A quick 7 miler to Witches and back racing tide and darkness. And around the 3 mile mark it suddenly went gloomy as hell and then the mizzly rain turned to full on hailstones
Within another mile though I literally hit the edge of the storm like a wall which I had been heading into and through and now going my way! I stayed on the edge all the way back.
So even when things seem pretty dark and shitty there’s always the sun … You just have to keep going til you find it.
Running with someone else has given me a bit of a jolt in that since …. I’m not actually sure when …. I’ve been running in a bit of a comfort zone. It’s been a case of mileage being king, more miles the better and thats it. Time on feet is important but I’ve realised I’ve been doing most of my training in a relatively easy zone, how often am I really training “hard” I’ve slipped into the habit of slow hills and nice easy runs. If I was recovering thats fine but all the time?
So a little speedwork here and there, some of the old fartlek type things have come into play plus hill sprints. Speedwork I quite like, hill sprints I do not. But I think all these things easy, fast and fuck hills need to come together if I want to make the improvements to run well for the rest of the year. Oh and listening to my body (before it breaks down not after)
Decided to get out for a run last Sunday despite the torrential rain. I wanted a long run but wasn’t going to happen in these conditions. To be fair the seven miles I did were made harder by slogging through fields turned into streams. More resistance training. I look back and laugh now but at the time up to my calves in freezing cold water I certainly wasn’t laughing then
I’ve never actually run with someone else apart from racing and that’s been what half a dozen times. But if someone wants to get fit by running through mist, rain and mud who am I to argue. And you know what I didn’t mind it. It was sort of a run/walk (uphills) but the odd thing is that she appears to have 2 paces – walk and flat out. And by flat out I mean 7 min/mile pace and less which was quite the shock to my usual 8 or 9 min paced legs.
It was essentially fartleks determined by the terrain. To be honest I needed to change a few things anyway as with the hill sprints in the week I don’t think just slamming in high mileages week after week is probably the most effective way to train so some hill & speedwork isn’t going to hurt (until I deck it somewhere)
The weather improved (not for long admittedly) but the tide was still in so I spent half an hour or so running hill sprints in the cwm. I was pleasantly surprised at not going anerobic immediately. Best thing about these particular sprints is the view/reward at the top
I think its crosstraining – well pushing a mountainbike up a hilly forest all day and then enjoying flying down is kind of crosstraining. Went with a friend last sunday to have a go at some MTB. We ended up in a forest full of trails which as it turned out weren’t really designed for beginners. We bumped into a young kid there who was happy to show us the best trails and we spent happy hours falling off bikes and getting muddy.
The only footage surviving of this rare event is archived below. The bank we went over looked a whole lot steeper when youre on top of it. Watch the way he glides over it in control and compare with my loss and regain of control and nearly smacking into a tree.
Oh and I broke mt front brake at some point but apparently thats ok cos you never use front brakes anyway ….
I’m not sure which is safer to be honest, coastal trailrunning or MTB
Its cold, windy, dark and the tides wrong. Even the beach doesn’t appeal on days like this. I did 3 miles, wondered why I bothered as it’s neither here or there, picked up some litter and ran home to wait for spring.
When you’re out enjoying a run and it’s getting dark and you kind of forgot your headtorch (again) and you don’t want to turn around because it’s so beautiful what do you do? Common sense says turn around before you lose the light. My sense said stay out as long as you can, keep going and trust your local knowledge and senses to get you back.
It actually worked and I didn’t fall off a cliff or into a river or anything and it meant I got to enjoy a beautiful sunset
Its that time of year again, back to work and nights still falling fast. Judging tide and dusk is an artform I have yet to master but then again with a headlamp anythings possible.
Only around 4 miles but good to get at least something done.
even though i tell myself they are.
Because after the 13 on saturday I figured I might not run at all on sunday but then I woke up and everything felt fine so I figured despite it being bitterly cold and a bit of a stiff wind I’d do a quick 4 or 5 miles … which of course turned into 7 or 8 as I was enjoying myself.
I must admit I was in one of my not very social moods so blanked everyone I passed pretty much and then took a mile or so detour essentially through a freezing stream so I didn’t have to meet anyone else. I’m like that sometimes.
So when I came to post this I looked for the photos of this day and realised i’d actually taken one …. and it’s very very very special.
Blue Green Gold Grey, Awyr Maes Tywod Aarreg 