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2016 London Marathon Training – Week 11 (14-20 March)

Week 11 of training had long one been down as a week that could either see some of the highest volume in the training plan or some of the lowest. It turned out to be the latter.

Monday morning I woke really stiff and sore from the exploits of the Fraction the day before. I got myself on the elliptical trainer first thing for a very gentle hour of pushing the legs back and forth. I headed to the gym that evening for a spin session, which was treated very much as a recovery ride, keeping the FTW low at 230 and averaging just 3.4 w/kg.

Tuesday and I was busy preparing for the Australian Grand Prix weekend, having already woken at 1:40 for an hour or so prologue effort as the first images from the event began to head my way. That meant I just had the evening to train. I had an unexpected opportunity to visit the gym and managed to grab the last place for the spin class. First I headed to the treadmill for a very easy paced recovery 5k, beginning at just over 6 mph and peaking at around 8 mph. Everything was pretty stiff, especially the calves, but I was thankful to be even able to run.

The spin session was much easier than the day previous, I increased the FTW to 240 (my normal figure is 260-265) and put in a solid but deliberately not too taxing effort, averaging 3.7 w/kg. I then put in 30 minutes on one of the gym elliptical trainers, the effort quite high compared to the home machine thanks to the ramp feature mine does not have.

Wednesday and I was up at 2 am to begin work proper on the Australian GP. I only got to sleep at around 11pm so was pretty shattered when I finished work at around 11 am and headed to bed for a few hours fairly dreadful sleep. I dragged my sorry body out at 4 pm for a really tough easy ten mile run. Both calves continued to ache and generally I just felt really lethargic, both from not enough sleep and the efforts of Sunday. It says something for my form at the moment, that I averaged a fairly respectable 7:20 per mile pace.

In recent years this week of covering the Australian GP has offered the opportunity to put in a surprising amount of running – two years ago I put in my first, and probably only ever, one hundred mile week. The reason I could fit this into a busy working schedule was the GP was held at twilight, which meant I could go to bed at 10 or so, wake at 3 or 4 am, work for six or seven hours, get a couple of hours nap, then have the late afternoon and early evening to run.

Following the tragic accident of Jules Bianchi they have largely dispensed with races ending in poor light and so the practice sessions, coupled with an eleven hour time difference, were beginning as early as 1:30 am, with my work beginning an hour or so before that. This transpired to make things very difficult.

I got around three hours sleep Wednesday night before waking at 2 am on Thursday evening for ten hours continuous effort behind the desk, finishing at 11:30 or so and retiring to bed. I am a dreadful daytime sleeper and managed just a couple of hours sleep before giving up and pottering around the house for a bit. I’d agreed to take Grantham Running Club’s Thursday night marathon paced session, so I was out at 6:30 to meet up with the other guys. The legs were tired, the hip a bit bothersome. I threatened repeatedly to drop out when we passed my house at six miles, but there was some kind of team spirit going on as I found myself continuing and completing the ten mile group run and putting in another mile or so to make it 13.1 for the day.

I headed to bed at around 9:30 but found it impossible to get to sleep, knowing I had 12:30 am alarm set. So I finally drifted off to sleep at around 11:45, giving myself just 45 minutes sleep to ready myself for a break free 12 hours stint as the opening practice sessions of the 2016 F1 season took place. Shattered I headed straight to bed, but by now my body was virtually jet lagged and woke less than two hours after getting to sleep.

I took Friday as a rest day, as I often do. I went to bed at 10:15pm and was able to get around 3 1/2 hours sleep before waking at 2 am for qualifying day. This was not quite as long a day as Friday and I was done by 11:30 am. I got a couple of hours sleep before waking again prematurely. I had plans to run 16 miles or so. I set out at 4 pm. I was tired but actually running quite well, the first mile 7:20, the fourth mile 6:39. Then, out of the blue I found the very top of the right thigh, near the hip flexor giving off alarming pains, very much like an attack of cramp.

I stopped at a bus shelter, sat for a minute or so then began to stretch the hip. I set off again and was able to run with a moderate amount of discomfort. I was in a strange situation where I felt I couldn’t possibly run 16 miles but didn’t feel bad enough that I had to take the very shortest route home. So I ended up meandering a little, finally drifting home having covered nine miles at an average of 6:56 per mile. I assumed it was a cramp as the pain was quite intense having finished, but by the time I retired to bed had mostly dissipated. I was though quite clearly exhausted, so I gave up any ideas of supplementing the missing miles with an hour on the elliptical trainer and settled down to watch the World Indoor Athletics Championships.

I managed to get nearly four undisturbed hours sleep on Saturday night before waking at 2 am for the final day of work covering the Australian Grand Prix. The race itself was quite eventful, I began work at 2 am. I was hopeful perhaps of finishing early enough so I could ride solo the 13 Hills ride Witham Wheelers were taking part in on Sunday morning. Any hopes of an early finish were dashed with the sheer volume of work coming in, we reckoned it was our busiest race ever!

I kind of finished at 1pm and crashed on the sofa, hoping to get an hour or so nap before maybe going on a bike ride. By 3 pm I still hadn’t got to sleep, but I was too shattered to contemplate leaving the sofa. Finally I got to sleep and before I knew it it was 5 pm. With more work still to be done I abandoned any notion of exercise and resigned myself to a very easy week of training, but a really hard week physically in terms of sleep deprivation – hoping that a quiter week before Easter may see more opportunities to put in a full week of training.

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2016 London Marathon Training – Week 10 (7-13 March)

The week began, Monday morning, with an hour on the elliptical trainer. The right calf was still quite sore after Saturday’s Duathlon, but not enough to slow me any. In the evening I headed to the gym for the Monday night gym session. Thinking I was still probably fatigued from the weekend’s efforts I reduced the FTW from 265 to 250. To my surprise I felt really strong throughout the session, able to push hard during the reps and recover at quite a high intensity. To my surprise I averaged 260 watts which worked out at a PB of 4.1 w/kg. It seems I peaked a couple of days too late on the bike – if only I’d felt that strong on Saturday during the Duathlon.

Talking of Duathlon, I spent Tuesday lunchtime securing the purchase of a time trial bike. Having discussed matters with the boss it was decided that life is too short to wonder what I could do if only I had decent equipment so I dug a little into the savings to give myself less excuses than I currently have.

Before that sale I went about potentially destroying any chance I have of running or racing properly in the near future. I set out for an easy paced run which I set at 8 miles as I was running a little short on time. The right calf was okay for the first mile or so then began to ache a touch, not enough to slow, but enough to remind me there was an issue. This continued for much of the run and I thought I had gotten away with it. Then in literally the last few hundred meters I first felt the arch of the foot tighten then a searing pain deep in the middle of the calf, which had me stop dead in my tracks before resuming again, albeit with a pronounced limp.

I wouldn’t have been able to run much further, fortunately it was literally only a few yards before I was home. The calf was really painful to touch, as was the hamstring, and walking anywhere wasn’t easy. That said, I was able to go on the elliptical trainer in the evening, where the calf was sore but it wasn’t bad enough to stop me pushing quite hard.

Wednesday and Thursday saw a pair of two hour efforts on the elliptical trainer. Thursday’s I pushed pretty hard, keen to break ’60km’ for the effort, which I managed with a little to spare. There was little difficulty cross training but the calf felt far too sore to consider running on. Fortunately that evening a slot for a massage came available and I jumped at the opportunity. David worked his magic, inducing tears as he worked deep into the right hip and glutes before working to loosen the calf and hamstring. His conclusion was that the source of the problem is coming from the hip which is incredibly tight. I’ve thought this to be the case for some time now. There was no miracle cure – the calf still felt tender, but at least I had something to work on in terms of finding a cure.

The dilemma of the week was that on Sunday I was entered for the Newton’s Fraction Half Marathon, Grantham’s only road race. I was really keen to take part, having not done so since I became a Grantham resident, but Thursday night I was already confiding with friends that my participation looked very unlikely and that I’d likely go cycling with Witham Wheelers instead.

That mindset didn’t alter going into Friday. Normally with a race on Sunday I’d do a very easy session or none at all, but I headed to the gym where I put in firstly an hour on their elliptical trainer, where I worked at really high RPM, and then a slightly odd spin session which was attended by just one other person and had us for the most part out of the saddle putting in long efforts in the red zone. This really worked the quads hard, walking up and down stairs was an effort for much of Friday and Saturday…

The only concession I made to entertaining the possibility of racing was Saturday would be a rest day from exercise. I’d volunteered my services to help marshal the local parkrun at Belton House. I was on finish token duties, which was fun as I congratulated each and every finisher, but, on a really cold morning, left my fingers red and numb and wishing I’d opted for a different role.

Saturday afternoon and the decision on whether to run or ride appeared to be swinging towards the latter. Normally before a big race my meal the night before will be strictly regulated – usually a pizza and certainly not the full roast dinner I knocked up and served to the family that evening, complete with sherry, a few glasses of white wine and a crusted port to take myself to bed with. That’s the kind of preparation for a long relaxes bike ride, not an intense half marathon race. Once in bed I set the alarm for 7am, fully intending to cycle in the morning.

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2016 London Marathon Training – Week 7 (15-21February)

Week seven of London Marathon training began with the now customary early morning hour on the elliptical trainer. There was a bit of stiffness in the legs, otherwise all felt good. That evening there was another gym session planned where I would do a progressive run on the treadmill followed by a spin session.

The best laid plans were nearly scuppered by Grantham’s infamous traffic woes made worse by no less than three sets of roadworks taking place in the town on the same day. I got to the gym late so had to condense the 50 minute run into something less than 30 minutes. This meant it was a short, sharp, intense session, where I ramped the pace up to 7 mph to a lung busting 12 mph by the end. I didn’t take a note of the splits at the time, but when I got home I noted I ran the third mile in 5:41, then the fourth mile in 5:04, which is pretty much as quick as I’ve ever run a mile (I did run 4:52 at a mile race way back in 2000, I have a timed 5:08 or so on the track from three years ago).

Unaware that I’d pushed the body pretty hard I went into the spinning session expecting another strong session. I noticed straight away during the warm up that the going was harder than usual and so it was that the 40 minute session was a toil from beginning to end,  sweating loads, dehydrated, and unable to generate any real lasting power in the legs. It was only the finale track of The Killers Mr Brightside that spurred me on to a semi respectable 3.9 w/kg average.

Week 7 coincided with school half term so there were to be compromises with the usual training schedule. Tuesday saw no elliptical trainer session, instead a single ten mile run in the evening with eight miles at marathon heart rate. For the opening warm up miles it looked impossible to follow a heart rate as the belt was playing up and giving wholly fictitious readings. Thankfully a liberal coating of saliva appeared to cure the problem.

The tired legs didn’t want to know for the first couple of miles as I forced them to a 6:02 then 5:59 mile. Thankfully they began to wake up and the remainder of the run was a more pleasant affair, with the quickest mile the last at 5:47 and the slowest 6:03. I contemplated running some extra miles but having completed 10 miles next to my house the temptation to stop was too great and I called it a day as planned.

Wednesday was a day out with the family and so was a welcome day’s rest from exercise. Thursday morning saw an easy hour on the elliptical trainer where the calves were tired but otherwise I felt fine. The evening run was with GRC and it was a ten mile circuit with eight miles at around 7:30 pace. We had a couple of new runners to join the ranks and it was a highly satisfying group run in crisp cold, conditions. At it’s conclusion I put in a couple of extra miles to make it 13.5 for the day.

Friday was just an hour on the elliptical trainer and it was a good hour, feeling stronger than I’ve done on the new trainer with more ‘km’ covered as a result. Saturday morning saw a break from parkrun as I wanted to recce the Newton’s Fraction half marathon course in preparation for the forthcoming race. The opening five miles were just to take me to the Meres where the race begins. I felt sluggish but the pace wasn’t bad considering.

Once on the course proper I began to settle into a better rhythm. The stretch on the canal may have looked unimpressive at 6:40 pace but I was running into a fierce headwind. Once I reached the half way point the wind swung in my favour and the run was transformed into something far quicker. I was just one second off the Strava record for Casthorpe Hill (If only I had known…) and then on the run into town I flew down the Low Road taking two Strava segments in due course as I ran 5:54, 5:25, 5:27 and 5:56 for the final four miles of the run. It was a good effort, the left hamstring a little sore at the end from the exertion but otherwise i felt fine.

I wondered how this would leave me for Sunday morning’s Witham Wheelers Reliability Ride – a longer route at 62 miles. There was a strong wind blowing from the west and inexplicably at the last minute the route was reversed, presumably to make the ride easier. In reality it made it tougher, firstly as those who relied on their Garmin routes for navigation couldn’t and those who knew the route from memory of it the right way round found it hard to get it exactly right.

Group 4 flew for a fair amount of the ride helped by the favourable wind. We then lost our pro rider Karl to a mechanical (who we all had secretly hoped would ride at the front for the last part of the ride!) and then for the final 15-20 miles we were subjected to a relentless gale force headwind. It was tortuous and entering the outskirts of Grantham I finally cracked and rode in slowly with another rider. At the club house I looked and felt a broken man… It was a whole hot cross bun and a flapjack required to give me the energy to ride back home.

Once home the food must have done some good because the idea of a brick run, scrapped somewhere in a headwind after 55 miles of riding, was suddenly back on the agenda. I headed out and after a mile or so the legs began to feel not so bad, I even summoned a sub 6:30 mile to conclude the 5k run. Sadly my Garmin got a bit confused and the run was a bit corrupted by the time it hit Strava, but the mile splits remained intact (I think an elevation issue caused the issue).

That was the last week of training for a while wear a weekend race of some sorts isn’t in the agenda, kicking off with this Saturday’s National Cross Country Championships. It coincides with a busy spell of work with F1 Testing, so who knows how the body will be in three weeks or so time!

 

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2016 London Marathon Training – Week Four (25-31 January)

Following the hard Witham Wheelers ride and brick run last Sunday I rewarded myself with a strong espresso at lunchtime. With no rest for the wicked I had the pleasure of entertaining the kids for the afternoon. Come 4pm I was barely able to keep my eyes open so I took the drastic measure of a third espresso for the day. By 5pm I was wide awake, scarily alert and resigned to the inevitable consequence that sleeping that night was not going to be easy. Lo and behold despite my best efforts to send myself into a coma – the port made an appearance at 11pm, by 2am I was still struggling to get to sleep.

Mercifully I managed to finally drift off, five hours or so later and I was up again. Monday morning session was an hour on the elliptical trainer, completed with no issues other than weariness. The evening’s spin session was in doubt right until the last minute as my wife was working in Cardiff and made it back just in time for me to make it to the gym. I’d every intention of taking the session easy but once Sam, our instructor, eased us into it, I found myself working away and feeling surprisingly comfortable.

It was all good until after a hard sprint effort Sam instructed us to hit the emergency brake button. I did as told, still putting plenty of power through the pedals my right calf cramped up dramatically and very painfully! Looking for a moment like I had been shot, the wave of pain soon past and I was back pedaling, putting in some very high cadence efforts to try and wash away the lactate.

I finished the session, averaging 245 watts. Predictably enough walking was pretty tough with the cramp, but I’ve suffered plenty of night cramps to know that, all things well, the effects are not too long lasting. Tuesady morning saw an hour on the elliptical trainer which had the calf feeling a touch tender but otherwise fine. A couple of hours later and I headed out for the first run of the week. It was meant to be 10 miles with 5 miles at marathon HR, but it didn’t quite materialise. The cramped calf felt fine after a minute or so, but the wind was strong which made pacing hard and, probably due to tiredness, I was finding it hard to get the heart rate up to marathon HR levels. The average pace was 6:21 with a pair of sub 6 minute miles to conclude (albeit wind assisted). Not a bad session considering but not quite what was intended.

Wednesday morning and in balmy conditions (touching 14C first thing) I put in the perfunctory hour on the elliptical trainer. A couple of hours later and I was out for another easy paced 10 mile run, again run in windy conditions. The right calf just ached a touch but generally felt as good as it was before I had the tightening 10 or so days earlier.

That was meant to be it for the day but after I completed the run the wife declared herself unable to go out in the evening, which meant I was free to head out if I wanted. GRC has a Wednesday night session which a fair few had declared an interest in attending, and I thought that an easy paced six or so miles would be a pleasant run and the opportunity to get in some extra miles, especially as I had no long run planned for the weekend.

It was indeed a most pleasant run – around 25 in attendance – as we headed on a 25 minutes out and back course in windy conditions. The pace was comfortable – just under eight minute miles – but the opportunity for a natter was most welcome.

Thursday morning was cold after in comparison to a couple of very warm days, the hour on the elliptical trainer passed without issue. The evening saw GRC’s marathon paced run around town, with five of the eight miles run at or around 7:30 pace. The run itself was easy enough, pacing in the wind proved very difficult, but I was most pleased with the efforts of those running.

Friday morning and once again I kicked off the day with an hour on the elliptical trainer and again there was no issues. The lunchtime run was merely scheduled to be around ten miles with no plans on its structure. It turned out to be a mixed bag in terms of the weather and the run itself. The first few miles were into a strong wind, a little less intense than earlier in the morning but still averaging around 25 mph. Conditions were blustery when I set out, but sunny and quite warm.

I had to stop at the Meres Leisure Center for an emergency pit stop. Feeling rejuvenated on my exit I headed to the A607 where I was aware that on a Belvoir Tri Club Pyramid session on Thursday evening, a runner had taken a segment of mine during one of their efforts, aided by a strong wind blowing behind him. I opted to take advantage of a similar wind and put in a hard two minute effort which I felt sure was quick enough to have taken the segment (It was, by twelve seconds and breaking 5 minutes per mile average!) Rather than make it a blatant steal a segment then take it easy effort, I decided to keep the pace high, running at approximately marathon to tempo heart rate for the final four miles. There was the healthy tail wind for the majority, but the mile splits of 5:34; 5:53; 5:51 and 5:47 were pleasing, especially as in the closing stages of the run the heavens opened and I was soaked to the bone with icy cold rain hitting my body almost vertically thanks to the wind.

Saturday was always going to be a day off as I was off to Doncaster to enjoy part two of my 40th Birthday present – Britain’s Strongest Man. I’ve enjoyed watching the Strongman tournaments since I was a young kid, raised on a diet of Geoff Capes and Bill Kazmaier. I now live just a few miles away from Geoff, although I’ve never met him. I had my chance on Saturday to meet Bill, enjoying my moment of being a fan as we stood together for a photo.

Me with Big Bill
Me with Big Bill

As for the competition itself. Awesome! I’ve seen quite a lot of high profile sporting events and I think think this was definitely one of the best in terms of sporting prowess and the crowd totally getting behind each and every competitor. It will be months before anything is seen on television but I thoroughly recommend it!

Saturday evening and I was at the cinema watching Creed. Another franchise I’ve been a fan of since I was a young lad, this was a brilliant watch, cleverly written – full of references and homage to previous Rocky episodes with a story distinctive enough in its own right to be totally absorbing. With as much testosterone driving the film as I’d witnessed at the strongman tournament I felt inspired that evening to totally smash the ride in the morning and every other session I’d ever do.

Saturday night bravado doesn’t always equate to Sunday morning reality however. The Witham Wheelers Reliability Ride wasn’t quite as satisfying as seven days earlier. The weather was poor with rain falling at times and a wind that always appeared to be a headwind until the final few miles. The numbers were down and I thought I’d try my hand in the quickest group – group five. As there were just four of use we did ten minute efforts on the front for the first hour or so. I assumed my heart rate monitor wasn’t working properly (I’d had to use an old one as the battery had failed on my soft strap and I’m awaiting a replacement) as it was very high from the off, but after an hour I had to conclude I was working hard for little in the way of return.

I struggled on the main climb of the day but stuck in with the other three. I kept with them but could no longer take turns at the front. Ten miles or so from the end pro Karl eased off the front of the group and disappeared into the distance. The other two sat up, I pushed on to the end, cold wet, and a touch miserable. 19.3 mph was the average, disappointed at the time in reflection it wasn’t that bad.

Once home I changed out of my sodden kit and put an excessive amount of running gear on. A mile into my 10k brick run and I was very warm, save for my feet which were still numb. The first 5k was quite hard work feeling dehydrated and tired, but the final 5k was much easier, probably as a result of the post ride slice of flapjack kicking in.

Another week down and some solid work done. Fifty five miles of running, a few more riding, and five or so hours on the elliptical trainer. The legs are feeling strong, but quite fatigued. This is to be expected though given the phase of training so I am not concerned. Next week is probably more of the same, albeit with hopefully the first 20 mile run of the year over the weekend.

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2016 London Marathon Training – Week Two (11-17 January)

The week began waking in Camberley, tired, but thankfully without a hangover after a night out watching the World Darts final. As the world tried to cope with the news that David Bowie had died, I set out on a run revisiting old haunts. For the final year or so while at University I stayed with my Grandmother who lived in Sandhurst. It is just a couple of miles from Camberley to the famous army town, I set out on a run to try and reminisce on runs I must have done (but only vaguely remember). Sure enough some of the roads brought memories flooding back, the park was literally flooded and impossible to run in its entirety though. In conclusion I reckoned that my runs were very short (I seem to recall the longest run would be only around an hour or so) and that the most common run was one to Crowthorne, which I didn’t attempt.

A loop of Camberley town centre and it was another ten miles in the bag. I drove home later that morning, rested up in the afternoon before heading to the leisure center for the first spinning session of 2016. I warmed up for 20 minutes or so then operated at near full capacity for the session, pleased to average 258 watts, or 3.9 w/kg. A half hour warm down on the gym elliptical trainer and it was time for GRC’s committee meeting.

Tuesday was an emotional day of sorts as it was the last time the Kettler elliptical trainer was to be used. It had the usual hour session, alternating on 5 minute intervals between L5 and L7. The thing remained strong to the end despite being on the brink of falling apart. When it came to dismantling it the thing was far harder to break down than I had anticipated, the thing just didn’t want to go. It had to though, and as soon as the session was over I was helping the wife assemble the new one. My help consisted of taking the thing out of the box. The diagrams and instructions far beyond my comprehension. Thankfully she loves this sort of challenge and in a few hours the thing was up and ready to go. I had a quick spin – she was as steady as a rock and rode beautifully. She will be a great addition to the training family.

I was unsure what run to do in the evening. At the last moment I opted for the club intervals session as it was likely to be easier than running three miles at marathon pace, or so i figured. I wasn’t intending to push too hard. The initial 20 second sprints with 10 second recovery x 18 I treated as warm up strides. Next up was a relay hill session of sorts – around ten minutes of constant running up and down a shallow hill. I kept the effort at around marathon heart rate. To end the session was two one mile reps with three minutes recovery. The first was around 5:50, the last one 5:29 as I relaxed and pushed on a touch. Session over, I jogged home. Another ten miles in the bag.

Wednesday morning was an hour first on the new elliptical trainer, which was thankfully uneventful in the sense that everything felt sturdy and as it should with no dramas. Shortly after it was an easy ten mile run. I’d planned to stick the three miles at marathon pace in, but felt a little stiff after Tuesday’s intervals, so postponed those until Saturday. Otherwise everything felt good.

Thursday saw another hour on the elliptical trainer in the morning; then in the evening I was taking a new GRC evening session. To help prepare some of our runners for spring marathons I’m planning on taking a group on an eight mile town circuit, where a number of the miles are run at marathon pace, which I’ve set at 7:30 per mile. Runners are free to stick with it, or drift ahead or behind depending on feel. The first week we were to have three miles at marathon pace (MP), it will be increased by a mile each week until we are running eight miles at MP on a ten mile course, then after a brief cut back, working towards one or two sessions where there are ten miles at MP on a 12 mile circuit.

The first week saw an encouraging number turn up. After two miles of easy running we set off. Keeping pace wasn’t easy, especially as there was an icy cold wind blowing into our faces at times, then becoming a strong tail wind. Despite that and some hills to disrupt the pace, I managed to clock 7:30; 7:30 and 7:26. Mission accomplished. We jogged back to base then did some easy miles home with a runner who wanted to make it his long run for the week. I stuck at 12 miles.

Friday was again the rest day which had an hour on the elliptical trainer and some strength and conditioning beforehand. Saturday I had a long run of 16 miles planned which had Belton House parkrun bunged in somewhere in the middle. It was a crisp cold morning, well below freezing and with a fair amount of ice. That said, once warmed up, it was ideal for running, and I was able to put in 8 steady miles before the start of parkrun. I’d planned to do parkrun at marathon HR, when I found myself in the lead three minutes in with club mate Chris on my shoulder, that plan went a little out of the window, averaging instead something closer to half marathon HR.

We shared the lead for the first lap and a bit before Chris eased ahead and I let him pull away. 18:14 was just six seconds outside my course PB and I was pleased, although the left groin tightened a touch with the sub six minute miles. I jogged a few miles back into town with Chris before concluding with a quicker couple of miles. Sixteen and a half miles at 6:44 pace was pleasing.

Sunday did not go quite as well. I’d hoped to take part in the Witham Wheelers Reliability Ride, but that was cancelled first thing as snow had fallen overnight leaving some roads treacherous with ice. I opted to go instead for a run. After a stiff first mile things felt fine as I headed to the canal path. At around eight miles and out of the blue I felt my right calf tighten, in a manner almost identical to how it tightened in mid November last year at parkrun. Like that morning I was able to carry on with a moderate amount of discomfort, but shortly after finishing the 14 mile run the calf felt very sore and tight. Thankfully by the evening it had eased off  somewhat, the next morning I was able to cross train fine, but the calf feels although running might be off the agenda for a short while. I left it two weeks last November, hopefully I will be able to come back a little sooner, but time will tell.

A disappointing conclusion to what had been a very good week of training, more so as I was sure the calf problem had been fixed and that it struck again without warning. Hopefully it will be easy to treat (Massage and stretching fixed it last time) and I won’t be gone too long.