Today's Run

[PaulB2]

My missus is going away for a long weekend of geeking out at Celebrations so In order to squeeze my long run in this week I had to be up at 4:30 this morning to get out of the door before 5. I mostly kept to the roads since my head torch isn't very effective in pitch black and headed out through the middle of town in light drizzle and then out to Brocton and then over the much easier road route to Milford (the off-road route is much steeper) and then reaching the outskirts of town again as skies were getting lighter. In my quest for hills, I headed north again up to Hopton on the footpath before descending back again on the road before continuing the loop around the top end of town with an extra diversion in the middle of town to go over the railway line twice to add extra distance. I was originally aiming for 30km but needed to get back to start work so 'only' 29km distance with 250m of climbing in 3h40. Hopefully my new shoes will arrive soon since my feet are telling me my current pair are getting to the end of their life.

[sean_iow]

That's dedication to be out at that time of the morning. I love being out that early but unfortunately I'm terrible at getting up, so the only way I get to be out at 04:30 is to have stayed up from the day before, hence why I usually ride through the night on events

[PaulB2]

I can't say I'm a huge fan of getting up that early but it was the only way the timings were going to work. Just over 5 weeks until my marathon.

Since I had kids, getting up hasn't been an issue, it's staying asleep unfortunately.

[PaulB2]

Yesterday's run was a slightly odd one since I had to be on call for picking up my eldest so couldn't really go much more than about 20 minutes from home. I ended up doing my old 5k loop before an extended figure of 8 with my house in the middle. The plan was to run at my intended marathon pace so 21.3k in 2h20 and I feel surprisingly fine today, no real aches or pains. Hopefully that bodes well Next weekend is going to be a 20 miler which should be 'interesting'

[PaulB2]

I came across this which looks intriguing due to the major train stations at either end:

https://www.komoot.com/collection/14225 ... route-2023

It looks like the original event was a 2 day supported run but I can't help but wonder if this could be broken down into a 2/3 day fastpacking thing. Am I insane?

[Bearlegged]

Carrying your own camping kit? I'm sure you could if you wanted to. The folk who set it up include Stef from Pannier, so they all kipped at his place in Castelton when they recce'd it.

[PaulB2]

I recognised the name in the guardian article comments which led me to the route. I'd probably need to shrink my sleeping gear down significantly before I seriously considered it (that and be able to run a series of 25+ km days :)

[GregMay]

Treat it like a mountain marathon and you'd be fine. Could be quite a good trip.

[PaulB2]

The missus is going away again this weekend so I had to squeeze my long run in today. Started and stopped work early so I could be out the door by 4:30 and back before sunset. 32.5km in 4 hours with 350m of climbing with about half of the distance being off-road . That’s the longest I’ll be doing before the marathon though the WRT probably isn’t the best training

[Bearlegged]

New shoes day, turns out they're very comfy.
9.6km, 450m climbing up and down the Wrekin and Ercall. Bluebells are out, I saw a little gang of fallow deer in the woods, and the sun shone. Feeling good.

[GregMay]

Teenager With Altitude yesterday. First AL fell race in a while due to injuries. It was as brutal as ever! 26km, 2,200m of climbing, 4hrs 20min or so. Legs are borked today!

Then, daughter did her first fell race today. Can't do them until you are 6 and she is...by 10 days.

[Bearlegged]

Then, daughter did her first fell race today. Can't do them until you are 6 and she is...by 10 days.

Ha, nice! Did she enjoy it?

[GregMay]

Well she didn't hate me at the end, so I guess so

Yes, she was really happy, found it hard, but no surprises there.

[PaulB2]

I'm curious how long the race was? I've tried running with my 8 year old but I've not managed to get him to pace himself yet, he always just wants to hare off at top speed before inevitably blowing up.

[GregMay]

Being a fell race it's not going to be flat! It was 1km, about 60m climbing, more or less, up then down again.

The longest she has raced though is about 5km...orienteering, so not flat out at all, but not ever stopping. I think that took her about 45mins? It was lumpy.

[PaulE]

Saturday's run, not today's, but there we go...
Teenager with Altitude race in the lakes. Shitty weather all the way there, to the point where we nearly turned round on the M6 and then were strongly tempted by the pencil museum in Keswick!

Realized that we should toughen up, so (as all 4 in the car were entered already) thought we'd better run!

All started pretty well, in the top 30 up causey pike and feeling pretty good. Thighs starting to twinge a bit on the first descent, but not too severe and recovery was OK on the way up outerside. Unfortunately, on the second descent the front of my thighs cramped pretty badly which was the theme for the next 12 miles and 6 peaks... Rest of the race was pretty much survival mode, apart from hitting a great racing line down from Dale Head, despite the knackered thighs I made a few minutes on those around me and lead one of my car-mates down there too.

Finished happy but completely blown up and ruined - just as well there was chilli, cake & tea at the finish to devour, and the car has adaptive cruise control for the 3 hours home!
25km, 2500m climb, 4:27 (was hoping for about 3:45 until the thighs went...)

Back on the bike today but pretty slow... and despite the pain and DOMS, it was still a great day out - almost like emptying the tank completely allows you to refresh the mind

[GregMay]

Hang on...PaulE... were you in the DPFR vest behind me at the finish?

Edit: and yes, I nearly pulled the plug based on the rain on the way up. It was only the rain radar that persuaded me to bear with it.

[PaulE]

Possibly - if you passed me on the left while I was making a complete mess of the descent from the top of Cat Bells then definitely!

[GregMay]

That was me :) Tod Harriers vest.

I learn't my lesson from going out too hard on that race a few years ago. It's quite a brutal one.

If I'd know it was you I'd have stopped for a natter.

[PaulE]

Sadly, I can't even blame it on going too hard - learnt that a few years back when I'd gone flat out down to newlands, passing about 10 folk including Nicky Spinks who then took the piss on the way back up the other side and in the car home.

Pretty much entirely thigh cramp related, think I need some Pilates, stretches, hill reps and possibly not to run in very minimal Altra mt kings...

[PaulB2]

Did another 12k around Stafford yesterday but my long run this weekend is going to be replaced with the WRT, that's bound to be good training right? Only 188km for the month due to missing out a couple of runs with family stuff - I could probably squeeze in 12k today or tomorrow just to get to the arbitrary 200km mark but I think my legs are going to really feel the welsh hills so I might as well rest them a bit.

[GregMay]

Was feeling off after TWA last weekend, legs were much worse than normal the day after but I put that down to being old and fat, then on Tuesday BOOM. Home from work early, couch, shivers, Covid negative. Stupidly went to work on Wednesday, left after I taught my Y12s, Covid positive. Probably should have checked that morning. Hindsight and so on.

I've spent most of the rest of the week on the sofa. Wife and daughter avoiding me ... admittedly they'd planned to go visit family in Ireland, but I'm sticking with they abandoned me. What was planned to be a 4 day BIG training block (thank you teacher strike day next Tuesday) looked like it was gone. I got over it by Thursday afternoon when I'd realised I was starting to feel "better". Not coughing, no shivers, temp normal. Hmmm...

Spent Friday couching again. Did some house work. Did MORE house work. Fitted a new shower. Realised I felt fine walking up and down 4 stories from basement to attic each time I forgot a tool. Couched. Drank fluid. Contemplated.

Out the door. Up into the forest, onto the trail. Z1 on all the uphills, I'll allow myself to jog the flats to see what happens. OK, that's fine. Jog the downs. Legs feel good. Keep the HR low, keep the legs moving. Lets see what happens. Another climb? Sure. Descend. Flat 4km to see what happens...ok, once I keep the HR below 130 we're good.

Either way, 2 hours, 16km, 550m climbing and I'm not dead. All in Z1 bar 10mins in Z2 (130<145bpm). Couching again. Maybe, maybe I can do something of use this weekend.

[Bearlegged]

Blimey. That's you on a bad day???

Hope you're feeling properly better soon.

[GregMay]

That was me being sensible :)

Feeling more or less ok now. Ran (Albeit at about 60% effort) an orienteering race today, 11km, felt fine, but frustrated at having to dial it back.

[GregMay]

Felt perky when I woke up so decided to go have some fun.

3.5hrs, 28km, 880m with my kit for CCC. Felt great, met few people on the route I took, enjoyed some spectacular running on my local trails. Couldn't have been better.