Little Miss Careful

I'm not quite fully recharged but I'm going in the right direction...

I've starting running again, albeit very cautiously, and very much enjoyed getting off-road with a lovely run around Berryhill Fields on Thursday evening.

I was the 40 minute pacer at Hanley parkrun, thoroughly enjoying running with one of younger parkrunners as she set a new PB.

I've been swimming, thanks to an invitation and a guest pass from my Friday Five running buddy Liz. We did six lengths on a Saturday this time, rather than five miles on a Friday... the priority as always was taking the time for a good catch up and a cuppa!

And I still need to take it easy for at least a couple more week; I'm determined to learn from past mistakes and stick to my careful approach. No speed work or over-enthusiastic hill reps, everything done at an easy pace.

It's a challenge though, especially when I've been used to following a really detailed training plan and counting mileage all the way up to 40 miles a week. It's a change of mind set to celebrate a rest day or low mileage week; but I'm working on it.

But I am starting to look forward too. It's just a couple of months until Thunder Run and I'm also closing in on the milestone of my 250th parkrun. I've been reading about marathons and ultra marathons overseas and really want to complete another off-road challenge soon. I'm looking at how I might train differently in the future, so I can reduce the strain on my muscles and help recovery in the future.

So whilst my recovery continues, I'll stick to being Little Miss Careful.... but I'm sure it won't be long before I'm back to being brave enough to take on my next challenge.

PS Little Miss Careful was actually only released in the French version of the Little Miss Series... where she was known as Mme Prudente. See how much time I have on my hands when not running 40 miles per week!

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