We met at 9am in Uppermill, Frank in peak physical condition - shaking off a hangover & set off up the canal to Diggle. From the Diggle Hotel up Boat Lane (which gets longer every time I run up it) and out onto the A62 at Standedge Cutting. Across the road, into the cloud and right turn onto the Pennine Way. It wasn’t too muddy under foot but I don’t think we need be overly concerned with the reported drought problems just yet; they didn’t build all the cotton mills around here for nothing!
Frank, with protective eyewear to shield from the glare of the days subtle sportswear.
I'm not sure if he's indicating that Gaz has let one go, it's possible looking at Gaz's smirk :o)
The path on the tops pretty much disappears but if you keep going it does reappear. At the big pile of stones (trig point?) we turned left down the hill towards Castleshaw and around the reservoir. Up the other side and across the A62 again just above the Saddleworth Hotel and onto Harrop Edge Lane, down into Dobcross and back to Uppermill.
The Pennine Way; damp & muddy – perfect!
All told about 10.5 miles in about 1hour 50mins. That seems like a slow pace but we’ve agreed that it’s better to end training runs knowing that we could have easily gone on, unlike training for a shorter distance were you generally finish with an empty tank. The pace we’ll be aiming to average on the day (not counting rest breaks) is around 5mph.
It was a good chance for us to assess where we’re at. The general consensus being that all’s well for this stage of the training but I think we all know that this is when the real effort starts.
We’re aiming to get over to the Lakes, hopefully by Easter, and run some of the route. The idea is to concentrate on the last half of the 50, the part of which we’ll be doing at night.
The Knee didn’t cause me any problems, thanks Dave! Must keep on top of the exercises and stretches though. The hamstring was still a little tight, especially towards the end of the run but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that will sort itself out over the next couple of weeks. Needless to say my two (considerably lighter and younger – I’m not bitter!) colleagues have no reports of wear and tear at this stage, long may that continue.
Route: It may not be the exact route we took off the A62 and through to Castleshaw but my trusty Map My Run software on my phone has recorded the time and distance etc but not the map... doesn't quite do what it says on the tin - maybe time for a change of software!
Cheers
Mick
This all seems like a hard way to go through a mid life crisis. Couldn't you have just bought a motorbike?!
ReplyDelete