Going Round a bit

In view of the horrible forecast (again) I chose to run some the Sheffield Round Walk. Even though much of the route is on well made paths I find it hard work, perhaps due to its relentless undulation. The path is never far away from suburbia but it still manages to be very scenic for most of its length.

Against the odds the weather was warm and dry so I'd over dressed. On the steep descending steps in Ladies Spring Woods , which I always walk for fear of injury, I felt my left knee a little. This was the spot where I was forced to walk over a year ago and I think that I'm very sensitive to niggles when I'm here. My right ankle was barely noticeable and I'm putting that down to wearing the size 9 Inov8 315 shoes that I've done so much distance in. My toes were tight and I wonder if the worn heel on tarmac irritated my knee,so they aren't perfect.

Actually, a km or so later I headed back for home, missing out the Limb Valley and Porter Clough sections. I thought that I'd gone far enough in terms of both time and distance and didn't want to take on too much and force an injury on myself.

October 2015 Week 5 Session 1

Across the five sets of 400m I slowed from a 2:23min/100m pace to around 2:40m/100m. Although I was fatiguing across the session I was pleased to see that within a set I maintained pace fairly well. This was done by starting feeling very leisurely and then thinking about working progressively harder.

The pacing is similar to that of a few weeks back when I was doing 300m sets so I suppose that shows progress although it's not terribly convincing!

New shoe try-out

In a break in the clouds I nipped out and ran around the woods in the shoes I bought last week. The single reason for choosing the Asics FujiRunnegade (a horrible name) was the low heel around the lateral malleolus, supplemented by the neoprene gaiter.

Online reviews are a bit mixed, some suggesting that the heel area can cause blisters due to the multiple layers of fabric, but for my 7km trial they were fine. The sole is definitely not intended for road mileage and probably designed for short course obstacle races and fell runs. They felt secure on the leafy, muddy tracks in the woods. On tarmac they were squishy and I could feel the lugs moving underfoot although I never felt any slide.

The heel drop is reputed to be around 6mm so on the low end of my normal range and on that basis  it's probably sensible that I elected not to wear them on last week's event. They would have been great on the heather and peat but perhaps hard on my calfs on the frantic last few km.

Another nice aspect is that the uppers are clearly broad and not tapering, that is more foot-shaped than many shoes. I'll have to see how things go over the next few runs but today they didn't dig in around my heel even though I made a fair pace and had to adjust my feet as I stepped through autumn leaves onto the uneven terrain underneath.

Swimming in a storm

This morning  the weather was a bit grim, not as poor as forecast but sufficient for me to question last night's decision to be up early for a run.

From The Express, always good for hyperbole

With the rain beating down I elected to go for a swim, the 3rd session in week 4 of the latest programme. That required alternate fast and slow lengths. I felt myself tire through the relatively short session (as usual for Saturday, I left as the pool shortened for classes) and this loss of pace was evident even in the first set.

I'm pretty satisfied with the change in pace although it would have been better if I'd managed to get the fast lengths below 44seconds. Really they weren't very fast. The gradual reduction shows fatigue quite clearly and by the end of the session there is no clear increase in the 'fast' lengths. I must have been flailing pointlessly.

October 2015 Week 4 Session 2

Pacing and effort are eluding me in swimming. Today I was supposed to get progressively faster every 100m through a 600m set and repeat that 3 times. In the first and second sets I managed to take a very few seconds off across them but the general picture looks as though I maintained the pace. Now that's maybe a step forwards as in previous time trials I've started too after and slowed. By the third set  I knew I was tired so cut that short. I couldn't get a single length below a 2:30min/100m pace.

My final few lengths without the pull buoy were horrendous and showed how much I'd tired as I needed 50% more strokes to do a length than I had in the warm-up.

Toe spring

Yesterday evening I stumbled across the concept of toe spring on the internet. I can't recall how I ended up there but it started with a search for wide fitting trail running shoes. The natural running scene is full of zealots, successful athletes, charlatans and sensible anatomists so it is hard to separate fact from ideology!

The concept appears to be intrinsic to all contemporary conventional shoes and is theorised to impose excessive load on the heads of the metatarsals and overstretch the plantar connective tissue; whilst inhibiting natural toe and arch flexion. Websites such as Somastruct give pretty clear overview of the issue.

Currently I'm trying to move on from my peroneus longus ligament pain and the associated 'oddness' around the metatarsals and articles such as the one mentioned struck a chord. I found my rather worn Brook Green Silence shoes to be clear of my ankle and pleasant in that regard but after a few days of wear the centre my right foot became more painful.

My left shoe after nearly 800km 

Stock photo of a new shoe

These images show that my much-loved Green Silence shoes had a considerable toe spring when new, and presently have massive curl. This will have occurred due to repeated flexure of the sole whilst running (which is a good thing) but now forces my feet into dorsi-flexion all the time; which is a bad thing. I suspect that these shoes now have to be retired.

Beginner's luck

It's official now; my good performance in the 1st Peak Raid 3 event was probably a fluke! This morning the event was to the east of Glossop and aided by lovely, unseasonal weather.

Hard to believe it's the 1st of November

I didn't have any specific problems but only managed to get 205 points, placing me in the bottom third of the results. With hindsight I spent far too long on paths, covering distance but not getting points. I was concerned about getting into very boggy ground but really should have just accepted that would be essential to more points. The good visibility would have made aiming for the general area of ridges fairly straightforward. Possibly I wasn't moving fast enough either; part of my reason for being on paths was for speed but due to their roughness they weren't even fast.

I had hoped to detour for a control or two in the last hour but found that I was moving too slowly and was in risk of occurring penalties. As the path improved near to the base I picked up my pace as much as possible.

This final burst of speed is evident on the Strava record. The last few km were on a slight descent, grass and gravel track that offered grip, comfort and visibility.

As a competition performance it was't great but it was a lovely morning of running. In terms of  learning:

• it's clear that I need to be more prepared to get muddy
• I must look at routes that are productive for points, I ran 6 km for one poorly scoring control
• 2 electrolyte tablets in 750ml might be correct, I didn't get cramp
• more hill training (up & down) wouldn't go amiss!

The pre-event planning was excellent, the map had great detail and the volunteers at the base helpful and friendly. There was a minor issue with the onsite timing but results are now out after a few hours which is fine. I'd very strongly recommend these events to a trail runner looking to test, or develop, navigation and off-path skills.