Training for hilly trail events, in this case the Broadway marathon, involves getting out and running on hilly trails. While the Peak District isn’t too far away, and offers perfect training for the non-mountainous Cotswolds, it’s still a 90-minute drive, and doing that every couple of weeks does become tiresome (and expensive).
So, this week, I decided to make the much more reasonable 30-minute drive over to Leicestershire, and begin my planned 13-miler at the Beacon Hill Country Park. I’d been around the country park before. I did the parkrun, which remains one of my favourites, followed by a few laps of the outer, main path, and I soon racked up the elevation. Bradgate Park also isn’t that far away, and I’m aware of trails which link the two, so I set about planning a route where I’d start at Beacon Hill, make my way over to Bradgate, and then return to Beacon Hill, taking in the parkrun to complete a solid Saturday morning’s work.
I parked up at Beacon Hill for 7am, making the poor choice of opting for the upper car park (more on that later). It’s a ticket-upon-entry and pay-upon-departure car park which has a reasonable toilet block. Not great, but for a male who just requires a urinal, perfect. Parking was £5 for around 3 hours.
Parking what3words: reprints.bearings.printing
From Beacon Hill, I set off straight for Bradgate Park. This involved a nice downhill section to begin with, before leaving the park on the National Forest Way, picking up the Leicestershire Round path shortly after. This was a great path for running (or walking). I can see how sections might become muddy during wet weather, but none of it was overgrown and it was all sturdy underfoot. It also cuts through a golf course, which was a nice addition.
Three miles in and I was entering Bradgate Park, taking on the short but steep climb up to the Old John Tower. It was a gorgeous morning, and a gorgeous vantage point, so I took a few minutes to grab some SiS flavoured water, take a customary photo, and I was on my way down towards the tarmac road at the bottom of the park.
I followed the lower road back to the Newtown Linford car park (what3words: patio.cherry.print if you just wanted to visit Bradgate Park) before circling round for another ascent up to Old John, via the war memorial. This was quite a climb and I welcomed the downhill as I headed for the same boundary gates that I had entered a few miles previously. I retraced my steps through the golf course and back over to Beacon Hill, making my way back up the hill to my car. Dumping my running belt and water and my gloves, I took on an energy gel and set off down to the lower car park, which is where the parkrun starts from.
I misjudged the overall distance somewhat. The plan said 13 miles. I was aware that I was going to be over that but, by the time we were being counted down for the start of parkrun, I was already almost at 11. The parkrun gathering and briefing is right outside the cafe (which is closed prior to 9am, just to make you aware), but then the actual start is a little walk (or jog in my case) round the corner. This was all adding up…
I positioned myself towards the front, but not right on the front. Today wasn’t the day for racing, especially given my ‘warm up’, but I did also want to push it. There was a young lad stood in front of me slapping his legs, from top to bottom, similar to the way you see the Olympic swimmers slapping themselves before jumping into the water. Warming his muscles up?
I wanted to push it and work hard, but what I really wanted to do, was practice some hard downhill running. So I went with moderate effort on the ups, and hard effort on the downs. This must have seemed strange to those around me, one guy in particular who I kept swapping places with. Beacon Hill parkrun involves a big hill straight from the off, followed by a swift downhill section at the top of the park. You’re then into an undulating section at the top (where I ran back past my car!) before a long, fast downhill, the same hill you came up to begin with. Definitely one of my favourites.
I finished in 21:22, which is a full 6 seconds faster than the previous time I managed here. Nothing to write home about particularly but, again, a decent morning’s training. It was also the first sub-6:00 mile (5:49) that I had managed in a long time, and my fastest ever 800 m in 2:46. I really was giving it some down that final hill. After scanning my barcode, then came the realisation that I had to run back up to the top of the park to where my car was. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and maybe next time I will park in the lower car park, which is directly next to the finish area (the cafe was now open). But then again, maybe not. I’m here training for elevation, so needing to go back up could only be a good thing, right?
15.12 miles I clocked in the end, with elevation of 610 m. Who knew you could get so much vert in Leicestershire!
