The lanes are still muddy so Tuesday used the usual Crompton loop of 5.5 milestone, the pace felt good but had a slightly tight calf as I got to the highest point on the route. My chest was a bit tight, the return of car traffic starting to take its toll I think.
I decided against a fast run through Royton (which is the norm), the aim was to keep the run at 161bpm so settled for a comfortable but tempo last mile.
As usual got to the mid week and weighed up what to do, I have been thinking about marathon training and how Manchester may or may not happen. At some point my long runs become loooooong and want to make interesting routes that I can extend as the plan this year is to increase them 1 mile a week till I taper down in the middle of September.
So looked at a common route I see on Strava and have done in past years up to Hollingworth lake, it is too far for my usual 10 mile Sunday jaunt and comes in at 18 miles, so decided to do it on the bike as this is a super distance for a jolly bike ride.
I could not find my HR strap so managed used my Garmin Forerunner to track the ride, it can pair to the edge and display its screen (So to speak) so at least I can view my MPH and HR.
It was not setup for autopause and you still have to use the watch buttons, there being plenty of lights and roadworks, I was pausing and unpausing all the time. Sometimes I forgot to start the watch, the worst being in Milnrow... so my hard effort through the village and up the steep hill "Kiln Lane" is missing, hence the Stava title of "Afternoon Ride - stupid pause button" bah.
But managed fine in the sun and the canal was just tooooo busy, at one point I had to go through a tunnel, I always ring the bell, before and during to warn folks I am coming, near the end of the tunnel a couple entered from the other side, they tried to push back but in the end I caught up too quickly.
The guy was giving me grief and shouted 2 metres at me, my reply "Stay Alert, listen for the bell" and carried on my merry way.
As I went around the lake, I stopped for a breather and took some pictures, there is always a queue at Mt Thomas's Chippy so now it is more evenly spaced at roughly 2m
On Thursday I had my planned 10K to do and it was very hot, not fun in the sun but managed a good effort.
Friday was again a hot day and after work heading out for the run, all good but the last mile hard going and my right calf felt a bit tight
With the weather being unpleasant in Saturday I decided to take a rest and give my legs a chance to recover.
Sunday was set to be an 11 mile or so run, heading out to do my usual route of up to Rochdale, down Queensway, onto the canal and home... All was going well, chest felt good, legs strong, shoulders pain-free (been a week of painful right shoulder). I was going at around 7 min/mile and suddenly my right calf popped, I managed to run another 400m but had to pull up.
Runners are great people and it was a nice change to only see dedicated runners and a few cyclists on the towpath. The numpties that have been out since the lockdown are a nuisance, so early on a Sunday and the weather not conducive to their requirements, it is back to proper folks to use!
So now have been icing the calf and deployed a Tubigrip to give it support, ice, rest and maybe a bit of cycling this week and hopefully, I can start training next Sunday... you never know with these things, time to listen to my body for a change!
Hope you have a good week!
Mark
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