Downhill All The Way... In The Name of Rehab, Obviously

Thursday 22^st January

Run #22

A decent 5+k (if you ignore the negative elevation!)

Sticking with the PF avoidance / rehab plan and not feeling 100%, I decided on a route that I knew was a bit of a cheat, planning as I was to head almost exclusively downhill and walk back up from the end to my flat! Yes, that’s not really the ‘done’ thing. But with the difficulty in keeping it on the flat locally and wanting to try and get into the Park if possible, along with the PF-rehab advice to avoid hills, I made peace with it pretty quickly.

I’m not going to lie, there is something beautifully liberating about running on a decline when you know you won’t have to run back up it! So this was a pretty cruisey run. It wasn’t exclusively flat, but the inclines were far less meaty than the downs. And I spent the most part of these ups trying to remind myself not to run on my toes; not as easy as you think and requiring constant self-reprimand but which absorbed my focus away from the bit of extra effort.

I got some good split times. Yes, OK, probably largely a credit to gravity rather than my effort! But still nice to see. And the heels and insteps felt good, so worth it.