Thursday evenings usually consist of 2 hours indoor ‘rock’ climbing followed by approximately 2 hours training with my running club. This past week was no different, and the agenda for the running segment was 8 hill repeats at Shaw’s Bridge. This is usually a good session, as the run out and back, combined with the hill reps, totals 12ish miles.

Off we set on route to Shaw’s Bridge at a chatty pace. It was a cold night (2c), but it was dry, so all was good (or at least that’s what I thought)! My calves felt a little tight on the out route, but I thought it was nothing to be concerned about – I had been training a good amount, so maybe it was just a bit of muscle fatigue.

During the earlier part if the night I had been joking with a club mate that I was going to go out and shave some time off my Strava segment for the Shaw’s Bridge hill. I said it would be an all out effort, just for fun, and it would almost definitely affect the remaining 7 reps. Well that’s exactly what happened and more. Continue reading →