Here Comes the Sun

Weekly Totals - 173.45 Miles (44.04 Run, 129.41 Cycled)
Ascent - 8809.1 ft (4011 ft Run, 4798.1 ft Cycled)
Time - 14:54:45

Phew ! What a week, yesterday was officially the last day of winter and I think spring has definitely arrived. I feel incredibly lucky to have been out this last week enjoying the weather and scenery that Lancashire has to offer (who needs the Lakes!!)

Sunday I enjoyed a lie in for a change, as Gem was out for lunch, so I headed to Rivington for about 11:30. I parked at Anglezarke and took my usual route over to Rivington before ascending the Pike, it was definitely a busy day round here for walkers, cyclists and motor bikes so I headed off in the direction of Two Lads and over Winter Hill. I had planned to do about 20 miles so I ran down to Belmont, crossed the Reservoir and ran down the Witton Weavers way before turning off in the direction of Darwen Tower. The weather was amazing and I ran most of the way in a vest and shorts, and the views back over Winter Hill were amazing with the sun breaking through the clouds.

The ground over to Darwen Tower was pretty wet and boggy in places but I made good progress, and was soon at the Tower and back in a crowd. I beat a hasty retreat and after running through the woods at Tockholes started the ascent to Great Hill.


I was starting to feel the distance a bit by now, luckily I had a gel in my bum bag and this seemed to perk me up enough. I was soon back at the car, 21 miles under my belt in about 3hrs 20 with just over 3000ft of ascent so I felt pretty good.

Monday I could still feel the miles in my legs after cycling into work so I opted for slightly shorter route of 3.5 miles at lunch time but didn't actually run that bad. I even felt like a couple of extra miles, via Houghton on the way home on the bike.

Tuesday I was in a meeting at lunch time so I missed my run, but I had planned that I was eventually going to get round to going to the track session at Horwich. It was a bit of a shock to the system but I ran okay. The plan was to run 3 sets of 7 laps (1.5 miles) at 6 min mile pace with 90 secs rest, I managed about 6:20 pace so lost out on a bit of recovery but was fairly pleased I managed to run at this pace rather than hanging back and running at 7 min mile pace.

Wednesday I cycled to work again, ran 5 miles at lunch, and to get an extra couple of miles in, I cycled back via Houghton and Brindle on the way home in the sunshine. Thursday I ran 5 miles at lunch again and then as the evening was so fine, we had a walk across the Moss to the Robin Hood and got some dinner.

Friday I had decided that as I was at work in the morning, and I had already had 40+ miles of running in, I would go for a long bike ride from work through the Trough of Bowland. It was a gorgeous afternoon as I headed out from work, through Ribchester and over Jeffrey Hill. I carried on through Whitewell, Dunsop Bridge and then up the last climb over the water shed and down the fast descent. Excellent ! 54 miles of pure fun (I think!)


It has been a great week for training, I wish I had felt this fit when I ran the London Marathon last year, next week I am off work so should get a few miles of running in, perhaps a few early mornings on the fells.