Long road run

Train longer and slower, the physiotherapist had said, when I came to him with my sore post-half-marathon knees. And he had given me exercises to do. I’m still doing them, and they work, as I have very successfully run on road and trail since. But I hadn’t done anything beyond 16km yet. And on the road, nothing beyond 10k. And I had registered for a road half marathon to see if I could still do it. I had better do that slow long-distance training that had been recommended! 

I tried to think of a nice route. I really like the road to a side entrance of Dinorwic Quarry. Could I make a loop with that? And I could. I would start in Mynydd Llandegai. Road running isn’t the most exciting but I wanted to be ready for this race. And at least these were nice roads. 

I hoped to do them on new running shoes, but that didn’t happen. That will be its own blog post. I did try out a running vest I had bought after having done a run that required more luggage than fits in my running belt, which I had then done with a backpack that chafed. 

It was good running weather. I set of, plodding towards the quarry. After a while I noticed my Strava didn’t think I was moving. I stopped and restarted it. Was my watch playing up? I had had to switch that off and on again at the start of the run. Hm. But now it seemed to work. 

I ran up the asphalt road to Dinorwic, and enjoyed the views for a bit before I started my way back. Most would be downhill from now. And I enjoyed running the little road that had been the target of my run. It also provided a water refill. I also kept myself topped up with my hard-won jelly babies. Good running food! 

Difficult to avoid big road

The asphalt road to the Dinorwic surge pond

Dinorwic Quarry

The little road to Dinorwic

When I got back to the car I decided I was still feeling good, and hadn’t really run any further than my Gladstone recce run. I decided to hit Moel y Ci as a bonus. I wanted to at least run 18 km! 

Moel y Ci was lovely, but I was running a bit low on water. I didn’t encounter any suitable streams for a refill. So after a few km I turned back. 

The view from Moel y Ci

I had done 20km. That is practically a half marathon! And it had been slow, but my knees had held. I had only started to feel my right knee in the last kilometres. I think that’s a good result. And the running vest had been very comfortable! So that’s a keeper. And when I get new running shoes they will appear here!