My training log tells me that last week we covered 72 miles over a six-day period, all of it on fairly tough off-road terrain. That might not be a great deal for some of the mile-munchers out there, but it's quite a lot for us. I think the fact that we (ie. Helen and myself) survived and are feeling okey-dokey is testimony to the recent training regime and I think we're looking forward to the Fellsman with a bit more optimism.
We got a good chunk of those miles during a Fellsman recce on Tuesday - and I have to say I picked the right day to have off, the weather was glorious - we parked at Ribblehead then took the 3Ps route up Whernside, from there it was down to Kingsdale, up Gragereth (steep!) and along a very nice ridgeline to Great Coum and then down to Dent. From here, it was a bit of a slog up to and across Blea Moor and then we called it quits and took part of the Dalesway back to Gearstones and then Ribblehead, around 25 miles and 5,000ft of climb in total..
On Saturday we did the Haworth Hobble (aka "Wuthering Hike"), this is a 32-mile off-road event that takes in a big chunk of the Bronte Moors and is pretty tough. It was my first time at this race and although I knew some of the route, we were on our own for a good part of it and so navigation was required here and there, this was exacerbated by snow showers on the higher ground .... not one for the faint-hearted, you definitely need to pull up your big boy/girl pants to get round this with your faculties intact. Saying that, I hugely enjoyed it, this was one of our planned steps towards the Fellsman and it was a good exercise in pacing and taking on food/water at regular intervals, this is something that Helen doesn't do so well and I think the penny is beginning to drop. We carried far too much food with us of course, I wish I'd listened to a pal's advice in this respect because the various checkpoints had plenty of food - you were even offered a shot of whisky at the Mankinholes CP! It was great to see so many friends at the finish, lots of Dallam runners showed up and I am seriously impressed at some of the finishing times. My friends Emma and Carol (running as a pair) finished as first ladies in 5.44, a terrific performance and one to be proud of. DT and Stef had a good run too and looked relaxed and happy at the finish, all looking good for Stef's BGR attempt in May I think.
We got a good chunk of those miles during a Fellsman recce on Tuesday - and I have to say I picked the right day to have off, the weather was glorious - we parked at Ribblehead then took the 3Ps route up Whernside, from there it was down to Kingsdale, up Gragereth (steep!) and along a very nice ridgeline to Great Coum and then down to Dent. From here, it was a bit of a slog up to and across Blea Moor and then we called it quits and took part of the Dalesway back to Gearstones and then Ribblehead, around 25 miles and 5,000ft of climb in total..
On Saturday we did the Haworth Hobble (aka "Wuthering Hike"), this is a 32-mile off-road event that takes in a big chunk of the Bronte Moors and is pretty tough. It was my first time at this race and although I knew some of the route, we were on our own for a good part of it and so navigation was required here and there, this was exacerbated by snow showers on the higher ground .... not one for the faint-hearted, you definitely need to pull up your big boy/girl pants to get round this with your faculties intact. Saying that, I hugely enjoyed it, this was one of our planned steps towards the Fellsman and it was a good exercise in pacing and taking on food/water at regular intervals, this is something that Helen doesn't do so well and I think the penny is beginning to drop. We carried far too much food with us of course, I wish I'd listened to a pal's advice in this respect because the various checkpoints had plenty of food - you were even offered a shot of whisky at the Mankinholes CP! It was great to see so many friends at the finish, lots of Dallam runners showed up and I am seriously impressed at some of the finishing times. My friends Emma and Carol (running as a pair) finished as first ladies in 5.44, a terrific performance and one to be proud of. DT and Stef had a good run too and looked relaxed and happy at the finish, all looking good for Stef's BGR attempt in May I think.
