The last few weeks...

Well, been a while.  Grab a beer,this could be a long'un.

This one starts way back on June 8th.  Plan said 7 hours, so I had a route worked out, involving a loop around a cycle path, up and down a canal, around a local park and over some local fields. Was going quite well, until I got bored.  Doesn't usually happen to me (man of very little imagination), and it also didn't help that my 3 year old daughter was playing up.  So,when I called in at home to refill my water bottle and grab a couple more gels, after 4 hours of slow running, I lost motivation.  Tried to carry on, body hurt, walked for a bit, tried running again, failed, went back home.  Bit gutted,but enjoyed the rest of the day with the family.

June 9th. Was supposed to be a 6 hour run.  I had previously planned a route involving loops around the above mentioned places. Scrapped that, went up to the Peak District with Neil Weightman (my usual partner for any paired event - OMM, Saunders, O.C.T...), and a route that he had made up.  Awesome. Also, was going to be a good test out for some Saucony Xodus 2.0 sent to me to write a review on by the fantastic crew at At Your Pace (website here).  That is to follow.

Anyways, it was quite warm.  I was wearing a bum-bag (OMM 6l) so had a 500ml soft bottle in there full of water, and fortunately 6 High5 Isogels.  As the run went on, it got warmer and warmer, and my bottle got emptier and emptier, but that was ok as there are a few streams that I figured I could drink out of.  Or at least, I could have if they weren't dry or smelly.  About 3 hours in, with only a mouthful of water left, I crashed a bit, had to drink an extra gel, more for fluids than anything.  Probably didn't help I was running all the ups either.  Perked up a bit, then perked up more when we hit Stanage Pole.  Just a short run along the edge to Burbage, and a stream!  Massive psychological boost, picked up the pace massively, rock-hopping and charging about like an idiot.  Which it turns out I was, as that Burbage Stream was gross.  Wasn't thirsty enough to drink out of that.  So then came the low, and drinking a gel every 1/2 hour instead of hour to keep fluids up, as it was baking,and another few miles to the next potentially drinkable stream.  The ones we ket passing did look increasingly tempting though.

Into Longshaw estate, and tree cover, so it was jog slowly through the shade, fast through the sunlight.  Finally made it to the stream running through Hay Wood, which was drinkable.  Possibly.  Put down 1/2 a litre, filled the bottle with another 1/2 litre, and polished that off too by the time we hit the Robin Hood pub.  Finished the run feeling like I could keep going, and had an awesome time.  Amazing what a bit of company and a change of scenery can do for your attitude for your runs.  After that one, plans for long runs changed, and became far more interesting.

That night, though...food poisoning hit.  Thought briefly that it was the stream, but the wife had it also.  Traced it back to some dodgy trifle the night before (not to be trifled with...).  So had a couple of days of enforced rest until...

Wednesday, 12th June.  Nottinghamshire AAA Summer League, and the race my club (Erewash Valley) runs.  Also, out team is 3rd, very close to second, and depressingly I'm one of the faster runners, and we had all the marshals we needed.  And, I lost out on the coin toss with my wife - loser had to run.  Damn.  Had an ok start, faded, died (or felt like I did), picked up what I thought was a stone in my shoe - turned out to be a carpet tack straight through, ouchies).  Came 31st or something, well down on usual, at an average of 6.08/mile (better than it felt) with some decent climb in.  Survived, felt like crap again on Thursday.

Friday 14th June. Hairy Helmet Relay at Darley Park.  Still feeling a bit off, but mostly ok, and anyway, its only 2 miles.  Will fit in perfectly as training for the Lakeland 100...  I was on second leg, and set off with a bloke right behind me.  Managed to hold him off (just, although he was clearly slightly faster as he gained on me) but managed to average 5:42 (Strava tells me I also have my fastest mile at 5:29.  Happy days.).  Easy weekend, 1 hour run Saturday, 2 hour run Sunday, feeling human again.

Tuesday 18th June.  400m reps.  Feeling good.  Thursday, 10k run in the Hokas, still feeling alright (found some mud though, no grip.  Felt like a cartoon character, legs spinning, going nowhere).

Saturday.  There's a loop we do sometimes, circular, starts at Shining Cliff Woods, goes up through Crich, Lea Bridge, to Cromford, up the Wirksworth Incline the back to the start.  Just under 18 miles, and just under 3000ft of climb.  I did the first loop with Kieran Davis, who eats hills for breakfast.  Feeling good, not running fast just enjoying it.  Completed the first loop in 2:47, which I think is 10 minutes faster than I have ever done it before - and that last time I was going for it,and completely toasted at the end.  This time, quick stop, stuff face, then loop the other way.  Took a bit longer (about 3.5), running down the incline was nice, but the climb back out of Cromfor toward Riber is epic.  In total, 35.4 miles, 5863ft of climb, 6hrs 25 minutes.

Sunday. Kinder Dozen attempt.  Probably not the best to do this on tired legs (23 miles, 10k ft of climb) but I was going to give it a crack.  Weather was different to Saturday.  Bit wet.  Bit windy.  Actually, a lot wet and extremely windy.  Richard Hyde was with me today, getting in some hills for his attempt on the Borrowdale fell race.  We climbed.  We descended.  We climbed some more.  We got slightly disorientated.    We descended.  Climbed Jacobs Ladder into the teeth of a massive headwind.  Ran down the other side, still into the headwind, was really hard work!  Rescued some lost blokes.  Saw the front runners of the Kinder Trog (in vests!), some going the right way, some not so much.  The climb up to Sandy Hays trig, always the killer, put paid to Richard, he headed off there (to be fair, that was always his intention though.)  Map out, found the trig, continued.  Weather got better, but I ran out of puff at the Seal Stones (ascent 7 of 12), so made my way back over Kinder, to the Nab. Faffed around finding the up and down route for the Edale Skyline fell race.  Caught a mouse type thing, took a photo of it.  Fantastic (if wet and really, really windy).  Totals for the day: 18.1 miles, 5893 ft of climb (exactly 30 ft difference from Saturday!) and 5 hours 8 minutes.

Last big run was at the weekend just been.  Back up to the Peak District.  Legs still feeling a bit tired, but in to give it a crack anyway.  Parked in Hope, realised I had forgotten my map, garmin and compass so had to use my phone, headed straight up Lose Hill.  Felling a bit lacklustre, but carried on.  Hollins Cross, Edale, Jacobs Ladder.  Weather worse than last Sunday, visibility down to naff-all.  Thought sod this, I'll head over Brown Knoll and back home.  Great.  Running down the flagstones, hammering it, missed the turn off and didn't realise until I say the sign saying "South Head".  Oops.  Took an arbitrary left down the Pennine Way (the wrong way), and carried on down there.  Saw a train, realised where I was.  Left again, back up the side of Brown Knoll.  Found the air intake for the Edale train tunnel.  Carried on, found the main path, then ran back to the car (slowly).  Total for the run: 20.2 miles, 3232 ft of climb, 3.5 hours and a grand total of 1 gel consumed.

Next day - very grumpy and irritable, and tired.  Overtrained, rested until...

Tuesday, 2nd July.  10x 200m reps, 1x100m rep.  Trying to get some speed back in the legs.

23 days to go.  Ready.