Tbf, I usually pop a little butter on them after toasting them!

Sometimes I poach an egg in the ramen instead, but currently going through a fried egg phase.

Yes the Upper Don Trail is much nicer! I was a little nervous about driving anywhere though so opted for somewhere I could run from home.

They are indeed the cranes you see from the motorway! The blackburn valley trail pretty much runs adjacent to the M1 from near Meadowhall to Chapeltown. They should have the lights up by now although I wasn't looking up much on Sunday 🤣

Box squats sound like a good option for you! Definitely build up slowly, work down to the 8 rep range first and get comfortable there, using the box more as a confidence booster and gradually getting to a point where you can do 3 sets of 8 reps at a weight that feels very challenging by the time you get to the last two reps of the last set. At that stage working down to 5 reps should be fine but it's perfectly normal to periodise training so you can spend some periods of time at slightly higher reps and some periods of time doing fewer reps for heavier. Absolutely no need to rush, so take as long as you need getting comfortable at each stage!

Fantastic. Thank you so much!

tbf, powerlifting style training isn't a bad shout in the grander scheme of things as you can periodise your lower volume, higher resistance phases to happen when they line up best with running training. It is definitely difficult to be 'good' at both powerlifting and running though, so usually one has to give way for the other unless you're happy to sacrifice potentially being a lot better at one discipline. I try and keep up to date on current info and research, so what I do in my strength training and how I coach others is typically informed by my most up to date awareness of available research.

Good luck with the build back! Glad you're finding your way back to it ❤

You were rapid! 35 minute time right?

@ Yehh 35 mins but not what I wanted but we just got to get back up and do it again!

Absolutely!

Splendid! Bob Mortimer is excellent 😁

I'll certainly keep my eye out for more of their events! 10ks are relatively easy to slot in amongst my silly off road daft distance races. I'll confess I'm incredibly bad at reading non-fiction, although Empire and Normality sounds very interesting.

I was pretty happy with it! Silo is a really good watch so far and I found myself wanting to know more about the world. Turning to the books is usually where I end up in these scenarios! The only Brandon Sanderson works I've read so far are the last three books of The Wheel of Time, as he took over writing them after Robert Jordan died. I typically lean much more towards Sci Fi but I will probably look at some of his work when I next need a fantasy kick!

you're making me come back and rewatch some of these videos because I can't remember what happened in them 😂

@@AMostlyFunctionalJess Never realized they were old videos, they pop up on my YT feeds but enjoy watching all posts around the Peak District. Carry on you!

Aye, lots of quiet routes up that way! Often have adventures up there where I either see nobody or at most a couple people off in the distance.

Thanks Warren! Yes the distances do often sound a bit daft, I enjoy the mental challenge of going that far, I think that's the main draw for me.

Unfortunately, past experience suggests otherwise 🤣 But yes, revelling in the whole process is the goal.

I think it'll be a huge change. There's just no use in loading tons of pressure onto one race. At the end of the day it is just a race. If it doesn't play out well, I move onto the next one!

Oof, hope the recovery on the ankle is speedy!

I've reviewed a couple of different brands since these, although one (sundried) upped their prices a fair bit after my review. Freet are the other brand I've used a lot. I've had 1000km out of two pairs of their shoes. I have limited experience with Vivobarefoot but the durability on their stuff seemed pretty low, so I never went back to them.

The back tor trig point is a particularly good one!

lmao! I think I'd probably handle that better than 50 people asking me if I'm ok 🤣

I do have many years experience under my belt! I certainly couldn't always bash out 100 pull ups on a random Tuesday haha. Chin ups are definitely easier than pull ups, as the bicep is more engaged, making the movement easier overall. I haven't tried a max reps set of pull ups for a while so I'm actually not sure what I can do right now. In the past I have managed at least ten in one go, although I can't remember if I have ever reached as far as 12. Maybe I'll find a moment this week to see what I can do at my present level of fitness!

It's a beautiful place!

I actually really enjoyed this. Off the cuff challenges are fun.

Seeing how many views this has ended up with compared to my usual channel traffic, I think I will put more effort into editing the next one 🤣

It did get a bit repetitive 😅 however I think it'd go a lot smoother with the 2 reps per minute strategy so I'll definitely try that next time. I have no DOMs! Bouldering once or twice a week with another strength session that focuses on explosive and heavy pull movements probably helps with my body being ready to randomly do silly shit like this lol

A wise decision. Hope the donation went well!

Thanks Mark!

78 donations is incredible! I've reached my fifth donation credit but just three successful donations out of the ones I've done. I'm hoping that now we've worked out which vein plays ball it should be smooth sailing from now on 🤞

I used a race vest for a long while, I just get so sweaty so having some extra breathability seemed worth trying out!

It's a lovely race! Did leg one as part of a relay team last year and ran the whole thing back in 2021 as well as this year, getting quite familiar with the route 🤣

I enjoyed most of the route a lot. The last 5km is a bit of a drag beccause it's mostly along a busier main road but overall a great course.

I do still have a couple of bits of Sundried gear! I had quite high hopes for them I think because they're a UK based brand and I wanted to support them, but I did in the end find that a lot of their bags didn't really fit my needs or weren't that well designed, so I dropped my affiliate link with them. They still seem to stock a reasonable range of sweat wicking tops and active shorts outside of their main cycling range so I may revisit them if the current bits of kit I have of theirs ever wear out. It can be easy to forget about the food! It's a huge element in the success of any physical endeavour!

@@AMostlyFunctionalJess Hey yes I think Sundried are a UK firm so good to support. I like my older wicking top and would like to replace it. If you re-link with them please do let me know how you get on with them. Cheers, Warren :)

That sounds like it's probably some plantar fasciitis! The pain typically manifests the worst in the heel. Heat treatment will do it good and also if you can massage your foot very first thing in the morning massaging across the tissue rather than long it that will help as well. Recovery is still going smoothly. Easing the knee back into running on a nice steadily upwards trajectory!

@@AMostlyFunctionalJess awesome, thanks 👌

Nice to hear how you go about your recovery Jess. I liked your part about protein intake as I know I lack that. Both in training and recovery. I’ve been using an online shop called nutricircle to bulk by protein bars (most are half price boxes) to try and add some extra grams into my diet. I’ve also just ordered my first tub of protein rebel collagen. I want to see if it can play a part in my recovery and stop my legs feeling so heavy all the time (not training heavy, just old lady heavy) Ali Bailey has recommended collagen supplements for woman who are peri-menopausal so I want to give it a whirl. I’m also going to try a bit harder in cutting a bit, not all 😁, of the rubbish out of my diet 🍏

Diet does play a huge role! I typically aim to have all my main meals contain a minimum of 20g protein, but preferably 30g+, then on lifting days and long run days I'll use a protein shake to help boost intake by another 25-30g. Snacks are usually things like yoghurt (soy yoghurt in my case) or a giant bowl of popcorn on the evenings we play D&D haha. It's just a case of striking a balance. I have a horrendously sweet tooth so I try to feed in some sweet stuff regularly otherwise I'll snap and binge a whole pile of rubbish in one go 😬 I just aim to make sure the overall diet is balanced and I'm getting enough micronutrients in as well as the macros!

@@markg99 - sorry I hijacked your thread Mark 🤦🏻‍♀️ I was reading your comment then instead of starting a new one, I ended up writing mine as a reply to yours…ooops 😁

*makes notes* never do a multiday run with Harriet

Thank you Rachel ❤ I think I've maybe learned a lot of lessons the hard way since getting into fell and longer distance running. Really I'm still relatively new to it and I think I expected far too much of myself despite my fairly low levels of experience and historic training volume. Now that the training consistency is actually stacking up now it feels like I'm a lot more prepared and more in control. Yes it is effectively a wave start race. When you enter you select the time you want to start your registration, registration takes maybe five minutes and then you set off. The walkers all start really, really early and the runners start a bit later with the really fast beans typically starting from 7am onwards. We started around 7am mostly because we didn't want to get up any earlier 🤣

and to answer 'What's next?', next structured training block starts around mid November so there will be a lil video then to go over the next big goal 😉

@@AMostlyFunctionalJess there’s so much to be learned in the first few years. Every race has its own challenges but put them all together we just get better at knowing how to tackle them. From training to racing. Biggest and best advantage you have is that you live in the perfect area to get the best trails. I’m still learning all the time and even now, with a couple of days left to go, I’m still not even sure what to wear at the start. There’s been big discussions online about footwear and sock choice. It seems lots are going for a waterproof sock choice. One minute I think I’ve made up my mind, the next I’m googling next day delivery on sealskinz 😂 The start of your race sounds very much like an LDWA event. 4am was pretty cruel for those that took that option 😮 Time on Feet did a 50 mile race somewhere in the south a few weeks back. They had a 1pm start and got to run through some of the night. Something like that sounds pretty fun. Not a usual start time for an ultra.

@@AMostlyFunctionalJess - oooh, something for next year…. I wonder what that might be 🙂 I’ve my eye on a run in January, kind of in your direction but a bit further northeast.

Beginning of March is mine, so a full winter of training (again 😅)

I think our strategy and teamwork made it relatively straightforward to get to the finish. Obviously it was hard but we paced it very sensibly, ate plenty and cued off each other effectively, which led to a very successful day out!

I think being in a pair definitely helped general motivation levels! Knee was tight on Sunday but I had a hot bath after the race, hot bath Sunday, hot bath today and I've been making sure I keep it mobile. Seems to be easing off. Going for a tiny test run tomorrow to assess how everything feels.

Yes the weather looks great! Should be a good day out.

My throat forgot how to scream part way down Oblivion and caught up again at the bottom 🤣

I’ll check your progress Jess 😁

I absolutely wished I'd gone round a bit further and descended via Black Sail pass instead 😅 the Kirk Fell descent is absolutely miserable, particularly on the scree section at the top!

I did worry about you a bit that morning! Did you manage to descend before the rain got really bad?

We descended in the heavy rain which was interesting….., but more challenging was changing into dry clothes in a phone box next to where we were parked.

Oh noooo haha, I'm glad you got down safely!

Four full days! Not as long as I would perhaps have liked but that was what was easiest to fit in around work. It's about three hours drive for me, depending on which bit of the lakes I'm going to so it's not too bad, but just far enough away that I feel like I have to go up for at least two or three days to make it worth it.