One big hill

At last I managed to get out with the Harriers on a Tuesday although it only consisted of Dave and myself. Despite a string of excuses (flu, long bike ride the day before, being out of form etc) Dave took us on a 'challenging' run up and over Cleeve Hill (see elevation chart below). I was suffering after only 3 miles and still had the monster climb up the hill to come. But anyway, I didn't do very well and had to let Dave go on his own for the final mile or so while I plodded back. So I know there's work to do to get back to some kind of form - it's going to be painful!

Here's the output:

Hmmm...

So this is turning out to be a tough year. Injuries, dislocations, illness all seem to be following each other and putting my running regime to pieces. I've only raced once (May Hill) and have cancelled quite a few others due to the above. The latest casualty is the Cheltenham Circular Challenge (26.2 miles) which I did last year and really wanted to have another crack at this. But, a recurring Achilles problem and a bout of flu has seen my training limited to a minimum. I should be tapering by now, I'm nowhere near running around about 20 miles off-road, something I should be able to do fairly easily. So, I need to get all healed and then build up fitness and speed a bit more gently than before. My last run was a bit of a speed test last Sunday around a local 4 mile route, my pace was ok (about 6.35 / mile) but I don't have much in the way of long distance at the moment so I need to work on that!