A Sore Knee and an Itchy Bum - Have I Gone Too Far?

Is this weekend going to be a step too far?

That's the question I've been asking myself the last few days.

I've had three weeks of hard training and racing, with the mileage being stepped up a bit too. My knee has been niggling since the beginning of January after a slip on the slopes of Cairngorm in the snow and then giving it a real good clatter in Forfar just to make sure. But how else do you find out what's a step too far?

So it's off south for the Draycote Water 35 mile race. Not really my forte this but good training nonetheless, 4.75 mile circuits on tarmac... yes you can sense my enthusiasm!

A wee recap of the last few weeks then.

After Forfar I put in my first 100 mile week of the year finishing off with a couple of back-to-back 20+ milers so it was good to get that under my belt, then I was up in Aberdeenshire for a week working so the snow made running a pain as it was all road runs but I still managed a speed session of sorts which was interesting!

Then at the weekend there was the Carnethy 5 hill race. This year was the snowy edition, which meant really fast descents for most except the girly descenders like me who tootled down most carefully then battered it to the next one! I did manage a bumslide though, which I regretted afterwards with my bright red bum cheeks glowing through till about Wednesday and now they're just really itchy so I spend most of my time with my hands down the back of my trousers howking. This gets funny looks in the supermarket.

The next day, after Carnethy, I met up with Kate J for a run which she had suggested going from the Hillend ski area along the Pentlands then down to West Linton adding in another few tops for good measure. It was a great route but I think it would be much more enjoyable on a warmer day! My feet were like ice the whole way round, every time I just about got them warmed up they were dipped into another freezing swampy patch... oh joy! The beans and toast went down a real treat at the end though, after 21+ miles and about 6000' I think we'd earned it.

Then, on Monday just to round things off I put in a 16 mile road run which had the knee niggling again and it's kind of been their in the background all week so I'll give it the test on Sunday and see if it's a real injury or not!


A "warrior" pic from Forfar (the rest of the Garden Gang are right behind me!)
Pic courtesy of Allan Young

I've updated the list of races I'm hoping to do this year ( about time... yeah I know...!) see it down the left hand side.