It works!

After work yesterday I wanted to get the seven miles to Witches Point and back done and see if there was any quad pain. If I can do that I can happily start on “mid range” runs again and the news is that I only suffered the usual pains of several miles of trail and beach. The quad withstood it well although I admit I’m protecting it more than usual. I though I felt a twinge but that was more likely injury induced paranoia!

Was so happy to get back and feel I can start building up for August now. Gradually of course, I figure I still have 6 weeks of training not including a weeks taper and I should be able to return to the form of Preseli in that time easily enough. I don’t see the point in pushing my body to get close to 32 miles in training, 20 will be fine again and like Preseli the rest comes together on the day.

More baby animals!  This is however the time of year to watch out for the less than tiny and friendly mothers to said baby animals. Remember kids – being trampled by livestock isnt big or clever!

Ble mae watefall? 

From there to here and back to over there – The view from Witches

 

I’m still here

Apologies for teh lack of posts lately, I’m still alive! Just not running much waiting for this quad to heal properly. The tricky thing is that it might well be healed already, I have no way of knowing as it doesnt start hurting until Ive done 4 or 5 miles and it was fine last time out.  It does feel a bit limboish but I’m getting stretching and core work done while I wait so even if I am being a little over cautious it’s ok I guess. Im aware that I only have 7 weeks now to the Cornish ultra and I’ve not done a really long long since Preseli but I’m hoping that I don’t actually need to bury my body during training this time to gain confidence I can cover the distance. Yes its another 8 miles but the elevation an descent amounts are the same so stretched over a longer distance and being coastal I’m unlikely to be faced with sheer mountains like Preseli.

I’m probably overthinking it all ….

Anyway the tide was in this week so I did a quick trip to teh beach and some hillwork up and down the Cwm to test the quad under pressure and it felt fine so I got that going for me!

My twin hill climbs

The ridiculously steep bit that makes me cry

Last weekend was my dads 80th. What do you get the man with everything? I thought long and hard then realised I already had what I wanted to give him.

Up with the lark

SRG you will be so proud!  To avoid the heat later in the day I was up at …. 6.30 for a run!

Did in fact set me up for the day nicely but even at that hour it was getting hot, was sweating loads despite the early hour, god only knows what I’d be like out there right now.  If the ultra in August is like this im doomed

All mine!

Sun rising over the cliffs for a change

I was about to say dawn at the beach but more like post dawn

Pebbling

I was out early on saturday morning to beat the heat of the day.  It meant that the tide wasnt quite right but I managed to get to the ladders just in time so I could come back along the clifftops.

Met my buddies on the way

The tide had just reached the pebbles so I got to walk along them in the shade for a while

Pebbles and cliffs

New buddies – Who wanted to come and see me and ran alongside for a field

I’ll let the photos do the talking ….

However you can play spot the red kite

Not sure what the hell was divebombing me on the left of this photo!

Google “autotuned” this photo – Not sure if I prefer it … Looks a little too bright

West Wales – Wet, Windy and Wonderful

Spent the weekend down in West Wales with a couple of friends and their dog which of course meant I got to do some running at last. The idea was to do a few miles of the coastal path in glorious sunshine and take in the views. This being Wales of course it was blowing a gale and raining on me from the outset. I was not to be deterred though!

The beach at Newgale. Not accurately represented here is the howling gale

I was actually really enjoying myself despite the wind, cold and rain and was happily putting out enough effort to prevent hypothermia. The only times I got cold was when I stopped to take photos for you my dear readers. The sacrifices I make!

 

Newgale is tiny, thats about it – The river cuts between the pebbles to make its own channel which is pretty cool. Well it would be if the sheer amount of pebbles wasn’t forcing the closure of the road

I had forgotten to bring my energy foods with me and so my friend had given me some marshmallows and chocolate but as I didn’t want them to melt in my pocket we shoved them in the only bag we had available – an (unused) dog poo bag.  A bags a bag but I decided to eat while crossing the bridge in the photo – So there I am in front of the cafe shovelling marshmallows straight from a dog poo bag into my mouth. Always make a good first impression when visiting a new place.

The views were great despite the weather

And the path was fun, technical and steep

I returned via the beach and missed the point where I could rejoin the path home so I kept going to see how far the beach went

Found some really pretty rocks while scrambling along

Then I came to a dead end, the only way was to go back the way I came or so some scrambling up a scree slope. I am not one to be deterred by a challenge so off I went

Up here – This was actually loads of fun until I got to the top of the scree and realised there was a 20 foot vertical bank up to the path covered in gorse and brambles. Having already cut and scratched myself to bits I decided to let sense rear its ugly head and retreated back down. Only added about 4 miles to my run …..

View from halfway up a scree slope

I eventually got back after about 3 hours, tired, cold and wet but happy. The quad is still not entirely happy but then i cant really blame it after a dozen miles and a climb up and down a bloody scree slope.

In the afternoon we popped into St Davids – The Smallest city in Britain.

St Davids Cathedral

More importantly than sightseeing we took Iolo the dog to the pub

Stare into my eyes and give me your Guinness

Catch me while you can

The sun shone yesterday and I just knew I had to be out in it for a short run. Plus the problem with an injury which only appears after a few miles of running – literally no discomfort at any other time – is that you don’t know if its gone.  So off I went to the beach.  The news is that the quad still hurts a little but I can feel the rest is improving it. To make sure I wasn’t going to screw things up again I took it super easy. The odd thing is that I find it hard to stick to super easy as when I stop thinkning about it my body naturally ups the pace, had to keep reminding myself to apply the brakes.

I think to be fair the time off running (Im counting 4 runs in 3 weeks as off running) is helping me recharge mentally after Preseli, on those days I’ve not been reading or thinking much about it deliberately so if you’ve wondered why I’ve been quiet and not invading your blogs (you know who you are) its purely some time out from the whole thing to recharge perspective. I’m getting to the point now though when I really want to be back fit and training again so as soon as the quad says go – Im gone!

Was missing this place though

Just peaceful