A Summer Round Up - Polo, PBs and a Poorly Toe

Rushup Edge and Mam Tor

Sorry, it's been ages!  I will try to give a summary and keep it as brief as I can, but bear with me as there is loads to tell you!

Following on from the Hathersage Hilly triathlon my recovery was good with no injuries and I had a quieter week training-wise afterwards.  I am really excited to do more tri's but I think it is going to be hard finding just my thing.  Ideally, I will be looking for a pool swim, road bike and trail/fell run but these types of triathlon are quite hard to find.  I think I may have to compromise with some open water swims if I want the trail style runs - and I am not interested in distance events - I am happy to stick with sprint distances for now, but watch this space! 

Pro's

August was my sisters 40th birthday month and, for her birthday gift I booked us onto a Polo experience day with JF Polo Academy.  We had the best day!  We are both lifelong riders and have ponies of our own, but we both have children and only get to ride occasionally now especially as my horse Padraig is retired and we both share the riding of Ralph, my sisters horse when time allows. 

Ambitious

On  the day we were really excited travelling to Great Barrow (near Chester), not really knowing what to expect. We were introduced to our steeds for the day wearing full polo regalia.  My horse was called Renoir a chestnut gelding aged 19, and my sister was riding Lorna a beautiful bay mare, also aged 19.  We assumed they were kept for teaching people like us but James (Fielding, owner) informed us he would be riding them both later on that day in a real polo match.  We were just their warm-up!

This horse was a bit wooden

Looking good!

Riding polo style is very different to "normal" riding.  For a start you only hold the reins in your left hand (to leave your right hand free to hold the stick).  After we had got on board and been shown how to hold the reins polo-style, we set off with James on his beautiful grey horse around the perimeter of the field.  He explained how to stop the ponies by adopting a lean back style seat.  They were so responsive, no rein contact was really needed.  Riding the ponies without the stick was really fun, Renoir really knew his job and by the time we were let loose with the stick and balls he was an absolute saint, stopping at the ball automatically so I could pathetically try to hit it!  It is much harder than it looks!

I would recommend the polo experience to anyone - especially people who can already ride.  It was so much fun and James was fantastic, we had a lovely lunch at the Chester Fields Pub/Restaurant and enjoyed quizzing him about the polo players lifestyle!

Renoir standing patiently!

Back to reality and I find the summer holidays a real problem when trying to train.  Routine goes totally out of the window and runs, rides and swims become very sporadic.  I started to try to get some long run training in and it went quite well at first, starting with new 10k PB - ideally, I want a 45 min 10k and 1 hour 45 min half marathon by the end of this year, but at the time of writing this (September) this seems very unrealistic!

The first long run I did on tarmac/hard trails (20km) injured my toenail which is now coming off.  It started off very sore and bruised, then turned black and hard and now it has regrown underneath, forcing the top nail off - yuck! I do find running on tarmac and flat trails not only boring, but really hard going on my legs and knees.  I think the change from fell running to road running really makes a difference and it has made me realise that I have no desire for road racing or distances above 10 miles in future.  For this year, I will complete the races I have planned in for the GVS championship - the Tissington Half and  few road/trail races, but next year I will only contest fell races.  

The summer olympics were just awesome - Team GB produced so many inspiring athletes and the cycling was just fantastic.  It is brilliant to think that lots of the Team GB Cyclists use the Peak District as a training ground for their sport.  

William and "Cricket"

One day, William (my son, who's 7) told me his bike's name is Cricket - "because its green and does awesome jumps!" which I thought was clever and funny, I love that he is enjoying the sport - he even managed a red route on one of the trails at Lanhydrok during our summer holiday to Cornwall.

I managed a couple of races in August, before our main family holiday - first the Stoney Middleton fell race - where a stitch cost me the race,  but produced the best sprint off of the season with Julie! and Cracken Edge fell race, which was a steady 7 miles  - my longest fell race to date - which I really enjoyed as there was no pressure, and I just wanted to get round.

I was disappointed to miss Eccles Pike fell race due to illness, I just felt run down and decided rest would be the sensible option - it was a shame as it would have been my first race that I have done twice, and I was hoping for a much better time, but hey ho, I will always stick by a decision to listen to my body and rest, even if it is very frustrating and tempting to just get on with it!  

Nearly at Rushup

I did manage to run up Mam Tor one day in the hols, I went from Ford in Chapel-en-le-Frith and made my way up onto the Pennine Trail and over the ridge to Rushup Edge.  I was astounded at the views, having never been up there before!  It was a gorgeous day and the para-gliders were setting off from the top.  It was spectacular.  I continued and crossed the Edale road to make the final ascent up the stone flag steps to the trig at the top of Mam tor, it was a great day for it.  I touched the trig and then made my way back along the ridge the way I had come, it was brilliant - I will definitely be doing that run again.  

This last weekend was the fourth annual Grindleford Goat sportive in Derbyshire.  I didn't enter the event as I thought I would be too busy for it - but on Thursday night I got a message from Caz to say Tony, her husband, wasn't going to take part, meaning she had a spare place.  Chris and I discussed it and decided we would both like to do it, Grandparents came to the rescue agreeing to look after the kids and we both got entered!  

Our first ever Sportive, Anna, Caz and Chris - Chinley Churners!

We entered the "Nanny" a 51km hilly road ride around Grindleford taking in Monsal Head, Sheldon and Monyash.  It was the longest road bike ride Chris and I had ever done so we were a little nervous about our fitness levels!  We needn't of worried however as it was a brilliant day despite drizzly weather.  The food before, during and after was absolutely great and the people were all friendly and helpful.  The atmosphere was really laid back and I am so glad we bit the bullet and did it.  Next year I am aiming for the "Billy" a 108km ride with some more testing climbs!

This weekend is the Equinox24 event at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire.  This event is a 24 hour race, consisting of a 10k lap where solos or teams must compete to complete as many laps as possible in the time allowed.  I am part of Team WB (Whaley Bridge) and hopefully we will be based on Team GB not only in name, but in our efforts too!  The eight nutters - I mean team members (!) are - Amanda Skeldon, Dane Stanley, Aidan Grant, Caz Whittle, Julie Rundall, Sally Kaill, Connor Lomax and Me.  We are not doing Equinox for charity but as it will probably be the hardest thing I have ever attempted I feel like it should be!  If you wake up in the middle of the night on Saturday, think of us, and if you can - please donate to the Histiocytosis charity (see below).  

I am anxious about injury as the furthest I have ever run is a half marathon, and I have never run more than one long run in a day before.  I entered as it was something different which sounded like fun!  It is sounding less fun as I think about the logistics of camping and running and camping and running!  It will literally be a case of eat, sleep, run, repeat!  Watch this space for my report in the very near future!

Please donate if you can!

Next week I am taking part in a really worthwhile event, the Histio JOGLE baton relay from John o' Groats to Lands End.  My new found friends Rocky and Sara have a little boy aged 2 called Isaac.  He was diagnosed with Hystiocytosis earlier this year and they have been such a positive role model for anyone with a poorly child. You can read about Isaac's story and donate here.  My team is taking the baton from Combs to Parsley Hay using road bikes and I have a growing team of 7 - including Me, Chris Aspinall, Amanda Skeldon, Caz Whittle, Helen Gilbert, Jac Grant and Glenn Harrison, with a support team of Alex Fox and Fred Salmon.   

If you would like to come and cheer us on we will be setting off from the Beehive Pub in Combs at 5.15pm on Wednesday 21st September!

Mr A and I in Sunny Cornwall

Finally, now the children are back at school and my youngest is nearly doing full days at school (1 more day!) I am getting back into more of a training routine.  I have added pilates to my regime and did my first class yesterday with Rachael of Consider Pilates.  I have to say, having done pilates in the past, I always found it more of a "nice thing to do" rather than a really beneficial workout but Rachaels classes are totally different, as a very experienced runner, she understands which muscles need to be strengthened for running and she is very diligent.  I can really feel my stomach muscles today so I am very pleased to have added core strength training to my plan, maybe I will be able to touch my toes one day! (I have very tight hamstrings and suffer from sciatica resulting from horse riding throughout my childhood).  
Well if you have read all of that please come and tell me and I will buy you a drink sometime!!! Until the next update (I promise it wont be as long next time),

Happy Running! 
TLF xx

The Hathersage Hilly Triathlon!

I never imagined myself doing a triathlon, like ever.   I never thought I would have the time or dedication to achieve the skill or fitness levels required.  
But, after the brutal Macclesfield Forest Duathlon I managed to complete (#endure) in February, I decided to enter the Hathersage Hilly Triathlon, coerced once again by the hardcore (but lovely!) Amanda Skeldon! 

Ready for action!

On paper, the HH is a 420m pool swim in the Hathersage Lido, a 20 kilometre bike and a 7 kilometre run.  In reality it is indeed a 420m swim, but when the motto of the event is "It's not flat", you know its not going to be a straightforward road ride followed by a flat road run! Fortunately, as many of you will know by now, I much prefer hills to flat (#weirdo) so along with Amanda and our friend Jac, we entered and I thought, July - it's miles off, it will be FINE! 

Training

The girls - Reb, me, Amanda and Jac

So my training schedule included lots of hills which also fitted in well with my fell series races.  In April, I started to swim once a week in preparation for the swim phase.  I am naturally quite a strong swimmer but having never had lessons since school, I was completely hopeless at front crawl - I could go fast, but I was absolutely knackered after 2 lengths!  I decided to stop worrying about crawl and to focus on my breaststroke to get my swim fitness going and I started to swim around 1000m once a week.  

Amanda smiling as always!

After a few weeks I felt my breaststroke was getting stronger and improving my core strength, I was finding that after swimming, my lower stomach muscles would ache - this, I decided, was a great thing - I resolved to continue swimming after the triathlon.  But, even though I was improving in pace and hopefully strength, I really wanted to be able to do crawl like the "proper" triathletes! This was when I managed to persuade my friend Suzie - an amazing swimmer - to teach me how to crawl properly!

Suzie loves swimming and is a natural teacher.  Having learned to swim using the Total Immersion technique last June at New Mills Leisure Centre, it became apparent that she was a complete natural at it!  She regularly swims over 2k and is now a keen open water swimmer with her sights set on competing at some point in the future.  I am totally in awe of her - she is inspiring and I really looked forward to my "Suzie's Swim School" sessions!

cool, calm and collected...

We decided to start from the beginning with crawl using specific TI drills.  Progress was steady but after a few sessions I was loving the challenge and by my fourth or fifth session I was finally allowed on my front to try and master "full stroke".  Full stroke was really hard to master at first, with breathing being the main problem, but just before the triathlon I felt I was finally getting to a point where I could just get in and practice it, without having to do half an hour of drills to focus my legs (which don't quite understand how to slow down!).  For the HH I decided to stick to breaststroke, as I hadn't started to add any pace to my TI stroke and I was confident that I could complete the 420m distance in around 9 minutes and 30 seconds which sounded respectable for a first attempt.  

Amanda intimidating the competition in her Ironman hoody!

With swimming sorted, I tried to include a hilly road bike ride into my weekly routine, but if the weather was wet I went on my MTB instead and tackled more technical routes offroad.  Of the three phases I think the bike felt my least prepared, I wasn't worried about it, but I just had no idea how long it would take me.  I estimated, having recce'd the route with Amanda and Jac (see this blog post) that I would complete the bike phase in around an hour but I was hoping for more like 50 minutes in order to be competitive. The week before the event, Caz and I did a training ride of a similar length to the HH route and I really focused on being aerodynamic and pedaling as hard as I could on all the flat and downhill sections, which gave me a good confidence boost.

With the running I tried to do either an interval or hill session with Caz, Estelle, Helen and Sarah and/or a fell race each week.  As I was in the full swing of the Goyt Valley Striders Summer Fell Series, I found the running was being covered with that so I didn't overdo it and I felt my form was pretty good for the distance required.

As a total statistics geek, I looked at (read - pored over) previous years results and used this handy Race Calculator (thanks Amanda) to get an idea of my overall time.  But having never done a tri before - it was a lot of guesswork!  Basically I was hoping for a top 20 lady result at best.

Race Day

Not quite the first ones there!

As race day loomed I felt really nervous every time I thought about it!  Amanda, sent Jac and I her race plan and tri checklist to adapt and alter for our individual needs.  These were really useful as I am a total list maker - I love lists and feel far more prepared if I can write everything down and visualise from there.  

The HH has two transition areas, the first is at the swimming pool and the second is down the road near the start of the run route.  This required some military planning!  Basically Ladybird (my bike), my helmet and shoes were left at T1 and my running shoes were left at T2 (there were other things too (like towel, drink, arm warmers etc.) but I wont bother you with boring details!).  It is easy to know where to put your stuff once you have registered.  We went along the day before to register so we could have a little more time in the morning to prep our transition areas etc.  

T1 the day before

When you register you get a race number.  This number corresponds with everything you do in the race.  Without your number you cannot get your bike for example, out of the transition area.  You have a wristband, a race belt number, stickers for your bike and before the swim you are given a chip timer which you wear a bit like a prisoners tag on your left ankle and a coloured swim cap which dictates the time and wave you swim in.  

Lucky 104 ooh and jellybabies!

I felt prepared for the event but still really excited and nervous.  I opted to wear a Pearl Izumi triathlon suit which I got from The Bike Factory (I ordered it in), it wasn't the colour I wanted (I wanted red/black or black/black but pink/black had to do!) but it ticked all the other boxes and I felt comfortable and confident in it (well as confident you can feel in a skin tight garment) I did wear a padded sports bra underneath just to ensure I wasn't worrying about it being see through when wet!  

The Swim

Still talking even whilst swimming!

With the swim taking place in a pool, the whole process takes about 3 hours for all 300 odd competitors to complete the phase.  For this reason it is run like a well oiled machine.  My swim time was 8.26am and at 8.25am I was in the pool ready, I was in lane 4 which operated an anti-clockwise formation with around 4 swimmers at a time completing their lengths.  One thing which surprised me was that you have to count your own lengths! For this reason I literally chanted the length number in my head with every stroke "1, 1, 1, 1, turn 2, 2, 2" and so on!  I got a bit confused around length 8 (it doesn't take much) and had to think whether I was on an odd or even length which sorted me out!

Out of the pool and go go go!

One of my fears was getting held up in the pool, I did have a bit of a stressful start as I tried to overtake a man who was a similar pace to me and we ended up very close to each other for a few lengths.  If someone is slower than you, in theory you can tap their foot and they should wait and move over when they reach the end of the pool. I found that in practise this didn't really happen, so until the man got out I didn't enjoy the swim at all. Once I got rid of Mr splashy feet I was fine!

Looking very wet!

When the lengths were done I jumped out and ran to T1, during this short run I removed my swim cap and goggles and headed to find Ladybird.  I found my stuff quickly and thought I had done an average transition time although putting on my socks, shoes, watch, helmet etc. seemed to take a while!

The Bike 

Once on my bike I really went for it!  I found it really exhilarating flying down hills and passing other cyclists gave me a confidence boost.  Being in an early swim wave seemed to be a big advantage as there were hardly any cars on the roads.  Having recce'd the route I knew where I was going although it was really well signed and marshaled.  There is a section near Grindleford where you must stop and put your foot down before crossing onto a busier road.  This section was marshaled and anyone caught infringing this rule faced instant disqualification from the event. Fortunately I was well aware of this and duly unclipped my foot, placed it down then managed to cross quite easily.  

Jac heading out of T1 onto bike phase

Once I started climbing on the bike I overtook quite a few more cyclists.  I think I was running on pure adrenaline and by the time I had climbed Froggatt Edge I was well up on my estimated time. Unfortunately, after a particularly pot-holey section near Fox Houses, my watch had paused itself, and I only realised about five minutes later when I checked my time again! This meant I had no idea what time I had made!

The bit of the bike phase I wasn't really looking forward to was the moorland straight followed by the extremely windy descent into Hathersage.  I didn't need to worry as I was really brave and just went for it.  I got down on my drops and found myself in a group of motorbikes and literally stuck with them the whole way into the town (they weren't the speedy types!) in fact, I actually passed them at one point but once in the town we all had to stop for the pedestrian crossing - annoying!

After the town section I was nearly back and approached T2 carefully, making sure I could see the dismount line.

The Run

The slowest transition on record...

T2 was a disaster!  I couldn't find my bloody trainers!  I ran down the wrong row and (without my glasses) I couldn't see the numbers very clearly on the stickers marking each competitors place.  Eventually after wasting a minute or so, I found my stuff and changed shoes etc.  I remembered to turn my number round and off I went.

Jac heading out on the run phase

The run phase went by in a flash.   I was fine apart from forgetting to take off my cycling gloves which I managed to lob at my car on the way past!  I went off at quite a fast pace and kept it up until the hillier sections!  The hills were actually really steep and I employed my "fell walk", but some people were really struggling with the gradients! The rest of the run was uneventful (bar seeing an outdoor rave in the middle of the woods and noticing a lady finding my gloves next to my car on the way back past!) and I felt happy with my pace.  

The kids running in with me

By the time I got to the finish field I really went for it all the way to the line with my family cheering me on - which always helps!  It sounds cliched but I was so proud of myself, I felt like I had done my best in all three phases and, unlike the duathlon, it had felt comfortable and fun, the weather really helped too.  Judging by how I felt the race had gone and my performance on the day, I really hoped for a time of around 1 hour 45 minutes. 

Finishing line

I noticed a van next to the finish area and discovered you could key in your race number and receive an instant printout of your time and splits which was brilliant.  I was totally amazed I had managed to complete it in a time of 1 hour 38 minutes and 51 seconds! See my full results here.

Results

Amanda wishing she hadn't 
sprinted so soon! Looong run in

After I had got my printout I cheered in Amanda, Jac, James and Reb - fellow Goyt Valley Striders, we had all enjoyed it and I'm sure we will all enter again next year. 

James speeding to the finish

My overall result was 15th lady out of 103 and I was really pleased to have the 19th fastest cycle time and 10th fastest run time out of the ladies too.  My T1 and T2 times were terribly slow and definitely something to improve on in the future.  

Reb coming in to the finish

Jac was really pleased to just complete the event (having had set backs in training) let alone do it in under 2 hours 15 minutes with an overall time of 2:04:14 and Amanda was quite pleased (her own biggest critic) with her 24th lady position and overall time of 1:42:54. I am so proud of us all! 

Standard

The organisation of the event was managed by Sheffield Triathlon Club, and what amazing organisation it was!  Everyone was friendly and helpful and for a first timer like me, it was the perfect event to start with.  I cant wait to do it all again next year!

Jac nearly home! Looking good!

Thank you to Amanda and Jac for the general support and camaraderie, Amanda for all the tri preparation advice, the lads at The Bike Factory for preparing my bike which performed perfectly, Caz and Tony of a&c workwear for the loan of the bike carrier and Super Suzie for the swimming lessons!

I hope this blog inspires others to have a go, there are many fun triathlons with shorter distances which offer a taster of the real thing - have a go, I loved it and will definitely be doing more next year.

Been there done that.

On my hit list of potentials (apart from the HH which I am definitely doing again!) are -
The Craggy Island Triathlon 
The Tameside XL Triathlon 

And I may possibly do the Crazy Legs events Macclesfield Forest Duathlon again if Brian Holland twists my arm..

Until then, happy swimming, running, biking!

TLF x

Blackamoor and more

Before the Blackamoor race at Totley

I have had three races in the past few weeks, first was the Blackamoor Chase Fell Race in Totley, which was a counter in the GVS summer fell series.  

I enjoyed this race considering the distance - 9.5k, it was difficult considering it was a category B race.  There were peat bogs, moorland, a short road section and we were glad we remembered our midge spray as part of the route was through woodland and the gnats were horrible, I had to concentrate on keeping my mouth closed and breathing through my nose as they were everywhere!  At the end people were finishing with little black bugs smeared on their sweaty faces, like flies on a windscreen - yuck!

The finish on this race was exciting as it was around a large field and the funnel was uphill, I managed to outsprint a Totley runner which was quite satisfying!

I finally got into the top ten ladies in a fell race (excluding the Thomas Theyer race, where I was third) and came 9th Lady out of 41, I was fourth in the ladies category in a time of 59:08.  Taking into account our combined times, myself, Julie and Linette were 4th ladies team overall, which we were pleased with.  

The photographer was crouched down and took me by surprise - v. unflattering angle!
Photo courtesy of http://www.totleyac.org.uk/ 

The second race was another counter in the fell series, the Wormstones Fell Race in Glossop, a 4 mile A category race.  This was my fifth race in the GVS fell series and, as it is 5 races to count and with only 3 to go, if I won this one I would have won the Ladies Fell Series with five 1st places.  In the men's competition, Tom Jackson was starting this race in the same position as me - with four firsts he only needed one more to take the series title.  Tom reminded me of this before the race and I told him I wasn't thinking about it (but I was really!).   

Photo courtesy of Shaun Priestley 

After the race at Wormstones

This was what I would call a "proper" fell race, with a long hill, numerous deep peat bogs, and rampant heather! 

There was a proportion of single file racing which was tough and I had a Pennine lady breathing down my neck all the way up the hill.  When she could, she bolted past me and the two men in front who had been holding us up.  I decided to stick with her, being a local I thought she would know the land well and it paid off, as after the nab at Wormstones, it was a bit like pot luck getting down!  

Fortunately, the Pennine lady was like a fell pony, jumping through the heather and finding a good line down.  I followed her hot on her heels!

After the technical section there was a rocky road track which was horrible, it hurt my feet and I felt I couldn't get my pace going properly.  The Pennine runner pulled away from me out of sight and I suffered from a stitch as I prayed we were near the finish!  

I knew I was leading GVS lady and just needed to hold on until the finish.  I had a few sneaky looks back to see if there was any competition imminent but couldn't see anyone until Brian, another GVS runner passed me.  

I managed to keep going and the finish was a downhill track which came out back at the pub we started from.  In the end I was 7th Lady overall, 1st lady strider and 42nd overall in a time of 42:31.  I was really pleased as my win meant that I had indeed won the series and my aim of the year was to try and be competitive in this series so that's a box ticked!

Cheadle 4

* At the start

* Near the start

* At 1 mile

By complete contrast, last weekend was the 40th running of the Cheadle 4 Road Race.  

A counter in the main club Championship series.   I knew that this one would be tough for me as I haven't done any road running all year, except the flat Birkenhead parkrun and I don't like road running at all!   The race was an hour from home in Cheadle, Staffordshire.  I drove Brian, James and Julie to the race and we all felt that this one would be tough, especially when everyone kept mentioning a hill!  

It turned out to be good training as the pace was really fast!  My legs decided 5k would be fine but 4 miles was pushing my luck at that pace!  I stuck with Julie for most of the race but after 5k I was done and she ended up pulling out 40 seconds on me to take the 60 points.  I was 12th lady overall out of around 80, 3rd in the ladies category and second lady strider.  I was really pleased with my time of 30:29 which put my average speed at 4:47 km.  I definitely need to do some longer speed training sessions!

* At 3.5 miles

These last few months have all been focused on preparing for my first triathlon this weekend. I have been doing run training sessions, races, Total Immersion swimming practice and lots of biking - both road and MTB. 

 I have really enjoyed the variation in training and am planning on keeping up with the swimming as a regular thing.  I really want to improve my front crawl and full stroke TI will help with that hopefully.

There will be a separate blog documenting the triathlon to follow. 


Until then, wish me luck and happy running!

TLF x

* Cheadle 4 Photos courtesy of the brilliant Bryan Dale of www.racephotos.org.uk 

A Tinkle in Wincle...

I'm not sure why I'm smiling as the thought running through my head here was "OMG this dust is bloody awful", nice photo though!

Not wishing to jinx myself or anything but I seem to have hit a bit of form lately, which is interesting as my current training schedule is very varied with most of my weekly runs being races!  In fact, some weeks I am only running once, but the run is often a race which is extremely good training.  The mantra "train to race, race to train" is so true. Caz's voice often rings through my head with this advice, as I remember saying to her that everyone who is in training for running events - particularly half or full marathons, seem to run almost every day - some people twice a day!  The idea that using races as a method of training is a good one as it makes races seem less stressful somehow.

I think that I may have hit a good balance of cross-training.  My weekly routine is currently involving one run training session (consisting of hill reps, intervals, sprints or tempo runs), a swimming session which is either breaststroke at race pace or a TI (Total Immersion) lesson with my friend Suzie, and either a MTB or road bike ride involving hills. On top of this I am racing in the summer fell series which are usually midweek races.

Going forward to the Hathersage Hilly I will try to do some bike to run brick sessions (straight onto running after a bike session) and possibly cycle to the pool and back a few times too, in order to improve muscle memory for the triathlon.

Since running Snowdon, I have competed in two races - first, the Wincle Trout Fell Race near Macclesfield, organised by Macclesfield Harriers.  This race is part of the Wincle fete which is a family event and even has an onsite brewery!  The day of the race was extremely hot and Mr A and the kids came along to support and enjoy the fair.  As a result I felt more rushed than usual and by the time I had collected my number I had no time left to go to the loo or to get my cap which I had left in the car!  

Fortunately, I carried a drink (water with electrolytes and magnesium) with me which was a real saviour, usually for a race of this distance (5 miles) I wouldn't bother with a drink, but the heat made it really hard and they actually changed the route last minute to incorporate more shade.  

The man behind me was throwing water over his head, why didn't I think of that!?

I got another good start, I'm getting better at positioning myself, and the 282 runners thundered down a dusty track to a snarly section where there were lots of stiles/gateways so I was glad of my fast start.  We wound our way through paths and trails and eventually crossed a shallow but wide river where I picked up lots of grit in my shoes.  I was however glad of the cooling water!

After another uphill woody section with some sheer drops to the left, we came out onto a moorland track.  It was so hot I could feel my body trying to super-cool itself, I felt horrible and lots of people passed me as I slowed down and contemplated walking.  I was feeling goosebumps and chilly even though the heat was intense, it wasn't a great section!

Just before my unscheduled stop!

Over a stile and onto a downhill section I started to feel better as the wind was blowing across the moor.  I had been ignoring the fact I hadn't been to the toilet before the start but it was becoming my main train of thought and it got to the point where hearing my drink sloshing around in the bottle was not helping at all!  

After a while I decided I was going to have to stop, this was not good, I have never had to stop in a race before, ever! But it was slowing me down, especially on the downhills so just before a stile I made a swift left and hid behind a bush, I let 6 men past but felt so much better it was worth it! 

With Helen at the end! 

I hadn't realised how near the end I was when I stopped, but after about another kilometre we dropped down a woody section and back onto the road which was lined with well wishers.  It was a lovely feeling running down the home straight - up until Fred threw a pint of water right in my face! I was glad of the cooling effect though and after I finished I jumped straight into the river to cool down! 

I finished in a time of 54:22 and I was 21st lady out of a field of 98.  Overall I came 118th out of 282 runners.  A great race which I mostly enjoyed, and hearing my family cheering me on was brilliant. Randomly, every finisher receives a trout from the trout farm, unfortunately ours ended up on the road after W decided to swing it around, it is now in the freezer after a thorough wash!

By extreme contrast, last weeks race was the Grindleford fell race - a BS grade race over 4.8 miles.  It was absolutely pouring down, but what a fabulous race - I loved it!  I made a good decision at the start and managed to get myself at the front, after a very quick lap of the cricket field we headed onto the road and up a lane which led to a real bottle neck of an ascent.  

As I had pushed it at the start I was knackered when we started to head up hill and I remember thinking I had overdone it and wouldn't be able to sustain my pace.  However, the nature of the path was that it was a bit of a Formula 1 scenario - no overtaking, which effectively made everyone have an enforced rest!  As we walked up the woody section I felt slightly frustrated at the pace, but realised everyone was the same (except the leaders!) and to just keep going.

We headed out onto some peaty bogs which nearly dragged my shoes off (I was praying I didn't pick up any ticks from the long reeds) then left onto a track which brought us to the Padley Gorge gritstone section.  The gritstone boulders into Padley Gorge were fab!  They are really grippy so it was possible to spring like a mountain goat all the way down into the gorge, it was really exciting and I was happy with my pace, I really pushed it.  

After the rocky section we came out near the station and had to head through some fields before the river crossing.  As another contrast to Wincle, the river was raging!  I don't think there was a rope either (there may have been but I didn't see one), I soon gave up trying to run/high step through as there were a few spectators and I didn't fancy going T over A in front of them all!

After the river there was a long field where I caught up with fellow strider Lucas who is normally really fast, he informed me he had been sick which was a shame but he did well and still got a finish.   I had a good tussle with another strider Trevor, who managed to pass me near the end, and I managed to come home first lady strider again.  I was pleased with my result of 13th lady in a field of 108, and I managed a time of 45:53.  Overall, I was 133rd out of 321 runners, a really pleasing effort!

I must mention Ben Brindley's Seven in 7, Ben is the chairman of Tideswell Running Club and has recently completed an immense challenge of running seven marathons in 7 days. As part of his routes he incorporated the Grindleford fell race and the Ladybower Trail Marathon.  I saw him at the race and felt really inspired by his efforts!  He has so far raised over £1500 for Buxton Mountain Rescue, a brilliant cause!  If you wish to donate to Ben's cause click here.

That's it for now, keep running!

TLF :-)