North East Running

 Check out the route on Strava: -  https://www.strava.com/routes/2763069315242615926 Plenty of parking around the Tees Barrage - TS17 6QB . The route starts at the Tees Barrage area (same place as the Tees Barrage Parkrun) - I ran out west and followed the River Tees. It's not long before you get into nature reserve area and it feels a long way from the town centre. Looping around at Ingleby Barwick you actually run into Yorkshire for a short while. Then it's back to Stockton, past all of the university buildings and on through to the Tees Transporter Bridge. A little loop around again and back to the start. Selected photos: The famous 'Tees Transporter Bridge' Cool looking bridge near the Stockton university campus Some countryside is found as the route went out west Strava Segment of note : run over - How fast can you sprint across the Transporter Bridge? Useful links : Tees Transporter Bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tees_Transporter_Bridge Tees Barrage https:/

Check out the route on Strava: https://www.strava.com/segments/26248649 This route was actually part of a RunNation organised race. That means that the route below is a lap that needs to be done twice to get to the half marathon distances. The main carpark in Bamburgh is at the post code  NE69 7BJ  - but if you look around the side streets you can get parked for free somewhere. The run starts just before the castle, it then goes up through the beautiful village of Bamburgh before turning left onto some narrow back roads. The day of the race I did it was very windy, but the hedgerow gave some great cover from the cross wind. The road eventually winds around the coast with views of the Farne Islands. Then back to the village again. Keep looping around a second time until you hit the 21.1km mark! Selected photos... Bamburgh Castle Each lap started and finished near the historic castle The Farne Islands Strava Segment of note : Bamburgh HM - One lap - A great little 10k route Useful links

I'm forever trying to work out what small things you can do to make sure you give your best performance on the day. Part of me thinks there is a bit of a random factor - some days you are lucky and some days it wasn't meant to be. But the science-part of my brain analyses all of the small variables. Looking back through Strava at similar efforts is interesting. The first screenshot below shows five efforts over the same 5.1km route (+100m elevation). Over a ten week period the best and worst performance are only 18 seconds apart. The reason for this consistency I believe is that the preparation for each effort was almost identical. Time of the day: 0715 on a Tuesday morning Runs in previous two days: HM long run run on the Sunday and a 8km easy run on the Monday morning 24 hrs before. Footwear: The same (old pair of Nike Vaporfly 4%) Food beforehand: Bowl of cereal + cup of coffee Weather on the day: Nothing out ordinary Consistent times on the same route However, the next two

Main areas to explore: -  North East half-marathon routes - Over 20 routes from Holy Island in the north down to Hamsterley Forest in the south. -  Training workouts - A few different running workouts to keep training fun.  -  How to run faster - How to go from a 22 minute parkrun to breaking the 18 minute mark in five years. Hope you find it of interest.

Check out the route on Strava: -  https://www.strava.com/routes/2759877585105340114   Parked for free by the side of the road at Bedburn - approx DL13 3NP . The way out is up-hill for 11km  - a slow climb for +350m through the forest. The 9th km in particular is a bit of a monster going up for around +100m. I went really early in the morning - but probably best making sure you keep well to the side of the paths to make sure descending mountain bikes don't give any cause for concern. You are deep in the countryside - so this also means that mobile phone coverage is really poor - so make sure you have your GPS working on an app like Strava. Also, with trail roads and a lot of hills - it'll feel like further than a HM - so make sure you have 30km in your legs. A proper outdoor run! Selected photos... Some nice artwork around the visitor centre Misty, damp, Autumn morning Mountain bike heaven Strava Segment of note : Hill from Hell - +84m in 850m - see if you can sprint up it ;) U