First snow of the winter (for me)

Today's weather forecast predicted a high probability of rain but I didn't let that put me off my regular run/walk to Oxstones. Recently I've been tired and not managed to reach the stones in an hour, or on one occasion, not even completed the run. I'd even wondered if lugging 500g of camera uphill was slowing me down, I didn't have that excuse today.

This time I was happy to continue to the moor although I was delayed a little by the jacket off/on/off/on ritual due to getting warm in the woods whilst ascending and then being cold in open fields. In the plantation, a warm ascent phase, it started to snow, not a lot, but enough to show that winter has arrived.

Snow time in Lady Canning Plantation

There was a little more on the ground at Oxstones but it was cold and my fingers were too numb to bother with a photograph.

 

Oxstones habit

With a return to attending work I've found by 'COVID' morning runs to be impossible. However, for the last few Sundays I've managed 90 minutes to Oxstones which is always a lovely journey. Actually it's just under an hour to the stones and 35 minutes back along the road.

Today was very overcast but the image looks quite atmospheric after 'some' enhancement. The last couple of weeks I've been a bit quicker on the ascent and  I now have a goal to do it in under 55 minutes. I've probably done that in the past but somehow every year achieving a pace gets tougher!

Ups and downs

June 2020 has been a difficult running month after the consistency and progress made during Spring. This was helped by working from home which gives me more time for morning or evening runs. In June I decided to do a rest week and then missed few runs through the impact of building work and bad weather.

Anyway today I returned to Endcliffe Park to start my run and found the ascent through Porter Clough especially tough. I've not ru up here in many month and it showed! Heading to Oxstones the weather turned wet and windy for a few minutes but settled as I continued to Devil's Elbow via God's Spring. After that it was easy to return home via well-worn routes. Although I usually run in the other direction.

The run was hard going, long runs should be done at an easy pace but that would have needed me to work the whole way.

Two hour aquathon

I kept my motivation and arrived at Hatfield well into the morning session meaning that I only had clear 45minutes for swimming. I committed to a big loop, 800m, so reasonable after last weeks multiple small loops. The water felt cold initially but it didn't take me too many attempts to get my head in and get swimming. I kept a very steady pace as I'm still getting my confidence in the water and the feel of the wet suit. Early on I had to stop, calm my breathing, and settle into a fresh rhythm as I was going too fast, but that was OK. My goggles got a bit damp by the end so I struggled to see the route too. As I'd been out for 25-30 minutes I felt I had time for a 200m small lap and certainly not another full lap. The cold was penetrating a little too.

The wetsuit was dragging a bit on my right arm and my left arm was collapsing whilst breathing. Things to try to deal with next time. Socks were better within the wetsuit cuffs although this didn't make them any easier to take off!

A Mr T sandwich (Mustard, Rocket and Tofu)

In the afternoon, after a few little jobs I ran to Oxstones for lunch. Even though I don't really use my legs for swimming much they did feel tired and that 14km was plenty.

Sunset to Oxstones

DIY work today was fairly tough, working under the floor and coming back up to cut insulation. I estimate that I placed 12 sections so that amounts to 11 or 12 trips. The combination of crawling, cutting, adjusting and knocking panels into place gave me a good work out.

After a late lunch and a break with Columbo I ran up to Oxstones. I got there after sunset but whilst the sky had some red light, with the clear sky it was a good view to the lights of Sheffield. There was a strong breeze and it was cold so I was right in my decision not to try to stop out overnight. I think my muscles would have seized up!

During the run I did filtered and although I was aware of my knee and ankle I think they were as trouble free as they have been for a long time. Even though the run was only 14km it felt to be enough when I returned home. After some rolling my legs felt much better.

To Oxstones

As my ankle started to be irritated after 20km last week, it seemed wise to stay below that threshold. Today's run was 16km up to Oxstones and back. Actually I think it's harder than some routes of similar length as it is very much up and then down. This does give quite a strong training effect as the ascent is slight, but basically continuous for over 50 minutes. Then there's the eccentric loading all the way back.

As it's a slow run day I watched my heart rate closely and the chart shows that I did a good job of staying in the zone.

The good news is that my ankle is fine; this might have been helped by the change of shoes too. Time will, or might, tell.

Three runs this week

It's not all that much, but this week I managed 3 runs, varying in length from 5km to 14km. After various illnesses and irritations that's a significant step forwards. This evening I set out to reach Oxstones for sunset but time was getting on and I was going to be late home. I decided to push on as I felt that I'd been cheated of the sunset twice before over the last month and the weather was so good that it was a great chance to be on the fells.

It was a crisp evening with excellent visibility and really I needed a thin pair of gloves in the chill breeze. I rushed down the road back home hoping that 30 minutes of downhill tarmac wouldn't hurt any part of me. I noticed that my right ankle was a bit tender as a washed the dust off...

Sunset at Oxstones

As if an hour of swimming wasn't enough, I felt that I had to get out in the evening for a run. The weather was lovely and my guts seem OK for running at that time. Over the last few weeks I've gradually increased the distance and so today I felt able to reach Oxytone, hopefully in time for the sunset.

I think that I was a little late for the strongest effect but it was a great 14km nonetheless.

I kept the pace easy on the ascent and took a few photos. At the stones the light was fading and I was gentle on the path down to the byway for fear of falling. Actually I was gentle all the way home and knees, ankles and gut seem to be happy with that. It was exhilarating to be on the edge of fells in the pink glow of evening and worth the knowledge that I had ironing to do a soon as I got home.

A bit grim

It's never great when a run starts in rain, double worse when your guts hurt as well. Anyway I made it to Oxstones along the sloshy tracks and returned on the road.

It was the first trip out for a pair of size 9 Roclite295s and it was only near the end of 15km that I noticed any catch on my ankle. The size 9.5 do seem to be more irritating to my right ankle but they offer more toe room! Hopefully the uppers will stretch as those of the 315s have done to make them a bit more comfortable.  I'm beginning to think that a size 9 right and size 9.5 left might be the top combination. Buying them in different colours so I could tell them apart now seems less of a good idea.

Too little heel drop

There's been a fair bit of rain in the Peak District, although nothing like as much as in the Lake District. The paths are muddy so for this afternoon's run I thought the ASICS shoes would be best. I planned to run very steadily up to Oxstones for the sunset but after about 40 minutes (6km) of ascent it was clear that my left ankle was being irritated as I found last time I wore the shoes.

I had been unsure whether this problem was due to the reduced heel drop of these shoes or simple friction from the neoprene cuff. Well now I'm fairly confident it's to do with heel drop because as soon as I set off downhill the problem largely went away. The heel drop is not publicised by ASICS as far as I can tell but a few reviews put it at just under 6mm.

There's quite a good article here relating peroneus injuries to forefoot striking and minimal shoes. A low heel drop shoe is simply a mild version of that - basically encouraging the muscle and tendons to work at a longer length than they are used to.

So now I know that the shoes should currently only be used for 5km or so and that I need to transition into them for longer runs. It is perhaps noteworthy that the shoes are marketed for obstacle race use, not ultras although the manufacturer's blurb says "You can take on half-marathon distances...". Ultimately I think that I do want to be comfortable in lower shoes as many trail and fell shoes are going that way so I need to persevere.

Slow to Oxstones

I'm in the second week of a block and wanted to have a week's total over 30km which needed me to go over 15km this morning. That's not much but I felt tired when I set off, possibly due to a tiring week at work including one late night working dinner. On that basis I committed to a run/walk programme but not focussing on heart rate. Just steady progress with 1 minute walks every 6 minutes and walking the ascents.

The weather forecast was poor so it seemed ideal to stay in the valleys or most of the time, just making the high point of Oxytones for a few minutes. I set off through the the parks from Endcliffe up to Forge Dam.

From the dam Porter Clough was as tough as usual and I was glad that I'd already allowed myself to walk. Once I emerged on the moors the headwind was ever so strong and made the stretch  to Oxstones fairly unpleasant. From the trig point though the wind was on my back and most of the journey was downhill.

I was satisfied to be under  7min/km including several photo stops and that my ankle hadn't been  a problem. Every so often I was aware of it, but nothing that made me think I was over stressing it.