Sunday, September 23, 2012

Nailed It

I do believe I've discovered the ultimate ascent to Crug Mawr for use in the Black Mountains Fell Race. I've studied the map, examining every contour and I've run a couple of recce's without success - until today, that is. It's shorter than the conventional route by some 400m but has about the same amount of climb. And I'm even willing to post the route of today's recce including the ultimate ascent. Dare you use it without knowing the secret marker points though???

I tried to push it a little today although conditions deteriorated on me within 45 minutes. At the start it looked like the weather might just hold but I was wrong. The cloud descended until I was running in the rain with visibility down to 100m. The wind picked up a little causing the rain to sting my eyes - although fortunately it did not ring through my ears nor did it in anyway sound like a Spanish lullaby. Oh, and it was cold. Glad I had my buff round my neck on the run to Bal Mawr. It came in handy as I was able to pull it over my headed to shield me from the direct contact of the increasingly strong winds.

I was round the 19.1km with 2,600 feet ascent  in 2 hours and 7 minutes which was eight minutes quicker than last time and run in worse conditions and because of the rain I couldn't wear my glasses so I couldn't see well which always slows me down on the descents. I felt strong though and definitely have more ascending strength although there is still some way to go before I can truly claim to be back to form. I guess next weeks Black Mountains race will be a good indicator. How close to the magic three hours will I get, I'm not sure. I'd be happy with 3:15. Anything quicker will be a bonus. Anything slower will be a tad disappointing. Really looking forward to it though. Especially to try my now not so secret route to the Crug.

Today's 19.1km with 2,600 feet of ascent

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