Running

The physio description of what happened to my knee on Sat night is Hyperextension.

We've only had a brief chat in passing but the look on his face from my description of the immediate noise & pains and how it feels now (weak, slightly tender, but no swelling or bruising) makes me think it's not good, although defo not as bad as it could have been.

Anyone here done similar & can share experience of how long recovery took / what was involved?

So, decided I wanted to recce the full tour of Pendle route. The race itself is on the 17th, and I once heard that it takes two weeks to feel the benefit from a run so that left me this week to do it. With the weekend predestined for techno based antics and subsequent recovery I knew I’d have to squeeze it in on a weekday somehow.
Most evenings are taken by night shifts at the bakery, and any amount of running - never mind 17 miles of fell - tends to make the busy baking shift a bit of a grind.
Fortunately the heavens answer my prayers as my friend rings me with the delicious news that he no longer needs my assistance paving his driveway on Tuesday as he can’t be fucked and has decided to pay someone to do the job for him instead. Hurrah!
The date is set and off we go. Except that date is actually tomorrow, and I’m knackered, and I don’t really feel ready. How bad can it be?
I reckon the route should take me about 3 hours 30, and sundown is at 1640, and the drive there takes an hour and 20 - quick maths says set off at 11am, be running around 1230 then I’ll be back with plenty of time and I’ll miss the forecasted rain.
No problem! Except I’m shite at leaving the house - the master of faff. I squander the morning, I curse as the simple act of finding and loading the gpx file onto my watch takes over an hour. I jump in the car not long before 1pm and pack my headtorch.
Righto, I get to the parking near the start of the route not long before 2pm - it gets locked at 6pm the sign tells me. I have a brief chat with a runner just getting back to his car.
We mention routes, he quips “oh I’ve never done the full tour, too long for me!”
I ignore his observation and its potential relevance, and then hurriedly stuff my random selection of gear into my race vest and trundle off down the road. The wrong road. The gpx file I have on my watch begins at the start line, which I am half a mile away from, and I soon realise that the road I’m waddling up will not deliver me. Back down the road and off I go.
It’s 2 pm, so I have 2 hours 40 until sundown, and 4 hours until lockdown. My “comfortable” time has just become rather pertinent, as a forced night’s sleep in a carpark doesn’t appeal. Not to mention it’ll be dark after 5.
I don’t really fancy running around in the dark and wet, but I’m here now and I can always cut the route short.
The first 6 miles fly by, I’ve got nothing to worry about! I’m way ahead of schedule! Even at 10 miles I feel pretty solid. Not a problem!
It is however worth mentioning two things: firstly, the majority of the 4500 ft of climbing comes in those last 6 miles and secondly, I’ve not run more than 9 miles in about 4 months.
I’m going well enough, fuelling regularly and my legs feel decent. Until the first climb of the final big 3 that is, and now they don’t feel so fresh any more. It’s about this point that I accept that I’ll be both running in the dark, and racing the man coming to lock the carpark.
I constantly strategise my exit - I can cut this bit here, or skip that climb there - knowing full well that my stubbornness will have me sleeping in a carpark long before failing the objective. “If you’re gonna be dumb you gotta be tough” sounds much better than “you don’t have to be tough if you leave on time” anyway.
The sun sets as predicted at 1640, and the light lingers then fades into a cold dimness by 1700. I’m at the top of the second big climb and I elect to put my headtorch on before it’s so dark I’ll need a torch to find it. It’s only 4 or so miles to go, 15 minute miles, piece of piss. Sketchily ignoring all those times on steep climbs that I’ve seen the pace on my watch push well into the mid 20s for min/miles. Plenty time.
Down the side of the hill I go to the “checkpoint”, headtorch very much in use. Once again resisting cutting out the ever so easy descent - which will only have to be climbed again.
Proper dark now. The final climb begins. A proper romp up a steep and rough hillside. No sheeptrack or trod, just overgrown tufted moss and grass. Trudging upwards is interspersed with distance and time checks, the feasibility of returning on time unsure. I finally hit the top and with great relief rejoin the path that takes me home. Except that the descent forks off wide, taking a slightly different route and adds extra distance. I also remember that my initial detour means the total distance will be more than the race route anyway. FFS.
After a day of 13 minute miles, I’m now hammering it down the initial stretch of road, which seems to go on forever. Distance and time checks become slightly frantic as I realise how close to the wire I actually am. God only knows how I must’ve looked to the headtorched dog walkers as my tired but slightly panicked corpse wobbled by.
But finally, the road ends and I reach the carpark. The clock stopped at 3.55. My legs hurt but I quickly jump into the car to move it onto the road - visions of the attendant sneaking up and locking me in filling my mind.
20 minutes later, feeling slightly more human and maybe a touch more rational, I realise that the donation funded carpark probably doesn’t have quite as strict a locking policy as my oxygen starved brain believed, and that I’m very happy.

/csb

PS I’m starving.

Hah. what an adventure. makes for a great read.

first run back after 2 weeks with a chest infection.
strange, but i always enjoy things like this, mainly because you feel like a million dollars with well rested legs - but you pay for it soon after - lots of ITB twinges and calf twinges today....................

Bravo! Way braver than me, the only time I use a head torch is to help with removing contact lenses in a tent.

Marathon recovery no worse than expected but I ditched a planned gym visit this morning after deciding the calves didn't feel a whole lot better than the same time yesterday. Stayed in, ate porridge and an airport-duty-free mini Kitkat instead. Plenty of time to get back to it.

Great read, the race may be an anticlimax after that.

Awesome "run before everything goes wrong! Write up.

I'd really like that, but I reckon the weather will be worse - I had really good conditions, and I won't have a GPS watch telling me where to go (although there will be lots of other people to follow).

I won't have a GPS watch telling me where to go (although have got the route in my memory so won't follow those making Nav blunders)

Ftfy ;)

Sounds like a fun afternoon out you had!

Everyone knows where they're going until the clag comes in!

Everyone thinks they know...

I saw this on Saturday night, at a clear & moonlit event!

You're right about the clag though.

Rapid!

https://www.fastrunning.com/running-athletics-news/mark-kiptoo-reflects-after-world-masters-record-breaking-run-in-frankfurt/20575

Wow! I saw this and had a double-take when checking the AG results the other day. I presume Bernard Lagat has seen it as well; pretty sure he's being built up for a possible stab at the V40 WR in his debut at this Sunday's New York Marathon, but I reckon it'll be a very tall order indeed on that course.

...Age possibly catching up with me from the same race. I attempted a recovery run this morning, was gonna be 5 miles but right calf felt very knotty, and didn't loosen up through the run, so I cut it short to about 2.5 miles. Nothing too concerning, I imagine it was compensating for my dodgy hamstring/foot combo towards the end of the race. Will ease back in with some gym and maybe cycling over the next few days.

It's so quick, by my maths about 12s per mile off wr pace?!

Hope your recovery is getting better.

Knee has been poked prodded pulled and pushed. Conclusion being I've been quite lucky. Should settle down with some balance work needed to remind my brain how the knee behaves.

Edit: Will be a slow trot at xc on Nov 10th then dns for Escape from Meriden on 16th though, is anyone here looking for a place? ;)

I came down with a cold this week, today I'm starting to get better - currently don't want to go for a run but I can feel that changing gradually.

How much damage will I have done to my slowly returning fitness by having a week off?

How much damage will I have done to my slowly returning fitness by having a week off?

V.little.

dns for Escape from Meriden on 16th though, is anyone here looking for a place? ;)

That's a shame; I enjoyed dot watching your previous efforts on this!

I've always wanted to do this but I reckon a 5k would have me huffing and puffing with the current lack of running/fitness...

very little +1

you might even find your first run back feels amazing

Accidental CDC: https://www.strava.com/activities/1941598218

Need to make it into a figure of 8 so I cross Westminster bridge, also run across the far side of Lambeth bridge and dart across the road and back in the middle of it, then go further down Cornwall road and along to make the ball sac a bit bigger.

Will be up to 8km run next week so should be able to sneak most of that in.

needs more balls.

dot watching

There'll be plenty other dots to follow still, else 5km would defo get you the much coveted wooden spoon 'least distance atcf' award I reckon.

Pretty gutted on reflection though as I'm an 'ever present' in the short history of the event so far. I haven't sent my dns email to The Crow yet but have started writing it.

I’m tired of lugging bike boxes to airports and now thinking a ‘running holiday’. Anyone have any reccomendations?

Wore my omm rotor vest to our allotment today. Snagged it on a rose bush, two 1" rips.

Just seen current price for new one £100! Ouch. Will stitch & pray it holds together.

Lesson: keep nice run kit for running.

Peak District. No need to fly either.