Its been a while...

I miss boxing so much - here I am with Amy of Smurfitness, I have learned such a lot from this lady.

*Warning* this is not going to be short! I like to think of my blog as an online diary which documents the active side of my life - my last blog entry was in December 2018 - what a slacker!  

So, here is a round-up of whats been happening in the life of theladyfellrunner since then...

My sister and I with Ricky Hatton

In a nutshell highlights of 2019 include - moving house and beginning the mass renovation and restoration of our (hopefully) forever home, learning to box, training my RunTogether group for a half marathon, running with the dog, a canicross leaders course in Scotland, learning to helm a monohull boat, learning to stand up paddleboard, starting open water swimming - both with and without the dog, volunteering to be the hare for a school cross country competition,

 riding the old boys (our two retired horses) with Scarlet, avoiding the town being washed away on 1st August when the dam was breached and damaged making headline global news, running a few fell races, doing a couple of parkruns and keeping up with pilates and HIIT classes, competing in the Dart 18 Nationals in Bridlington, and riding my road and MTB a bit (and introducing it to the dog).  Phew, quite a substantial nutshell!

But 2019 hadn't seen anything yet because then came 2020! It started well with a brilliant Ricky Hatton boxing course and I started the running year off with a Marple parkrun as part of the new Goyt Valley Striders championship.  All was going well until we started to hear chinese whispers about someone eating a contaminated bat and by March we were brawling in the supermarkets over toilet rolls and pasta...

Life was so different, it was like living in an alternative, impossible dreamworld where freedom was suddenly revoked.  People became paranoid, in some it brought out the worst but in many it brought back community spirit and hope. Coronavirus changed everything.  People stopped and the world stood still apart from checking social media constantly to see what was happening and what was to come.  Reports of Italy having a massive outbreak made it seem a bit closer to home than Wuhan and after all the Italians don't eat bats so it was suddenly becoming a bit of a worry.

Fast forward 12 odd weeks of lockdown and people were socialising on zoom, kids were spasmodically jerking away to tiktok moves, running clubs were doing virtual events and many exercise classes were held outside in small groups of 6.  My COVID highlights include getting aftershokz headphones for my birthday in April, staying in our caravan on the drive at Easter for 4 nights, running laps of my own (very undulating) fields, camping in the field, bonfires, home workouts, press-up challenges, running with William being towed by the dog, meeting one other person to run with, getting chickens!, going into tier 2, going into tier 3, back into lockdown and tier 5!

Aggie in lockdown

We did manage a summer holiday to South Wales (not the originally planned South of France!) and the kids really enjoyed spending time at home, during hot weather they walked 1 km to our nearest river and had a splash about and enjoyed a bit of independence.  

I never in a million years thought I would end up back at square one homeschooling the kids, almost a year later, which is where we are now - January 2021.  My primary teaching days seem a long time ago, certain skills are helping although teaching two of my own children is definitely 10 times harder than teaching a class full...

Running is now just something I have to try and fit in - ideally 2 or 3 times a week but sometimes more like once, mornings are now schooling, I do one pilates zoom class per week and try to do a few other online exercise classes, to keep my core and arms strong.  

Aggie modelling her K9 Trailsports Medal

Races are all virtual, I try to do a monthly medal race with K9 Trailtime which are canicross based and help various charities and I am trying to do a walk with the kids every afternoon.  The Goyt Valley Striders new championship requires members to run a mile as fast they can in January, 5km as fast as they can in February and 10km offroad as fast as possible in March.  These challenges are great as they give us a focus and an opportunity to train for something.  

Wearing the Freetrain vest

I have become a bit despondent about running on the whole over the last couple of years.  I am slower than I used to be and heavier although not unfit - on the contrary, doing boxing and all round body workouts has made me stronger than ever.   I had been trying to think of a way to improve my running mojo before lockdown, I had been considering joining a club with access to a track, thinking that might inspire me a bit but everything is now on pause, a sort of continual groundhog day.  For now just getting out is a victory!

Recently I was sent a V1 running vest from Freetrain to try out.  I usually wear my Ultimate Direction vest but tried this out as an alternative.  I really like the look of the vest, it feels comfortable to wear and has lots of handy features like reflective graphics on the back, a brilliant flip down phone holder which even fits my massive iphone 8+, a key pocket and a flattering shape.  

Sarah wearing the vest 

I had Sarah - one of my RunTogether members (and great friend!) in mind to try it out as she runs with headphones and has to carry her phone in her hand - this is not ideal as it unbalances the runner and isn't comfortable or practical.  Her review of the product was "I use it all the time, I can't tell I'm wearing it, its reflective and light, doesn't move or slip round, the design is great especially the flip down, you can still use your phone through the plastic.  Sarah's only negative was not having a key pocket - I pointed out it does actually have one! So its a solid 10/10 from us - highly recommended!

Sarah looking fresh in the vest

As I said earlier, I have been focusing on sorting out our home and it has been and continues to be a massive team effort.  Anyone interested can follow my home account on Instagram - slatersbank_farm and photos of my running etc. are still on my theladyfellrunner account.  

Rear view of vest

Sorry for the biblical nature of this post but I am going to try and keep updating regularly again from now on! 

So take care, stay safe and remember - you will never regret going for a run!

Happy running,

TLF x

The Power of Positivity...

The other day I looked back at my aims for this year, it made for pretty depressing reading - as due to my hip injury I have done nothing compared with the dizzy heights of last year with its PBs and Fell Championship title.  But, in the theme of positive thinking I have put a spin on the aims here - 

• GVS Fell series - defend my title - ok so this didn't happen
• Some of the Hayfield series fell races (short, hilly ones!) - neither did this
• The Slateman (as part of a mixed team "The High Peaky Blinders") - I managed this!  I competed in the cycle leg with an ace team of ladies and we loved it!
• Grindleford Gallop - I did this!  (Before the hip injury) it was great!  I didn't love it but I did it and I now know that I could complete a marathon if I wanted to - which I still don't!
• Another triathlon (sprint distance) and definitely the Hathersage Hilly again - I sadly didn't do either of these, but, I have kept up with my swimming and feel ready for the 2018 season! Bring it on!
• The Grindleford Goat (the longer "Billy" course this year) - I did this in biblical weather and nearly finished off my poor husband in the process!  (sorry Chris!)
• Improve my Mountain Bike Orienteering skills! - Another one I didn't do BUT, I did manage to hook up with Charlie Evans of Bikelife Coaching who has started to coach myself and a group of other ladies in Mountain Biking Skills which is awesome and I am loving it!

Galloping in Grindleford

Other achievements include my ladies run coaching group and it's success stories - many of the ladies have continued running in my absence and a few have started to join in with the more advanced speed/hill groups I am starting to do again, this is great news!  I plan to do more run coaching soon, with 0-5km type groups and some technical fell running groups.  

Another positive was completing my first 100 mile ride.  I entered the Velo Birmingham, a closed road sportive and have written an article for Totally Active Magazine on my experience - watch this space for the link to the Feb/Mar edition in which I will hopefully be featured.   

Running Update - 
After my hip injury at Castleton fell race in June, I have spent the summer resting and starting a strict rehabilitation routine to get me back into running.  

After resting it for around 12 weeks with little improvement, I was starting to think this might be the end of my running career. Christine my physio, advised that I needed to start running again - for sanity purposes - in a more structured way.  My first attempt at a comeback was not great, I did too much too soon on holiday and it started to hurt again.  

After feeling really despondent I spoke to Christine again who suggested I watch some YouTube videos (see links below) about perceived pain and the scientific research and proof about how a lot of pain actually comes from the subconscious.  It sounds daft saying the pain is in your mind - it obviously is actual physical pain but, by changing the way we think about the pain we can actually stop it in its tracks - or reduce it at least.  

I am always sceptical about these notions, having being told pain is all in the head before and thinking it ridiculous, pain is pain in my book - if something hurts there is normally a physical reason for it.  But what Christine said got me thinking... actually sometimes I will catch myself thinking "my hip hasn't hurt today" then shortly afterwards it starts hurting again.  Or, I would think "I'm going to try a run", - it would then immediately hurt again because I expected it to.  I became sure that the pain was being caused by my perception of it rather than any physical reason, after all, I had rested it for so long, something must have repaired!  

So I did two things, firstly I decided to start running very gently - along the canal or similar surface for 2-2.5kms.  I wrote a training plan to incorporate 3 runs per week (all with rest days in between) which kept at one distance for 2 weeks then moved up by half a kilometre for the next two.  This plan has worked, I have increased up to 4km and feel that I am getting somewhere now.  This week I have tried a 400m speed session with my running group and although I only did 9 of the 12 400m laps, I felt that my pace was consistent and not too slow.  My hip did hurt that evening but I expected it to.  I will now start again with my steady 4km runs and see how it feels, fingers crossed I am overcoming it both physically and mentally.  

Aims for next year will be to do some parkruns in the first instance and to increase my pace again.

Cycling

It's been a busy year cycling-wise, thank God for my bikes! Without cycling and swimming I think I would be in a bad place both mentally and physically! I've enjoyed pushing myself on the road bike to do more distance and am now really enjoying the skills side of mountain biking with Charlies help.  As the nights have drawn in and the weather is getting worse I have pretty much hung Ladybird up for the winter - I will go out on the roads if its a dry and sunny day but otherwise i'm going to be doing plenty of bogtrotting on Pearl.  

In other news...

Around this time last year, I wrote about the planned new addition to the Aspinall Household - a Hungarian Vizsla puppy, well after nearly a years wait I am so excited to be collecting our pup "Aggie" in 9 days time (not that i'm counting or anything!), so I will be keeping you updated with our training progress, unfortunately Vizslas bones take a while to develop so it will be at least a year before I can run or ride with her, but I am going to be putting all the groundwork into training her to help with the commands for when we can finally run free!

Happy Running

TLF

YouTube Videos -
Why Things Hurt
Understanding Pain in less than 5 minutes
Treating Pain using the Brain

Macclesfield Forest Duathlon Take 2!

After last year I said never again.  2017 seems to be a year of contradictions already as I have signed up to the Grindleford Gallop, and I once again entered the Crazy Legs Macclesfield Forest Duathlon.  

Doing the event twice has actually made for interesting comparisons - even though the course was a bit different.  So here is my report and comparison.  It has been useful for me to see how much I have developed over the past year.

When reading back over my blog documenting last year's event (you can read about it here) it became apparent how much preparation and effort I put into it then.
  
Going into this years event I was not nervous, I didn't train specifically for it and yet overall, I felt stronger and faster.  I think the reason for this is probably the type of training I am doing.  It is more varied now.  Instead of the bike/run focus of last year, I have developed my swimming immensely which I think has benefited me in all disciplines, and I have been doing pilates since last September, which has increased my core strength and undoubtedly made me more flexible.  

I entered this years event with Caz and Fred and we were relieved to see the weather was far less biblical than last time (Caz did the October version of the same event and Fred did the February 2016 one).  It was really cold and icy but not windy and raining so we were fine once we warmed up.  

My aim going into this race was to improve on last years times and to stay upright!

This year chip timing wasn't used due to a key member of the core team being absent due to a medical emergency - the team did a great job of timing all elements including transitions, so I for one didn't mind. 

In terms of clothing, I wore the same trisuit I purchased for last years event and once again teamed it with running tights and a baselayer top.  I used the same shoes as last time too with fell shoes for the first run, bike shoes for the bike and trail shoes for the last run. My transitions in 2016 were really slow so I hoped to improve on these if I could.  

I had my bike checked by Adam at the Bike Factory beforehand and it performed perfectly once again.  Since last year I have had a new back tyre, new cassette, new chain and other bits and bobs, so basically it's a bit like Triggers broom but it still looks pretty so thats the main thing (obvs!).

The first run was as expected, up up up up... until the trig point where it was so slippery with snow and ice I am sure I was much slower on the moors down from the top this time around.  The flag stones which line the way up to Shutlingsloe were lethal in places so I avoided them altogether by running down one side on the grass and jumping the little ditches.  Transition was a bit different this time with a run in at the top and bike out at the bottom, I was surprised how much quicker I was this time - I knocked at least a minute off both transitions.  

Caz with her prize!

My prevailing memory of this event was the bike stage being absolutely brutal.  I really struggled with a couple of the hills which needed to be negotiated 3 times.  This year was no exception but I was really proud of myself for staying on the bike for the whole phase - I didn't get off mainly because last time my calf went into spasm and I ended up having to stay on to avoid agony! But lots of people did dismount as the hills were really steep in places so it was almost as fast to push.  I knew I was quicker on the bike this year as the faster people like Fred didn't pass me until the end of my 2nd lap, last time I remember being passed earlier on. 


T2 was again quicker and I had Fred on hand to help pass me things which was great, he then proceeded to heckle me and encouraged me through the last run phase! 

Caz and Fred did really well, both winning their age categories, I was delighted to be 3rd lady overall, but remained in 2nd for my age category as I did last year.  Again the event was well organised and low stress, a pleasure to take part.  

All in all my memories of the duathlon are largely the same as last time - the bike stage is really hard, and I normally like hills! Next year I have roped my better half into doing the ride and I will do the runs, we will compete as a mixed team - problem solved!  

Event	Overall pos	Cat	Overall time	Run 1	T1	Bike	T2	Run 2	Gender pos	Cat pos
2016	66/83	F 30-34	2:34:27	0:46:12	02:40	1:25:13	02:37	0:17:45	6/11	2
				7km		16km		2.5km
2017	54/77	F 30-34	2:14:05	0:42:54	01:35	1:14:16	01:26	0:13:54	3/11	2
				7km		14km		2km

Highlights,Lowlights and Aims - Hello 2017!

Firstly, I apologise for lack of blog action recently, One of my New Years Resolutions is to update it more frequently (but not too often, I don't want to bore you all to death!). Secondly, here is a brief round up of 2016 followed by my aims for 2017.

Highlights of 2016
There have been loads of highlights, when reading back through my blog posts I find myself going - ooh I loved that and I want to do it again!  Here is a (very) condensed list of my favourites...

• OMM Ambassadorship
• Running Snowdon
• 5k, 10k and half marathon PBs
• Hathersage Hilly
• This blog!
• Biking ladies - making new friends and (hopefully encouraging others)
• Learning to front crawl - thanks to Super Suzie!
• Equinox 24
• 2nd Place in the GVS Championship (Ladies category)
• GVS Fell Series Champion (Ladies)

Lowlights..
There haven't been many, but if you asked me during any of the races I would probably tell you it is hard and I am hating it! But these were the actual lows...

• Falling off my road bike - self explanatory! (although improved my riding no end)
• Cheadle 4 - just not a great race, reinforced my dislike of road racing - won't do it again
• Ankle injury and weakness - Went over on it at Longshaw Trust 10k, created a weakness - bugger
• Winter stomach bug preventing me doing the 3rd MACCL race and kiboshing my training!

Some 2017 Aims..
This is not an exhaustive list!

• GVS Fell series - defend my title (eek, I wanted a no pressure year!)
• Some of the Hayfield series fell races (short, hilly ones!)
• The Slateman (as part of a mixed team "The High Peaky Blinders")
• Grindleford Gallop - OK so I said this year I wasn't going to do any races I didn't enjoy - i.e. anything over 10 miles, road races, etc.  I then took the challenge of entering the GG (it is notoriously hard to get a space and fills up quickly) damn my competitive streak - got a place in the first 6 mins, now committed to do the race.  Balls.
• Another triathlon (sprint distance) and definitely the Hathersage Hilly again
• The Grindleford Goat (the longer "Billy" course this year)
• Improve my Mountain Bike Orienteering skills!

And I think that's it, although more will be added frequently no doubt!


In the meantime, I have the 2nd Trailquest event with Dark and White Peak events this Sunday, with teammate Caz, followed by XCountry at Kenworthy Woods on Saturday 14th January.

Perhaps the most exciting thing happening in 2017 will be the introduction of a new family member/running partner, a four-legged kind!  She hasn't even been conceived yet but, if all goes to plan I will have a canine training buddy to run with in 2018/19! Canicross here we come!

Training will now be aimed at the Grindleford Gallop with longer hilly runs in the fells and testing out my new Garmin watch and turbo trainer!

Happy New Running Year!


TLF

Histio Ride, Tissington Half and MACCL #1

Since Equinox I seemed to have hit the ground running as it were - two days later, I took part in a charity road bike ride for the Histiocytosis charity.  A friends little boy was diagnosed earlier this year out of the blue after falling and breaking his arm, Xrays showed up a mass which was a concern.  His parents were wonderful and took it all in their stride and started fund raising for the charity.  

Our ride was just a small part of a John O' Groats to Lands End baton journey which saw teams of families affected by the illness - along with their friends and communities, transporting the baton in a range of ways - by bike, on foot and on skates to name a few. You can read all about the Team Isaac story and donate here. 

Our ride went from The Beehive pub in Combs, High Peak to the Tissington Trail at Parsley Hay.  I devised a back roads route which would keep us off main roads as we would be riding at night.  On the night the traffic from Whaley Bridge to Combs via Chapel Road was very fast and unrelenting.  We decided on a last minute route change and headed off from the pub up Castle Naze, which to anyone who knows the area is a jolly big hill! 

My team - representing Team Isaac - consisted of Mr A (Chris), Caz, Glenn, Helen, Jac, Brian and Claire.  We covered 31.8 kilometres with 668 metres of ascent.  The conditions were near biblical - it poured with rain and howled with wind as the light went from the evening sky.  I was freezing! Fortunately, we had friendly faces to meet us at Parsley Hay in the form of Alex and Fred from the Bike Factory who kindly brought vans for us and the bikes and Sara and Lee (with Isaac and Heidi) who came to accept the baton, cheer us in and take photos!  It was tough but for an extremely worthwhile cause and everybody put lots of effort in on all the stages, I was proud of our little team that night! 


As far as running was concerned, I was happy to have stayed injury-free post Equinox and started pacing and upping the miles for the Tissington half Marathon.  After a 15 mile training run and a 10k at just over race pace - I was feeling worried as I found it really hard both mentally and physically.  

Brian Holland - Winner Men's Vet Prize

As anyone who knows me will know - I don't like distance running, it definitely isn't my "thing".  It's not that I'm rubbish at it or anything, I just find it mentally as hard to endure as physically.  I entered the Tissington Half with the aim of getting a 1 hour 45 minute time (and because it was a counter in the GVS championship series) this would be 6 minutes quicker than my PB (I have done one half marathon before in 2015 - the Stockport Trail Half) and as Tissington was billed as being slightly downhill I was hoping to get that new PB.  

On the day I was very dubious, I needed to hold an average of 4:59 minute kilometres to make 1 hour and 45 minutes - a pace I had never held for longer than 10km before.  At the start I hung back from the other GVS ladies, I wanted to run my own race and thought the chip timing would be accurate so it wouldn't matter.  I paced myself well and was surprised to be holding an average of around 4:47 for the first 5k.  

Ladies team haul

Striders and friends before...

Somewhere around 7km there was a slight change in gradient and my pace dropped slightly to the 5:00 minute km mark.  I was trying to avoid letting it get any slower than that and rallied to continue at around 4:45 - 4:59 minutes.  I passed my friend Lesley and had another Strider lady in sight - Mary, she was holding a good pace and as I came alongside her she had a massive spurt and surged ahead again.  Pleased with my continued pace I carried on as I was.  It was lovely seeing supporters, including my sister and her puppy Dotty, at various points along the way.

Striders and friends after

Near the 12 mile mark I started to feel tired, Lesley was just behind but I had reeled in Mary, in the last 2 km Lesley and I broke away and managed a great sprint off with her just pipping me to the post!  I was so chuffed with my time - I managed to finish in 1:42:22 which put the GVS ladies as winning team of three - Sally and Julie both finished a couple of minutes ahead.  I was so pleased, mainly because it was over and I wouldn't have to do it again! 

Just before Tissington, we had a weekend away in the Lake District where we managed to sneak in a trip to Whinlatter, Chris and I both had a go at the Altura North Red route MTB trail.  I endured it but found that it was at the limit of my technical capabilities and I suffered a snapped chain so had to run the final 3km.  I enjoyed all the uphill (I know, I'm weird!) but nearly came a cropper on a few of the drops.  On further inspection Pearl needed fairly hefty work doing to bring her up to scratch again, including a new headset, a new front mech and rear cartridge - basically a couple of hundred quids worth of work on the gears eek!  My bike is a bit like the broom which has all the parts changed!  It is at least the original frame!

Looking like I was enjoying the cross country -
what I was actually enjoying was the fact
I was about 5 yards from being allowed to stop!

The first counter in the Manchester Area Cross Country League (MACCL) was at Wythenshawe Park - this was a new venture for the Goyt Valley Striders and we fielded a ladies team of 5 (4 times to count) and a men's team of 4 (we didn't have enough to count as a full team - six were needed).  It was pretty different and very like school cross country!  There were lots of professional looking people in compression socks and spikes - the really fast looking women had bare midriffs!  Lot's of children were taking part with coaches yelling direction at them from the sidelines - it was a world away from the casual fell races we are used to - especially the terrain - flat grass surrounded by blocks of flats, not exactly beautiful!

The course was a 3 lap 8km consisting of one shorter lap and two (very) long laps.  It was really disorientating and hard to describe, there was no mud and it ran fast on the good going.  I think it was the first race I have ever done where I didn't pass a soul.  I must have started in the right position for my ability because not many ladies passed me either - although some did! I have to say, at the time I hated it.  I hate the flat, I hate the distance - once again I found myself thinking "what am I doing?" but as soon as I finished I decided I would have a go at the next one - I have been promised mud and hills.  Bring it on.

My next race was another counter in the GVS championship - The Longshaw Trust 10k - It was certainly eventful!  The course was a 2 lap of the Longshaw estate which is very varied, from moorland to single track and rooty woodland.  I started off well until disaster struck and I went over badly on my left ankle - my first ever proper injury! I hobbled a few strides and was commiserated by a chap who checked I was OK.  After running a few strides I decided I was OK to carry on and my ankle pain subsided.  Unfortunately my calf began to get a stabbing pain with every footfall and I realised I had probably strained my leg.  I ran through it and decided I may need to retire after one lap.  

About 1km from the start of lap 2 Julie fell over right ahead of me and Amelia.  She too had gone over on her ankle but had fallen heavily with it.  She got up and carried on running but we could tell it was sore.  I decided if Julie retired after 1 lap then I would too.  Amelia has already romped home with the Championship title so it was only Julie I was competing against really.  

Julie being hard as nails decided to carry on much to my dismay but I was feeling OK and felt like I had energy to ignore the pain and keep on running.  I stuck with Julie, deciding I would see how I felt in the latter stages of the race as to whether I made a break for it or not.  Julie was obviously in pain and struggling as soon as the terrain got rough and sure enough right where I had injured myself on the first lap, Julie went over again, this time shouting out in pain.  I did what I would do for anyone and stopped to help.  Julie decided to try and carry on but she was much slower paced after her second fall and I left her to it.  I warned the next few marshals that there may be an injured strider coming and carried on with the race, as much to get the pain over with in my own leg as anything else!  

As I crossed the line some of the male striders and some of our supporters were there and looked concerned that I had blood on my arms, "Oh that's Julies blood" I said thinking to myself that sounded odd and like I had killed her and left her in the woods or something!! I explained what had happened and she came in not long after - I was amazed she had managed to finish at all!

The following week was half term and I rested my leg for four days - it was very sore and stiff around my ankle and all the way up the middle of my calf muscle, but by day 5 I managed a steady 5 miles and it felt fine. On day 6 I did Clumber parkrun and was pleased with my second best 5k time of 22:40 - 4th lady and 26th overall out of 233 runners.  
I am now looking forward to Dovedale Dash this Sunday, which promises to be a bit different!  I am currently sat here aching after a Roaches Fell Race recce yesterday which was 8.5 miles over nearly 550m of ascent! followed by a brutally brilliant Pilate's session today plus a hilly MTB with the girls this afternoon.  Hmmm, what shall I do tomorrow - I know - hill reps!  Great idea Anna!  

Until next time - happy running!

TLF