26 August 2015
Aw man my legs hurt! Haha I was actually aware of them even in my sleep ... my quads and glutes are KILLING me! This is good in a way for two reasons - 1. It definitely means I was hitting the right muscles in my strength set yesterday; and 2. I can continue on my research into running on tired legs.
This morning, instead of doing my usual 800m track reps, I decided to do hill reps. Believe it or not, the best place for this work out for me is Battersea Park ... I know, I know! But it does have a hill - and one that's incredibly short and sharp (even if it doesn't look like it here) which was exactly what I needed today.
Since I didn't want to kill myself today, the plan was to go up and down the hill every 90 seconds for 30 minutes (ie, 20 repeats). Therefore, the quicker I did it the more rest I got. I've done this before and my times were pretty similar to what they've been before - about 45 seconds up and down, giving me 45 seconds rest each set. Usually I would do this twice with a five minute rest between sets, but I knew my legs were super tired and I didn't want to risk an injury, so one set was fine!
The other thing I wanted to do today was test out my trail shoes!
The recommended footwear for the challenge is "well-worn-in trail shoes". I've had my Saloman trail shoes for ages, but I definitely wouldn't say they're well worn in - I've worn them about three times! They've been known to give me terrible blisters, so I have been reluctant to wear them on my longer runs, even though I know I need to get used to them. I thought this morning's short set would be the perfect opportunity! I made sure I wore my AMAZING Zer0D socks - they're not as comfortable as my Balega ones for shorter distance running, but when you need additional support they are fantastic! They're also great for stopping blisters because they come up over the ankle (totally 80s chic). Surprisingly, my trail shoes were actually really comfortable, at least for that short set, and they gripped the earth brilliantly. We've had the most appalling weather the last two days so the ground was MUDDY and super-slippery, but I only skidded once in the entire set which is pretty good going. I'm impressed!
I finished up the set still sore - sadly I didn't manage to run off the DOMS like I did on Monday - so I'm glad I did the shorter set; it was exactly what I needed. I also learned that I'm not sure what I do to my legs when I run up hill, but I appear to kick myself in both calves judging by the mud marks on both legs! I have no idea how that happened but at least I'm definitely picking up my legs when I run bwahahahahahahaha!
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