Next week I am going to do a long run. 50 miles.
So I thought I might as well go for a run or two to practice.
The first is a run by myself from Winchester – 29.7k in a slow 3 hours 30 mins or so with 309m of climbing. The over-riding memory of this run was the heat (26 degrees in the car on the way down) and the stinging nettles. My legs were stung more times than I could possibly imagine – sleeping was very painful.
31-jul-11
The second was around Watership down – up and down some very steep hills – 27.8k in 2 hours 53 mins – 612m of climbing. This was with the running club and so the pace was quicker than I would have done myself and as a consequent, quite a bit tougher.
7-aug-11
The 50 mile run has 1,700m of climbing. That’s about the equivalent of 612m in 27.8k. So its going to be quite tough…
Well not really. I spotted a bloke photographing a teddy bear in a wood. Didn’t stop to talk to him, just ran faster!
This weekend I’ve done a couple of long-ish runs and a short-ish one that totals 46.7k They were mostly off road with others. Saturday’s was a little slower than Sunday’s, with Sunday’s being quite warm in places, especially when I was running with the wind.
Highlight of the week was a 2,000m swim in 32:40 – but I was drafting so it doesn’t really count!
Last Sunday I got a train to Mortimer and then ran home along the footpaths. It took just over three hours, and there was some walking. Mostly because some of the footpaths along a 3k stretch were in an appalling condition. To be honest though, there were a few other bits of walking too. I am not as fit as I want to be.
The best bit though was I was out running. And it rained. Very hard. So hard it made my face hurt. The squall lasted about five minutes and then it eased off. I liked those five minutes. A lot.
Mortimer – 17 July
I did a negative split run this morning, 21.6k in 1:54. This is exactly the same as I did two years ago. The route was slightly different but not hugely so. So, I am on track. Good.
I do need to make sure that I keep up the run frequency though, that’s gone down over the last couple of weeks though.
The bike is not good though. Still not getting any volume out which is pretty poor.
Today I planned to do the 40k Stonehenge stomp but I wasn’t as fit as I needed to be and so about about 30k in I decided to take the quicker route back. In the end, I did 32k in a smidgen over 3 hours. I got to the second checkpoint – 10k – in under 50 minutes but then slowed hugely, especially when I ended power walking up a really long, steep hill. I found the 23k – 32k bit quite tough.
I fell at about 12k. I was approaching a group of walkers on a downhill, rutted path. I moved left before a hard right turn and one of them moved left and so I had to move further left and tripped on some frozen ruts, landing on my left side. I carried on but my left wrist and quad took most of the weight.
The event was value for money. Only £2. And for that you get a well signposted course, plus drinks, sweets and biscuits at the aid station.
StonehengeStomp2011
Poor Sparkie. He has had to do a lot of running this week!
Some days we went somewhere where he could run off lead. Other days we went somewhere where he could run on the harness. Some days we did both. And every day he had a at least one reasonably long walk too. Poor dog.
Not sure of the total running in the last seven days but it will be over seven hours. I also did three short swims but no bike. It’s been a strange week in that wifey has been away and I have been looking after the kids.
So, today is the last day of a running week. Sparkie did a 1 hour 45 min walk this morning we saw a few pheasants (may be 100 or so) and heard a lot more. On yesterday’s long run on the harness, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw 300 or 400 of the things. If you believe the download of my GPS, the average speed was 4 mins per km for a continuous 15:26. That’s pheasant power for you.
… but I’ve not really been outside yet for a few reasons. I took the dogs for a walk this morning but they ran off so I went back, got my trainers, and went for a run with them. Tango ran with me but Sparkie couldn’t be bothered – he was too busy hunting for pheasants and stuff. It took me about 12 mins to run around the field and so I reckon I might do a few more lapse of it in future. As long as the dogs can see me I won’t get too lost!
Tonight I plan to do a long run with the docs at Burkham. Not sure what long means but would be nice to do 90 minutes.
Tomorrow I plan to do a three hour bike ride early in the morning.
I’ve been running with the dogs this morning. In fact that seems to be pretty much the only exercise I have done recently. It’s also been tricky running with the dogs because of the heat. It is too warm during the day time so most of the runs have been very early in the morning or late at night.
- Sunday morning: 50 min run with both dogs
- Saturday evening: 40 min run with Tango – late in evening as a little warm before
- Saturday morning: 25 min run with both dogs – cut short as sun came out and so I turned it into a run and then walk
- Friday evening: 30 min run with Tango
- Thursday: 45 min lake swim, plus MTB ride to/from work, with car left at the lake.
Hopefully this afternoon will be a bike ride.
My cough is still there but it is less intense than before. I’ve had some tests to see what it might be but I don’t know what it is yet. Hopefully will find out more by the end of next week.