Life deals some good and some bad surprises…

Saturday was spent chillin’ with the usual kinda life stuff so not much focus on training BUT the new rucksack arrived :o).

 
With a nervous anticipation of having a suitable bag, I filled it with a 4kg bag of rice and a 2kg bag of pasta. There’s loads of room to get more in so it’s looking favourable for the Amazon. 
If nothing else, lumping all this food about at least I’ll have food if I get cut short somewhere :o)
 
Amazed at how much heavier it is but It’s gotta be done and then some!
 
Got the 25L medium but had no idea what the difference in sizes were so just gambled.
One thing that’s obvious is the securing straps situated are really high up. The bottom one pretty much sits across my chest whereas the top strap goes across my collar bones (feels weird). I’m kinda hoping it means no friction along my lower back but we’ll have to see tomorrow.
 
The ridiculous heat in the UK is topping out at 27/28 today so no plans to run. I’m not wimping it but being realistic and conscious of the additional 2kg. 
 
I'm planning to go tomorrow evening since the forecast is set for 24 degs but aiming to take in at least one large hill which is always a problem when you live so close to the sea and it’s predominantly flat.
 
I’ve never been one for hills tbh. I love running down but ups... now that’s a different ball game.
An ex-running partner of mine used to say “learn to love hills” - hmmmm, easy for her to say but I fricken hate ‘em.
 
Thinking ahead, as we edge towards Autumn & Winter, the Queen Alexander Country Park and I are gonna become best friends. 
There’s so many hills and it’s normally boggy and muddy so it’ll be a perfect training ground for the Jungle. 
 
I speak from experience here. We used it for the Isle of Wight Ultra training early this year. It has an exact 5 mile loop so dead easy to keep track of mileage without having to keep checking my run app.
Then of course there’s Butser Hill right alongside. Now that’s a hill I hate with a passion but it’ll add some challenging miles to the bank.
 
Sunday evening run with 6kg...
 
Waited for the heat to die off and it was about 24 degs heading out but a slight breeze so better conditions than I initially thought.
 
Decided to stick to the shoreline in the end but the payoff was no hills.
That said, I’d set off for 6-7 miles initially but then after an hour, realised my guestimations were quite literally miles out!
 
Pack worked out fine. It’s the first pack I’ve had that has bottle holders on the front. Absolutely the way to go. Probs with a bladder are that you can’t see what’s being consumed whereas the holders are easy to keep track and top up when the opportunity arises.
All said and done though, if someone has a way of making 6kg seem lighter, let me know?!?!
The only concern I had was the lateral motion of the pack whilst running. I thought it’d have rubbed a sore but it didn’t happen and tbh the amount of movement wasn’t too bad.
 
Total mileage for this one was 10 1/5 miles in 1:45 so quite happy with that despite stumbling across some things ya can’t unsee :o(
 
Back is a little sore this morning but tbh it’s probably no worse than if I’d run it without a pack. Legs feel ok with just the usual heaviness that comes from distance.
Next run is scheduled for Tuesday but have a full on teaching evening so we’ll have to see how it pans out.

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