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Day 39–Just Another Recovery Run

A fairly unremarkable run today. I went out in the afternoon as I was busy doing other things in the morning. The planned run was the usual 6 and a bit miles to Dysart Park and back. The legs felt unspectacular, a little stiff in the upper quads thanks, I’m sure, to yesterday’s massage and a purely temporary problem. The right groin was a touch sore but not has bad as it has been.

The only deviation from the norm was taking a slight diversion near the cinema on the return leg to work out a diversion for when they temporarily close a pedestrian foot bridge in a few weeks time. It added little to the distance – a little twisty, but no big deal.

Pace would end up being an average of 7:21, not bad considering the lethargy that is afflicting me at the present. A few days more rest from Folksworth and I’m sure I will be fine.

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Day 38–Running Was The Easy Bit

The late morning massage was, as expected, very satisfying, but intensely painful. The sore spots included, but was not limited to: the right groin, hip, thigh and upper hamstring (Was expected); left lower hamstring – well spotted by Mr McKee as that only began to hurt yesterday; the left soleus and plantar on the foot – an excellent call there as I’ve had the odd twinge but forgot about it; and the left shoulder which was “really very tight”. The walking of kids to school using a buggy board and a ruddy big hill is to blame for that.

An hour and ten minutes of body pummelling agony later and I was free to go, feeling conversely somewhat freer and less stiff than I was before I left. Good massage that.

The evening run was to be a similar affair to previous Thursday evenings. Before joining the club run it is around 4.5 miles alone. The legs felt less tired than yesterday but the right groin was still a little troubling – this though was to be expected after some heavy massage on this and the hip.

The club run began as a very sedate affair as we headed on the A607 towards Denton. Out in the country the viciously cold headwind began to bite and for a mile or two it wasn’t much fun. I began to feel hungry, something that has been a bit of an issue in recent days. I think I may be needing to get a couple more hundred calories in me, especially in the form of some late afternoon snack.

Once off the main road there was the only real climb of the night, which felt easier in the dark than it would have been were it light (Still cannot work that one out). Once we made it onto the road to Sproxton I decided to stretch the legs a little and ease away from the group. At around 06:50 miling it was hardly sprinting but it was enough to get the legs working.

This continued on the main road into town, with Gerry easing up onto my shoulder and so ramping up the pace to an extent that before we knew it we were hurtling down the hill at something like five minute miling. We soon put that nonsense to bed as we jogged towards base – I said my farewells and ran onto home – tired but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. With around 16:25 miles covered in just over two hours it was another useful run.

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Day 37–A Tough One Done

I’d liked to have been out for my run early today but life got in the way and the earliest I could get out was around 5:30pm. By then I’d done the double school run, 50% of which walked at a breakneck speed due to running late for things. I was pretty tired and not really in the mood for a run.

I stretched the tired legs as best I could and headed out. Thankfully the January weather was somewhat benign after some cold days – mild enough to be comfortable in shorts and compression socks. I didn’t feel disastrously stiff, just somewhat lifeless and lacking zest.

I’d put six miles down on my hastily prepared training plan, I’d hoped to run ten miles like last week. In the end I had to settle for something exactly in the middle – 8 miles completed by the end of the run. There was a constant ache in the pelvis thanks to the groin issues, I also got random pains in the left hamstring and on the arch of the right foot, both of which I put down to tiredness rather than anything more sinister. I found myself ending the run hungry and generally a bit run down.

Looking ahead, I am thankful to be on the receiving end of a massage tomorrow – the inevitable pain will hopefully be worth it for the anticipated relief of a few persistent aches and niggles. Hopefully a good night’s sleep and a protein shake will see the legs more reactive than they were today.

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Day 36–Hybrid Hard Hills Session

Feeling pretty much recovered from the Folksworth 15 but mindful that the race will probably be in the system for at least a week, today was an exercise in trying to reign back the temptation to go full beans in respect of paying attention to the bigger picture.

The first run of the day was straightforward enough, done after walking the kids to school. The same 4.4 mile run as last Tuesday morning, up and around Great Gonerby hill and back. As with last week that hill up comes as a shock to the legs; once that was navigated the rest of the run felt easy in comparison.

I debated whilst picking the kids up from school whether I should do 10 steady miles at around 6:40 pace or take part in the club’s hills session, albeit not giving it 100%. In the end I opted for the latter, part of me felt my hills were a little weak on Sunday and I could do with the practice. I gave myself a strict instruction – not to give it everything and treat the right groin / abductor with caution.

So the session comprised of 3x 8x c.20 second sprints up a hill with jog down recovery and  no rest at the bottom. At the end of each set of eight reps there was eight minutes of easy paced hilly loop to run. The first rep showed that I would have no problem in not giving it 100% – the legs felt fairly lifeless and there were some keen runners around me flying up the hill. By the sixth rep I managed to feel a little better and was better again during the eight minutes of hilly loop running.

The second set of eight again saw me well down for the first few reps, but then finding myself nearer the front and then, on the eighth rep, I gave it pretty much everything, climbing the hill first and clocking the quickest rep of the night. Interestingly the right groin, which had been grumbling, didn’t hurt during or after the rep.

From there I ran the next eight minutes comfortably in 7:01 miling. We had a two minute rest before the final set of eight reps, which saw the legs stiffen somewhat, It took until around the sixth rep for me to find my legs and I gave my second hard effort of the night in the final rep of the night.

A long warm down back to the club and back home followed. All in all 11.25 miles on the night, 15.6 miles of running for the day and around 8 miles of walking. Not a bad day.

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Day 35– Didn’t Think It Would Be This Good

I was fully expecting today’s recovery run to be a tortuous affair, the day after a hard 15 mile race. Thankfully, it turned out to be a surprisingly easy and relatively swift six mile run on the usual out and back Wyndham Park route. I left home a little later than usual in the morning, which was a blessing as there had been a hard frost overnight and with thermometer still reading zero Celsius when I left there was some patches of ice, but nowhere near as many as when I’d walked the kids to school a few hours earlier.

Wrapped up well in full winter gear, from the off the legs felt good and pretty much recovered from yesterday. The only caveat was that the right groin was predictably sore, but it didn’t slow me. The whole of my inner thigh feels tender to the touch so there is some massage and stretching to be done. At times on the run I had to reign myself in as I was creeping into six something minute miling and this was definitely meant to be a recovery run,

Another six and a fifth miles run, plus the seven miles of walking to and from and to and from school. All in all a good day.