Tag: cliffs

It’s natural right?

Kids do it naturally as do animals so why do adult humans prfer to walk? Just one of those “while im out running thoughts” I had while another 9 miles flew past yesterday in the sun (and then the clouds came in but hey)

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Check out this little dude, can only have been a few days old and giving it full beans!

Clipping Wings

Is it possible to feel too good?  Some days I just want to fly and I know if I fly I can break.  It’s at the point now where 8 or 9 miles after work (Gotta love BST) feel compltely fine and natural and keep my head in such a good place.  I can go faster but I know I dont actually need to go faster. It’s just a matter of having to put the brakes on and it’s hard to drop pace, I naturally keep dropping pace to around 8 to 8.30 minute miles which over that terrain is ridiculous and unsustainable for my body but it just feels so good to fly.

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Tides in
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Feisty little bugger on the left saw me off!
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Hard not to fly on days like these

More more

I was torn on sunday about whether to run until I saw the weather and then figured my fankles (new word covering my feet and ankles) would survive one more push.  The last few runs I’ve been trialing a thin ankle support and it seems to be making a difference.  Plus I wanted to get used to running on tired legs and so another longish run was the order of the day.

A further 12 miles with as much climbing as I could get in (going all the way up Witches Point as hard as I could go after 7 or 8 miles surprised me)

I also had some sad news on saturday night – Master Robert had died. He was a lovely old guy who lived in the big house at the Cwm and owned the Bruce Estate.  He loved the beach and area as much as I do and was always picking up litter. Guess I’m the only one left doing that now.

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Will be odd to run past here knowing he isn’t around. Often used to stop to chat with him.
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Still – life goes on and so does the run. Racing the tides today
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Just the perfect morning to be out before the trippers
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I found a map! Still exploring the Dunraven end of my run
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Badly focused cookie – Best thing about long distances – I eat what i feel like out there
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Tide racing – Tide won – Still the odd rock scramble never hurt anyone
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Always worth it

So in the last 4 days I covered 37 miles of pretty hard going terrain.  The fankle, although aching a little is holding up. I’m just utterly knackered. Few days off I think

I may be an idiot but sometimes im a quick idiot

I can’t help it, I meant to take it kinda easy as tide was in so cliffs were only option and legs were a little sore I’m guessing from the hill repeats. And as I hit top of the cliffs and stopped to watch the surfers I realised there was a runner behind me. No problem he can pass me easy enough but he didn’t.  So I figured if I wanted space I’d have to make it. Which I did at 6-7 min/mile pace along the cliffs which actually felt fantastic to put the hammer down and fly without stopping.  Yeah ok maybe not sensible but it felt good to breathe hard but not blow up and the cwm’s were so much fun to fly up and down (well the first was a 200ft mudslide but hey its all foward motion  right)

By Witches Point I was expecting to be half dead but I still had it in the legs to do the climb to the top. Recovery was fast and so I decided on the longer extremely wet and muddy route home.

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Not so much a path as a stream
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The gatehouse thingy at Derval Woods
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Awwwwwww – They were playing together like you’d expect puppies to do. It’s easy to forget they just want to have fun too. STOP EATING THEM
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The usual. I never get bored of the usual
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Fuelling strategy – The school I worked in that afternoon had just gone through inspection so the staffroom was full of shit food! I love shit food but rarely eat it these days so when I get the chance … So kids if you want to run far and fast eat shit food when the sun shines!

 

Two in one

Wednesday was literally to the beach and back on a grey day – even the beach looked meh. Not gonna lie I dont know why I didnt take a rest day when I had chance, I think the head was saying for christs sake run after work.

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Look at it – meh or what

Thursday was better, the sun came out a bit and although the tide was in I did some more hill repeats barefoot, I’m really enjoying that and it feels so much easier to climb that way. Plus I get to see this at the top every time…

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Reward for each repeat

Theere were surfers about too to keep me company. I can cope with company when theres zero chance it can talk to me

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Those tiny dots are indeed surfers

More snow and a moider!

A moider? Yes a moider – well more of a massacre.

Headed to the beach to check out the latest snow conditions.

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Had to pick my way over the stream to start
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Spot the birdie?  There are tonnes of lapwings down there sheltering at the moment, they are all slow and lethargic and don’t shift until you get really close – like this one
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Cliffs still looking cool
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Moider scene! I omitted the gory photos here but this was the scene of a massacre – at least a dozen dead birds which at first I thought was a case of being frozen to death. Then I notcied that some were decapitated and I dont know of any Siberian wind that rips birds head off.
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Evidence! I found the tracks of the culprit but how the hell did a fox get onto the beach here?
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Aha! The cunning git used the old smugglers path which is hard enough to climb in summer
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He would have climbed down here to catch the little frozen birdies. Ah well it aint moider after all its just nature
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Usual photo from Witches Point with added snow
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Up onto the cliffs – and time to start the wading through drifts
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Luckily the snow was pretty hardpacked by the wind so didn’t sink too deep
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I’m on his trail!
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Hmmm ok i’ll just jump the wall
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Out onto the road – that way is home if I was in the car – and work wondered why I was worried about getting back?  I know it out here – when it snows it drifts and we get cut off. Took me ages to convince them
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Um yeah and thats the other way out
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And thats the road to the rest of the village – Its lucky I can run everywhere these days

Monsoon

Decided to get out for a run last Sunday despite the torrential rain. I wanted a long run but wasn’t going to happen in these conditions.  To be fair the seven miles I did were made harder by slogging through fields turned into streams. More resistance training. I look back and laugh now but at the time up to my calves in freezing cold water I certainly wasn’t laughing then

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The first inkling I might get wetter than usual
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Definitely been raining
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Errr ok so this is one Ive never seen before here
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Starfish are like buses – You don’t see one forever and then 2 come along in a week 
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Of course the regular waterfall was showing off 
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Fields of joy!

 

Hill sprints til dark

The weather improved (not for long admittedly) but the tide was still in so I spent half an hour or so running hill sprints in the cwm. I was pleasantly surprised at not going anerobic immediately. Best thing about these particular sprints is the view/reward at the top

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Just a bit further

When you’re out enjoying a run and it’s getting dark and you kind of forgot your headtorch (again) and you don’t want to turn around because it’s so beautiful what do you do? Common sense says turn around before you lose the light.  My sense said stay out as long as you can, keep going and trust your local knowledge and senses to get you back.

It actually worked and I didn’t fall off a cliff or into a river or anything and it meant I got to enjoy a beautiful sunset

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