My Legs Are Almost Not Hurting

I reckon I should be up to doing some training tomorrow. My legs were fair destroyed after the weekends racing. Probably going to be something fairly gentle though...

Full On Broken...

I am now officially a wreck but I did manage to 'run' my leg of the Harvester Orienteering this morning but it was far from pretty. The good news is that my left calf held together - mainly due to the copious amounts of sports tape holding it together. The bad news is that I was completely rubbish at a) using a map b) using a compass and c) actually running at a pace anything more than a walk, borne out by the fact that I managed to turn an 8km course into 11km. I suspect I may need a bit of a nap this afternoon because I am feeling ever so rather knackered.

Slightly Broken

Well that was a hard slog. The 12 miles of Stage 4 of the Cotswold Way Relay 2016 has broken me. I had a pace in mind and for the early part I was on or around it. I knew I was going to go out of the comfort zone as it was my longest race of the comeback so far. And so that came to pass.

I had a wobble around the 7 mile mark, a slight twinge from the left calf. I carried on pushing as I worked my way through the field and had a few runners in sight. I chased hard and was chipping away at the distance between us. It was Cooper's Hill that really did for me though. When I got to the top cramp hit big time on the left calf. I knew I didn't have too far to go but neither could I really run properly anymore. As the minutes slipped away and putting more work on the right calf that went too but not quite as badly. I was unable to stride out on the remaining sections of downhill and lost time but made it to the finish which is the important thing, albeit with the loss of a few minutes.

My left calf is really rather broken now and I can hardly walk - I'm not sure how I'm going to manage tonight's Harvester Orienteering Relay. I reckon I have about fourteen hours to get myself mended and I'm really not sure how I'm going to manage that...

Gonna Be A Long Day....

and an even longer night.... I'm looking forward to running a solid 12 miles on leg four #CWR2016 tomorrow and then I've the afternoon to prepare myself for the overnight Harvester Orienteering Relays - oh, what have I let myself in for? At least I'll be running at dawn in that so I won't have to cope with any scrabbling around in the dark - but that's not to say there won't be any scrabbling around in the light! I have a strong feeling that I will be somewhat knackered come Sunday morning...

An Exemplary Lesson...

In how not to run a 5 mile-ish road race. As threatened I got over to Undy for the 2nd LCL road race of the season and set off, if I'm honest, like a complete dick. I was waaaay too quick through the first 2k. In fact the pace was faster than I've run at any point during the last six months - baring steep runnable downhill. I knew I couldn't sustain it, and by kilometre four the pace was really starting to fall off. The last couple of k's were painful hell. There is simply nowhere to hide and the pain only stops after you cross the line.

Taking a positive from such  poorly executed race, my average pace was 4:18min/km which is substantially quicker than anything I've achieved so far this year. Onwards and upwards...

Everything Is A Little Bit Achy

Nothing too severe, just aching a little bit. Looking at the results from yesterday, I might have won a prize had I stayed to the prize giving!! I didn't even give that a thought, having never won an individual prize in a race, and just pootled off home afterwards. The results have me as 3rd M40 so that isn't too bad for only my second race after the comeback... Got to be happy with that.

Ssshhhh, You Ain't Seen Me....

I took a wrong turn at Abergavenny and mysteriously ended up in Blaenavon.... Lucky for me there was a fell race taking place out of the Whistle Inn - what were the chances? [wink]

It turns out they alternate the course between clockwise and anti-clockwise. So the split times I hadn't written down for several points on route - because it was a mistake I ended up in Blaenavon, right - weren't any good for gauging my performance against last year. So I set off with the main aim of running the entire thing. No walking on any of the ascent and apart from one small blip where I working so hard I was almost sick, I achieved that aim, and that's includes making it all the way on the first and main climb out from the start.

The undulating route around the main loop was much more undulating than I remembered and I had to keep working hard. Despite losing a couple of places there I held things together and reached the finish, with my heart rate up on 186bpm, as I powered across the line in 46:55. That's over three minutes quicker than last year but not directly comparable as it was run in the other direction. It's still the same distance (9.2km) and overall ascent (300m) so I'm confident it's a better performance by a good margin.

For the stats my average heart rate for the run was 172bpm. I think I was 12th overall, although that is subject to the actual results and my Strava VAM for the first climb smashed my most recent high score, from April, out of the water, weighing in at 1025 as compared to 850.

Next up is another pesky road race on Tuesday evening...

Been A Quiet Few Days..

Okay, two weeks. The time it's been since the comeback. I decided to take a bit of a rest with only a few training sessions. Anyway, the rest period is now complete - and I do feel nicely rested. Back to the grindstone tomorrow with a race.

My racing plan remains as per my post of a week ago and I've managed to book a long weekend end off work for a trip to Snowdonia in early July. Been a while...

Looking Ahead...

So this coming weekend I'm going to be racing again. The following Tuesday is the next LCL road race in the series. The following weekend I'm racing twice, the Cotswold Way Relay followed by an orienteering relay thing - if I'm still alive and kicking I might even try a trebble with the Tour de Calch....

After that I've booked a few days off for the weekend after that for a visit to Snowdonia - itching to get back into some real proper mountains. Moving into July there's the Tintern Trot, the Pen y Fan/Fan y Big weekend, another LCL road race, possibly the Thornbury 10k and hopefully the Blaisdon 10k - a race that's only a few miles from home but which I never normally hear about until it's been and gone, not forgetting Waun Fach...

Been A Quiet Week

But I'm not worried about slipping back into the old ways. I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning around the house and gardens. When you come back in from cutting the grass dripping you know it's too humid. The weekend is looking good though. The temperature is down and it should hopefully rain a bit.

I've not decided where to run tomorrow but I'm aiming for 15 or 16 miles. Couldn't find any races so it's only training. Moving forward into next week normal training is to resume - although I shall be looking to race as much as possible. Next weekend I'm torn between supporting Chepstow in the Darren's Dash - bit of a boring route - or the Coity race, a much better route but I might become a figure of hate...

Rest Day After The Comeback...

So now the dust has settled I'm a little disappointed with my time from yesterday. I thought I could go a couple of minutes quicker. At least, now the official (provisional) results are in, I see I was the first of the B team runner home. Need to up my game though.... and I will....

Forty five minutes gym bike and some core work tonight. Should be good for some running action tomorrow as my legs - apart from slightly sore hip - don't feel too bad today.

PS, I should add it's good to comeback to a win - even if I was making up the numbers. Both the Chepstow A and B teams took top spot in their categories in the Rack Raid Relays.

Well That's The Comeback Done With...

...and the memory of how hard and painful road running can be has come flooding back. Made all the more painful by it being a relay, where every second counts. I think I just about upheld the honour of the electric blue and red tabard of Chepstow Harriers.

I came home in eighth place (I think) but it really isn't about your place in the field it's how much faster - or slower - you are than the teams you're competing against. Hopefully my time on Stage 5 (an 8 miler) of the Rack Raid Relay will have held up against the other B team runners.

I'm proper knackered now though. It was right hard work. I started on 4:30 pace knowing I'd lose some on the hill sections in the first half and then gain some on the downhill and flat run in. Living in Britain I have, over the years, attuned my body to work at maximum efficiency in the pouring rain. Today it was just proper hot. I don't think I've ever had a great run when it's hot but I gave my all.

I was in ninth (again, I think) from the start and hoped a few of those ahead would crack. I moved into eighth on one of the hills and for few kilometres after that had no one to chase. Eventually, entering the downhill section I closed in on one of the Fairwater Runners and got the gap down to about 25 metres but as we reached the outskirts of Monmouth I was pretty much on the limit and just faded a smidgeon as the gap stretched out to 50 metres.

Overall I think I got my pacing right though. Being ring rusty I was a bit worried about getting it completely wrong. Despite fading just a little in that last 2k I never eased up, with my mind firmly set on eeking out every second that my body would let me. I hit a heart rate max of 183 bpm with an average of 174 bpm so it's fair to say I was on the limit!

Anyway, that's the Comeback done and dusted so now phase two begins - Operation Race Myself Faster is go.....

T minus 39 Hours...

Till R-Day. Or should that be RRR-Day?

Until then, I'm taking it easy. The training is done. Am I ready? We'll see after I've run... 

Well That's That...

The training is as complete as it's going to get before The Comeback this coming Sunday. I was planning to run a low key event, where the only person at risk of failure was myself. Come Sunday the stakes will be somewhat higher in the Rack Raid Relay. On the plus side, at least I have a net down hiller of a stage...

My final training run was a repeat of the last Thursday's Velthouse loop and I went at it solidly. I was 35s quicker through phase one. Slightly quicker on phase two. Identically paced on phase three and then dropped a few seconds on phase four as I tied up a little before pulling things together in the final phase to finish almost 40 seconds inside last weeks run.

With hindsight I was probably 'a bit keen' in the phase one - when I say 'a bit keen' what I really mean is out and out too ambitious. Having over egged it there I knew I was likely to blow in the final stages.

Overall I'm pleased with the run. It gives me some idea of pacing for Sunday. Being so out of practice at racing I think it's all going to come down to getting the pacing right. Not too slow and definitely not too quick...