400 Miles!

7 months and I've reached 400 miles :-)

Weekly Progress

Walk
Covered 7.43 miles.

On track to equal June's total of 36.50 miles.

Weekly Progress

Walk
Covered 8.75 miles

Weekly Progress

Run
Covered 1.02 miles
Two new PBs this week:

1km 5 minutes 5 seconds
1 mile 8 minutes 20 seconds

Walks
Covered 7.17 miles

Weekly Progress

Run
Covered 0.98 miles in 9 minutes 3 seconds.
PB for 1 mile is 8 minutes 45 seconds, so not too bad since I've not been running for ages!!

Walk
Covered 6.98 miles

Monthly Progress

Walk
Total covered for the month including golf was 26.11 miles. Target of 50 miles was way too optimistic!!

For December going to try to match or beat June's total of 36.50 miles.

Weekly Progress

Walk
Covered 6.54 miles, includes 2.86 miles of golf.

Weekly Progress

Bike
1 session

Walk
Covered 4.78 miles

Don't think I'll meet the 50 miles this month! Revised figure 25 miles!!

Weekly Progress

Bike
1 session

Walk
Covered 6.28 miles, this included 2.12 miles for 9 holes of golf. Still crap as ever! but made a golf ball skim across water twice and get to the other side!!

Weekly Progress

Bike
2 sessions

Walk
Covered 5.65 miles

Monthly Progress

Bike
5 short sessions.


Run
Covered 1.86 miles

Walk
Covered 17.23 miles

So just a total of 19.09 miles for the month. Back in June it was 36.50 miles, so deffo been a restful month!!

Going to set myself a target of 50 total miles for November. Time to get active once more :-)

Weekly Progress

Walk
2.32 miles

Bike
Got back on the exercise bike last week for 5 short interval sessions, different resistances (R) and distances:

• R1, 5km in 5 minutes 43 seconds
• R2 x2, 10km best time of 15 minutes 56 seconds
• R8 x2, 5km best time of 8 minutes 52 seconds

Weekly Progress

Walk
5.48 miles covered

Weekly Progress

Walk
4.18 miles

The lack! of miles so far this month has helped with the planned weight gain!

Weekly Progress

Run
3km 16 minutes 36 seconds (didn't win! The Chatwins Cake Challenge)

Walk
5.25 miles

Fitter For Forty?

Back in June I changed the theme for my blog from travelling to fitness!

I had set myself 2 objectives so I'd put some effort in! in order to become fitter:

• Bosley Cloud Run
• 53km on exercise bike

Bosley Cloud Run

Initial walk! took 53 minutes 9 seconds.

Fastest time is 41 minutes 38 seconds.

(I did say I'd run up The Cloud on my birthday! but as I've beaten the 45 minute marker twice I had a lie in!)

53km on exercise bike

26km took 52 minutes 51 seconds

53km took 1 hour 29 minutes 17 seconds

Can't say I stuck to my planned! running timetable but times have improved over the months:

• 1km down from 6 minutes 16 seconds to 5 minutes 21 seconds
• 1 mile down from 10 minutes 37 seconds to 8 minutes 53 seconds
• 3km down from 19 minutes 9 seconds to 17 minutes 40 seconds

(Terrain varied from canal paths, level and inclined disused rail tracks.)

Approx 90% of my effort has been out walking on the canal and hills of Cheshire and Staffordshire:

• Cheshire Ring Canal Walk, 97 miles covered
• Gritstone Trail, 2/3rds covered
• Dane Valley Way, couple of miles covered

So you may ask! am I now fitter than I was 4 months ago?

Looking at the graph you can see my fitness miles have been on an upward trend, running times are coming down. My weight went down but is now on the way back up. I became a bit flatter round the belly as the weight dropped off.

All the above points would suggest I am, and I have to agree with them :-) !

What next?

I want to finish off the Gritstone Trail and walk all the Dane Valley Way.

Do some more running to be able to run 5k then 10k in one go.

Most of all though gain some weight and muscle!

New motto is "Fatter For Fifty!"

Cheshire Ring Canal Walk Overview

So with yesterday's walk I've completed the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk!

It looks good on the graph to see all miles for all the component canals having been covered.

Over the 7 walks there's been good points and some not so good!

Highlights

• British Waterways employee literally asleep on the job! on canal path
• Cow graffiti under a bridge
• Middlewich to Northwich section, prettiest part to walk on
• Ramsdell Hall between Kidsgrove and Congleton. Nice lawn down to the canal and ducks!
• Running on the road after 11 miles of walking

Lowlights

• Bears do go in woods!!
• Blisters
• Roadside verge walking due to canal tunnels!
• Shameless on Sea (Ashton)

I've learnt now how to avoid blisters, last 2 walks were blister free! Also key to a successful! walk is to eat and drink regularly!!

Weekly Progress

Run
3.11miles covered

Fastest 3km so far, 17 minutes 40 seconds ( uphill too :-) )

Walk
30.51 miles covered

Cheshire Ring Canal Walk - Lymm to Anderton

Been here before??!!!

Final leg of Cheshire Ring Canal walked today :-) 

16.90 miles in 4 hours 44 minutes.

Felt like I could of spent more time on public transport than walking today! Was a train from Congleton to Manchester. Then the metro out to Altrincham, short wait then a bus to Lymm before I could start walking again!

Once I finished it was down towards Northwich, stopped waiting for a bus and thought it was running late! I'd read the times for Monday to Friday not Saturday! So once more my feet carried me down the hill before deciding to wait for the bus!

Refueling with McDs chilli chicken wrap (very nice), fries and a wake me up! Coke I waited for another bus to Sandbach. Changing at Sandbach final bus journey home!!

Few runners on the canal paths today, not joggers! but proper runners. One bloke in his 50s gave me calf envy!! Looks like with lots of cycling, lots of running gives you good calves!!

Twice women canal drivers gave me a laugh! Near to Daresbury Science Park (Main tower suddenly appears on the horizon and makes you think what the f*ck!! is it?!) a group looked like they were trying to run a barge aground! Signs clearly said no public mooring etc!

Then near to Anderton two women struggled to avoid oncoming barges on a corner!!

So...... it's time to put my feet up in relation! to canal walking for a bit. Quite fancy doing the Scottish Caledonian Canal at some point. 

Tomorrow I'll update my graph! and mention the highs and lows! whilst doing the whole 97 miles. 

Weekly Progress

Walk
21.42 miles covered

No runs this week, need to get back into them next week as a Chatwins cake to be won in October!!

Cheshire Ring Canal Walk - Manchester to Lymm

Before today I just had about a third left to do of the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk. After getting the train to Manchester I set off for Lymm, distance of approx 14 miles.

Time taken approx 4 hours 15 minutes.

Walking down Canal Street to get onto the canal was deadly quiet, don't think it would of been 7 hours earlier!  (around 7:30amish set off)

Wasn't happy! with the lack of grips on my walking boots on the damp cobbles and canal path in the centre of Manchester. Thought if was going to be like that all the way to Lymm was going to be a long day indeed!

Geese! are my new ducks, stopped to take quick bit of video of some at Castlefield Locks.

Once out of Castlefield I approached Old Trafford footy ground. Pics and video taken for any Manc Reds out there!!

Stretford followed by Sale, skirted past Altrincham before ending up in Lymm. Luckily the bus back to Altrincham was running late, a bit of a jog! and managed to catch it.

Need to remember to change distance on my Garmin watch next time as after 3 hours I'd covered 10.3 miles (last weekend's expected mileage for Northern part of Gritstone Trail)

So the finishing! line for the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk is in sight. Another 19 miles and I'll have walked all of the 97 miles :-)

Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIE8Y55SnHo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uheDAfUt6DE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbEJ3A-rCC0

Pics

Weekly Progress

Run
4.95 miles covered

Walk
29.85 miles covered

2/3rds of Gritstone Trail now covered!

Weekly and Monthly Progress

Run
Covered 1.87 miles

Two new personal bests:
1km 5 minutes 49 seconds
1 mile 9 minutes 32 seconds

June: 2.75 miles
July: 11.72 miles
August: 10.60 miles


Bike
One 22 minute HIIT session
8km 9 minutes 22 seconds (PB)
One 20km session


Walk
Covered 4.38 miles

June: 33.75 miles
July: 68.37 miles
August: 83.78 miles


Total Distance
June: 36.50 miles
July: 80.09 miles
August: 94.38 miles

A pattern! has formed where I take it easy at the beginning of the month then increase the miles as the month goes along.

YouTube Top 5!

Back in June I had a total of 18 videos on YouTube, the top 3 were:

1. Diving Swans in Cardiff Bay (45 views)
2. Canoes from PYB (21 views)
3. Las Vegas part 1 (16 views)

Now the total videos stands at 25, below the top 5 videos:

1. Las Vegas part 1 (70 views)
2. Big Melt (61 views)
3. Diving Swans (52 views)
4. Ceilidah (27 views)
5. Last Vegas part 4 (26 views)

So a new number one! the swans have lost their top spot. Las Vegas seems popular! and the new entry at number 2, Big Melt is not too far behind!

Shall see if Las Vegas get can 100 views :-) !

Weekly Progress

Run
Covered 5.37 miles

Walk
Covered 40.03 miles

No bike but need to run just over a mile in the next three days to match July's running stats.
So far this month I've exceeded July's walking stats by a mile.

Cheshire Ring Canal Walk - Macclesfield to Manchester

Initial plan for today was to walk along the canal from Macclesfield to Disley. From Disley then head back south along the Gritstone Trail to do a complete loop.

As the weather wasn't brilliant! and looking at the hills or lack of due to cloud! I decided to carry on all the way to Manchester.

Video below is taking a break from the heavy rain!! Glad I washed and re-proofed my jacket as at times the rain was pretty heavy. My new waterproof trousers,Kamleika Pants by OMM performed very well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6tms2NF3n0

So the time taken to walk approx 25 miles was approx 8 hours. Would of been less but headed over a bridge to the other side of the canal, then discovered I had to double back!!

 I've now covered 2/3rds of the 97 miles of the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk.

Saw the light!! whilst walking under the M60 motorway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEBNLkh17oY

After 7 hours of walking it was time to stop for a breather! Legs resting on the arm of a lock gate took the below video of geese on the Ashton Canal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6lH5bJoA_w

Taking 3 videos today brought my tally for YouTube videos to 25! Next week I'll post my top 5 videos with the most views! Think since I did my top 3 videos there will be a new number one!

Managed to keep still and quiet enough to photo 2 herons this time!

So enough for now! I'll let people view the videos and look at the photos below. 

New Cloud Time

41 minutes 38 seconds

Weekly Progress

Run
Covered 5.26 miles

Bike
Two 20 minutes HIIT sessions

Walk
Covered 39.03 miles

6.46 miles of running required before the end of the month to match July's stats.
20.41 miles of walking required before the end of the month to match July's stats.

Congleton to Sutton Common BT Tower

Five hours of fitness this morning. Six weeks till the big FOUR O!!!

Decided to walk up to the Sutton Common BT Tower near Macclesfield. Initially did a bit or running then continued walking. On the way back along canal decided to try a bit more running!

Phone battery died near getting off the canal so next time I'll remember my portable battery!

Encountered more cows!!

Link below maps out where all the pics were taken, apart from stitch pic of the view from Sutton Common Tower of the Cheshire Plain.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/albumMap?uname=neilrbeecroft&aid=5642924637698727697&authkey=Gv1sRgCIP82-LjzJeNzAE#map

Below all photos I took on my travels.

Getting on the canal

Time to get off the canal

Aim of the day!

River Dane

More cows to negotiate!!

Still some way off!

Bosley Cloud

Almost there :-)

You have arrived at your destination!!

Cheshire Plain