Cribyn Fell (over) race

This race was I'd been looking forward to all year. Over the past few months I've had my ups and downs with running, it's included a coastal marathon in which i did terrible and didn't enjoy and the Pentyrch fell race which i loved and done really well, so i entered this race with all guns blazing and determined to do well.
I was well aware of the route of the race and had my race plan in my head. As the race started i was pleased with my positioning in the field (about 10th) and felt good leading up to the first check point. After the first check point there was a sharp uneven descent to the base of cribyn and it's at this point it all went wrong. As i descended i twisted my ankle and fell for about 10m. I was gutted,my ankle was in pain and runners were flying pass me. I managed to get myself together after some cursing and hobble to the base of cribyn. As i started to climb to the top of cribyn (on my hands and knees) i found myself over taking runners and my ankle's pain easing. The descent down cribyn was pain full but it was eased with the run up pen y fan. The run down from pen y fan to the finish wasn't bad as my ankle pain had eased but it didn't stop me from getting over taken by a number of runners.
If there is one thing ive learnt from this race it's that I'm good on the ascents but crap on the descents. ( do i dare look at the results when they are published)



The pic above shows runners desnding from the first checkpoint towards the base of cribyn. This is where i twisted my ankle.

We are almost back

The jaspernaught and myself are still here. We've had a few ups and downs over the past few weeks, a relationship break down, a house move and a child who's due to go into hospital for a big operation.
We've still managed to put the miles in and managed to complete one coastal marathon, my performance in the marathon was terrible.
When this week is over i have every intention of 'blogging' again, so those of you who are interested watch this space.

Freedom of the mountains

Wise Japser - just unrinated on the Pen y Fan trig point.



What would i be without the ability and freedom to run over mountains as pictured above? The answer - a stress head, unhappy with my life and defiantly 4 stone heavier.
Me and the jaspernaught spent the best part of this morning running over our favorite part of the brecon beacons. Every time we visit i can never get over the freedom and enjoyment i get of running the mountains, to me it is a very inspiring place, it's a place i go to think and have a detox from normal life.
The long and the short of it - me and the jaspernaught are moving home. Ive asked the tenants in a house which i own to leave and we are moving in. Bad points - separation from partner, Good points - It's less than half mile from margam mountain, Oh and i can run to work.

Camarthen Fan

Today was our first outing of the year to the brecon beacons. We spent a few hours running the camarthen fan, i don't think we've run the camarthen fan since last Sept. It was good to get back to running some challenging mountains.




Jasper leading the way up Fan Hir and over to the Camarthen Fan.

Jaspernaught

Check out jasper, full of life and energy after spending 3hrs running over the mountains.

A long run gone wrong

My intentions today was to spend at least 6 hours on the mountain trails, i had it all planned, where to stop for food, where to explore and the amount of climbing we were going to do.

Everything was going well for the 30Min's, we took in our favorite view of the reservoir and started our ascent to the top of the mountain. Within an hour we were got caught in a blizzard, i pushed on through the blizzard but things got worse, the snow was hurting my eyes and the wind chill was dangerous. I made the difficult decision to turn around and head home, i got back home and my head, hand and body were freezing, it took about an hour to defrost. I didn't want to turn around and cut the run short but I'm glad i did otherwise i would have been in some trouble. In total we were out for 3hrs and covered approx 18miles (not bad i suppose). I'm hoping tomorrows run will be longer weather permitting

Jasper running as we near home.

Dirty Dog

Today we headed out to Margam mountain for a few hours on the trails. We covered about 25miles running up and down the trails, visiting old forts and waterfalls. Things turned nasty for a while when jasper decided to rub himself in fox poo, he was stinking and i was fuming. I am hoping to do the same distance tomorrow and it should bring the last six days training to approx 90miles.

fit dog

We've had a good couple of days running, ending today with a very hard 20miler . We managed it in just under 4hrs. Our climb rate was average 148 feet per mile and a total climb of 2822 feet. Surprisingly i felt very good at the end, i don't think japser felt to bad either. We've covered a number of miles over the past week i estimate we've done about 80 - 90 miles and included one hell of a lot of mountain climbs. The next two days are rest days,then it's back to it. Supposed to be doing a 10k cross country run Sunday 7th, i don't mind doing it i just feel it interrupts my distance training,what to do............

Bloody Shift Work

Just entered the Snowdonia 2010 marathon. I'm having a hard time trying to find an event in march / April, the events i want to enter are on the weekends I'm working. I'm going to enter the Big Black Mountains Challenge in May, so suppose I'll just have to focus on recce's for that and the Lakeland 50. I've got a cross country run event on Sunday 24th Jan (west glamorgan cross country league), it's 5 miles, should be fun, wonder how I'll do?

Top Day

Had a good 3hr run today. It was a nice clear day but bloody cold. Had great views of the snow covered beacons. I'm feeling good and hoping to up the mileage / time of my long runs. New rule, short runs to be 2hrs long runs 4hrs+.

Snow day

Went out at 630 this morning for a two hour run on the mountains, great fun. I don't normally do early morning runs but the wife was supposed to be on a course all day for work and i had the baby, after spending the day running around after my 18month old daughter don't normally have the energy for any further exercise. When i got in at 830 she told me the course as cancelled because of the snow, great news, i had time for a sausage toasty, build a snowman for the baby (which jasper cocked his leg up on) and go for a further hour and half run on the mountain