Hi All!
An early update this week! Tomorrow I start my new job so I thought it best to write this now as my head will be probably be spinning and my body will be in need of a run tomorrow night!
A quiet week this week as it was my first cut back week. Normally when I taper for races I feel short changed and 'ants in my pants' but my body was definitely in need of a rest this time. However, I still got 3 runs in...
- Run 1: This was an unplanned test run to see how my newer Ghost shoes did on the annoyingly ungrippy surface of the riverbank. It was just a couple of km and my legs really didn't want to do it but I made them do it anyway. And the shoes were very little different in grip to my old Ghosts. As I mentioned in replies to my previous post, it's either the slippier surface due to the time of year or my lack of weight (although post Christmas there is definitely more than there usually is 🤔). Very frustrating as I know it's holding me back for quite a long stretch of the parkrun.
- Sports Massage: This went much better than my two previous ones. My right calf is almost normal and there is a big improvement in my hips and hamstrings. The only place where she had to give it some welly was my right adductor - and I have the bruises to prove it! These massages are so worth it, I have been running so much more easily since I started them. However, the big test will come when I start to ramp up the single run distances next month. My masseur gave me a tip for the parkrun riverside surface - lean forward to change your centre of gravity. I shall definitely give that a go.
- Run 2: A Friday 20 minuter to ease my muscles back into it and to check the river levels prior to parkrun. It's flooded again 🙄 I'm glad I waited until Friday before doing another run though. It may have been an easier massage but it left me far more bruised and sore than previous ones. Still worth it though. This was a faster run than I expected. I tested the leaning forward technique and Katnap seemed to think I was going faster. The proof will come tomorrow.
- Run 3: Parkrun! We ran there as we were late-ish again for pre-setup! I kept my old Ghosts on as there is just so much mud about whilst we are setting up, and there is a short part across a football field that is getting muddier and muddier. Thankfully the river had receded enough for it to be on. The entire Kat family turned up, which is quite a rare event but we all did our own separate runs in the end as we are all running at different paces now. Youngest kitten wanted to try out his new trail shoes and eldest kitten, (I suspect, although he wouldn't admit it) needed to run off the stresses of his first week of mock exams. In the end we all ran really good times. I don't know whether this was down to it being windy but as we run a circuit 3 times we run fairly equally with the wind behind and the wind in front. I tried the leaning forward technique on the riverside and, although I didn't feel any more stable, I got my fastest time since June last year! I will be using it regularly from now on!
So that is the end of my first cut back week. I'm looking forward to getting back to my regular runs again. However, it's going to be interesting how I'm going to fit it in now moving from a part time to full time job...time will tell but I have the full support of my family and you brilliant people so I know I can do it! 👍
Have a great week everyone!
