Thursday night hill training with night drawing in

The Thursday night trainings as I know them must be coming to an end. The previous week the head torches had to come out, as it was pretty close to dark by the time we were finished. This week we made sure to stop a bit earlier. And already it was quite dark. We had only done 11 km, which was the shortest Thursday night run I have done since the Hoka event. It seems to turn into road running in autumn, and I'll find out what roads and how soon enough.

But for now we were still in the hills. I was a tiny bit nervous about this training! It was the last Thursday before my attempt at running a new personal best in a half marathon. And I am always a bit nervous about spraining something, especially since my last run in the Netherlands.

We gathered at the usual location in Llanberis. I asked around about the lady who had injured her knee last week, and I was glad to hear she was walking as normal, and would probably be running again the week after. Excellent! It could've been a lot worse.

I thought we would head south into the hills, but we went north instead. Soon we were in the sort of territory where the Trail 10k goes as well. And then we headed a bit further north into Deiniolen, and pottered around a bit in that area. Some of the paths were tricky and slippery, and/or overgrown, so there was a fair amount of walking involved. And this was exactly the sort of terrain I was a bit scared of! But all went well.

Gathering by an old drumhouse 

Carefully descending into Deiniolen

By the time we were back in the woods above Llyn Padarn a lot of head torches came out. I left mine in my vest; I prefer to run by night sight, but that only works if not everyone around you is using a head torch. Quite a lot of people were wearing one, and if they're running behind you, they bugger up your night vision while not actually lighting up your way, so that is unpleasant. But that as well went OK.

It’s getting dark in the woods

Scenic skies over Llyn Padarn

By 20:30 we were back at the cars. I decided not to go for a swim. I did have a towel with me, and dry pants, but I just wanted to get home and sort myself out. 

I hope next week we can still do one of these trainings. But I don't think we can keep it going much longer!