35th Surrey Hills Challenge

The Surrey Hills Challenge is a 30k (16k and 10k versions also available) self navigating race taking in 12 checkpoints through the surrey hills- high points (both literal and metaphorical) include Leith Hill, Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill.

Its a cross between orienteering and a normal trail race.  There's a mass start but after that it's your choice what route you take between each of the check points.  When you get to each check point there's a little device you 'dib' your 'dibber' in to which records that you made it there and it what time.  Even better once you've finished and hand your dibber back you get instant results and splits.

The past few weeks have involved training in all kinds of cold and wet weather yet this weekend saw 26 degrees.  At 10:30 as we lined up at the start it was already really hot.  The start was frantic as everyone surged up the first hill and down different paths on the other side.  After checkpoint 2 I settled into a good rhythm up to checkpoint 3, 4 and then 5 to the top of Leith Hill in 43:21 .  Having reccied the route I wasn't too bothered about keeping people in my sights but being a touch competitive when I got caught by two runners at the bottom of Leith Hill I tried to stick with them and managed this as far as the steep ascent to Holmbury Hill where I was told I was in 13th place.  They dropped me but I managed to pass another runner in the process of keeping pace with them.

From there to Pitch Hill and the turn around to start the homeward section of loop I managed to keep up a reasonable effort with a few stops to check the map.  It was however getting really hot and over the next few checkpoints I could feel myself slowing down bit by bit. 

For the rest of the course, me and two other runners over took each other and were passed by each other continuously as we individually found some strength or a good route.  Just as I thought I'd never see them again I'd turn a corner and over take one of them and then just as when I thought I'd dropped one of them I'd drop to a walk on a steep hill and get passed again!

The final two checkpoints follow a similar route to the end of both the Leith Hill half and Greensands Marathon in that there's the final bastard of a climb up to the Nower.  It gets no easier over time- those bloody steps at the end of a race are never easy. That out of the way, the final few hundred metres to the finish involved, on the advice of someone I was chatting to before the race, cutting your way down a really steep section of woods.  It was a bit like a scree slope but with foliage rather than rocks.  I managed to just about stay upright; got to the final dibber and recorded my final time of 2:50:49 and a very pleasing 13th place.

Whilst the weather made it really hard work I had a really good time out on the course.  The trails around Leith Hill, as I have said on the Blog at length before, are excellent and the route choice aspect of the race made things even more interesting.  I felt like a put a solid effort all things told even if I was cursing the temperature.  Let's just hope for some cooler weather come June 23rd and Trail Marathon Wales...

Sutton 10k

It was a rare sunny day as several hundred runners gathered in Beddington park for the Sutton Runners 10k.  It's 3 laps on a road and tarmaced path and it's flat as a pancake so PB territory for sure. 

Despite recent improvements in my pacing I set off way too fast.  I hit the 5k mark in 19:00.  If the fact this is around my best time for 5k didn't tell me I'd set off to fast the stitch and general feeling of sickness really made the point!  However I realised if I could run 4 min kilometres for the rest of the race I'd get an acceptable time and knock 30 seconds off my best time for the distance.  So that's what I did, just settled in and took each kilometre marker as it came, and I just about did it. I crossed the line in 39:04.  I wouldn't say I enjoyed my self, but I kept going at got the time I was after- so in retrospect at least, I'm a happy runner.

Great organisation by Sutton runners, maybe not the worlds most exciting course but if you want fast and flat you can't go too wrong at the Sutton Runners 10k.

Nonsuch 5k and Surrey Hills reccie part 2

 
On Thursday I headed down to Nonsuch Park in Cheam for the 15th Dave Clarke 5k.  The course is two small laps and one longer out and back section.  Maybe not the most exciting course in the world but it's flat and certainly fast.  The only thing to slow you down were a couple of tight corners that were a bit grimy after the somewhat inclement weather we've been having.

The pace at the start was quite brisk with a good number of runners bunched up together through the first lap.  However come the second lap many were feeling the affects of the initial pace and dropped back.  For once I was not one of those who set off too fast and lived to regret it.  As I passed halfway and started the final out and back section I was tenth and that is how it remained until I crossed the line in a new personal best of 19 minutes flat.  I think the recent increased in training and long hill runs must be paying dividends across all my running as I knocked about 30 seconds off my 5k time.  This said some people with Garmins were muttering that the course was a bit short so maybe my increase in pace is not so real.  Either way it was a nice race for a Thursday evening and I was pleased to cross the line ahead of a few faces I recognised from the cross country season who were quicker than me at the beginning of the year.

Saturday saw a slightly longer, muddier and less flat outing.  I got the train down to Dorking again to reccie the Surrey Hills Trail Challenge course.  This time I set out to cover the full course plus an extra 3.5 miles to take from the station to the start and back.  Navigation this time went a lot better aided by last months trip to the course.  The route was certainly damp; there were bogs, paths that had turned into streams, flooded fields; the lot.  Made it round the course in around 3 hours 10 which I was happy with as there were a few navigational pauses and wrong turns which hopefully won't happen on race day.  I'm really looking forward to the race now, the running around Leith Hill is as excellent as the hills are relentless.

MudSweatandBeers

The thing about rain and mud is that it's all relative.  When it's dry you avoid the puddles, skirt round the mud.  Once you've been through one puddle up to your ankles it no longer matters, it's all part of the fun.

Getting back into long runs

In many respects this years been a funny one in terms of running. After little or no training in November and December, January and February saw 5 races on not very much training- and whilst they were all enjoyable (with special mention for the box hill fell race) I didn't feel on top of my game in any of them.

March saw no races and neither will April (OK, maybe the odd Parkrun).  I've been doing more training and starting to feel the benefit of it in my running. Importantly I've been getting back into the long runs in preparation for the Surrey Hills Trail Challenge and Trail Marathon Wales in May and June respectively.  I'd forgotten how great it is to head out for a few hours with a map and explore some new trails.

Today I headed over to Dorking to recce the Surrey Hill's (it's a non-marked self navigating race), I've run over there a couple times for Trionium races and today proved how much great trail running there is around Leith Hill and the Greensand ridge.  My running navigation is coming along slowly; however my 10 min miles for the 20 mile run today show that I haven't quite mastered running and map reading at the same time. There was certainly a few extra miles and a lot of standing around at junctions, but as the run went on I got more into it and made less mistakes and was more 'fluid' with my route choice.  All being well I'll head over again in the next few weeks and if that doesn't improve my map reading I should at least know where I'm going on race day having run the whole course in advance!

Despite upping my long runs over the past month I've left some room for the short stuff. On Saturday I headed down to the Nonsuch Parkrun and despite some windy conditions I knocked a few seconds off my PB (19:32)- which was nice but if I'm honest I was a bit meh about it all- I think two flat laps round a park is just not for me.

Finally- Trail Marathon Wales have released the route info for June- it looks set to be a corker: 26.2 miles, 4,500 ft of height gain and loss, some big climbs, single track sections, downhill finish.  The marathon's sold out already, can't wait.

National Cross Country Championships 2012

The Nationals at Parliament hill were amazing; being part of 1600 runners charging up Parliament Hill is something I don't think I'll ever forget.  Made it round in 51:14 and 981st place, which is fine by me.  The whole thing was just amazing; from the shear number of runners to the speed of the guys at the front.  The ankle deep mud that lost people their shoes, the steep ascents and fast descents.  Best race of the year so far, best cross country race I've ever done.

Video of that mass start below:
http://www.athleticos.org/coverage/248314-2012-National-Cross-Country-Championships/video/612080-National-XC-2012-Senior-Men 

Picture in the paper, XC, parkrun and future plans.

Last week was a return to Lloyd Park for cross country.  At least half the course was snow bound which made things more interesting but wasn't too treacherous.  I didn't run that great a time but it was a good fun race slipping and sliding in the snow and mud; generally overtaking people on the down hills and being passed on the ups on the other side.  At the start of the second lap I was in the midst of a crowd of Collingwood runners and ended up in a picture in Sutton's premier local paper relating to an article on their xc promotion.  I love the local paper so pleased as punch to have my picture on the sport pages!

This morning I headed down to Nonsuch Parkrun for a windy park run (19:45, 7th place).  I ran it pretty evenly and passed 3 or 4 folk on the second lap which makes a change from heading off too fast.  I'll have to remember this next week at the National Cross Country race at Parliament Hill.  I'm looking forward to this race from what I've heard of it (fast field, big hills, mud, chaos at the start); however am very conscious there's a real risk I could come last.

Finally, I've decided on some plans for the rest of the year.  First up in May I'm entered in for the Surrey Hills trail race- organised by SLOW who organised the Box Hill fell race, it's a self navigating 30k across the Leith Hill area.  Looks excellent- I aim to brush up on my navigation skills before the event (and maybe do a few reccie runs).  Then in June, a couple of days after my 30th birthday it's going to be Trail Marathon Wales.  I'm super excited about this- 26.2 miles all on trail in the Coed y Brenin Forest Park in Snowdonia.  Once I've got the xc season over next week it'll be time to start increasing the mileage and hitting the trails and hills- this is my target race for the year; bring-it-on!