Challenge Stu

Last Wednesday, Lorna and I were at a wedding in Skipton, then at the Coniston Cold Hotel. I've driven past this place on my way to the Dales and Lakes many times, but never been in... Well I can confirm it's very nice! After the wedding we headed over to Malham for a couple of days camping... Campsite below Malham Cove The Dales is one of my favourite places in the world, and did not disappoint this time. The weather was mostly great (and occasionally spectacular) - I went out for a couple of amazing evening runs, up onto the Limestone pavement after all the walkers had gone home; as the sun set I had the place to myself! We spent Friday walking around Malhamdale, taking in the Cove, Tarn, Goredale Scar and Janet's Foss then had a fantastic dinner at The Angel in Hetton. It was on the way back that the spectacular weather occured, with sheet lightning illuminating the sky as we tried to avoid all the little hedgehogs on the road! Goredale Scar After returnin...

...And here is the result of the photography (video-wise anyway!). Seems I need to run down stairs quicker! You can check out all the new Inov8 gear at www.inov-8.com , or www.accelerateuk.com

I never imagined myself as a clothing model, but yesterday I found myself doing just that! Well, sort of... it wasn't normal clothing, it was some lovely new running kit from Inov-8. Inov-8 had sent  Accelerate  some of their new clothing range a few weeks before it goes on sale, and I was lucky enough to be given it to test, wear for some photos, and generally promote! Hence an afternoon wearing the full range, from shorts and t-shirt (appropriate for the weather) to full waterproofs and long tights (a bit warm!), while running up and down the Rivelin valley and having some photos taken. The kit looks great, I haven't worn much of it in anger yet but I ran in the shorts today and broke my Lose Hill record, which must be a good omen! Training is going well and I am looking forward to running the Long  Tour of Bradwell in August, which I have been recce-ing to make sure I avoid a disaster like last year... So here we go, the beginnings of my modelling care...

On Monday we got back from a great fortnight's holiday in the Pyrenees. The last two days have been spent frantically catching up with work but this morning I'm going to put off the real world for a few minutes to talk about the trip... It was a bit of a break from daily training, though I still ran quite a lot, and we spent most of the time at reasonable altitude. Our home for most of the time was, once again, our little camper Noddy van, who again proved herself to be a fine machine: We crossed on the ferry from Plymouth to Santander and set off east to Pamplona. It turned out we had arrived in just after some of the worst weather at this time of year for a long time, and as we went further east we saw whole sections of road which had been washed away, and a few little villages which had clearly been devastated by the high water. Pamplona was cool but we were keen to get the the mountains, and the next day headed to Font Romeu, where I am told a certain Mr. Jornet li...

Here's a quick write-up of my weekend activities, namely two short fell races! Not what I'd usually go for but I do like short fast blasts, and they have the distinct advantage of not taking up loooads of time, which means you can do two in a weekend and still have time to cut the grass or wash the car... Both races were part of the Gritstone series (www.gritstoneseries.co.uk), a series of seven short races around the Peak. The first race this weekend was Castleton on Friday night, then a day to recover before Edale country day on Sunday. The weather was fantastic for both, and pretty warm when I arrived in Castleton at about 7pm on Friday. Soon I was vested up, registered and ready to go... And we did GO! The route goes straight up Lose Hill, then along the ridge to Hollins Cross, Mam Tor, back to Hollins Cross and down to the village. As we ran out on the road I had a familiar feeling of despair at the pace, but having reached the bottom of the climb in about 20th I reali...

I got a very exciting thing last week... A brand new running watch! It's a Suunto Ambit, which is a bit of a step up from the Primark special I've been using for the last couple of years. It does all sorts of clever things, so I put it to the test at this weekend's Open Adventure 2 day race... I raced in the male pairs category with Dave Spence, but we didn't actually catch up until the race briefing on Saturday morning due to Dave's long drive up from London. The event centre was Rydal Hall, a big old house now open to the public. At the briefing we were told what we'd be doing over the two days: 2 hours of running, five of mountain biking, then a 90 minute night navigation event on the Saturday, followed by 2 hours of paddling and a trail run on Sunday. All the events apart from the trail run were score events, so we'd be trying to get as many points as possible in the time... Rydal Hall After riding then walking up to Easedale tarn for the ru...

Yesterday I was supposed to be doing a 1 hour session on the turbo trainer at lowish heart rate, as part of my base training. However after making some good progress with work early on I decided to take the ride outside, it was a nice sunny day afterall. So I headed off on a fairly normal ride, from Crosspool down into Fulwood, up to Ringinglow then out towards Burbage Edge (where it was a really nice day), Hathersage and back through Bamford. When I got close to Bamford though, chaos ensued! There were people and cars everywhere, and signs suggesting some sort of event. It turns out that a flypast to commemorate the Dambuster raids was about to take place - I knew the 70th anniversary was this week but had not realised this event was planned. I rode on and found a place to stop on the edge of Derwent Reservoir to watch. The Lancaster flying over was an incredible sight, it was huge and made a fantastic rumbling sound. There was also a Spitfire and a pair of Lightnings which w...