January Complete and Looking Good

After achieving less than 70% of target in December, it was good to claw some back in January and significantly exceed target. Hopefully February will bring good results with its small increase in mileage and ascent but also 3 days less to complete. I probably need to get more walking in as 72% of mileage and 76% of ascent were from running.




Week 13 started off with a recce of leg 4 of the Pennine Bridleway Relay. A bit of double-checking gave a mile extra for 12 miles and an estimated 1300ft of ascent. My first track session for many months doesn't do much for mileage or for ascent but as I live on hill I do get a bit by running to and from the track. On Thursday I had my first attempt at running over Winter Hill to Belmont and back without snow and ice to battle with. This meant I could go a bit quicker, now setting a target of two hours which I almost made. The top end of the mast road still has about a foot of snow, so hopefully I can be quicker next time. Looking after the dog on Friday meant three miles to add from walking him up though the fields with more on Saturday. Finally Sunday saw a very enjoyable run in the Pennine Bridleway Relay so my leg plus return to the starting point, and a bit extra that I put in, meant I exceeded my week's target by a third and ascent by 25%.
January has been very challenging from a weather viewpoint. Hopefully things will get better as we head towards Spring.