Sunday 4 August 2013

The end of July

Monday 29-July-2013 – Today there had been torrential rain during the day which would have made my normal route very muddy and wet. I had been looking at alternative routes and decided to adapt my 4 mile route around Hinckley by extending the run for a few more miles.

I had still not fully recovered from all the running I had done last week and had a slight ache in my left knee and hip. Because it had been raining all day I had dinner and then I noticed the cloud was breaking up, I just could not believe it. I waited a couple of hours after dinner until 9pm. I started off the run trying to keep relaxed as possible to keeps the muscles as loose as possible.

I took a couple of miles for the aches and pains to stop so I carried on at a steady pace as it was all about getting the miles in and not setting a personal best time. I was surprised that the temperature was still a bit warm considering the amount of rain we had and the sun disappearing fast.

Once I had reached the 3 mile mark I was in new territory for running, I had been only been around the area in a car and could not really remember what the route was like. I carried on and thought to myself that I am half way around now so whatever is ahead will only last half an hour.

I ran past B&Q and then a pub call the New Plough Inn, I noticed the pub was very quiet as I went by. I carried on along the road which had houses each side, the further I went along the road the houses seemed to stop. I passed the Golf Club and noticed the light was going and the street lamps had stopped, as I looked ahead the road disappeared into the darkness. The path narrowed and I could barely see where I was going and I was aware that I had no reflective gear on.

As I carried on the road went downhill and the only time I could really see where I was going was when a car passed me, luckily there were not many cars that came towards me to blind me with their headlights. Once I had got to the bottom of the hill the light appeared as the road was not covered by trees, and I felt a bit happier. I ran past the Rugby Club and a bit further on the Football Club, this area was very quiet and still which was a bit creepy but not as creepy as the dark road I had run through.

The road came to a roundabout which is on the A47 and was a familiar sight. I carried on left past the roundabout and up a slight hill that just seems to go on for ages. When I got to the brow of the hill I noticed another runner coming along, nothing was said and it was fairly dark on this part of the road. I noticed a couple of shadows in the distance that became apparent when I got closer that it was a couple of people out walking their dogs.

I knew I did not have very far to go now and the run was going to come to an end. I looked at the Garmin and noticed that I had come to 6 miles of the 7 mile route. I reset the Garmin thinking that it would give me a 10k time that I would be able to use as a bench mark in the future. When I got home I uploaded the Garmin data to Garmin Connect and wondered why a 10k time was not showing, I then realised that 10k is 6.2 miles and not 6 miles. I had reset the Garmin too soon so I still do not have a 10k time on Garmin Connect.




Tuesday 30-July-2013 – I looked out the window and thought I had better get out and do a run before all the rain comes along and stops me going out. I thought what I would do is the same route as I did last night.

As soon as I set off I felt my hip was quite painful on the left and also my left knee had a bit of an ache as well. It took a couple of miles to mute some of the pain and then all of a sudden I got cramp. The cramp was very painful indeed, I tried to run through it but it was just too painful. I walked for a while which eased it up a bit. I started off running again and found that my hip and knee were also hurting now, it was like this for the remainder of the 7 mile route.




Endomondo Monthly Challenges

Running Rotten Egg Award May (Most km - Running) - I managed to get in to the Elite Egg Awards and got to Gold which was for people who had run 155.3 miles plus. I had achieved 162.8 miles.

Rotten Egg Award May (Most calories - All sports) – I got to Silver which is for people who burned 25,000 calories or more, I burned 25,770 calories for July.