Lovely day so spent it watching the Cardiff Cross Challenge, supposedly a cross-country but it was somewhat lacking in anything other than short grass and wood chips. Made the most of the area available though and was good for spectating.
Not had much to do with XC in my life and was surprised by the complete lack of anyone running over the age of 40 (okay, there was one old man) and the almost compulsory reaction for the teenage girls to cry if they didn't win. I think I'll stick with orienteering.
Right knee a little sore when running on it, so opted not to got for a run and see if a bit of rest helps.
Had it not been raining all day I'd have gone for a wee spin on the bike to loosen the legs out, as it was I had to make do with a walk around the local shops.
Run - Trail 6:24:37 53.69 km (7:10 / km) +1677m6:12 / km ahr:139 max:164
Glamorgan Ridgeway Walk (Margam to Caerphilly) with Chris, Ben and Jules from MDC.
Hammering it down when I woke up, hammering it down when I left the house, hammering it down when I meet the others, hammering it down when we dropped the car off at the end, hammering it down on the motorway, but...it stopped just as we got to the start! Not all good signs though as I forgot my shoes (for the second time in little over a week - getting old is a pain!). Had to run in my knocking about shoes.
Wednesday's session felt like a bad idea right from the off as I was tired and slow right from the off. Nice easy pace though so kept chugging. Got hit a major rain/hail shower after about two hours, got a bit wet and cold but the next climb fixed that. It also turned all the light an eery blue which was very cool.
Started suffering quite a bit after 3 hours, more because I was hungry than anything else I think (though I had been eating continuously), Left shin also started hurting a bit, which I think was probably die to the unfamiliar shoes. Real struggle to make it up to Llantrissant for a food break.
The food certainly helped, and although I was still tired and sore I didn't feel a whole lot worse than I did starting! So we all just kept chugging away, me being dropped on all the descents as I had no grip and walking most of the hills.
Chris' stomach started cramping climbing The Garth and a wee while later he couldn't run any more, so Jules kindly offered to join him in heading back to his house so Ben and I could continue to get the car.
The rest was slow but grand, not hurting any more but not moving all that quickly. My knew longest run, though it was much slower than last weeks. I think it would have been much easier on a fresher body (and had the ground been drier) but that's just part of training. Good fun all in.
Run - Intervals1:08:11 10.17 km (6:42 / km) +386m5:38 / km ahr:142 max:178 shoes: Saucony Excursion TR5
Thursday session on a Wednesday to give some recovery time for a long run on Friday! Horrible wet night, but not so cold, so the hill we chose in the woods was actually okay, if a bit muddy in places. Legs still tired so didn't push hard on any of the efforts, in fact backed right off so I was running more at a tempo pace than an interval one, still found it hard though. Lovely dinner and biscuits at the Dallimore's after.
Run - Road warm up/down 24:21 4.75 km (5:08 / km) +26m4:59 / km ahr:146 max:164 shoes: Asics 1150 (2012)
7 PM
Run - Orienteering race 1:00:30 13.12 km (4:37 / km) +180m4:19 / km ahr:161 max:178 shoes: Asics 1150 (2012)
SWOC Street O, Roath and Cyn-Coed. Horrible wet evening, but loads out. Had issues with my pen working on the damp paper but more to with a poor route selection - opted to try and go for them all from the start which gave me a long run with only one control, would have been much more efficient to leave it out. Also issues finding a few fire hydrants (control sites) and completely failed to find three, including these I got 21 of the 25 controls. Not able to race but really happy with the way my legs were moving, not feeling all that tired from Saturday (until the run home) and enjoyed the run - couldn't get anywhere near Ben's running speed though.
8 PM
Run - Road warm up/down 27:23 4.91 km (5:35 / km) +10m5:31 / km ahr:138 max:145 shoes: Asics 1150 (2012)