Emily Victoria Benham

Wiltshire Sports Personality of the Year

2010-09-15T11:24:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I found out I had been shortlisted for the Wiltshire Sports Personality of the Year award, after having been nominated by my Orienteering Club. The winners ceremony was last night, but I couldn't attend due to being in Austria. I didn't think this would be such a big deal given that there was no way I would win - surely there are better athletes in the county than me who have acheived more this year. So I politely declined stating that I was on a training camp.

Little did I think I would win! :-)

After a video session of me receiving the award a couple of weeks ago, the winner was announced last night, and my video played! My parents had been invitied and decided to attend to represent me. I am really disappointed I couldn't make it, by all accounts it sounded like a great evening.

I would post the video, but I don't have a copy yet, so you will have to wait for me to return before you can have a laugh!!

World Cup Italy

2010-09-15T10:27:00.000+01:00

The World Cup in Italy is held this weekend near Venice in a small town called Teolo. Originally planned as a middle and long distance - due to bad weather several weeks ago which felled many trees on the long distance terrain - the organisers changed plans to a sprint and middle distance. Perfect for me!

The top two in the World Cup standings - Christine Schaffner SUI and Michaela Gigon AUT - will be battling all weekend for the title of World Cup winner 2010. Both clearly ahead of the rest of the field, Schaffner leads by 3 points to Gigon.

In the men, Erik Skovgard Knudsen DEN has a 30 point lead to Beat Schaffner SUI, who leads another 38/39 points to Anton Foliforov RUS and Samuli Saarela FIN..

Competition will be close fought - with hopefully some technical terrain and technical navigation testing all the athletes to their limits under pressure.

Entries are now online http://www.mtboitaly2010.it/index.php

Austria

2010-09-13T18:10:00.000+01:00

Since Thursday 2nd Sept I have been in Austria. First was the WRE in Faak am See near Villach, before travelling to Wiener Neusadt to stay with one of the Austrians. Aside from the car breaking down in Graz which meant and unscheduled stop in Graz overnight - actually good fun since I got to see the city and the Schlossberg.

My time in Wiener Neustadt has also been fun. Friday saw us heading into Vienna, Kevin for a sport conference, whilst I met up with Michi, Per and later Andi and his friend at the FilmFestival at the Rathausplatz. I was at the filmfestival in August after the TransCarpatia and really enjoyed the atmosphere, so I was happy to go back to try some more food from around the world - even if I did have Australian Hot Billabong Prawns and wildreis! Several drinks later and it was 11pm - time for home.

Sunday was another day trip to Wien, this time to the zoo at Schlossbrunn, which was really really great fun. It's been years since I last went to a zoo in England, so to see all the animals was cool! The weather was also perfect for a day out, and more dinner at the Rathausplatz before ice cream at Zanoni's :-)

Training is going ok. I am trying to avoid getting too tired and exhausted by biking every other day for 90minutes maximum, today finding a really great downhill track in the forest!

Tomorrow I travel to Leoben to stay with another friend, before finding my way back to Villach on Thursday evening prior to Italy!

World Ranking Event

2010-09-07T18:55:00.000+01:00

The weekend of 4/5 September saw the Austrian World Ranking Event held near Villach at Faak am See. Having told everyone I would be there, and not wanting to miss, I decided to attend. In the hope of saving money, I borrowed a bike from one of the Austrian team - I should add that the bike was the Merida O.Nine Multivan team bike, which has been the bike of my dreams all. The event, I hoped, would be a good opportunity to try out the bike I would dearly love to own!

The only disadvantage of a continental European bike is the brakes are back-to-front! Back brake for the right side, front from the left, whereas British bikes are the other way round. It seems the rest of Europe abides by different rules to the Brits, and has to do everything the wrong way round. But, given my ease of adapting to drive on the wrong side, I didn't think it would be too much trouble. I am having more difficulty with the different key set out on this laptop!

I arrived on Thursday and was picked up by Kevin. Mel, David AUS and myself were staying at the Haselsberger house for the weekend, where we enjoyed some really great meals courtesy of K's grandparents!

Saturday was the middle distance race, where the starts were based on reverse order of the WRE list. I had a scrappy race losing a good 5 minutes throughout the course, and catching Sonja Reisinger-Zinkl AUT didn't help my navigation. Too many mistakes, but I was leading for the first 50% of the course, and ended up second - a mere 19 seconds from Michi Gigon AUT. This race then counted towards my WRE points boosting me up from 20th to 15th.

Waking up on Sunday I felt really tired and fatigued. Mentally I was in a different place to the previous day, and knew I would struggle with motivation when the course got tough.

The terrain around Faaker See is really uber physical. There is no relief from the roots and mud, and the onslaught began from the word Go! The Merida coped well in the terrain, and I felt that I owned the bike, telling it where to go - rather than the bike telling me where to go. My downhill, root and mud handling was considerably improved and I had no headache at the finish! Result!

At 65% of the course in the long I was dieing, and by 75% I was dead. It was really all I could do to ride the rest of the course to the finish. But another second result followed, which makes this one of the more successful weekends this year in terms of results.

Photos to follow later.

New Blog

2010-04-15T09:50:00.001+01:00

Hi all,

I have moved this blog to my website www.emilybenham.co.uk

Please follow the blog from the website in the future.

Many Thanks

Em x

Swedish Maps

2010-04-13T08:59:00.000+01:00

I have finally managed to relax post-Sweden after writing yesterday off due to extreme travelling and being awake for 35 hours!

Unfortunately, everything seems to have knocked on to today, and I am feeling slightly under-the-weather. But the sun is shining so I will clean my bikes in a moment!

Here are the maps from the Sweden Training Camp. I have not been able to load my route onto them.

Camp Cup 1: night short. 1st place in 35.50

Camp Cup 2: Long Mass start. 15th place in 73.32

Camp Cup 3: UltraSprint The Crying Mile. 2nd place in 14.43

Camp Cup 4: Middle/Long. 6th place in 70.08

Camp Cup 5: Middle. 1st place in 53.34

OjeOjeOje

2010-04-12T02:16:00.000+01:00

Here is an account of the annual Swedish (usually Danish) training camp and season opener ....

Photos by: Per Frost, and Mark Stodgell

Merida MTBO Camp 2010

Åhus, Sweden

The 2010 Merida MTBO camp was held from 8-11th April in Ahus, near Kristianstad in southern Sweden. In previous years the camp has been held in Denmark with beautiful sunny weather and many of the world’s elite athletes descending on the chosen location for 4 days of training and racing. This year the weather was once again sunny, with some hazy mornings and temperatures ranging from 8- 12°C, fairly good considering the snow only melted in this region a couple of weeks ago.

I was travelling from Portugal via London with a complex airport change from Luton to Stansted, with 28kgs of bike-in-a-bag. I had left my Austrians friends and fellow athletes the day before and was meeting them in Copenhagen on Thursday morning. Travelling with me to the camp was ‘camp-first-timer’ Mark Stodgell also of Team GBR.

On arrival at Åhus Strand hotel it was down to business with bike building and then a training ride around one of the nearby sand dune areas. The men quickly set a fast pace, which was surprisingly comfortable in the undulating terrain. That same evening was the first camp cup race, the night sprint. Dreaded by many who fear the dark and by those unexperienced at night MTBO, it is also enjoyed by those nutters who crave night rides and meeting other athletes head-on on small twisty singletracks.

Personally, I love the night MTBO. It is a complex mixture of riding fast, planning ahead, and spotting the path junctions you need. Distance judgement is crucial and many small paths are easily missed when your circle of light is pointing the wrong way at the wrong time. Losing peripheral vision is strange at first, but you soon adapt to spotting obstacles and features immediately approaching. With this race being a sprint, it was complex navigation where you could lose 20 seconds on a leg by taking the wrong route. It was permissible to ride the course before dark, and then have 10 minutes added to your competition time. But I declined this opportunity since I figured it impossible to gain a ten minute advantage over a 35 minute course.

The is no advantage in night MTBO of starting late, you cannot see bike tracks well enough to gauge approaching turns and junctions, and a cyclist ahead of you could be anyone, or just a random punter. I had a pretty good race. I was up for it, ready to go, and despite having a cold, felt fairly strong on the bike. I made a few small route choice errors losing only 90-120 seconds throughout the course, and won in a time of 35.50, with Michi Gigon in second, a mere 16 seconds behind. This was pleasing. During the Portugal training camp I had beaten Michi twice, and now I had done it in a slightly more competitive race.

It was then straight to bed before an early morning and typically Scandinavian/European breakfast of yoghurt and muesli. Yum! The next day hosted two camp cup races, the long distance mass start, and the ultrasprint - also aptly named the Crying Mile. The long distance in the morning was not nearly as long as last years 3.5hours and 5 map changes. But after I was a spoon to the first control and lost two minutes, I found myself unable to catch the leading pack. No leg strength and a lone rider made this impossible. I was 6 minutes down on the leaders in 15th place.

Re-fuelling at lunch and the sun shining through the cloud made me feel better. The Crying Mile was held on the sand dunes in a complex area of paths on a map scale of 1:1500. The were 17 controls in 1.5km, with all athletes riding the same course. You would think opportunities for following would be prime here, but in fact, many people rode of the map and went exploring for 20 minutes before finding the first control, whilst others failed to grasp the map scale and visited most controls before finding the correct one. I had an almost perfect race until the penultimate control, where I dropped my concentration and rode to the final control, losing 45 seconds and thus my lead to Michi Gigon of Austria. I still managed 2nd place and about 20 seconds behind.

Afternoon training was a map memory course with a slightly unusual concept which could be implemented for armchair technical training!

In the evening I felt worse and worse. My cold and sore throat were creeping back and the next day I woke up feeling utterly exhausted. After getting back into bed pre-middle/long distance I didn’t feel much more alert, but being highly competitive and with camp cup 4, I headed out with the others and managed to pull a 6th place out-of-the-bag, only 4 minutes behind Ksenia Chernyk of Russia. Surprisingly, again I beat Michi, meaning that she took the overall lead, with Ksenia in close second and me a few points behind in 3rd. After some crude calculations, we figured that both Michi and I would drop the points of the long distance meaning I only needed to finish the final race 15 points behind to win overall. With the final race on Sunday in technical sand dunes, it would suit both Michi and myself so the competiton was hotting up. Michi has won the camp cup twice, in 2007 and 2009, as well as winning 12 gold medals in European and World Championships, so she is a very worthy competitor of whom I am honored to get close to in the results this year. Last year I was 5 minutes behind in most races, so I have made a huge improvement in 8 months.

I chose to have a rest afternoon and let my body recover, whilst supporting Mark in Paallikoos Diabolo Challenge - a 100m course of 20 controls where the aim is to standing punch, or use the most effective punching technique to beat your competitor in each round. Mark qualified in 4th fastest and after winning the preliminary round, he was seeded against Andreas Rief of Austria, last years defending champion. It was a tense race, which I couldn’t watch, but after seeing Mark was a control behind at half way, everyone thought Andi had it won. But Mark pulled it back, Andi had punched the last control and appeared to coast towards the finish, whilst Mark aggressively punched a second later and piped Andi to the line. Stodge then won the semi-finals easily, but lost the final after messing up a control.

Also in the evening were some spot prizes, where random letters and numbers are chosen which correspond to a certain athlete. Merida were sponsoring the camp by providing a Matts TFS 900 XC frame. It was very tense. The first name called was one of the organisers who wasn’t present, so a name was drawn again. And it was me ... I don’t travel light, too many clothes, so fitting a bike frame in my bag was troublesome!! But I won a bike frame ... this week was turning out to be lucky.

And finally to Sunday, and camp cup 5. After some friendly banter between myself and Michi, with both of us being competitive, the pressure was on. Could Michi win the camp cup for the third time? Or could I ride faster in the technical area? I started 5 minutes ahead of Michi and rode a really good race catching some very good athletes on the way round. Aside from making a few small errors and losing 30 seconds or so, I finished in a good time, although I couldn’t tell my exact time. Michi then finished about 5 minutes after, and I did some crude calculations and guessed that we had done a fairly similar time, but that she had probably just beaten me. At download I was told I had a new fastest time and beat Michi by 90 seconds, and thus winning the camp cup overall, which Johan later confirmed by presenting me with the coveted yellow jersey :-)

With late evening flights back to the UK we hung out in Copenhagen for a few hours, but for me there was more hanging around once we had landed. I am currently sat writing this in a 24h McDonalds, not that I am eating the food they serve, but London Liverpool Street station closed at 1am and the underground doesn’t re-open until 5.30am for me to get back to Sheffield. Oh joy!

Here are the overall results from the top three women

1 Em Benham 21 Team GBR

35:50 1 1:13:32 15 14:43 2 1:10:08 6 53:34 1

1282 960 1268 1136 1278 4964

2 Michaela Gigon 33 Thömus Team Austria

36:08 2 1:10:17 13 14:27 1 1:10:44 8 54:54 3

1273 1080 1279 1124 1240 4916

3 Ksenia Chernykh 39 RUSSIA VIK

42:06 6 1:06:52 1 15:30 3 1:06:31 1 55:00 4

1091 1207 1234 1206 1237 4884

Portugal

2010-04-07T10:50:00.000+01:00

I am currently stood waiting for myflight back to England to arrive, in Lisbon airport. I have been in Portugal for10 days and have had the best time. Funnily, it has taken me longer to write these three sentences than what it did to check in!!! The keyboard needs a lot of effort.....

Anyway, we spent some time in Porto and then Chaves before heading south to Lisbon for5 days of sun ,sea and biking. Ventured intoLisbon yesterday which, although a nice city, I´m not in a hurry to see it again. Except for the sweet shop by the old elevators!

Training wise, I amfeeling fit again (even beat Michi G twice!). Next up is an aiport transfer from Luton to Stansted and then a flight tomorrow toSweden to meet the Austrians again. It is strange saying goodbye this morning when I will see them in 12 hours! Looking forward toSweden now. More friends to see again after 8 months.

Ciao

A New Season

2010-03-26T22:13:00.000Z

I have been on placement at Chesterfield hospital for the last 6 weeks, which has been a mixture of experiences! With all the commuting I have been unable to train as well as I would have liked, but hopefully have not lost a great deal of fitness.

I was concerned that I would not be able to travel as I only managed to finally get my passport on Wednesday ... why do things on time when you can leave them to the last minute and stress about them!

So this morning, it was a 4am start, with some last minute packing and I was on my way to the train station. A four hour train ride, with a couple of changes (not the easiest with a 30kg bag in tow and a heavy rucksack. I made the journey without breaking a sweat and it was the most relaxed travelling has been for a while, if not ever.

On arrival at Gatwick on of the Easyjet staff permitted me to queue jump (the queue was 60 minutes long) due to my heavy and large bag. From there, I said goodbye to my bike, and headed to the shops for some hair spray, food and Euro's ... and perhaps some perfume :-)

The assistant in the duty free wanted a high five as he liked my earrings!

During the flight I was restless, but excited to get to Portugal and see all my friends. I had a couple of hours to wait at Porto for the others, but I got chatting to a really hot guy, who was on the same flight with the same bike bag and staying in the same region of Portugal.

The last 8 months have really dragged on, and at times, time has stood still for me. But now I am here, with internet :-) :-) and feeling pretty full after a delicious dinner. Bed time.

Gute nacht x

Cycling cancelled!

2010-02-21T17:24:00.000Z

A friend and I had planned to head out on our mountain bikes today for several hours, generally playing around, doing some jumps, skids and drops and such like. Woke up this morning at 9am, looked out the window to find 7cm of snow.

Lets cancel cycling and go skiing instead!

This is what we did ...

Arrived at the slope, and got ready.

Took some pictures

Did some skiing

Did some more skiing, before heading to the pub for a beverage and lunch.

Race Report

2010-02-19T21:30:00.001Z

Apologies about the old school picture :-) please don't let it come back to haunt me!

British MTBO League - Round 1

13th Feb 2010, Cannock Chase, West Midlands

It was 5am. Stood at the train station waiting for my train to Cannock, I was eager to get there to race. With no expectations of results, there was no pressure, but I still wanted to perform. My selection depended on it.

The date was 3 years ago, and the race was my first MTBO event. My bike: a Giant Boulder with a rusty chain, and a plastic clip on map board. My cycling kit: an Orienteering top and some old shorts.

Check out the broken saddle, chain guard, and rusted suspension!

After making many mistakes, not really understanding the rules of ‘no cutting across’ through the forest, I finished 5th, behind Helen Winskill, Jenny Peel and Janine Inman. They were the Gods of MTBO in my eyes. People of whom I had no place in beating, they had been to WOC and had been doing the sport for a number of years. Who was I, an Orienteer who had overtrained and fancied something different, but still finished 15 minutes behind the leader. That 5th place was such a motivator as I then emailed the MTBO selectors and ended up racing in the Europeans a few months later.

Fast forward a year to 2008, and I was 2nd to my long rivalled competitor Tony BB. A year on, and I had won, beating Tony by 5 minutes. Of course, when I started the sport all the top women moved on to other things, leaving a considerably smaller group. Or maybe they were just scared of being beaten!

This year, I have only been back in full training for 5 weeks, so although I wasn’t expecting to win, I did expect to have a good race and be fairly accurate with my navigation. But because it was the first race of the season, and perhaps the third time i’ve done any form of MTBO’ing since August, I knew that the potential for mistakes was greater due to ‘rusty’ techniques. I was, however, very motivated and couldn’t sleep the night before as I was too excited!!

From the start I was having a good race. I had caught one of the men on the A course, which followed the same route as mine for the first several controls, so it gave me more motivation to dig deep in the early stages to keep pace with Bryan. Aside from a small error at a multi-tracked junction, I was pleased with the opening 30 minutes of the course. After this, I started losing a few seconds on each leg when the faster riding kicked in and Stuart Clayton (M18) was able to pull back a few minutes of time. At least I could ride up the hills the men couldn’t, ‘eh Petal’!

Standing punch at the final control of the Pilsen 5-days in 2009.

Once the technical navigation returned at 2/3rds of the way round, I was able to pick my split time up again. All-in-all, a total time loss of 50seconds which is compromised solely from small hesitations to check I had the correct junction before riding off in the wrong direction.

I finished in 1st in a time of 79.24 whilst Stuart Clayton finished 2nd in his debut event in a time of 91.35 and Tony BB in 3rd - 91.49. In 4th, and 2nd woman was Angela BB in 101.00 and 3rd woman was Jene Hoare in a time of 103.34.

Full results and maps can be found at http://www.walton-chasers.co.uk/results/2010/febmbo/febmbo2010.htm

Final Placement

2010-02-19T21:26:00.000Z

This week, the year 3 physio's at Sheffield Hallam started our final placement of the course. It is 6 weeks long taking us up to the 26th March.

I am based in Chesterfield, but it takes an hour to commute in from Sheffield. With getting home at 6.30pm, I am riding my bike in for 3 days a week. Training in the dark for 2 hours a night and not finishing until 9pm just doesn't appeal!

So, my first week. It has been a mixture of a steep learning curve, adjusting to new settings and paperwork, and some positives. I have enjoyed it. At the end of the first week, I am feeling increasingly confident and more independent with my physiotherapy. The last 2 days I have pretty much been running the ward by myself, so this is a totally new experience. With Neurosurgery being complex with unstable patients, I was hardly left alone. This time, I have been managing my own caseload. Exciting stuff!!!

It's a Beautiful Day ...

2010-02-10T18:29:00.000Z

Today is the sort of day where the lyrics from U2's It's a Beautiful Day spring to mind.

I thought I'd reccy my cycling route to Chesterfield today as I'm heading there on placement for the next six weeks. It makes sense that I don't turn up late on my first day because I underestimated the time it would take me!

I headed out with a friend, and with the sun shining, we rode up Eccy Road before cutting across through Dore to the top of Totley and up to Owler Bar. Typically, I will feel pleasantly uncomfortable riding up from Hunters Bar, but today, I felt great. Had my good legs on :-)

At Owler Bar, a quick glance behind showed the imminent show shower/storm, which caught us about 30 seconds later. The descent down the back roads to Barlow and beyond was painful on the eyes, but ironically, once at the bottom, the sun was shining again.

On we went to Chesterfield, eyeballed the hospital and turned around into a light show shower. Sun came back out for most of our climb back to Owler Bar, but with 10 minutes to the top, the snow was back with more ferocity than ever. Amazing views from the top over Sheffield once the sun was back out!

The weather was something like: sun, snow, sun, snow, sun, snow, and then finishing in the sun. Which pretty much topped off my day, making it considerably better than the last few. Got a new brand of contact lenses which is like have the finest silk in my eyes. A-maz-ing! Where have they been for the last year? How did I ever put up with dry scratchy lenses and a total wear time of 5 hours a day?

Hopefully tomorrow, will be a good day too :-)

Brothers!

2010-01-29T17:49:00.000Z

My brother needs some technical Foot Orienteering training to help him improve. He's an awesome runner, who has just been selected to represent Hampshire at XC, but his navigation in technical terrain is ok, but it could be better.

So, I offered him a place to stay in Sheffield for the weekend, and this morning, much to his amusement he was on his way to Sheffield at 6am! I asked GG (WOC relay winner 2008) to coach him and shadow him around a few courses I planned in the peak district. I tagged along, but took a few shortcuts expecting the boys to be running considerably faster!

It was a stunning day at Fox House, clear skies, patches of iced snow and a slight breeze. My southern brother thought it was freezing, whereas us hardened 'northerners' find it mild, like spring come early!

First course of the day was a rocks course, where Jack had to navigate between boulders and crags going from technical to vague and back to technical sections of the map. I think control 4 was interesting, as I ran past/behind the boys I was aware of Jack ... looking lost. Apparently ten minutes later he found the two HUGE boulders and carried on. The end of the course was over the valley so I sat down on the cliff top in the sun and watched as they ran up the hill, then down, had a conflab, ran around again and finally found the rock feature.

Whether it was the early morning, the 90 minutes technical training or a combination of both ... this was the result ...

An Amazing Sunset

2010-01-26T20:59:00.000Z

This morning I was in Uni for 2 hours and then again in the afternoon until 3pm. During the two hour lunch break I headed to the gym for an hour's training and to read my book as I sat on the bike.

The afternoon turned bright and sunny at about 2pm ish and as I sat in the lecture, not feeling the most enthused by the topic being taught, my mind wandered to the beautiful weather and my planned training ride! I was out on my bike doing road intervals by half 3, and stayed out riding around to Hathersage and Ladybower for two hours. Wanting to get an extra interval in, I turned off the Sheffield - Glossop road at the top of the A57, onto a minor road which headed down the ridge. My slight route choice error, (and resultant ride home in the dark) turned into a good move, when I felt the sun warming my back somewhat and the world turned a tinge of pink. I figured that one awesome sunset was going on behind and stopped in my 5 minute recovery period to check it out ...

It was a beautiful sight on such a chilly afternoon, and my vantage point on the ridge made it even better.

I really enjoy evening rides. The smell in the air always reminds me of summer evening rides with the last of the day's sun keeping you warm and the air temperature being somewhat hotter than it is currently! My mind frequently wanders and I often find myself reminiscing about my travels over the last year. Before I know it, two hours have past and I'm knackered!

BUCS Cyclo Cross 2010

2010-01-25T20:38:00.001Z

The last few weeks I have been getting back into training, managing about 13 hours of quality sessions per week. I'm not doing anywhere close to the hours I did last January, and, although I feel tired, I have made some changes to my training plan, which I hope will start having some positive effects by April!!

Below is a race report of the British Universities and Colleges Sport - BUCS. Cyclo Cross - Wolverhampton 24th Jan 2010

A few months ago I was somewhat tempted to do this race. Why not, I thought, I can buy a ‘cross bike, get in some races and might do ok. When it came to completing the entry forms I filled mine out and sent it, feeling pleased that I would be doing another form of cycle racing that wasn’t solely MTBO.

Funnily enough, I never got a proper bike, and never did any races. A week before the race I was starting to have doubts that I even wanted to put myself through this pain at all! My only experience was a full year ago, when I spent 60 mins groveling around a field axel deep in mud, and was spent by the half way point in the race. So, it is perhaps understandable that I was feeling nervous.

Sheffield Hallam had entered a team of 4 men and 2 women. My team mate who won the Yorkshire and Northern CX races this season failed to show at the race, which was a huge disappointment to everyone. We drove down to Wolverhampton in the morning of the race and upon arriving, I noticed my front disc brakes were a little worn ... to tell the truth, they were a lot worn! A quick panic and change of pads and my bike was sort-of ready, albeit with 2.1 Racing Ralph tyres. After looking at the track, I realised I probably wasn’t at such a huge disadvantage having my MTB as the course twisted and turned constantly and the steep slopes to the railway line were muddying up throughout the day. My brakes proved superior on these steep sections, only aided by having suspension!

There I was. On the start line of my second ever CX race. With ten other University women. All of whom had the proper kit. Nothing like a last minute confidence boost!

I quickly established within the first half lap, that I was probably going to finish 5th. I had left 4 of the girls behind in the mud and slope sections, whilst the other 4 (looking rather pro) had sped of leaving me in no-mans-land! A bit of head-to-head corner racing with the veteran men proved to go in my favour (perhaps my boisterous road riding skills came in useful, with a little undertaking and use of elbows). I found the first 3 laps ok, pushing a good pace, and with the course not too muddy, I was able to hold a good speed. The final 15 minutes were a painful 15 minutes, where the course suddenly got progressively muddier, bringing back all kinds of Mountain Mayhem 2008 memories.

Some looking over my shoulder ensued, and one of the girls was gaining, slowly but surely. A bit more power through the pedals. A bit more effort in the mud. A bit more air into my lungs. A bit more of that burning sensation in my legs. And a bit more pain, and I was in the finish, in 5th place!

Amusingly, despite my hesitations pre-race, I didn’t want to drop out of this one, I didn’t have any of those negative thoughts that mid-race can sometimes prove fatal. I enjoyed it, and I can see that next season, cyclo cross will be a great way to improve my cycling skills. I am sure, without a doubt, I will be attending the 2010 season, with the proper kit in hand and a racing licence!

Snow snow snow!

2010-01-10T12:53:00.000Z

I've spent the last 5 days in Sheffield, and, since I had finished my dissertation before New Year, I have spent most of the daylight hours out skiing. Mostly I've spent a good 4 hours playing around on the 'piste' the sledger's have made, but everything is made much tougher with no ski lift to pull you up to the top again!

Today however, my legs are feeling a bit tired and in need of a change. Since the snow is expected to last for at least another week, if not increasing in depth today with another band of snow due from Russia, I am not in any rush to head out to the 'piste' today.

Instead, I went for a 75 minute run ....

I've not really done much Foot O since I took up MTBO 3 years ago this March, and apart from being badgered into the occasional training session by GG or parents, this is pretty much the first I've done of my own free will. And do you know what? I loved it!

There was something rather nice and peaceful about doing a Foot O session around Bingham Park running through pristine snow. I did wonder on a few occasions what it was that had motivated me to run through snow-hiding-brambles-and-all-kinds-of-crap, but nevertheless, I managed it, and found all 50 checkpoints :-)

This afternoon I'm out to the gym for some spinning intervals, but other than that, I suppose I had better crack on with some Uni work. I don't think the excuse ' I was playing in the snow' will hold up too well!

A fun day...

2010-01-05T22:21:00.001Z

I have spent the past 3.5 weeks at home in the 'warm' but sunny south of Wiltshire with my family. Brother = annoying pest. Sister = socialite. Parents = much love and many treats, nice food from Mum and bike rides with Dad. Dog = many cuddles, licks, purring (on her behalf) and a hell of a lot of fur! This has been the longest length of time I have spent at home since I left for Uni 2.5 years ago. I usually head back for a week, 10 days at the most, before I disappear again into the realms of the North, as yet unexplored in great detail by my family!

After a brief flurry of snow 5 days before Christmas, and many hawfrosts and cold sunny days after, I have spent a fair amount of time inside (relaxing) and outside (running and biking). It amuses me that after my first Adventure Race, I have taken up running again to get fitter. Especially considering I still find running boring, mostly due to the fact that I don't go very fast, and lack any form of running fitness to be able to go very far. I usually end up staring at the same piece of tarmac for a long time...

Anyway, I had written 95% of my dissertation before xmas, so I took a good three weeks off before looking at it again. After making a few final changes I had it printed and bound, with 10 days to spare before the hand in. It is due in on Friday, so I have very little to be getting on with until lectures start again on Monday!

Found my skiing boots in the loft at home, and my wishful thinking paid dividends when I got back to Sheffield today to find several inches of snow :-) Thanks Dad for driving me. Bracken seemed to enjoy the trip too, and a snowy walk around the Cemetery was ... just right.

After persuading Dad that I did need a pair of ski's I spent 5 hours, trekking up Porter Brook for 90minutes, and made an attempt at skiing. (Note: I've just re-read this post, and I have no idea what the last sentence was actually meant to say!) Once I had remembered how to turn a corner, it was much more fun without stone walls and barbed wire fences approaching at a slightly out-of-control speed! I then set myself the challenge of skiing back down from Porter Clough (usually at 25 minute moderate MTB ride from my house) back into Sheffield. I managed this ok, working out how to propel myself forwards when on the flat (either stopping and getting a push from James, or getting a tow). We must have been quite a sight on occasion in Endcliffe Park. Me on ski's, James on his snowboard!

Military Challenge 2009

2009-12-24T17:26:00.003Z

The Military Challenge MTBO and Long Foot-O events have long been part of the annual British MTBO calendar. I have competed for the last 4 events which are always held just before or just after Christmas and the New Year. Each year the format changes slightly, with variations between score and line courses, around Aldershot or a.n.other town in the area.

This year was no different, except for the several inches of snow which covered the SE of England and subsequently Camberley, the event location. It certainly made a change from the recent years rain, mist and extreme cold! Having been focussing a great deal of my time and efforts into my dissertation, my training frequency has declined in the autumn, taking the peak end of my fitness with it. It was a strategic move to ride the B course, 25km, which on a good day would take in the region of 90 minutes, if not a little longer.

With the snowfall overnight, conditions were slippery, with many of the minor roads coated in ice and the puddles and tank holes in the area completely iced over and treacherous to any rider.

Game Plan: to take this race at 75% of race pace, try not to die in the snow, and get more confident at riding through snow and ice!

With 6 maps to navigate across (or around) multiple map changes were needed which was seemingly at every control, where cold fingers and stuck together maps didn’t really aid matters.

I was having a ‘good’ race and with 15% of the course left, I was tiring both mentally and physically. After successfully finding what was argueably the most technical control on the course, my brain power was at a low. Even crossing a main road was a challenge in itself, and with the snowy leaves underfoot, the hill beyond was an equal struggle resulting in a bit of a push. Unfortunately I missed the control on the pylon here and realised a couple of minutes on. The other problem which reared its ugly head at about this time, was that every time I put my feet in the snow, the soles got caked in snow and therefore ice, which made riding difficult due to my inability to ‘clip-in’ to the pedals.

I finished 3rd after 2 hours and 15 minutes, which isn’t too bad! Looking on the bright side it is my best result to date at the Military Challenge. My placing was enough to see me win the 2009 B course in the MTBO league. Race Analysis with Dad proved interesting when we found there were 7 seconds separating us at the 14th control, where his 20 minute mistake saw him drop a lot of time.

Sitting at the outside cafe after was pleasant and bought back many memories of skiing a few years ago. What a stunning view when covered in snow!

Open 5 Adventure Race

2009-12-24T17:26:00.000Z

After a friend mentioned she had entered the Open5 adventure race at Hope, I investigated what it involved. On finding it consisted of Mountain Biking and Running, and having to collect as many checkpoints as possible in 5 hours, I was keen to give it a go. With the event on my home terrain in the Dark Peak, it made sense for this to be my first and to get the hang of how to plan my time, and how to divided the 5 hours between biking and running.

I decided to mountain bike first, where the controls were north of Hope, up Mam Tor, in the Edale Valley, Snake Pass and Ladybower Reservoirs. I managed to collect all controls except 3, and in hindsight made a mistake by going up Whinstone Lee Tor to pick up 25 points, as in doing this, it took 50 minutes to get up and down. Had I stayed low and missed out the climb, I would have saved about 35 minutes.

On to the run. After what felt like a quick transition, I was off running in some clean trousers and indoor trainers. I quickly realised my mistake in not owning a pair of XC running trainers when I hit the mud on the footpaths and struggled to stay upright, travelling in all directions bar the one I wanted!

Given my legs were quite happy doing 3.5 hours on the bike, they weren’t so happy to do 90 minutes of running, and mud aside, I really wasn’t going anywhere quickly. Jelly legs and muscles that didn’t work saw me take a long time. Say no more.

Despite the running, I ended up finishing 3rd, and for a change, won a few prizes :-) Results can be found here www.openadventure.com/results/0910/peaks/female_solo.html

Race Analysis followed where I think had I missed out the afore-mentioned ‘top-of-the-hill’ control and perhaps control 4, I would have had an additional 45 minutes to collect 50 points on the run, thereby gaining an extra 10 points overall. Either that, or I just need to run faster.

For the future, I have decided to run first for 2 hours, as it is probably easier for my legs to run and then bike, as well as being able to travel further!!

Many thanks to Craft for the much needed warm winter kit and to Natural Balance Foods for the excessive amounts of yummy protein and energy bars I consumed throughout the race. Also thanks to Ultrasport for the electrolyte drink, which certainly prevented my mind from switching off as I got tired.

www.openadventure.com/results.php results and route analysis.

Plane Crash Hunting

2009-11-30T11:45:00.000Z

Marcell and I are really getting into this plane crash hunting malarky, so on Saturday we left Sheffield in the rain and arrived at the top of Snake Pass to find a fair amount of SNOW!

It was a trek across the top of the ridge on the Pennine Way to get to Mill Hill, the site of the first crash, which can clearly be seen from Google Earth. This site is right next to a footpath and is thus popular. It was eerie walking the several kilometres to get to the site in the snow with the mist down, and suddenly looming out of the mist, covered in a sprinkling of snow was the plane.

This is the crash of a Liberator B-24J from 310 Ferring Squadron which crashed on 11.10.44

This site is spread over a small distance with two engines and some fuselage at the impact point and some more fuselage to the South which can be seen from the path.

From here it was a walk up 'Stairway to Heaven' and the top of Kinder Scout. The hill climbs steeply and the mist thickened at the top, which was incredibly spooky once we left the path and wandering to the 600m point through the deep Peat gullies caked in snow.

It was then a quick hunt on the top to find nothing before walking/bum sliding down the steep hillside. In one stream, Marcell's Hawk eyes spotted a large piece of twisted metal. My navigation (minus compass) took us further down onto the flatter moor to find the next main site, which again Marcell spotted making increasing his lead to 4:1. Not a happy Emily!

This is the crash site of two Sabres from 66 Squadron which crashed on 22.07.54

This site was just above the snow line and by the time we got down the hill to it, the mist was clearing and we could see down the valley to Hope Forest and Snake Pass.

The whole walk took us 4 hours, and perhaps we were walking slower because of the snow and mist, but it seemed a long way back to the car!

Saturday 21st November

2009-11-22T10:00:00.000Z

Being unable to think of a title for yesterday, the date will have to do!
A brief 60 minute bike ride in the morning, which took me on some sort-of new routes in the rain, meant I could get back and into town as soon as possible to see my family. I've haven't seen them in 4 months since the Scottish 6-Days, and given that they were heading up to Newcastle for the British Schools Foot-Orienteering Championships, they had decided to come to Sheffield on Saturday, run the ShUOC City Chasing start.

After a nice drink in a cafe in the centre, they had to head back to get ready for the second race, whilst I and my sister nipped to the High Street for some shopping. I needed some flat shoes, and came out having spent £70..... not on shoes!

Unfortunately it rained in the afternoon, so standing around watching the finishers come in meant I got pretty wet jeans. A nice meal in the evening at Felicini's before my family left Sheffield and went north!

All in all, a really nice day, albeit a brief amount of time spent with the family. Can't wait for xmas now when I get to see my gorgeous doggie :-)

Dark Peak Plane Crashes

2009-11-19T21:02:00.003Z

After a friend mentioned that since before WWII there have been over 50 plane crashes in the Dark Peak with the wreckage left at the sites, it was natural for me to be inquisitive since this was new information to me!

After doing some serious google'ing and plotting the grid references on an OS map, we planned Walk Number One which we hoped (grid references correct) would lead us to find 3 crash sites. We drove out to Edale before heading up the valley and turning right off the beaten path just before the scree slope/footpath. This what-felt-like-near-vertical climb took us to site one.

Above is the crash site of the Wellington W5719 of 150 Squadron RAF which crashed at Far Upper Tor on 31/07/41. On the internet are pictures of this site, which make this pile of metal look bigger than it was, so it was pure luck that we stumbled across this one, incidently, where I had marked on the map.

Next up was a brief path section in the very gusty strong winds which saw us blown over a few times, before walking past the water up and out into the Peat Moors of Kinder. Given that someone (ahem, not me) had forgotten the thumb compass, this was hardcore navigation! Picking a route around the gullies and ridges of the peat moor to avoid wet feet, whilst trying to maintain some sort of bearing wasn't too difficult. Navigating the area was easy, finding the crash site was harder. Firstly we headed to far south before being too high and wandering to far north. After a quick discussion, we decided to head on to our planned third site, before seeing if we could pick site 2 up on the way back. Finding site three was easy! Down into the valley and up the gully to the rocky knoll, where a quick hunt and following some old footsteps in the mud lead 'Marcell' to find site number 3, slightly to the south of the grid reference and in the same rocky flat gully as the rocky knoll.

Site number 3 is an Avro Anson N185 of Halton HQ Flight RAF which crashed on Edale Moor/Kinder on 23/11/45.

After following our own footsteps back the way we had come, it was easier to see how high we had been. I decided to play 'Ray Mears' and followed the old faint footprints which lead pretty much straight from site 3. Marcell was wandering somewhere to the East of me and occasionally caught a glimpse of him when out of the gully. As it turned out, the footprints lead me straight to the top end of site 2, and initially I thought the scattering of splintered wood was it. Fortunately, after shouting to Marcell, and wandering down the gully from the flatter section of marsh, I stumbled across the first engine, stark white against the peat, but no way to see it without either being in the gully or standing immediately on top. Further down is the other engine.

Site number 2 with the first engine in the foreground and just a bit further down the gully is the second. This was a De Havilland Dragon Rapide G-ALBC which crashed on 30/11/63. It is a strange feeling coming across these wreckages in the middle of nowhere and to see it surrounded by mud and

water.

So from here it was back to the footpath, scrambling down the rocky scree/waterfall/stream/footpath thing, and heading back to Edale.

We were very lucky to find these sites, and with the weather, which, although was rather windy, the sun was partly out and it didn't rain! Looking forward to finding the next lot up the top of Snake Pass :-)

Dalby Forest

2009-11-08T12:26:00.003Z

Plans changed. So late of Friday a group of us were sorting transport to go biking in Dalby forest on Saturday. I mended my brakes on my Merida so I was ready to tackle the 25mile loop, all XC, all rocky and technical, with minimal relief on my arse!

It was a fun trip. Lots of jumps :-), lots of berms and lots of hills! The problem with riding the Red loop at Dalby is the course (despite its attempts to contour the dales and riggs, still seems to be all up-hill....

Four hours after starting out, we made it back to the cars slightly worse-for-wear, plastered in mud, getting on the cold side, and absolutely shattered! Everyone had a great time and we are contemplating a trip down to Cannock in 3 or 4 weeks time to ride on the 'secret' tracks I've been told about in Sherbrook and Abrahams Valley. May even do some MTBO while I'm down there!

The trip home involved a detour to Brighouse and then a more exciting detour to Domino's pizza. On walking/staggering in my front door at half 7 (12 hours after I left) it was a quick shower and straight to bed, which was then subsequently disturbed later on in the evening but a lot of yelling and screeching from the lounge!

I am thinking about buying a Full Suss Carbon frame and build a really kick ass bike.... :-)

Firework Night

2009-11-08T12:18:00.003Z

I was meant to be going to Don Valley to watch the fireworks on Thursday, but plans fell through so things ended up with all my housemates going out, and I was left twiddling my thumbs.

Having never been to After Dark before, I was keen to go. A mate and I drove out to Don Valley found a bridge over the railway facing Don Valley just as a crowd of people was starting to gather.

As it turned out, our bridge was in a prime location for watching the After Dark fireworks (without paying). There was a great community atmosphere which was really nice, just my sort of thing. Perhaps it was better than Don Valley without the 18,000 people there, no need to look directly up all night and end up with a sore neck in the morning like my housemates!

A weekend of biking fun

2009-11-02T17:10:00.003Z

This weekend I headed up to Peebles in Scotland, just south of Edinburgh with Hallam Cycling. Plan: to ride bikes!

After leaving Waitrose car park 'on time' at 1820 we faced the four hour minibus journey up north. I say on time, but for a bunch of lazy cyclists, 20 minutes late is the best I have ever seen with our usual departure time 60 minutes later than planned. The trip began with a quick visit to Waitrose for beer, and diet coke, as well as a quality comment from Jody... 'What's your name mate? Did you say it was Marcell?' Mike: 'No, it's Michael!' Unfortunately for Mike the name Marcell stuck like glue, and calling him Mike now doesn't seem appropriate!

As per usual I fell asleep laid across 3 chairs in my sleeping bag for most of the trip, and awoke when we hit the bumpy gravel track up to the car park at Glentress which was to be our campsite. We arrived shortly before midnight on friday, and after some more beer, the boys proceeded to search for a suitable place to pitch the tents, which wasn't on the car park gravel nor on the wet and sodden banking! I didn't have an invested interest in putting up tents given that I had opted for sleeping on the minibus floor, so instead, I held the torch.

The boys tents pitched well within the fire zone our Health and Safety officer approved (whilst not quite sober, nor really caring about the closeness of the tents given the rain and late hour)!

Most of the guys didn't sleep all that well, and woke in the morning to find the 'soft' patch of ground was actually mud covered rocks. I couldn't help a small smile at this given that I had slept like a baby for 7 hours in a space barely big enough for my shoulders!

So in the morning it was off for a glorious day of MTB'ing at Innerleithen. We rode up the mountain, down some beautiful sweeping singletrack with bitchin' jumps and berms, turned around and did the top section again because it was just awesome! We then carried on down the mountain with some more berms, rock gardens, big dippers and jumps. Two and a half hours later we arrived happy and muddy in the car park for lunch, before heading back up, but riding up the Downhill push up route and attempting some DH tracks. I passed on this after seeing the beginning of the Matador and the vertical drop and so Bob and I headed around the mountain to find the XC track again. The XC descent was a million miles better the second time around and I made it to the bottom feeling fairly pleased with some of my jumps!

It was then back to Glentress for showers before pitching our tents at Innerleithen on the grass and walking into the village for fish and chips. A small (5 hour) stop at the pub saw the boys getting progressively worse for wear and playing with the two dogs, and me falling asleep curled up on the sofa! Another quality comment from Jody took the boys into hysterics again 'What's your name mate?'

'Lee'

'What did you do when the Darkness split up?'!!!! I suppose if you saw Lee, this comment might make more sense, but a tall thin guy with shoulder length messed up hair might help!

Sunday saw the boys wake up late, and due to missing our minibus driver who had disappeared all weekend with some other mates and decided not to hang out with us, we were a bit stuck on how to make the 7 mile trip to Glentress. I'll just say we made without mishap and leave it at that!

Well....on sunday the 1st November, it rained, and rained and rained some more. My back disc pads wore down to the metal and the cage imploded so I couldn't use the brakes. My waterproof leaked and I was wet through and frozen. The boys drove off to the cafe so I had no dry clothes and got colder. Rode down the hill to the Cafe but somehow missed them and got even colder. Thanks to Bob for the hot chocolate. I was pretty much dripping water by this stage as my kit was so sodden. The boys dragged me out of the cafe and onto the bike where I subsequently couldn't get my hands onto the handlebars without a great deal of concentration, and made me ride back up the hill. At the top my legs were just warm, and I managed to get into dry things before curling up in my sleeping bag. Marcell was good to notice I was non-responsive and hypothermic. I think he got a bit concerned when I stopped shivering, lips went blue, my breathing rate dropped and I stopped waking up to being prodded. Fortunately, knowing the signs of hypothermia, he somehow forced me to drink a bit of tea (yuk) and got the minibus heating on.

Today at work was a bit of an epic. I felt shattered on waking up this morning and felt sick and dizzy at work, as well as feeling pretty vacant. I made it to lunch before heading home for a 3 hour much needed sleep.

That pretty much sums up the weekend. What a great time!

Camera Fun!

2009-10-27T19:17:00.004Z

I really fancied a walk today so G and I headed out to Stanage Edge and wandered up to the trig point in the dark. Was a little scary as we couldn't see much, and slipped in a few puddles!

An eerie green traffic light!

After taking a few snaps of us, I found the long exposure function and had great fun taking pics of cars at night!! I don't think G was too impressed :-)

I suppose its pretty sad that I can entertain myself just taking pictures of the the lights at night, but there is a certain technique to it. Just wave the camera around and pray to God you get something good! Not that I'm religious in anyway ;-)

I like this one, it's of the 88 bus to Bents Green....

A very wet and rainy day..

2009-10-24T19:02:00.004+01:00

Top end of Ladybower with the clearing mist

Today was supposed to be The Mam Tor ride, legendary in it's own right... however, with my friend cancelling on Thursday and me going on my own, I decided it was a silly idea. Once you get started on the ride, there are no short cuts and no roads or train stations near by.

Picture of the reservoirs......

I got a train out to Edale and rode back from there. Up the hill to Hollins cross initially, and then back down before heading up and over towards the Enchanted forest. At the top I headed off down 'the beast' (which was awesome fun to ride!), and then back up past Rowley Farm behind Hagg hill. Rode all the way around Ladybower before heading up to Win hill and down to the A57. From there it was back to Sheffield via Redmires and Endcliffe Parks. 6 hills. 4.5 hours.

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed in the house covered in mud....

Unfortunately, it rained throughout the ride. The mist was down and it was rather spooky around Ladybower....with the pine trees and the mist it was like something out of Twilight! haha. I'm just obsessed with Twilight at the moment. Less than a month until the sequel, New Moon... :-)

Dam disappearing into the mist....

New Sponsor

2009-10-21T18:23:00.002+01:00

I am proud to announce that my new sponsor for 2009/2010 are Natural Balance Foods with their Trek, Nakd, and fruit infused Raisins.

I first tried Natural Balance Foods in November last year at the British Athletes Commission conference in London, and the company have agreed to sponsor me for this year. The food bars are described as 'natural fruits and ingredients, mushed together with no additives or sugar' so they make the perfect food for those long winter bike rides.

Trek bars are full of protein and are good for recovery after a session and during a ride. Nakd bars are smaller and contain more carbohydrate, whereas as the raisins make a perfect healthy snack!

Box full of yummy tasting goodies :-)

Busy Bee

2009-10-19T20:05:00.002+01:00

This weekend has been really manic. Helping out at both the Hallam Uni open days (£100 in my pocket, thank you very much!) so my voice has been hoarse all day from the excessive talking I did!

Didn't get much opportunity to head out on my bikes this weekend, but I did go to the cinema with GG to watch The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is very surreal, but a very good film! Looking forward to the Twilight sequel in one months time... :-)

Have finally managed to book a physio appointment for this week. I have been unable to get in to see my physio due to working at the Hallamshire Hospital on placement so it will be a good opportunity to make sure that my current issues are hopefully nothing major! I should be able to diagnose myself by now, but the advice I would give a patient, is go an see you GP, which I absolutely hate doing! haha.

Today at work went really quickly :-) Made a complete arse of myself of 5 occasions, the worst being when I went faceplanted the floor in ITU, and then accidently kicking a patient's crutches from them when they were walking :-s I was convinced my foot would land a couple of feet away but I somehow managed to kick it as I walked forwards! Still doesn't beat my disaster day at Grimsby though!

Stanage Edge

2009-10-10T18:25:00.003+01:00

View of Lodge Moor, Sheffield

Went out this morning for an XC ride with the gang! Beautiful sunny day, that was rather warm once we got riding :-) wore a few too many layers.

Sheffield, my home.

Rode out through the Parks and over Redmires to Stanage Edge. Unfortunately my brakes need bleeding, and without any money I can't buy any brake fluid, so the descent was a little scary.

I really enjoyed this ride, felt relatively strong, considering my injury problems at the moment. Looking forward to tomorrows road ride with the boys, and then headache allowing, I might go and play in the parks on an evening next week.

Work, Work, Work!

2009-10-02T16:20:00.003+01:00

This week has been pretty manic! I've just started my Neurosurgery placement, which is intense. There is so much to learn to do with the brain and different pathologies, it is information overload. At least my respiratory physiotherapy is good :-)

Training wise, I'm still in the gym at 7am Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. I even went for a run (oh. my. god!) on Tuesday morning at 0630!! With Friday as my rest day I get an extra 1hr 15 of sleep, which was rather pleasant this morning. I have been feeling tired during the day, especially when I'm left on my own to do some reading....heavy eyelid syndrome :-)

Hallam Freshers

2009-09-26T14:03:00.004+01:00

Hallam Freshers XC ride today.....great group that went out :-) We rode out through the parks in Sheffield turned around at the top and came down the singletrack which was really nice. Everyone that turned up was really keen, so it looks like the social will be good on wednesday.

Got some great ideas for the Cycling Club this year, so will be looking round for some team sponsors.

Bled my brakes yesterday so that a mate could borrow this bike. Spot the mistake (above).....

Finally managed to get hold of my supervisor for placement next week, after a day of ringing every number possible at the Hallamshire every 30mins or so. Had a stinking migraine yesterday, so I was pleased to wake up this morning without.

Sweden Training Camp

2009-09-24T11:11:00.003+01:00

The Sweden Training Camp in April has been confirmed today that it will be on the 8-11th April so as not to clash with the WRE in Portugal :-)

After being kept awake for 3 hours until 0430 this morning by drunk housemates playing drinking games, I was pretty tired when in the gym training. Yesterdays long day at the sports fair didn't help either, so I'm feeling whacked out today. Just wasted 2 hours of my life in a lecture and have another 4 this afternoon..... :-(

As it turned out, the lecture this afternoon was actually great fun (I got to be a team leader for the group!) and I enjoyed being in control and directing the discussion. Spent most of the evening chilling on the sofa, and watched Dragon's Den: Peter Jones' Story, which has got me thinking about the best way to earn as much money as possible when I graduate! I've been mulling over a few ideas for the last 4 months, but not sure how to go about getting them going and also whether there is enough demand to make a profit etc etc!

I've started to implement my skills with organising my training and racing into Physiotherapy and the rest of my life, and I'm enjoying having a lot more control over everything I do... plans for the future are still very open and subject to change, but I'd like to think I am ready to get a job (mum and dad will be pleased!!) ;-)

Ciao x

World Ranking/Cup MTBO list UPDATE

2009-09-22T20:07:00.003+01:00

Just received this list in a very round-about way from the IOF! This is the list for the 2010 MTBO World ranking and World Cup races.

?8-11 April - Sweden Training Camp

17-18 April - WRE Portugal

23-25 April - WCup Hungary

13-15 May - WRE France

22-23 May - WRE Denmark

3-6 June - WCup and WMOC Poland

3-4 July - Finland

3-4 July - Pre Woc event in Chaves, Portugal

2-8 July - ?GB training camp Pre WOC

9-17 July - WOC Portugal

5 August - WRE Estonia

4-5 September - WRE Austria

23-24 October - WRE Australia

List accurate as at 20.00 on 22/09/09 :-)

Sunday Training

2009-09-20T17:54:00.003+01:00

It was a bit difficult to drag myself out of bed this morning, but the view from the Peaks was worth it. Cloudy in Sheffield and beautifully warm and sunny out on the tops :-)

It's day's like today when everything brightens up, you can see for miles, that make me remember why I get up early to train.

I had a headache after 10 mins of biking, so I did 80mins instead of the 3hours I had planned. But no worries....these 3 weeks are my pre-training phase of the season and its my first week back after 4 weeks off.

Decided to pop over to my old house and see if there was any post. Found a big box full of my new Craft kit which was particularly pleasing! :-) Lots of lush kit in this seasons colours: browns and whites.

Twilight

2009-09-19T23:48:00.001+01:00

Oh. My. God.

Best film ever....! Twilight is absolutely beautiful, stunning.

Watch this even if it's the last thing you do.

Mountain Biking

2009-09-19T13:21:00.003+01:00

After a late night last night (due to friends coming round and having a film fest) an early start this morning was out of the question! Headed out on my Merida for a few hours of MTB'ing in the Peaks which was rather enjoyable. It hasn't rained (touch wood) in Sheffield for a few weeks, as per usual in the Autumn, so everywhere was wonderfully dry and fast. It's surprisingly warm, and I didn't really need my thermal, but sometimes it can be warm in Sheffield, and windy and cold on the tops.

This picture was Stanage Edge a months ago.

Sheffield City Council/National Park people really should consult the cyclists before re-laying the bridleways and paths. The first one they did was the bridleway up the steep hill at the end of the parks, so it now isn't a challenge to ride up it, and they've just started on the Yellow Brick Road (Lady Cannings-Fox House) which is one of the best bits of biking close to Sheffield. Fortunately they've only done the initial hill heading south from Ringinglow, but if they do the whole it will be very upsetting. It means that all the best mountain biking will be the footpaths which, if you get caught on them, you get a hefty fine! It's not fair! They'll be doing Burbage Moor next or Blacka Woods. Grrr....At least my rant in my head got me over the big hill when biking, so by the time I hit the nice stuff again it was all down hill!

It's moving in day for the Freshers today, so Eccy Road was jammed, which was fun trying to dodge the traffic all the way down from the top. Had 4 near misses (sometimes I think cars try to hit you on purpose) in the space of 1km from Hunters Bar to Cafe Rouge, and I had a close call when track standing at the lights and nearly over balanced! Saved it in time :-)

That's about it really. Physio has decided that my nerves are pretty jammed up so it will take at least 2 sessions to complete the full assessment she needs to do, let alone think about exercises to give me! It tends to be sitting on a bike for a long period of time that really sets my problems off, but tomorrow shall be the big test when I head out with Clive and the Hallam team for 4 hours.

Ciao for now :-)

Early Morning Training

2009-09-15T08:29:00.002+01:00

As part of my new training regime, I am going training at 7am monday -thursday, so that my evenings are clear for me to do Uni work.

This morning it was out on the Road bike for an hour, up Ecclesall Road and across to Ringinglow and Lodge Moor. The road that traverses the edge of the Peak District was just at the cloud line which made for a fitting sun 'rise' which was rather nice to look at early in the morning.

How?

2009-09-13T14:22:00.003+01:00

Question: How does it take four people, 90 minutes to get around Tesco spending £200?

Answer: When you go shopping with housemates who will struggle to make a decision between two kinds of soup, with 1p difference and spend 30minutes making a choice of fruit and veg!

Yes, we did spend over £200 between the four of us, and yes, it did take 90 minutes (it's only a Tesco Express too!). My shopping filled 3 bags, but between the four of us, it was two trolleys full which we then ended up taking from the supermarket, walking 500m down the main road to home :-)

Training Season 2009/2010

2009-09-12T17:27:00.005+01:00

Monday 14th September will see me start 3 weeks of pre-training to re-build the fitness I have lost over the last 4 weeks of doing nothing!

I will be starting my actual training season on 5th October whilst on my next placement! I have some cunning training ideas, most of which are going to be tough sessions :-)

Finished placement

2009-09-11T19:14:00.002+01:00

Today was my last day working in Grimsby on placement. Had to do a presentation in the morning, which was a case study of a patient with COPD, and a current chest infection. Presentation went well, got absolutely grilled by my supervisor at the end, who knew that I knew all the answers so was quite happy reeling off this huge list of questions! I think the questioning took longer than the presentation and it went through everything I'd learnt on the placement.

Passed the placement which I knew I would anyway. Really sad to have left, but I will be going back in November/December to run my dissertation work by them. The clinic is the leading place in the UK at the moment, and my supervisors set it up, so they really know their stuff. Might be going on the christmas party too..... I will become a permanent fixture at this rate :-)

I miss it already :-(

But there are only 9 months left until I graduate (which is a cert now I have got through my 2nd year, 4 months after everyone else!). Bit scary really...

MTBO Races 2009/2010

2009-09-05T10:00:00.005+01:00

Here is a semi-complete list of upcoming MTBO races both in England and internationally. A list of the British Series will be available soon.

26th Sept - Hurn Forest, Dorset

Dec-Jan Around Aldershot date unknown

8-11th April - MTBO Training Camp, Kristiansand, Sweden (scheduled date is 15-18th April, but is likely the camp will be moved.) http://www.mtbocamp.dk/2010/

17-18th April - World Cup, Leira, Portugal www.fpo.pt

24-25th April - World Cup, Veszprem, Hungary www.mtbo.hu

3-4th July - Pre World Championships, Northern Portugal www.fpo.pt

2-18th July - Team GBR training camp, Northern Portugal

9-18th July - World Championships and Junior World Championships, Northern Portugal www.mtbwoc2010.fpo.pt

Finally Passed Year 2

2009-09-04T19:46:00.002+01:00

I had a bit of a 'mare in Jan-April where I was training 20 hours a week, on placement and writing assignments. One of them was the disseration proposal, IEPP1. I failed this the first time due to it being a very bad piece of work. Failed the second time, due to being on placement, training, an acute neural injury, and grandparents in hospital. This stress from this meant I just didn't write well enough.

I went to Board on June 21st to get an exceptional 3rd attempt at the module. Being a Health Professions course, you get your 2 attempts plus a 3rd in exceptional circumstances. I got the extra chance at the module due to the Physio team understanding my circumstances, and excellent marks in the other modules.

Got the marks today..I passed....at last 9 months later! Stressful year. This basically means that once I get the marks for my placement next friday I will have finally passed my second year! I got good feedback today from placement so I should imagine (touch wood) that a pass for this is in order. It doesn't mean I'm a bad physio though!

Placement

2009-09-04T19:39:00.002+01:00

Another fun day :-) Spent the day with the respiratory physiotherapist so I got to carry out some initial assessments of patients, asking them questions about their lung condition and listening to their chest. Normally my supervisor will listen to the chest, find an interesting noise and let me listen. This time, I was doing it first and telling him what I could hear :-) Awesome. It's amazing how many different noises there are: Coarse and fine crackles, inspiratory and expiratory wheezes, abnormal, diminished, pleural rub, and each one means or implies something different.

Another part of the assessments was feeling secretions in the lungs, simply by placing your hands in certain points and applying a firm pressure. It's pretty cool as you can feel the sputum and secretions moving under your hands.....it's rather soothing for the therapist!

In general, I definately feel like my skills have improved in 3 weeks, I know so much more than when I started! :-) Happy Happy Happy!

Interesting Day...!

2009-09-03T21:18:00.002+01:00

Craft and Ultrasport will be continuing their support by sponsoring me once again for the 2010 season.

As for my day today... well, it has been something of a very good day, but also a bit of a ditzy one!

I am on placement in Grimsby, so am commuting from Sheffield everyday. The placement was deferred from May due to my racing commitments so 17/08 to 11/09 is the only time I can do this 4 week block. It is just my luck that my placement coincides with the rail from Doncaster to Cleethorpes being out of use.....! I am awake at 4am, and get home at 8pm, 8 hours of Physiotherapy work for 8hours of travelling. I am really enjoying it, and will be upset to leave next friday.

I usually do one stupid thing per day, but today I had 3 moments. Firstly, I managed to get my feet tangled up in the desk chair , and both the chair and I went flying. I didn't think anyone had heard, until my supervisor walked out of the office next door 5 seconds later and saw me sprawled across the floor! Secondly, shortly after the chair incident, I managed to throw a cup of water all over myself and the floor (how? I have no idea!). I suppose I am getting old before my time....either that, or working with elderly people for the last 3 weeks is starting to rub off on me!

And finally, whilst taking a patients Blood Pressure, I dropped the screw that lets the air out of the cuff. So I have a patient in a chair with the cuff up to 160mmHg, cutting off the blood to their hand, and myself, 2 other physio's and 6 patients are crawling around on the floor looking for this small black cap! Fortunately the cuff went down by itself, so this wasn't a problem. Between the 9 of us, we couldn't find it. I know I saw it bounce on the floor, but where it went was a mystery as all the tables and chairs made it difficult to see. We decided to give up after 5 minutes and get on with the pulmonary rehab class. As I walked in the gym I put my hand in my pocket of my physio uniform, and felt a small round object..... Needless to say I had the p*ss taken out of me for the rest of the day, and felt pretty stupid too.

I also have at least 3 old men per day, make comments about not having had 'a young girl on their knees in front of me for years'! Perhaps I should explain that when taking the BP, its easiest to crouch down its easier to chat to the patient!

2009 Season

2009-08-30T21:21:00.005+01:00

Back in January I was going to set up my own website, but never quite got around to it for various reasons! So this blog is something of a substitute where I shall aim to post training, results from races, and a calendar of the 2010 MTBO World Cup races.

The 2009 season for MTBO has been a mixture of success and disaster. It started with a training camp in Denmark in April, before World C

up races in Hungary, Switzerland and Italy. I was also in Portugal sleeping on a table in a huge basement type room with a concrete floor on my 20th birthday! But the hot sunny weather, and four 1st places more than made up for the accommodation.

A training camp with the Austrians and Swiss between the Switzerland and Italy World Cup races taught me how to ride a bike properly downhill, as well as a trip to a chocolate factory....I shan't say how many Euro's were spent on chocolate!

The Junior World Champs in Denmark at the end of June saw me miss my goal of winning, and instead I was 4th, 5th and 6th. A huge disappointment for my e

fforts in the year. A quick trip post-Denmark back to Sheffield to move house, before heading out to Pilsen, Czech Republic. This was an awesome week, and I had a lot of fun :-)

I lived in Sheffield in the run up to the World Champs in

Israel, and put in some hardcore quality training. Four weeks later Team GBR were off to Tel Aviv and 40+ degree heat. After the rain in England, the hot weather was an absolute delight! I finished in 8th place in both the Sprint and Middle distance wh

ich were both less than 30seconds to a top 6 result. Something to work on over the next few years. The banquet at the end of the week, was a particular highlight, with several GB team members being thrown fully clothed in rather nice dresses, into the swimming pool (high heeled shoes included!).

That sums up the 2009 season for me. Many thanks to my sponsors: Craft.se and Ultrasport.co.uk as well as Sarum, SCOA, SWOA and TASS for their financial support.