Jul 07 2009
6th July - Is cross-country the way to go?
I’m very conscious that trying to put a stack of road miles under your belt in a very short time leaves you prone to all sorts of stresses and strains - shin splints, plantar fascitis, muscle strains, etc, etc. So I’m concentrating on keeping off-road as much as possible.
There are some excellent paths and bridleways around Malmesbury that keep you pretty much off of main roads - and you can almost circle the whole of the town without hitting busy roads. From my house, I can get onto the Water Meadows fairly quickly and from there I can track all the way around to Cow Bridge, before crossing the road to Wooten Bassett (at the old Lucent site) and coming back into town on the old railway line. As I come back into Malmesbury there’s then the option of tracking round the back of the Bowls Club towards the Spice Merchant and then through Conygre Mead to Station Yard and then back home.
There’s the added advantage of being away from cars and getting more weather - running in pouring rain in recent weeks has been great fun, albeit a bit slippery on some of the fields above the Water Meadows.
It feels less ‘impacting’ on the joints so far - I’ll keep you posted on whether my legs and joints feel that way in a months time.