Beamsley Beacon race - 22nd June

Ten Hyde Park Harriers made the short trip up to Addingham for the latest round in the Fell Championship: Beamsley Beacon. A serious crash on the A65 had myself and Paul (who had kindly picked me up from work so I could race) sweating that we would miss the start but in the end we got there with plenty of time to spare. The subsequent 15 minute delay to the start of the race was well received as we caught up with the eight other Harriers.

I have been extremely excited for a long time about racing on the fells for the club as it’s really my first love when it comes to running and I feel like I’m much more comfortable at home on the fell than on the roads. My day at work consisted of plenty of excited bouncing around and the odd extra cup of tea, with a few more custard creams for vital hydration and pre-race fuel. I even exploited my running of the Year 3 and 4 cross country club to make sure I got an extensive pre-race stretching regime with some good drills in – I was really up for it and the nervous wait in the car as we hit traffic and obstacles only heightened the anticipation. The evening before I had looked at previous results and decided that a good target would be to try and get under 40 minutes for the course – running watchless I had no way of tracking this but it was something in the back of my mind as a good gauge of fitness.

The race route itself was mostly a straight forward affair from what I’d heard in the previous days from browsing forums and the FRA page, with the exception of some murmurings about a shortcut on the descent worth up to three minutes. It combined all the great aspects of traditional Yorkshire fell racing - runnable climbs, technical descents and route choice – with some really fast trails and roads leading out and back to the fell. I particularly enjoyed the ascent as I managed to get into a good little group and we worked our way up the hill steadily overtaking people all the way. I was trying to judge my effort by keeping a couple of runners I knew in my sights, they were about 30 metres clear of me and I held that gap solidly for most of the climb. I died a little about 3 minutes from the top but managed to grind out a lower gear and just about get there in a decent place – I reckoned I was about 15^th.

The descent was all about trying to find the ‘Golden Ticket’ of the shortcut. I’d heard that it was a twisty technical run through an easy to miss ginnel. At the top of the climb I could just about see a Wharfedale vest disappearing into the distance so unashamedly I hung back and waited for an Ilkley vest to come past me and he confirmed that he could indeed show me the way. We managed to get past a Wharfedale runner just off the summit and then plunged down the technical descent. I’d said that I wouldn’t just follow him then sprint him at the end but I very quickly realised that his descending skills on the rough stuff were far better than mine and once he’d duly shown me the way he disappeared off into the distance.

The run down to the finish was a fast affair back through the fields. There was one little sting in the tail – a footbridge and climb up some switch-backing stairs back up onto the road. I managed to slog it up the last uphill realising that I was in a no-mans-land, the runner ahead was too far gone and the runner behind me was considerably far away. I kept pushing the pace all the way back along the road as I felt really happy with my run and when I finally made the last push over the line (just a street corner outside a pub – you have to love fell racing) I was told I’d finished 13^th and in 39.14. I was ecstatic and bounced around more avidly than even before the race.

I then jogged down the road to watch all the fellow Harriers finish. Jimmy defied the sleepless nights and lack of miles to come in second Harrier, then Scott (who had taken a wrong turn when trying to find the ginnel) came in just ahead of Robin who had a storming run for 11^th lady. Jonathan Mason was in not long after looking incredibly fresh. Andrew Mitchell was next in just a shade over 55 minutes. Two Harriers stormed through in under an hour with Richard Edwards and Paul Dickens finishing in quick succession. Rick Pullan followed a couple of minutes later and then Dote Stone, having made a navigational error, came in to complete a successful outing of all 10 Harriers to the top of Beamsley Beacon and back.  

A quick drink in the pub with an inspirational tale from Dote about her recent fell exploits in the Lakes (I need to try that Buttermere Horseshoe route) and then it was back to Hyde Park to pack for my Paddy Buckley adventures with Steve Rhodes and company! It truly was an awesome start to an incredible weekend.

Top stuff everyone.

Hyde Park Harriers Results Below.

 

Tom Thomas – 13^th – 39.14

Jimmy Sheldon – 53^rd – 45.00

Scott Watson – 93^rd – 49.47

Robin Culshaw – 96^th – 50.17

Jonathan Mason – 125^th – 54.18

Andrew Mitchell – 132^nd – 55.42

Richard Edwards – 144th – 59.05

Paul Dickens – 148th - 59.50

Rick Pullan – 156^th – 1.02.40

Dote Stone – 162^nd – 1.05.53

Something about running uphill (and my struggles to get better).

Got carried away writing a response on a forum. Please note that all of this is probably rambling useless pseudo-informative opinion but for what it is worth my attempts to get faster uphill has made me think a lot about how to get better...this is kind of what I've tried and has worked for me. I'm no expert and it's a long post but there might be something of some use to you.



1) If you want to run fast hill (you finished in the top 40% so any real improvement would be taking you probably into the top 30 at least) so you first of all have to look at the amount of real speed you have to play with. Fast hill runners are fast runners on the flat and there's a definite correlation. There's the odd runner who has an uncanny knack for ascending quickly (usually with a caveat like super steep) but generally your top end climbing speed is well linked to flat pace. There's a little deviation but not as much is made out sometimes.



2) Running uphill is certifiably the best way of improving uphill speed. Hills at any time are great in training. I try to put them in pretty much every run in some way, except for the odd flat tempo session which will probably have less than 30ft of climb per mile. Hill reps are good, as is running uphills in steady runs as tempo efforts and even slogging around a long hilly run. I'm lucky enough to enjoy running uphills so I don't mind it too much.



3) When I do this in conjunction with some faster running at some other time (usually a flat tempo run or an interval session on the road) I reap the benefits of this even more. I've been running strongly uphill- by my average standard - on two occasions in the past three years, both times I was combining good speed work on the flatter stuff and a lot of hills in my running. I don't do silly-short reps or but I mix up track and road stuff to get a bit more top end speed.



4) Strength work is a massive help. One of my biggest problems with running hills has always been a tendency to keel over a little and probably have too weak quads for the picking my legs up. I've tried to sort that out by doing a fair bit of core work: various planks, supermans, pull-ups, press-ups and also deadlifts. I've always done a bit of outright strength stuff like a chest day or arms and stuff but really that's maybe a couple of easy days a month - it does help though and you won't get ridiculously big like some people think. A lot of fell runners think they'll do a few press-ups and then all of a sudden they'll be getting cast as Arnie in the new Predator reboot and no longer able to get around a BOFRA on a Saturday afternoon. Strength work is a really good thing to look at seriously as a way to improve, it's certainly helped me loads over the past three years I've been doing more of it with my running. It's one of those things where as I've improved at it my running has always improved as well...it's also a good thing to do on a rest day! I don't really do any leg specific stuff like quads, calves, hamstrings etc because I like to rest my legs so I can run hard in more sessions...it's a choice made at the moment out of what I enjoy doing more but if I seem to plateau I'll look to add more in for certain. The one thing I do frequently (sometimes daily) deadlifts with a light weight (bodyweight), generally I do it when I've had a bit of a niggling injury in my leg as they seem to be a miracle cure and they really hit the legs.


4) Recently when I've been thinking about my uphill running I've noticed a lot that I can blow up quite hard from running too quickly at the bottom. I've started trying to make sure that when I'm climbing my breathing is completely regulated and I'm not blowing too hard. Usually the speed difference between breathing heavily on a climb or keeping it calm and controlled isn't too far apart in terms of speed and it's always better to be getting time back at the top than trying to clutch onto seconds as people reovertake you after half the climb. I've practised this a lot on running a lot of steady hills at tempo pace but concentrating on being on that edge for breathing controlled. Obviously you might have the mental pain to push on that much harder side of hard on a climb and not bonk - for me I'm working towards that but it's a long slog (much like most hills.

In short, to try and get better uphill I've had to do more uphill running, do strength work and also seriously look at improving my absolute pace on the flat. Improving and calmer breathing seems to have been a good tactic when racing hills and might be worth a look at as well whilst you're doing those things.



A really long answer that I enjoyed writing more than intended. I'm no expert either so take it with a pinch of salt, they're pretty logical though and loads of people would recommend them, I'm pretty much just repeating various things I've read and tried myself - these are the ones which I enjoy and seem to help me improve. I'm always trying to consider what to do improve more, usually as a side thought when I'm running up a hill and I promise myself I'm going to do more yoga, more leg strength work, more reps, more everything. Just pick some things and try them - eventually you'll find some things which work and are fun.

Happy running.