Lickey Hills West Mids League 2

Went to the second West Mids League event today at the Lickey Hills. As I was arriving the place looked vaguely familiar to me - I think it was where I did some practice navigation for a D of E award back in 1997.

Did the brown course which was 7.1k with 300m climb so it was going to be a tough one. Quite early on my legs felt really heavy and quite tired. I think I hadn't recovered sufficiently from going to the gym on Friday. I made one of the biggest mistakes for a long time at number 2 and lost over 5 mins - I overshot the control, retraced a little bit but was still too far ahead. I did find some blue tape in a nearby re-entrant so eventually considered the control had gone walkies and was going to move on, but decided to look one last time and eventually found it.

Overall I had a really scrappy run, lost a lot of time and don't think I ran anywhere near full speed in any part of the course. I completed in 65mins (9.2m/km), whilst at the point I left the leader had gone round in 47 mins. I don't seem to be able to cope with these types of courses - small grotty types of areas always seem to be a bit of a struggle. I'm not sure whether I'll do many more of the West Mids League events as I just don't enjoy them (not a criticism of the planners just the areas) - something more of an issue for me as my knee felt quite bad today. Although the knee didn't 'go', it is certainly the worst it has been over the last six months - it didn't affect my run at all but was a worrying sign.

Not sure whether I'll go to next weeks WML3 event to be held by WRE at Lizard Hill - judging by the last 3 league events I've been to the area is bound to be grotty and with my knee I'm tempted to have a week off - this would be my first week off since around October/November time.

Comments

  1. Anonymous19 February 2007 at 13:25

    It's a no-brainer! Come to Black Beck instead - loads of fun, nice area (physically & technically) and the chance you might improve your technique too. You know you want to really....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lloyd Biddell19 February 2007 at 13:29

    Hmm - forgot about that! Tempted, very tempted in fact as I'm off work this week so will be fairly bored by Saturday.

    Do you know whether there is any accomodation available?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous19 February 2007 at 20:18

    I guess there will be - hawkshead yha is huge, but marky g will know for def. can guarantee the planning will be fab with no path running at all, and you'll be sick of the sight of contours by the end of the weekend! You know you want to really....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lloyd Biddell19 February 2007 at 20:24

    Yup - now going! Already emailed Mark who has confirmed availability...

    No path running; what have I let myself in for?? :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. OCM4520 February 2007 at 20:18

    No map uploaded yet Lloyd?

    I'm looking forward to seeing your route from 1 to 2....!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lloyd Biddell20 February 2007 at 20:34

    no map this time - cant be sure where I was all the time...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spine Race - Some Stats (2012-2024) - Updated following 2024 race.

Image
This is an update to a post I originally published in following the 2023 event.  I have now updated it to reflect the 2024 race. Over the years there have been a number of stats published about the Spine races, usually focusing on finish percentages etc.  I decided to take a look and see whether I could do something different with the data.  I've focused purely on the Winter Spine Race and none of the other races in the series. Some headline stats: 28 countries are represented in the finish results (increase of 2 as a result of 2024 event). There are 610 recorded finishes by 478 people Only 16 people have gone sub 100 hours (exc. 2015) - an increase of 4 during as a result of 2024 event. I've attached the spreadsheet I put together.  To explain it in a bit more detail take Jasmin Paris (row 6): She was the 230th recorded finisher The 185th individual to have ever finished the Spine The 5th fastest recorded time (includes people who have multiple finish times) The 5th fastest in
Read more

Ranger Ultras - High Peak 100k

Image
Over the coming months I've got three 100k races coming up and the High Peak 100k was the first of these.  On paper it should have been the easiest, more so as the weather in September is usually benign.  The reality was somewhat different, weather forecasts were stating it was the hottest day of the year hovering around 30c with very high humidity levels.  It was clear that the weather alone was going to make this a sufferfest and it didn't disappoint. I decided to be quite conservative with fluids, reverting to my expedition pack which is designed for multi day races.  It holds 2 x 750ml bottles, plus space for my 2 litre bladder.  Although there were 7 water stations along the route, I wanted to ensure that I could drink freely from the start and get a feel for my consumption until I was properly settled into the race.  The downside to this strategy was a rather heavy race pack... At 9am the race started and it was my initial plan to try and finish the 100k in somewhere betw
Read more

Ranger Ultras Pennine Bridleway 270km

Image
Since the Spine Race I have had a bit of a void that needed filling.  I spotted the PB270 as it is more commonly known that would fill the gap whilst still being a significant challenge.  The Bridleway runs from Middleton Top, near to Matlock in Derbyshire through to Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, running slightly West to the better known Pennine Way.  The Bridleway runs along well defined tracks and roads and there is still some 6,500 metres of elevation to contend with, albeit there were no real individual ascents over 400 metres. Start at Middleton Top Start (Middleton Top) to Checkpoint 1 (Hayfield) - (37 miles) The first 15 or so miles are along an old railway bed so were very flat and runnable.  I knew this was going to play to my strength so the plan was to just go out at a pace that felt easy and expect to take an early lead.  This was pretty much exactly what happened and despite there being some long straight sections I was out of sight.  I always knew that I would eventually run
Read more