A sunny ‘out of the blue’ 8K on my baby elephant route ☀️🏃🏻‍♀️🐘☀️🏃🏻‍♀️🐘

[RacingintheStreet]

Saturday morning dawned sunny and blue with shimmery seas tempting me out for a run . It also turned into a glorious day until evening brought some light rain ☔️ , I was expecting a cloudy day 🤷🏼‍♀️😃

Today, as I write this, I can see we are to be treated to another lovely sunny day .

I had talked myself out of a run since Mondays 3K so was keen to get a 5K done to log for (Not) Parkrun, so I skipped the usual ‘lying in bed ‘thinking about it’ and got myself out relatively quickly.

After a quick walk and faffing about with Spotify I settled into a’When Katty met Carlos’ podcast and headed off up the village for a quick loop around the old Cathedral Square and the ‘big houses’ around it . Always a lovely feel to this area in the early mornings and especially when sunny.

My pace for the first two K was nice and easy as I headed down the side of the bay road , full of hawthorn and whin hedgerows with a multitude of birdsong coming out of them . My usual Mr & Mrs Wood Pigeon were in their usual spot and the blackbirds don’t bother shifting when I run past .

At this point it crosses my mind that this might be the morning for a little distance stretch 🤔🤔🏃🏻‍♀️, having not gone beyond 6K since I embarked on this little calf strain recovery path.

I resolved to keep an open mind and to concentrate on keeping this easy pace as I turned up the single track road along the golf course. There are a few houses starting to get built here and I think their views will be absolutely stunning looking over the golf course and looking all the the way down the Moray Firth and across it over to the distant Cairngorm hills 🏡🏌️‍♀️🏔🌊. Lucky them ☺️( could be a tad windy tho😉)

At this point I’m at 3.5 K which seemed to have gone in a flash so as I turn right onto my lighthouse road I’m thinking maybe I’ll do more than 5K 🤔 , the Lighthouse road and back that about 2.5 K so maybe I’d stretch to 6.5 K and that would be the longest run I’d done since the calf strain.

I felt good, I was hanging on to this easy pace ( any thought of a ‘good’ 5 K time was out the window so I relaxed into this run) , the calf was quiet so I ‘sat back’ and admired the views 👌🏃🏻‍♀️😂

A few early morning golfers were emerging and the green keepers were buzzing about on quads keeping their pride and joy in good order 🏌️‍♀️🏌️‍♀️

The road I am on has views of the sea on both sides and it is indeed shimmering 😃 a few little boats on the go too. I love this time of day .

I get to the Lighthouse ,turn and head back , 6.5K done 👌so I decide as the body appears willing that I’ll head in the direction of home and do 7. I turn down one of my favourite streets and admire the trees and gardens , at the end of this street I’m at 7.3 so would seem a shame not to do 7.5 K 🤷🏼‍♀️🤔 so I turn and head back up it where I will turn left and head home down a path behind the houses .

I decide that in order to land nearer my house and in light of how steady my pace and legs are that 8K is doable ..... and So I did it ! 😂🥳🎉🎉

It wasn’t really a ‘bells & whistles’ kind of achievement but just a gradual realisation of things ‘coming right’ and being ready to stretch a bit .

So I did 8.2K in 1:04 with average pace of 7:52 . I graduated 60 mins n December with 7.5 K in the hour with an average pace of 8:04.

So although I feel I’ve been struggling these last 2. 1/2 months since injuring my calf and feeling I wasn’t really ‘getting back’ I was ! It’s just that it was quietly, gradually and unseen because I wasn’t pushing it .

So I’m delighted that switching my focus to taking care of my calf, strengthening the muscles ‘further up’ ,my glutes , quads and all that stretching has really helped me improve .

I know I’ve been enjoying my runs more lately because I’ve taken that ‘desire to continually improve’ or ‘do more’ off myself but today I thought let’s just see 🤷🏼‍♀️

I will now go back to my short runs, mix it up with the hill sprints and speed intervals and when I feel like a longer run I’ll stretch it but if I ever get to 10K it’ll probably be ‘unplanned’ 😂😂🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️

Photos are ‘en route’ but it also just occurred to me that this particular route looks like a baby elephants trunk 😂🐘🐘

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Oh I love those runs where we check in how we feel and decide whether to go further or not, unplanned but always interesting, your photos are lovely

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

😂🤔 Yes , I think I got off to a good start in that the morning was so lovely and I was just so enjoying my surroundings . I was relaxed and chilled so seized the opportunity of staying that way 😂😂I often find if I get into a sort of meandering mode it turns out well 😂😂

I just need to remember how to get into that mode 😂🤦‍♀️

[Jools2020 Graduate10]

I like those runs, too, where we make snap decisions on the fly! Well done for this steady 8K, where ‘no pressure’ resulted in a great 8K that you obviously enjoyed. 👏👏👏🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️👍💪😊

Love the baby elephant trunk route!

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10 in reply to Jools2020]

Thank you I’m actually more pleased just with ‘how’ I ran than actually doing 8K .Wish I could just programme myself to do that all the time . I’m learning though and I started off steady without so much thought really 👌☺️

Hope life is treating you kindly and you are getting settled 🏡😃

[Jools2020 Graduate10 in reply to RacingintheStreet]

Thank you. I’m working on it 😊

[nowster Graduate10]

I'm also in a similar predicament, having unintentionally strained one muscle group by favouring it over others.

Well done on that 8km run. By having a more balanced use of your leg muscles you will now have more power available to you, which is why you've got a bit faster. You're now firing on all cylinders. 🤣👍

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

Well I’ve lit the pilot light maybe 😂🔥 👌but yes those glutes are getting a bit more activated 🧨💣🧨Best of luck with your muscle rehab too 👌🏃🏻‍♀️☺️

[nowster Graduate10 in reply to RacingintheStreet]

I tried some exercises earlier to activate the glutes. I couldn't feel anything. 🤔

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10 in reply to nowster]

I know, I have to concentrate on ‘is that it ?’’is that my glutes ?’ 🤔🤷🏼‍♀️ They’re hard to isolate .

I like this girl , and use her you tube pre and post run stretching videos too .

youtu.be/F08m49sgJXQ(Not working as expected?)

[Joggingonthewildside]

I enjoyed reading that .. congratulations on your 8k .. sounds like you’ve coaxed your calf back into action .. long may that continue .. lovely photos 🌷

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10 in reply to Joggingonthewildside]

Thanks 👌 pleasantly unexpected but I think the big muscles are doing a bit more so the calf isn’t taking the strain so much maybe 🤷🏼‍♀️☺️Hope yours is coming right too 🙂

[Joggingonthewildside in reply to RacingintheStreet]

It is, slowly but I managed a 4K walk/run this morning and even got a PB on a segment and although it’s tight, it’s not painful so happy about that.. but going back to work for a bit and that may hamper my free time 😀

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10 in reply to Joggingonthewildside]

Good that you’re getting some running in and getting the calf used to it again 👌I’m finding a quick 20 minute run early before work is keeping me feeling that at least I’m getting out 🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️🙂

[Joggingonthewildside in reply to RacingintheStreet]

I’ll try maybe on Tuesday going out before going to work

[LottieMW Ambassador]

How wonderful to see you “in the moment” and enjoying the runs, and how it’s all coming together for you.

Oh my! The Moray Firth...you can’t get much further north than that! Do you often see the Northern Lights there? I suppose your daylight hours are a little different too!

Love the baby elephant trunk too 🥰

[RacingintheStreet Graduate10]

Thanks Lottie 🙂👌 Yes today I seemed to get my start right and really kept it consistent to the end . Pace and heart rate didn’t drift too much so I was able to just plod along 😂👌 making my decisions every half K

I wish I could ‘bottle’ that run but I’ll just need to keep at it .

I do feel I ‘grasped’ something there 🤔👌🏃🏻‍♀️

Yes Northern Lights often, lots of photographers get good shots but they’re out half the night 😂😂😂,

Dolphins at ‘my lighthouse’ too 🐬🐬🐬 at a more respectable time 😂😂

Probably longer light than down your way .

Happy Bunny as you like to say 🐰😂🏃🏻‍♀️