WFC Runners - 20th September

With the nights now drawing in and the light rapidly fading we found ourselves returning to the all too familiar stomping ground of Blue Ball Hill for our hill intervals. 

As per usual we met at Abbey Gardens where we welcomed 21 runners.  A cracking turnout considering the wet and windy conditions we were expecting. We also welcomed Steve for his first run with the group.  Steve is running the Winchester half this weekend, and there is no better prep than a full on hill session!!   

After the standard warm up and chat we headed out of the gardens and down to the bottom of Blue Ball hill.  Karen and Rachel P decided to go for a social run (ahead of the Winchester half) an so headed off to North Walls rec.

The session was fairly straight forward (albeit very hard).  We would run 12x30 sec sprints as far up the hill as possible, and then jog recover back down. 

The aim was to try and be as consistent as possible and reach the same point on the hill for each of the 12 reps.  This was a real leg sapping session but one which will help build strength and endurance as well as confidence on the hills. 

Part way through I lost count of the reps and almost let the runners off of one, until Anna flagged it to me! Thanks Anna!

For the majority of the session it was just a bit windy, however around rep 10 the heavens opened and soaked us all.  It is credit to the group that they cracked through the remaining reps.  

After the session was over we headed back to Abbey gardens for the cool down and more chat!  

To educate and entertain you here are some Blue Ball related historical facts:

Blue Ball Hill

At the junction of Blue Ball hill and St Johns Street is The Old Blue Boar Inn.  This is the is black and white Tudor style building on the right at the top of the hill.  This former pub is over six hundred years old and was built just before the Black Death visited Hampshire with devastating results.  It is thought that the name “Blue Ball Hill” is a corruption of the name “Blue Boar”. #edutainment

Lastly I would like to wish Charles, Rachel, Philippa, Karen, Tom and Steve all the very best for the Winchester Half and Sarah H for the Disney half on Sunday.