Yesterday’s long run was miserable. It rained, I was cold and soggy, and I spent the first part of the morning running in the dark with a torch on my head and another in my hand. I finished 30.06 km and was very glad to get home.
The Sunday before, I ran 30.26 km through the forest. That also started in darkness, but it stayed dry. Both runs took a little over three hours and twenty-five minutes from start to finish. The distance and time look similar on Strava. Being out there felt quite different.
Before sunrise
I set off at 5:27 am on 18 October. Strava recorded rain, a temperature of 9°C and a feels-like temperature of 6°C. Once I was wet, I wasn’t particularly interested in the distinction between those last two numbers.
With sunrise locally around 7:25 am, there was a long stretch before the sun came up. Alongside the head torch, I carried the handheld one for about an hour and a half while waiting for the light to improve. That’s a long time to keep a torch in your hand.
I didn’t see another person. The roads were eerily quiet, apart from the sounds and rustling around me. Nothing like running alone in the dark to make every movement in a hedge seem worth paying attention to.
The previous week I had left at 5:45 am. Strava described that morning as clear, with 8°C feeling like 3°C. It was colder on the screen, but being dry made a considerable difference. Running through the forest with one torch felt very different from being out in the rain on the road.
Three loops close to home
I explored a few new stretches yesterday, but the run was essentially three loops of about 10 km. The loops kept me close to home and broke the distance into chunks. I could concentrate on the one I was running rather than the whole 30 km.
Some of the downhills became slippery. I found myself looking for the grittier patches nearer the middle of the road to get traction, which added another thing to think about alongside my footing and where I was running. The rain made familiar roads require more attention than usual.
The road outing recorded 180 metres of climbing, compared with 76 metres on the forest run. My moving time yesterday was 3:13:29, against 3:22:04 the week before. The total elapsed times were only fifty seconds apart.
Finding fuel I can stomach
For the forest run, I had a water bladder on my back, one torch and Haribo. Yesterday I took a bottle of Lucozade Sport and a packet of Haribo instead. I’ve found the sports drink more useful than plain water on these longer runs, and the sweets have been much easier for me to stomach than energy gels.
I’ve been eating about five Haribo every fifteen to twenty minutes, usually with a short walking break. Walking makes them easier to eat. Towards the end, I let the gaps stretch to more like thirty or forty minutes as the finish gets closer.
My energy held up on both runs. Yesterday I didn’t feel tired or as though I was running out of fuel. The heart-rate breakdown put 93.7% of the road run in Strava’s endurance zone, compared with 88.5% on the trail run. Being in that zone didn’t stop my leg giving me trouble.
The shoe change
At about 11 km yesterday, I changed from road shoes into trail shoes. I was still on the road. After the change, I felt discomfort at the back of my right leg, as though I was over-reaching when my foot landed. I’ve felt something similar before and think the change of shoes on the harder surface played a part, although I don’t know exactly what happened in the leg.
By around 22 km, it was affecting my pace. My energy was still there, but the leg was changing how I ran and I slowed down.
At one point I was about 5 km from home and had to decide how to finish the session. I felt confident enough to continue and complete the 30 km because the sensation was familiar. I considered it a calculated decision at the time.
Writing this the following day, I’m pleased I completed the distance and was able to carry on normally afterwards. I wouldn’t turn that decision into a general rule about continuing whenever something hurts. I want to think through the shoe change before the next long run.
Still having the rest of the day
My legs weren’t generally aching after either run, and I could get on with the rest of the day. That included taking my daughter swimming and making pie and brownies in the evening. A fairly good end to a Sunday, even with the morning I’d had.
Getting out early is how I fit these longer runs around my family. I’ve written before about making room for the ultra around normal life. At this time of year, that means accepting a few hours in the dark so I still have the afternoon and evening.
For the week from 12 to 18 October, my log adds up to 69.93 km across five runs, alongside a 15.69 km Zwift ride and regular walks.
I’ve still got more distance to build before the 50 km. For now, I’m pleased I can finish these longer runs and still enjoy the rest of the day. The shoe question needs sorting out, and I’d happily take a dry morning next time.