Our plan was to just head out and see how things went. As I was struggling with my ankle hurting last week, I didn't want to over do anything. There's only 11 days to the Wolf Run, and I'll be on call at work for 7 of those, so any chance of turning a minor pain into a major one is to be avoided!
We managed to hit the weather just right, as it has been rather windy of late and was down to a mere blustery when we left. The route was our usual lap of Woodford, with an option to go for a second lap if we fancied it. Once our various gadgets had found a GPS signal, we could start running! Everything was going ok to start with, although I hate running into the wind as it seems to make breathing hard until I really warm up. Thankfully, my ankles seemed to be doing ok, although my right hip was a little sore for the first 1km or so. This often happens, but it soon stops.
After 2km or so, I had to stop and give my ankles a quick stretch. I should really have given them a little more than 5-10 seconds a side though, as it made sod all difference! After a few hundred metres they had calmed down, and this is reflected in the pace graph as it shows a step in speed. Not long after this there is a steeper rise at the 3km mark which felt hard on my feet but we kept the pace up.
This rise is followed by a good long downhill section, which was a relief. It turns out that my ankles weren't quite so keen to go running as I had thought, but I was determined to keep going. The downhill bit finishes at a steep hill, but I only made it 3/4 of the way up before I had to stop. Despite slowing down quite a bit to make sure I made it back in one go, this was quite annoying. This time I did stop and stretch for a proper amount of time to let me carry on and finish the last part of the run. The last section was done at a jog, rather than a run though. Hence the massive spike in the pace chart at the end. I wanted to go faster but my ankles just wouldn't let me. Equally, I did still make it to the end and I didn't feel too bad.
After a bit of stretching, it was time for a sit down and a drink. It was also my turn to take a silly photo of Felix too. This shows part of how the bugger is so good at running, as he's a skinny so and so! He still insists in telling me he weighs a surprising 12st, but I'm not sure I believe him as I'm 15st.
As we were sat cooling down, we were treated to a reminder of how lucky we had been with our timing. We knew a big, black cloud was inbound but we hadn't appreciated quite what that meant until the hail started chucking down 5 mins after we got back. The clouds were part of why we didn't try for a second lap. It may look like rain in the photo, but it's all ice!
So once I had cooled down for a bit, I was starting to feel better. My ankles still ached, but no longer hurt and my hip was feeling good. Overall, I'd class this run as about half way successful. I only wanted a slow paced run to work the kinks out, and that's what I did. On the other hand, I didn't make the run without having to stop. But that also gives me something to work towards for the next run. And after that it'll be nearly time for the Wolf Run!
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