Sun 3 Aug 2014

Unusually for me, I decided not to do my planned 29 mile Peak District Skyrace today. I usually live by the Nike slogan, ‘Just Do It’ until sheer exhaustion causes me to cancel all activity and hide in bed for a day, but I must be getting all boring and sensible in my old age (31! :)). I hadn’t run since the first UK Skyrace, the V3K Vegan Welsh 3000ers 28 June which left me with an Achilles so sore that I couldn’t squat down (hard when you’re a girl needing to go to the loo while out running the trails!) and was a bit feeble and generally limpy. So I hadn’t done anything more than 8 miles since, so I thought 29 miles in the heat was a tad ambitious.

So, I ran 10 miles through beautifully flowery fields around Stamford and Barnack with my two running club friends Chris and Katie. As per my training plan with Rory Coleman, I’m to do my Long Steady Runs (LSD!) at 75% of my Max Heart Rate (MHR), but of course I was rushing to meet my friends and couldn’t remember what it was. I ran slower than my friends, trying to keep my HR at 165-175 bpm, the lower end of which I thought was a nice comfy ‘go all day’ pace. We all really enjoyed the run, Katie’s route, mostly off-road, along footpaths through bright yellow fields and shaded woods that I’d never been through before, I love running new trails. It was great to discover such flowery pretty paths so close to home too. Poppies mingling with bushy purple and yellow flowers on tall stalks, and round white flowers low to the ground. I just tried to google them to find out possible names but it started taking a while, and really, this blog is about running, not flower arranging.

I got back and looked up the HR I was sposed to be running at: 75% MHR for me is apparently 142 bpm! Whoops! So I should have been running quite substantially slower. Okay then! Bring that on! It also means I did last Thursday’s hill reps way too hard. I’m going to check my max heart rate at running club on Tues. Rory has calculated it the standard quick way, 220 – your age, so that’s 189 bpm for me. I’m pretty sure my heart can beat faster than that, so that will give me some new calculations. Maybe it’s because most people think I look like I’m 25, so maybe you should do 220 – the age that you look 😉 Ha ha ha, don’t quote me on that one though!

Moral of this run story? Run slower on your Long Steady Runs. The clue is in the word ‘Steady’. Rory really means it. Thanks Rory I was worried I’d be slogging my guts out and not enjoying your training plan, but it’s easier than I thought!

Claire Maxted, editor of Trail Running magazine is being whipped into shape for the 6-day Coastal Challenge, Costa Rica this February by multi-day race specialist Rory Coleman.
Find out more here >rorycoleman.co.uk >thecoastalchallenge.co.uk