Well im finding that a days rest everynow and again helps. Well I knew that anyway but for once I actually listened to my body when on wednesday night my legs were just saying no just don’t do it tomorrow. Then on thursday morning I thought “hey they’re ok I could run” and common sense kicked in people! I actually thought about it and gave it a day off. I looked at my stats which I rarely seem to do these days and realised I had run a 50 mile week with 30 miles in the last 3 days which is is maybe overdoing it, truth is im enjoying being out with murph so much I dont really notcie the miles. If you add on the miles we walk too its no wonder the legs protest.
So a few runs since and today i made a find. A find find.
Surfboard with leash and fins intact just washing in overnight. Not sure what I’m gonna do with it as I dont surf (though i could learn) but a find is a find – So I ran back 3 miles with itExtreme closeupHide and seek – spot the dog?PoserRockfall
I followed up saturdays long run with another 7 miles on saunday to recover slowly. After a short period of ow shit that hurts everything loosened nicely and even better it’s now monday and I’ve been pretty much serious pain free all day including the left foot. I can feel the twinges though so a day off today.
Between the two days there are a few things I ned to remember – You can switch off here this is for my own benefit so I remember.
I got my fuelling working better on the saturday. I took bananas and the homemade honey bars and started eating after an hour and then every 3 miles or so which seems to sit well with me. I can get calories in without feeling nauseous without problems but I do wonder about how much I can carry for ultras, bananas are surprisingly heavy for the calories they provide. Might need to test a few other smaller, lighter and more calorie dense options. I mean I like the honey bars but after 30 miles I’m not so sure if they’ll digest easily.
I also ran with one bottle of plain water and one with some electrolyte supplements. Seemed to work well and although I prefer plain water I know I sweat so much I need to replace some salts and minerals. At least I felt fine after 15 and no harm done so i can keep testing this.
I wore the Inov8 ultra 290 which are GTX which I’m finding might be ideal for ultras thanks to a bit more cushioning, I lose some grip and feel on technical terrain but how much of that will I need compared to not screwing over my feet. I noticed tightning of the laces around 8 miles on and thats my feet starting the swell so remembering to loosen the laces for once helped. I dont need GTX for the ultras this summer as I dont want hot feet with no way of removing sweat so might have to invest in a non GTX pair.
So if you stuck around through that little lot you get some photos!
I was running out of sand and needed to get to Witches so between waves it was fartlek time along this stretchI never look up – theres some cool stuff up there!Hauled this heavy bastard back – Now its here I’m not quite sure what to do with it but I’m sure I’ll think of something. Sometimes I just see driftwood and think “want”
Friday after work it was time to head to the beach for a quick 5 miles or so with my friend Claire and her dog Tilly aka ratdog. Its good to see her improving slowly despite not being able to get out much lately. It does help shes about 7 stone soaking wet and many years younger than me – she wants to run a fellrace this summer and to be honest she’s a natural and gonna cruise it – well assuming I can actually get her to run uphill at some point.
So Tilly can keep up …..
Brought a couple of bin bags to clear some plastics too. This is why I need friends, Im not that bright it took her to point out the easiest way of hauling at all back. I never thought of this …
On wednesday it was extremely windy but not so wet and I wanted to go and see what the storms had done to the beach overnight. Not all the news was good. There was debris and plastics everywhere, I don’t know if they were brought in on just this tide which seems unlikely or uncovered by the massive tides that night. Whatever it meant that the plastic pollution was everywhere – I’ll keep you posted on this as there more to come.
Its hard to see in photos but the debris is everywhere
The tides did so some cool stuff like dragging all this scree down onto the next level of beach
None of this was there yesterday just bare rock
And it exposed some more bones from the chalky cliff burial site
Think its a leg joint of some descriptionBone protuding
I covered around seven miles. half of which into a bitch of a headwind. Still its all training at the end of the day, no-one said it was easy even if its always fun
Yes indeed it is time for me to unveil this years beachcombed xmas tree! This years required 10 miles of running and searching and 3 miles of carrying back on my shoulder (its a bit bigger than last years hence it being rammed against my ceiling which also mae for tricky navigating under trees and over stiles on way back) The sun was sort of out though so made for a pleasant morning and I was happy with my discovery.
The title does make sense I promise. On saturday a friend and I were meant to go beachcombing for an xmas tree. However due to my lack of insight into how late the sun rises (as I rarely see dawn) I kinda messed up the timings so we called it off at 6.30 and I stayed in bed until it was light and I could run (silver linings eh) Can you spot the mistake below? Sunrise at 8.08, tide at 8.08 over 6 metres – no beach to comb …. oops
Only around 9 miles but along the cliffs as I want to get at least some hill work done for next year. I fed carrots to the horses and got to look at high tide folly from the cliffs
In other news sorry If I’ve been a bit slack on updates and following all your blogs and stuff. Mums been in hospital for a few weeks now (very kind of her to do it in my off-season though!) and it’s been a bit hectic. She looks to be on the mend now so as I know you’ll read this sending love mum!
Like one day of summer a week is all we’re rationed to – I guess I should be tapering anyway so this makes it easier to cope with 😉
So last longer styley run before Cornwalls ultra, 11 miles just to get out and feel a bit of confidence. To Llantwit beach and back along the cliffs. Nice and easy pace with plenty of water and food to practice remembering to eat and drink ….
Blue skies and green fieldsThe slipway at Atlantic CollegeAtlantic College wallsI dunno – Its a purple flower!Tides in at Tresilian
So sunday was a recovery run, why I seem to be posting every run a day late I have no idea. But still I was out there doing a slowish 5 miles. I had to reverse a route starting with a hill up a road as I’d managed to leave the house without a key but luckily as I am used to doing this I have keys stashed with various friends and family all over the place. So I trotted to my friends house, gave his dog a cuddle which got it so excited it peed on the floor and then headed off to the beach via Wick ladders for once.
The beach is yonder! Past the distant sheepDown the cwm – Welsh for valleyNow to get to the beach – Note the way the tides leave depressions in the pebbles – It does this a lot, I need to find out why!Ladder one plus easy scramble downView halfway up the cliffLadder two – Its easier going up these than down – note rusty securing bolts 😉
This reminds me, on saturdays run I passed 3 walkers at Monknash beach, by the time I had been round Witches etc they were stood on the beach near the ladders and flagged me down as they were panicing that this was the only way off the beach. Ever the helpful I directed them the mile or so to the path up Witches point which they might stand a better chance at …. maybe. As I left with a cheery wave the lady called “and congratulations” which was odd, congratulations on not breaking any limbs maybe? Weird thing to say indeed.
Anyway I digress! Back to sunday. As it was a recovery day I went looking for some fossils and found these two. Enamoured with my finds I ran home with them – workout for the arms too!
More ammonites!
Altogether a 5 mile easy run and best of all had a lot of fun. Who knew there was so much free entertainment just lying in wait out there – go find some!
Misty,rainy morning run to the beach as much to just stretch the legs as anything else as I knew the tide was on its way in. Had a good play around the immediate area though, some hill repeats during which I found this new face
Then a hop down to the beach to get some swifter rock running in to satisfy the need to bounce around a bit.
Then off looking for a christmas tree – at the beach ofc. It now seems to be a tradition (if a 2 year thing can be a tradition) to find my tree at the beach. I wasn’t blogging last christmas so I don’t think last years tree made it here, I’ll have to see if I can find a photo.
But here is this years effort!
I am officially the worlds worst tree decorator (to be fair thats all I have to decorate it with) but considering I ran nearly 3 miles with the very heavy and unweidly thing I ofc love it
Exhibit 1 – Half a surfboard – I’m kinda sad that it doesn’t have a semi circular break with teethmarks. Do sharks wear dentures?Exhibit 2 – Single flipper – No foot inside – where is the foot? In the shark?Exhibit 3 – Boat clearly showing shark damage to hull – I’ve seen Jaws – I know my hull breaching shark attacksExhibit 4 – I turned the boat over half expecting a mangled corpse but it was empty – Further proof that the shark is indeed man-eating!
As I have already captured the shark I am off to claim the reward. If by some chance it isn’t the same shark …. There may be a difference in the bite circumference between an inflatable shark and a Great White … It’s still out there … lurking
Oh yeah I ran around four and a half miles and it was beautiful and I felt great and my imagination kept me company aaaaaalllll the way
Blue Green Gold Grey, Awyr Maes Tywod Aarreg 