Long run along Ridgeway

Route: Pitstone Hill to Coombe Hill and back

Terrain: trail and a few sections on road

Distance: 22.74 miles

Ascent: 1788'

Descent: 1814'

Total time: 03:31:57

Pace: 9:19 (avg), 8:31 (fastest), 10:24 (slowest)

It was -3 C outside with bright blue skies and wall to wall sunshine for my long run today. Marvellous. Solid frozen ground with sun that feels like summer, a great combination.

I ran one of my out and back routes along the Ridgeway national trail. It is an 87 mile trail that runs from the Chilterns to rolling countryside SW of the Thames in Wiltshire (http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ridgeway/index.asp). There is an ultra organised by the TRA along it every August bank holiday weekend - a local long ultra - really must enter it!

I started at Pitstone Hill at the eastern end of the Ridgeway and ran to Coombe Hill, just west of the lovely town of Wendover and overlooking the Prime Minister's country retreat of Chequers.

Pitstone Hill:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/575690

Coombe Hill (looking north):

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/21600

I felt strong as I started and this continued througout the run. There are a fair number of sharp climbs which caused my pace to vary but I looked to maintain an average pace between 9 and 9:30 mins per mile. I figure if I am used to this pace then dropping to 10 or 11 in the WHWR will seem easier. I managed the whole run on only 1 litre of water, carried in 2 x 500ml bottles on the hio belt and didn't feel at all dehydrated which could have been because of the cold.