The plans were set, so even without ideal preparations (a weekend of bad food, booze & late nights), the plan was executed; mostly.
The hubster and I parked up at New Mills and joined the Macclesfield Canal and ran 26 miles to Kidsgrove on Monday. It was a good run, the sun was out, it was pretty warm (by our standards) and it was great to get this training run ticked off & test out this route. The canal path itself was harder than we both expected, very hard rocky surface which caused the knees to suffer along the way but we persevered. Again I suffered with the inability to eat after 15 miles. I was doing quite well up to 15, I ate salted peanuts at Mile 5, had a salami stick at mile 10 and then had half a chocloate Clif Builders bar at mile 15, but by 20 I had my usual nauseous feeling and didn’t take any more food on; much to my detriment. Maybe it was my hydration……I normally drink Nuun http://www.nuun.co.uk/ along the way which has always worked for me but thought I would try Elete water http://new.eletewater.com/ on this run as I had been hearing a bit about it, but it just didn’t taste as good or feel that it was giving me the same hydration kick as Nuun. So my apologies to Nuun for even considering another product, I’m back with a vengeance, my bulk order has been placed! 
We arrrived at Kidsgrove and it was still 3 miles to Alsager where we had a room booked for the night at the Best Western, absolutely knackered we jumped on the train for the last 3 miles with a Mars milk in hand. Great recovery drink! Even when I’m feeling nauseous this manages to settle my stomach and refuel me wonderfully. The hotel was great, always a bit hit & miss with Best Westerns, but this one is great, odd location as there isn’t much out there, but we were only there to be fed & sleep. Food in the Stables Bar was perfect, we both had the steak, egg & chips and the meal was so substantial there was no need at all for dessert. We will definitely be using this route again with this hotel, the good thing is there is a pool & sauna there too which could be quite handy.
The original plan was to run the 26 miles back, but considering we both needed to be at work this was not really practical, so we caught the early train back to Macclesfield and ran the 10 miles back to New Mills, got home, showered and worked a full day. So not a bad effort at all. Legs felt surprisingly good after sleeping in compression kit and we managed 9:30min/miles for the 10 miles.
No rest for the wicked though. Back on the bike on Wednesday for the cycle commute to and from work and even got to Bioticfit for a tough session of Military fit that evening. Still feeling my abs on Sunday after monstrous V-sits! A short 7 mile run on Thursday, followed by a day of rest on Friday left me feeling fresh for a ride on Saturday. Took the mountain bike out and explored the Trans Pennine Trail from Reddish Vale to Longdendale. I would have liked to go further but was running out of time, so it was a nice 32 mile loop along some lovely tracks & found a new route to get home when I am doing my long run home from work as well, so that was a bonus. Always nice to get out on the bike to take the weight off the legs a bit too. It was quite a warm day so I kept hydrated with my camelbak filled with Nuun & a tasty flapjack on route to keep fuelled.
Finished off the week with a double run commute, so a tidy 14 miles, to take my weekly running mileage to 57. Pretty pleased with that! I stopped via Asda on my way to work and found that they stock Milo, as my husband would say ‘Oh Yes Please’, I bought a tin of that, perfect recovery drink for me, just need to stay out of the tin for extra helpings of course!
You are probably wondering what ‘bug of the month’ is…… There’s a great website, called Running Bug where there are loads of tips, competitions, log your miles & forums for runners from all walks of life. Take a look at the link and get involved. It was great to be selected as bug of the month & I really enjoyed chatting to James at The Running Bug to tell my story. http://therunningbug.co.uk/rbblogs/follow-the-running-bug/b/weblog/archive/2013/06/14/bug-of-the-month-lucja-leonard.aspx
Running Dutchie 