Adaptation - Some thoughts

Yesterday Lorna and I ran at different times. I had to shoot off to a meeting when she was at home at lunchtime, so we didn't run together.
I was still feeling the remnants of the effects of a hard run race on Saturday and a longish day on the hill on Sunday, but fancied turning my legs over with a bit of pace. So I chose one of our standard training routes and decided to make 6 miles of it a Tempo run

Aim for 6:50 - 7:10 and see how it goes, I thought!

There was a degree of sluggishness to my legs that I could still feel - but not too bad, and the undulating route is one that I know very well. And it was passing at a slightly higher effort level than the last time I'd done it as a Tempo, but not overly so. I started to tire a little in the last mile, but maintained the pace nicely.

I had half a mile to complete after the 6 miles to get home - so used that as a gentle Cool Down.

The interesting thing was that my legs felt better after the run, than they had before! Looser and with fewer aches! Is it the effect of training consistently, or is it the cumulative effect of a running 'history'.... or perhaps a bit of both.

We had a bit of a chat about a Fell series AND a Trail Series that look very enticing for after the 10-in-10, and what kind of recovery would be needed after the event. It's a bit of an unknown, but our training is going to be focused on making sure that we are in the kind of condition that WILL allow us to do multiple back-to-back hard days... and then look forward to the next challenge without too much of a pause!

It IS noticeable for both of us, though, that we are recovering more quickly, and able to train at relatively high volume since having a relatively long break earlier in the year!