SORE LEGS. THEN AND NOW......

  Week 6 done and dusted and despite the weather conditions I actually managed to up the average a tad with  45 miles: best week of the year so far.  The lack of safe access to the trails is reminiscent of the time of the foot and mouth restrictions  and  has forced more time on the cleared roads than I would normally enjoy.  Still a solid undulating 8,  a good 4 x mile session, a steady 10 today with easy days spent crunching through
snow on the fields.  
  The 10 miler went entirely as could be predicted.  The pace improving as the distance unfolded. 
                 9.26 9.04 8.54 8.51 8.50 8.49 8.45 8.25 8.19 8.08
Getting used to the initial languid opening miles is a frustrating feature of running at my age as life creeps slowly into the legs. But then again the books say we shouldn't go all out straight out of the door, don't they?
   The knees particularly are sore from too much road this week or is it from praying for a thaw to come shortly?

 THIS DAY 25 YEARS AGO: THE HABERGHAM "9"
  The legs were really no better 25 years ago!  Perhaps spurred on by failing to win the Brass Monkey half again and missing a sub 70 mins. half by 23 seconds I put in a week of 88 miles including a hill session and a mile rep session.  This week with a race coming up the mileage dropped to 74 but  the diary tells that after an "easy" 10 on the Friday I was "very tired".   Clearly  I was regarding the Habergham 9 as a build up race with an eye to the challenge of the SPEN 20 to come on March 15.
  This approach was clearly reflected in the race day performance as after a good start  the lack of  any taper kicked in and I "died on the hills".  Again the diary tells of "legs were shot!"  "and sore".

  But this is something we have to accept if we are using as a race "one on the way" to a more important goal  though the initial after race feeling is one of disappointment.  Not that the race was totally without satisfaction.
I did manage 45.31 (28th)  of  the 489 who tackled the undulating course from Burnley via Padiham and Huncoat.  (The race  whilst called the Habergham 9 was said to more like 8.3!)  But that wouldn't have had quite the same ring about it would it?
  Clayton's ROGER BREWSTER (pictured above)  won the race in 41.30 (still on the scene) with PAUL PICKUP of Longwood 2nd (42.12).  MIKE CRITCHLEY (Bolton) was 3rd. Many will know Mike as organiser of the attractive Dales race, the Arncliffe 4.
   Other notable in the first 50 that day were Blackburn stalwart GEORGE WOODBURN (7th) .   Just behind me were DAVE WOODHEAD (Horwich)  better known now for the great work he does putting on several races from Penistone Hill and ,further back was legend RON HILL (Clayton) 3rd in the M40 age group in 40th place.
  The race is one of many from the '80s which no longer takes place.