On Wednesday I did a pleasant 6.5 mile trail route through the fields and paths of Apedale Country Park. I never time my Wednesday run, but just run at a nice steady pace. I'd estimate around 8:30 to 9 minute miles. The darkness dictates that I can't go a lot faster anyway, as running my the light of head torch you don't always get a good depth of vision on the uneven trail. After my runs at home I always use my inversion bar to stretch out, and decompress my spine, as well as do some sit ups and reverse squats. I also do some pull-ups on it as well, just to get my moneys worth!
On Thursday I reintroduced a tempo run into my schedule. Earlier this year I was running a 3 mile time trial every Thursday. I drive to the gym and then do 10 minutes warm up on the cross trainer, trying to get my HR up to about 150 to ensure I can start the run at a good pace. I then run a 1.5 mile out and then back road run. The out leg is a long steady incline with a few hundred metres of downhill just before the turn for home. Then of course the same in reverse. I aim to run this as quickly as I can. I was very interested to see how I would perform vs a few months ago, when I was doing around 6:58 minute miles on a Thursday. I dropped this session totally and had been opting to do the 8x400m and 4x800m sessions on both a Tuesday and a Thursday. Now I am questioning the wisdom in that as although I probably didn't give this Thursdays temp run 100%, starting off a little cautiously, I averaged 7:11 minute miles, which is around 40 seconds down in total. That's quite a lot of time lost I think. I also noticed that my resting heart rate isn't mid forties like it was, and is a few beats higher currently.
So, the only conclusion I can come to is that a weekly tempo run is hugely beneficial to my overall level of fitness. So, I'll now do this every Thursday.
After the run I then do my usual hour long workout in the gym, and then a little time in the Sauna to wind down.
On Saturday, I pre-planned my route to ensure I didn't come up short. I planned a 13 mile run as seen below, with 1300ft of ascent.
I really enjoyed the run, which was around 11am as soon as my breakfast had settled. There was thick fog which didn't lift all day and it was below freezing. I enjoyed running through the fog, along the familiar route. You get an increased sense of isolation of course, with non of the views over Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire that I get from viewpoints along the way. It's very much me and the run; I felt very centred and focused. Again this is a steady pace run, and I don't time it and there is little value as I cross countless stiles along the way. I got back a little before 1pm, so I know it was under 2 hours. The other amusing touch was that my hair was frozen solid!
My knee was hurting early in the run, but less so when I finished, so I figured it was just the cold aggravating it. However, I am still getting knee pain when standing and bending the knee and it is not getting better. My uncle hasn't got back to me with an scan appointment yet, so I am going to have to arrange my own for next week I think. I've spoken to a local hospital that has a mobile unit every Tuesday. I'll see if I can book in for that. Something is definitely not right in there, I just don't know what?
Have a good week.
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