Club session this morning, and due to the rain i ran it on the treadmill.
7 miles. Miles 1,3,5,7 easy, miles 2,4,6 hard.
Due to churning out the miles all week, and a planned hefty fell outing on saturday, i'd say my even numbered miles were more "brisk" than "hard".
Wimp! I'm just on my way out, up to the Outwoods and maybe further. If you don't hear from me again, I've drowned.Originally Posted by Travs
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Good luck!
I had my quota of abysmal weather this time last week on Bleaklow!
Don't take shelter under the Big Oak Tree if there is thunder and lightening about!
Visibility good except in Hill Fog
Well, I did get further than the Outwoods, but it was a very slow run up to Beacon Hill and back via Windmill Hill. The rain was fairly light by the time I set off, but the first half-mile of the bridleway up to the Outwoods was suitable for canoeing.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
I was intending to go for a run yesterday but the torrential rain and then stupendous electrical storm were a little off-putting! Sat at home watching the lightening and eating pizza instead. Rest is not such a bad thing anyway!
Its finally stopped raining here so off out on my bike now - the only downside to working from home is the lack of cycle commuting.
Pete Shakespeare - U/A
Going downhill fast
Due to record order levels I'm struggling during the week at the moment, but squeezed in a 3 mile undulating loop around Feniscowles in 24:30 so not bad without a warm up for a cart horse.
Richard Taylor
"William Tell could take an apple off your head. Taylor could take out a processed pea."
Sid Waddell
Today myself and occasional forumite TrevorM ran the Gill Harris Round... which is a "mini Bob Graham" on the Long Mynd Hills of Shropshire. Coming in at 19-22 miles and 4900-5300ft ascent, depending on who you believe, it's obviously nothing like a BGR, but still a decent day out.
I must say i wasn't overly enthused by the prospect, as many of the tops are heather-bashing to obscure tops which may perhaps overtop the general landscape by a few metres. But all the old favourites are also in there... Pole Bank, Callow, Yearlet, Ashlet, etc.
It was very much Trevor's idea and round. I came along to record the times and help nav (although some of the
lines we chose were undoubtedly a hindrance rather than help). We set a 5hr schedule, and a combination of unexpectedly hot weather, route choice, hold ups for Gliders taking off, chatting to other runners, saw us go round in 5hrs36.
I clocked 22.5miles and 5350ft on my gps.
I wouldn't rule out going back in a few weeks and having a faster solo effort at it... perhaps 4hrs
Reminds me a bit of the "Fife Thousand Foot Peaks" run I did in 1986. 26 miles with 6500 feet of climbing, from Falkland to Saline, covering every summit over 1000 feet in Fife, and several in Kinross-shire. And when I say "every summit", I mean that just about any ring contour on the OS map counted as a summit. The route went over the Lomond Hills, Bishop Hill, Benarty Hill, the Cleish Hills, Knock Hill and Saline Hill.
Most of it was solo, but I made sure that I had support on the road sections: I could cope with the steep hills and the tussocky bogs well enough on my own, but more than 3 miles of flat road running between Scotlandwell and Ballingry would just have been too demoralising, as would the shorter road section between the foot of Benarty Hill and the start of the climb into the Cleish Hills.
My target time was 5 hours; I actually managed 5 hours and 5 minutes. If you want to try to improve on my time, you might want to take a chainsaw: the trees in the new forestry plantation on the Cleish Hills (including one of my summits) were no more than chest-high when I was there, but they will be much bigger now.
In his lifetime he suffered from unreality, as do so many Englishmen.
Jorge Luis Borges
Sounds fairly similar!
Some of the "tops" were stretching it a bit to be worthy of that title... but it is the official list of the 22 named tops on the Mynd.
A lot of the first half of the route is stringing together tops which are not far off the major undulating paths which cross the Mynd, and the heather-bashing was never really more than 1/4 of a mile at a time. The 2nd half had some decent ridge running and most of the major climbs which people would recognise from the Shropshire races. Although the bracken and various other vegetation was a problem on nearly all of the off-piste sections.
It was interesting to do a run and find myself recognising parts of multiple race routes that i've done. My appreciation and knowledge of the Mynd is pretty poor away from the race routes.
Another good week. 70.5 miles, 14150ft.
Next week looks like furlough continuing... track session booked for thursday. No plans for a fell outing but perhaps a longer road run next weekend to have a play with my new (2nd hand) GPS watch (finally joined the 20th century!!)
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