Tom talked me, Gaz and our gaggle of kids into doing a run4fun (1 mile) run in Alexandra Park in Oldham. We all thought it was a great opportunity to get out and show the youngsters how it's done. Around 300 people took part; all ages, abilities, shapes and sizes! The weather was pretty good for a change and fun was had by all.
Tom and myself turned up looking uber professional in full running gear and Gaz played it cool "it's only a mile" in jeans and a jacket; it may have only been 1 mile but those adidas samba didn't do much for his knee's after last weekends marathon training session ;o)
There was a live DJ, choreographed warm up, Chaddy the Owl & a life sized squirrel (who looked a little warm at the end when he took his head off!). However you'll have to take my word for most of that because I never thought to take many photo's at the time, forgetting the blog opportunity - doh!
Here's a couple of pics of the kids:
Harry & a couple of his running pals proudly display medals
Harry & Chaddy (Oldham Athletic mascot)
Sunday
In light of last week's monster session and the subsequent suffering of the thigh muscles I decided to try and get out and do some specific hill work. However it proved to be very difficult, if not impossible, to replicate the terrain of the Lakeland 50. The hills around Saddleworth are steep enough and nearly big enough but the paths/tracks are pretty good and soft underfoot, which for everyday use and injury prevention is great, but for practicing the rocky, hard packed climbs and descents of the lakes doesn't compare. Add to the mix all that bloody rain that we've had and you're hard pushed to find anything other than muddy bogs as soon as you leave the tarmac. Anyway, it wasn't for the lack of trying!
I set off (yes, in the rain) from Uppermill and ran to Greenfiled. From the main rd, it was straight up Kinders lane/Haw Clough lane to where you run out of tarmac and then off rd straight up the steepest/most direct route of Pots & Pans hill. Once on top, straight over and down the other side to Crowthers Farm onto the A635. It was at this point that I realised today wasn't the day for off road, distance running as my feet were already soaked, even with the Sealskin socks on. So from there it was down to Bin Green & Dove Stones Reservoir. Around the res to the other side and then up the killer drag (tarmac rd) up to Chew Reservoir. Tag the top and straight back down as fast as possible to try and get my muscles acclimatised to the impact of a hard packed steep and long descent. I'm conscious, at this late stage of the training and with the previous injuries I've had over the last couple of months (that seem ok - touch wood) that there's a fine line between conditioning the muscles and picking up another injury. I did push on though as i felt good and surprisingly strong which makes a change!
The tarmac road descent from Chew Reservoir,
much better to go down than up!
From Dove Stones it was back into Greenfield and back up Kinders lane but this time staying on the tarmac and following the road over and down into Uppermill.
It took me 2hrs 17mins (moving time; had a couple of backpack re adjustment stops) to cover 13.3 miles. The elevation gain over the route was 1093 metres which is about a third of the Lakeland 50 route but it didn't anywhere near as punishing as last week.
I felt good when I'd finished the run and I'm aiming to do one final decent length run this weekend and then I'm going to start to wind things down gradually until the race on the 28th. I'd heard somewhere, a long time ago when I was working in the fitness industry, that the training you do today won't have any real impact on increasing your fitness level for at least 3 weeks, so don't bother trying to cram it in but rest instead.
The only personal experience I have of the above is when I was training for the London Marathon in 2004. I'd followed quite a gruelling training schedule and although I was running well, I felt knackered and my legs felt weak and heavy. As a result of overdoing it and being run down I got tonsillitis 3 weeks before the marathon and couldn't possibly do any running for 2 weeks. Conscious that the big day was only 1 week away and still recovering I did 2 x 3 mile runs at a steady pace in the last week just to keep my legs moving. I was worried about my lack of final preparation but on the day of the marathon I felt great and easily (well maybe not easy - time fogs the memory a little) achieved my target time.
So I'm going to give that approach another go. They say you get wiser as you get older; I'll be proper clever just before I drop dead!
Cheers
Mick
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