2 Weeks Running

I had a bit of PF pain in my left heel after last weeks runs, so i took Saturday & Sunday as rest days. Monday was my first day back at work since illness, i had planned a little headtorcher with Azja, but opted for food & tv instead :-/

I was working a night shift on Tuesday, so i got up early to take Azja to work then ran the 5.5 mile loop on Latrigg. The climb up Spooney Green felt great, i was dismayed to see a pretty slow time to the summit! It was a good run out though, with over 1200ft of climbing and plenty of mud!

After nightshift i slept all day Wednesday :-)

Thursday saw Azja & I head down to Buttermere for a lap of the lake. It was windy as hell and pouring down, perfect! 

First 1.5 miles i felt great, gliding along the track out of the farm towards Gatesgarth, i took a ridiculous fall after the footbridge, and i have no idea how it even happened, literally tripped over thin air!

Coming out of the trees we were subjected to the full strength of the headwind coming down from Haystacks, and running uphill on the road above the farm i'm fairly sure i was running on the spot! 

Once we were across the top of the lake the wind was behind us, and i had a really good run back to the beach area at the bottom of the lake, we had a quick ice bath in the lake then carried on and ran back to the car.

Friday i was involved in filming a vlog for the therapist who helped cure my panic attacks, which i will go into in a seperate blog.

I signed up for my local parkrun and my plan was to run the 5k parkrun on Saturday morning, then carry on up Latrigg and back before work to extend the session and get some climbing in the legs. I didnt realise however the public bathroom at the start of Parkrun had been closed, and the nearest one was 1/2 mile away. I legged it back into town, and back to the start but everyone had left! So i ran around to Spooney Green lane and ran the Latrigg loop anticlockwise. The first mile felt ok, but miles 2 & 3 were just torture, i couldnt get a rhythm and had no strength on the climbs. After the stile into the field up to the summit i started to feel a bit stronger, and managed to run most of this climb. I paused at the summit for some photos (a breather) and then stepped on the gas for the 1.8 miles back to the car. I got down in 13minutes & change, not bad for me when including gates and a fallen tree blocking the path!

Today i planned another round Buttermere but i was really tired, so spent most of the day watching running videos, and then headed of for a 'Turkey Fields' 5k

It's one of my favourite routes, uphill from my house through town for a mile, a 1/3mile descent to the river, into muddy fields to follow the river back to town, over a footbridge, up a really short but ricilously steep bit of road then a shallow descent back to the house. It has about 150/60ft of ascent, and a few obstacles - stiles, gates and 2 main road crossings, so my 32 mins was a surprise time, i expected about 35/36 minutes considering my recent lay off.

A good week back, including the return to work. Trying not to get hung up on times and walking breaks due to the lack of running since August, but i'm my own worst critic, and nothing is ever good enough!! 

Laters taters

Return of #cumbriankrupicka

My last post, way back in August was a dark journey into uselesness, and its been a long path to last friday, when i was allowed to start running again!

I wont go into details, but i was poked, prodded, investigated and operated on, mostly to discover the cause of my retching, and some in the constant care of my heart. I've either been in hospital or the dr's surgery once a week for 12 weeks give or take the odd week off! All towards the word last week to start running again! 

So, health crap aside, lets go running! 

12 weeks without a run after averaging 25/30 miles a week previously had taken its toll! I'd piled on almost 14lbs, and some days id been bed bound with illness. 

First run back was 3.6 miles with about 550ft ascent. Surprisingly i climbed the first 220ft ascent quite well, and managed to keep trudging over the undulations and down the descent. The climb up 'Bastard Hill' reduced me to a walk and i allowed gravity to guide my descent back to the car!

The second outing was less impressive!! Feeling buoyed by the success of the first run, Azja & I headed to Dodd. A 4 mile run with 1400ft of ascent in the first 2 miles. After the 1st mile i was very glad that the light had gone & we hadn't brought headtorches, which forced an early descent!

2 days later i headed up Latrigg after dropping off Azja at work. I have a love / hate relationship with Latrigg. I'm ridiculously slow up its initial 900ft/1.75 mile ascent, but i love the views and the descent! Today it took even longer! Which is fine, i fully expected it to be worse! But Cumbrian Krupicka returned! 

      I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaack! (Chunkier)

Agent A & I headed out a few days later to a fun route above Loweswater. He is averaging 2-3 miles a week for the year, so we were about even fitness wise! There's a long slog up an old farm road, then a steep, undefined route up open fell to the first summit. These first 2 miles were, as expected, slow and littered with walking sections. After this there is a steep descent then it undulates across the tops for a mile or so. Cue lots of photos in perfect Autmn conditions! 

                 Crummock Valley

                 Cumbrian Krupicka 

          Agent A above Crummock

After the undulations & the final summit there is a perfect singletrack descent back the car. I said to Agent A as we descended that it's the type trail you could run all day & never get tired of, it's a gem, hidden away beyond the popular fells.

Today Azja & I had to visit Keswick so decided to have a bimble up & down Latrigg together.

I was fairly happy to see that my ascent was 4/5 minutes than Monday, and a bit closer to my average! Our initial plan was to head straight back down, but the sun was breaking through, and it wasn't too cold, so we opted for the longer route back through Brundholme Woods. 

       One of the best views in England

               100+ steps of torture!

       Azja cruising through the woods

              Mud glorious mud!

The moving time for the run was only actually 3 minutes slower than pb, but we had a lot of photo stops, breathers & stitch stops! 

So i'm back & raring to be fitter than ever before! My plan is try to be conservative, quality miles over a quantity of miles. With winter fast approaching i'm looking to concentrate on my climbing ability and speed work, rather than just banging out miles for the sake of it. Unless of course it snows, then there'll be a few longer outings 👍

It feels good to be running again! Thankyou all for your support, patience and humour, it has truly helped me these past 3 months.