A brutal but fun Cheddar Gorge Challenge Half Marathon today.

Constant (and largely severe) hills, technical sections but breathtakingly fabulous views.

Training aim was for time on feet and challenging terrain. Got both.

#RunningIsFunning #UltraTraining

Mid-40s, wet, and gloomy—just how Virginia’s winter should be! 30 easy, easy minutes of jogging. Might do it again tomorrow to round out this nice little recovery week. Been focused on base building and have scheduled one more block of it. But slipping into more specific training for spring races is tempting.

#running #ultratraining

A few pics from last weekend's 4.5 hour run, it was hard going and a sobering reminder that in 6 weeks I'll be doing 4x the distance .... Yikes!

Also, dates filled with peanut butter are my new favourite run snack!

Keeping on keeping on, active recovery week this week so much shorter runs. Still breaking in the new trainers which I'm just taking slowly.

#Running #RunnersOfMastodon #EDSAthletes #EhlersDanlosSyndrome #UltraTraining #Endure24

Taken the plunge, ordered my first pair of #altras ... Tips for transitioning from Brooks Ghost to Altra Torin? I'll of course break them in and rotate with the old ones etc.

I'm much more a mid- to forefoot runner on the treadmill now and my feet are just struggling. I've tried new insoles, the shoes are wide fit and only have 180 miles on them so pretty sure it's not that they are already dead. So giving it a go with a different shoe to see if that makes a difference.

#running #UltraTraining

A fun couple of days on the #Endure24 training plan - 1 hour aerobic endurance run yesterday and 44 minute tempo run late tonight at the gym!

10 weeks until the race when I'm aiming to complete 50 miles in 24 hours and raise a bunch of cash for the lovely peeps at #Breathworks.

Getting very real as Sunday's run is 4 hours long ... Haven't done that long in about 18 months!

https://www.breathworks-mindfulness.org.uk/fundraisers/ruth-endure24

#ultrarunning #UltraTraining #Running #VeganRunners #ThisGirlCan #EDS #EhlersDanlosSyndrome

We have moved beyond science in my PT sessions, and into the realm of witchcraft.

Today as we were fighting this issue I'm having my PT turns to me and asks, "So... What's your view on cupping?" My response, thinking of what both Michael Phelps and Nick Tiller might say: "I'd describe it as pseudo-science, at best, until someone convinces me otherwise."

While my PT laughed and said they agreed, we decided to give it a whirl, with me mostly just fearing how my interval workout later today would go.

Result? No discernable difference... Until I was running on technical trails, at which point all pain *vanished* and was replaced by joy, because moderately technical trail is the best trail. Intervals? Fine, though the joy was replaced by curious numbness. Maybe I was just too worked by how hard a rolling 10 minutes on punchy trails can be. Here's hoping we can move back to science, or at least art, since apparently we do some gait analysis next time.

#trailrunning, #ultratraining