Getting final training in for Tour of the Pennines

As I have the "Tour of the Pennines" coming up, it is imperative that I get some hill training in now so that my legs have time to adapt.

The "Manchester - Sheffield - Manchester" event showed my fitness and endurance are still some way off where I need to be,  I want to be happy I can finish these challenges.

For the last few months, my short distance work is fine and the lungs work fine, legs are keeping good, but the rest of my body is struggling for the endurance of the events I have entered demand.

So for this session, I decided two hills over a short distance would give my legs a workout but minimise the strain.

It all went well, it was my first time up Buckstones Road (except in a car) and it is a long, constant climb, reaching the top was such a hard effort and all the time, wishing for another “Granny Gear” which is a term used for gears to help you get up hills easier, spinning the legs more and requiring less power, just more endurance.

Turning left at the top is downhill into Denshaw, as I approached the next turn there was a police incident, two cars had collided head-on, the passengers must have been taken to the hospital sometime before, the police officers thankfully didn’t make me cycling back up the hill I had sped down!

So I carried on through Delph to tackle the second hill “Grains Bar”, the way home thankfully is all downhill!

Finally at the top

As I was due for another cortisone injection in my troubled shoulder, I went for a run Thursday morning, my timing wasn’t great as I emerged off the trail, back the main road, the school kids were all streaming everywhere, cars queuing, fetching out fumes, my lungs were goosed.

It took some time when I got home to recover, twice I had to get on the inhaler. I have not had to use that since before the first lockdown, the “return to the new normal” the empty roads were a boon for runners and cyclists, almost clean air!

On Saturday I did a version of the Royton Trail, which is our (Royton Road Runners) annual race, this year the race HQ has been changed to the Royton Cricket club, which is our base, traditionally we go from near the Tandle Tavern and finish there.

So the route is not too different but the hard work up through Tandle Hils is now near the beginning and so leaves you to enjoy the rest of the race downhill and mostly flat, I live close to the route and so had the first wear of a running vest thus far this year as it was mid-afternoon and super warm.

Sunday was a planned 36 mile Cragg Vale ride, I took a nice pace ride out to Hebden Bridge, it's a good route with a warm-up distance to Kiln Lane, a steep hill on the way to Hollingworth Lake, it was
quiet on the way round and down to the turn for Todmorden Road.

It is a long easy climb up to Todmorden and undulation from there to Hebden Bridge and a nice rest for a bacon butty and latte at Coffee Cali.

Well earned rest

Latte and gel, a great combo

A quick supplemental gel for energy and it was off to Cragg Vale, arguably the longest, continuous climb in England of around 5.5 miles, not my quickest time up there, but good training and happily Royds Ices were at the top and had a rewarding ice cream

Royds ices, the depot is a the bottom of the hill

The descent back into Littleborough is steep and today a touch windy, not for the faint-hearted! It's the same route back past the lake and home, so this time put a bit of effort and got myself home for a well rewarding brew!

So got a good endurance and hill effort in, getting better now and feeling more confident about the Tour of the Pennines, which is just 2 weeks away.

As I publish this post I have raised £135 which is 27% of my £500 target which is fantastic and thanks to all those who have sponsored me so far, if you can afford and wish to help out, the link is:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Next week I will write about the energy bars I make, not just for me, something for all the family!

Thanks for reading

Mark K

2021 is getting back on track and its charity supporting on the road

Now that the UK is emerging from the Covid pandemic, battered but not down, folks like me can now start to take part in events.

I run and coach with Royton Road Runners so it is good to see races appear back in the calendar and I booked the first few... Mossley 10k was cancelled the next week after I signed up!

I am trying to raise money and awareness for SarcoidosisUK, a charity that supports sufferers of this rare disease, I was diagnosed back in 2019 and although I can still exercise, it takes much longer to recover and some weeks I cannot train as the fatigue can be too much.

I have entered 3 cycling sportive events and as you may know, the Manchester Marathon is something put back twice now but should go ahead and this will be my final challenge of the year and my fundraising for 2021

Tour of the Pennines - 41 Miles of Hills - 8th May

Tour of the Peaks - 61 Miles of Hills - 23rd May

Cheshire Cat - 108 miles including "Mow Cop" - 12th September

With my last and final challenge 

Manchester Marathon 2021 - 26.2 miles of running around my home city

If you can spare time to look at their website https://www.sarcoidosisuk.org 

and if you can afford to sponsor me head to my JustGiving 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

So my training regime is going to be a mixture of two longish runs with the club, Monday and Thursday's and either a long run or long ride

After the first ride of the year went "wrong" for me last Sunday I have bounced back and committed to getting the training right so that the challenges ahead are "doable"

The running is not so much an issue but the start to the year cycling has been mostly on the turbo trainer and very few opportunities to ride, so rocking up to the Manchester-Sheffield-Manchester I was nervous, to say the least.

Overnight it had snowed and I have very little winter gear so had to brave it out with what I could find (Fingerless gloves and knee warmers) 

On the second to last hill, I suffered horrendous cramp and had to stretch out and push the bike up the short bit to the top.

On the last hill, I had to seek medical help and eventually got to Glossop Fire Station for the feed station. I tried to stretch the legs but the pain was too much, so decided to quit and contacted the event HQ to let them know.

Hopefully, in 3 weeks the weather will be better and I will have learned from my mistakes, not a great deal of time to improve my cycling but will soldier on.

My shoulder is still very painful and after an ultrasound was carried out, it was not a bone spur as first suspected, but inflammatory Arthritis. The physio administered a cortisone injection, which has done nothing and the pain is just getting worse. 

I am waiting for a Rheumatology Physio session if this can be confirmed as inflammatory then it might possible Sarcoidosis related, either way it is blommin painful!

So Tuesday evening I ventured out for a 5k run, the legs were tired and a little achy but the effort was respectable

I don't usually bunch runs together but work was getting on top of me on Wednesday, so decided after a year of working from home, why not go for a lunchtime run! it was fun and a little quicker than the day before, just over 22 minutes

Thursdays RRR group B was a nice pace, I think we had all had a challenging week and the conversation was super as we went around a hilly but simple route.

The groups target pace is 8:00min/mile so it was a more comfortable 9:00 pace, my runs to and back from the clubhouse, I go a little faster.

After the tough ride last week, it was imperative I got some miles in the bank on the bike as the Tour of the Pennines is just 3 weeks away! So warily I rolled out on a quiet, cool but wind-free Sunday morning.

My main effort was the Newhey Climb, which is a hill that just keeps on going, I met another cyclist on the way up and we rejoined as I cruised down the other side of the hill, he caught me up and kindly offered to adjust my seat slightly. Turns out my seating position was not helping my performance!

It turns out he is the "Bike Fit" engineer for a cycling team and has done super long weekends of 400 miles, so quizzed him as much as I could!

So a cheeky 21-mile ride with a total climb of 1467ft around stunning scenery was a superb way to get my training on track. 

So please help me raise as much money for Sarcoidosis, and I will do my best to complete these challenges and spread more awareness of this awful disease and together we can find a cure. 

All the best 

Mark