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Hill Training in Snowdonia |
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Written by David
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Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:12 |
 I love Southsea and running on the beach is great but it is ..... just a bit flat! so at the beggining of the week I decided to take myself off to Snowdonia for a bit of hill training. The weather forecast was for sunny skies during the day and rain/snow at night. As I have trained on the hills a lot and knew my way around then I thought this would be the best plan. On the first day, the wind was howling as i ventured up the pyg track. There was plenty of snow on the ground and at about the half way point it was quite deep with some drifts up to my knees The poles I was going to be taking to the desert got their first work out and they are fantastic, albeit not that strong. Just above the miners track I reached the cloud base. As I was dressed in running gear I decided that was far enough - even though I was carrying plenty of emergency gear, I did not fancy being up there all night. Going down the Miners was a bit of a hit and miss affair - you could not actually see the track and I fell several times in drifts to my waist as I took the direct route - straight down. By the lake the track was clear and it was a fantastic run through some crisp snow down to the car park. Up to the top (virtually) and back (7 miles) in 2 1/2 hours including stops for food drink and photo opportunities. The next day I did the same, but did not risk the drifts going down to miners as it had been snowing heavily overnight. Same route, 2 hours - job done. What a fantastic couple of days |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:25 )
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Written by David
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Friday, 16 January 2009 16:20 |
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Reading through some of the blurb, I noticed that a lot of the athletes wear compression shorts and tights. So I made an enquiry to Juanita at that fantastic sports shop, Alexandra Sports and they were just getting some "SKINS" in. So I now have some shorts and leggings. Not used the long ones yet - saving that treat - but have used the shorts. Can't say that at the moment I have noticed the difference although I have got a sore hip and it seems as if it makes it easier. I will let you know how they go. They are supposed to help recovery and reduce lactic acid build up after prolonged training sessions so that has got to be good - might be a bit of that going on! |
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Written by David
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Monday, 12 January 2009 00:00 |
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I have a new toy to help with my training - some of the guys (Adam, Dave and Kelvin) clubbed together and have bought me a Garmin 405. This wizzy little gadget is a GPS training watch that tells me how far I have gone, speed, time and so on. Anyway, it told me that I did a nice little 8.2 miler today, mainly off road. No problem. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 16 January 2009 16:45 )
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Written by David
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Saturday, 10 January 2009 00:00 |
 So how do you train for a run across the desrt in 40 degree temperatures .... when you live in UK and it is the middle of winter. To be honest it is extremely difficult. I am very fortunate that I live on the coast though which means that I have the beach. Yesterday was a spring low tide (as you can see by the picture below) and so I thought I would use it to get as much as I could out of the beach. The course took me to eastney ferry (about 1.5 miles away) and then I hung a right to go along the beach. It was quite simply a glorious day for training with hardly any wind. With the tide being so low I was able to move from sand to shingle areas, which all helps in getting used to the sort of terrain I might find in Morroco. Total distance - about 6 miles. Time was around 50 minutes. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 31 January 2009 11:47 )
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Written by David
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Thursday, 01 January 2009 17:45 |
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I thought it was about time for an update as I have let this section slip for a few weeks. I had been doing some steady running on a daily basis. The gym sesions to build up some upper body stamina was wroking quite well and everything was going according to plan. But, things never stay that way do they. In the same way as when I went to Galapagos fit and healthy in September and managed to come back with a couple of cracked ribs. Still managed to drag myself around the Great North but it was painful. Anyway with those repaired , like I said things were going ok and I managed a creditable 1 hour 20 the GRIM challenge which was not too bad and I felt fine after the run. So what happened. The week before Christmas I took my kids skiing. On day 2, I was digging out my insurance paperwork for another injury - yet another cracked rib! Unbelievable! So that meant another few weeks without training. However, pleased to say that it is getting there. Yesterday I went for a 5 miler with around 5kg in the pack, and this morning, yes New Years morning, I managed another 5 miles with the pack. Also took the lightweight poles to try them out. They are so light that you can just carry them and run. The pack has made my lower back a bit sore - seems to rub somewhere, but need to get the adjustments right. When I was in the Army we used to carry webbing and that fitted a treat - not really suitable for this event though. Will post more as I go along. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 January 2009 17:56 )
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