Well for those of you worrying that I had escaped into the ether wearing my procrastinating head, I haven't. Today, having mulled over my route for a few weeks I eventually dragged myself out of bed and went to try a 10k/60min run.
Last week I went to club twice and probably did too much and decided to rest rather than parkrun. The first session, and please bear in mind I had no idea what to expect, was a warm up run to the foot of a hill and then an efforts session consisting of 3x10s, 3x20s, 3x30s and 1x top of the hill 'sprints' followed by 1 of each 30s, 20s, 10s 'sprint' followed by a 200m jog, 200m faster, 200m jog then a cool down run back to the club. I will admit that I was laughing like a child let loose whilst 'sprinting' up the hill. I cannot even think how many decades ago I tried to sprint; if what I was doing could be described as sprinting 😂😂 I also suffered for it the next day though touch wood no injury. The second session 2 days later was the confused.com run but on a completely different route to the one I did before. Having run to the first loop I was behind a 5 person group by about 50+ mtrs, with 2 people just in front of me. As we completed the first loop the ones in front went round a second time and the 2 in front of me slowed so I just followed the front group around again. On getting to the beginning of the loop again I could see the 5 in front crossing the main road and no one else in sight. I found out later the main group decided on only doing 1 loop and carried on with the rest of the run thinking I was safe with the front runners. (When I say frontrunners this is group 3&4 not the gazelles in groups 1&2). I was now tail end Charlie with the group in front moving away from me as I tired going up hill. Eventually one of them spotted me behind and came back to rescue the old man. However cutting only one loop out on the rest of the run I managed approximately 6k. Next day I was really suffering stiff legs and tiredness hence no parkrun.
So onto today's run.
As I said, I roughly knew the route that would be 10k long and would get me back close enough for my 5 minute cool down walk so got kitted up and decided to listen to my book rather than music (The Crooked Maid- Dan Vyleta). My plan was to try and pace it around 6.30 to 6.50 which I slightly exceeded but was feeling comfortable. I had to negotiate a lane with many puddles which I danced around for a few extra metres. I then found the old gate that connected the lane to the car park was now shut off so had to run down a track then over the football field to get to the bottom of Rest Bay Lifeguards station which is the turning point for our parkrun. As I ran towards the turning point I looked up the hill at the cycle track and then across the rock strewn headland and decided 'I'll do what my fun loving buddies from HU would do and take the trail😀'. And that is what I did.
I was like Bambi on ice! So the answer to my question, Can I Run a Trail Run in My Road Shoes? is a resounding 'NO". One will invest in a pair of trail shoes before I make a regular habit of trail running. You can see by my splits where I entered trail country.
Well the long and short of this prolonged, (build up and time to write it), is I managed to complete the 10k in 65mins without a break in my running, not even to take the photos and it included the section where I slid most of the way 😂😂
What next? I hear you ask, well a drive to Gatwick in the early hours and a flight to Turkey in the morning for a 2 week break. Is my kit packed, of course I'm a runner now and in 8 months I've gone from 1 minute walking, 1 minute running and repeat to 10k non-stop. Tuesday I'm hoping to run in my fourth country since starting this late life crisis 😂😂
Thank you for listening
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Magic plan Wk2, long run
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