Back to our old ways.

A busy schedule this week means we have to get our running in when we can. Monday, normally a day of rest was pressed into action. The weather was fine and the sun was shinning so why not. After yesterday's ten miles and bearing in mind our schedule I thought it would be nice to get another six under our belts. I also thought it would be good to revisit a route that we had not done in its entirety since well before Christmas because of the flooding. As you may have guessed it would contain a substantial distance off road. Steep fields were followed by running downhill through a wood and fields, across a stream then uphill again into a village. Crossing the Main Street we took a path up beside the pub, through a paddock with a horse in it and then a couple of rough fields down to the road. The fields on the other side had been flooded for months but we thought it was time to give it a go. A few wet patches remained but in the main it was pretty good although crops that have been planted are in poor condition and the yield will be low. A short burst along the road and it was back to the fields. On higher ground, they were a lot drier and progress was good. Arriving home the Garmin had recorded six and a quarter miles. The speed was a bit down but this reflected the type of ground we had covered so another good run completed.

Roe! deer,deer,deer.

With less than ten miles to run to achieve our weekly target we set off yesterday (Wednesday) knowing that a five plus run would leave a very modest effort on Friday. We ran the first part well within ourselves then put in a bit of effort on the first hill. Once over the top we coasted down the other side, not letting up we turned onto a country road that undulated until we came to a village. I had to stop at the main road to cross and could not get running again on the hill the other side. After walking the steepest part I set off again, the road continued rising for the next half a mile before I got some respite. Some more undulations and then we turned onto the main road. Looking into the field on my left I saw four Roe Deer grazing on a crop on winter barley. It was the same place that I had seen them a couple of weeks ago. We pressed on taking a slight detour to add a bit more distance to the run. It was five and a half miles which only leaves four and a quarter for Friday. It was gardening in the afternoon or to be more precise digging. I may have overdone it a bit as my back is suffering today. Probably a good thing we are not running today although I have been gardening again.

Finally finished the book that I was reading, “The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay” It was very informative and showed the hard work that went into cracking the Germans coded messages during World War Two. It also talks about the men who pioneered computers which are also of great interest and how the British government were not willing to invest in computers commercially, leaving that to the Americans. The book is available on Amazon, you can click on the link on the right to view and purchase it if you so desire.

What no hat or gloves? Is it summer?

The first day I have gone for a run this year without the aid of hat and gloves. The sun was shining albeit there was quite a strong southerly wind blowing. Because of heavy recent rain I decided on a route that kept us mainly on the road. We set off at a brisk pace, this lasted for about three miles when the petrol started to run out. We had been running into the wind and when the course got a bit lumpy fatigue started to set in. I never recovered from this and it was tough going for the rest of the way. We saw a lot more runners out this week, most appeared to be travelling better than us. Unfortunately the worst of the hills were in the second half, knees wouldn't lift and lungs didn't convert oxygen into energy very efficiently. Walking up the steepest parts became the norm. Having finished last Sundays run at nine and a half miles I was determined to get ten this week if possible. With this in mind I altered the last mile to a downhill route and battled on to the end. When I uploaded the run to Garmin the walks that showed up on the graph were disappointing. Further analysis however showed that when we were running it was at a quickish pace which was a pleasant  surprise. Climbing four hundred feet and burning eleven hundred calories was a good mornings run.