I knew this week would be tough, Ally was away for the week working at The Spine Race so training would be tricky as I was solo parenting and we were having a new bathroom fitted.
I went over to Edale last friday night to meet some of the people helping and racing The Spine (108 and 268 mile races along the Pennine Way in Jan – mental) and knew well in advance this week would be about getting done whatever I could fit in so looking back, getting in a tempo run and a long trail run on Sunday wasn’t too bad.
The weather has been a bit tricky this week, the Spine Race has been massively disrupted by incredibly strong winds (100+ mph on the hill tops) and snow causing the runners to be held at CP’s for safety and some of that weather has filtered down to the lower ground here with some slippy pavements a couple of times.
This week was a couple of walks to work with the dog, a tempo run and a cold and snowy but massively enjoyable long run with some tough climbing to take the place of a long road run at pace.
I’m already finding it a little frustrating training for a road marathon on the roads, it’s a lot more weather dependent (in terms of icy pavements in a morning) than trail running but hopefully by the time I get to the more serious 16-20 mile long runs the weather will be more spring like anyway.
Another good 7.5 miles tempo run at 6:30/mile pace this week is out the way and while they’re quite challenging, I feel confident over time this pace isn’t too far off what I’d hope to run longer distances at.
Congratulations to all those competitors who entered the Spine Race and took part in some truly dreadful weather conditions. It was massively inspiring to see the racing and well done to Ed Camuir (Challenger Race) and Pavel Paloncy (Full Spine Race) for their excellent wins.
- Monday – 4.9 miles (Walk/Hike)
- Tuesday – 5 miles (Walk/Hike)
- Wednesday – 5.3 miles
- Thursday – 7.4 miles – Tempo
- Friday – Rest
- Saturday – Rest
- Sunday – 15.5 miles
Total: 38.1 miles, 3,143ft elevation