w/e 7/2/10 - Sometimes you wanna get high

Sometimes you gotta start low....

The adrenaline's still flowing, the endorphins are rampant, ensuring that sleep isn't going to come easily this evening! There's NOTHING like a runner's high, the feeling of self-satisfaction knowing that you've had a good day out on the fells :-)

Another excellent training week and, in particular, the partly suprising news is that, despite putting in nearly 12,000ft this week, some at a decent intensity, the legs are feeling absolutely fine. No niggles, no tiredness, no pains....just solid, strong legs. The extra year of putting climbs in my legs seems to be paying dividends. Long may it continue.

So why am I still buzzing at this hour? Well, I've had a fantastic trip down to my "homeland" today, to the Long Mynd and the place where I learnt to fell run. As mentioned a couple of blogs ago, proper fellrunning terrain, with steep testing climbs and fast runnable ground.

But most of all, I'm absolutely buzzing from watching someone else start to really fulfil their potential as a fellrunner, and loving it into the bargain.

Today saw the running of the Long Mynd Valleys, arguably one of the toughest and best medium fell races in the calendar. At 11.5 miles and 5,000ft (they advertise 4,500ft but it is the full 5,000!), it's a real test for even the best of fellrunners. There's an aura that surrounds this race that means that even longstanding members of the fellrunning community give it a wide berth on the basis that it's too tough!

So roll up, and take your place on the starting line if you've just been running for less than a year and are just easing your way into the scene, Kirsten! And, no pressure, but this is your first race in club colours!!! There was definite apprehension in the air this morning on the way down, despite reassurances that this was a race that suited her. The clag was right down, we'd chosen the late start rather than the early one, meaning the race would be on to meet the halfway checkpoint cut-off.

Steady away is the order of the day in this one, with 3 tough climbs in the second half of the race, but still with that cut-off in mind. We started a little apprehensively, conscious of the long day to come and, at one point, I wondered if the cut-off would be made. But with a combination of good downhill speed and digging in on the uphills, it was made with over 10 minutes to spare and, as we raced down Minton Batch, the race really began. And Kirsten rose to the occasion, digging so deep on the climbs and going for it on the downs.

Runners who had set off too fast were caught and passed, and with the help of a couple of gels, we ascended at a decent speed as well. Two climbs done, a fast descent through the mud off Barristers Plain, and we were down in Ashes Hollow with just one climb to go, and catching more people.

Off we set up Yearlet, with the chance that we could make sub-3 hrs. This was conveyed to Kirsten with the question "how much do you want it?". This was like red rag to a bull as far as she was concerned and the pace noticealy picked up (as did the muttering under her breath in my direction! :-) ). We summited Yearlet far quicker than I could have imagined then really went for it on the steep direct descent into the valley. Down to the path at the bottom and then "run like you've never run before" as we headed for the end. Digging deep for the last "little sod" uphill then a plunge down the slope to the end and through the finish line.

I casually asked..."what's our time?" to be astonished, surprised and delighted by the response "2.51"! A quite incredible achievement and I'm so, so pleased that potential is already turning into reality and that she's loving it so much. I tell you what, I'm pleased enough with 2.51!!!

Especially at the end of a tough week. I've gone for ascent over distance this week. In fact, it's been a fairly "short" week, but well over the 10,000ft.

Tuesday saw me doing hill reps up Stoodley, somewhere I'm going to become well-acquainted with this spring!!

On Wednesday, the snow returned and I decided not to attempt to get to the club, so had a lazy restful evening instead.

Which meant that Thursday evening, I headed back up to Stoodley and 3 reps of the 500ft slope. Just to prove how single-minded I can be when I get something in my head, I went back there on Friday and did 6 x 500ft reps on a pleasant afternoon. An excellent 3,000ft session.

Saturday was another lovely day that saw us marshalling the Trog at Haworth Old Road. It's great fun to marshall on occasions, and good to give something back to the sport. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and that enjoyment was enhanced by a couple of pints and some food in the pub afterwards with a mixture of Tod and Calder Valley folk.

So another pleasing week, and I'm feeling physically and mentally confident. The legs feel good and the head is in the right place, which is all good in the grand scheme of things and, whilst I'll not take anything for granted, I'm feeling an air of inevitability about getting around that BG in under 24 hours at the moment.

Other news for the week is that I've entered the Teenager With Altitude, which should be fun! And we're both in the Ben Nevis race....what AM I doing?!?! :-)

Total for the week 30.5mls & 11,750ft

But the week belongs to someone else.....amazing!! And so much more to come!!