I KNOCK 10 MINS OFF MY HILLY 23 MILE TRAINING ROUTE!

MY TRIBUTE RUN TO ARTHUR LYDIARD, 23 MILES, 2,329 ft OF CLIMBING

Sat 28th
I headed for the hills, for some serious high mileage training! The nearest hilly area to me is Parbold some 14 miles away from where I live, last year I'd been doing hill runs right through until the end of last summer! This was my first Arthur Lydiard type mountain run of the year!
I traveled down on my motor scooter and by the time I'd parked up my feet and legs were numb with cold!
Setting off from PARBOLD I was straight onto the first climb, and man I was really struggling to get going ! I reached the top after over a mile and had thoughts in my head to cut the run short! Next was a long downhill before the notorious HUNTERS HILL, I still wasn't feeling warmed up even after tackling the super steep Hunters hill, maybe wearing shorts on a day when the temperature was only 45 f and the wind was hitting 20 mph was not such a good idea!
Now I was running downhill along stony lane, using Jack Nirensteins running method really let me fly down the road hitting 13.5 mph.
I was starting to feel better now, just as well because the 2 mile climb up Ashurst beacon was my next challenge, I soon got into a rhythm and before I knew it I was over the top and zooming down the over side, I now had quite a few miles of narrow country lane between me and the next target Crank hill.
I was motoring along the country roads and was soon on the tortuous Crank Hill [ almost like a mini Alps the road twists and turns through over hanging trees] trying not to over do it [after all this is a very long run] I run within my limits up the climb hoping to pick up speed on the next downhill.
I make it over the top, catch my breath and charge onwards down the next descent, my Quads are aching now, I've not done much hill work for a long time and every time I go downhill the pain gets worse!
Two more climbs to go the first one starts easy enough, you just think your at the top and you go round a corner and there it is a bloody great wall to climb, bastard! gets me every time.
The final climb is up the side of Ashurst Beacon again but from a different side, past quaint little cottages in the Forrest, at last I'm at the very top, 2 miles downhill to go, this would be very nice except sharp pains go through my Quads each step downhill, I block out the warning signals and hurtle on regardless.
I make it back to Parbold, knocking 10 mins off my best time and despite the freezing 20 mph wind!
I ran this course twice last August as training for the ANGLESEY MARATHON , the first time took me 3 hours, the second time I really tried hard, finishing a shattered wreck in 2.58, today I ran it in a controlled way in 2 hours 48 mins a ten minute improvement.
Was I wearing my SPIRA shoes you may ask! Well no I was wearing my trusty NIKE LUNAR'S.
23 MILES 2,329 FT OF CLIMBING, AV SPEED 8.2 MPH, MAX 13.5 MPH = 2.48