7 weeks of training left, 40 ish miles and a welcome return to trail running

This week only consisted of 4 training days, but they all were productive and aimed towards covering distance at different times of day.

I did 2 laps of the 5.4 mile route on Tuesday at 7am and 8pm. I then repeated this on Thursday. On Friday morning I did another 2 laps at 7am . These were all routine and I didn’t feel out of my comfort zone for any parts of them. I wanted to make sure I had something that got me out of this today, although I have a very long run planned for next week so didn’t want it to take away from my training then. After my alarm went off at 5:30am, I was able to have plenty of time for my run.

I have a small disillusion about running in Manchester due to the flat nature of most of the routes I seem to do. To combat this, I decided to go to Hollingworth Lake in Rochdale and run from there up to Blackstone Edge then back round. According to my research this would be just under 7 miles.

Navigation is never my strong suit so I decided a map and directions would both be necessary even though the route looked pretty simple.

After some ventures near private land and a near-miss where two cows were more sedentary than I was worried they were going to be, I managed to make it to the top of Blackstone Edge. The view from here was pretty spectacular but my car and the lake seemed pretty far away!

I got lost on my way back down as well, unfortunately my recollection of where the lake was had drifted off further left and I went about half a mile in the wrong direction before realising.

After going back uphill to near the top again I regained sight of the lake. It was now a new challenge to keep this in my eyeline and not fall over uneven rocks. The route back down was quite gentle in terms of gradient which helped. I managed to return to the car and found my energy levels were good enough at the finish that I could have done a few more miles.

What my early start gave me in terms of extra time, it took away in terms of me having finished rather early and the Hollingworth Lake cafe still being closed. Luckily there is a garden area as part of this and a hose was left plugged into the water supply. Whilst it may look a tad unrefined, drinking from a hose was refreshing!

I’m pleased to have willed myself through 1000ft of elevation in the first few miles today and optimistic the long run next week will go well as a result of this.