Ed's Time Trial #1

A few weeks ago, Ed told me about a run he regularly does to Noon Hill, Winter Hill trig point, Two Lads and the Pike where he records the length of time between each climb and he suggested it might be something I'd like to do as a hilly time trial.  I thought this sounded like a great idea so early this morning I went for my first attempt.

The run starts in the centre of the circle in the middle of top barn car park and then goes along to the Pigeon Tower car park, straight on through the field and then up through the plantation onto George's Lane, coming out just before the woods.  It then crossed over George's Lane to the stile a short way along and up to Noon Hill.  For me, this is the hardest bit because I find going up hill right at the beginning of a run really difficult.

Once at the top of Noon Hill, I had a quick breather whilst I tightened my laces and I then ran back down to George's Lane, albeit further along then where I came up from.  I ran along George's Lane a short way and then came to the wooden bridge and went up the diagonal.  I was still feeling really lethargic here and I did have to walk for the most part of it, even stopping completely at one point to stretch my calf.  I finally got to the top and made my way through the sludge to the trig point and then carried straight on down the mast road and up to Two Lads, by far the easiest 'climb' on this time trial as it's really easy going up to Two Lads from the mast side, it's barely a climb at all.

From there it was down to the kennels then along to the Pike.  After my speedy(ish) descent from Two Lads, my legs were really getting tired and I even found the relatively flat run from the kennels to the bottom of the Pike hard work.  Onwards and upwards though, I ran up the Pike and then it was all downhill from there.

I did go a little bit wrong on the way down through the terraced gardens as I was going down the route that we always go up on a Saturday morning but I've never done it in the opposite direction and I got a bit confused by the pond, costing me valuable seconds.  Seriously, how can I keep going the wrong way in the terraced gardens, I run in them ALL THE TIME!!!!

Ed had challenged me to do the route in under 70 minutes and I'm pleased to say that I arrived back at the circle in the middle of the car park in one hour 8 minutes and forty-seven seconds.

My split times were as follows:

Barn to Noon Hill - 19.36

Noon Hill to Winter Hill trig - 14.58

Winter Hill trig to Two Lads - 11.12

Two Lads to Pike - 13.44

Pike to Barn - 9.17

Total time - 1.08.47

Today I was incredibly heavy legged and it was really tough going, I even struggled up the Pike which doesn't usually pose a problem.  I'm absolutely positive I could do much better another day but this has now given me a base to work from and I'll have to keep trying to beat my times each time I do it.

Total distance - 5.3 miles

https://www.strava.com/activities/253374746