All change again!

Well, this week, as promised, has been positively spring-like with temperatures reaching the high teens... positively balmy! Wonderful!

On Tuesday, we headed up to the Col du Portet d'Aspet and rather than heading up to the Pic de Paloumère ridge again, we explored a new route up the other side of the Col which took us to the Sommet du Puech at 1669m. We had now idea how much snow would be up there and although we wore the snowshoes from the car, the path had seen plenty of passage over the weekend and the snow was well tracked and trodden down - we were thinking we should have worn our trail shoes instead! But from the Col de la Bène, the snow was deeper and the path steeper - the snowshoes started to come into their own. We soon reached the cabane du Bazet and were greeted with open views of the snow-clad mountains and our way up to the Sommet du Puech. The views on this outing were, not surprisingly, spectacular, despite the high level cloud which made for a very milky sun

So, 10kms and 615m of height gain for an outing of nearly bang on 3 hours - it was just wonderful to be 'up high' again.

Yesterday, with the lovely weather continuing, we got out for a 23km blast on the mountain bikes, just to check out conditions. Many of the tracks and trails were a complete mudfest after the recent poor weather, but it was fun rediscovering bike handling skills that I haven't used since we were in the UK!

I have done a couple of short runs over the past week which seem to confirm that I really am getting somewhere with my knee problem/lower ITB pain. My right foot is once again tracking straight rather then turning out when I run and much of the tension that has surrounded my knee for the past 10 months feels like it has been released. Just in case anybody is interested in what my rehab routine consists of, I am persisting with the myofascial release of my ITB using the foam roller, working on releasing the tension in my calf muscles and also my ankles, strengthening my glutes (especially glute med on my right hand side), strengthening my vastus medialis and strengthening my core. It has to be a regular routine if I am to stop the tension building again. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

The glorious weather is set to change dramatically overnight thanks to a cold front which is bringing proper winter storm conditions to the Pyrénées. The temperature is plummeting and heavy snow is forecast down to 400m, accompanied by strong gusting winds. Nice ..... NOT!

The end is in sight - hurrah!

Apart from yesterday (Friday), it has continued to be wet wet wet down here but without the light relief of Marty Pellow. Snow has continued to fall thick and fast up in the ski resorts where the avalanche risk is extremely high. Despite the sun making a welcome reappearance yesterday, we opted to stay out of the mountains until the situation stabilises and instead headed out for a run up onto the hill above Aspet. No snow there at 400m

The path up onto the hill was muddy and very slippery but up at the Estive (summer pasture) at 650m there was a light dusting

As we headed further along a woodland track to Gaillardet at 700m, there was more of a covering.

It was wonderful to be out in the sunshine, to breath the fresh air and to feel the lungs working. The legs didn't do too badly either and my knee only started to tighten in the last 500m of the run back down. I have been working hard to try and resolve my knee issue in the hope that I will soon be able to run a decent distance without the pain which flares up around the lower iliotibial band on the outside of my right knee. There is a local trail race that I really really want to do in early June so that is my incentive. I just hope my efforts pay off and that I will be fit to enter it.

Meteo are forecasting much improved weather for the coming week with clear blue skies and temperatures up to 15 degrees by midweek. The mountains are calling. Snowshoes or skis? Probably both!

Thanks to the brief weather window, Andy was able to get up onto the roof yesterday to pull the chimney liner for the new woodburner up the chimney which has now enabled us to put it into use. It's a little Colmar2 5kw/7kw woodburner made by Supra but my goodness, it kicks out some heat! What a difference it makes to the current kitchen/future dining room .... it's so wonderfully warm and cosy now!

Busy times

Yes, I know these pages have been sadly neglected for the past 2 weeks. But, you see, I have been just a little bit busy. Preparations for the move to our new home are at full pelt. We get the keys on the 27th of this month! There is some work that we want to get done before we actually move in.... messy, dirty, dusty work like sanding down the big beams on the ground floor before we treat them and then attempt to restore them to their former splendour. The house is now empty, the owners having done a fine job of clearing it of the vestiges of the lives of three generations, which has been an enormous task. We are obviously now impatient to move in and get to work creating our new home.

When I returned 10 days ago from my trip to the UK, the poor weather that I had experienced there decided to follow me home, which I really did not appreciate. However, at the end of last week the weather finally took a turn for the better with temperatures climbing to 30 degrees. I was keen to get up high to experience more of the amazing scenery that we have in this area, so we popped up to the Col du Portet d'Aspet and made our way on good paths to the ridgeline that runs high above it. The views did not disappoint

I wanted to use the outing to test out my knee and I was very encouraged by what I was feeling. Despite running several sections of the very undulating 10km/800m route I had no discomfort at all except for on the final 100m of the descent. I may actually be making some progress here! I now need to be careful not to get too carried away by my enthusiasm and do too much too soon. Steady steady!

The bikes have also had an airing over the past week with a cracking 33km/700m+ ride out on the mountain bikes which saw us linking up several different tracks and paths in the area. We also had a wonderfully leisurely 63km ride out on the roadies in the sun, over into the Barousse Valley and back through the foothills of the Comminges. Just stunning! Good times, good times.

Hints of Spring

We have just enjoyed a week of the most gloriously warm, no hot, weather during which temperatures climbed well into the mid 20s. We have had the parasol out on the terrasse and have had to be careful not to get sunburnt! Signs of Spring are appearing all around us. The Spring flowers are coming through with white anemones, violets, white and purple hepaticas, lungwort and, in just the past couple of days, some primula have appeared. Leaf buds are appearing on the trees and the catkins are in full flow. It is wonderful to finally see some colour around the place.

The birds also seem to sense Spring in the air. We have been listening to the great spotted woodpeckers drumming in the woodland opposite - they are a fantastic sight through the binoculars - and have also spotted green woodpeckers and can hear them yaffling all around us. A male and a female bullfinch are visiting the bird table.....

.... and yesterday, two black redstarts entertained us with a spectacular and prolonged chase around Pissou as they vied for territorial supremacy, darting and swooping at fantastic speeds above our heads. This is the victor!

Of course, I can't do a blog post without a mention of running, can I! The Trail des Pieds Cloutés was 2 weeks ago from which I recovered well. On the Wednesday, after dropping off a van and a car load of stuff at the 'new' house, Andy and I had a gentle 11.5km trot out along the lanes near Aspet. All was feeling good. So on the following Saturday afternoon, I did another hill endurance session up the Peguere road which is now snow-free. A brisk 1km warm up followed by three sets of 1.15kms up an ave 12% gradient. I was able to complete each set at a faster speed than last time (mid January) but kept my HR at the same level which means I must be getting fitter and stronger!

I had no repercussions from the hill session so on Tuesday decided I would get in a hard, long run, probably the last one before my next race on the 25th March. I decided to tackle on foot a mountain bike circuit from Varilhes that we did back in October 2010. It was hard work on a bike and no easier on 2 feet! In fact, I felt like my legs were empty, despite taking on liquid fuel and a couple of gels. They just wouldn't go! The muscles were obviously still fatigued after my hill session 3 days previously. So I did the sensible thing and took it really steady, resorting to a walk whenever necessary and didn't give myself too much of a hard time about it. It was all good training. Another 28kms/800m+ in the bag. Full stats on the usual site.

Another weekend, another race

After my last post 3 weeks ago, the snow and the cold continued. Doing any running training up here was out of the question thanks to the conditions underfoot. Getting out of our road was challenge enough as it rapidly turned into an ice rink thanks to the lack of salting by the commune. When we did eventually make it out on a wonderful blue sky day, we headed up the road for an exploratory walk up to the Cabane des Roses. The majority of the track had fortunately been well trodden by the snow-shoeing fraternity which made the going quite straightforward. As always, it was stunningly beautiful up there

I have been very conscious of the passing of time and the need to keep up the training for the 40km Trail des Citadelles which is on the 8th April - it really isn't that far away! It was necessary to take myself over to the other side of the Col de Port and a lower altitude in order to get in any snow-free training but a run around part of the Trail de Dalou circuit was just the ticket. I felt really strong on the 11km/350m run and managed to run sections that I remember walking in the race last year .... a good sign.

The wintery weather was only really broken a week ago when a high pressure area plonked itself over us, treating us to clear blue skies and much much warmer daytime temperatures which gradually climbed to peak at a positively balmy 18 degrees ambient temperature. I was even wearing shorts & T-shirt on a couple of days and we enjoyed lunch on the terrasse for the first time this year.... just wonderful.

Yesterday, Saturday, I took part in the Trail des Pieds Cloutés near Foix which I ran last year. It's a hard race, with a nasty 2.5km long climb averaging 15% at the start which is an absolute killer followed by another, shorter climb at the half way point.

Conditions underfoot were a mudfest in parts, thanks to the snowmelt of the past week. But my super-grippy Salomon shoes ensured I had some fantastically fun descents on which I could just let fly, smiling inwardly as I passed others who slipped and slithered their way through the mud, often ending up on their backsides! Sweet! I finished the 18.5kms/1000m+ in 2h17m, 4th lady out of 16 in my age group, 10th lady out of 34 and 118th overall out of 192 finishers which is 34 places higher than last year - that'll do me! Full stats on the usual site. The legs felt great, although today, the day after, they are letting me know that they had been asked to work hard. Still, all good training and it is wonderful to finally feel that I am getting stronger and making progress. My next race is in 3 weeks time and then it will be time to take it easy in preparation for the Citadelles.

On the house front, although we have not yet found a place to buy, we have found somewhere to rent from the beginning of April over near Aspet, just a little bit further West along the chain. It is the area in which we are looking to buy, plonked in the middle of a some fantastic waymarked mountain biking circuits and with the high mountains just a half hour away. We finalise the sale of this house during the 3rd week of April and are then in a good position to buy when we do eventually find the right place. It is worth being patient to find the right place. It will be out there somewhere.

Winter

Our Spanish break seems like an age ago already. But we arrived home in the nick of time as Winter conditions really took a grip here on the Saturday, with a significant snowfall and extremely cold temperatures making the roads treacherous.

However, eventually the heavy snow clouds cleared and grey gave way to blue. After a few days of being cooped up, we were keen to get out for some fresh air, so we donned the snowshoes and left the house for an explore up the Peguere 'road'. It was stunning. We were the first to venture out and it was hard work breaking trail in the 50-70cm deep snow. But what a stunning afternoon it was.

We didn't make it all the way up to the col as the pooch was tiring, despite attempting to follow in our tracks. Still, it had been a very welcome breath of fresh air and stretch of the legs. The sun was weakening as we took the final track home and we were pleased to soon get back to the warmth of the house and a hot chocolate!

The arrival of the snow was actually good timing as I was due for an easy 'taper' week last week ahead of the Trail du Maquis trail race in Dun on Sunday. Although Dun is down at only 300m alt, there was still a decent covering of snow on the ground and the air temperature was a chilly -7C when I rocked up at 08.00 on Sunday morning after spending the night at Pat & Kev's just along the road. I had decided that I was not going to put any pressure on myself and would just treat the 27km/1100m+ race as a training run as the conditions underfoot would undoubtedly be 'tricky' and 27kms is the furthest that I have ever run! It would however be good training for the Citadelles in 8 weeks time. The course was hilly and indeed very challenging - the hills kept on coming.

I have to admit that my new superlightweight running poles were an absolute godsend on the ascents and helped me to avoid energy-sapping foot slippage. My un-insulated Camelbak pipe froze early on which blocked my supply of liquid fuel, but the slices of dried, sugared kiwi fruit that I carried with me did a fantastic job of keeping my energy levels up! I shall be stocking up on them for future races! When I reached the top of the particularly pointy hill that you can see in the elevation profile above, one of the volunteers shouted 'vous êtes la troisième fille.... allez!' What? I was in third place amongst the girls? Bloody hell! I'd better push on! I can't let that slip! So I did. I really started to tire over the last 7 kms but was still able to raise a smile for one of the photographers

I did indeed finish in 3rd place after 3h42m. I was well chuffed with that! On the podium again! It's true that only 11 out of the 99 starters were girls but 6 out of those were in my age group and I was 39 minutes ahead of the next V1F finisher ... not bad for an oldie ;-) But I was exhausted, not only because of the exertion but also because of my lack of fuel. However, I couldn't stomach the fantastic sausages and beefburgers that were being served up in the hall after the event. I felt queasy just thinking about it. I was only able to face proper food in the evening once I had got home. It had been quite a day! Full stats on the usual site.

Local explorations

The weather last week continued to be sunny but cooler through to Friday when it rained. But before the weather turned, Andy plotted out a roadie circuit for us midweek which took us on some wonderfully quiet little back roads inland, through citrus groves (OK, I admit it, we did 'acquire' a few stray satsumas along our way which were totally delicious!), almond groves and olive groves.

It was lovely riding, but my lack of biking fitness was very evident. Even the smaller hills and undulations felt like mountains and it was all much more of an effort than it really should have been. Still, 68kms/600m+ in the bag.

On Thursday we had a meander along the coastal path trying to photograph and identify some of the bird life that occupies the scrubland there. Unfortunately we didn't see anything amazing, although the cormorants that flew up and down the coastline were good to see.

Friday, rain, so an indoor day. We were due to leave on Saturday but, with the forecast at home looking far too wintery for my liking, we decided to stay on here an additional week. Our apartment is the ground floor of the owners detached property and is in a wonderfully peaceful part of the town. It is spacious and heated and excellent value. The bonus is that Bonita loves to offload her excess potager produce and eggs on us. So far she has given us nearly 2 dozen eggs (omelettes anybody?!) and some delicious lettuces and salad onions. Fantastic!

Saturday, we ran 20kms of the track that runs from Alcossebre to Peniscola along the coast. The skies were still heavy after the previous day's rain and the seas decidedly choppy. But the forecast was for the skies to clear as the weekend progressed

Today, sure enough, clear blue skies but a hellishly strong wind that resulted in Andy cancelling his planned long roadie ride - it would have been suicidal! Instead, we headed further down the coast before cutting inland to the Parc Natural del Desert de les Palmes. I had downloaded the GPS data for a walk which looked appealing. The route initially took us along some lovely tracks and trails with views towards the coast

We passed several almond plantations with fruit still left on the trees. It would have been rude not to sample the nuts.... 

... and OK, I admit it, our pockets were soon filled! As for the walk, let's just say we have spent far too much time running and are out of 'walking mode'. The walk seemed to take forever and I was seriously wondering how much longer we would be out. I so prefer running! We only covered 13.7kms but it took us over 3 hours. But still, it was good to be out, exploring more of the area. And we did come back with some good bunches of wild thyme as well as a fair quantity of almonds

Keep on running

I love it when one of those wonderful winter high pressure systems decides to plonk itself bang on top of us ... and not move! We have had clear blue skies, crisp mornings but warm sunny afternoons for the past few days and the situation is not set to change until well into next week. Glorious. (My apologies if you are currently experiencing quite the opposite kind of weather and my opening few lines are making you seethe ... I'm sorry, truely I am )

With such wonderful weather, running has been very much on the agenda. It is just over 13 weeks until the Trail des Citadelles on Easter Sunday. The 40kms/2100m+ race is going to be hard - really hard. I need to up my mileage and the amount of ascent I am doing if I am going to be strong and fit enough to complete the event. My running mileage for the first week of January was 34kms with 1250m of ascent. Not a bad start to the year. The second week of the year has a day yet to go, but already I have covered 48kms and 1800m of ascent, spread over 3 runs. It's going in the right direction.

Today's run was a reccy of part of the 2nd half of the Citadelles circuit. The route took me (and the pooch) up onto the ridge on which the Chateau de Roquefixade is perched.... a breathtaking spot!

The climb up was hard. OK, if I had found it 'easy' there would be something wrong! But at least now I know what to expect. The fun descents also confirmed what I already knew which is that my super-grippy Salomon XAPro 3 shoes will be required for the event - by 'eck it was slippy in parts! My route covered 22.5kms in total which was plenty on top of the other two runs that I have done this week. This is the profile of today's circuit;

So now, stretching and more stretching. The old bod is holding up OK so far and I need to ensure that doesn't change.

On other news, house-hunting continues but the market is terribly quiet at the moment. It appears that people are holding off putting their properties on the market until 'la crise' eases off somewhat. ... which is a bit of a blighter. So the search continues.

The New Year started off well with one of those beautiful blue-sky days that just screamed 'come out and play, come out and play'! Who could resist such insistence! After the previous day's rain, the natural choice was for a run along tracks and hard-packed trails. We hadn't 'done' the track from Cominac to the Col de Vièle-Morte  for a year or two and the last time was on the mountain bikes. It promised great views too, so it seemed the natural choice.

It didn't disappoint. The outward leg was just over 7kms at a steady gradient with a total of 425m of ascent. It was fantastic to feel able to run it all at what was for me, a decent speed of between 9 and 10 kph. The view did not disappoint. The Pic Rouge de Bassiès and other peaks above Aulus-les-Bains looked magnificent in their winter finery.

We reached the end of the track after 7.4 kms and were obliged to turn around and retrace our steps. We had a fun, fast run back to Cominac. The total outing was 14.7kms/425m+ which we covered in 1h28m of moving time. It had been a handy little outing - the old legs felt great. The 3 weeks of relatively little activity since my last race seems to have paid off - hurrah!

Yesterday was a truely awful weather day but today the weather Gods apologised and treated us to another blue sky day. I had to head down to Tarascon for a haircut so while I was over 'the other side', I knocked off a 10km/435m+/1h20m circuit from Surba which took me up to Bedeilh'ac, up to Calamès and then to la Roche Ronde before a steep and slippery descent back down, returning via the back lane. Great to be out in the sun and to get a few more kilometers (albeit slow ones) under my belt. The dog enjoyed it too!

Mixing it up

It's been busy busy here over the past 2 weeks. Things are progressing as they should with the house, the buyers having signed the compromis de vente, which is reassuring for us. The search for a new home continues, but nothing has yet jumped out at me as being 'the right' property. But we have time. Patience is required!

Meanwhile, apart from a couple of days when we had cold temperatures and some rain which left snow on the higher mountains above 1800m, the weather has been relatively dry. We managed to give the roadies an airing, with a 70km/900m+ very undulating circuit from Saint-Girons which proved to be much harder work than it should have been. I think I need to eat more! Here is the profile;

It took me a couple of days to recover from that exertion, but the legs felt well enough to have a quick trot down the Chemin des Diligences in Massat three days later and we clocked 24 minutes on the 4.7km circuit, which wasn't bad considering it wasn't totally flat and also pretty slippy underfoot. It was good to push the speed a bit for a change.

But then, I decided to see how the old pins felt if I ran solidly for 20kms, on the level, on hardpack. It's not something I have ever really done before, as my longer runs are offroad and generally tend to include a variety of ups and downs which means constant changes in the stride and pace which gives certain muscles a rest. I chose the voie verte (disused railway line) from Saint-Girons for the outing and managed to clock 1h53m for the run. The unchanging stride and the hardpack surface, however, took their toll and various bits of me were complaining by the time I got back to the car. But it was a good exercise to test my endurance and no real damage was done. It was once again good to push the speed on this distance.

Last Thursday we decided to give the mountain bikes an outing on the 40km/1000m+ forest track circuit on the other side of the Col de Peguere. The last time we tackled it was back in November 2007 when it was one monumental effort - we ended up pushing our bikes for the last ascent and it took us over 3h30m to complete the circuit! Last week it was a very different story. We cruised the circuit, easily managing the initial sustained ascent and subsequent shorter hill sections. I was however a tad concerned when we arrived at a notice advising us that the track up ahead was closed to the public because of forestry work! We had done 30kms by that point and turning around to retrace our steps simply wasn't an option!!! Fortunately, we were allowed through to continue on our way, much to my relief. We were back at the car within 2h45m - we had flown! The best bit is that the legs felt absolutely fine, a million miles from how they felt 4 years ago. We have come a long way fitness-wise since then. Full stats on the usual site.

Rest and lots of food was called for over the next couple of days, as I was competing in a trail race in the Languedoc on Sunday. All of the races that I have done to date have included sustained sections of steep ascent and plenty of runnable descents. This race was different. It was the Trail du Boer in Moussan, just to the north of Narbonne. This was 23kms, with 500m of ascent, on paths and tracks amongst the vineyards and 'garrigue' (scrubland) of the Corbière - a lovely part of the Languedoc and just 10 minutes from where my friends' Iz and Nick run their guest house at which I stayed. Anyway, easy peasey, I thought, no problem, I should cruise the circuit. Wrong! It was a cruelly undulating circuit, not dissimilar to the roadie circuit from Saint-Girons profile (see above), which really took it out of the legs. OK, so doing the long VTT circuit 3 days before wouldn't have helped.... in fact it was probably a pretty daft thing to do so close to the event.  Despite doing a good warm up and constantly fuelling as I ran, it felt like I was going backwards and everybody was overtaking me. That said, in hindsight, I covered the first very undulating 10kms in 58 mins which really isn't too shabby! I think I was actually pushing myself harder than I appreciated. The final 5kms were excruciatingly painful as my ITBs started to seize up. I made it back in 2h34mins which was in the top 2/3rds of the field of 233 runners. Here is the profile.

I was exhausted and aching all over. But I had done it. Full stats on the usual site. Time for a shower at Iz and Nick's before I tackled the 2 1/2hr drive home, safely loaded up with wine that I had bought on the way through. Two day's later and I am now able to walk down the stairs relatively pain free and the legs are recovering. Let's just call the race 'good training'! The next target is a 29km race at the end of January. That'll be interesting.

Getting high

A wonderfully stable high pressure system has brought us fantastic autumn weather for the past few days, with more to come through until mid week.... clear blue skies, chill, crisp mornings but warm sun during the day. Perfect! We have made an effort to get up high and enjoy running and walking in the mountains before the snows which are forecast for the coming weekend arrive.

Today, we had a fantastic outing up to the Etang d'Ayers from the Col de la Core, then on and up  and over to the Col de Laziès. It was a somewhat 'undulating', there and back route with steep ascents/descents and a distinct lack of snow below 2200m.

The environment and scenery were, of course, truely stunning. Below, our starting point, the Col de la Core, already way in the distance, taken from the Col d'Auèdole...

...on up to the Etang d'Ayers (the Col d'Auedole is in the distance - top left corner of the photo)...

... up the steep GR10 to the top and a spot of lunch with a fantastic vista in front of us;

...looking to the right to the tiny Etang de l'Estagnat...

... and straight ahead to the Tuc de Lazies and Tuc de Baumagne and the Col de Lazies to the left that we were aiming for...

From the Col, Mont Valier revealed itself. There is a covering of snow up there, but very little for this time of year;

From there, we retraced our steps and arrived back after 3h 30m on our feet - 13.5kms/1000m+ covered and the legs were feeling great! What a cracking outing!

Back-tracking somewhat, we had a couple of days away in Sadie further west along the chain at the end of last week and enjoyed another great outing up in the mountains, this time above Luchon. From the Hospice de France at 1400m we headed up the Vallée de la Frèche to the Etangs de la Frèche at 2100m where we just touched the snow line. It was another steep ascent but well worth the effort as we didn't see another sole while we were out! The view up the valley from the Hospice de France (excuse the quality of the images but they were taken with my smartphone, as my camera battery had died!)....

... looking back down the valley from just below the Etangs at 2000m...

... looking back down to the little tarn from the Etang de la Freche...

... Pic de la Freche and Pic de la Mine up behind, to give an idea of the snow level...

We were delighted to see a herd of around a dozen Isards (Pyrenean Chamois) up there which the dog got the scent of before we saw them. No photo unfortunately as my smartphone camera zoom isn't strong enough! Back at the van, Andy spotted a couple of birds of prey up on the ridgeline which he identified with his binoculars as juvenile golden eagles - a great spot! So another 9kms/900m_ in the bag in a simply stunning location.

Backtracking just a little bit more to last Sunday when, again, we got up into the hills, but this time for what turned out to be a rather more challenging outing. We dropped a car off down the road below Eycherboul which was to be our finishing point and then headed up in the direction of the Etang de Lhers in the other car, parking at the start of the track up to the Cabane des roses. We ran a fair bit of that track and encountered three beautiful Merens horses at the top....

From there, on up to the Col at 1600m and then onto the GR du Pays du Tour des Trois Seigneurs which started off OK ....

... but soon turned into a meandering, narrow, rocky, tricky path which contoured the hillside below the Pic des Trois Seigneurs. It was slow going as running was impossible. We could see the old pastoral community of Goutets in the green clearing up ahead. We were aiming for that, before heading up onto the far hillside, over the other side and then down the valley....

Goutets is a settlement that dates back to the 18th century - you can find details on this site if you understand French. Many of the barns/stables/houses have been painstakingly restored over the years (since 1994) - I find it a really atmospheric place as I contemplate the lives of those who used to live there.

From there, up and over to the Cabane de Goulur before the long run down to Liers, ahead of us on the valley flank up ahead...

This was the worst bit of the whole outing. The waymarked 'path' took us through approx. 2kms of running water and bog which was downright unpleasant. I was thankful for my Inov8 shoes with their mesh upper which allowed much of the wet to escape! Fortunately, the final section was on a runnable woodland path. All in all, an outing of 18kms with 620m of ascent and over 1000m of descent, much of which was disappointingly unrunnable! Still, it was more time in the hills and more time on my feet, all of which is good training.

During the coming week and before poor weather arrives, we are hoping to get in some time on the bikes, both the roadies and the mountain bikes, which have been sadly neglected recently. Should be fun!