Week 7 highlights:
- 53 miles this week.
- Sizzling in Sale part 2.
- My first 20 mile run (with a 1.7 miles tagged on)
Another 50+ mile week this week but this time nearly half of it was taken up by the long run. More details below.
Went back to the excellent Sale Sizzler series on Thursday night, again aiming for the sub 19 5k time. The weather had been down right rotten most of the week; things were looking good for a fast time after the last race in 27 degree heat. But no, come Thursday lunch time the clouds parted the sun came out and started to bake Manchester again. By 6pm when I met Mike his car was once again showing 30 degrees....
Despite my best efforts I just couldn't go any faster in that heat. After a couple of k my mouth was so dry and it was hard to breath. If somebody had offered me a bottle of water I would have been seriously tempted to stop and drink it. I pressed on by knew this wasn't going to be as fast as the race two weeks ago. Overall I am still pleased with the result. I know that sub 19 is there for a cooler day.
No parkrun this week as I was Run Director at Oldham, my first without Bev overseeing things. All went smoothly thanks to the great volunteer team making sure everything went like clockwork. I do feel a bit of a spare part while the run is on but it does make a change watching others run and cheering people on.
So, finally, I get to do my first 20 mile run after last week not being able to read my own training plan. After talking to a few people I decided to do a hilly 10 miles to Rochdale where I could pick the canal up and run straight home on a flatter course and hopefully go a bit faster. That was the plan. Didn't work out that way!
I set off towards Oldham and had the usual fun and games of getting through the town centre with all the Metrolink works carrying on. going down Salmon Fields made me realise that is was quite a hill climb we did on the Oldham 10k, more was to come as I climbed up from Royton towards Rochdale.
I got to the canal just before 10 miles and turned for home I thought. Not long in the tow path stopped at the side of a road bridge with graffiti on it (it was Rochdale!) turning back to the last lock I found a sign directing me to the road then the tow path was "unavailable" not sure when it WOULD be but there we go. There were more signs which felt like they were directing me away from the canal. They were.
Next I knew I was in the middle of a field with no idea where they hell I was. I pressed on and found myself passing the Tandle Hill Tavern which thanks to the training runs I've been doing with RRR meant I had a bit of a clue where I was. Granted I still didn't know the way back to the canal, just that I could get to it from here. Eventually I made it back to the canal, about 500 meters from where I left the main road!
My original route had me doing a couple of loops near home to make the run up to the full 20 miles but from looking at my trusty Garmin I knew these wouldn't be needed. I knew I was about 5 miles from home and was already on 16 miles. There wasn't much I could do but hit the 20 mile mark and keep on going. To be honest the last couple of miles were tough partly because I'd never ran that distance before and partly because I was going further than I'd planned to, either way I wasn't stopping until I got home. I finally stopped at the front door 2 hours and 56 minutes after I'd set off once in the house all I could do was grab a cold drink and lie down for an hour. When I did get up I was walking like Bambi!
Several hours later and I'm still stiff but I've had some good recovery food: a bit omelet, some cheesecake and Soreen!
Tomorrow is a rest day according to the training plan which is great as I'm not sure I want to go for a run tomorrow even if it is an easy one!
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