This weeks schedule should have been 4 miles Tuesday, 6 Wednesday, Intervals and Gym on Friday, Walk on Saturday, 8 miles on Sunday.
I got myself lost on Tuesday! Virtually all my routes are off-road trails. I headed for the fields a couple of miles away, onto a public footpath. Sadly, they footpath signs were mostly missing and I got very lost. I ended up wandering round in circles in a small wood before finding my way out. No sooner had I 'got found', then the footpath signs let me down again and I guessed left when I should have gone right. I was heading for a monument high on a high (highest local point). I ended up wallowing almost up to my knees in mud (and cow sh1t!) climbing a very steep hill up to the monument. I totally lost the path and had to cross some really hazardous terrain (over barbed wire etc). Additionally, the cows deep footprints in the ground made my progress difficult as it's really easy to turn your ankle, which I almost did on a couple of occasions. I eventually made it up, having done 6 miles instead of 4!
I also had a sports therapy session on Tuesday, focussed on my legs. This really helped, and Mike gave me some additional hamstring strecthes to do after a run. He advised it's likely to take a long time to stretch the area, but it should benefit me.
On Wednesday I redressed the balance (of going too far on Tuesday) and only did 4.5 Miles on a familiar route. I made good time on that route.
Friday I did 10x intervals, followed by a workout at the Gym. Handed back a copy of Survival of the Fittest by Mike Stroud, to my Gym trainer Clive. An excellent read, highly recommended. It even has a chapter on the Marathon Des Sables.
Saturday is my walk day. I followed the same route as Tuesday (when I got lost). However, I used the opportunity to explore a little and I now have my bearings and will run there in future. My broke my GPS before I left, so I'm not sure how far I walked. It took me 2 hours 34, so I'm guessing 7 or 8 miles.
Sunday; I got out the soldering iron and fixed the GPS. Ran just over 8 miles over nearby Cannock chase. I felt very comfortable throughout. The course was very undulating, starting on a very long hill that winds slowly for about 1.5 miles. As Sunday is my long slow run it was no problem at all. I did some hill work a few months ago and it really helped too. I could have easily done more than 8 miles, but I was disciplined and returned to the car. I'm trying to be careful and not increase my mileage anymore than the marathon schedule, so as to avoid injury.
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