - although this was 6 mins down on my time of last year I was very pleased with my run and our team performance. Andy could have gone a bit faster if he’d not had me to drag round but I’m not sure he’d have made the top 3 solos so the way I see it without me he wouldn’t have got a bottle of wine!!

Bingley had a good performance on the day with our pals Dave and Ruth taking the mixed pair title.

The old pins don’t feel too bad now but I think I might take tomorrow as a rest day.

This coming weekend it’s the Haworth Hobble an annual favourite of mine.

The Hobble, as it’s affectionately known, is a 33 mile race starting in Haworth and working its way across the moors to Mankinholes then up to Stoodly Pike monument before turning and going up hill and down dale back to Haworth via Heptonstall and Stairs Lane.

It’s a really tough race to ‘get right’ and pacing is key to a decent result. The really cheeky thing about the race is that it doesn’t get going until you’ve done 20 miles as most of the climbing is in the last 13 miles.

Last year I had a good run and came home 3rd in 4 hours 27 mins - a time I think I’ll struggle to match this year. Having said that, the weather’s not looking too bad for the week ahead and my long run yesterday went OK with only a slight niggle from my pesky hamstring.

This week leading up to the race I’ll be taking things quite steady with a gentle morning ‘dog jog’, a hill session Tuesday night then very little else other than eating loads before Saturday.

Plans for our 3 x three peaks challenge are starting to take shape and the craziness of the event appears to have captured folks imagination - hopefully we can raise a few quid for cancer charities through our efforts. We’ll be making up a just giving site soon so get saving up and watch this space.

Yesterday was the first race in this year’s English Fell Championship - Noonstone on the moors above Todmorden / Hebden Bridge.

This is a race I’ve done a few times in the past and although I enjoy the challenging course, this year I decided to give it miss in favour of clocking up some descent mileage.

Not wanting to miss out on the race atmosphere, I managed to combine a recce for the forthcoming  Haworth Hobble with a nice long trot by scrounging a lift across to the race with my mate Andy Jebb and then running home.

I even managed to take a quick walk up Stoodly Pike monument - something I’ve never done before as the only other times I’ve been passed it was on race day when a scenic tour is the last thing on your mind.

I then trotted the 20+ miles home via Haworth with my iPod to keep me company.

Unfortunately the trot turned into more of a hobble than a recce for the Hobble race as my right quads are still giving me grief. I’m really quite concerned about this niggling injury as I can’t seem to get to the bottom of it. I’ve got myself booked in for some more physio and I’m going to ask her to stretch out my ITB as I think it might be this that’s throwing out my right leg action.

I need to get this all fixed up if I’m to succeed in my forthcoming epics. It’s frustrating as I felt absolutely comfortable yesterday from a cardio-vascular point of view but my right leg was painful after just 20 mins of running (not good if I’m planning on going for 24 hours!!)

I had this problem back in 2007 when I stepped up my mileage for the Ultra Trail Tour Du Mont Blanc and back then the physios at Carnegie in Leeds got me going pain free again after some very physical (& painful) manipulation.

It’s just 2 weeks to go to the Haworth Hobble race - 33 miles from Haworth over to Stoodly Pike and back - that’ll be a good tester for my legs. Then it’s just over a month later when Steve and  I will take on the 3 x 3 peaks challenge and just 7 weeks after that it’s the big one as I take on the West Highland Way race,

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Yesterday I ran the Wadsworth Trog - a 21 mile race from Old Town near Hebden Bridge.

The race is run by Calder Valley Fell Runners (CVFR) who always do a great job in planning and delivering high quality and challenging events.

Last year the race was run in snowy but clear conditions but this year whilst most of the recent snow had disappeared, the weather threw us all a new challenge in the form of thick fog which didn’t lift from the moor tops all day.

In many races this wouldn’t be too much of a problem but in the Trog, fog is exactly what you don’t want as there are quite a few miles of trackless rough moorland to contend with.

Last year I had some success in this race so this year I set off with the other 100+ runners with a personal target of making the top 10. 

After a steady start there’s a long  drag up to the 1st checkpoint on decent tracks before a drop down through the tussocks to the reservoir. From here it’s a pull straight back up a steep bank onto the moor top where all the tracks disappear and the fun starts.

I was running with 3 Clayton-Le-Moors (CLEM) harriers and the four of us headed out on a rough Northerly bearing aiming for the fence line about 2 miles away. Unfortunately, as often happens on long range bearings we drifted over to the West and had to pick up the return path to find our way to CP3 at Cock Hill.

From here the route is flagged or obvious up to the Top O Stairs but then we were back into the mirk and following a rough track past the Stoop stone and over to the Withins Ruins and CP6.

After CP 6 I dipped into my pack to try a new Maxim gel which comes in a screw top foil packet. This is a great idea as it allows you to take a couple of mouth fulls of gloop then replace the top and put the rest back in your pack for later. As anyone who’s ever used gels will tell you, the standard rip off top packets can leave a very nasty sticky mess in your pack if they;re not completely empty before they’re stashed.

From here right back to Cock Hill myself and a CLEM runner paced each other well taking turns at the front and pulling each other up hill and down dale.

Then came the toughest part of the race - finding our way back to the High Brown Knoll checkpoint and then down to the finish. The fog was still thick and despite running on a bearing we were soon lost once again. Eventually we reached a track that I recognised from my mountain biking days and I led myself and 3 others up to the CP. Here we met up with the other 2 CLEM runners who had pulled away from us an hour or so previously but had then been lost in the mist and all 6 of us set off on the home leg.

Despite another navigational error that added distance to the already long race we eventually reached the last manned CP where we were told it was flagged all the way to the finish. A mad 1 mile dash down off the ridge took us to the lowest point of the course from where it’s a killer 1/2 mile climb back up to the finish.

My legs could not transition from down to up and I lost a place to a CVFR runner but still came home to finish in 8th place overall which I was very pleased with.

Ahead of me my regular sparring partner Jason Stevens from CVFR had a storming race to finish 4th.

My Bingley team mates Ian Hill, Dave Stevenson and Helen Jackson all got round successfully and Helen won the womens race adding to Lee Athersmith’s win in the Half Trog earlier in the day.

At the finish everyone had tales of being lost on the moors and one chap claimed that his Garmin suggested he’d done over 25 miles!!

All in all a good day out and my efforts won me a pair of gloves!

Next race is the Ilkley Moor Fell race at the end of Feb - a short but tough blast around Ilkley Moor - with or without hat

I’ve always had a fascination for climbing or more specifcally climbers.

I’ve never been a climber and I doubt I ever will be but I’ve always held a deep rooted respect for what they do and both how and why they do it.

I guess to many people, probably most people actually, climbing is a rather strange, silly, pointless and downright dangerous thing to want to do - and thinking about it rationally I suppose they’d be absolutely right.

Having said that, I also once read in a book that the urge to climb, to get to the highest point and to reach the top is a trait that is engrained into a human’s DNA in much the same way as it is in forest trees that race upwards against their rivals to reach the sunlight.

We’ve all heard George Mallory’s response to the question why do you want to climb Mount Everest? - ‘because it’s there’ is what he’s reported to have said. There’s some debate as to whether he ever actually uttered these words but even if he didn’t I think they perfectly capture the spirit of climbers and climbing in general.

George Mallory, as most know, is famous for dying whilst trying to climb Everest, he’s probably even more famous because nobody really knows whether he and Andy Irvine actually reached the top or not. What is for sure is that he never reached the bottom - he died trying as so many others have done since and will continue to do in the future.

To be honest it’s stories like Mallory’s and Joe Simpson’s near death experience recounted in the book Touching the Void that make me intrigued nah fascinated by climbing - in all honesty it’s the dice with death that both attracts me and repels me from the sport in equal measure.

Why am I writing this - because I’ve just read a story that’s got me thinking. I happened upon a brief note that was requesting sponsorship for a Lands End to Jon O’Groats bike ride. Money raised is going towards buying a special wheelchair for a young girl named Beth Monks who was, until last May, one of Britain’s leading climbers. She’s now a tetraplegic paralysed from the chest down. Now I know what you’re thinking - what a waste of a young life - I bet she slipped and fell - I bet she failed to place some gear properly - I bet she was soloing and a hold pulled out - I must admit that’s exactly what I was thinking so I did a little search and discovered that none of this is true. She had a car accident and broke her neck…..

The reason I write this is that I think we as a society have, in general, lost our sense of adventure, our willingness to push ourselves, climb higher and reach the top. Unlike Beth who, in her short career visited some of the most amazing places in the world and truly experienced life on the edge, most people these days shy away from challenges and choose to lead a sedentary, safe, middle of the road life. They’ll ‘experience’ the amazing things the world has to offer in HD in the comfort of their living rooms and they’ll admire the wonderful scenery on the otherisde of the glass as they whizz along in the climate conrolled ’safety’ of their cars……

Well, almost a month has gone by now and my training seems to be going well.

I can definitely notice a difference. I have reverted to the good old classic split of 4 days a week.

Monday: chest & triceps

Wednesday: Shoulders & Abs

Friday: Back & Biceps

Saturday: Legs & bodyweight press-ups.

I feel like I am stripping some fat away and building muscle again so over all I am quite pleased.

However, it could all go a bit wrong this weekend as I am away seeing some friends and we are going for a slap up tapas meal. That means buckets of chorizo…. umm, I can taste it now! All washed down with numerous beers ( and a cheeky tequila) I predict.

Ah well, back in the gym on monday… pretend the weekend never happened!

James

Anyone reading my blog will know that this year I’ve signed up for the West Highland Way Race which is a 95 mile run between Glasgow and Fort William.

The WHW is on the 19th June so between then and now I need to get my mind into ‘going long’ mode and get some miles in.

On the 6th Feb I’m doing the Trog, a 20 mile route around the moors above Calderdale and on the 13th March it’s the Hobble a 33 mile jaunt around the moors above  Haworth. In terms of distance, both of those are just tiddly little warm up jogs although I will be going out hard in both to try and lay down descent times.

What I need before the big event in June is a long distance challenge to really test the mettle - and here it is…..

In 2007 in training for the Ultratrail Tour Du Mont Blanc I ran the 3 Peaks in the Yorkshire Dales twice back to back in 10.5 hours solo.

This time, we’re going for a triple round - yes three laps of the famous Yorkshire 3 Peaks in one go and in less than 24 hours.

To make it even more silly we’re going to attempt the stunt on the 3 Peaks Race day - 24th April. Me and my pal Steve Fry have both entered the race and the plan is to start our first lap at around 2 or 3am, do a steady jog round to finish around 9am then sign on for the race which starts at 10am. We’ll then run the race and, if we can still stay upright, have a quick swig and a bite to eat on the finish field then turn round and do it again. If we have a good third round we’ll hopefully make it back to the pub before they stop serving - now that would make a grand entrance!

The plan is to try and raise a few quid for Cancer charities as I lost a friend last year and a clubmate of Steve and mine also lost her battle with the disease in 2009.

This is the first time I’ve gone public with the plan so I guess it’s now official….

Well I can’t believe it - we’re nearly a month into the new year already. Where does time go????

So far my training has gone pretty well running most days and getting a long run in at the weekend.

I even managed to run through all the snow and ice although I can’t say it was much of a pleasure.

To be honest I think the bad weather actually increased my mileage as I had to run and bike to work a few times as I literally couldn’t get the car out.

This coming weekend it’s the Stanbury Splash fell race - a traditional New Year 7 mile shakedown around the moors above Haworth. Earlier in the same day it’s the Junior quarry run which is the first race in Bingley’s Junior Fell Championship. I hope we get a few juniors to give it a whirl as I’ve arranged the championship this year and would really like to get more kids out on the hills.

Looking a little further down the line I’m doing the Wadsworth Trog in February, Noonstones (which this year is an English Championship race) and the Haworth Hobble in March. Last year I managed 3rd in the Hobble so will be hoping to have another good run this time around.

I’ve also entered the 3 Peaks race in April but me and a friend are planning something a little bit special for that day so watch this space.

Believe it or not we are all now watching the Ben Nevis Race website to grab an entry for the race which is not until September. Entries open in the last week of January and last year all places were taken within 2 days.

The Inov-8 330s are still working well and what with all the snow we’ve had they’ve hardly been off my feet since I bought them (still think they need a dual compound sole though…)

Well, a new year again already! New year’s resolutions and new promises to myself ( some I have already broken ).

Towards the end of last year my training really fell at the wayside! Other commitments and grief from the Mrs about too much dedication to the gym ( and not other stuff that is equally as important ) really stopped any training in it’s tracks and I was lucky to get to the gym once a week!

I have decided though that I just can’t spend so much time in the gym so I have had to rethink training and goals to make them more likely to achieve.

I am now training 4 times a week…

2 full upper body workouts and 2 full lower body workouts.

I have decided I can’t commit to splitting it all down and training each body part individually so I am having to find another way and this is a 4 week trail to see how it goes.

I have done a couple so far and believe me, if you stick to mainly compound exercises you really ache the next day!

I am interested in other peoples’s opinions on this matter. Has anyone else done training like this and do they believe that it works just as well?

Snow coming down hard today so it may be a long walk to gym! If it is even open that is!