We headed out early afternoon under a sky that threatened rain. In the ongoing experiment, I didn't use my inhaler before we went out this time. I then also forgot to pick it up on the way out! We were meant to run from Hannah's to the place we started before, but she forgot and started running at the pub instead. I did try to point this out to her, but she insisted that the extra distance would be good for me!
The run started well, and the new shoes were doing a good job. I couldn't feel any seams or anything untoward and they were comfortable. Unfortunately, it started to rain not long after we left the village. I don't have a waterproof running top as yet and wearing glasses in the rain is a pain, as they tend to collect the water. I know from experience that there's just about no way of wiping it off without smearing the lenses, so it's best to just put up with it.
From here, everything was going quite well. The pace was good, my lungs were doing a decent job for once and we were even able to discuss a few details for the auction preparation. But then the long distance runs are meant to be done at a pace at which you can maintain something like a conversation. Up to know, that's not really been possible but I'm starting to get to that point. If this is how I manage without my inhaler, I think I will continue not using it!
All was well, right up to being about half way up with long hill from Wappenham and into Weedon Lois. At the 4 -ish mile mark my left ankle started to ache. And by the 4.75 mile point, at the top of the hill, I had to stop. I had hoped that stopping to stretch would help work my ankle loose, along with loosening my laces a little as I was starting to get tingley toes just as I did the first time I wore my new shoes. After a minute or two of work, we set off again and everything felt a lot better. Not perfect, but certainly good enough to keep going. And no matter how good my ankle felt, I still look terrible running!!
Weedon Lois happens to have a steep deep in the middle of the village. And I didn't make it all the way up the far side. The ache in my ankle had become more of a pain, and I had to slow to a walk. At this point Hannah thinks my ankle had now had enough of being corrected. I've done all my running so far in my trail shoes, but now I'm in properly fitted road shoes my ankles are being made to run more evenly than before. And this means they may take some time to adjust to this new pattern of running. As it wasn't far to the 10km mark, I wanted to at least try and make it to there. Once we were back on the flat, I was able to get up to a reasonable pace again and make it to the pub in one go. It seemed that as long as I was running on the flat, or downhill, I was ok but uphill was stopping me quickly.
This was the screen grab I manage to take as we passed the pub. It's roughly 5 minutes slower than when we did this before, but given the problems I was having I'm still happy with that result. It also shows the average pace to be the same to this point as our previous effort was for the whole run.
Being stubborn, I knew that once we made it to the Weston pub, there is only really one big hill to tackle so we carried on at a slower pace. Partly because my ankle was still aching and partly because Hannah was wanting the local Hunt to clear off so she could use a convenient section of hedge!! This part of the run was done at what ever pace I could maintain, so it varies quite a bit over the last 3km or so. Once we were up the big hill it was all back down hill to the pub! The last 600m I was determined to do at pace, as that's the bit in the village and the run to the pub itself. I could hear Hannah behind me thinking out loud that I must have smelt the pub as I set off at just over 5mins/km, the fastest we'd gone so far!!
Comparing the charts with those from the previous run, the pace up to the 9km point is broadly the same shape but clearly slower once we hit the second section of the long hill in the middle. The first 6ish Km was actually faster! The last section from 9ish km is also much slower, and this is where I think my ankle was causing the most drop off in pace as I just couldn't keep running and had to walk a fair bit. This is reflected in the average pace and it's pretty much the slowest I've run on the road. Overall, we were just about 10 minutes behind last time's pace. I think if I hadn't had to stop so much we would have made it round quicker but that wasn't to be today.
In an effort to ease my ankles into the new stance I'm going to try and do a few more runs of shorter distance. I'm thinking of doing a 5km run on Tuesday and then something similar on Thursday. Hannah and I had planned to join a hill run around Banbury on Thursday, but I don't think that's wise after today's run!
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