An undulating 10

I’m always suspicious of the word undulating. It’s what mountain rats call hilly. To them, it seems, Everest is hilly. The path up to base camp is undulating.

In fact, today’s run probably wasn’t even undulating, it just wasn’t race track flat. Either way, it came as a bit of a wake up call following last week.

The self-levelling property of water means that running alongside uneventful stretches of a major river, as I did for 90% of my long run last week, is flat. Very flat. And that pancake terrain is really what I have become used to running in Manchester these past six years. Flyover bridges count as hills, while I think I deserve a red polka-dotted jersey for climbing hump-backed bridges without stopping.

Cut to today: I set off confident – foolishly so, as it turns out – that James and I could crack 10 miles in less than 80 minutes. We then met up with a friend of his who could probably crack 10 miles in 80 minutes without breaking sweat, and certainly without reaching for the Camelbak he’d brought with him today.

So off, we went OK: 8:07 for mile one, 7:56 for mile two, 7:48 for mile three. So far so good.

Even 8:02 for mile four was nothing to worry about. But not long after that, I started to notice hills which had never seemed to be on this route before.

Now, Cheshire is hardly known for its mountain ranges – I’ll grant you that – but by the standards of flatness to which I’ve grown accustomed, even the slight inclines I’d never noticed before began to loom up like The Eiger ahead of me. 

Add to this the fact that, had I decided that the pain in my lungs (which haven’t had a proper workout for months) and the sluggishness in my legs were unbearable, I’d no real idea where I was, or how to get home. That dilemma – hang on and painfully make it home vs drop out and become quickly lost – is quite something to get your head around when you’re having to concentrate just on breathing. 

As it was, I hung on a little, Fast Mark decided to go at his pace (he knew where he was too!) and James and I finished having averaged a little slower than I did last week at 8:07/mile. I will get under 8, but not for a week or two yet.

A good workout, and just ideal conditions. Cold in the shade, frosty underfoot, but with clear blue skies and the low sun bursting through the trees/hedgerows/footballers’ mansions on a very quiet Sunday morning around Dunham Massey and Bowdon. I really am going to have to find a way of taking a camera with me.

By the way, the graph shows the fluctuation in my pace – not the profile of the run! I think this is the route we followed.

Blood and sweat

A solo long run this morning. Having fought off the instinct not to go at all, I remembered I’d already told a few mates of my plans, so couldn’t back out now. With that in mind, I pulled on my kit, picked out a bit of Led Zeppelin on the iPod and set Nike+ to 10miles and set out.

I hadn’t planned exactly where I was going but had a rough route in mind which I suspected might do the trick: straight to the paths alongside the River Mersey, head downstream as far as Sale Water Park, then east to Palatine Road, and back. (The map’s here)

Nice weather for it – dry, bright, a stiff breeze in parts but largely still. The paths were still cut up and muddy in places, but all were (just about) passable.

Considering it’s very close to a busy motorway, and snakes through built up Chorlton and Didsbury, it’s amazing how far from the city you can feel with just a hundreds yards or so of nature reserves between you and endless housing estates.

The first thing I noticed was that I was far from alone. There were dozens of runners out there today.

The second thing I noticed – around 4.5miles – was blood trickling down my face. Quite what triggered a nose bleed on a pretty uneventful run, I’ve no idea, but it showed no sign of stopping until 10 minutes or so into my warmdown. So for six miles, as well as facing the irritating trickle across my top lip, I also attracted increasingly puzzled looks as I ran past the other runners, dog walkers and couples out on the paths.

The third and final thing I noticed was the pace. I’d assumed that running without my much-fitter training partner, I’d slump to a trudge, but Nike+ reckons I actually upped the pace fractionally from our 9 miler last week and crept ever closer to a solid 8-min-mile training run.

It’s been a few hours now since the run, and my legs are already reminding me that I’ve punished them a little, but nothing too severe. Let’s see how sore I am in the morning.

Sunday run – January 27

I’m still getting used to driving out to Alty to start my weekend runs, but it is worth the effort ten times over.

Apart from the fact I get to enjoy some good company along the way, and that I force myself to dig a little deeper to keep up, the routes from there are tremendous compared with my usual trails alongside the Mersey.

Today was another of those wonderful runs. Off road on soft footpaths for most of the first few miles – so perhaps a little slower due to the heavy mud in parts – then back through Dunham Massey and Hale (see last post for links). All fairly flat, and very beautiful.

Thanks to the mild, dry weather – and the fact we were running at lunchtime – Dunham Massey was busy just at the point I began to overheat. Nevermind.

In terms of overall fitness, today’s run was good news. Not only did we manage to shave off a few seconds/km off the pace(we’re getting close to the 5min/km barrier now) but we also added well over a mile on last week to the point that we covered the best part of 9m. I’m probably running alone next week, so I best start plotting a good 10m route now!

That said, I definitely felt the pace a few times today – unlike my company for today who, as well as nursing a hangover, confessed to having squeezed in “a cheeky 9 miler” just 24 hours earlier.

Still, for the first time, I’m beginning to think that the Coniston 14 is now becoming a realistic possibility!

Graph below. Map is nigh on impossible, thanks to the lack of footpaths on GMaps, and my lack of knowledge of the area!

A good start

Today was what running – to me – is all about. The distance was challenging, but didn’t leave my legs like lead. The pace felt as fast as I could muster, while still holding conversation (just) with my running mate. Oh yes, and it was a really great run in fantastic surroundings. And a chance to catch up with a friend.

For some of those reasons, it was not a textbook, steady-paced run, as my Nike+ graph shows.

This is a rough map of where we went. Starting out in Altrincham, we headed towards and around Dunham Massey, a 250 acre country estate (and mansion) owned by the National Trust, complete with deer park. Our only problem came when we found that the River Bollin, which runs nearby, had burst its banks and flooded several fields and around 25 metres of our path. Oh well, at least the puddles in my trainers kept my feet cool for the rest of the run.

Returning through Hale back into Altrincham, we managed an average of 5mins 11 a km (or 8:21 a mile) – not great by any stretch, but not bad either considering this was my first ‘proper’ run for about three months.

A good start.