Thursday, February 10, 2011
A Better Week!
I have not had too bad a week training wise! Last Friday my friend invited me round for takeway pizza, so I told myself that I could only go provided I put in a tough workout at the gym first (quite handy as the gym is on the way to my friends!)
I ran for 30 minutes, pushing the speed a little, then did 35 minutes on the elliptical, at quite high power levels. My fitness is not what it once was- the highest speed I managed on the treadmill was a singularly unimpressive 6mph and I found that tough!
Saturday was a marathon wedding shopping session. We did manage to get the bridesmaids dresses ordered, and Katie's shoes sorted, and I must have burnt a few calories trudging round Leicester for several hours (although we did stop for an essential cherry scone so maybe not...)
Sunday I decided to do a long walk in preparation for the Belvoir Challenge, so chose a route I'd done once before, ages ago, a 17 miler which starts at Burton Joyce, follows the Trent to Hazleford Ferry and the crosses fields and bridleways to Lambley and back to Burton Joyce.
Rather amazingly for me, I was up and walking by 9am, and I had the river path to myself when I set off. I got the camera out to take some pics for the blog and discovered that once again my batteries had failed- why do I never get any warning? So I have dug out some old pics just to brighten things up and give you all some idea.
I started off jogging, and managed to maintain it until Gunthorpe which I was quite pleased with as it was my first long outing for ages.
The River Trent Past Gunthorpe
It is usually quite busy at Gunthorpe, but I only saw one man with his young son, probably as it was still quite early and cloudy. I had a flask of coffee with me and decided that when I reached Hoveringham I'd take a little break.
I mostly ran the next few miles, with a little walking, until Hoveringham, where the river path follows the road for a little while before regaining the river as the road bends away to the left. I sat on a handy stone and had my cuppa- which was very welcome! Once I stopped I realised that it wasn't actually that warm. I set off, joined by a few dog walkers, and detoured slightly to inspect a new 'Lancaster' memorial which had been placed as a memorial to two planes that had crashed near to that spot during the second World War, only days apart, sadly killing all the crew who were only in their teens and 20's.
I managed to keep up my combination of running and walking a little (ok, less of a run and more of a shambling jog!) and by the time I reached Hazleford Ferry I had done 7 miles. The next part of the route followed a footpath from Bleasby village to Thurgarton- easy to follow luckily and taken mostly at a jog. Thurgarton is on the main road to Southwell and when I did this walk before I had problems finding the bridleway, but remembered where it was this time.
This was when the walk began to get a little soul destroying- the bridleway was quite muddy and fairly tough going. It zig-zagged its way up a hill and climbed for quite a while before a long drag to distant Souther Woods. Running was not an option so I fortified myself with a Snickers I'd found in the back of the cupboard and a cuppa when I reached the wood.
This part of the route had been confusing when I last did it, but I had the advantage of knowing where I was going this time. I passed a horse and rider- the horse leapt two feet into the air when it saw me- I didn't realise I looked quite so bad!
After this there was a downhill road stretch into Epperstone, which I managed to jog. Epperstone seems to be a pretty village.
Epperstone Dove Cote
A negotiation of fields and a busy road crossing brought me to Woodborough, I was feeling quite tired when I reached the bridleway, which, of course, was all uphill. I met a couple of friendly ladies on horses, who soon left me behind.
I was feeling quite tired now, and it seemed to be an endless uphill trudge. Finally I reached the outskirts of Lambley, passing a grass airstrip, windsock and one plane sitting beside an outbuilding- smallest airport I have ever seen- smaller even than the one at Coventry!
I reached a narrow fenced path skirting Lambley, a bit too narrow for comfort actually as I was almost touching the electric fence and had to walk leaning to the right! Following this was a lovely downhill path by a mysterious mound to the Nature Reserve at the bottom, where I sat on a bench and had my final cuppa.
The last part of the route, the bridleway back to Burton Joyce, goes very steeply uphill before dropping down into the village. I surprised myself by being able to run- although it was downhill!
Overall I felt quite strong and ran a lot more than I thought I would.
I ran another 3 miles on Tuesday and did intend to go out again last night but, erm, didn't... so I am off to the gym in a bit.
I am off work tomorrow so am walking with a colleague who wants to show me the cliff path in Radcliffe-on-Trent. It will make a nice change having someone to walk with, and as I am meeting her in Radcliffe I will walk there and back.
The Belvoir Challenge is just over three weeks away...
I ran for 30 minutes, pushing the speed a little, then did 35 minutes on the elliptical, at quite high power levels. My fitness is not what it once was- the highest speed I managed on the treadmill was a singularly unimpressive 6mph and I found that tough!
Saturday was a marathon wedding shopping session. We did manage to get the bridesmaids dresses ordered, and Katie's shoes sorted, and I must have burnt a few calories trudging round Leicester for several hours (although we did stop for an essential cherry scone so maybe not...)
Sunday I decided to do a long walk in preparation for the Belvoir Challenge, so chose a route I'd done once before, ages ago, a 17 miler which starts at Burton Joyce, follows the Trent to Hazleford Ferry and the crosses fields and bridleways to Lambley and back to Burton Joyce.
Rather amazingly for me, I was up and walking by 9am, and I had the river path to myself when I set off. I got the camera out to take some pics for the blog and discovered that once again my batteries had failed- why do I never get any warning? So I have dug out some old pics just to brighten things up and give you all some idea.
I started off jogging, and managed to maintain it until Gunthorpe which I was quite pleased with as it was my first long outing for ages.
It is usually quite busy at Gunthorpe, but I only saw one man with his young son, probably as it was still quite early and cloudy. I had a flask of coffee with me and decided that when I reached Hoveringham I'd take a little break.
I mostly ran the next few miles, with a little walking, until Hoveringham, where the river path follows the road for a little while before regaining the river as the road bends away to the left. I sat on a handy stone and had my cuppa- which was very welcome! Once I stopped I realised that it wasn't actually that warm. I set off, joined by a few dog walkers, and detoured slightly to inspect a new 'Lancaster' memorial which had been placed as a memorial to two planes that had crashed near to that spot during the second World War, only days apart, sadly killing all the crew who were only in their teens and 20's.
I managed to keep up my combination of running and walking a little (ok, less of a run and more of a shambling jog!) and by the time I reached Hazleford Ferry I had done 7 miles. The next part of the route followed a footpath from Bleasby village to Thurgarton- easy to follow luckily and taken mostly at a jog. Thurgarton is on the main road to Southwell and when I did this walk before I had problems finding the bridleway, but remembered where it was this time.
This was when the walk began to get a little soul destroying- the bridleway was quite muddy and fairly tough going. It zig-zagged its way up a hill and climbed for quite a while before a long drag to distant Souther Woods. Running was not an option so I fortified myself with a Snickers I'd found in the back of the cupboard and a cuppa when I reached the wood.
This part of the route had been confusing when I last did it, but I had the advantage of knowing where I was going this time. I passed a horse and rider- the horse leapt two feet into the air when it saw me- I didn't realise I looked quite so bad!
After this there was a downhill road stretch into Epperstone, which I managed to jog. Epperstone seems to be a pretty village.
A negotiation of fields and a busy road crossing brought me to Woodborough, I was feeling quite tired when I reached the bridleway, which, of course, was all uphill. I met a couple of friendly ladies on horses, who soon left me behind.
I was feeling quite tired now, and it seemed to be an endless uphill trudge. Finally I reached the outskirts of Lambley, passing a grass airstrip, windsock and one plane sitting beside an outbuilding- smallest airport I have ever seen- smaller even than the one at Coventry!
I reached a narrow fenced path skirting Lambley, a bit too narrow for comfort actually as I was almost touching the electric fence and had to walk leaning to the right! Following this was a lovely downhill path by a mysterious mound to the Nature Reserve at the bottom, where I sat on a bench and had my final cuppa.
The last part of the route, the bridleway back to Burton Joyce, goes very steeply uphill before dropping down into the village. I surprised myself by being able to run- although it was downhill!
Overall I felt quite strong and ran a lot more than I thought I would.
I ran another 3 miles on Tuesday and did intend to go out again last night but, erm, didn't... so I am off to the gym in a bit.
I am off work tomorrow so am walking with a colleague who wants to show me the cliff path in Radcliffe-on-Trent. It will make a nice change having someone to walk with, and as I am meeting her in Radcliffe I will walk there and back.
The Belvoir Challenge is just over three weeks away...
Labels: Belvoir Challenge, Burton Joyce, Epperstone
Sunday, October 10, 2010
A Good Training Week; For A Change...
I've had an unusually productive week! Partly because I've been reading Ray Zahab's book- 'Running for My Life'- which is an account of his transformation from beer swilling and chain smoking self destructiveness to awsome ultra runner. He has done MdS twice and has also crossed the entire Sahara on foot!
Ok, my week wasn't quite that impressive but not too bad training wise... last Sunday was a fairly tough session in the gym, and I was busy socially Monday and Tuesday night, so Wednesday I found my first night running route- I found a big loop around Gamston which is about 3 miles and lit the whole way, so I ran this twice and a little extra to make 6 3/4 miles. This was the furthest I had ran on pavements for quite some time and I felt ok.
Thursday I ran/ walked my Bassingfield and canal route with a little extra loop to make 4 miles. Friday I had a very tough session at the gym, pushing myself to cover a quite fast 30 minutes on the treadmill followed by 20 minutes on the ellipticals at a high resistance.
Saturday wasn't quite so arduous- I went with Katie and the Leicester Penguins Swimming Club Team swim in a gala in Aylesbury. Katie came 2nd and 3rd in her races and the team came 2nd overall, so a great effort. Today was a 12 miler around some old haunts; I parked at Morrisons in Netherfield and took my old route across the fields to Stoke Bardolph, then headed along the Trent to Burton Joyce. I picked up the bridleway which eventually connects with the river and returned along the river banks, eventually skirting Netherfield Lagoons. I encountered a few herds of young cows, but luckily they were obviously used to walkers and hardly batted an eye. My total distance was 12 miles, tomorrow I will go out and complete another 8 after work and then I will be on a taper for the weekend and my double whammy of the Dave Lewis Challenge and Spires and Steeples- hope the weather is just as nice as it's been today!
Hope everyone else has a good week!
Ok, my week wasn't quite that impressive but not too bad training wise... last Sunday was a fairly tough session in the gym, and I was busy socially Monday and Tuesday night, so Wednesday I found my first night running route- I found a big loop around Gamston which is about 3 miles and lit the whole way, so I ran this twice and a little extra to make 6 3/4 miles. This was the furthest I had ran on pavements for quite some time and I felt ok.
Thursday I ran/ walked my Bassingfield and canal route with a little extra loop to make 4 miles. Friday I had a very tough session at the gym, pushing myself to cover a quite fast 30 minutes on the treadmill followed by 20 minutes on the ellipticals at a high resistance.
Saturday wasn't quite so arduous- I went with Katie and the Leicester Penguins Swimming Club Team swim in a gala in Aylesbury. Katie came 2nd and 3rd in her races and the team came 2nd overall, so a great effort. Today was a 12 miler around some old haunts; I parked at Morrisons in Netherfield and took my old route across the fields to Stoke Bardolph, then headed along the Trent to Burton Joyce. I picked up the bridleway which eventually connects with the river and returned along the river banks, eventually skirting Netherfield Lagoons. I encountered a few herds of young cows, but luckily they were obviously used to walkers and hardly batted an eye. My total distance was 12 miles, tomorrow I will go out and complete another 8 after work and then I will be on a taper for the weekend and my double whammy of the Dave Lewis Challenge and Spires and Steeples- hope the weather is just as nice as it's been today!
Hope everyone else has a good week!
Labels: Burton Joyce, Ray Zahab, Stoke Bardolph
