Cannock Trig Points 09/01/11

A fellow club member mentioned that he was doing this race & before I knew it this was my first 'race' of the year.

The event is part race & part navigation where some local knowledge is definitely an advantage.  Having never been to the Cannock area before I took a good long look at the map during the drive down & worked out a rough route through the first few checkpoints.

When the race was finally started (after we had all been counted) I was amazed to see runners splitting off in about 5 different directions within 100yds of the start line.  I stuck to my navigation plan as the field thinned out & trusted to my own navigation skills rather than just following a local!  On the hill approaching the 1st checkpoint I realised that I may not have taken the most direct route as I found myself overtaking some runners I had previously passed - oh well!

The rest of the run went pretty well along some very runnable forest trails with only a few small climbs scattered in until a road section approaching the last checkpoint where I decided I'd had enough of running on the road & therefore took a path off through some nice looking woodland.  It turned out this wasn't the optimum route & probably added a good 2 minutes on my time but I didn't turn up to run along a road so I'm claiming it was still the right decision! At the end one of the runners turned to me & said "I've never seen anybody take that route before!"

Once we'd all finished it was back to the race HQ for a soup & roll during the prize giving (none of us won anything - but we weren't expecting to!) before heading back home.

Finishing Time: 2:17:17
Finishing Position: 32nd/136

Section of the Gritstone Way (from Disley) - Training Run

I had decided that I would like to visit the 'running' sale at Go Outdoors in Stockport today so while I was out I'd also planned a run.  The sale turned out to be very disappointing (I bought a Buff) but I continued with my plan & drove on to Disley railway station, the northern end of the Gritstone Way (a 36 mile long distance footpath running from Disley to Kidsgrove).  After a quick change in the car I was off & very soon out into the countryside with plenty of typical peak district scenery ahead of me.

The route passes through Lyme Park and as this was the first time I had visited the estate I was amazed to see the large number of deer in clear view from the path - I must have counted over 50 before I gave up.  In the photo you can see the deer & the Cage (a former hunting lodge amongst other things) & whilst the photo was neither taken by me or taken today I can assure you that both the view & presence of the deer were remarkably similar. (Must buy myself a camera!)

After passing the Mansion house the path winds up through some woodland before reaching the open higher ground of Sponds Hill (the highest point on the trail).  From this point I continued on until my Garmin informed me I had been out for an hour so I turned round (just before point 6) & retraced my steps.  A great 1st 'proper' run of the year!

Distance covered: 14 miles (22.5km)
Total Ascent: 1900 feet (580m)

RunFurther 2011 Series

Target 2 for the year is to compete in & complete enough races from the RunFurther 2011 series to get an overall series position (not my idea!)  In order to achieve this you must complete at least one race in each category (short/medium/long) & 1 other.  Below are the races I am proposing to do with a couple of additional/optional races in italics:

1: Wuthering Hike – Short (12/03/11)

2: Calderdale Hike (Howarth Hobble) – Medium (09/04/11)

3: Marlborough Downs Challenge – Short (14/05/11)

4: Osmotherly Phoenix – Short (July)

5: High Peak 40 – Medium (17/09/11)

6: Round Rotherham 50 – Long (15/10/11)

Amongst this I will try & fit it a few other 'long' fell races as well as some good training runs to get the required level of fitness - the 1st of these will be the The Hebden (22miles/4000ft) on 22/01/11.

Don't feel anything like ready for 2011 yet but I guess I've got a few days left to get some training in!

Targets for 2011

Sitting on my bed in the warm after a day walking (with friends) in the snowy hills of Shropshire I've finally found the time to sit down & start my blog.  I've been intending to do this for some time now having read the blogs of many other fell runners & enjoyed reading about their adventures.  I'm keeping this blog for me but felt that there may be a few other people who may have a slight interest in my running adventures in 2011.

2011 Targets:

1. Invest in a replacement pair of Inov8 Roclite 315 fell/trail shoes & also a new pair of 'boring' road shoes (an easy 1st target to achieve I hope!)

2. Complete a Short, Medium, Long & 1 other race (minimum) from the 2011 RunFurther Series (& therefore getting an overall placing in the RunFurther series) - further details to follow when I've confirmed which races I'll be doing

3. Complete the Lakeland 50 under 12 hours - undertook this challenge in 2009 & finished in 14hrs22mins so I think sub 12hrs is a tall order but it's not supposed to be easy!

4. Run a sub 3hrs15mins 'road' marathon - not achieved this since 2008 & guess I'd like to prove to myself that I can still run at pace for a length of time

5. Run at least 1500 miles in 2011 - I've achieved this milestone before in 2009 & would expect to easily cover this many miles in training for the Ultra races in the RunFurther series,

I'll post more details about each of these targets as the year progresses.