Friday 20 January 2012

It's Friday...it's crackerjack!

I had a cracking run today up in the Beacons. The weather forecast wasn't great so I decided to do a lower level route, but it's always worth taking the gamble and getting out there and today I was rewarded with blue skies and amazing views of the tops, but it was really bliddy windy!

So, my route is below, just short of 20 miles in just over 4 hours...must post my photos of last weekend in the Lakes at some point...but for now, the Beacons in all their glory.

What a great day!




And some photos of the route....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25196224@N02/sets/72157628958699361/



I tried to capture a 360 of the high point of the run, and also wanted to capture the how mental wind was, but not sure this quite does it...




Sunday 8 January 2012

It's not the size of your hill that counts...it's what you do with it

Needed to get a longish run in today, one that would kick start my L100 training proper, so one that would test my legs on some ups and downs. I didn't really want to travel so decided to make the best of my immediate surroundings, in particular my local hill...Craig yr Allt.

This hill is in my back garden, so to speak, and is fairly unimpressive as hills go.


The OS map shows that it is a baby, barely a bump and doesn't compare to the higher ground around Brecon, North Wales and the Lakes, but you have to work with what you've got.


So today I joined together 3 of my regular runs and came up with a 16 miler that would deliver some elevation gain and loss. From this one small hill, and it's smaller neighbouring tumps, I managed to clock up the following stats:



I know it's not a massive run, but it really did test my legs and I found it quite tough. Looking back over my data, my trusty Garmin tells me that this compares in terms of distance (given the odd mile or two) and total elevation gain with the Fairfield Horseshoe starting at Ambleside...


...or over a much shorter distance, it has a comparable elevation gain to climbing Bowfell from Great Langdale...


This is how I have decided to justify the feeling of fatigue in my legs anyway! But it's a good benchmark, and tells me that I really need to get training.

You just gotta love those stats!

Monday 2 January 2012

December Runnings

I haven't blogged for a while, mainly because I've not really had any notable running adventures for a few weeks. The weather has been rubbish, the days have been short and I've been plodding on, knocking off the miles on regular routes that I can run from the doorstep.

Although they haven't been anything special, I still wanted to make a note of the routes I'd run because just getting out there and running through the mud, catching a glimpse of sunshine, getting stung by a shower of hailstones, and as was the case today - all of the above, uplifts me and allows me to appreciate my surroundings all over again - running is such a great tonic!

All my runs for December have been compiled mainly from the routes below and variations on these routes, and at the end of the year ..... the scores on the doors are:

December mileage: 123 miles
2011 mileage: 1482

Today's run: Garth Hill Loop








My Regular Run





Longer Caerphilly Mountain Loop










Upper Rhondda Fach Loop





http://www.flickr.com//photos/25196224@N02/sets/72157628680694723/show/