Peco cross country - STAC

Today was another Peco cross country race organised by STAC near Seacroft in Leeds. Conditions were very different to the previous race 2 weeks ago. This time there was no mud as the ground was frozen solid after the overnight frost.

After a good 20 minutes warm up, I thought that I was well prepared for the start of the race. However, I seemed to be almost left standing at the start as the pack set off at great speed across the first field. As we got on to a narrower section, I must've been back in about 70th position. I don't know if my legs just rebelled at setting off quickly after last week's race.

I spent the first half of the race gradually working my way through the field, then the second half running at a fairly steady pace. Given the firm underfoot conditions, the speed was quite high, I averaged only just over 4 minutes per kilometre, which would have been close to my 10k pace this time last year. My finishing position was 36th, compared to 35th, 30th & 42nd in the earlier races in the series this season & 78th in the same race last year. I believe that we finished 2nd in the team race, with Ilkley Harrier Tom A winning the race in convincing style.

I felt fine overall today, despite the slow start, so no real after effects from a solid week of training & last week's half marathon. I need to ease off now over the next few days in preparation for the Dewsbury 10k next Sunday.

The main thing that I'm noticing with my racing & training now is that I'm racing & doing speedwork much faster than I was at the beginning of last year, but the speed of my average runs is getting progressively slower. Apart from my weekly track sessions, and races (plus occasional other effort sessions), I rarely run faster than 5 minutes per km & often quite a bit slower than that. Compared to January last year I've increased from about 32k per week to about 85k per week, although last year I was being a bit cautious after a series of injuries at the back end of 2008. I seem to have got into a training rhythm which suits me, although I doubt that I'd find it in any coaching manuals.

Good day to go for a run

Until recently I'd probably have had a day off from running today. I was feeling a bit under the weather, but nothing serious. So I put on my running gear & headed out of the door. Conditions were again very good: dry, cold & sunny. I did the 2 bridges run from Ilkley to Addingham & back, which is the run that I do most frequently.

The pace was very easy & comfortable, given that I'm doing the Peco cross country race tomorrow. I was pleased that I made the effort to go out for a run. On the way back I saw Sarah J (runningbear) who looked to be running very well.

I'm not expecting anything special at the race tomorrow, as it's really just an opportunity to do some faster running before the Dewsbury 10k. It seems like the conditions should be firm underfoot, which will make a pleasant change from the recent Peco at Nell Bank.

Running in the Strid Wood

(The above photo was taken earlier this month, I don't normally carry a camera with me while I'm running - today the only snow left was on top of the hills)

Today I went running in the Strid Wood, setting off from the Bolton Abbey car park, past the Priory and on to Cavendish Pavilion (above) then to Barden Bridge before joining the road to Howgill & returning on the Dalesway path, about 16k in total. Conditions were good with the paths clear of snow, ice & mud, it was cold (about 2 degrees) and there was quite a stiff breeze.

Following Sunday's race & the hard track session on Wednesday, I was still feeling heavy in the legs & not looking to set any speed records today. Indeed my average pace was more than 2 minutes per kilometre slower than at the Brass Monkey. However, today's run wasn't about pace, rather it was an opportunity to get out in the fresh air in a really attractive part of the world & just go for a run.

Shortly after Barden Bridge I saw a shooting party about to head off up towards the Valley of Desolation, they offered me a meat pie, but unfortunately I had to decline their offer, as I doubt that I could have digested it on the run. A few minutes later on the back road to Howgill I was overtaken by Ilkley Harrier Steve C who was out on a bike ride....the last time he'd overtaken me was near the end of the race on Sunday.

Today's run was a great pleasure, although I am feeling more tired than usual after a hard week of running. I don't expect great things from the Peco cross country on Sunday, but hopefully there is time to recover before the Dewsbury 10k the following week.

Tough track session

This evening's track session was hard work mainly because I was still feeling very sluggish after Sunday's race. I'm not sure that it's really wise to do a hard track session a few days after a half marathon, but I decided to give it a try. We were a bit thin on the ground as well which made it seem harder than normal, especially into a stiff breeze on the back straight.

We did a 6 minute session first, with the intention of running as far as possible in that time. This was followed by 5X 1k with 200 metre jog recoveries at about 10k race pace. I struggled with the 6 minute effort, as my legs didn't really seem to want to run quickly. According to my Garmin I covered 1.79 km at an average 3:26 minutes per km. I think that the Garmin overestimates the distance on the track, so I was probably a couple of seconds per km slower than that, but still fairly quick all things considered.

For the 5X1k I was trying to keep pace with Rachael B, she was running really well given that she'd also raced at York on Sunday. I averaged 3:34 for each of the kms, with the last one being the quickest so I was quite pleased with that. I can't see me being able to run that pace at the Dewsbury 10k as it's about 10 seconds per km faster than I did at Clitheroe last month.

Tomorrow I think that I need a rest day.

Steady club run

I decided to run one of the Ilkley Harriers club runs this evening. We had about 50 runners racing on Sunday between the Brass Monkey half marathon & the Stanbury Splash fell race, so there were quite a lot of people favouring easier runs tonight. I opted for the 'Burley lollipop' a totally flat route of about 10 miles. I decided against doing any of the efforts along the way, instead maintaining a steady conversational pace.

Tomorrow will be the Carnegie track session. I might need to take it a bit easy as I'm still feeling Sunday's race in my legs and today's 10 miles was probably a bit too long 2 days after a half marathon. But we'll see how things are in the morning.

I've had a look at the race time predictor here using my time from Sunday. This suggests that I should be able to run faster at shorter distances than I have done recently. I don't know how accurate these predictors are, but I'd be quite happy with the sub 18 minute 5k that it suggests I should be able to run.

Recovery day

No after effects from yesterday's race, but I didn't get a chance to run today until after dark. It was a steady jog around town, avoiding all the hills, 11k or so was more than enough.

I'm sure that it will take a week or two to get the effects of the half marathon out of my legs. Next Sunday is another Peco cross country race. I'm not taking these races too seriously, but I find it enjoyable to do a very different kind of race to my usual road races & I think that I get some benefit from racing on a different surface.

My next road race is the Dewsbury 10k on the 7th February. This is probably a bit too close to yesterday's race for me to really race quickly, but if I can run close to the time that I did at Clitheroe I'll be very happy.

I'm starting to think about future race goals. The John Carr 5k series in May is probably the next major target on the horizon. I'd like to be able to see how quickly I can run a 5k & the charge around the sewage works at Esholt is probably the best place to find out.

Brass Monkey Half Marathon

I was pleased to run 81:31 today, which is 7 minutes faster than I managed at Brussels in October. It's a very fast course and conditions were near perfect. I set off a bit too quickly, but managed to keep going at a reasonable pace, my 5k splits were:

1st 5k: 18:42
2nd 5k 18:59
3rd 5k: 19:29
4th 5k: 19:56

My time for the first 10k was actually a couple of seconds quicker than I ran at the Abbey Dash in November, which is quite surprising given that the Leeds race is one of the fastest 10k races in the UK.

I was helped along today by other Ilkley Harriers who were running at a similar pace: Jonathan S, Paul O, Stephen C & also Andy W. I didn't see Andy during the race, but he finished only a couple of seconds behind me. Justin P had a really good run today, beating 80 minutes. Josie H of Otley had a great run to finish second lady.

I got a prize as first M55 and also set the Ilkley Harriers club record at M50 as well as M55. The time was quick enough to qualify for the Power of 10 rankings & I think that it's the 2nd fastest M55 time in the UK so far this year (bearing in mind it's only January and many races have been cancelled due to the bad weather.

Easy does it

Opinion is divided on the merits or otherwise of running the day before a half marathon. I decided to go for a very easy flat 8k run today. My logic is that it's good to get out & blow the cobwebs off, even though there is no training benefit, psychologically I feel better going for a run. The one downside is that I feel that I've got a bit of a cold, whilst it's nothing serious, I could do without it on the eve of a race.

I'm really not sure about tomorrow's race, based on my recent 10k at Clitheroe, I should be capable of running a half marathon in less than 83 minutes, however, my most recent half in Brussels in October was 88:34. Even though the Brass Monkey is a much faster course than Brussels, I'm not sure that it's feasible for me to run more than 5 minutes faster. Another factor is that there are several Ilkley Harriers running who are all capable of running between 80 & 83 minutes, so I might be motivated to run with my club mates & see how it goes.

Lost in translation

Yesterday was a rest from running & today an easy 11.5k 2 two bridges run. I needed to stretch my legs a bit before the half marathon on Sunday.

I notice that I've had a few international visitors to my blog & wondered what they would make of it as it really is quite parochial. I experimented with the Microsoft translation service: 'bing', translating my blog from Wednesday first into French, then German, then Japanese and back into English, this is what it came up with:

Track the changes.
Since December, finished, first session therefore the correct during several weeks change. We, 5X400m, 6X800m and 5X400m. S, idea leading to the first set of 400 and 800 seconds to approximately 10,000 of tempo, and then click 400 last set of fast's second.
Word was a little too fast roaming Sunday half marathon is gently, and feel good too hard seemed once the current session, press. We first set 400's 87 seconds a round after 800 seconds about 2 h 55 in. Consistent was not pace more second variations of one sales person significantly. Equivalent to the pace to approximately 36: 30 to 10 k goal than somewhat high speed was.
Last 400 speed our very different, s O set, Paul both enormous speed than about 8 in high-speed 73 seconds I about slow ran first of the first game was significantly 間がも seconds. After 400 4. More slowly in 79 final round is complete.
After his pace is good, I somewhat take easy session purposes, without press I felt that you make. You can recover in the day, I think. I I can tomorrow, when it comes to navigate Norfolk running. Friday and Saturday day must be very easily.

That's clear enough then.

Track for a change

The first track session that we've done since mid December, so it was quite a change from the running I've been doing for a few weeks. We ran 5X400m, 6X800m & 5X400m. The idea was to run the first set of 400s & the 800s at about 10k pace then the final set of 400s a few seconds quicker.

I was a bit wary about about going too quickly with the half marathon race on Sunday, but once the session got underway I felt fine & didn't seem to be pushing it too hard. We managed the first set of 400s in about 87 seconds per lap, then the 800s at about 2:55. The pace was very consistent with a variation of no more than 1 second on any of the reps. The pace is equivalent to about 36:30 for 10k, so was a bit faster than the target.

For the last set of 400s our pace varied considerably, Paul O ran the first two at a blistering speed, around 73 seconds, I was about 8 seconds slower than that, but still much faster than I'd done in the first set. After a slower 4th 400, I finished off with a last lap of 79 seconds.

Whilst I'd been intending to take the session a little bit easy, I felt that I was running at quite a good pace without pushing too hard. Hopefully I'll be able to recover from it in the next couple of days. I won't be running tomorrow, as I'm travelling to Norfolk. Friday & Saturday should be very easy days as well.

Fog on the moors

One of the advantages of living in Ilkley is the diversity of running terrain. Yesterday I ran 11.5km mainly on the flat roads along the valley, today I ran the same distance, but in another world up on the moor with quite dense fog. I only saw a handful of other people while I was out, including a 5 mile section with no one at all. Quite remarkable considering that more than 2 million people live within 25 miles of Ilkley, but I guess not many of them go out on the moors on a foggy Tuesday afternoon in January.

I ran from Keighley Road past the Swastika Stone to Windgate Nick & Light Bank Lane with a loop, then back. Conditions for running were quite good, the snow has almost gone, although there were a few isolated patches & it wasn't too muddy. The last time I ran up there less than 2 weeks ago I was faced with thigh deep snow drifts.

My pace today was deliberately slow again as I don't want to overdo things before the race on Sunday.

No snow, no ice, no mud.

I was going to have a rest day today as I felt a bit jaded after yesterday's cross country race & recent training, but decided to go out for an easy run to get a bit of fresh air. It was one of those days when I didn't feel much like going for a run but thought that I might fell better for it afterwards.

I ran my regular two bridges run at a very easy pace. It was good to be able to run without having to worry about slipping about on snow, mud or ice. It was one of those runs that has doubtful training benefit, but at least I did feel fresher when I got home.

This week is the build up to the Brass Monkey half marathon in York on Sunday, so nothing too strenuous running wise is planned. It seems likely that we should finally be able to get back on the Carnegie track on Wednesday after missing 4 weeks as a result of the weather. Not sure that a track session is what I really need a few days before Sunday's race, but we'll see how it goes.

Peco cross country - Nell Bank

There was certainly plenty of mud at today's Peco cross country, but at least we could run through a stream 6 times to wash the mud off. There was a big turnout of runners, with some fast people at the head of the field. I finished 42nd, which is worse than the 35th & 30th places in the two previous Peco events, although it depends on who's running really.

I didn't feel to be running too badly, although I did slow quite a bit on the 3rd lap, being overtaken by Mark I & Nick P. We had a very strong Ilkley team, with 8 runners in the first 22. I've not seen the team results yet, but we must have done very well, although I hear that Abbey had a lot of fast runners out as well. Paul O had a really good run, at the last Peco race I finished just behind him, but he was way in front of me today.

Looking at my Garmin stats, which don't really mean a lot on a very muddy cross country course, I averaged 4:35 per kilometre. I think that this was OK, especially considering what the conditions were like. I think that I am missing a bit of speed, mainly as a result of not running on the track for four weeks & probably also the heavy mileage that I've been doing in recent weeks. Hopefully the lack of speed won't be too much of an issue in the Brass Monkey next week.

More complaints about the weather

I decided to have a rest day on Friday following the previous 2 weeks of solid training. Not sure that today I felt much fresher for the day off, but logic says that it should have been beneficial.

This morning it was raining quite hard & there were still odd bits of ice around, especially on the paths. I did the two bridges run, setting off around the park. It was very slippery going along to the footbridge & then very wet in the field at the other side of the river. Once out on the Nesfield Road, the problem changed from slippery ice to flooding. There were quite a lot of deep puddles which reminded me of the start of the Thirsk 10. Once back over the river it didn't get any better, as there were huge puddles again around Low Mill.

Given that I've got the cross country race tomorrow, I was only running slowly today, which was probably just as well given the conditions. Bring back the snow.... at least I didn't get wet feet!

It will inevitably be very muddy for tomorrow's race which I'm not too enthusiastic about, I much prefer a solid surface to run on. I'll be racing in my spikes for the first time, I've no idea how it will feel to wear spikes on mud as I've only ever worn them on ice before.

Mixed run with efforts

Today I went dog walking with A & Jake in the Strid Wood & after lunch at the Cavendish Pavilion decided to run home. Conditions were much better than yesterday, with a light snow covering on top of yesterday's ice and a bit of a thaw making it not too slippery.

After following the paths & fields to Bolton Bridge, I came back to Ilkley along the Nesfield Road. I did 5X1km efforts with 1km recoveries, with some doubling back to avoid doing the efforts up/down the steeper hills. I was very pleased to average a bit quicker than my 10k race speed for the efforts, considering I was wearing fell running shoes & many layers of clothing. Normally I can't motivate myself to do fast efforts on my own. After the efforts I did a warm down run around the park to make the total distance close to 16k.

In the last 2 weeks I've run more than 120 miles in total, with a couple of efforts sessions, but also with a lot of steady running on ice/snow/slush. I'm going to have a couple of easy days now before the Peco cross country on Sunday & an easy week next week before the Brass Monkey half on the 24th.

Now it's black ice

Yesterday's slush & rain turned to ice & black ice today. Walking around Ilkley this morning was quite challenging with the roads as bad as the pavements. It seems that Bradford Council is now virtually out of grit.

Not many options for running. The track session was cancelled. I decided to head to Bolton Bridge & run in the Strid Wood, the advantage here was that I could wear my spikes. I'm still new to wearing spikes, this was only my second outing in them & it was much more icy than the first time I wore them.

It set off quite cautiously, trying to avoid patches of solid ice, opting for snow where possible. However, the further I ran the more confidence that I got that the spikes would grip on the ice. The technique for running in spikes on ice is very different to wearing normal shoes: it's important to land on the forefoot, especially going downhill & I was getting better grip on icy surfaces compared to snow or bare ground. Eventually I got so that I could run at close to normal speed.

There were very few people out in the wood today, but the few walkers who were there were having great difficulty staying upright and making any forward progress. I did get incredulous looks from them for running at full speed downhill on sheet ice!

Same again

I was going to run on the moors today, as most of the roads around Ilkley are in quite a dangerous condition for running with compacted snow having melted then refrozen with rain & sleet on top. However the moor near White Wells didn't look very inviting, I saw a women who was trying to walk her dogs on the moor struggle to stand upright, then eventually fall & slide most of the way down the hill....fortunately she seemed to be unharmed.

The one road that seems to be fine for running is the Nesfield Road, so for the umpteenth time in recent weeks I set off along past the golf course. I ran the same route as yesterday, out to the A59 & back. I was running a bit more quickly today & felt quite comfortable.

Not sure yet if the track session will be going ahead tomorrow.

It's raining!

Today's run was the first in rain for over a month. It didn't rain a lot, but it was a change from snow. I went out & back on the Nesfield Road, as I knew it was the one route that was relatively clear of snow/slush/ice, even with the rise in temperature & rain. Not much speed in the legs again today, but no real problems.

There is a chance that we may be running on the Carnegie track on Wednesday after the rise in temperature today & similar forecast for the next couple of days. It will be a bit of a shock to the system to run on the track again, but it will be good to sharpen up the speed a bit.

Sunday is the Peco cross country at Nell Bank. It's supposed to be a very muddy course, so with the snow melting it could be a bit of a mess, not really my kind of conditions, but it will be interesting to run a cross country race again.

Easy does it

After yesterday's efforts session, I decided to do a much easier run today. I did the two bridges run the opposite way to the way that I normally run it, starting out on the Dalesway. There is still hard packed snow on most of the paths, but the Nesfield Road is completely clear. The forecast is for a lot more snow tonight, so it will be interesting what tomorrow brings.

There must be some doubt now about whether the Brass Monkey race will go ahead 2 weeks today, as we'd need quite a thaw to get rid of all of the snow from roads that haven't been gritted. I had a look on the website for the race to find that if the race has to be cancelled due to bad weather, there won't be any refund of entry fees, but we will be able to go to collect our goody bags. We would have to go to York to get these as they can't post them out!

That's more like it

I decided to get up early & do the IH weekly 'Hard Run', out on the Nesfield Road to the A59 & back. 10 of us were out this morning for the 7:45 start, with the temperature about minus 4 & a light covering of overnight snow.

We did efforts of 2X3 minutes, 2X4 mins, 2X5 mins & 2X6 mins,with recoveries of about 2 minutes. The efforts are not really comparable as some have uphill sections & others are downhill. Dave W was setting a brisk pace at the front with Richard R, Jeff P, David B, Mark I & myself trying to keep within a reasonable distance of him.

I was pleased to run at an average pace of about 3:50 minutes per km during the efforts, with the last 6 minute one at 3:32, not bad considering we were wearing several layers of clothing, hats & gloves, fell shoes & had a slippery surface.

It was really good to do some speedwork again. I don't seem to be able to do these kind of efforts on my own & really need the motivation of running in a group. It's also good to see that the weeks of steady running in the snow don't seem to have slowed me down too much.

New shoes in the snow

I decided to try running today in my new cross country spikes. I've never run in spikes before, so was a bit unsure about trying them out in the snow. I decided to go to the Strid Wood which still has a good covering of snow, compacted on the main paths & powdery on the fields. At the start of my run it was minus 3, so it was relatively mild by recent standards.

It was very comfortable running in the spikes, especially where the snow was compacted, they gave really good grip & I didn't feel in danger of slipping at all, although it wasn't especially icy. The spikes weren't ideal in the powdery snow & I would probably have been better off with studded fell shoes for those sections.

All in all it was another enjoyable run. My pace was steady, although I did put in a few efforts up the hills (and also downhill) to see what sort of grip the shoes would give me.

The forecast is for the cold weather to last for at least another week, so need to make the best of the conditions. In the 3 weeks that we've had the snow, I haven't run fast except for the Ribble Valley 10k, but at least I've got plenty of running done (more than 50 miles per week).

Having fun in the snow

I decided that I might as well go out & have some fun in the snow as serious training is out of the question at the moment. I set off running with the temperature about minus 5 & still lots of snow around so I headed upwards towards the moors.

The average depth of snow on the moor was about 8 or 9 inches, but in some of the drifts it was almost waist deep. To say that running was challenging is certainly not exaggerating. I ran up to join the moor at Wells Road, then up past the Swastika Stone & on to Windgate Nick, before dropping down to Addingham Moorside & returning to Ilkley, in total it was 13.7k. There hadn't been many people beyond the Swastika Stone, so it was a question of making fresh tracks in the snow.

This was without doubt the slowest run I've ever done with an average speed of 7:11 per km - not that I've often run through 9 inches of snow on the moor. The snow conditions were actually quite good, very cold & powdery with virtually no ice. Running down the hill from Windgate Nick was good fun as it's quite steep & a smooth surface - a bit like running down a ski jump ramp.

Not sure about training for the Brass Monkey half marathon.... at least if we have waist deep snowdrifts for the race I'll be better prepared than most people.

Here we go again

A bit more snow overnight on top of the 6 inches or so we already had. I decided to do the two bridges run today. Conditions weren't actually too bad considering how much snow we've got. Where the snow was compacted it was generally runnable & not icy.

I ran at a pace that was similar to a slow steady run in normal conditions, so it was probably the equivalent of a fast run as the snow must slow me down by at least 30 seconds per km. If we hadn't have had 3 weeks of snow, it would have been quite an enjoyable run, but as it is there is an increasing sense of frustration at not being able to do any regular training.

One positive aspect of the conditions is that my sore achilles hasn't been a problem at all. I think that running on an unstable surface probably helps with strengthening the muscles & tendons in the lower leg.

The forecast is for the cold weather to continue for the foreseeable future, so it's really a question ofaccepting that there will probably be few opportunities for any speedwork before the Brass Monkey.

Yet more snow

Yesterday I had a rest day from running after the 18 miler on Sunday & went for a walk in the Strid Wood instead. Overnight we had yet more snow, this time about 6 inches of the stuff on top of what was already there.



Today I ventured out on the Dalesway again, once I got past the caravan park in Addingham, I was making new tracks in the powder snow as no one else had been along there. It's quite enjoyable running in fresh deep snow, certainly much better than the recent ice, however, it's impossible to run quickly. I went as far as Bolton Bridge then decided to come back along the Nesfield Road. There had only been the odd tractor along the road so the conditions weren't too bad for running, certainly much better than they had been on Sunday.

I've just heard that the track session at Carnegie tomorrow is cancelled due to the weather conditions. It's becoming a problem that I haven't done any speed sessions for ages. Apart from the Ribble Valley 10k, I've not done any proper training for three weeks. I have still been running most days, but jogging along through powder snow isn't really comparable to interval training.

Long run in the snow

Having said in my blog yesterday that I didn't expect much more snow, we got another couple of inches overnight. Seven of us met early at the Old Bridge for a long run advertised as 18 miles at 7:30 minutes per mile pace, the temperature was about minus 5. We set off along the Nesfield Road which was quite icy with the downhill sections being paricularly challenging. Andy W took a fall but fortunately without injury.



We slithered our way to the memorial near Bolton Priory & 3 of the group turned back leaving just 4 of us to complete the distance to Barden Bridge. Once we got off road the conditions improved significantly, we were able to run on fresh snow, making the first tracks in it. Andy took some great photos.



We returned along the Dalesway path, which was a much better option than the Nesfield Road, although it did mean that our average pace was someway short of the 7:30 target. Having said that, effort levels were quite high as it's always more difficult to run on snow & ice. By the end of the run I was certainly feeling the distance & I was pleased to not have much further to go. My 3 colleagues are all training for Spring marathons so have many more of these long runs to look forward to (& much further), for me it will have been my last long run for a few weeks.

A few hills

Today I did a steady tour of some of the hills in Ilkley. I'm planning to do a long run tomorrow, so didn't want to overdo things today. In total I ran 13.7 km including Carters Lane, Stockeld Road, Eaton Road, Princess Road, Wells Road & CowpastureRoad. The pace was only steady, but felt quite comfortable. The main problem was passing one of the Fish & Chip shops a couple of times made me feel really hungry.

It's good that most of the ice has now gone from the roads & paths, making running a lot safer around Ilkley. There is still quite a lot of snow & ice on the moors, so I might stick to dog walking on the moors, rather than running. The forecast is for it to continue very cold at night, but I don't think that we're due to get a lot more snow.

I've now got 2 weeks with no races, then it's 4 races in 4 weeks, Brass Monkey, Dewsbury 10k & a couple of Peco cross countries. I'm not too concerned about the cross countries (although I am currently second in my age group in the series), but I'd like to run well at the Brass Monkey. The Dewsbury 10k will depend on how I go the 3 previous weekends, I might be a bit drained by then.

Fast finish, slow start

On New Year's Eve afternoon, I set off to do a steady hilly route around Ilkley, after 10 minutes or so of running I changed my mind & decided to run the Burley Lollipop instead. On the way back I picked up the pace a bit & ran 3km close to race pace. Clearly this was a very different run to what I had been intending to do & shows that I wouldn't be very good at trying to follow a running schedule. Nevertheless I was pleased with the run that I did & it was good to do some flat faster running after all of the sliding around on ice.

Today I was feeling a bit worse for wear after the New Year festivities having had too much to eat & drink. I opted to do my regular 2 bridges run out to Addingham, with the alternate return via the Dalesway path. The off road sections were generally in good condition with the ground frozen, but not much ice around. The main problem was the large number of people out for a New Year's walk, making the paths very congested in places.

It was a slow, steady run today, but not too bad considering that it is New Year's Day.