Cross Country Race

I ran in the North Wales Cross Country League today at Lilleshall. It was one of the muddiest races I've ever done because of all the wet weather we've been having. I just hope that my 50 mile race is not so muddy in two weeks time. I was 9th today. I enjoyed the competition in a group of about five of us. I'm usually slightly further ahead but since I've been doing so many miles lately I'd lost a bit of strength in the legs to carry me over the tough mud. I wish I could've been closer to Lee Jones but he is should a good runner, and older than me too.

Quote and run

To a runner a side stitch is like a car alarm. It signifies that some is wrong but you ignore it until it goes away. Author unknown This quote is not always true I know but it does indicate how runners drive through pain. The other day whilst out on a run the top of my foot was hurting. It hurt even more when I stopped to loosen my lace. Then at the end of the run it hurt again. I think the body has a way of shutting out pain when you're in a stressful situation. Does this mean then that we are designed to be in a stressful world and finding a stress free environment actually causes us Pain?Maybe to a certain degree. Anyways though, I'm training hard at the moment for an ultra on 1st February so the taper will start and maybe the niggles will show Themselves! Bye for now.

High mileage

Last night whilst running with my mate he said to me; you'll be running just over 100 miles before the weekend. I replied, yeah but my quality training is not suffering (same times) and my slow running is slow. However, I don't really know how well it could be if I did less miles. My higher weekly mileage is because it's not just training but due to another, useful reason; running gets me to work. The traffic from Wrexham to Chester is dreadful and as such the 10.3 miles takes only 15 mins more than getting the bus or car in rush hour. Also I think that running a lot slower on rest days for me is OK because my once at work I'm sat down for most of the day. Another advantage I find is that once I'm home in the evening I don't have to feel that I have to do exercise to keep fit. I've already done 20+ miles of running! In fact I don't run to keep fit, I run to 1) get to work; 2) To get faster / train for races. The result of those reasons is that I'm fit. I wonder sometimes if I would still run even if I knew is was damaging me some way.