The Charmouth Challenge course is basically a loop from the school running along inland to Golden Cap then back along the coast path. For training purposes it’s ideal as I can divide it up into any number of loops of any length.
Recently, I’ve been starting from the National Trust car park at the top of Stonebarrow, and running a small loop over to Chardown Hill, cutting directly down to the coast, then back up Stonebarrow. This short loop took me 32m 15s on Monday. I reckon it’s about one third distance, taking in probably the easiest of the three ascents. I can run it all except for the steps from the Smugglers Path up to near the top of Stonebarrow. From now on I’ll just refer to this run as the Stonebarrow Loop.
Last Friday I did a longer run. Stonebarrow, Chardown Hill, then over to Norchard Farm and down to St Gabriels before coming back along the coast and up Stonebarrow again. (St Gabriels Loop). Time was 49m 41s. Didn’t feel any harder than the shorter runs which was good. So a bit further, but still only one real hill. I say real hill because the coast path does go up and down a lot between the major climbs.
So the plan is to run Monday and Friday for now. I intend to add Golden Cap into my run this Friday, cold permitting!
