Cloud Inversion

What an amazing and wonderful cloud inversion we were treated to yesterday in the Peak District. I was out teaching on the second of a two day NNAS Silver Navigation Award, setting off from Edale. Here's some photos to show you just how magical the inversion was...sorry if a few photos are very similar, I just can't chose which are best!

Edale Skyline

This one has been on my list to do for some time. I could analyse why it's not happened before, but in short it was mainly the distance that scared me a little, along with not quite getting enough long training runs done. Then came winter and wet weather and I didn't fancy slogging my way up Brown Knoll. Having never run beyond 29km the whole thing felt like a big step, and while not being precious about waiting for perfect conditions I really wanted to enjoy the run.

I penciled in the end of June this year to complete the route in one go. The past few months and weeks have been spent on training for longer distance, more ascent and generally being on my feet for longer. It felt like the time had come to put a big fat tick against this one, so today was the day and today I did it. I ran the whole 34km Edale Skyline (with 1435m ascent), superbly led and pulled along (mentally, not literally) by my wonderful other half, Tim.

Grindsbrook from part way up to Ringing Roger

Descending off from Kinder south edge towards Crookstone Barn.
Win Hill off in the distance at the left

Summit trig point of Win Hill (462m)

The steep climb up to Lose Hill

Nearing the top of Lose Hill, looking across to Back Tor, Mam Tor, Rushup Edge and Brown Knoll

Mam Tor summit trig (517m) with Lose Hill now behind us

Heading up onto Rushup Edge, looking back to Mam Tor and The Great Ridge

Looking across the Grindslow Knoll

Pagoda stones on the south edge of Kinder

The final descent back down to Edale with Grindslow Knoll across the valley

Leaving Ringing Roger

Rocky underfoot....this was starting to hurt my feet now as we descended the zig-zags!

Made it to the finish field, and continued to run back to the van

After making it back to the van we enjoyed an iced lolly, milk, bananas and topped up with plenty of water. The run had been mostly overcast with a slight breeze which was very welcome but it was really warm. I ate 3 chocolate geobars and drank about 1ltr of water. I suppose I could have done with more water, but having practiced my eating and drinking on all my runs I knew I'd be ok. I'd secretly hoped for a sub 5hr run on this route having done the first half of the skyline in just under 2.5hrs last year I thought it should be possible. So, with a finish time for the whole run (incl the short bit from and to the van) of 4:24:40 I'm really chuffed. I had to force myself to keep going from about Brown Knoll, and from Grindslow Knoll I started to think a sub 4:30 was possible. Strava moving time reckons 4:16:42, but either way I'm super happy and will enjoy a well earned beer tonight.

Half the Edale Skyline

I ran half of the Edale Skyline route yesterday, about 18km with nearly 900m ascent. My aim was to run it as a long steady distance (LSD), keeping my heart rate steady, not letting it get too high on ascents. I am wanting to run the whole route this year, but need to build up the distance steadily over the next 3 months. This run was a good opportunity for me to see how long it would take me to get to Mam Tor, and, to satisfy my curiosity, whether I would get there before the magic race cut off time of 2hrs 45mins. Given that I wouldn't be pushing on the run, and definitely not at race pace, I had no thoughts on how long it would take me. I was just out for an LSD and to enjoy the scenery. Here's a few photographs:

Looking down towards Edale, nearly at the top of Ringing Roger

Looking up to the top of Ringing Roger

Looking towards Hope Cross from the south edge of Kinder

 

Jaggers Clough in the foreground with Win Hill and Lose Hill

The path on south edge of Kinder, heather in full purple bloom

Lose Hill from above Hope Brink

Win Hill from Lose Hill summit

The Mam Tor ridge from Lose Hill summit

As you can see, it was a rather overcast day. The temperature was pleasant, if not a bit muggy so even when it rained on me whilst on the southern edge of Kinder I ran in just a t-shirt. The key time was obviously reaching Mam Tor within the cut-off time and I was really pleased to get to Mam Nick in a total of 2:26:54. Actual moving time was 2:21:22 so stopping to take photos and a couple of brief pauses only added 5 minutes on.

Tim had kindly dropped me off at Edale, thereby avoiding adding on a link section of a few kilometres. He then parked at Mam Tor and ran the route backwards until we met up, we'd envisaged that being somewhere on Win Hill. Sure enough, after about 11km each we were running together, down Win Hill towards Twitchill Farm. The climb up to Lose Hill summit is brutal; my calves were screaming but I was determined to walk with purpose and not stop. Managing this I paused only briefly to take a few photos at the summit, and then we were off again along the ridge. Knowing that the drag up Mam Tor isn't entirely runnable for me I stuck to Tim's heals on the flatter section from Back Tor to Hollins Cross, he really did help me keep the momentum up on that bit.

So, my plan is to get some progressively longer runs done each week and see how I get on with that. One of those runs will be the second half of the skyline route, just to prepare myself for what's coming. The full Edale Skyline is about 34km with 1373m ascent, so I've a bit of work to do yet.

Mam Tor ridge running

On my list of runs to do has been the ridge from Mam Tor to Lose Hill and back. It's only just over 8km long, and has the most spectacular views down into both the Edale and Hope Valleys. I had no idea how long it would take me; the day dawned hot yet again so I planned for an easy run, enjoy the views and see how I coped with just a small amount of water. I had no problem going out with just 150ml as the ridge is popular with walkers whatever the weather and day of the week, so should I get into problems I'd just scrounge some water from a passer-by, plus I had a full bottle waiting in the car.

I'm not a fan of starting a run with ascent immediately, but on this one there just isn't a choice. I settled into a rhythm and was really pleased to run all the way up the field to the start of the steps. I then alternated with easy run and walking with a purpose, never letting my heart rate drop too much. I reach the summit in 6:30, at just 0.7km it has 85m ascent on the uneven and oddly spaced steps up to the trig point.

I took no time to pause at the trig, noticed the murky haze towards Lose Hill (views into the valleys obscured by the haze) and recovered my breathing as I descended down to Hollins Cross. I took the higher path from Hollins to Back Tor, then up the steep climb. Once more I was really chuffed to be able to run up some of the steep ascent. I've been practicing counting paces, not allowing myself to stop before I reach 100...I think I got to 120 before switching to a strong walk up the final steep part of Back Tor.

On the flatter path I stretched my stride out, and tried to work out just how far up the climb to the summit to Lose Hill I could run. I picked a random stone and got to it. Then switched to a purposeful walk again. Would I have got further if I'd picked a more distance stone? Not sure, my heart rate was above 165bpm when I changed to walking, and I know I can't sustain much higher than that for very long. The good news is it took me just 21:15 to get from trig to trig; 3.3km with 125m ascent (it feels more than that!).

I paused to take a couple of photos...

Looking from Lose Hill towards Mam Tor...it really was quite murky up there, but very hot and humid

time at the trig point on Lose Hill, 3.89km done so far

...then headed down Lose Hill to pick up the path back under Back Tor, through the plantation and along the lower path to Hollins Cross. It was somewhere along this flatter section that I wondered if a sub 1 hour run would be feasible. This thought spurred me on and I managed to push on the final climb to Mam Tor trig, reaching it in just 56mins. Now for the final descent....and I did that in 3mins30 to get back to the car in 59:30. Actual moving time for the 8.25km was 56:23 with 362m ascent. I'm pleased with that, and will be back at some point to see if I can shave any time off in cooler conditions.