Challenge Stu

On Saturday 6th May, an audacious attempt to make sporting history took place. Some people didn't like it, saying it was all just a big publicity stunt. Others admired the technical advances and the precise data capture. I just thought it sounded like a good day out. I speak, of course, about Willy Kitchen's 50th Birthday party. Being that great chap that he is, Willy decided that he would like to celebrate his birthday by organising a mass run around the infamous Kinder Dozen route. A race you might say, but a special, one-off type of race. The route of the KD is similar to that of the Kinder Killer I ran a few weeks ago, and is another invention of the (clearly sadistic) Ken Jones. The idea is that you run around Kinder, zig-zagging your way between the the summit plateau and the surrounding valleys 12 times. This gives over 3000m of ascent in a bit over 20 miles. Ken's original map Willy had arranged a series of start times based on predicted speed. The firs...

I hope everybody had a fantastic bank holiday weekend. I was lucky enough to spend it on the West coast of Scotland with Lorna and my Mum and Dad. We were in a place called Tayvallich, a little village on an inlet of Loch Sween. A mile's walk takes you to the other side of the peninsula, where from the even littler village of Carsaig you have a direct view across to Jura. It's a stunning place. Tayvallich Bay. After a monster 10 hour drive north (though a stop at Mungrisdale was well worth an extra hour or so), we arrived and set about preparing ourselves for a weekend of adventure. The first step was to inflate my funny old blow-up kayak. I bought it originally to practice for using inflatables at WARC 2013 in Costa Rica, but it has far outlasted my predictions and has been great. There are numerous patches, the non-return valves have died, and it's short fat shape means it waddles around the sea rather than carving swiftly through the waves as a fibreglass boat migh...

A combination of work and adventures in plasterboard means it's taken me longer than intended to get round to writing this, but I wanted to write a quick piece on one of the best skiing holidays I've had in a long time. The season didn't start well. Even compared to last year, when it didn't really snow till mid-January, the start to the season was bad. A March trip sounded like a bad idea, but frankly we needed as long as possible to save up, so March it was! The Daily Mail - for all the best celebrity weight and skiing stories In fact, the snow was not a problem. We stayed at Le Praz, in the Courchevel valley at about 1300m. This worked brilliantly for me, as there was snow above us and sunny valley below us. I skied on Sunday but on Monday decided to take advantage of the weather and headed out for a  long ru n. It was a great adventure, like the long runs I used to do on days off last winter. As then, the speed was low but the climb pretty high! I clock...

***NEWSFLASH! I learnt a new muscle! Thanks to Laura for pointing out the existance of something called a "Ham-string". I have updated the main picture...*** So, apparently there are lots of muscles in your legs, and spending a few months running up mountains at a constant speed is great for some of them, but less good for others. Since we came back from Europe I've not quite been able to tap into the fitness and form I felt like I had in 2013, and it seems the reason is that I've forgotten how to run properly. This is where being part of Team Accelerate is great; yesterday I spent a couple of hours with Stu Hale and Laura Inglis, talking about what I need to do to re-learn how to run efficiently, and how we're going to do it. Mt Fuji 2013: Pre-quad dominance? It seems that over the summer in Chatel I have developed a strong quad dominance, to the extent that my glutes are very weak. I am pretty bad at anatomy, but fortunately these are two of the only...

...and you can read it here  (it's free, short and there are pictures)! That's it really. Happy World Book Day everyone.

After a successful and beautiful early-morning 3 hour outing last weekend without much more than a little niggle of the adductor pain I've been struggling with for a month or so, I decided to up the ante this weekend. Ox Stones sunrise last weekend One of the many fantastic things about Dark Peak Fell Runners is the wealth of experience in the club, so when you fancy a hilly 30-ish mile route to make your Sunday more interesting, a quick visit to the DPFR facebook page or website will give you a few options. I decided on the "Kinder Killer", a route invented by K Jones and currently marketed by Ian Winterburn. The idea is similar to another classic route, the Kinder Dozen, involving a zig-zaggy loop of Kinder Scout, alternately visiting the plateau and the surrounding valleys. There are seven climbs as opposed to the (obvs) 12 of the Dozen, but the Killer route is different and I think slightly longer overall. Ian also suggested that it's a nicer route, so I too...

It's that strange time of year around Christmas and New Year, when every day feels like a Sunday and you wonder just how much more cheese you can eat. In short, a perfect time to write a blog. And at the turning of the year, 2016 seems the obvious subject, and it's been an interesting year! There's nothing new here though, so I'll keep it brief and try to include some good photos. Please also forgive me for being selfish; this blog is already too long without mention of the amazing achievements of others in 2016, including British Champion Rhys Findlay-Robinson, Nicky Spinks' double Bob Graham round, my brother's epic Frankfurt marathon experience, and all the great achievements of my team mates at events throughout the year. Well OK, only that much mention of them. Cheers for the inspiration. Here we go then... Sunny valleys in the early season Last January I was living and working near St Martin de Belleville in the French Alps. The snow conditions ...