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Tuesday 25 July 2017

City Centre Running

Over a Full English Breakfast in the work kitchen one day we were musing what would happen to us if we kept eating this way - my workplace is not averse to the odd cake and even features a donut based scheme to incentivise good information security practice -  and a passing comment was made to starting a work running club.  Given I have discovered running in a big way over the last 8 months I thought this was a great idea and seized the opportunity, and before anyone could wonder what was happening 12:00 on a Tuesday was a fixture in the company calendar.

I wanted this to be accessible to people, and to fit in 1 hour while giving people time to wash, cool down and eat.  Working on the basis of around 30 minutes moving time I decided to look at some 5km routes starting and finishing at our City Centre office.  Inspired by the Outdoor City Run Routes I tried to add some interest to each route taking in the urban green spaces Sheffield is so loved for.

Route 1 - Sheffield Canal and the River Don



My first route is inspired by my good friend Andy, from whom I lay have also borrowed the idea of a work running club.  The combination of the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal and the Five Weirs Walk along the River Don is a real bonus for urban running in Sheffield, running as they both do from Sheffield City Centre to Meadowhall (and beyond) with never too much distance between them, and I have used them in runs ranging from 5k to 21k of mostly traffic free running.

For our work runs we start at the top of Fargate, running down the side of Town Hall and across Arundel Gate to the station via Howard Street before turning right, and a short climb up to the tram tracks.  From here it's a blast along to Park Square, and if you get lucky you can race the tram.  From the roundabout you drop down into Victoria Quays, one of the hidden gems of Sheffield and a beautiful place to dream of the relaxed pace of life of a narrowboat.  Along the canal to Cadman Street bridge where a bit more road takes you to the Five Weirs Walk - well in reality a quick blast along Effingham Street before crossing the delightful Cobweb Bridge and dropping past the ever evolving River Don sculptures by 'Dan' before returning to the city centre and a punishing blast up from West Bar to Church Street - I vary this section depending on how cruel I am feeling on the day, it certainly gets noticed by people lulled into a false sense of security by the prolonged flat section :)

Route 2 - Norfolk Park



This route is directly inspired by the City Centre Traffic Free Trails but tweaked to suit an office start/finish.  Following the tram tracks we again cross Park Square, this time in a different direction, before climbing past Park Hill flats through South Street Park up to the Cholera Monument and Clay Wood before crossing into Norfolk Heritage Park.  The relentless climb from Park Square continues all the way up to the top of the park before finally turning the corner and heading downhill to Sheffield College, back along to the station, and then a final kicker of a hill back up Howard Street back to the office - a great place to stretch out the pace...
Route 3 - The Botanical Gardens


This was always designed to be a fast one as it's fairly flat, though it does involve crossing a great many roads so you have to get lucky with traffic.  Up along West Street dodging the lunchtime crowds and crossing over the ring road below the University to continue along Glossop Road, the crowds die out as you hit Brocco Bank and eventually drop into the utterly wonderful Sheffield Botanical Gardens where I like to pick a route at random to make the most of the space before dropping down on to Ecclesall Road and fast back in to town - watch out for the building work at the site of the old Grosvenor Hotel though or (like us) you might find you need to double back on yourself...


Route 4 - Upper Don and the Ponderosa



Picking up the Don where we left it on Route 1 we follow the Upper Don trail to the industrial heritage (and the birthplace of the Sheffield Real Ale revival) of Kelham Island before heading up to the Ponderosa which on the time of our first run was still in full cleanup mode from the weekends Tramlines.  This was a hard climb, possibly because only a few days before I had run 21km from Hillsborough to Attercliffe and back via Don and Canal, before finally reaching Crookes Valley Road and a much needed descent.  Crossing the road we pass the Arts Tower and enter the pedestrianised space of Sheffield University Students' Union before passing the Hicks Building and the famous Johns Van and crossing past the old Henderson's Relish factory and heading back to West Street, through Leopold Square, and back to the office.


We've now run each of these routes at least once, with 2 or three people each week so far generally running at something between 5 and 6 minutes per kilometre - the Botanical Gardens was a fast one as we managed to get our Commercial Director on board, who is a regular runner with eyes on a sub 3 hour marathon.  I'm really happy with how it is gone and am always looking to get more people joining in so will be keeping the pace accessible, faster runs can always happen another time - There are plenty more lunchtimes in a week!  Coming up next I am going to try reversing the routes and see how they fare, then I may have to think of some new twists.

Monday 17 July 2017

Stanage Far Right, again

Stanage Far Right is fast becoming a favourite area.  Easily accessible from Sheffield after work, and the walk in is fairly short and easy - even if we stay until sundown it's not hard to get back to the parking.  It's also really nice rock.  After our recent trip to The Henge we already had desire to try the Huge Slab area so as soon as the forecast was good plans were made.


The Huge Slab is easy to spot and we walked in, landing next to The Cube.  A little bit of Head Scratching on Cube Left made me decide to warm up elsewhere, and I soon bagged the straightfoward Upper Cube Traverse before going back round and working at Cube Arete and Cube Left, comfortably getting them done.  At this point Liz was attacking Lower Cube Traverse so in her rest breaks I was trying Slots but just couldn't get it to work for me.  After a brief look at some of the problems on Huge Slab itself and deciding they weren't for me we moved on to Gripple.


Landings are pretty sketchy with a jumble of rocks at the base of the rock, and it's quite high, but Gripple One was dispatched On-Sight with only a few sketchy moments. Gripple Two needed more work being higher with worse holds and there was a moment when topping out when I thought I was going to topple backwards, but it all came good. Gripple Three looked too green, too high and too poor over a bad landing to even warrant an attempt.


Around the corner Ed, Kelly, Andy and Kelly were already on Gripple Nipple so I went and joined them, but was struggling to link it all up.  The start was fine, thanks largely to some significant reach, but going up from the slot to the top was not working - I was repeatedly chickening out of throwing for it and making neither one thing nor the other moves which weren't going anywhere.  I carried on working it while Ed was grappling with Gripple Graunch, and it was getting rather frustrating.  I switched from trying Kelly's beta from matched on the slot to Andy's beta of pressing down on the left hand in the slot and going for the top with the right.  Eventually my right hand stuck - just - and I matched the top and hauled myself up the wall with more than a bit of noise.  For something I worked so hard I was expecting more than a 5b out of it, but I'll take what I can.


After catching my breath again I joined Liz, Andy and Kelly on the Pert Block, going straight up Pert Wall then making a meal out of Pert Bloke by trying to climb it on the steep overhanging side rather than the slabby side.  With this pointed out I got up it and then ticked off Pert Block Arete too before we called it a day as the sun was setting.  All in all a good session, and just what I needed to clear the head after an indulgent weekend.


Saturday 15 July 2017

Greno Chase 2017

A while back one of our circle of running friends pointed out the Greno Chase - a 5k road race just up the road from us on a Friday evening?  Sounds ideal!  This year it also didn't clash with Tramlines so it was easier to get people to sign up, even if some were reluctant... We ended up with 4 of us in Team Monkey Business - Me, Andy, Kelly and Liz.

As the event drew closer the thought of doing a 5k race after a hard week of work seemed much less sensible, especially as 3 of us had found this to be the week where Half Marathon training plans had us doing Cooper Tests which are never pleasant, and there had also been the regular climbing sessions  in the evenings including a trip outdoors.  Some last minute frantic planning on Thursday evening saw the important parts arranged - the logistics of how to get beer and meat to Andy's for a post run barbecue. Come Friday and we headed up to Andy's got changed, and walked up to the start.  There were many complaints about sore legs, and much discussion of how slow we were all expecting to go, but registration was swift and soon we were avoiding the communal warm up - I never saw it actually happen, so maybe everyone had the same idea.


The course is a relatively simple one, being a triangular circuit, 2 laps starting and finishing midway up one of the straights.  From my brief attempt to study the course it looked like 2 sides were uphill, and one downhill, so my aim was to take it steady on the hills and belt it down the last side, though I was also hoping to get an average pace of between 4:30/km and 4:45/km.

Soon it was in to the pen ready for the start and after a few announcements we had a 10 second countdown and we were off. Now my experience of mass start events has been Hillsborough Parkrun, so I was expecting a bit of a shuffle until people spread out and then having to pick up the pace to make up for it.  This didn't happen, the start was ultra fast and I got swept up in it, my last comment to Liz before leaving her to run her own race was along the lines of "B****y Hell, that was a fast start!".

Uphill out of the park and we turn right along Main Street, the crowds were out in force and it was a fantastic feeling to be running on a closed road with people on all sides cheering us on. A sharp left on to Stephen Lane at one of the many pubs on the route saw us hit with a bit more of a climb, and I was continuing to overtake people here and worrying that I was overcooking it as there was a fair way to go before the downhill.  I'd caught Andy up by this point, and we kept trading positions for most of the race - he was gaining on me uphill, I was pelting past him on the downhills initially then he caught me, and then I'd pull away again.

As we climbed out of Greno, I saw the downhill start much earlier than I expected and I picked up pace towards the corner and took it fast before belting down the hill and taking kilometre 2 in 4 minutes dead - fastest ever km for me.  Dropping back in to Grenoside we pass the Cow and Calf, loads of kids were lining the route holding hands pout for a high five so of course I indulged, indeed I tried to get everyone I could on the race - absolutely loved the community support. Onto what in my head was the Main Straight the uphill started again, very gently at first but slowly increasing.  The crowds were growing again, loads of cheering, and passing the start/finish there was water on hand but I didn't feel I needed it at that point, and I was running too hard to take it on board again.

Lap two went much like lap one, though a little slower due to tiredness. Special recognition to the kids on the corner of Stephen Lane and Graven Close who were giving out drinks, I didn't need one but I thanked them anyway. I fought up the hill knowing where the downhill was again, and caught Andy up who was suffering a little, encouraging him on as the crest of the hill was in sight but I'm not sure he had anything left to reply with. I took the downhill as fast as I dared, conscious of the fact I still had to drag myself up Main Street to get to the finish. I found myself being chased up the road by a double decker bus which had decided it was time to move regardless of the fact the race was still underway but I wasn't going to get out of it's way. Before I knew it I was turning in to the park, Kelly already finished cheering me on. I had nothing left to go any faster so when someone came storming past me all I could do was congratulate them and cheer them over as I followed them home.

Over the line, stop the watch, grab a medal, look at my time.  Watch says 21:15 at 4:38/km average pace - fantastic! That would have been a 5k PB if it had been 500 metres longer.  As I grabbed a bottle of water and walked to meet Kelly I saw Andy running home not 30 seconds behind me and so shouted him home, then it was a sit down and short wait for Liz to come through, entering the finish straight at speed and soon over the line.  Official results are not yet in, but looking at a handy Strava Segment results for us are as follows:

  1. Kelly - 17:56
  2. Me - 20:33
  3. Andy - 21:03
  4. Liz - 25:25
Fantastic times for all of us given it was a Friday evening and we were all grumbling beforehand.  I really enjoyed my first road race on closed roads with big crowds, and will be looking for more of them as the energy of the crowd was a great motivator.



Once we had all cooled down a touch it was time for the walk back down the hill to Andy's for beer and bbq.  Half way down the hill we were all getting chilly, so by the time we were changed and sat outside many blankets were required, some rain turned up too but we persisted and had a very enjoyable evening before heading inside to catch up on the Tour de France. Next running event? Looks like being a 15k run to the pub in August for Kelly's birthday.


EDIT: Results are no up, 40th out of 129 for me which I am really pleased with. Kudos to Kelly for his 9th place finish!

  • Kelly: 9th place (18:32)
  • Me: 40th place (21:10)
  • Andy: 50th place (21:40)
  • Liz: 94th place (26:19)

Good work Team Monkey Business!

Thursday 13 July 2017

Witness the Gritness!

It was another fine evening yesterday, so we headed to the Peaks again.  With a flourish of last minute planning we decided to go to Higgar Tor as Ed felt the need to push his climbing into Font 7 territory, and I was looking to try and push myself a little (although not that much!) too. After work I drove out and wandered over the top of Higgar Tor past a plethora of youth groups out enjoying the weather, and dropped down to the Big Slab area where Ed and Kelly were warming up.


(An aside while I think of it: In my book it is Higgar Tor, whereas the location I ended up tagging things with on Instagram and Facebook was Higger Tor.  Turns out both are acceptable, but I am sticking with Higgar Tor as that's what my book knows it as).


After warming up on Broken Arete and quickly getting my head back in to climbing I flashed Pocket Wall which was satisfying, as I was quickly getting on to harder stuff and sending it.  We then moved on, initially looking to head towards Like Pommel but ending up at Harvester.  Here Andy joined us, complete with bike, having ridden out from Sheffield.  Harvest Grove went after a failed attempt where I didn't feel comfortable, then when I got to the top the second time I noticed that I was oozing blood from my little finger - this rock is sharp! Soon taped up and it was time to try Harvest Arete.


Ed got up this quickly, throwing a heel up to a nice ledge and rocking over it, but neither Kelly or I could make this work.  I eventually cracked it by using a pebble for my left foot and getting my right onto a small lip around the arete, allowing me to stand up for the top at which point it was pretty much over save for watching your head when topping out.  We then worked at Combine Harvester, Ed again sending it without too much bother while the rest of us suffered the sharp rock again and again.  I was getting the traverse start in fine, but failing to get to a position where I could then finish it using the same beta I used on the arete.  Eventually multiple repeats saw my technique going backwards so I called it a day on this one.


We then headed over to Leaning Block, the reason we came here as Ed wanted to try the 7A Witness the Gritness.  This is an imposing block, and has quite a few trad routes going up it.  Witness is on the lower side of it, meaning you are faced with the might of the boulder and even though you are not going all the way up it, it's quite intimidating.

Definitely not staged to make it look like we were going to solo it. Nope.

I was quite tired from trying Combine Harvester by this point so mostly spotted and watched while Ed, Kelly and Andy gave it repeated attempts. I gave it several good goes, eventually managing to pull on and get off the ground but unable to go anywhere right or left.  Ed was managing to get an awesome knee bar in, but even once I had switched from shorts to trousers for protection from yet more shard rock neither Andy or I could make it work.  The rock was quite warm and only got warmer as we held it, but the start holds were also suffering from excessive chalk - a bugbear of mine when climbing inside, never mind outside.  You really don't need that much - you are only trying to dry your hands - and especially when outside you really should clean it off afterwards.  It's not that hard to show some respect for the rock and your fellow climbers.


Anyway, rant over.  While we were attempting it a group of Scouts came through who were weaselling up a fault in the block, quite a few of them expressed a desire to climb what we were climbing but I think maybe our lack of progress put them off :). Ed was getting further up than any of us, and at one point borrowed a stick from one of the scouts so he could tape a brush to it and clean a higher hold.  Eventually as the light failed and we had all had enough of this, I took my shoes off at this point and kinda wish I hadn't as everyone else tackled the start of a trad route which looked easy but high - topping out at the same place Witness tops out.


And with that it was time to leave the peaks again in the light of a beautiful setting sun. Hopefully it won't be long before I am back.






Tuesday 4 July 2017

Bouldering at The Henge, Stanage Far Right

The weather was looking good - not too hot but dry, and plans were made to head outside. Plans were made over coffee at The Climbing Works on Sunday and we drew up a shortlist, which resulted in a decision over curry later to go for Stanage Far Right (often classified as part of Stanage Popular from a Trad Climbing point of view but worthy of it's own area when bouldering) and look at Easy Jamming (though that might be high and scary), Huge Slab, Henge, Snout and Rim.  I picked Liz, Kelly and Kelly up after work on Monday and we drove out to meet Ed, arriving to a beautiful moody peak sky - and a fair breeze, so I was glad to have packed long trousers and a hoody.


We walked in and decided to start at The Henge as it was Liz's most favoured area, and we could always try more on the way back.  The walk in wasn't too bad and the weather was lovely for climbing, not as hot as on recent trips so the rock had a lot more friction to it. We started out with Tweedle Dee, Steps and Tweedle Dum which were beautiful to climb if a little high for a first climb of the day biut landings were good and the rock was full of solid holds.


Moving on from here it was more of the same with Hook, Line and Sinker then on Slotted Wall it was starting to get a little more technical - nothing too taxing but on my first go I decided I had broken too far left to count it (verging on to Slotted Arete) so repeated it being careful to stay centre, then quickly knocked off Right Hook and Slotted Arete.



We then headed further along at took a look at the Quick Wall area.  I bottled it before even pulling on several times and we got confused by the topo, in Peak Bouldering it appears to stop before the top so we decided it was a matched top hold rather than over the top climb, and eventually I built up the courage and flashed it, but I think that was far too easy to be a 6A+ so I am guessing it must go further than we took it.


I then took on the sit start on Staircase Flake and then Front Flake before looking at The Henge itself - this has lovely looking breaks but is rather high so I let others go up it first before getting on.  As it happens this was a really nice climb and at no point did I feel uncertain but when I got to the top my heart was racing and I realised I was breathing fast - I think I forgot to breath all the while I was climbing it!


Finally it was time for a very rapid ascent of Sparky Slab, if nothing else because the previous area was very sheltered and we were getting bitten a lot, getting around the corner meant a bit more breeze to keep the midges down. I was really enjoying myself, the rock here was lovely, but the light was beginning to fail and we needed to head home.  I'm already itching to get back outside again, I have got my head properly into it again and I need to start pushing my grades.  Hopefully it won't be too long, but this weekend sees Cliffhanger and having failed to make it along in previous years I have this firmly in my calendar.