Afternoon Trail Run

Straight lumpy road run... it's been a while!

Lantern Pike outing with Dad and Ziggy🐶

First Pennine outing of 2026

Back to speedwork - 8 x 800m efforts

What a cracking, but if you're having a particularly bad day, potentially tortuous lumpy road route on the lanes surrounding Mellor and New Mills. Felt strong today and very good flow, got the pacing right and pushed in bursts on the flatter and downhill sections, easing off on the climbs but maintaining power. A good test following recent speedwork, and a very different type of running with the tarmac (and tiny bit of dirt track) and no stopping. Briargrove was the first main climb, a good warm up for it along Aspenshaw Road. It's a very hard climb, steep in the middle section by Blake Hall / Carr Nook Farm but the bottom and top sections make you feel like you should still be running with some bounce due to the slacker gradient. Good burst of speed down into Mellor to the Devonshire and along Gibb Lane. Then the second climb: Whetmorhurst Road. Deceptively tough with a steady gradient and a real steep kick at the top, probably the hardest point of the run struggling and knowing what's yet to come. Faster section once again along Bogguard Road, brilliant stretch of smooth road, before heading up by Broadhurst Plantation, the terrain allowing for the foot to be taken off the gas a little. A proper flowy section from the top of Castle Edge, down all the way to the clubhouse, then Eaves Knoll, Godward, Aldersgate and Hall Street. Did a gravity assisted sprint past the Masons where people stood outside stared while holding their pints😂. Reality kicked in at the crossroads, with the climbing returning and not going anywhere fast. Gentle gradient up Peak Road after the shock of the graveyard path, then starting easy up Laneside Road before the gradient started to increase more and more. Needless to say, it's one of the sharpest road climbs around. Just kept a rhythm going and went fairly easy on the steep bit to Ballbeard Farm, before being able to get back into a more normal running mode further up to the top. A good thing about that climb.. it was a fun mostly downhill finish to home! Kept the cadence high and finished with a strong pace, always a great way to finish a run going down that way. What a run, a good change and certainly a great consolidation of training. 

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James Stubbs

Straight lumpy road run... it's been a while!

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Afternoon Trail Run

Straight lumpy road run... it's been a while!

Lantern Pike outing with Dad and Ziggy🐶

First Pennine outing of 2026

Back to speedwork - 8 x 800m efforts

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