Blue Green Gold Grey, Awyr Maes Tywod Aarreg
Trail and Coastal Running in Wales
SRG you will be so proud! To avoid the heat later in the day I was up at …. 6.30 for a run!
Did in fact set me up for the day nicely but even at that hour it was getting hot, was sweating loads despite the early hour, god only knows what I’d be like out there right now. If the ultra in August is like this im doomed
I was out early on saturday morning to beat the heat of the day. It meant that the tide wasnt quite right but I managed to get to the ladders just in time so I could come back along the clifftops.
However you can play spot the red kite
Spent the weekend down in West Wales with a couple of friends and their dog which of course meant I got to do some running at last. The idea was to do a few miles of the coastal path in glorious sunshine and take in the views. This being Wales of course it was blowing a gale and raining on me from the outset. I was not to be deterred though!
I was actually really enjoying myself despite the wind, cold and rain and was happily putting out enough effort to prevent hypothermia. The only times I got cold was when I stopped to take photos for you my dear readers. The sacrifices I make!
I had forgotten to bring my energy foods with me and so my friend had given me some marshmallows and chocolate but as I didn’t want them to melt in my pocket we shoved them in the only bag we had available – an (unused) dog poo bag. A bags a bag but I decided to eat while crossing the bridge in the photo – So there I am in front of the cafe shovelling marshmallows straight from a dog poo bag into my mouth. Always make a good first impression when visiting a new place.
Then I came to a dead end, the only way was to go back the way I came or so some scrambling up a scree slope. I am not one to be deterred by a challenge so off I went
I eventually got back after about 3 hours, tired, cold and wet but happy. The quad is still not entirely happy but then i cant really blame it after a dozen miles and a climb up and down a bloody scree slope.
In the afternoon we popped into St Davids – The Smallest city in Britain.
More importantly than sightseeing we took Iolo the dog to the pub
The sun shone yesterday and I just knew I had to be out in it for a short run. Plus the problem with an injury which only appears after a few miles of running – literally no discomfort at any other time – is that you don’t know if its gone. So off I went to the beach. The news is that the quad still hurts a little but I can feel the rest is improving it. To make sure I wasn’t going to screw things up again I took it super easy. The odd thing is that I find it hard to stick to super easy as when I stop thinkning about it my body naturally ups the pace, had to keep reminding myself to apply the brakes.
I think to be fair the time off running (Im counting 4 runs in 3 weeks as off running) is helping me recharge mentally after Preseli, on those days I’ve not been reading or thinking much about it deliberately so if you’ve wondered why I’ve been quiet and not invading your blogs (you know who you are) its purely some time out from the whole thing to recharge perspective. I’m getting to the point now though when I really want to be back fit and training again so as soon as the quad says go – Im gone!
After a week off running to rest up I was up with the lark to test out the baddy leg. News it it still hurts afetr a few miles, its ok just a bit of pain which nags away. So I’ll just take it easy for a while I think, its too hot to batter myself anyway at the moment. The oddest thing though is that as soon as I stop running the pain goes instantly. I mean instantly, no limp nothing which makes it very hard to judge if its healing or if its fixed … until I run more than 2 miles …. so I could do lots of 2 miles … and string them together … Thats the way my mind works you see.
I managed to add extra miles as I met these guys on the way
I promised them I would return with food soon. Then i thought nah I’ll run home, get food, come back and continue my run so I did so and returned with a bag of carrots and apples.
Oh and I had a visitor too – The seagulls have obviously been missing me at the beach this week so came to find me
Only 5 miles this weekend as I try to work out which bits of my legs hurt most, my left thigh still starts to ache after a few miles so I think there’s a bit of damage there but as its perfectly fine at all other times I’m not particularly worried.
To tell the truth I should have taken the whole weekend off but I would have driven myself nuts so it was mind over matter
