Small explorations

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

My usual training regime has been a bit messed up this week because I postponed my long run until Monday and helped at the Bay to Bay Fun Run on Sunday.  The pattern I prefer is recovery days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with quality sessions on Tuesday and Thursday.  Having missed the quality session yesterday I decided to run a little further and faster today and mapped out a 14km course with three tough climbs.



There was no shortage of public footpaths and country lanes
to run along when we lived in Chorleywood

Motivation was in short supply so I picked a route that let me check out a potential new trail that I had spied on Google Maps running between Avoca Beach and Kincumber.  I love maps and spend a lot of time perusing them and thinking of potential running routes that might be interesting.  In my experience, the best place for finding interesting routes to run is England where the network of historic public footpaths augments the plethora of country lanes.  When we lived in Chorleywood, outside London in the Chiltern Hills, I had a totally different morning run course for each day of the week, each of them scenic delights.  Running every day can be mentally tough, especially when you get older and I'm a great believer in variety.

Anyway, I set out on this morning's 14km at a good pace and was pleased to be able to maintain my momentum the whole way, including up the three significant hills, although I was getting tired by the end, and my right knee was quite painful at times.  With a kilometre to go on an exposed road high above Copa, I was hit by a short and vicious rain squall which blew me all over the road and soaked me through.  It was cold.  During the run, I did detour a little way down the new trail I had identified on the map, but it was quite overgrown and wet.  I decided to leave tackling its full length for another day.