21st-27th April Run notes

Monday

Bank holiday so no time to run during the day. I slip out for a short evening run helpfully taking in the driest moment of the day. We spent the afternoon at the final of the international jousting tournament which was incredibly enjoyable. The woods are a quiet contrast and feel fresh and lush after a day of rain. I spot big flames in the wood as I pass my at the top of the ridge, I know I'll pass closer to it when I turnaround so decide if it's unattended I'll stop and ring the fire service. It so happens there are some people there and it isn't as big as it seemed so I leave them to it.

Wednesday

Wednesday day is the new Tuesday due to scheduling and I run a loop out from York station to Bishopthorpe and back. I start at a comfortable higher-end-of-easy effort but get swept up into punchier pace interspersed with 30 second speed bursts. It's a lot of fun, but I'm also partly clock watching to get back in time for work. I hit 10k and decide to wind myself down a bit, don't need to be exhausted just as I start the day.

Thursday

Wednesday evening I find there's a very slight discomfort in my right knee, it reminds me at the time of the knee issue I had in February and I start to worry. But it isn't quite the same, I don't have issues going up or down stairs, I can do a one-legged squat pain free, just occasionally there's something.

I feel up for running on Thursday morning and head out for a steady state run. This feels great and I don't notice my knee and just find my flow and follow the trail. I do fall on my face at one point, tripping over some brambles, which certainly helps me forget about my knee. I make it all the way to Swithen's Farm before turning around to head home, everything feeling super and the worries from yesterday evening forgotten.

Friday

Hills pay the bills and I head for my usual appointment in Middleton park. It's six reps of 3 minutes ascending and I take the first two slightly held back to find the pace before cranking it up for the remaining four. I manage to keep the level consistent which is great and have enough for another crank on the final rep. Maybe I was a little conservative this week and could have raised the levels evenly for all four I think as I head home. Regardless, it feels like a good day in the office and with three weeks to go till Eryri 25K I want to get all the hills practice I can without a mountain round the corner.

Sunday

I'm very lucky usually when it comes to motivation and find getting out the door for a run easy. Today however was not one of those days, I realised pretty early on things were going to be a slog and tried to embrace it. I was down for a 3-hour all-you-can-climb session following the well-worn pattern of heading to Sissons wood, South Leeds golf course, Stank barn hall to take advantage of the ridge line. My last effort in this regard I'd managed to get over 1,000m of elevation so in the days leading up to today I thought I'd manage a bit more and maybe hit the magic 1,085m (equivalent to the height of Yr Wyddfa). But today wasn't that day, things were tired, I found myself doing alot more power hiking on the sharp bits of climbs, my motivation slipped from thinking about chasing the ascent to just getting 3-hours time on feet under my belt. I did take the opportunity to practise some nutrition, particularly eating when climbing as I suspect I'll need to focus on taking on calories whilst ascending during the race. As maybe expected I found the chews a lot easier to knock back than the bars. This might make me rethink what I'll do during the race, particularly because I want to try and hit the right level of calorie intake to finish strong. I also tried the OTE Super carbs performance drink this week which is 80g of carbs (more than the 50g of carbs in tailwind). I found this tricky to prepare but fine to drink whilst out although given the general slog feeling of today I didn't really feel any kick from my nutrition. I will try it again for another longer effort but I certainly felt good using tailwind last week. It was also good practice just running whilst not feeling my best. Working on how to just get the job done when things don't feel so good, remembering to just walk bits, power hike some of those hills, and re-evaluate the goals of a session if you're not feeling it. Onwards to the next run!