Big challenge this week by racing on one evening then an ultra the next morning.
I’d had this Friday booked off from work for a long time in order to recce the last 15 or so miles of the Hardmoors 60 route but I just couldn’t make it up there so opted to make the most of the day off to run a loop of the 30 mile White Rose Ultra route as a long training run.
My main goal was to run it at a very steady effort level that would be suitable for Hardmoors and would leave me feeling like I could carry on when I’d finished and in that respect I’d just about managed it. As a route, the WRU is a tough one, there’s a lot of road and running in Salomon Sense Pro’s and driving rain meant it wasn’t the most comfortable day but I’m very happy with the pacing.
In the end, I ran every single step of the route at a steady pace and there’s some big hills in the 4000+ ft of ascent on the course. Feel fairly positive about Hardmoors knowing that the schedule I want to run to is 2 minutes a mile slower which will account for the steps and cliff climbs to a degree. It’s so difficult running so slow at the start though but I felt so different beyond the 20ish mile mark it was worth the effort.
I was also impressed my legs felt reasonable after a decent effort the night before at the Denis Stitt fell race where I was 10th overall and bagged maximum club points in our club Fell Championship table to move to within 2 wins of claiming the title so a good week overall!
- Monday – 10.1 miles
- Tuesday – 4.5 miles
- Wednesday – 8.4 miles
- Thursday – 8.4 miles (4.4 & 4 – Denis Stitt race)
- Friday – 30.5 miles (White Rose Ultra route training)
- Saturday – Rest
- Sunday – Rest
Total: 61.8 miles, 6,017ft elevation