Week 1 - extended a bit.

Since my last run on Wednesday, that-old-injury (you must be so tired of me going on about it) has been letting me know it's still there, without actually baring it's teeth. I've been doing a fair bit of walking anyway to try and mildly exercise it which has consisted of tromping round London to get to places where the tube doesn't get very near to, and a pleasant leisurely stroll around a UK beauty spot on Sunday. Dovedale.

Dovedale is about 90 minutes by car from where I live and is somewhere my parents took me and my sibs when we were young-uns, so there's no good reason why I can't inflict it on my 3 kids now.

It's especially nice when there's no too many people there and it being the end of a mid-term break for the UK kids, it was fairly crowded, but once you get past the point where most day trippers stop to splash about and fall off the stepping stones, it becomes a little less like a shopping mall and more like a country walk.

Dovedale is a scenic limestone valley about 3 miles end-to end through which the River Dove flows on it's way to joining the River Manifold. Terrain is mixed, but mainly good paths with a few more difficult rocky sections to carry the youngsters over. You can see some pictures at http://www.cressbrook.co.uk/features/dovepic.htm - I took some of the kids but couldn't find a decent scenic view to snap for you this time.

We walked at mainly 3 year old pace for close to 2 miles along, before turning back, retracing out steps, with the promise of ice-creams keeping the returning pace fairly brisk. Carrying my 3 year old also helped the speed, and she had done really well walking that far anyway. The whole thing with a pleasant picnic in the middle was about 3 hours of early Summer sun.

Not a Grand Canyon hike though, eh Phil! :)

This morning (Monday) I was off tromping round London again and on the rail trip back, I decided that things were probably OK for another run this evening. Just after 9pm, I headed out and really held back on the pace to between 9 and 11 minute mile rates. Unfortunately, Mr Garmin kept loosing signal lock, for no good reason - good view of sky - no clouds, only haze - no trees - so the split time are all over the place, but as I modified the route to make it shorter, I know I was running slower.

And as a result - no pain! And not very out of breath even. My circuit does contain a long slow incline which I find really difficult to walk in running shoes - I feel knotts forming in my legs and running is actually a relief - so I might modify the circuit to something flatter while I work up to 30 minutes.

I think one more of these before I move up to 2 minute running, 1 minute walking.

Mr Stumble.