The Auld Toun came around rather quick. So much so I’d not had the chance to get any running in to see how my legs would feel. Ach well, It’ll not kill me, I thought.
Well, it’s a hilly auld course and lets just say my legs felt my PB! Doused myself with my freeze-gel-stuff the next morning and pondered how on earth I’d make our 35 miler with fellow skyriders later.
As it turned out, the answer was ‘barely’. Those legs of mine just refused to cooperate, plus my chain fell off going uphill (eek) meaning I was at the back of the group for once. Plus I had a deep sports massage booked in after. One word: PAINFUL. Thank god for a rest day on Friday. Legs refused to move me from my desk and I had to walk to the restaurant in bare feet later on that night; with my heels in my handbag :) All for a 10k run!
Sat (as I am sure you all know) was The Most Glorious Day That Ever Was. tm.
Even my new armwarmers were left in the car; minimalist it was. The girls both were choked with the cold so went with the shorter sportive route of 71 vs 111 miles after all. We took our time, meandering through the scenery, watching some hot air balloons!, chatting and enjoying the warmth. Through the granites again for the second weekend in the row and tried to beat my top speed on the descent. A beautiful smooth climb and descent, it’s rapidly turning into one of my favourites.
Innerleithen saw the first food stop. And stop we did. We were taking it easy. I’m slowly getting a bit tired of sweet bars, gels and drinks. So had the biggest smile ever to be handed a ham roll and bag of crisps . We were the happiest girls in the world, cramming our crisps into our piece and having a wee picnic on the grass. Those volunteers knew about it too; we thanked them profusely and told them how they’d made our day.
From Innerleithen, we passed though Clovenfords, Blackhaugh and Fountainhall; admiring the gorgeous houses, flowers, wildlife and stone bridges. It was picturesque beyond words and we all felt hugely patriotic; each of us deciding which of the quaint little houses we would like. Mine was a tiny white cottage with a holly tree and a field full of bluebells. Another food stop saw another roll, crisps and a flapjack, before heading back towards the long slow, smooth climb of the granites. The road surface at Middleton wasn’t as great though and I ended up with a puncture to contend with… my second mechanical this week; but all great practice.
We rolled into Bonnyrigg content, well fed and slightly more tanned ladies indeed. What a great day.
This week sees training as usual, culminating in our long run on Saturday – the carefully put together ‘Etape du Livi…’ - distance and climb wise as close as we are to get to the real thing, so I am told. As long as the food is good; I’m there!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment