I wrote here recently about how big a challenge it was to get back to “routine” fitness – a seven-month layoff at my age was a significant reducer of form.
While the mileage has crept on up, the pace is yet to return and I also (again, as posted) had yet to face the hills. If you live in Cork City, the Northside is where it’s at for this. My own personal purgatory has always been the Glen Church loop. Any time I was going well on this circuit, a decent marathon performance was almost a certainty.
You start in the city (the map shows the start at the top of the railway steps at Clifton Terrace), then plough up Summerhill, through St. Luke's andDillon's Cross and on to Ballyvolane Cross – and here the loop begins. Turn left along the North Ring, past the Fire Station and then turn left again for the lung-busting ascent up past St Brendan’s NS, the shiny train sculpture and the eponymous place of worship. You get some respite here and then it’s ups and downs around to Ballyvolane Cross again to complete the 2.2-mile lap.
The key then is to do a 180-degree about-face and repeat the lap in the opposite direction. This gives you a whole new set of hills – steep descent and gradual climb this time, instead of the opposite on the first loop.
That's the profile of the double loop – starting and finishing at the railway steps. I tagged on three and a half extra miles at the end to make up the 10. You’d defo notice the effort in the quads and hammies, but for resilience and stamina, you can’t beat this type of training
