We were out walking for about 13.5 hours. We were in the Red Lion in Sidbury 65 mins too
We were out walking for about 13.5 hours. We were in the Red Lion in Sidbury 65 mins too
Arrived in the lakes early evening ready for tomorrow's Buttermere Horseshoe.
Absolutely perfect weather. From the Swan Hotel at Thornthwaite, up through the forest and onto Barf, short up and down to Lords Seat, a similarly short runonto Broom Fell, then a slightly longer and more interesting up and down to Graystones, reaching the summit around 1hr05 after starting. I was by no means racing, but going at a reasonable pace most of the way, so an hour to get 4 "easy" Wainwrights in the bag.
Then dropped steeply down to Scawgill Bridge (rather than following the steep path down I elected to try a more direct grassy route, which ended quite badly, and some embarrassing bracken-bashing to get myself back over to the path), and down the maze of roads in the Lorton Valley to my b&b. 6 miles, 2200ft, 1hr30. Feel full of energy, but not feeling particularly pacy.
After a couple of days of absolute chaos on the evening trains, resulting in missing training Monday and Tuesday, I did my first session since Buttermere tonight. A fairly steady 6 miles and 2200ft in an hour.
A few issues. Achilles still not totally pain-free, a bit of tightness generally (after running Ennerdale and Buttermere in the past 3 weekends I suppose this is to be expected), and lost another toenail tonight.
Hopefully put in a hard session tomorrow, and then tick over before the Callow race on Sunday.
Ice is your friend Travs
Big hill session tonight and my 2nd re-enactment of the Snowdon race on the treadmill.
Didn't go quite so well tonight. Whether it was the heat which was ferocious in the gym, or the remnants of Buttermere in my legs from the weekend, I just didn't have it in me tonight. After about 20 mins of good uphill running I just ran out of petrol. Even reducing to a power-walk didn't recover things and I was further reduced to a distinctly non-power-walk for some considerable time.
But I dug in grimly and held on for the 90mins, eventually managing 3900ft and 7.5 miles, having decided after about 40 mins that I would just continue to work as hard as possible in whatever way I could, rather than battle upwards for the hour then sprint for 30 mins.
So although not going exactly to plan, a decent session. Will have a couple of easier sessions before Sunday, to hopefully recover a little before the notoriously tough Callow race (5 miles 2500ft) on Sunday, and go again at "Snowdon' next week, with hopefully a bit more in the tank.
Last ten weeks training have resulted in an average of 30 miles and 9200ft. The previous ten weeks before that were 28.5 miles and 8500ft.
So a minimal increase, but week-to-week I've been more consistent. I lost an entire week recovering from the UTS which dropped the average, and have also had to "break in" a new pair of training shoes which caused some blister issues which also put a restriction on the mileage.
But overall, just keeping a measure of my weekly totals, and always aiming for that 40 miles/10000ft target, has helped me to generally remain consistent, and probably not a coincidence that I've had a pb by an hour at Buttermere, and several races in and around the top 10 in Shropshire, which would have been unthinkable 6 months ago.
Hopefully the next ten weeks show a better increase in miles.
Quick sharp track session tonight in the heat.
2 x 200m, 2 x 400m, 2 x 600m, 2 x 400m, 2 x 200m.... all off 90 seconds rest.
The lungs and mind were willing, but as I very much suspected, the legs weren't. Could barely get down below 84secs for the 400m reps, although went mad on the last 200m and pulled out 36secs.
But still a good runout and a nice way to kick the week off, 6.5 miles including warmup and warm down.
No race now for nearly 3 weeks (Snowdon next), so plan is plenty of steady miles to let the legs recover, and a few more specific sessions geared towards the race.
Another "Snowdon replica" treadmill session tonight in the oppressive heat of the gym.
Basically an hour uphill followed by 30 mins hard on the flat. Aim to hit the 9.5 miles and 3300ft race stats.
Went a lot better than last time, but still have some leftover pain from my Achilles issues, so couldn't push hard on the final 30 mins. In fact I reverted back to uphill for a few minutes ease the discomfort, the aim of being fit and fresh on the start line being a higher priority than ragging myself in training.
Managed 8 miles and 3700ft, so a decent session, but pushing hard in this heat is a big effort.
Afoot in Two Dales LDWA event yesterday - 50.8 miles walked with Stef in 15 hrs 25 mins