Interval training

So, after sundays chilly run I decided to keep the training indoors this week...three gym sessions with interval training in a row....hopefully should see me well for this sundays sleaford half marathon...
There was going to be another gym visit this morning, but unfortuneately the roof is STILL leaking :-( so that had to be postponed

Snowy hill training

It seemed like the ideal training session....running at least 2 of the 3 peaks of Yorkshire-great scenery, and terrain perfect for Iceland...that is until I woke up on Sunday morning to a coating of snow! Oh well, a bit of snow shouldn't;t be anything to worry about, after all there will be plenty of snow in Iceland, even in July. We arrived in Horton in ribblesdale a few hours later and surprisingly the snow didn't seem as bad here. I set of up Ingleton with the intention of dropping down the north side and back along the valley, possibly with a detour up whernside too. The first 4 miles or so are constantly up hill, all-be-it with a relatively steady gradient. The snow was only a couple of inches deep, and the wind was non-existent...I was even sweating despite the -1 degree temperature when I left the car. With less than a mile to the top the cloud descended, the wind picked up and ice spicules were blowing straight into my face and eyes. Everything seemed white, the beginnings of snow blindness. I could no longer see the path and just stumbled on blindly. The gradient ramped up and the snow began to turn to ice underfoot and I was reduced to walking. It was bitterly cold now, must have been -15 with the wind chill I reckon. Eventually I saw a figure coming towards me out of the mist...he warned me that my planned descent was impossible without crampons...not good considering I was just wearing running shoes! I followed his tracks up to the Cairn at the top before heading back down to where the northern path turned off. Before getting there I slipped over a couple of times, and knowing that its a scramble at the best of times decided against it in the current blizzard conditions. I headed back down to the car where I quickly got changed and warmed up before putting on my walking gear and heading back out for a walk for a couple of hours. all in all, not the training session I had envisaged, but not too bad despite this. Hopefully the weather will be better in 8 weeks time when its time for the 3 peaks fell race!

First gym session since starting the blog this morning...a little bit of interval training on the treadmills to wake me up for the day!

First Post!

Hi!

I'm running the Laugavegaur Ultra marthon in Iceland on the 17th of July in aid of the charity Mencap. I've set up this blog to raise awareness and hopefully encourage people to donate, this can be done easily and securely through my Just giving webpage at;

http://www.justgiving.com/alan-wood

The race is across 55km (35miles) of some of icelands toughest mountainous terrain, including sand, gravel, ice, snown and even through freezing rivers.

Over the next 5 months i'll use this blog to keep everyone up to date on how training is going, so PLEASE, donate now at
http://www.justgiving.com/alan-wood

Thankyou!