A tricky piece of work scheduling left me scratching my head a bit today as I wondered how to fit in my scheduled 6 mile hill run. I had an all day customer meeting at one of our data centres so I took my running kit with me in the hope that the meeting would go smoothly and then I would get a chance for a run before driving home. I also had to deal with the problem of wet running shoes after I hosed them down after the weekend, which meant that trail shoes were my only option.
Thankfully the meeting went well and I decided to change into my running gear and then stop half way home for a run on Northola Fields. The park is next to the A40 and is notable for the 4 distinctive man-made hills that were constructed using rubble from the demolition of the original Wembley Stadium.
The light was gradually fading as I went for a warm-up loop of the flat sections of the park and I tried to run on the sodden grass and not the pathway. I then moved onto hill training by attempting to run up the first hill and then jog back down the other side. I managed the up section but I misjudged just how wet and muddy the slopes were and barely kept my footing trying to slowly descend the other side.
The first hill was clearly too dangerous so I proceeded onto the second hill, which has a man-made path spiralling up to the top. Keeping my footing was not a problem but the wind was strong so I had to contend with both the slope and the gusts trying to push me back down – great training! The second and third hills were not as muddy as the first so I ran up both and jogged down the other sides.
I repeated this a few times before running back to the car in near darkness. I really enjoyed the hill work but the wind made things hard going and I probably should have picked some better routes across the flat grass sections because my feet were soaked after the first loop. Next on my hill training list is the nearby Horsenden Hill.
Janathon 2013:
- Exercise completed today: running
- Distance run today: 6.24 miles
- Distance run so far: 141.56 miles
- Weight change so far: -1.2kg
