Physio and a Return to the Lickey’s!

Week 11 – Build Phase

w/c 29.07.2019

Recommended mileage: 40 miles
Actual mileage: 98.2 miles

Monday started with a trip to physio and some good news. After an initial assessment, the ankle had shown significant improvement in terms of mobility and strength that I was given the all clear to start running off road and on trails again. This was music to my ears. There was still slight swelling but nothing to cause too much concern. I was given some additional exercises to do as part of my strength training programme and advised to continue icing the ankle post exercise, something I’d been doing from day one.

I left the hospital feeling motivated and with my mind made up; I would attempt to run the Teesdale Way this upcoming weekend – something that I had been toying with for the past few weeks.

On the back of this decision, I decided to head up to the Lickey Hills in the evening to run my usual 6 mile loop. I’d consciously stayed off trails since my injury but knowing that the Teesdale Way would be predominately trail, I wanted to test my ankle out on uneven ground prior to the run. I also wanted to run the Lickey Hills again for my own peace of mind, as this was where I originally turned my ankle.

I got to the Lickey Hills just after 6pm. Ruth had decided to take the boys out for a post-tea romp around the hills whilst I ran – which suited me as she’d be on hand if needed. I hadn’t arranged to meet anyone so would be running solo – a decision I’d made to ensure I stayed focused on the terrain.

The run went well with no issues underfoot. It was a beautiful summer evening with clear views over Birmingham and Worcestershire and it reminded me how much I love running on trails.  I kept the pace slow and steady, enjoying the views rather than focusing on my splits – something which is much easier to do on trails rather than on roads. The elevation gain was a shock to the system though.

Average Pace: 10:41 min mile 

Elevation Gain: 846 ft

Mile 1 – 11:13, Mile 2 – 10:10, Mile 3 – 12:05, Mile 4 – 10:54, Mile 5 – 9:31 , Mile 6 – 10:05

Photo courtesy of Ruth

Greeted by these little fella’s

My favourite part of the route

I had every intention of doing club run on Tuesday which is a rarity for me as it normally clashes with Beavers Camp for James. However, as it was the school holidays I had the opportunity to join club for the standard 4 mile route, plus an additional 5 mile ‘pre-run’ organised by a few members. 

It had been raining relentlessly all day, and about an hour before I was due to leave, thunder and lightning was forecast, so I decided to give it a miss – yes, I wimped out! 

I did manage to fit in a 30 minutes of core strength work though; the ‘Dirty Dozen’ and the ‘Wall Squat challenge, so it wasn’t a complete wasted opportunity.

I took Wednesday and Thursday as rest days in light of the weekend’s high mileage effort – a 92 mile, 3 day trek along the Teesdale Way.

You can read how the Teesdale Way run went here, follow the link for a separate blog. 

In other news, my ‘Manchester Legend’ t-shirt turned up in the post on Monday, something I’ll wear with pride, maybe!