Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

My training schedule for the past couple of weeks has included more speed work along with some marathon paced runs to get this old body used to running at a faster, consistent pace again. Looking back at the 21k marathon paced run I did on the treadmill back in January, I am really chuffed with how much I have already improved in terms of pace. I guess it helps now that we don't have the extreme cold temperatures to deal with, nor do we have two feet of snow that we have to battle through, although this has now been replaced by extremely icy conditions as the temperatures rise above freezing during the day, only to dip down again overnight. The freeze/thaw cycle is the most frustrating for runners, and you never know whether to wear spikes, road shoes or trail shoes as the conditions underfoot can vary so much, even if only doing a short 5k easy run! The good news is that I have been running outside, and it is only during the week when I have to run in the dark that the ice really ...

The past couple of weeks have seen the weekly speed session recommence, as the focus now turns to getting myself ready for the marathon. It's not been easy as the winter weather has been so up and down, and we are still having that mix of freezing temperatures and snow, then back to melting snow and slush, which then turns to skating rinks overnight on the pavements as everything freezes again.  For us runners, it's been horrendous - add to that another bout of extreme cold this past couple of days, I think we could be forgiven for wondering when spring will finally arrive! Compared to this time last year, my runs have been slow, but then last year I was running during the daytime in much warmer conditions. With working full time, I now run in the evenings, and running in the dark does make it seem like you're running much faster than you actually are. I haven't really minded so much, but now that my aim is to get some leg turnover back, I have been getting frustrated a...