19th August Pushing through the big Four Oh at Chatsworth (R40)

As TOM would say it's all 'self inflicted' so I have no one to blame but myself. But knowing that I don't like to run hills I have three realistic options. Don't run them at all. Run them durIng organised races and continue to struggle. Or I set myself the challenge of running some hills or at least one that seems to go on forever in my training runs in the hope that on the actual day it will not be quite as bad as it currently does. A wise move?...read on.

This little jolly was to run from Beeley to Chatsworth House, something that I have done several times before, but normally I turn round at the 'Big 'ouse' and retrace my steps. This time the plan was to continue around the side of the National Trust property and then up, up and up onto Beeley Moor. 

The initial couple of miles of the run are flat, crossing as it does some of the pasture land that forms the grounds of Chatsworth House. Not that there was anything out to pasture, with not a single sheep or deer in sight. Indeed the only wild things I saw was a group of half a dozen wild swimmers having an early dip in the River Derwent. 

Rounding the back of Chatsworth House there were three options to take, the blue, pink or yellow walking trails, each offering routes of different distance and elevation through Stand Wood. As the aim of this little jolly was to do some hills I chose the yellow option, which at just over 3.5 miles was the longest and certainly the steepest.

Runable for most of its length, with a continuous slope rather than short, sharp and ridiculously steep inclines, the road / forest track gained height as I passed the Hunting Tower and the two small lakes, with hardly another sole out save for some dogwalkers and a stray deer that ran across the road at one point. 

The sun appeared and the early morning nip in the air that had chilled my hands at the start of the run vanished as the climbing finally ended and I was able to catch my breath on a pretty level stretch of forest trail. Then following the old adage what goes up must come down, it was a tentative descent, initially on an overgrown, rock strewn path where my aim was to be slow, steady and still standing before a final quad shredding road run back down to the river again.

An hour and 10 mins after setting off, a distance of 6.57 miles in my legs, some definite hill work under my belt, and the time yet to reach 9.30am I was back at the car ready to crack on with rest of the day. Quite what my legs will feel like the day after is anyone's guess but at the moment it's all good.