Run To The Hills

Today I took the biggest Sweaty Betty group of the year so far for a very testing run around Royston Heath.  

All smiles before the run: Julie, Marie, Pia, Viona, Jo, Sarah, Shahla & Silvia.

The marathon girls were backing off on the mileage, but upping the level of difficulty.  The group were made up of four girls training for a spring marathon, and everyone present today will be running in the Cambridge half marathon in 3 weeks time.

Today's route around Royston Heath is roughly a 4 mile loop (3.8 if you like greater precision), with a total of about 6 large hills and a few other minor bumps.  We were all aiming to run a total of three laps.  Not much of the course is flat.  It is fairly relentlessly hilly, so very good for training.

The group set off on very wet ground - the start is the only bit that's
close to being flat.

I've been to Royston Heath many times over the years, but I have never known it to be so wet and slippery.  This didn't cause any problems on the uphill sections, but some of the steep downhills were a bit treacherous.

The second & third main climbs.

We mostly stayed together as one group for the first lap, with myself leading the way.  This is how I managed to get photos of all the girls together.  However, it was clear there would be two main groups.  Pia, Jo and Marie were never too far behind me, and then the other five girls tended to arrive as a group soon after.  For the first lap we regrouped every kilometer, more or less.  Everyone was then left to run at their own pace for the next two laps, but we did all regroup at the start of the final lap.

My favourite downhill section through the wood.  Pia, Jo and
Marie (just appearing from behind a tree) arrive just after me.

Then Viona, Julie, Shahla, Silvia & Sarah arrive.

After the wood comes a short but very steep downhill section, where two girls had a fall.  Fortunately, there weren't any injuries.  However, on the final lap of the day Viona slipped on a tree root running through the wood and ended up with a broken finger.  From a runner's perspective, I guess it could have been worse.

Once out of the woods, and with the steep descent behind us, we had two final climbs, both of which are beasts.

The second to last climb on the first lap.  Just two more laps to go.

The last climb might well be the worst, but I can usually dig deep and will myself to the top without resorting to walking.  If it were a hill on a race I would definitely walk, as I'd want to conserve energy for later, plus I'm sure that running up the final hill isn't that much quicker than walking.  But on a training run I try to run up every single hill, if it's possible to do so without my lungs bursting.

Despite the difficulty of the run, the bruised and muddy bottoms, and the broken finger, the girls all said they enjoyed the run and would even like to go back to Royston Heath.  Of course, it probably helped that it was such a lovely day today.