So I managed to get a PB in the ParkRun – 22 seconds better at 23.35. then did the Race for Life with my daughters, their friends and their mums (took my wife’s place as she was injured). A much more leisurely run but very impressed that 10 ten years olds and some mums that don’t even run managed to get around 5k in 33 mins.

Well done Stuc! 💪🏻

Wee thought for those involved in the like of BGR, PBR, CRR….etc.

How do you find folk to run with you? Assume it can’t all be people you know, and you’d really need local folks for the knowledge etc?

Are these support runners folks that are keen to try a round for themselves? Or maybe veterans of the various rounds?.

Not that I’m anywhere near even thinking about such madness, but, well, 18 months ago (with the exception of an embarrassing Edinburgh marathon years ago!) I hadn’t ever done any proper running really, now I’ve knocked out a few hill races, half marathons, got an ultra this weekend….

It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that in a couple of years time, I could be a few steps nearer….

Who knows?. 😊

Club runners nobeer? I did a shift on the WHW for a friend. I don’t go that often to club training nights, as I sometimes feel clubs suck the fun out of stuff. But they provide a good support network.

PSA – Prime members get 30% off Garmin wearables for the next 48 hours, might find a bargain or two

Aye, I’ll be doing a shift on the WHW next year for a clubmate, but that’s a different monkey altogether, its a marked path, no nav issues, the rounds are completely different. A tired runner must be very reliant on not only being paced but also assisted with route choice.

Spin, who was gonna do your winter round with you? Guys you knew, or do you post on a forum and ask for folks?.

First track session for me tonight. Eeek! Suspect it’s not going to be pretty…

Been trying to get some mojo back recently, still doing the miles but no pace and not much enjoyment.
2 things have happened:
1. I’ve entered a 1 mile track race at my local track. I suspect it’ll hurt like hell but I quite fancy something different
2. I made a slight tweak to my commute run, and this morning, I ran it in the rain. Oh my, it was wonderful, I was slow but the tweak in route is really nice and running in the warm rain is such a treat.
Maybe, just maybe I’m back on track.

Im not having a good month.

Since the lairig ghru ive been off the feet pretty much .

Did LG and thought i got away pretty lightly with no real “injuries” so to speak- just toenails and blisters.

Kept my self moving with the bike and swimming to let the blisters heal – lots of stretching etc.

at skipinish the following friday – i became aware of a golf ball in my shoe under the arch on the right foot – and the golf ball was growing. Spent a week hobbling and massaging the area with a golf ball. – thought i was good . Tried an easy run wednesday this week – nope its back within 3k .

MY IT band on the left Knee is good for a bit of dualing banjos – so foam roller has been applied liberally and my back has been stretched lots .

probably a couple more weeks of rest required 🙁

It’s nae fun getting auld Terry.

If we’re talking injuries wondering if any of you had had peroneal tendinopathy? Overdid things a few weeks back and been unable to run since. Pain and swelling in foot seems to be easing slowly and just wondering if you have any tips? I suspect my calf muscles are a bit tight and a contributory factor so I’ve been stretching them a lot. Will go and see a physio soon I think if it takes much longer to heal.

Spin, who was gonna do your winter round with you? Guys you knew, or do you post on a forum and ask for folks?.

I was going to run solo but have static support at two points. That’s how I did my summer CRR and BG. Obviously you need to be confident on nav etc but it makes you more flexible. Most folks would lean on club mates but not every club has that kind of expertise. There’s the fell runners forum and also a FB group called Ramsay Recces that people have used to find support.

I’m in the Alps just now with shonky WiFi but happy to offer advice on rounds when I’m back or better connected!

A few thoughts on rounds…

How you do in races is a poor measure of how you’ll do on a round. I regularly beat people in races who have much faster round times than me and vice versa. At the end of the day only one time matters and that’s sub 24.

As for building up to it, racing has a place but massive days out are better, after all you only have to average 4kph to do a CRR! If you’re serious nobeer, keep doing what you’re doing but throw in some big hillwalking type days, try to keep the pace up but don’t worry about it too much. By massive days out I mean 10hrs plus. Build up to doing a few days like that back to back. Mountain marathons are also good prep. If you can do the A class in one of them without too much damage then I reckon you’re fairly well on your way.

Watched the Eiger Ulrra Trail yesterday in places, very scenic 110km/6700m ascent. Might dust off my ultra shoes again and get an entry in for next year. Watching the lights as I sipped a bottle of red last night reminded me I’m an old man but still have some energy !

Cheers spin, done great food for thought there.

Did run the blades 50k yesterday with my wife, she was awesome, her longest previous run was 15 miles, so 50k was a stretch.

I found it tough, sounds silly (but hopefully not condescending!) That slowing down to her ultra pace actually made it very tough.

After last weeks half marathon, which I’m going to call a success, I thought today I’d try a run in the Peak District.

I headed up to Kinder Downfall from Edale. Some walking involved and some scrambling when I missed a turning and ended up following the course of a stream, until I was actually pretty much in the stream. I need to brush up on my navigation as I’m so used to the main areas of the Peak by bike – found it easy to follow what looked like a defined path heading in the right direction which soon turned vague. Think I may invest in something with a better display than my Edge and revisit my map and compass skills as well.

Also bought a Salomon ADV pack in Hathersage. Really nice to run with – cant really tell it’s there. Looked at the Alpkit bag but even though I’m not the slimmest of people the straps were pretty much cinched tight and it still moved around a bit.

Just over 12 miles in total – not fast because of the walking and scrambling bits but a really nice day out, and something I’ve wanted to do for a while.

Been upping my miles recently (although absolutely nowhere near the distances some of you guys do) and have done a couple of 6 mile runs (two runs over three days to push tiring legs a bit) in just under 9 minute mile pace but wanting to get that to around 8.30min – aiming to do GNR in <2hrs in September.

Well done johndoh.

Best thing I’ve done for my pace is long slow runs combined with a tempo run a week, and a track interval session.

Cheers nobeer – that’s kind of the aim, however (due to injury) I lost a whole season in 2017 then nursed my way back last year by just doing Park Runs. Up until 6 weeks ago I hadn’t run further than PR distance since January 2017 so I am building up the distance (which I aim to do on week day evenings) then aiming to beat my PBs in the ParkRun on Saturday mornings (which I managed last time out) when I have people to run against.

Hey Johndoh, I’m doing the GNR and also aiming sub 2 hours. I’d echo what Nobeer says. I’m doing a couple of easy runs and a tempo/interval run through the week with a longer one on Sundays (about 8-10 miles at the minute). 9.09 minute miles is dead on 2 hours but I think you are right. In a big event like the GNR, there’s crowds and faffing to deal with so 8.30 pace is reasonable. Coming from cycling I find that I have a decent level of stamina, its the pace that I need to improve on.

Excellent – I am not quite at that distance yet – I could do it physically but just wary about getting injured so taking it quite steady. I might try for 8 miles on Wednesday as my family are all away for the night.

Forgot to say, my long runs are slow. Like 9.00 – 9.30 min per mile slow. Similar theory to riding Zone 2 when getting cycling base miles in.

That’s not slow, my 50k on Saturday was about 2 mins slower than that! 😅

I like mixing it up, parkrun, track sessions, tempos, long runs, sociable work runs, long runs with my wife, but my favourite discovery has been hill running.

I always thought it was solely for wee skinny bastards, and I was always a big lad with questionable joints due to a life of football.

Turns out, well it is for wee skinny bastards, but I’m no bad at it either! Mid table obscurity is a result for me!.

Running has been the best thing I’ve done for my knees and ankles, and hill races combine my love of running and the hills, and also allows me to get a look at potential bike rides!.

Grand.

Yeah my 10k pace is (currently) around 9 minutes albeit in hilly areas around my house (I can do <8min miles on the flat ParkRun I do. Will be interesting to see how I fare on a flatter 10k but unfortunately I can’t do that from my house as we live on the top of a hill.

Wee thought for those involved in the like of BGR, PBR, CRR….etc.

How do you find folk to run with you? Assume it can’t all be people you know, and you’d really need local folks for the knowledge etc?

Are these support runners folks that are keen to try a round for themselves? Or maybe veterans of the various rounds?.

Not that I’m anywhere near even thinking about such madness, but, well, 18 months ago (with the exception of an embarrassing Edinburgh marathon years ago!) I hadn’t ever done any proper running really, now I’ve knocked out a few hill races, half marathons, got an ultra this weekend….

It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that in a couple of years time, I could be a few steps nearer….

Who knows?.

When I first attempted the BGR, there were very few forums about and it was certainly pre-FB, even the FRA forums hadn’t started. I didn’t get much help from the running club I was in either but I was asking the wrong people. I eventually asked on UKClimbing and got a couple of people offering to help along with a few mates. I didn’t make it round that time (or the next) but managed it on my third attempt. My success was back in 2005.

These days I’m a bit more involved in things and I usually point people to the FRA forums and the FB group (though I’m not on FB myself). There’s plenty of folk out there willing to help, often as part of their training for their own attempts, and many will repay the help received with helping on future rounds. Local knowledge? There’s a lot of info available these days, Harveys do maps of all three big rounds for example, but a recce run or two of each leg should be enough to figure things out – does depend where you live in relation to the rounds themselves of course as to how practical that is.

This isnt really running as most folk would understand it but it does say ‘whatever’ in the title so I’ll share it anyway!

Over the last few summers I’ve been messing around with running style ascents of big peaks in the Alps. Nothing technically difficult but a bit more involved than just trail running. The sort of stuff that people traditionally do over two days with a night in a hut but done in one day from the valley.

You see quite a bit of stuff on social media from people doing this sort of thing but its actually still quite uncommon I think. At least thats the impression I’ve got from the comments and funny looks I’ve encountered!

Anyway, to cut a long story short I did the Mont Pelvoux in this style a few days ago, Pic Coolidge tomorrow and weather/persistent knee niggle depending I’m going for Mont Blanc at the weekend / early next week.

I never set out deliberately to do any of this stuff so I guess the reason I’m posting this is to show that if you follow those little daft ideas that pop into your head, have a crack at stuff and keep asking ‘what next?’ then who knows where it will lead.

Pic Coolidge is a dead easy summit (assuming the one in the Ecrins), there’s a walker’s trail over the col and from there it’s a very shallow angled rock ridge to the top, just one step that’s awkward IIRC. Not quite hands in pockets but not far off.

Mont Blanc from the mid station of the Midi télépherique is also very non-technical, the hardest bit will be the crossing of the Bossons glacier. Only done it twice (in descent), once was a right maze the other was relatively simple.

Yes,the Ecrins one.Seemed like an obvious choice being pretty much unglaciated.
My feeling is that the Gouter Route on MB is the best choice for a solo runner so thats what I’m going with.

Is the Gouter Route the one that crosses the Grand Couloir? If so that’s a shooting alley, literally!

The Gouter Route is the voie normale and it crosses the Grand Couloir. I’ll be across it very early and very quick. All the other routes are to heavily glaciated for a solo imo.

I last posted in this thread a year ago. I still mainly use my ‘barefoot’ running shoes for walking in. My toddler on his balance bike has recently got me running more frequently however. I still fear I’ll get shin splints as I got them really easily, so haven’t actually gone out specifically for a run.

@whitestone: great wee jaunt up the Pic Coolidge this AM. Its a great view point. 5.48 campsite to campsite. I’m happy with that. 🙂

Haven’t checked in for a while, did anyone run at Ambleside today? My first fell race, great experience although I ran like a total muppet, out of gas on the way up to Fairfield, a few were talking about dropping out due to the heat , it was not pleasant running temps!
So, wobbly legs and dizzy, walked most of the descent and still managed to turn my ankle. Thank gods for the beck at the bottom. Limped in an hour after Ricky, not last so happy with that. Next race on Sunday at Kentmere, if anyone is going up let me know!

Nice one bob and good luck for Sunday.

My Mont Blanc in a day with no uplift thing is going to have to wait for another year. Miserable forecast for the days I had available for an attempt.

Back in the UK on Wednesday and hopefully my knee will be up to a Paddy Buckley attempt over the coming weekend / early next week.

In awe of your running Spin, keep us posted on the PB if you go ahead with it mate.

Cheers Nobeer, I don’t think I’m doing anything particular awesome, I’ve just found a niche in running that suits my abilities and skill set!

Does anybody have any experience of the Dark and White Events trail runs in the Peak District please?

Yeah, good luck with the pb Spin.

Kentmere went ok, climbed well but lost tons of time over the descent. 10 or 15 mins on the runners I was with at the top. Total rubbish, can’t put my finger on why I go downhill so slow but need to work on it.
Next up is Turner landscape in Seathwaite… Anyone?

Went out for a longer training run to prepare for the GNR and ran at a slower pace (as suggested to me earlier in this thread). Managed just over 10 miles in 1hr 40min (with over 700ft of climbing) which I was pretty happy with as it’s 3.5 miles further than I have run in over 15 years. Going to do a couple of shorter high pace runs this week to help get my pace up a bit.

@bob_summers – I’m an infrequent visitor to West Cumbria with work and can’t make any of the races work this year I don’t think. Although up here today and planning a run out of Buttermere, into Ennerdale, up onto Pillar then loop back to Buttermere. Looking forward to getting out in the fells 🙂