I’m getting out of synch now, as I’m going to report on today’s run and my thoughts for the future before I submit an ‘epic’ for the 3-day backpack I did in the Cairngorms last weekend. I haven’t even managed to finish captioning the 90 or so photos I took up there yet (don’t worry, the captioning is for my benefit so I can make sense of them in years to come; my report will feature highlights).
After the disappointment of the Kent Coastal Marathon 2 weeks ago, I need to consolidate mentally and physically over the winter and hit a fresh marathon in the spring (London if I can in), faster and stronger. I’m not putting too much pressure on myself yet, though. I’ve got the Blackland Downs Challenge next weekend, the Hogweed Mimsy Muggle at the beginning of October, then nothing else planned as yet. I need to get some long training runs in to build up my stamina some more and I’ve no doubt I’ll throw some races in to keep life interesting.
I’m also doing the 5×50 Challenge. I’m doing something every day – check out my profile if you want to see what.
Today’s was a good run, one of my favourite short loops, around Cherhill Down, near Calne Wiltshire. It drains well and is usually fairly firm, but today it was almost as firm as you would expect at the end of summer! It has 2 climbs: the first ‘ramps up, being steepest when you’re near the top, reaching a difficult to run gradient. The other is kinder, quite long and steady.
The best part of today’s run was really hammering the big descent back to the road near the end. I really let gravity do its thing on the steepest bits, which are also the lumpiest. My ‘core’ feels strong at the moment, which is what you need to maintain control on these ‘technical’ descents.
I’m looking forward to a run on the eastern part of the Ridgeway tomorrow, which might also beat my ‘mountain epic’ to the press!
3:15 Marathon for Excellent, Pioneers of Sand Dams 