Timanfaya Dreaming

[IronGirl]

Thursday 1 hour 20 min on turbo

10 min warm up
5 x 1 min @ 52x12
3 x 2 min @ 52x14
2 x 3 min @ 52x16
2 x 5 min @ 52x18
2 x 3 min @ 52x16
3 x 2 min @ 52x14
5 x 1 min @ 52x12
(all with 1 min easy spin recovery)
10 min cool down

This set is getting easier. Really want to get out this weekend, forcast is awful, heavy rain saturday and sunday.

[IronGirl]

Friday 40 min run

Steady off road run. Kept heart rate down as I'm saving it for Sunday!

Have found a fell run about an hour and a half away in Shropshire. The Cardington Cracker, a 9 mile race with about 2600ft of climbing.
http://sites.google.com/site/telfordathleticclub/cardington-cracker
Had to buy a compass and whistle today, still need a map. We have to carry full body cover as well, it looks like rain so i'll probably just wear it. Very exciting!

[veganlisa]

Wow, that race looks challenging! Good luck and have fun!

[IronGirl]

Sunday

Cardington Cracker Fell Race

Thanks VeganLisa I had loads of fun

Wow had an absolute blast, just what I needed. This was my first Category A fell race as well.

Mr I put a good description on his Facebook status;
"Category A - Medium fell run. Category A means crawling on your hands-and-knees on the uphills and slipping on your ass on the downhills. Medium means you do it for hours and hours."

Fantastic views from the hills, I didn't take a camera but Mick Wards blog gives you a good idea of the course: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0ZWxmb3JkYXRobGV0aWNjbHVifGd4OjJhN2EyMjUzODA3Njg4OTY

There were three main climbs and each one brought you to your hands and knees. There was a bit of flat when you got to the top, but then you had to resist being blown away. A good downpour on saturday night ensured that the farm tracks and fields were knee deep in mud in places.

Fell running rules require you to carrying maps, compass and whistle and full body cover. However there was no need on this occassion for much navigation as the race was well marked and had marshalls at key points.

It was also great value £4 for 2 hours of fun. Makes triathlons look extortionate.

[skoptic]

Thats sounds brilliant - and looks gorgeous, glad you had a good time
on the hills (and so cheap too!)

If that's medium .. what the hell is hard!?

[Mr. Cleetus]

Excellent! Sounds like a fantastic event. Well done.

[IronGirl]

Skoptic Wrote:
[quote]If that's medium .. what the hell is hard!?

[IronGirl]

Monday 30 min recovery run and some stretching

Tuesday Rest

Wednesday slightly short Worcester 10k in 44 min

Felt good to be running on the flat after all the scrambling at weekend. Time included warm up and then a percieved medium effort thereafter as my HRM decided it wasn't going to work.

[IronGirl]

Thursday 1 hour 40 min Turbo

Yes ouch indeed! Says on the tin to build this up tp 2 hours over the winter. Seems mad enough as it is, but so did an hour 20 min a few weeks ago, so we will see.

10 min warm up
5 x 1 min @ 52x12
3 x 2 min @ 52x14
2 x 3 min @ 52x16
5 x 5 min @ 52x18
2 x 3 min @ 52x16
3 x 2 min @ 52x14
5 x 1 min @ 52x12
(all with 1 min easy spin recovery)
10 min cool down

[IronGirl]

Sunday Mortimer Forest Hill Race

A category C fell race. About 1700 feet of climbing in 10 miles.

A lovely clear day, a bit chilly with frost on the ground at the start but dry for once. This was a beautiful run through forestry commission land in Shropshire.

The going was muddy to downright boggy so it was tough going. There was a big climb right at the start which stretched the field out. Tried to make an effort on this as I'd been told that there could be big tail backs once the race hits single track. Sure enough there was a huge tail back by the second climb and I lost a lot of time here. Then we got onto some wider forest tracks so there was opportunity to make up lost ground and have a good old gallop.
About 2/3 of the way around was a section that some people were calling the toblerone at it went sharply up and down several times. Then more very muddy trails, some mud on a camber which I found very tricky going.
Finished in 1 hour 45 minutes, which is about the same time as a road half marathon for me at the moment and around about the time I was expecting this to take.
Good old training run, I wouldn't have worked that hard if I'd just gone out on my own.

[Mr. Cleetus]

looks like some fun racing.

[IronGirl]

Friday 80 min Turbo ----> 40 min cross country run

Took a few days rest as the racing, 3 in 4 weeks had caught up with me. Feeling much better today so decided to do a bike-Run session.

20 min warm up
5 x 1 min @ 52x12
3 x 2 min @ 52x14
2 x 3 min @ 52x16
2 x 5 min @ 52x18
2 x 3 min @ 52x16
3 x 2 min @ 52x14
5 x 1 min @ 52x12
(all with 1 min easy spin recovery)

Straight out (after adding several layers) for a 40 min run around Bringsty Common.

No snow here yet, but the ground is frozen solid and there are lots of icey patches, so you have to watch your ankles.

Heart rate 160-162 on the reps and also for the run, good endurance session. Feel really good and still 11 weeks till the duathlon.

[skoptic]

It's really snowy here.. I like the look of your turbo session, so I'm going to nick it for Sunday I reckon Thanks!

[IronGirl]

[quote="skoptic"]I like the look of your turbo session, so I'm going to nick it for Sunday I reckon Thanks!

[IronGirl]

Tuesday 1 hour run with 5 x 5 min at threshold

Slightly climbing the walls. Picked up my mum on sunday, she basically lives on the edge of the pennines and we nearly got stranded up there. About 6 inches of snow when I arrived and after a very fast turnaround there was already a couple of inches on top of the car. Took 3 hours to get there and 6 hours to get home. Shattered on Monday so no training.
Desparate to go for a run by today.

Still no snow here, just a very thick frost with lots of ice patches. Lovely frosty cross country run, with a good solid trail in the middle, good enough grip to get some reps in. Aaahhh got my adrenaline fix!