Noodling around Aspley Heath woods

Distance: 13.77 miles
Terrain: forest trails
Ascent/descent: +1159'/-1133'
Time: 02:00:05
Avg. pace: 8:43

Got the Wuthering Hike ultra race next weekend (32 miles, 4400' ascent -
http://www.kcac.co.uk/) so decided not to do a long run this weekend. Instead opted for a few glasses of wine and port last night (the subversive blog of Dave Waterman is clearly having an influence) and a mid distance run around the nearby hilly woods of Aspley Heath. There are loads of tracks around this wood with sandy soils at the top and a lovely clay mud-fest down the bottom of the hills. Great for noodling around as the spaghetti route map below shows.



There aren't any huge hills (max probably 40-50 metres vertical) but there are a lot of them so you can get a decent hill workout (1159' ascent ain't bad for living in Milton Keynes). As the light improves I tend to swap from running on roads to almost exclusively running around these woods and some others nearby. I enjoy this more and I like to make sure I am able to run up and down without slowing too much.

Looking forward to meeting acquaintances from the Montrail ultra races last year (Colm) and meeting up with fellow WHWR'ers for the first time (Marco, Debbie, Davie and Phil) at Wuthering. Should be a good race with good scenery and the possibility of a pint or two afterwards.