SportsShoes Blog

It’s on – I’m in a team for this weekend’s 42 mile night time High Peak Marathon (HPM).

As I’ve never run in the Peak District I’m pleased to say that my team members have all done the race before and know their way around – they just need me to make up the numbers.

The race starts at 11pm on Friday with teams setting off at 1 minute intervals and the team I’m in are looking for a sub 11 hour time so we should be finishing earlyish on Saturday morning.

To continue the endurance event I then have to get back to Bingley scrub off most of the peat bog stains put a clean shirt on and head off to the Bingley Harriers club dinner – then, if that wasn’t enough, once the meal and the speeches are over I need to make my excuses and go to my niece’s 21st party at Salem Rugby club.

Think I’ll rest on Sunday…..

About 10 minutes before heading out tonight for a 6 x 3 minute VO2 max speed session I had a call-up for the High Peak Marathon – which takes place this Friday!

The HPM is a 42 mile jaunt across the bogs and moors of the Peak district and to make it more fun it’s all done at night.

Anyway it appeals to my twisted sense of humour so I’ve offered my services to a totally unknown team of runners and I’m waiting to hear if my offer has been accepted. If it is I’ll be winging my way down to Edale on Friday night ready for the 11pm set off.

Before then though I need to find time to go and see Russ at Sportsshoes as my dog’s eaten the laces and half the tongue from my Adidas Kanadia TR4s. I see he has some hideous looking orange ones in my size so I should be able to squeeze a good deal out of him…..

The weekend after next it’s the Haworth Hobble also briefly known as the Wuthering Hike.

The Hobble is a 32 mile fell race that starts and finishes in Haworth and runs out to Stoodly Pike above Todmorden before returning via Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall.

What makes the race difficult (in addition to its 32 mile length) is that most of the climbing comes in the last 15 miles. This means it’s very easy to go out too fast and then suffer like dog on the way home.

This year myself, Dave and Steve are going to run it together as a training exercise for the PTL – it’ll be interesting to see how we handle each others different paces over a relatively short distance (compared to the PTL).

After that it’s the mighty Fellsman – a 62 mile race around the Yorkshire Dales - which again we intend to attack as a team.

A full week of training this week and then I’ll try and get out for a final 3 hour trot before the Hobble next weekend and then I’ll have a steady week leading up to the race.

‘Workmanlike’ hilly 10 miler tonight with the Bingley Harriers.

Exactly 10 miles in 1 hour 13 including a couple of re-group stops – averaging 7.20 min miles.

I’m really starting to feel quite fit again and just hope I can keep injuries at bay and build my strength and distance.

I know music whilst running divides opinion but I’ve got to say that I think the iPod has got to be one of the greatest inventions of all time.

My little iPod shuffle goes with me on almost every solo run I do, it helps me conquor climbs, keep going when I’m tired and it even motivates me to get out the door when the weather is grim.

I have a very wide range of tunes on my pod and always have it on random so if a duff track come on I can just flick along until a power track appears.

Best tunes for running have to be those by AC/DC – they never fail to get the legs moving.

Although the battery life is pretty good I’m not sure my pod will accompany me on the PTL as we expect to be ‘running’ for around 100 hours!

I’ve taken a day off today after my 19 miler yesterday.

I really struggled to get round yesterday and can’t quite work out what went wrong.

My food was right and I felt good when I started but by mile 11 I needed to dip into my emergency rations and down a couple of fig rolls.

As I was nearing home after doing 18 miles I was thinking hmmm at this point I’ll just be 10% into my race around Mont Blanc with another 162 to go…..

Better take a few fig rolls!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been concentrating on building up my time on feet and making sure I get at least one long run in during the week. I’m also conscious that I don’t want to up the mileage too much too soon after having a fairly lazy November and December.

2 weeks ago a group of us did a very hilly 19 miles in the snow then last weekend I knocked out a 21 miler off-road in 3.04 then this morning a did a favourite route of mine over Baildon and Ilkley Moor clocking 19 miles and 3200ft in just around 3 hours.

We have a 33 mile race – the Haworth Hobble – coming up in 3 weeks time so a couple more of these long training runs should prepare the legs nicely for this early season ultra.

I was having a spot of bother with technology – so this is just a test to see if all is working well.

Sorry for the lack of updates but I’ve been struggling with technology (& fitting a new bathroom). Anyway, as the title suggests I’m back on the scene and I have some hot news.

This year’s challenge is a biggie – myself and two teammates have been successful in gaining a place in this year’s PTL race in Chamonix in August.

The race is open to teams of 2 or 3 runners and we are one of just two teams from the UK competing under the team name of The Cunning Runts.

The PTL is the tour du Mont Blanc but with teeth.

300km long and with 22,000 meters of vertical ascent it’s a true beast of a mountain race.

We start on the 27th August at 10pm and finish when we finish.

Training has started and I’ll keep you informed of progress and give more details of the race as the weeks go by.

Andy