Long(ish) run in the woods

Route: Aspley Heath and Brickhill Woods
Distance: 18 miles
Terrain: hilly forest trail
Ascent: 250m +
Time: 02:47:21

Went out for my weekend long run on Friday this week as I had said I'd volunteer with the local Explorer Scouts to help tidy up the Milton Keynes hospital gardens over Saturday and Sunday. This went well and was good back exercise! Not sure there are any expected cross training benefits.

The run went well and towards the end of it I could really feel the combination of distance and stiff climb in my quads. Great! The route involves an 11 mile circuit then redoing a 7 mile part of the circuit. The climbs range from 10m to 35m and are pretty stiff so they really get the heart going, particularly when done over and over. This is good strength, lung and anaerobic threshold training mixed in with the longer distance endurance training and I find this combination helps when running up hills in ultras, and shorter events.

I plan to increase my long run distances (up to 25 miles max) then pace over the coming month to build up to the first ultra of the year - the Wuthering Hike in North Yorkshire in mid-March.

My shin problem flared up after 1 mile then disappeared around mile 7 which was odd. I'll continue to ice and see the physio again this week.