Sunday, December 28, 2008
Another Slog...
This training is becoming a bit of a slog now, to be honest. I am entering into the last two months of 'hard' training before I have to start thinking of tapering, and it can be a real effort to force myself out of the door for another few hours slog through wet, muddy fields. Which might have cows in.
Last week was a bit dodgy, being Christmas and all, but I managed a 7 mile run Tuesday, including my hill route. It was quite encouraging actually, as I hadn't done this for a while but it felt easier than before, and I felt quite strong after.
Wednesday and Thursday I did bugger all apart from eat and walk the dogs with mum Christmas afternoon. Hope everyone got good presents- Santa brought me a Marmot convertible mesh sun hat for the desert- it's already sand coloured which is a bonus! Plus loads of chocolate... but my excuse is that I will burn it off... I already had money to buy my Tikka headtorch from Likeys at the Brecons Ultra.
Friday I redeemed myself slightly by putting on the rucksack, loaded to around 6 kg, and marching round Colwick Park for 8 miles.
Yesterday I decided on one of the walks in the John Merrill guides. I ended up putting three short walks together to make one long one of around 15 miles. It was bloody freezing, and with that oppressive grey sky that just saps the spirit. I loaded the rucksack to 6 kg again, and left Hoveringham to jog along the River Trent. I'd done this stretch before, and soon reached the Hazelford Nursing Home. The next stretch, up to Fiskerton, was the first part of the second walk, and virgin territory for me- this second walk basically follows the Trent from Fiskerton down to the Nursing Home, and back, with a slight deviation across fields to cut out a bit of the river.
I got to the locks but couldn't find the footpath, so gave up and followed the river along a slippery track. I reached Fiskerton and followed a well maintained path to a car park and start of the third walk; there was a great long line of seagulls along railings here, but they all flew off one by one as I approached.
The next part became a bit monotonous, as it involved following the river- again- passing kilometre markers. The path was quite good here though and I jogged a lot of it. If it was sunny it would probably have been quite scenic, although at least it was dry...
... until I turned away from the river along a bridleway track back to Fiskerton, which was rather muddy. It was difficult to jog so I took advantage of this and ate a Snickers. Reaching the car park back at Fiskerton (and ending the third walk), I found a sign detailing rights of way. I managed to work out the field path I had failed to find, and managed to follow this back to the lock, which cut out the muddiest river section, and retraced my steps back to the Nursing Home to complete the second walk.
I was feeling a little too smug at managing to find the field path, but this was short lived! The route description instructed me to follow the road round a left hand bend, and take a footpath where the road starts to bend right; I found a path, and followed it as instructed- it was extremely wet and muddy, and seemed to take far longer to reach Gibsmere than it should. But there were foosteps in the mud, so I pressed on.
And reached a dead end. So was forced to retrace my steps back through the mud and the wet... I had nearly reached the road again when I noticed another footpath a little further on from the one I had taken...
Yep- this was the one I should have taken, and it was just a short walk into the village. The last part of the walk involved following a bridleway along tracks and fields back to Hoveringham- very well signed, but very wet and muddy. I was glad to get back to the village and walk back to the car, the walk seemed to take ages!
I forgot my spare shoes so was forced to walk around Morrisons in my filthy walking shoes- can they throw you out for improper foot wear?
Back to the gym tomorrow... me and the gym have been strangers this past week...
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Last week was a bit dodgy, being Christmas and all, but I managed a 7 mile run Tuesday, including my hill route. It was quite encouraging actually, as I hadn't done this for a while but it felt easier than before, and I felt quite strong after.
Wednesday and Thursday I did bugger all apart from eat and walk the dogs with mum Christmas afternoon. Hope everyone got good presents- Santa brought me a Marmot convertible mesh sun hat for the desert- it's already sand coloured which is a bonus! Plus loads of chocolate... but my excuse is that I will burn it off... I already had money to buy my Tikka headtorch from Likeys at the Brecons Ultra.
Friday I redeemed myself slightly by putting on the rucksack, loaded to around 6 kg, and marching round Colwick Park for 8 miles.
Yesterday I decided on one of the walks in the John Merrill guides. I ended up putting three short walks together to make one long one of around 15 miles. It was bloody freezing, and with that oppressive grey sky that just saps the spirit. I loaded the rucksack to 6 kg again, and left Hoveringham to jog along the River Trent. I'd done this stretch before, and soon reached the Hazelford Nursing Home. The next stretch, up to Fiskerton, was the first part of the second walk, and virgin territory for me- this second walk basically follows the Trent from Fiskerton down to the Nursing Home, and back, with a slight deviation across fields to cut out a bit of the river.
I got to the locks but couldn't find the footpath, so gave up and followed the river along a slippery track. I reached Fiskerton and followed a well maintained path to a car park and start of the third walk; there was a great long line of seagulls along railings here, but they all flew off one by one as I approached.
The next part became a bit monotonous, as it involved following the river- again- passing kilometre markers. The path was quite good here though and I jogged a lot of it. If it was sunny it would probably have been quite scenic, although at least it was dry...
... until I turned away from the river along a bridleway track back to Fiskerton, which was rather muddy. It was difficult to jog so I took advantage of this and ate a Snickers. Reaching the car park back at Fiskerton (and ending the third walk), I found a sign detailing rights of way. I managed to work out the field path I had failed to find, and managed to follow this back to the lock, which cut out the muddiest river section, and retraced my steps back to the Nursing Home to complete the second walk.
I was feeling a little too smug at managing to find the field path, but this was short lived! The route description instructed me to follow the road round a left hand bend, and take a footpath where the road starts to bend right; I found a path, and followed it as instructed- it was extremely wet and muddy, and seemed to take far longer to reach Gibsmere than it should. But there were foosteps in the mud, so I pressed on.
And reached a dead end. So was forced to retrace my steps back through the mud and the wet... I had nearly reached the road again when I noticed another footpath a little further on from the one I had taken...
Yep- this was the one I should have taken, and it was just a short walk into the village. The last part of the walk involved following a bridleway along tracks and fields back to Hoveringham- very well signed, but very wet and muddy. I was glad to get back to the village and walk back to the car, the walk seemed to take ages!
I forgot my spare shoes so was forced to walk around Morrisons in my filthy walking shoes- can they throw you out for improper foot wear?
Back to the gym tomorrow... me and the gym have been strangers this past week...
Labels: Hoveringham, John Merrill, Snickers
