Hill Training

Training keeps going really well, I am really pleased with how it is going. I haven't felt as good for at least three years, and my HR and pace numbers support that as well. It looks like I have, once again, accidentally stumbled into a training regime that works, though the final proof of that is of course still to come.

As always, it's not all plain sailing and I do have a couple if issues. A couple of months ago my right foot was a bit swollen and bit tender to the touch. Also, when running it felt like my socks were scrunched up underneath the balls of my foot. I have heard that Morton's neuroma feels like that but can't tell if it was that or not. However, it went away eventually. Then, one morning about 2 weeks ago I was walking up a couple of steps in my house and felt "something" give, but it was manageable. I went for a run and didn't even notice it but later that day my foot later started swelling up again and it became a bit uncomfortable.

That was two weeks ago and it seems to have settled down again. The foot is still a little bit swollen but I can only tell if I compare my two feet directly to each other. It doesn't hurt, and I can curl my toes again, which I could not do a week ago. So, all in all, not too bad, but something to keep an eye on.

I had a great run on Sugarloaf last week. Instead of tagging two or three different mountains as I had done for most of my mountain runs I ran three laps on the Great Sugarloaf trail, which is the steepest and most technical part of my mountain runs anyway. I was pretty happy how that was going, and I ran for close to four hours, so it definitely was a good workout in its own right.

This Sunday I did something completely different. It was something I had been planning for a while, and a first rainy Sunday in a while provided a good opportunity. I hopped on the treadmill (obviously using Zwift to alleviate the boredom), set the treadmill to 5% incline, and ran for 2.5 hours. It was meant as a strengthening session for the calves but actually they still felt pretty good even at the end, so I'll probably give it another go, this time with a steeper incline. It's something the treadmill is excellent for - I just don't have a mountain around me where I can run uphill for several hours without it flattening out.

On the downside, the new Covid restrictions that came in just the other day make me doubt if the race will still be able to go ahead. It will, however, not change my training. Of course I would prefer if there were a race at the end of it, but I'm not running to race, I'm running because I love it, and will continue to do so.