The main event this week was a new distance PB on Friday. I was back in the Midlands for the weekend staying with my sister (Clare) and her fiance (Joe), including a day's holiday on Friday. I suppose one of the ways you know you're a proper long-distance runner is when you start spending your days off out running rather than relaxing! Since the River Severn is just down the road from Clare and Joe's house, I decided to get a bit of riverside path experience under my belt by taking the Severn Way from Bewdley up to Bridgnorth. The plan was to meet Clare and Joe in Bridgnorth, have some lunch and then see if I could make it all the way back on my own, with Clare on rescue duty if I didn't.
Would only just be over half way on the day!
The conditions were ideal for running, it rained a little bit for the first hour or so, but then turned into a nice cool, overcast day, with the rain only returning towards the end of the run, at which point it was actually quite welcome! The run itself was very pretty, with the Severn Valley Railway following the river pretty closely most of the way, so I saw several steam trains throughout the day. I made it up to Bridgnorth without any major issues, the only bad part of the run being a wade through about half a mile of thigh-high vegetation around the outside of one of the wheat fields, resulting in full length nettle stings from ankle to thigh. Still itching two days later!!
Upper Arley, about 10km in
Horses sheltering from the rain under a tree
I managed to keep the pace nice and steady on the way out and kept well hydrated, which meant that by the time I met Clare and Joe I was actually quite hungry and ready for some food - this was encouraging because on previous longer runs when I've been pushing harder I have struggled to stomach more than a few bites to eat, which is not great when you need enough energy to carry on for hours longer. Unfortunately I ordered (and ate) far too much food, and regretted this decision for the next couple of hours!
Looking back down river from Low Town in Bridgnorth
I did not buy any seeds
I managed not to get serious cramps on the run back, but did have to slow to a walk at regular intervals to allow my stomach to manage the situation I had put it in. I also had to negotiate my way back through the nettles and managed to fall head over heels over a big, glaringly obvious, yellow pipe lying across the path, fortunately I survived unscathed! Despite all of that my legs actually felt fine, and once the indigestion passed I managed to resume a more consistent pace. I sped up for a bit of a 'sprint' to try to hit the 50km mark before my watch ticked past 6h30m and then took it easy for the last couple of miles, which included the hill back up to Clare and Joe's house.
A Severn Valley steam train passing by
Muddy and nettle-stung, but home!
The final reading on my Garmin was 54.7km (almost exactly 34 miles) in a little over 7 hours total elapsed time, which is my longest ever run, surpassing the 32 mile Roseland August Trail that I did last year, in about the same overall time. I survived without major injuries, surprisingly no blisters to speak of and I even managed Dudley Parkrun on Saturday morning in just 22:10, a time that I'd be pretty pleased with any weekend, let alone the day after a 7 hour run! Although I'd still have another 45km to go in September (that's a little over a marathon), I do feel that I've made very good progress so far. The next couple of weeks will be a bit quieter on the training front, as I'm off to Cologne for a work conference, but I'll hopefully be able to fit in a few runs whilst I'm there and come back ready to cover some serious miles during the rest of June and July.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to sponsor me!
Stephen
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