Under the weather!

In both ways! Firstly, it has rained in the past few days for the first time in weeks, which I wouldn't complain about had the ground got any softer, but it hasn't made too much of a noteable difference. The wind has also picked up lately and, when at full force, is probably the most frustrating thing to have as a runner. I'm sure cyclists find it equally annoying. I've also picked up a bit of a cold, but having given into the common cold/man flu before, I decided to train through this one and so found myself doing the 4 blocks of 10 minutes today.

A wise decision it was to run as well. Despite the legs feeling slightly dead, my breathing was top notch and I actually feel much better now as a result of the session! I used the same location as last week so off road, over fields with a steep hill, steep descent and flat running over a short loop to be done as many times as possible in 10 minutes. This time however I relied upon the Garmin for measurements, and this proved how very wrong my estimated distances using GMap Pedometer were. I also wore my Compression Socks (see pic) for the first time today and they were fantastic, felt really good and definitley something I will wear very often now. Down to the results anyway:

1st Block - Legs tired quickly, but didn't feel to be in too much trouble breathing wise. Wondered if I would get through the session at this stage. Regretting wearing the F-Lites despite the rain; needed the Grid Tangents for more cushioning on the hard ground. Still, 6:46/mile.

2nd Block - A superb 10 minutes, style felt excellent and I felt to be going fast without pushing too hard and was rewarded with 6:37/mile. Excellent.

3rd Block - Things start to get tougher and I just look to get 7 of the triangular circuits done. I succeed, but at a pace of 6:55/mile.

4th Block - It's the end of a long week and the energy has been sapped from me by this cold I've picked up. Still, I fight away and reach my 7 loops, but the downward spiral has begun as I clock 7:04/mile. Thank god the session is over!

The times I recorded were much more accurate than last week and therefore I can compare now to next week when I do the same session again. Overall, this was a great end to a week which on the whole has been a very good one. The 7 miles today takes the weekly mileage up to the 35 I dreamed of, fantastic! Tomorrow is the start of a new week where new challenges will arise. The long run tomorrow and then I'm going to Scotland, so the sessions may be mixed up. One thing is for sure though, I'm getting that km rep session in early this time!

A series of unfortunate events = despair

Well I haven't had much luck with this session at all this week. I wanted to do it on Monday, but instead had to do the Fartlek session at School and then head straight off to a Cricket match (which we lost!). That's why I didn't to this session on Monday if you were wondering why. Anyway, no problems at all as I could do that session today. Well at least I thought I could, and I was going to use a nice loop round the houses and river which was flattish and fast. Walking back from School however, this path was blocked off and this presented a major problem as the only way I could get past was by going into the river! Major problem number one encountered but that wasn't going to stop me doing the session, and so I decided to do the same course as last week. So after a good warm up with strides etc, I was good to go.
First Rep: Very, very strong headwind which made running really tough. Not to mention the big hill which takes a hell of a lot out of both your legs and lungs. Still, a good first km by all accounts in 3:39.
Second Rep: Again into the wind and another really tough climb. My legs felt a little jaded as I tried to run hard off the top of the hill but I still felt to be on for a good time. But then I saw it ahead, blocking the road, a massive digger next to a sign saying road closed! I couldn't believe this so, after a few seconds of messing around, I turned round and decided to run where I'd came from to top the effort up to a km, which ended up being 3:43 (including few seconds messing around).
Third Rep: After the last effort, I didn't really know what to do, as heading for home would only mean I would get 4 efforts in. Alternativley I could run another one out into the headwind and then one back. No thanks I thought. I ran back towards home and then turned at a sign. Not a bad rep at all, 3:37 in fact.
Fourth Rep: The last one I decided. Seeing that digger really had knocked the stuffing out of me as it practically destroyed the session. So I went, up the hill and to the bad junction where I had to check for traffic, although I was so angry I felt like just running on for the hell of it and taking one for the team. The Garmin countdown timer eventually came, 5...4...3...2...1. I look at my watch and 3:45 is dominating the screen. I feel disappointed, but relieved to have got at least 4 efforts in, and I don't even feel tired which is the most annoying thing. Someone obviously didn't want me to do this session!
So a frustrating day all in all. Still, some good times recorded on the efforts which I actually wasn't interrupted on by hills or junctions or tossers sat in diggers doing nothing (oops!). Life goes on and to compensate for the bad luck I've had, I went for a nice 3 mile off road run meaning 6 in total for the day and 28 for the week so far. I feel as though I will definitley do this session on a Monday from now on, as my legs weren't ready to smash the reps out after a rest day yesterday. Surely tomorrow can't go wrong now after the number of misfortunes I've had today!

Preparing to give it everything...

In tomorrow's session! I feel really up for tomorrow, and I've devised a loop just down the road which only has the slighest bit of ascent and so should give some nice fast times. Due to the decreased amount of climbs in the route, I hope to be faster than last week. Part of me is telling me to revisit the same course as last week and compare times, but I'd rather set some good times on some nice fast, flat tarmac. I'd quite happily be as knackered as this guy in order to get some really good times for the km reps!

'Speed is a wonderful thing which kills any endurance athlete who doesn't have it.'

Today was the Fartlek session on the top School field yet again. I had a mate this time though which made the session a little less boring and also made me push myself much harder. Eddy is training for triathlon and has improved rapidly over the last few years on the cross country circuit to become a good, consisent performer. Although I have the edge over longer distances, he is bigger than I am and therefore ain't a bad sprinter. Consequently, I knew he would be a tough nut to crack, but feeling in good shape, I felt as though as was capable of taking control of the efforts, even if this meant being exposed to the full force of the wind.
As planned, I dictated the pace early and kept the burners on and won every effort, particularly the longer ones in which I opened up a nice lead. I felt good, even going into the headwind, running with a good style. 6 more miles in the piggy bank for the week and 22 so far. Rest day tomorrow and things are looking good. I feel stronger this week than I did last week and I hope things will keep progressing as they are so I hit BOFRA with a bang!

Easy like a Sunday morning...

Well afternoon, actually! Today I managed to squeeze my nice steady run in, between fixing patio awnings, cutting grass and school work. The run didn't throw up anything particularly fascinating or interesting. It was a good, solid, flat 1 hour 10 minutes with 8 miles totalled at a nice leisurely pace. Just what the doctor ordered. The only problem I am having is how hard the ground is at the moment; my thighs are a little sore as a result of the impact. Still, the weather is good and tomorrow I will be playing with speed again with some Fartlek.

Hellish Hills!

I was going to get the train up to Ribblehead this morning and have a nice steady jaunt up Whernside to watch the runners in the 3 peaks Race and also get my long run in for the week. Unfortunatley I slept in and missed the train and couldn't get up there. I therefore abandoned that plan and went for something much more challenging; the hill rep session.

After having the longer reps last week, it was time for the shorter rep session as I alternate these each week. I say longer, as last week's were scheduled to be 10 minutes but actually lasted more like 7 minutes and the ones today were going to be 5 minutes long. I decided on 5 rather than 6 which I guess was taking the easy way out, but after struggling last week, I thought it would be sensible to just build things up before going for the full whack.

After a 1.5 mile cycle to Flasby and a short jog warm up to the starting point of the reps (see right), I was off. My legs felt stiff on the first ascent, which as you can see is terribly steep and hits you straight away. As the gradient became more maneagble however, I opened up and began to feel strong, maintaining a pace which wasn't uncomfortable but had me working hard ie. Threshold. The 5 minutes passed quickly and before long I was descending back down the same way, resting for a minute and then climbing again. The legs tired as the session wore on, but this was to be expected and I still maintained a very good form on the 5th and final effort. I had a jog warm down back to my bike and then cycled home to give me a total of 8 miles for the day. I'm delighted with both the mileage and the climbing I've managed today. Each rep, according to memory map, had 350 ft of ascent in which is very pleasing and gives me over 1500 ft altogether. The profile above shows what the hill was like. Long run tomorrow - the easiest and nicest session of the week!

All's well that ends well!

The weather was too good to resist today (see picture taken from my window earlier) and as a result, you'll hardly be surprised to discover I did my last session of the week today. What a good way to finish as well; 4 blocks of 10 minutes with a mere 2 minutes recovery in between at threshold. A toughie, but a session that I'm very much at home with as it doesn't require too much breakneck speed. After much ooing and aaring as to where the session should be done, I chose the triangular loop just behind my house, which I have used on numerous occasions before, albeit for much shorter intervals, as short as 1 lap of the triangle. (x12!)

Today was going to be a lot steadier than that, but still a pace which wasn't too slow. The pace had to be comfortable but out of my comfort zone to push the boundaries a little.

After a relativley restrained warm up, I was off and into my first 10 minutes which was run fairly steadily, but faster than I intended. The ground on the fields was rock hard and I wisely decided to wear the road shoes today to compensate for this. The first lap, which after measured on GMap Pedometer (Garminless today!) came out at 0.2131 miles was run in around 1.20, which I was very pleased with considering the times I was doing when doing these flat out were around 1.10 in Winter! Still, there was a long way to go and I was wary of setting off too fast and ruining the whole session, but I hung on in there well and got 7 and half way up the hill done in 10 minutes, so 1.5 miles almost exactly, and a 6:40/mile pace to boot.

The first 10 minutes set a precedence for the rest of the session really. I felt strong up the hills, good down and to be crusing on the flat. I possibly didn't get halfway up the hill on the other 3, but comfortable completed 7 laps and so the mile pace stayed well in the 6:40s. Top stuff and a brilliant day's running in the Sun! That brings the weeks training, after 7 total today, to a very pleasing 32.5 miles (my highest yet!). With the longer run being 9 miles or so, this would easily hit 35 so that's where I'm aiming for. A rest tomorrow is on the agenda which will also go down well with the old legs, although they felt a lot better after yesterday!

The week so far!

Saturday - Real hard hill session. Felt as if I had the speed and uphill pace but lacked endurance at that threshold pace, but this could have been down to the boiling conditions. Overall, a reasonable start and something to build on. Recovered very well. Total 7.5 miles (including Bikeride).

Sunday - Nice steady run of around an hour. Nothing amazing to report other than I recovered really well from the hill session the day before. Total 7 miles.

Monday - Great speed session after a slow start, really got going and got firing on all cylinders. Times were pleasing and something to build on. Total 5 miles.

Tuesday - Rest. Nice day off.

Wednesday - Fartlek. Calves and knees stiff but eased off a little and got going. Felt good to say it was the first real bit of out and out speed work after the lay off. Total 6 miles.

25.5 miles covered so far this week. I hope to get comfortably over the 30 mark!

Getting faster with some Fartlek!

Yep, it's that time of the week for some Fartlek! Everybody loves a bit of Fartlek as the efforts are so random and you don't feel as if you are staying to a structured session, unlike timed intervals or those over set distances. Wednesday is my day for Fartlek as we have 6th form games and I therefore have the whole of the school fields to myself.
The plan today was for a nice steady warm up of around 0.5 miles, before hitting out some fast bursts, ranging in distance from 100-400m. It was a fairly good session in beautiful weather. It was simply me and the sun, as well as the volcanic ash dust of course. My knees however felt a little stiff in the first half of efforts, as did my calfs from the efforts on the road on Monday. I may have to contemplate wearing the Grid Tangents (see Kit Cupboard) instead of the F-Lites, as they have more support and cushioning and my legs, which will have got softer over the long rest, may benefit from more support for a while. Anyway, after the slow start, the session got going. The only time I have for you is the last rep, which was between 350 and 400m, and this was completed in 56 seconds, so I'm pretty pleased with that.
Tomorrow I may slip the '4 blocks of 10 minutes session' in depending on how I feel. Doing it tomorrow would give me a nice rest day on Friday, before a big weekend's training. Either way, I feel pretty happy with the way things are going at the moment. All I need now is progress!

In a state of ecstasy!

Today was my best session for a very long time. I had 6 x 1k down on the schedule, another session recommended by good old Keith. He reckoned you should be able to 'hit your race pace 1k splits individually for a 10k easily in an interval session with 1 minute jog recovery, like bang bang. Your pace shouldn't fluctuate too much either, 2 or 3 seconds different between each rep max.' I thought a good target would be around the 3:40/km - 3:50/km was reasonable. This would give me a 10k time overall of 36:40 - 38:20. Although I've never done a 10k, I thought this was a reasonable estimate based on the race times I've seen people do of similar ability to myself. I do intend on doing a 10k sometime too despite my lack of love for road running. It's a real benchmark for the runner and if you meet a random runner, they ask you your 10k time to find out how good you are. It's a good thing to know!
Onto today's session anyway. The Garmin had sufficient battery this time thankfully, and I looked through the history to find a very similar session, over the same route I was going to do today had been done in January. The 6 reps gave paces of:
1. 3:49/km
2. 3.45/km
3. 3:47/km
4. 3:41/km
5. 3:44/km
6. 3:38/km
Today's were actually quite similar. There is a hill in every single one of the reps, which is quite rare for road running but there again there are lots of hills here in the Dales! Anyway, the hills are tough but I felt to cope pretty well and after a slow start felt to really come into my own and on the last 3 reps felt really strong! The paces were:
1. 3:50/km
2. 3:41/km
3. 3:47/km
4. 3:38/km
5. 3:40/km
6. 3:40/km
So, 4 of the 6 today were faster which is very pleasing and shows I'm in a good shape despite the lengthy lay off. The average pace today of 3:42/km would give me a 37 minute 10k which would be good if I could keep that pace up and I may even go faster in a race! Anyway, a great day and a nice rest tomorrow. Happy times!

Dreaming of Switzerland!

It may seem a long time away, but on 8th August there is a 19km Junior Mountain Race at the very popular Sierre Zinal race in Switzerland, which is part of the Skyrunner series, at 31km for the full distance. A few Wharfedalers will be going out again and I am contemplating saving some cash and going out for the Junior Race, which would be the greatest experience of my life. I'm waiting to find out costs etc to see whether it's feesable, so at the moment it's just a dream! I also feel as though I could do well, despite running against people a few years older, as an Englishman who, isn't our best runner by any means, finished 5th last year just 9 minutes off the win. So at 19km (12.5 miles), the course reaches an altitude of 2000m (6000'). This is a hell of a climb, considering you only set off from 555m (1700'). The equivalent of the climb at Ben Nevis in a Junior Race? That's unheard of over here, but what a great opportunity this is. I really hope I can pull it off!

As easy as pie!

Any session would seem easy after yesterday's death session! Well today I had a nice steady run which would remind me why I loved running. Overall, it was 1 hour 3 minutes and about 7 miles over grass, towpaths and roads. The weather was a lot cooler today as well so perhaps I should have done the Hill Reps today after all! I felt good today anyway, had a real spring in my step and didn't feel at all tired, although my right hamstring has tightened now. I hope that's ok for tomorrow for my 1k reps!

Extreme heat!

Today was set out to be a hard session and my big fears in the few hours before were that of the high temperatures, baking sun and lack of wind I would be running in. I tried to get well hydrated but by the time I had biked to Sharphaw I was feeling pretty dry in my mouth and thankfully had some Lucozade Sport to take on board. I was more concerned about whether I could get through a session as hard as I had planned in the conditions which were fit to laze around in, rather than run hill reps in. I jogged up to the gate where I would start the session and turned the Garmin on. This was where I met problem number one; the Garmin had very low battery and as a consequence only lasted 8 minutes into my first rep. I was really p****d off at this to be honest. I'd made the effort to get out and hadn't thought about putting the god dam thing on to charge and it was absolutley pivotal in this session. Fairly angry, I decided to call it a day at the first rep when it went off, so this was 2 minutes short off the intended 10 minutes, but the 8 minutes was at a good pace and I felt awesome. The descent down to the starting point was fast, back down the same way to try and get me used to turning at the top of races and adapt to downhill running after a lengthy ascent.
My next worry was how I was going to time the 3 minutes rest at the bottom, after descending fast back down the way I came up, over rocks, bracken, bogs and more! I just simply counted it in my head, and there was a gate a little short of where I reached on the first rep, and so decided to use this as the benchmark for the endpoint of the next 2 reps. To hazard a guess, I would say this gate is around 7 minutes running from the starting point, so short of the 10 but still a reasonable distance.
As the session went on, I felt to get a better rythm and particularly on the ascent, my legs felt to loosen up. The terrain today was steep gradients over rocky and boggy but grassy paths which were dry at times and therefore gave some fast running. The descending technique is obviously coming back to me, as part of this session was to descend fast and not use that as a rest. I felt much more confident than on the Club Run on Wednesday and wasn't worrying about going over on my ankles speaking of which has recovered very well.
Overall, this was a really solid hill session and despite not having any data (thanks Garmin!) and not reaching the full 10 mins for the 3 reps, I will have gained lots from today. I worked very hard and this was much better than the standard 'sprint up jog down' I'm accustomed to. Hopefully in the coming weeks, I won't be running in such extreme heat and I will manage to hit the reps at 10 mins each at the threshold pace I was at today!

The beginning of a new Era!

Training for the fell season is going to start properly today and I'm looking forward to it! Instead of the steady run I was going to start off with, I've decided to go with the hill session on Sharphaw today and then the steady run tomorrow to give me a chance to recover for Monday's hard session. Today's session is going to be very tough; it's hard enough without the hot weather we have at the moment. I'll give it a bash in an hour or so!

Low impact!

Yesterday I went over on my ankle, badly. Not as badly as I did earlier in the season during a Fartlek session in Skipton Woods but there is considerable swelling. I put this down to the fact that I hadn't descended on the fells for ages now and so my ankles were a little weak. My descending was awful in fact, but I hope that is something that will come back to me soon. Today I went on the Cross Trainer at the gym for half an hour just to get a bit of aerobic stuff in whilst not putting any weight or running through the ankle. I felt very strong/fit which is a good sign for what's to come. What is to come?
You may wonder what's caused me to shy away from my original schedule. To put it simply, I contacted Keith Anderson (ex British Champion) a couple of weeks ago and he rung me yesterday morning. He gave lots of advice about particular sessions and what I should do and consequently I have changed the non racing phase completley(!). It now has much more threshold stuff involved, with an emphasis on speed endurance. I will be starting this on Saturday (day after tomorrow) and hense the schedule starts on a Saturday:

Saturday: Long Run - (8/9 miles or 1 and a half hours)
Sunday: Bike out to Sharphaw, Either 10 minute ascent and descent @ threshold, rest for 3 minutes x 3 or 6 minutes ascent and descent @ threshold, rest for 1 minute x 5, then bike back.
Monday: 5/6 x 1k @ 10k race pace (3.40-3.50/km) off one minute recovery with appropriate warm up/warm down.
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 1 mile warm up, then 4.5 miles of Fartlek (with short fast bursts) followed by 0.5 mile warm down.
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 10 mins x 4/5 @ threshold off 2 mins recovery with appropriate warm up/warm down.
This will go alongside, as before, lots of core work and the racing schedule will be worked out in due course.

A change of plan

Change can be a good thing for sure. Rather than the boring road intervals, today was a fun club run on the fells local to me which laster around an hour and a quarter. It was steady away and great to catch up with some of the club members, particularly best mate Scott who I ran round with chatting about various fell running related topics. The world is my oyster now after today's variation, so who knows what tomorrow will bring. Saturday is the start of a more rigid programme which is already to publish which will take place of the original you will find below. The tension is killing!

A tired three

Today was meant to be 4, but after a game of tennis yesterday afternoon, I felt as though I could afford to forget about the extra mile. And a good thing it was too! Today's run was fairly poor, probably as a result of yesterday's exertions. It lacked any spark and my style felt clumsy and so I reverted to a very steady pace over fields which gave me my 3 miles in 24 minutes. Tomorrow is a new day however and as you will see on the training page, I have some road intervals. Let's hope I feel better for then.

220 uphill metres in 44 seconds!

That'll do for me. I've measured the distance and each rep was just over 220 metres, so I'm very pleased with the times I've recorded today, particularly the fastest 44 seconds and the last at 46. Each rep had a climb of 20 vertical metres overall too. Good stuff!

Back with a bang!

Well, I was going to do today's session in the afternoon, but got bored of waiting around and so set off at around 11am. It's a stunning day out there, but very very warm. Hydration was going to be a major problem and this became apparent from the start when my mouth became dry very quickly.
Today I had 12 x 150m hill sprints down on the schedule. There is a hill round the back of my house which is a real belter. Very runnable and great for doing hill sprints on yet steep and bracing with a flat top for the final sprint to the line. The hill is however a little longer 150m, at least 200m if not a tad more. As the hill is very close to my house, the warm up was short and the session was underway very quickly. The sweltering heat really took its toll early on, or maybe I just felt knackered because I hadn't ran for nearly 3 weeks?
My legs felt sluggish and cold on the first 5 efforts, but then began to warm up as the cogs began to tick over. I recorded the time for the first effort as 44 seconds which was surprising, in fact incredible as it's my fastest by some considerable distance ever on this session. Despite having set such a good first time, I felt as though that pace wasn't sustainable and it certainly wasn't comfortable. I was therefore delighted to record a 52 seconds on the 7th effort and 46 on the last effort. Result!
To be honest, I'm really surprised at how I ran today. I was expecting a sluggish, unpolished and slow performance. Instead I got a shiny,improving and pleasing performance which left me feeling really good about the next few weeks. The heat got to me a little psychologically but not physically. The recovery is definitley a little worse off than before I began the rest period, but this was perhaps because I was running faster. One thing that's certain is that this will get better as I regain my fitness. The only slight disappointment is the fact that the hill was so close to my house and therefore I only managed 4 miles rather than the 5 intended. No worries though, I'll run 4 miles easy tomorrow rather than 3!

The boys are back in Town!

Well it's been 18 days since I last ran and I have to say, I've really enjoyed the rest. It's a good feeling to know that you don't have to worry about the next training session and what it's going to entail. It's come to the point now though where I'm really raring to go and almost bored with not being able to train. So much to the extent that I'm going to start training again tomorrow, rather than Wednesday.
I'm not expecting great things after the longish lay off I've had but a good testing first session will certainly show me where I'm at. I'm not going to bother giving myself an 'easing in' or gentle first week; I'm getting straight into the nitty gritty stuff and get into the shape I want to be in. Using the 'non racing phase schedule' as you will see below, Monday holds a 12 x 150 m on hills with a run there and back as warm up and warm down. What a good place to start eh?! It's gonna be a tough'un but I'm ready for it! I haven't decided which hill I'm going to use yet but there's enough to choose from round here.
I'll report back tomorrow with the positives and negatives of the first official session of the fell season.

Summer's Schedule

Well, I''ve been making the most of the rest opportunity to plan ahead to the Summer's running. With various forms of advice from adult runners and my 'coach' (coach may be a little over the top but he sets me schedules anyway without attending my sessions) the weekly training schedule has been devised and will therefore look like this:

Non-Racing Phase

Saturday: Flat out run + warm up/warm down (8 miles)

Sunday: Long slow run (8/9 miles)

Monday: 12 x 150m hill reps + warm up/warm down (5 miles)

Tuesday: Easy 3 miles

Wednesday: 3 x 0.75 miles with 0.25 mile recovery (4 miles)

Thursday: 6 miles Fartlek (150 - 300m bursts including 1.5 miles of warming up/warming down)

Friday: Rest

This will go alongside lots of gym and core work. Core work will include: Contralateral Superman's, Cycle Curls, Backward Curls and Planks. Leg strength is also key for the fell season so one legged squats and step ups with weights will also be in order. I will of course be making the most of my gym membership to ensure overall body strength. The schedule above is based on 60% of mileage being easy, 20% just under race pace and 20% anaerobic. Obviously with the races, I won't be able to get the 35 miles of training (as above) a week. Therefore, a racing week's training will be:

Sunday: Race + long warm down

Monday: 8-9 mile recovery

Tuesday: Gym Work

Wednesday: 12 x 150 m with warm up/warm down (5 miles)

Thursday: 6 mile Fartlek (same as above)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

This is of course assuming races are always on Sundays. If the race in on a Saturday, I will drop the Fartlek session on the Thursday. Overall, we've got things mapped out well and I'm looking forward to the challenge. Training starts on Wednesday 13th April, so I have got few weeks of training before the first race at Sedbergh on 15th May. I will start the training programme on Saturday 16th April (non racing phase) and follow this for 3 weeks before easing off for Sedbergh and taking the slightly easier racing phase programme in the build up. Between the 13th and 16th April, I will just do a couple of long runs to get ready for the schedule I have set myself. The races I have confirmed as 'musts' are:

Saturday 15th May: Sedbergh Gala - 'Long run out followed by a short but steep lung buster of an ascent. Winning time around 12 minutes 15 seconds.'

Sunday 23rd May: Coniston Gullies - 'One of my favourite races. Short, sharp and lung busting with a brilliant ascent/descent. Typical Lakeland terrain. Winning time around 9 minutes 30 seconds.'

Sunday 13th June: Kettlewell Fell Race - ' Surprisingly tough. River crossing at the start which always sees me fall! Short and fast run out to the fell before a climb over rocks and a steep and rough (!) descent which crosses a short stretch of scree. Normally run well here. Winning time around 9 minutes 30 seconds.'

Sunday 20th June: Helm Hill Fell Race - ' Very much a hilly, undulating cross country race. Easy to get lost on but very fast terrain. Many fell runners hate it and therefore don't turn up, so it's good for championship points. Winning time around 14 minutes 15 seconds.'

Saturday 3rd July: Kirkby Gala Fell Race - ' One of my least favourite races. Many share this view. Had a shocker here last time I competed. Long run up a steep road before a gradual but long ascent up some fields with various fences to negotiate which ruin your rythm. Winning time around 18 minutes 55 seconds.'

Saturday 10th July: Alva Games - ' The annual BOFRA forray over the border into Scotland for this classic. Steep and a real thigh burner which leaves you sore in the morning. Great atmosphere, particularly on the campsite the night after the race. Winning time around 11 minutes 20 seconds. Good prize money too - £75 for the winner!

There is 6 races to count towards my 8 altogether. I will definitley get 8 in at least which will enable me to count for the overall championship. Now all I have to do is get in shape for them and hopefully perform when it matters!