Higher miles...PBs...and Niggles

The last few weeks seem to have flown by. Running has really been focused on just getting out and doing as many miles as I can fit it...without worrying too much about specific sessions or intensity. Over the last 3 weeks I have plodded through 72 miles a week. Generally feeling better for it though, aerobically stronger.


First race back from injury was a bit of a mare at Derwentwater Trail Race. I normally love trail racing and significantly over achieve compared to my road times...this time not so! I went off a bit to hard, dragged along by GB international James Walsh...and paid later as I climbed...very slowly up Glenderaterra...couldn't get my legs going downhill either and suffered a fair bit of DOMS in my quads for 3 days following the race. I guess it was just lacking sharpness really. I was still a beautiful race though...as all the Lakeland Series are...

I was back racing again last Sunday having taken a long weekend by the seaside near Brighton. It was lovely to get out of London and back to the sea for a few days...chips...icecream...piers and the sedate but peeling grandness of Eastbourne cheered me up a lot as the week previously had a bit of a slog...mentally. Took the opportunity to race the Chestnut Tree House Coastal 10k in Littlehampton on Sunday morning...which required getting up at not long gone 6am to pack up our tent, generally fumble our excess baggage into the car, dodge September spiders in the campsite showers and drive to Littlehampton in time to register....thanks Nina for your tolerance. The race went well enough, it was a dead flat course and the wind stayed down. About 1.5km of grass running and a shorter for killer section of pebbles (akin to running through marmalade) were the only things that stopped this being the fastest 10k course I've run. I started off slower than I normally would and it paid off with a new PB of 36.27...and 6th out of 1000 or so. Pleased as I find 10k such a hard distance. That combined with post race massage and flapjack left me with a warm glow heading back to London...

I am running the Round Norfolk Relay this weekend - http://www.roundnorfolkrelay.com/ I have been given stage 12...20 miles starting at about 01:30. Its odd perhaps that I am looking forward to this....particularly given the soaking I got on Tuesday. Maybe when you are running everyday it's just nice to have something a bit different to look forward to. It got me thinking about running odd distances...at odd times...in beautiful places. I wonder what it would be like to run some of the National Trails from start to finish...?

Oh...and the niggles...calf pain has gone...but my old ACL reconstructed left knee seems to be groaning a bit at the higher workload...tough really.

Start of the Chestnut Tree House 10k -