Kielder count down

Two weeks count down

The day after London an walking was problematic, from the calf down and round to the base of the  foot I was tight as hell in both legs will it being to painful to put the heel of my right foot down. It didn't look good for Kielder, but sometimes this things are minor and go away quickly. I kept gently stretching the whole of my legs using a stretch band and a massage ball on my foot to loosen it of. By the evening although heel placement still hurt I went for a short jog out, just 4.5 miles on soft ground and concentrating on forefoot striking to avoid the dodgy heel. This would either break me or help in the recovery. The legs started to feel a bit better during the jog out so for the next few days I kept up the same stretching routine with some gentle running.

To race or not to race

Kielder was now only a week away and my local club mixed terrain race the Isel Cross was on. This was to be a test of both recovery and preparation being short enough (5.4 miles) to mean on the road section I could forefoot strike and run the little hill normally. The descent would be slower than usual which was a shame as flying down that hill is such fun, nice easy gradient to make a full flight descent straight forward. The race went well, only 30 seconds down on my race PB and second V40, bit of a confidence boost and my legs had although nowhere near 100% felt OK. After the race Susie, two of her boys and I walked up Skiddaw via Ullock Pike in glorious sunshine with few tourist. Great walk out but Achilles started to tighten again - to be expected really but all in all a fantastic day.

Top of Carl Side with Susie

Still a few days to get right so the plan was formed with the mental preparation being the key at this point. Jog around the trails in Mabie Forest on the Sunday (20th April) whilst Alex biked then another Skiddaw climb but this time as a steady run. Another lovely day if a bit gusty at times, ran up along the Ullock Pike ridge, over carl side and up to Skiddaw. Coming back down showed me that my shoe choice was wrong for going fast down, which was possibly a good thing as stopped me going too fast.

Looking down to Dodd with Bassenthwaite behind

Added a quick pop up Dodd as it was I hill I'd never been up then run back to the car. I'd expected to be out for about 1:45 which was pretty close to my run time. Think I'll do that one again with variations sometime soon. Great day out, great run and superb mental preparation now for the next bit of the plan, one more jog then no running just mobilising and stretching to get ready for Kielder - new approach but did it work?