3 days worth

I love Blip. A picture may be worth a thousand words but sometimes a few words tell so much about a picture. Ok, this is a boring sunset taken on my wee compact...., but it'll remind me of my first run over 10km in many years.

Open water swimming in Salford Quays ended prematurely this week because of water safety issues. I was a bit disappointed as I love open water swimming. Still, I had managed a pool swim at Stockport Metro last night so happily went out on the bike instead.

I was all ready to leave the house at 9am. However, I had left my Garmin switched on all night and the battery had gone dead. I like having the data from my ride, so I gave it an hour to charge. Heading off, up Long Lane was tough. The air was still really cold and I could feel it rasping throughout my respiratory system! The legs were ok though.

I had planned to attempt to go under 5 mins up Chunal for the 1st time so I backed off a little on the Mellor Climb. It's never an easy one, being 4km long averaging 4.2% gradient and with a sharp kick at the top. I worked harder on Chunal. The main climb is around 1km at 8.1% with a few sharp kicks. I was disappointed not to do it in under 5mins especially as I had buried myself. So much so in fact that I was coughing up funny stuff.

The big climb of the day was Snake Pass. Leaving Glossop I got into my climbing pace but the legs were shot. I climbed all of 1km before turning round towards home. Then I saw a group of cyclists heading up Snake, thought "Man Up Kirkland" then turned around again and attempted to chase them all down. I caught all but one by the summit....but my time was slow. Still, it was a hard 20min effort and money in the bank. Only 50km done but 1200m of climbing.

Saturday is treat day so for post training lunch I had a veggie scotch egg, smelly apeth cheese from Saddleworth, artisan baked ciabatta and a bit coffee cake! Yummee! A snooze was needed.

In the evening I headed to Marple for a beer festival with friends James n Laurette! Public transport is rubbish so I decided to attempt to run there. It was a perfect evening. I got slightly lost in the woods in Etherow Country Park but eventually emerged unscathed, if a little muddy. It had taken just over an hour to do the 12km, while slow, was a big achievement for me. I will now enter The Snowman next month!

We then headed for Marple Cricket Club, all the good beers were off, so I rehydrated with a pint of cider and before I knew it, I had to head to get the train home.....22 mins longer than the time it had taken me to run there.

Late to bed, early up and then a 152km ride on Sunday.