Parkrun #6

22:34mins. 127/907


A disappointing end to the week in this morning's Parkrun. This also constituted my long run for #Jantastic so I had to get 12 miles under my belt.  A steady 3 laps to start with which I began at 7:30am felt ok although my Achilles tendons were particularly tight at the start. I got swallowed up at the start of the ParkRun proper and as a result pushed too hard the opening 2 kms. It had rained all night and it was very slippy underfoot and the first kilometre was very boggy and I found it very hard to get into any form of rhythm. By the time we got onto the gravel path things were a bit better and I could see that I was in my usual place at around 30th ish position. Normally by the time we get to halfway I am feeling strong and start to overtake quite a few people but I really noticed that I was going the other way and struggling. I had had a busy week's training and had got 7 sessions in and I was beginning to pay for this. As we ran past the playground I could feel my pace tailing off but I was hanging onto the group that I was with.

Only the final tight left hand turn to negotiate around the playground so I deftly avoided the large muddy puddle on the bend and planted my foot firmly on what remained of the path, only to find my leg skidding beneath me on loose gravel. I was down before I even registered that I had lost my footing and took the full impact on my left knee and hip. To add insult to injury I also found myself in the puddle that I had been trying to avoid in the first place. I've come off my bike a fair few times but I have to say that this was the most painful accident that I have ever had training or racing. I have left a lot of skin in bushy Park.

I have just looked at my Strava log for the event and I had blown pretty badly before then. The first 3 kms had all been around 4 minutes, but my 4th one was 4:12! I've been doing a lot of speed work and some turbo sessions but I have not been recovering enough. I don't think the 15kms I ran beforehand had as much to do with it as the training during the week. It looks like that next week will be an enforced recovery week anyway as I am finding it hard to bend my leg at the moment. Sub-optimal. Lesson learnt.