MOD Stafford MTBO

Today was Stodge's Mountain Bike Orienteering head to head sprint at MOD Stafford - It comprised of a prologue race (to decide starting order) followed by the main event of 3 gaffles with 3 riders setting off on different loops at the same time.

It was a cold but dry morning until we got to within 5 miles of Stafford....then it got decidedly more wet! Perfect conditions to try out my new, white, Lichfield CC kit :-) (one machine wash down and the shorts are brown splattered still..)
I set off on the 5.4km prologue in between showers and had a reasonable clear, yet steady ride finishing in 27mins. I accidentally went to number 8 again instead of 21 just before the finish though therefore mispunched.

This wasn't a chasing sprint however so all that mattered was the main event! And a mp meant I got to set off sooner than I would have had I finished properly, which was a bonus as I was a bit cold by the second race!
The second race didn't start that well, with me folding half my first route off the map.....This lost me a minute or so, but I was clean technically and riding ok, then on my 2nd loop I noticed I'd folded the map wrong AGAIN! Another 30s lost but now all remaining controls were in view! I managed 2/3rds of the course well and made no major navigational errors, then the cold I have had for the last 2 weeks caught up with me and I lost time in the last third having to think every step through in slow motion : 'I need to go over there, How do I do that? That way, right, go....how do I do that? Clip in and pedal...ok....'

The outcome of 45mins racing on the 8.8km course was what normally happens to me after 5hrs and not enough food :-) Hat's off to Stodge for providing an excellent challenge!

I finished in 15th overall (3rd Lady) which I was happy with as in terms of times that was possibly one of my best races to date...I'm looking forward to the rest of the MTBO season already!

I think I need to do a few intervals before the summer, for now I need to get rid of this cold properly (next weekend is actually 5hours of racing) ....and maybe some origami lessons would help with the map folding...

Hilly Run in the peaks

Today I met up with JC and Shelf for some hilly training in the peaks. It looked like it was going to be another wet and windy training session but, by the time we had sorted out a route and made it around Ladybower and up to the top of the woods near Win Hill, the sun was out!

We set off from the A57, contoured round Ladybower res then headed up the hill to the corner of the forest. Next we lost all that height and dropped into the Edale Valley before heading straight back up to the edge path of Kinder. We headed round to Ringing Rodger then dropped into Edale, straight across and up Mam Tor, along to Lose Hill via Hollins Cross, another big descent and then finally, the last climb of the day was up Win Hill. Here we discovered JCs camera had no battery and so I had to make proof we were there....The total route was a little over 18miles with more than 1200m climb - got to get a fair bit of climb in ready for Switzerland! My legs were a little tired at the start, but soon got into the hills, shame my lungs had a few problems after 2 hours as the inhaler I took was on the empty side and that made my last few climb attempts a little rubbish....

We outran the weather though and got the best of the day! There was even enough time for a cuppa in Shelfs new van upon return to the A57 before the rain started!

2nd in the Open 5 - Kirkby Stephen

Yesterday was the open5 at Kirkby Stephen. After a break in the weather on Saturday which I made the most of, running Wansfell fell race (to 'test out' the ankle) and finishing in a close 3rd, Sunday saw the return of the gales and downpours....

Riding to the start it was already clear it was going to be a tough day! I really enjoyed the run which I did first and felt good despite the wind trying to push me off hills, getting all but 3 controls in a little over 2hrs, then came the bike. By this point I was already soaked right through, but was glad I didn't waste time changing any clothes at transition as within 800m of leaving transition I had found a river that was marked as a road on the map.....I got my first control then turned around into the headwind.

The ride continued much in this way except with bigger headwinds for a fair bit of it. I thought I had completely lost it by the time I'd reached my second bike control in just over an hour and was really not enjoying 'riding' into the wind so nearly gave up... but I got a 3rd control, then decided to carry on with my planned route. Half way to the next control, for the first time ever I decided to turn around instead of trying to get it. I thought there was not enough time in the conditions to ride the 1km left to the control...I was right! I took the straightest route back which happened to pass through another high pointer and rode down the river/bridleway finishing in 4hrs58 (incidentally the first time Ive made it back within 5hrs, maybe I should think more about how long biking takes me in future)!
I thought it was a good run but only 4 bike controls had removed any chance of me doing well, so was very happy to discover others had got just as many bike controls as me and I finished in 2nd :-)
A successful weekend and great fun (I can say that now I'm dry)....

It was bound to go wrong somewhere...

Last Wednesday I ran the Wart's night race from Burbage Bridge....well I ran all of the tough heather anyway....then hit a track and immediately crashed! This resulted in an egg shaped ankle and a couple of days off.

I tested it out at the weekend with a gentle run on Saturday revealing the large amount of strapping required for me to run offroad. On Sunday I ran Tigger Tor fell race, this '9.5' mile race (actually just under 9) took in similar terrain to Wednesday and I so I ran hard on all the places I am worst at running i.e. gentle uphill/flat/road and went very carefully on the bits I'm best at i.e. heather/tussocks/steep downhill. Songs were replaced in my head by 'concentrate concentrate concentrate' and 'don't race that woman even if she overtakes you' in order to prevent further crashes.

I made it round 8minutes faster than 2009 (although there is some question over which route is further...I think they are pretty similar tbh) and finished in 10th place which wasn't all that bad considering that was the first time I'd pushed my HR over an average of 157 since October....

My ankle is fine on the egg shaped bit - in fact was less egg shaped by the end of the race, however my tibialis posterior is a bit inflamed which might mean more rest....maybe 4hrs45 of biking and 15mins running at the next open5....hopefully I'll be ok to run a bit more than that!

2nd in the Kinder Trial - 22nd Jan

(Image - and route shown - Courtesy of Nic Barber)

Last Saturday I headed back home to run the Kinder Trial, a 12mile navigation event as much off the beaten track as possible! It took in all that Kinder has to offer, with controls spanning from Low End to The Knott via the Downfall.
Controls could be visited in any order and Andy had thrown in a nasty route choice at the bottom of Kinder river to make you think. I decided the minute I saw the map I was going anticlockwise so that I hit the tough heather running over to The Knott at the end, and essentially in the downhill direction (Route - 7, 11, 2, 5, 8, 10, 1, 6, 3, 4, 9, 12).

I set off at a comfortable pace, remembering last year when my legs gave up before the last 3 miles of running back to Hayfield. Soon I had caught the person who set off 1minute ahead of me and by low end had caught another couple of people. We formed a sort of group, with the two guys ahead of me running faster yet us all turning up at the controls at the same time, clearly I was hitting some good lines navigationally.

Just after the Downfall, Dave Ward came flying past and injected a bit of pace into the group, I took a bad route to the next control, however made up the deficit quickly, catching back up with everyone, back at a nicer pace, by Mill Hill. Half way to Mill Hill a Pennine runner came pelting past in much the same way as Dave....he then came pelting back past having missed the control by around 500m....

At Mill Hill I suddenly realised I only had 3 controls left and I was still feeling very good, I sped up a little bit through the heather, finding a good line to the Knott. After the last control I ran as hard as I could past the shooting cabin and down to Hayfield, proving in the process this is faster than the flat road running that the rest of the group took(minus Nick having recovered from his navigational blip).

I had left my watch at home by accident so it was nice to find I was back in under 2.5hrs, a feat not achieved since I was 17.....In fact it was nearly an hour faster than last year!

I finished in 25th overall, 2nd placed woman behind Kirsty Bryan Jones by 1min 11seconds (finally lost the label of eternal 4th place in that race!)..... and I could still walk afterwards which is a great improvement from last year :-) (although 3hours MTB on Sunday soon put an end to that...)

I think my winter long distance slow training is starting to pay off!

Roving Box and Team Beach Body

(The first time I visited the roving box - without the wind and rain but with snow!)

After success at the open5 last weekend, I couldn't wait to get out for a long day again this weekend. It was decided that me, Nick JC and Rach would head out from Edale at 10:30am on Saturday (as I needed a lie in) and do half of the Edale skyline/part of the HPM, then if there was time, head for the 'January Roving Box'. The box is an invention of two rather competitive DPFR runners who spent 2010 running to and from an ammo box on kinder in order to be the one who visited it most in a year. As this seemed repetitive they have planted a 'roving box' that will be at a new location each month, and the only way to find out where it will be next month is to go to this months location!

The weather was rather windy and, after heading round from hollins cross to brown knoll and grindslow, the rain set in.....the north edge was even more exciting, requiring some low crouch running to run away from the edge. The wind made me look like a very fast runner when it picked me up and pushed me (entirely in control of course) along the path....so we made a quick retreat after reaching the roving box, covering a total of just over 16.5miles, at least 16 of which was into the wind (or it felt that way!). Excellent fun!

On Sunday we had biomechanics testing with Holywell health. Thanks to the new orthotics they have made me I am no longer wonky! My legs still need a bit of getting used to them (running over 2hrs leads to an achey ankle), I'm using muscles I've not used for years! JC also introduced us to 'Team Beach Body' extreme plyometric workout thingy - I can confirm eating a sandwich just before doing it is not the way forward - I made it through the warm up.....however made up for this with a nice run through rivelin in the dark later in the evening - a good end to a fun weekend :-)

Next weekend will be my first fell race of 2011 - the kinder trial. I've done plenty of distance in preparation this year, hopefully I will anticipate where Andy has hidden the controls and I won't spend too long searching under rocks for them....

3rd at the Open 5 - Sutton Bank

I've been a bit quiet over the last month or so....and that's because I've basically done nothing (well apart from sit in a room, read papers and write a review with the very occasional run/bike). So I set myself a target - lit review to be finished an entire 5 days early so that I could do the open5 without thinking about bone metabolism every 2 minutes.

Friday at 7pm it was finished! On Saturday it was time for a leg stretch - I ran up fairbrook to find the first of DPFRs 'roving boxes' - a new challenge for 2011 involving running, navigation (of sorts) and a fair bit of looking under rocks! Oddly I felt like I'd never seen a hill before and my descending skills had completely disappeared! My balance and coordination had gone out the window - I think my brain capacity for the month had been used up!

A good nights sleep and my brain was back in gear, just in time!

It was a bit chilli up at Sutton Bank, with ice covering a fair bit of the ground. It was the first outing for my skins tri shorts, but I had to put some long tights on as well in the cold. I decided to run first as I'm more confident with distance judgement and route choice with running. There were two key climbs in the route (and a bonus one if I was feeling good), but for about the first hour I managed to run on the flat or downhill. I felt strong on the first big climb, so on the second added in another control before going for a bit of descent and the third climb.
I was out for just over 2hours, only missed 3 controls and covered just over 10miles. The route wasn't perfect, mainly because I thought a track was entirely out of bounds when it wasn't, so ran into and out of my first control the same way, adding on a fair bit of unnecessary distance....

After a brief stop to eat a sandwich and take a picture of another team, it was onto the bike. I had a much better route planned than the last Open5 I did, it was just a matter of which way round to go....I decided to head anticlockwise which, in some ways was a good choice as it meant I didn't reach the icey track unexpectedly at the end of my ride, but also meant I spent 45minutes getting to my first control. I heard somebody say 'I've seen glaciers with less ice on than that track'.....

After that bit of hike a bike, I picked up another icey control before deciding to go only for controls close to the road....the next control, although on a road, was also extremely icey and by this point I'd been out for over 3.5hrs out of the 5hrs.

The steep climb to the next control resulted in my legs almost giving up, but I decided to ignore them and hammered it round to my final two controls. Again I found myself pushed for time

and rode as fast as possible to the finish, ending up 2mins 25 over time - 6 points deducted but worth that last control! Just over 16miles covered...not my quickest pace ever but not bad given the ice...I found the riding very tough!

I'm undecided if my route choice was a good one or not on the bike, if I'd gone clockwise I would have got more of the high pointers at the end of my ride, but might have gone for number 18 anyway and found myself stuck on ice and extremely late back, who knows!

The choice of skins tri shorts was a good one as it removed some of the faff from transition, as well as being comfortable on both sections! I can see a new favourite garment being chosen.... It was also the first time I'd raced in new balance 749s which were great on the trails, just cushioned enough without being high enough for me to go over on my ankle in rougher sections (as I've found happens with some other shoes...).

My total was 404points putting me in 3rd position - more than I could have hoped for with the amount of time off recently! I mainly need to improve my route selection ( it has never been my strong point but is getting better) as fitness is coming back quite quickly! The best way to do that is do the rest of the open 5 series! :-)