I’ve done a couple:

Off-road at Grizedale – both runs up Carron Crag and a ride round the North Face trail.

On road in the Helwith Bridge Duathlon – this is a brilliant race with runs on lumpy roads and the ride is a lap of Ingleborough from Helwith Bridge through Ribblehead and Clapham with a pub at the finish.

I’ve never made it through the second run without cramp!

Possibly Pateley Bridge tomorrow. Debating whether to watch Sunday near home in Silsden or go towards Sheffield to see the race in bits towards the end.

I have a 60k mile Octavia. It’s a 2012 and has a slightly clunky suspension noise on speed bumps, judders a bit at >70mph (possibly due to wind after a problem with a rock hidden in a verge damaged the bumper) and has a creaky boot strut (estate) but otherwise it has been good.

We tried this when I was trustee of a charity. The candidates were students who wanted to fit it around their studies, which was fine, but they found it tough and inevitably prioritised their studies.

We didn’t actually get any funding from it and found that, given the remote working, the lack of investment on our part and the lack of structured focus (on our part as well as theirs), one of the students in particular did our brand some damage by ‘selling’ the wrong things.

Glad we tried it but it wasn’t for us.

Andy Thornton’s in Greetland (Halifax) used to be utterly amazing. It has gone a bit upmarket now but it still worth a look.

The antique shop on the Holmfirth side of the Lockwood lights is quite good too – I had some furniture from there when I lived in Meltham.

My next door neighbour has just put her house up for sale. She’s decluttering and insisted that we must keep all of her son’s old lego. We now have about 8 tesco bags full cluttering up our house. Outrageous.

Our kids’ school does a ‘Christmas present table’. The kids choose a present from a wide selection of dubious gifts to give to someone special.

My present this year was a money box in the shape of a dog riding a moped.

It now has pride of place in the bedroom.

I caddied for Ian St John (former footballer) at the Belfry once. He was a grumpy sod all day but got a lot worse when I encouraged him to go for the green instead of laying up in front of the lake and he dumped it in the middle.

The one thing I learned was that anything bad is the caddy’s fault; anything good is the player’s brilliance!

My son (7) spends hours building electronics with one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Adams-Hot-Wires-Electronics/dp/B0006SK3WG

It’s briliant. He can make fans, helicopters, light circuits, lie detectors, speakers, radios etc etc.

We considered one when we lived on the Holmfirth edge of Holme Moss and my wife commuted to Ashton (~8 years ago). It would have made perfect sense in the winter.

We tried to look at 3:
1) in a classic Autotrader viewing, it was on the dealer’s home drive, the engine was warm, he had ‘lost’ the service history and the front and rear number plates didn’t match.
2) a private viewing led to a test drive in which the dash and centre plastic console thing fell off and onto the owner’s knees.
3) we went to a dealer and had a drive of a newer one and hated it. It was gutless uphill and wobbled.

We decided we didn’t need off-road and would only need the 4wd for 3 months of the year so she got the train when it was icy and we bought a Swift instead.

The Forum and Palatine Hill are amazing and even better on a sunset/ after dark tour.

I agree that some of the dialogue is tricky (and Eddie J is awful) and I still watch some bits on fast forward but the thing that’s new, and that I really like, is that they do seem to be genuinely having fun – and that’s quite infectious.

I’d go through the woods to Meltham, then up the valley and Magdalen Road to Wessenden Head, down the valley to Marsden, then up some silly steep roads to Scammonden. A bit longer and the woods would be sloppy but worth it for Wessenden I think.

What’s the cost of not getting a key cut?!

It’s a great day out, and they’re good individually as 2-3 hours each.

I’ve done the race once (needed a lie down on top of Ingleboro due to full-body cramp) and walked it a few times. The 2 things I find hardest are the distance from PyG to Ribblehead and the descent from Ingleboro to the finish. The climbs, surprisingly, aren’t the hard bits.

Psychologically, the summit of Ingleboro feels like you’re cracked it, but the route back to Horton seems endless.

We have Philips Hue lights so can turn the lights on or off in other rooms.

Each wifi light has a name so “Alexa…turn the Batcave lights on” turns on the lights in my son’s room.

Also fun is “Alexa… wiki <subject>” – gives a snapshot from Wikipedia

Alphabet – Member
let the chickens and ducks out

If these are euphemisms, I get this one.

find/count the sheep.

I don’t get this one.

Certainly not “wreckless” – you seem to have bought a perfectly adequate wreck.

Now reckless…. that’s another matter.

However – just how many do you mean by ‘a few’ 20 mile runs in?

I think it depends why you’re doing them and how fast you are. I read in lots of places that the physiological benefits of running up to 2.5 hours are great but after that the recovery period is too long and prevents good training for a few days afterwards. The general rule is that long runs shouldn’t be more than 30% of weekly mileage but that’s hard for low mileage runners.

I’m marathon training at the moment too and I’m planning to do 5 runs of 2.5 hours – I did one last weekend on Ilkley Moor and managed 18miles with 1800′ of ascent – and will do some longer ones on the road sometime soon (ugh).

I’m also planning a 22miler at some point, just once, for the psychological reassurance that I can do the distance.

votchy – Member
I asked my colleague to have a look, this is his response, he is a 2h 31m marathon runner:

…

I would also forget doing any speedwork/intervals for this level of athlete – the marathon for this guy will be purely a test of endurance and stamina and thus his focus should be entirely on building his aerobic capacity – speedwork and improving his anaerobic system will have little benefit on his marathon performance… he would benefit a lot more aerobically from a 30min steady run than 30mins of intervals/rest

I agree with the vast majority of your fast friend but not this bit. Speedwork isn’t about anaerobic work – running faster enhances running economy (technique), cadence and endurance (see Jack for more info – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Daniels_(coach))

I’d suggest a weekly long run, a weekly faster run (build up from 20mins to 60mins at a ‘comfortably hard’ pace (maybe start with Parkruns?) and as many easy runs as you can do without injuring yourself!

I’d wrap tyres and tubes around my feet to provide a super-cushioned landing and jump.

Actually, there’s a product in there somewhere – someone tell Nike to start a new parkour range.

Edit: If it’s a flat roof it might be felted – can I fashion a rudimentary wingsuit and glide casually down?

So are you worried about the travel or your mother?

If it’s the travel, there are options – taxi all the way, taxi to the train station and get the train, drive and pre-set satnav directions to a multistorey long stay car park.

If it’s your mother, maybe she’s looking for some reassurance, a dry run, to hire a smaller car. Or maybe she’s fine about the whole thing.

In a roundabout way, this comes across as your vague worries. You’re not really pinpointing the problem you want to solve. I’d suggest an honest, face-to-face conversation with both parents about what’s going to happen.

Sorry if that sounds blunt! It’s stressful for all involved and everyone reacts differently. I’ve been in a similar situation and ended up flying home from Chicago to help.

Some of those fancy Hebden Bridge pants, surely?

I have 2 pairs of Howies trousers – the same style but different colours – in different sizes (both waist and leg).

Measuring them, they’re almost exactly the same!

Cougar – Moderator
Captain Calamari is a favourite.
Does it cost six squid?

No – we gave one to a friend and they gave us one back – Squid pro quo.

(First ever Latin joke and I’m not proud)

Lamaze toys are always good – Captain Calamari is a favourite.

Otherwise, a friend’s uncle bought him a bottle of nice burgundy to be opened on his 18th birthday. I always thought that was a nice idea.

If i were to buy the Yeti it’s about £28k. There’s no way I’d sell it after 2 years for more than £23k, so I’m ‘quids in’ that way.

This the the key bit for me. It’s like Black Friday – it’s only a bargain if you were going to buy it anyway!

Good effort!

The obvious ones are to go slower than you think, and go off-road.

I’d also look at what time of day you’re doing the runs – are you doing them at the same time each day? If so, you get about 24 hours rest.

If you try evening-morning-evening, you’re getting a shorter rest followed by a longer one. Persoanlly I’d rather have 12 hours rest and then 36 hours off to recover more fully.

Might be worth a try, anyway.

Used to be on my commute to work. Certainly gets you warm in the morning

https://www.strava.com/segments/6357573

Also, take your phone, I lay stunned on an icy road for a good ten minutes once having hit a black ice patch. Wasn’t unconscious but was certainly incapable of movement for a few mins. Was a bit scary while I lay there and tried to work out what I’d to call for help / get myself home.

I did this too. I was most concerned about my bike, my cut head, my lacerated shin and hip and my torn top (in that order). I didn’t even notice my broken wrist until after I got myself the 10 miles home.

Edit: Was a lovely ride up to that point though.

I hadn’t heard of this ’listening exercise’

Have many people changed their views? Have you? Has there been a move to the Independence side?

Not sure that trick works if you spell it wrong!

It’s Occasions Limousines

http://www.occasionslimousines.co.uk/

Possibly, but probably not.

Most runnners’ knee pain isn’t caused by the knee – it’s caused by weakness in calves, quads or hips.

This is a useful read:
https://runnersconnect.net/running-injury-prevention/runners-knee-symptoms-causes-and-research-backed-treatment-solutions-for-patellofemoral-pain-syndrome/

A visit to a sports physio might be £60 well spent!

I had the same conversation with my 7 year old last night. I asked him to put his pyjamas on, clean his teeth and clear a walkway through the lego to his bed so we didn’t stand on lego in the night.

He spent a good 10mins rolling round on the floor with his feet in the air and his pants on his head, playing with a technic lego battery thing he had made.

He’s smart, bright and (generally) a complete delight. Focus, though, is not a strength.

I’m told it’s normal. I didn’t believe it last night.

Depends on the person – the difference between Tony Blair and John Reid shows that the same amount means different things to different people (see the bottom of this article):

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tony-blair-says-he-used-alcohol-as-a-prop-2067328.html

I don’t (usually) drink after 9pm but probably have a beer or a couple of glasses of wine about 5 times a week.

After last Boxing Day’s fun and games with flooding I bought one of these: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/hippo-2-1in-submersible-water-pump/?da=1&TC=GS-051010190&gclid=CLWk3tORvNACFUFmGwodf7UM-w

Fortunately haven’t had the need to use it yet but it’s there for emergencies!

Have to admit I’d find owning one of these massively stressful, especially having spent much of last night on the phone to the police while I watched an attempted burglary in a building site nearby.

With £20k-ish to spend I’d look at something I could enjoy most of, most of the time, rather than feeling even more frustrated about sitting in traffic.

Something like this: https://www.alfaholics.com/cars-for-sale/road-cars/alfa-romeo-2000gtv/

Hutton roof crags too.

Amazing! Look in strava or Garmin connect for loughrigg fell race, wansfell race, something in kentmere, Lakeland country fair race. Loughrigg race is stunning – the views up Langdale are ace.

2 people at work have (had) 2006 Discoveries.

Firstly, they both made it to work in the snow. Secondly, for the rest of the time they were awkward.

The silver one didn’t appear at work one day. I asked the driver what was wrong – “the mechanic isn’t sure but he said he’s going to put his hands deep into my wallet, wriggle around and get out everything he could find”. 3rd time this year it went wrong. Gearbox, apparently.

The black one stopped appearing at work and a Hertz rental Seat Leon appeared instead. The driver had worked out that it was cheaper to keep the Disco in the garage and hire the Leon for the remainder of the contract he was working.

Unscientific sample of 2 but I wouldn’t fancy it!