Crackanory in the Rossendale Valley

Lately i have been told that i probably have a story to tell, however i'm in two minds about it. We all know that every action has an equal and opposite reaction and i feel i have yet to have a suitable reaction and to be honest i'm not even sure if a reaction is worth the effort.

Over recent weeks the story has started to take shape in my mind and i have been making some notes, things come to me in waves and this morning i am sat here wonder where to start, there is just so much of it.

Memories both good and bad, i am very surprised at some of the things i remember, things people have told me when times were different, before it was my turn.

I remember quite vividly when the penny dropped and i realised that i was up next. My mind racing, searching for the signs, trying to remember when they first began. What did i do to trigger the series of events and can i change their course before it to late. Ha, no chance.

There have been many good times over recent years, at work and at home, and i will be trawling through my diaries and try to get some kind order before the i start to write. I am pretty sure there will have to be a series of stories as so much has happened.

Life is busy and it may be some time before the first chapter is ready and you can be sure it will be boring rubbish that's not worth the read but i know that the process of writing it will allow me to move on and close that particular door behind me.

I found this picture and it made me smile, who feeds steak to the grass, its just silly.

Its hip to be Square

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB5YkmjalDg

A tenuous link but a link all the same.

Today i visited the physio i have been seeing for many years, on and off. Runners of a certain age tend to spend a lot of time at the physio and i'm of a certain age.

In recent months i have had a lot of hip pain and thought that i had probably worn my hips out with all the high mileage. However, Ian (the physio) tested for wear, arthritis or any other issues which would put an end to my running and came up with nothing.

So very good news for me and my running life style, i do have soft tissue issues that will need plenty of hard work to deal with but i can still run and more importantly i can run long distance. This good news could not have come at a better time, just when i needed a boost.

A few months back a good friend designed me a get fit schedule and for various reasons i couldn't motivate myself into action, however i'm in a much better place now and feel ready to restart my training.

So this blog will be my training diary for the foreseeable future and i hope to share any challenges that my friends and i undertake along the way.

Kinder Killer

Originally the plan was a trip to the outskirts of London, drive down after work, fulfill a family commitment, drive to Skegness arriving about 3 am, sleep in the car, visit some friends and drive home. However a short visit with friends feels almost ignorant, they are good friends and well worth spending the time for a real visit, so I changed the plan.

The new plan was a drive from home to London, then drive to Edale in the English Peak district, grab a couple of hours sleep in the car and have an early start on the Kinder Killer. The kinder killer is a loop of approx. 33 miles with 9,000 foot of ascent, a comprehensive run following the most attractive routes up, down and around Kinder's complex system of convoluted ridges and valleys, including some interesting but very easy rock scrambles.

After much messing about with traffic diversions I finally landed in Edale at 4.30 am, I parked in the darkest corner of the village hall car park and climbed into my sleeping bag in the back of the car, completely exhaust and ready for some sleep. Unfortunately I didn’t notice the railway tracks only 20 feet away and was woken every hour by passing trains.

When my alarm sounded at 7.20 I awoke feeling surprisingly fresh and was heading up through Edale by 8am. There were no cafes open for an early morning coffee or shops to find food so I got on with the first ascent up Grindsbrook Clough. Obviously I had a GPS route on my phone as I am totally useless at navigation and with 79% battery I was pretty confident there was enough charge to last the whole day. I got View Ranger running and off I went.

Kinder’s valleys are a real treat, in September they are becoming over grown with bracken and thistles and all sort of under growth. Almost always the path becomes over grown part way up and you find yourself walking in the stream as this provides the easiest passage.

As expected the scramble at the top was wet rock but easy none the less and the view from the top was spectacular. One down and feeling good.

The next few hours were about rocky technical descents and lovely flowing tracks running across the edge of Kinder, the kind of running I enjoy and I was making the most of it, running all the gentle ascents and pushing a little on the descents. About 1pm I stopped for some food and ate about half of the carton of custard I had packed. I had very little food and a couple of litres of drink but was happy I had enough for the day. I guessed that I was about half way through the run and although I was beginning to feel tired I also felt pretty good and pressed on to the next descent, a long and gentle run down towards the Snake pass road.

The next ascent was tough and I was getting low on drink so refilled a couple of bottles with water from a stream near the top of the ascent to Blackden Moor, taking the opportunity to stick my head under a small waterfall and cool off a little. The sun was high and the sky cloud free so I was over heating a little, luckily there a numerous streams on the ascents as they are mostly up valleys, hence I took every opportunity I could to poor water over my head and cool down.

Following Blackden Moor around the hill side I strayed from the path and found myself battling through head high bracken, the Hoka Stinson ADR trail shoes I use are great but a little unstable when traversing hill sides and I found myself tripping and falling like a drunk person.

Having managed the struggle through the bracken forest I checked my phone’s GPS and was still right on the track, unfortunately the charge was down to 17%. I pushed on across "The Edge" heading towards Mill Hill, finishing off my custard as I jogged and enjoyed the feeling that I could run for ever. Mill Hill was busy, there was a lot of walkers about, i took a rest and consulted the GPS again. Only 3 ascents left but my phone was beeping to tell me the battery was low. Only 13% charge.

I spent the next 3 hours worried that my phone would fail as the display got dimmer, the battery charge was expiring fast, the ascents were killing me and I felt like quitting, I took a couple of energy gels I had left and pushed on. My navigation is very poor but I got the map out and plotted the route in case the phone died, which on the final ascent it did. However I had almost completed the route with only the final ascent to go.

By 5.40 pm I was back in the car park exhausted by very happy, at my current level of fitness i found the Kinder Killer very tough, however it is a great route and I would recommend it to anyone.

The Six Trigs Challenge from Hebden Bridge

My fitness level appears to be reasonable at this time so I decided a little local training was in order and to prevent “crying off” part way through a route, I decided I would run a local legend called The Six Trigs challenge. This way failing to complete the whole route would lead to the embarrassment of failure.

I was dropped off in Hebden Bridge about lunch time having initially deciding I was going to have a lazy day and not bother with any training, sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation to train when there are so many other life pressures.

The route starts in Hebden Bridge and is about 26 miles long with 4,000 ft of ascent, although the ground in places is hard going there’s little ascent and the views are glorious.

I set off at a gentle jog through the centre of Hebden, as usual I had created a GPS route for my phone and packed a map just in case (The correct map for a change). My navigational skills are very poor, a map a compass are old fashioned, why use a horse and cart when you have a car?

Unfortunately I had forgotten to load the route on my phone so had no alternative but to use the map and compass (horse and cart).

The ascent to Sheep Stones (GR 014278) is pleasant and I soon located the trig. I could see High Brown Knoll (GR 009303) in the distance and chose a straight line across rough ground. Although reasonably hard going I was soon taking a picture and congratulating myself at how easy this map reading malarkey is.

With the second trig in the bag I took a little time to study the map and decided on a route to the 3rd trig, this map reading is easy enough when you take a little time. Er…. Not really.

It really does amaze me how easy it is too make the land fit the map and despite my best efforts I was soon lost. Out with the phone, although I didn’t have the route or even a map on my phone it still gave me a grid reference, so I found where I had gone wrong and with a little help from the GPS I was soon finding my way back to the route.

At this point I felt it better to regularly check my location with the GPS and try to use the map when possible. The combination kept me on track for the rest of the day.

The other trig points are:-

Stanbury Moor (GR 978357)

Boulsworth Hill (GR 930357)

Hoof Stones Height (GR 913291)

Bride Stones (GR 932268)

Although much of the route is across rough ground it is beautiful and I was blessed with great weather and even better views. The views makes such a difference to my day and relax my soul, the calming effect least for days.

After the first few navigational issues the rest of the day went smoothly, which is why I use the GPS, my map reading is poor enough to spoil the day and make it hard work. I know the purist out there won’t agree but I run for pleasure and the Six Trigs is well worth the effort.

If you are local to Calderdale and fancy a great days running I highly recommend it, the route took me about 7 hours but more importantly it gave me confidence that my running is getting back to normal. It has also shown me that I don’t need to travel to the Lake District to find good routes, my local area is packed with them.

My next local challenge will probably be a route devised with maps on my computer and plotted with GPS software, taking in as many trig points as I can comfortably run in an afternoon. I may even include some support points to make the day a little more relaxing.

It’s a runners life for me.

Running again

A couple of weeks ago i tried an easy run in the English lake district, not sure of the distance but time wise, it was about 6 hours. 6 hours may sound like a long time to some people and i suppose it could be, but i was mostly walking with a little jogging thrown in, unfortunately i picked up yet another injury. I'm don't know the specific body part name but the pain is where the calf attaches to the back of the knee.

As usual i asked the phisio to take a look and he performed his magic again, a good phisio is well worth his money so i'm going to give him a mention by name. He is called Ian liversedge and at the time of writing he works as the phisio for Accrington Stanley football club. He can be found at Hopwood hall college in Middleton Manchester on a Wednesday evening.

After a couple of visits i still had a niggle but decided i was just being soft, some friends were planning a weekend run along the Yorkshire Wolds way. The route is about 80 miles but relatively flat and the pace was going to be steady.

There were 4 of us planning to run the whole distance with other friends and family joining in for shorter sections. The run went really well, the organiser had arranged for a couple of support vehicles to meet us every 6-7 miles with copious amounts of hot tea and the occasional piece of cake.

We camped about half way through the route, where we were fed with a very tasty chilli and cans of larger, usually i don't drink but the company was good and i felt at ease, amazingly i had one and a half cans of Carling and started to feel a little drunk? It really is suprising how your ability to drink alcohol diminishes over time.

When camping i find ear plugs an absolute necessity, they block out all the usual noises that keep me awake and i get a much better nights sleep. We had an early start on the Sunday, getting up at six for a 7am departure. We drove to the previous days finish point and by 8am we were starting the second day and the sun was shining again.

The trails were peaceful with few other people on the route and we jogged along chatting about nothing as usual. This was my first visit to the Yorkshire Wolds but it won't be my last, its really is a beautiful part of our country side.

The running felt easy so the miles seemed to fly by and we were soon running along the the side of the estuary, the Humber bridge looming in the distance. (apparently the Humber bridge was once the longest single span suspension bride in the world) we finished by the banks of the Humber estuary, after 2 days of sunshine and beautiful views we were greeting by torrential rain. We all ran to the cover of our respective vehicles and soon drifted off on our way home, another challenge over and another reason to keep on running.

It really is about the journey and not the destination, we complete these long distance runs fairly frequently and its always the same, we reach our goal relieved that its over but this is always followed by a huge feeling of disappointment.

The days following these challenges usually bring up an idea for the next one and this time its going to be a little different. Kayaks and running don't usually go together but Leon has an idea.

Finally, i would like to say thank you to Rory and his trusty 25 year old Transit camper van, Rory provided great support for us as usual and he was helped by family and friends.

Manchester to Blackpool cycle ride

This Sunday i did my first cycle challenge for some years, the Manchester to Blackpool challenge, at 60 miles and on mostly flat roads its perhaps not the sort of challenge i would usually participate in.

Sunday at 5.30am my alarm woke me from a pitiful nights sleep and i briefly entertained the idea of turning the alarm off, rolling over and going back to sleep. After all its only a bike ride, a little training as i am currently unable to run.

I dragged my self out of bed and stood under a hot shower until i felt awake enough to get dressed, unfortunately i looked out of the bedroom window before getting dressed and it was poring with rain, horrible wet rain.

To my credit i still got dressed, ate breakfast and climbed on my bike for the short (6 mile) ride to Chris's house and my lift into Manchester. After the usual messing around waiting for Chris we were all loaded up and on our way. We were setting off from Old Trafford football ground, apparently we were able to start at any time between 6.30 and 10am, so we paid our £20, registered and were on our way by 7.30am.

The rain had almost stopped and despite the poor weather there were way to many cyclists about, bloody cyclist all over the show, getting in the way of progress and spoiling the usually quiet roads for the early commuters.

I had chosen to use my Hybrid commuter bike, solely because that's all i have that's anything like suitable for riding 60 miles on tarmac. Chris was on his retro Chris Paulson road bike, understate bling apparently, Paul was on a standard looking road bike, being an "ox" of a man he made it look tiny and definitely not capable of carrying a man of his size.

So we set off in a large group and i managed to moan my way through the first 20 miles or so, bloody cyclists getting in my way, all over the bloody road etc etc. As usual Chris was very understanding and smiled politely at my comments. I don't know how he does it to be honest (or why).

At the 30 mile pit stop Chris managed to piss off some loud mouthed idiot by getting in his way, very amusing indeed and it cheered me up plenty. We took a short break and got on our way, the number of bikes was thinning out and there was a little sport in racing some of the "pro" riders, well they had all the gear on and looked like pro's (professionals not prostitutes).

After 45 miles Chris decided it was time to up the pace and we rode hard for the last 16 miles, the constant good pace and passing of many other cyclists was quite exhilarating at times but the miles flew by and we were soon in Blackpool riding through the cheering crowds and looking forward to some food and drink.

Chris is a competent cyclist and led for much of the way but Paul rode very well indeed, he rode like a man half his size and complained very little along the way, apart from the usual comments about sweaty junk (man parts) and tender rear ends of course.

The ride was a new experience for me and it was good training, if i did it again i would like something to push me a little towards my cycling limits. Whilst still full of the buzz from the crowds we decided the next cycling challenge would be the Manchester 100.

I had better train for that one i think.

Lakeland 100

Last night i had, what has become, my usual Wednesday visit to the phisio's with this shin splint issue i have had for a while. I haven't run a single step in three weeks as the pain is just too much, not only is the pain in the shin bad, but my whole calf muscle cramps and my big toe is swollen and extremely painful. There are days when even walking is uncomfortable.

So this Wednesday i told the phisio i had a run planned for the weekend, maybe 5-6 hours in the Lake District hills, a nice run with some friends which was to serve as a Joss Naylor reccie as well. He said that in his opinion i simply could not manage it with out a lot of pain killers and said i would be doing more damage.

Ummmm, now at this point i wondered if i should tell him i planned to run 105 miles in the lake District on the 24th July. In my head i had 3 weeks recovery and anything is possible, so i casually dropped it into the conversation. Only 3 weeks until the Lakeland 100 Ian, i should be ok for that then? What do you think? Take it easy?

To be honest he looked at me like i was stupid and said that if i really wanted to do it i should just go ahead but given that walking was painful did i really think it would be ok? Reality check, the look told me all i needed to know but he went on to explain what was wrong with my lower leg and how not giving it time to heal would only allow the injury to become chronic.

He went on to say that i should start from the beginning, plenty of strength work and leg exercises to help the injury heal and strengthen my lower legs. When i can walk pain free i can start to build up my running again, gradually. Start with 1/2 mile on soft grass and build up by 10% a week until i am happy all is well and stay well clear of road running

So there it was, no running in the coming months, perhaps i can be fit enough for my Spanish trail running holiday in November if i stick to my recovery regime. (and stop eating 2 packs of biscuits a day)

Usually this would be a nightmare, no running, a recipe for disaster, however i am looking forward to the rest and will spend more time cycling, plenty of road cycling on my hybrid and maybe even some off road cycling on my classic rigid mountain bike.

I also like the idea of Bikram Yoga or as i call it, sweaty Yoga. I need to keep myself busy and exercise plenty if i'm going to keep balanced, after all i am used to running frequently and setting goals to keep myself motivated.

Perhaps a cycling challenge could be the way forward?