Out at night

This evening I went for a run around the woods, knowing that it would be dark before I was done. I took a head torch along for the final third of tree running. It felt Ok running in a little cone of light and not too spooky. Strangely at the end of an urban path I developed that 'someone is watching me' feeling and had to speed up. Perhaps it was because the path is near a road that I thought there might be the 'mad axe man'. There wasn't.

Short training run

I didn't want to do much of a run today but after looking at my blog I was reminded that I needed to do my running  drills. So I popped out for 2km and did high knees, heel lift, ankling and pawing drills. Just 30 of each per leg with short slow runs in between. There was a little oddness in my left patellar tendon but not soreness. Of course, on the downhill sections I worked very hard to keep a neat gait.

18 at 140 again

Today I repeated last week's route although the weather was far more pleasant. Initially it was cold but quickly the sun rose well above the horizon and I was plenty warm enough. On ascents I kept my heart rate below 140bpm and on descents I was very careful with gait.

Even though I set off slightly aware of both knees I didn't get any twinges or discomfort until I walked a little bit near home. Certainly at the 8km ascent where I noted a little soreness last week the knees were OK. On descents I  felt more confident too; thinking of raising my cadence, leaning forwards and lifting my feet quickly.

The pace was much the same as last week with a similar pattern of splits. The splits show a good maintenance of pace, bearing in mind that the terrain is quite varied on this run. Looking back, on my longer runs last year, even though the pace was faster I wasn't maintaining it. To an extent that shows that I wasn't strong enough for that pace. It's also clear that I wasn't doing long slow runs, I was working close to what might be called race pace; as fast as I could go! Hopefully this slower approach will give a sustainable training effect without injury.

The spiders in Limb Valley had been busy overnight

Slightly sore soft knee tissues

Today I've had slightly tender patellar tendons and quad insertions. Interestingly both legs are affected. Not bad, but noticeable.

Is this due to a combination of fast-ish run on Monday followed by Wednesday circuits (with a fast-ish run there) or due to wearing the red Brooks shoes for the circuit run and session? Neither is great as I hoped I was getting a bit stronger. When I wore the red shoes some months ago I set off problems but with hindsight thought I'd been deliberately heel striking to feel the cushioning; yesterday I made a real effort not to! I think the safest option is a combination of 2 days rest and put the red shoes back to one side.

18 at 140

After a hiking week, then a rest week that segued into an ill week I was unsure how to step back into my long run programme. After much debate about swimming, approaching it in small stages I decided to jump straight in. Saturday swimming was there when I couldn't do long runs and now the evenings are darkening it isn't ideal to do a long trail run in an evening.

My ongoing programme would suggest that today's long run should have been about 15km so I decided to run my Devil's Elbow loop; walking as required to keep my hear rate below 140bpm so that the effort didn't make it too intense.

The weather was damp and still in the woods, very humid and I was please to reach Houndkirk Road where there was a little breeze. I had to walk any ascent that was visible to keep to my target zone and this made it clear to me that I was stressing myself too much when I was aiming to do this type of run at 6min/km pace. Towards the end of the run it was clear that the distance would be more than planned (why didn't I check my records?) and I walked a few descents too as I could feel that my knees were fatiguing.

Overall the loop was 18km and although pace isn't an issue for a 'Long Slow Day' I was pleased, and indeed slightly surprised, to see that it was under 7min/km. After rollering and stretching I didn't feel as worn as usual, perhaps the pacing had worked? I'll need to see if the sudden restart has had an adverse effect on anything, of course the left knee soft tissues being the real concern. I noted a slight twinge at 8km when stepping up a rocky path but nothing significant thereafter.

I also had a good look for ticks, my new concern, as I'd pushed through damp heather that was overgrowing the moor path. Luckily I couldn't see any!

Getting back in a shallow groove

I seem to be over the cold now and managed two 5km runs on Tuesday and Wednesday. The pace was pretty easy but at least it's action. On Tuesday I included some of the gait drills and on Wednesday I was commuting to the circuit class so there was training in addition to the distance covered. I'm making an effort to feel how I'm lifting my feet on descents in an attempt to find a low impact non-overstriding rhythm. There is a little familiarity developing but I'm not convinced that I've found the best approach yet.

I'm out of the swimming habit though. My last lesson was cancelled and my swim whilst ill put me off. Then there was work and now it feels to awful to go back! Perhaps I'll manage on Saturday?

Ugh!

Having a cold is awful. For such a basic illness it has a profound effect! Yesterday morning I went for a swim as I felt I'd been lethargic all week but it was probably a mistake. I found it very hard work and struggled to keep any decent form at all. It wasn't just a perception either as my speed was very poor. I probably shouldn't have gone.

After last night's sleep I awoke feeling a bit  better but as today has gone on I've faded and now feel fairly grim. Really any run is out of the question and so this week's total is a grand 5km. On the positive side though, the rest has allowed me to update the blog and enter a little about Spain (a great trip) and it's forced a rest of my joints.