By my calculation we only have another thirteen weeks to go before tackling Hadrian's Wall. At the moment I'm still feeling confident and I have no injuries. Friday I drove over to Heath Hayes in Staffordshire to meet up with Stewart for a long run. Stewart is also training for Hadrian's Wall but because there's almost an hours drive between us we don't get to train together very often.
We started our 30.74km run at 7:06am from Heath Hayes and in the mist made our way to Chase Water lake. It was a cold morning, around 1C but with the wind travelling the full length of the lake it made it feel 5C below. We then made our way to Cannock Chase and on the way in the far distance I could see a couple of deer keeping a close eye on these two nutters out running lit up like beacons. Stewart couldn't see them - he wasn't wearing his specs but they were there - honestly.
We started our 30.74km run at 7:06am from Heath Hayes and in the mist made our way to Chase Water lake. It was a cold morning, around 1C but with the wind travelling the full length of the lake it made it feel 5C below. We then made our way to Cannock Chase and on the way in the far distance I could see a couple of deer keeping a close eye on these two nutters out running lit up like beacons. Stewart couldn't see them - he wasn't wearing his specs but they were there - honestly.
The route up to now was what you might call 'undulating'. But, the Chase is made up of hilly paths that criss-cross each other. The forrest and bracken is quite dense so we really needed to stick to the paths.
The trails across Cannock Chase were very muddy in parts. We were reduced to a slow and cautious walk through some of the boggy patches, trying not to sink in the mud. On other downhill paths it was tree roots we had to avoid tripping over. We came back through Hednesford ending at Stewarts home.
It was a great mornings run and to have company on these distances helps to pass the time.
So, for the week. I ran 9.54km (5.93mi) on Monday, 26.17km (16.26mi) Wednesday and 30.74km (19.1mi) Friday. Because of life commitments I did have to miss yesterday's 13km run though.
While searching for information about Cannock Chase I came across several videos of trail cyclists on YouTube:
Hey Gary, it sounds like your training is going really well! I need to start ramping up the mileage for the Swift Half now that I'm out of holiday mode, but I do worry about too much to fast. Hard to find just the right balance!
ReplyDeleteHi Gary, I just found your blog here. Enjoyed reading about your runs. I have seen from Buckeye that you do some really long runs and it was great to get some of them described here. Beautiful photo's too. Looking forward to following your progress on this blog.
ReplyDeleteI also missed out on a 13k run the other day, but that was my longrun for the week. I am struggling far behind, - getting better every week though.