What have I just done????

Well, little over a week ago I planned to do the Roseberry Topping Virtual Hardmoors race.  Purely for two main reasons, 1) because it was a good way of forcing myself out to do a ling run 2) because it means I gain some Hardmoors miles towards my 1000.

The reason for that particular Sunday was mainly due to it being the last day you could so I didn't really have much choice and I wasn't prepared to waste the entry fee. So I planned with Sarah what I was going to do and it started with me getting up at 5am and taking Bertie out.  The plan was then to just get some breakfast, get my stuff together, and go asap! I managed to get out the door just after 6, still dark, very wet, and generally very good Hardmoors weather, i.e. miserable lol!  I had my route in mind with an estimation of distance but no guarantee so my theory was that I'd get through as much as I could before deciding whether I needed to add any more.  This is great in theory but the further I went the more I kept thinking that if it wasn't enough do I really want to get to my house and then have to go back out and do a bit more.  NOOOOOO! so I tried to judge from after about 20 miles once I began following the road signs back and there mileage.  I calculated I needed about an extra 2 miles, so without any hesitation I started picking moments when I'd double back and then turn round and resume my route adding a quarter of a mile on.  This is ok as it soon adds up, the only problem that after 24/25 miles its quite demoralising turning round and running away from your target.  This is when the positive side of me kicks in and makes me put it down to 'good mental training'! If I can make myself turn round and run back a bit and then restart it can only be making me more resilient. surely!!! ha ha!! Please be true, please have been worth it.....!

With 5 hours 46 minutes gone and 30 miles banked I crawled home.  The outcome was exactly spot on, time was about 16 mins slower than what I'd wanted and my body generally felt ok.  Where I had a few problems was my hip/quad on the right hand side.  I'm not entirely sure why except this recurring tight quad that I seem to have to manage constantly.  It really became a problem as I left Brauby and headed towards Great Barugh.  The quad got tight on the lift of the leg and in turn created a problem in my hip flexor.  This wasn't a major injury or something that was going to put halt to my plans of 30 miles, it just meant it was going to be slow and painful.  Basically I had to stop and stretch it out, then I could run pain free for about half a mile then repeat the process.  This was how I managed the last 15 miles.  The positves: I kept going! I finished what I started! No major injury! Great strength of mind! Great resilience!!! Strong mind, strong body!

After a few days of minor soreness and tightness I was back to it as planned, I wanted to test my recovery and ability to get back on with it.  It was tough to start with but as the week went on my strength improved.  I was feeling good after the weekend, I felt I could do anything lol!  The inner me piped up, 'go on then, do it again this weekend, see if your hard enough' ok I said, so I did.  The plan this time was to not have to do any backwards and forwards malarkey so I got the map out to try and devise a similar route that would actually be nearer to the 30 as stated.  The problem was, that bloody inner me piped up again, as he does, ' maybe you should go a bit further this time, why not 35?' Any way, yes I did go further, this time I added a few minor sections on to make up the distance and I finished with 34 miles.  Excellent, 34 miles, I would never ever been able to even contemplate running from my own door step for 34 miles 10 years ago maybe even 2 years ago, but I did it.  A slightly earlier start since I was going a bit further, and with a different tactic.  This time I wanted to do a steady start and then push myself in the second half.  Two reasons really, one because I knew my hip flexor needed a decent warmup and I wanted to get past half way at least before it became troublesome and my other knee was a little sore so the same thinking was applied there too, and secondly I thought it would be good mental training to learn to push myself that far in to the mileage.  So I basically walked and ran the first half then ran and walked the second half.  When I say walked I'm talking a fast paced power hike as I'm training that aspect of my skill too. So without too much tooing and froing I managed to get 34 miles in the bank in 6 hours 31 minutes which I'm fairly happy with. No new injuries and I didn't make the old ones any worse thankfully, so all in all quite pleased.  Plus two 30 mile plus runs in 7 days almost 100 miles that week.  That's a record for me!  Now to get the hip and knee fixed :)