Sunday 28 April 2013

Trail report - Church Cove to Kynance

Well or what its worth Steve Bloor you might just be a genius.  My foot is much improved; I'm still getting some pain but the orthotic is letting me run so, for now at least its game on!

Today was my first longish run in a few weeks.  I ran about 10 on Saturday and to make this morning easier I decided to drink some wine and go to bed at midnight last night.  Up at 5.30, I wasn't feeling too great.

I wanted to fill in another gap on the Classic Quarter course so headed down to Gunwalloe Church Cove with  view to running south towards Lizard.  No photos unfortunately, I lost my phone last week out running (nob) and didn't feel ready to start waving the replacement around in case I had a repeat (wuss).

Yesterday was 6 weeks until the big day so no time to build up gradually, I just have to jump in at the deep end and hope nothing falls apart.  That said I have to be realistic so the plan for today was 15 miles.

The run starts at one of the best beaches in the area, complete with its own church and golf course.  Heading over the cliffs the next cove is another contender in the beast beach competition - Poldhu Cove.  From here a long slog up the road past what is now an old peoples home, but looks like a hotel with a bloody good view - I'm booking my place there when the time comes - leads to another hilltop.  After this comes Polurian, which is also pretty beautiful and has a pig of a climb out the other side.

From here a long track leads to the impressive Mullion Cove Hotel and, you guessed it, a steep descent to Mullion harbour.  This (and most of the rest of this coast) is National trust land, though there are a few boats working out of the harbour.  The Harbour itself provides a nice beach at low tide, very safe for young kids.

Mullion is a typically steep sided cove so after a long slog up the other side it is with welcome relief that a plateau is reached.  From here to Kynance there are no villages or habitation of any kind and, although there are two or three fairly steep coves, there are also long stretches of flat open ground. The cliffs here are impressive, Vellan Head is huge, Pigeon Ogo (no, really, that's its name) is a terrifying damp and super exposed cavern, dripping wet and frequented only by sea birds.

The only company I had on this deserted part of the Lizard were the long horn cattle which greeted me above Kynance Cove.  I was tempted to carry on to Lizard (another 2 miles), but as I got to the car park south of Kynance my watch said 7.5 miles and I was under instructions not to be late back so I turned around.  I'm glad I did, bizarrely on the way back the flat parts were shorter, the hills longer and steeper and the red-wine induced lethargy started to get the better of me.

Friday 19 April 2013

Foot developments

After feeling like my foot was improving a bit I had to finally admit that I wasn't recovering from each successive run and that some rest was in order.  Two weeks with no running has seen some improvement but its still not healed.  In fact the pain seems to be moving forward a little so at least something is progressing.

Its now seven weeks to Classic Quarter so not running for two weeks is far from ideal.  I've been out cycling a bit, only time will tell how useful that is at maintaining the right kind of fitness for running.  Judging by how my legs felt after last weekend I'm certainly using very different muscles than when I run; I felt like I was walking like John Wayne for about three days!

Today I went back to see Steve Bloor at Runright.  I now have a new diagnosis and a different orthotic.  Still aiming at rehab rather than a permanent solution - this one feels very built up but allows the outside of my foot to drop into a kind of trough and ease the pressure on the affected area.

Good news is Steve says I can run, so this next week I'll be doing just that.  I should have some idea by the end of the week as to whether I can handle the kind of training load I need to get me to the Classic Quarter.  If not then I'll have to bail and find something else to do.  Knitting maybe.