Lloyd Biddell

Not much to report over the last few weeks other than more training.  Something that has been at the back of my mind for a while is how my training today compares to what I was doing back in 2008. 2008 At my peak in 2008 I was typically running between 60 - 120 km per week and was usually dependent on injury and whether I had any events planned.  Looking back at my training diary the fastest pace I ever did was 3.36 per km over 10km, although that was very much the exception and not the norm.  I had a few runs in the 3.50 - 4.00 range but on the whole most runs were between 4.00 - 4.15. To sum up in a sentence I was doing a lot of training at a relatively low intensity pace overall (although I dont recall my pace being particularly slow at the time!).  I guess quite a lot of the mileage were 'junk miles' such as running to/from work at little more than a jog but my overall goals back then was to be able to run a marathon and ultra distances. 2016 Fast forward to 2016 an

A few weeks ago we decided to go away for New Year in the Yorkshire Dales.  Naturally I decided to see whether there were any events nearby and I found a fell race about an hour away starting in a village called Great Ayton.  I've never done an event like this before so had no idea how I was going to do.  Some fell runners do not call this a 'proper' fell race as there is quite a bit of flat on tarmac and footpaths.  However, for me at least it seemed to be a good first event to attempt as a taster of what fell racing is like.  The course was 5.3 miles with about 260 metres of climb. We started off and as usual I was a little way back from the front but straight away lost touch as the road still had traffic and we had to take avoiding action and funnel through gaps in the pavement.  I probably only lost 5 seconds or so but it meant I lost touch with the front of the field.  The first km was mostly flat on tarmac and as usual I came through the field from about 20th to 9th