Make it a goody!
Following on from Lucy's skiing in the Peak District, here is an igloo in the Howgills. I was running there on Monday, a guy was busy on top of Arant Haw building this impressive structure.
It was a beautiful day, there is so much snow! Skiing is a better option than running high in the hills at the moment and I'll be doing some this weekend :o)
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Happy New Year!
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
That well known ski resort - Edale
Yesterday I saw the most snow fall in New Mills I've ever seen! So brought out the skis and turned our drive into a ski slope (the lift system left a little to be desired...)
Today the snow had stopped and kinder looked very inviting, so we headed to Edale.
Starting off with Grindslow knoll we found several areas of good thigh burning snow to play with! A 10 mile trek ended up with the best snow of the day being discovered off Brown Knoll on our final run! Compact and frozen having been in the shade most of the day it made for some excellent skiing :-)
This was awesome considering I'd resigned myself to no skiing due to the student budget this year! Carrying a quarter of my body weight in knee deep snow made the 10miles an absolute epic and I have just sat down, I'm not sure I'll be straightening my legs for a while...
Friday, 11 December 2009
Flying Solo in The Peaks!
Last weekend I took up the challenge of competing as a solo in the second Open 5 of the series, Neil had wedding commitments, so I made preparations to go it alone. The first hurdle was trying to get a good plan together for the bike, as this is usally Neil's department, the deciding factor which way I went was finding controls 20 & 21 were dummies on starting. This led to me taking an anti-clockwise direction, which proved a good choice as I was soon going head to head against Andy Conn all the way to a misplaced control 12, after which we went in different directions.
I was managing to put a reasonable route together, picking up all controls except the ones on the top of Hollins Cross and at the far end of Ladybower Reservoir, arriving back at transition bang on 3 hours. With the use of my inov 8 Race Pro 18 pack and donning my X-talon 212's I was quickly out of transition and on my way again. I had a bounce in my stride and a plan to pick up as many controls as possible, but my undoing was to go for one too many! At the furthest point from the finish I only had 45 mins left, so had to push hard for home trying to beat the clock. I decided to go for two extra controls, worth 40 points, rather than taking the direct route back hoping that the time defecit would be less than the points value. I arrived at the finish just over 12 minutes late with tired legs but only losing 35 points. Thinking I had blown my chances of a podium position with a strong field, it soon unfolded that others had struggled too and my decsion, which gained me 5 points, which suprisingly put me in 3rd place in the male solos.
Looking forward to getting back to racing as a pair in the next event though......
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Everest Marathon
After 4 hours 55 minutes of racing at high altitude my lungs and leg muscles felt like i had just climbed the highest mountain in the world!!
The highest marathon in the world is a tough tough event. Avoiding the "Khumbu cough", Nepal version of "Delhi belly" and the 10 day struggle with acclimatization i reached the start line high in the Himalayas at Gorak Shep (5190meters)
Ive had easier taper weeks!
The weather was perfect all day. Racing over the Khumbu marain in cold but clear conditions, down the Khumbu valley while the sun shown above Ama Dablam and finishing on the Thamo loop into Namche Bazar while the sun gained power slowing even the Yak trains down. 42 km of the most stunning scenery you could imagine, truly breathtaking.
Race Stats..
Starting altitude 5190 meters at Gorak Shep
Finishing altitude 3445 meters at Namche Bazar
Total Accent 1080 meters
Total descent 2690 meters
RACE TIME 4 hours 55 minutes ( fastest time by a welsh runner, ever!! )
Terrain similar to running over Moel Hebog
8Th position overall
1st whit dude
FROSTY smashed female record by 27 minutes!!
Equipment..
Inov8 Roclite 315, winter peak 48 cap, Race pro 22 pack, Inov8 / gore windstopper n25 jacket and gore tights - ALL essential pieces of kit. AWESOME.
Special mention...
I managed to gain my late entry to the race due to a fellow Welshman was air-lifted to Kathmandu hospital with server altitude sickness ( swelling and liquid on the brain ) A fantastic guy and talented athlete, i feel honoured and proud to have raced on his behalf. THANKS BRO.
He has totally recovered and looking forward to returning to wild wintry wales.
A few weeks trekking in the Annapurna reunion of the Himalayas before celebrating Xmas and New years back here in Kathmandu..
Its all good, NAMASTE
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Open 5 - The Peaks
Today I did my first open5 adventure race from Hope Valley College. I decided to run first (about 1:45-2hrs) and bike after (about 3 hrs). After a slight glitch on the way to my first control involving rain removing my cross through a control that wasn't there (oops) it seemed I'd chosen a good route and felt really strong running. I went for a bit of a swim heading past the quarry where the path was flooded - thought it wouldn't be too deep but then I found myself up to my waist in it - chilly!
I got excited with how good I felt running so added a couple of extra controls to the route taking my time to 2hrs7 (7mins looking for the non existant control at the start didn't help).
Having collected 210 points this set me up well for the ride.
Onto the mountain biking: Now I feel I should explain myself before anyone sees my route choice on open5 website....
My original plan involved going to get 18 then 17 then 13 however on closer inspection I didn't think I could get from 18-17 on a bridleway without going a long way round and regaining height and I also discovered going to 17 alone wasn't really worth the 15 points for climbing up to hollins cross.
So I decided I would get 13 first...and I was so intent on going to 13 I didn't notice I rode straight past 15 on my way there (the highest point value MTB control).
After 13 I went to 9 - then noticed I wanted to go to 15 so instead of taking a normal route which involved thinking I went to 15 - missed it because I thought I was on the wrong bridleway and climbed back up to it anyway adding an extra 1.5km.
After this I looked at the map and thought how can I rescue this, the answer was that I couldn't so I got what I could - 19, 16 and 11, taking me to a pitiful score of 155 for my 2hrs42 of effort.
I am actually stupid and should have replanned my entire route instead of going 13,9,15,19,16,11 -you will see how stupid when the maps go up here : http://www.openadventure.com/results.php (under race analysis MTB). Feel free to have a good laugh - my housemates already have :-)
At number 16 on my way back from 11 I noticed I was a bit tight for time - so I pretended I was on a road bike and killed myself back to the finish - probably the best bit of riding I did today! 4:28 a mile for nearly 4 miles and it was not flat!
It hurt and I still lost 4 points for my efforts (2mins late) but it made it worth going to 11 instead of 12 by 1 point :-)
It hurt and I still lost 4 points for my efforts (2mins late) but it made it worth going to 11 instead of 12 by 1 point :-)
So, I had a look at the map when I got back and decided what I would have done if I'd paused and taken a minute to look at other options, heres a comparison:
What I did: 19.8miles - 332m climb
If I'd actually looked I would have gone 15,13,9,4,8,2,5,12,16,19
This route takes up 19.82miles with 382m climb - so thats 0.2 miles further with an extra 50m climb total = 230 points - grand total 440
I can assume that I wouldn't have been more than 10minutes late due to those extra bits so - assuming the maximum lateness that would have left me with a total of 210 for the bike as well...grand total = 420
Isn't hindsight excellent!!
Hmmm I feel there has been some lessons learnt today to carry forward to the next one:
1) Eat a little bit more (was lacking energy for my sprint back)
2)At least look at the MTB map before going running (i.e. with an untired head on)
3)Don't plan routes on the go!!!
Still - an awesome days fun racing, can't wait for February!
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