Whittle Dean Revisited

And Hell is still where I saw it last

hide map | show map

View Horsley in a larger map

The weather men have over stressed the warnings again, obviously for the benefit of the soft southerners again. To be fair the blow on the south coast does look spectacular but up here in the north, where it's usually 'Grim' remember, we've had a lovely couple of days. Revisiting one of the runs around the village where I live, Horsley, and Whittle Dean, the autumn colours and the bright sunshine making it if not pleasurable at least picturesque. The run ends by acending the Horsley Hell Run which Ihave not attempted for some months. It's as hard as I remember and although I can run most of it now there's a section at the bottom just as you approach the Horsley Wood Cottages where walking is a serious option especially after the last 5.5 miles.

Distance: 9.926 km Elevation gain: 186.5 m Elevation loss: -186.1 m

Whittle Dean

Local Runnin for Local people

View Larger Map

In an attempt to get more running in before the iROC I extended the HHR again to include more of Whittle Dean and surrounding farmland. Extending the run north of the A69 towards the reservoirs, starting directly outside the flat takes in some more gently rolling countryside and views. The weather this afternoon was windy and bright, getting colder but the pace kept everything warm. It was a good outing to test the effectiveness of both the new rucksack and the camera pouch. Both, I'm happy to say performed well and any fears I had that the LowePro APEX 60 AW Camera bag would fall off were unfounded.

It's interesting t note that in the few days that this post has been live Google have updated the satellite imagery for this area and I'm glad to say my house/flat now exists! As does the ecommnet and Off Exploring offices just down the road.

Training Woes

View Larger Map

Training: Upping the Game

Unprepared, unfit and cramps setting in by the time the pull back up the hill was attempted. This does not bode well for iROC. 

Cold Cure : Runnin the HHR

Better than Cough Medicine

After more than a week off or rather a week without exercise and only just shaken off the cold a blast around the extended run was called for; or so I thought!
Well all I can say is it's probably cheaper than any expectorant cough medicine and more rapid acting, it even tastes nice.

Yesterday's longer run was a bit of a nightmare though; in terms of timing and performance even if it really did clear the tubes. It must have worked though as today I almost managed the basic HHR (I thought I'd better be a little less ambitious than yesterday) at a non stop jog. I still can't get past the salt bin marker on the initial backup incline without having to break into a walk for 50m or so.

So that's the target for the next month, getting all the way down and up the HHR at a minimum of a slow jog, non stop continuous running. Possible as long as the weather holds off. Oh and I'm maybe doing some fair weather training in Portugal in a weeks time courtesy of Utimaco.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a no running day, given the profile of the Horsley Hell Run this must constitute a "Bank Holiday"

Xmas is Postponed

View Larger Map

As Christmas is Postponed this year until Sunday runnin seemed to be in order. Another review of the Training Extended run, this time taking in the track beside Whittle Dean and through the village at Ovingham without having to run on the road. While I didn't have the GPS analysis of the map would put the total at 5 miles in just under the hour. Big mistake this time was not taking water or other fluids, suffering from cramp in the shins as I ran up the bank back to Horsley (HHR).

Training Extended

Horsley to Ovingham

Extending the HHR somewhat; by almost three miles by running across to the next village Ovingham and back along the Tyne to the bottom of the Extended-HHR The weather today was really bright, cold and frosty, -2DegC, and the fog over the Tyne was very picturesque, even if the sheer cold made breathing difficult and the ice on the hill back up the Hell Run quite treacherous. The boggy bits were still really boggy and wasn't quite frozen enough to stop me getting muddy. According to my GPS it's 4.3 miles and I did it in around 45 minutes. Overall the run was hard, more than doubling the usual training effort in one go was probably a bit ambitious but an average of 5.5 mph was quite satisfying. The eROC is only two of these, in distance anyway, probably more than double the height gain.

View Larger Map

Looking over the Tyne Valley

Rockefeller State Park

Rockefeller State Park, by rantoutloud.

In the park again, running this time. On the flat makes things easy compared to HHR. The beautiful view over the lake and the Autumn/Fall colours in the sunshine made running almost a pleasure.

Runnin runnin

The Grand Old Duke of York

The extended HHR again, and down to the river side through the nettlebeds in shorts only. Overdosing on nettle stings seems a little toxic

River Running

Water water everywhere

View Larger Map

Running the Horsley Hell Run this morning was a very wet affair. The water pouring down the hill from Horsley was being funneled down the track at the end of the run into was was in effect a small river. I extended the run to the very end of the bridalway which goes all the way down to the Tyne at a place between Wylam and Ovingham.
The new fell running shoes, inov-8 Flyroc 345 GTX were a bit dissapointing.
Don't get me wrong they are comfortable and cope well with the really muddy ground, not too hard on the feet and knees on tarmac either, but under these wet, well aquatic, conditions they just filled up with water. I think that the Gortex ® lining under these conditions may be a hinderance rather than a help. I wish now I'd bought the standard version.