Back on the wagon

I was at Lord's again on Monday for nets and I picked up a nasty bruise on the inside of my thigh misjudging a ball while batting ( I did that a lot!).  So when I went out for a run today it was quite painful.  Still, seeing as this was the longest run I've done in a while (11.72 km, 63 mins) I was pretty pleased. It was quite hard work, but I didn't feel that was a bad time given I haven't done more than about 5 km for a few weeks. My SLMM partner gave me a bit of a verbal kick up the arse today so I had to go out and do something otherwise I feared a worse tongue lashing later! Hopefully this will satisfy!

Finally...

Well, after 2 weeks of inactivity I finally dragged my arse out for a run. I went for a pre-breakfast jog around campus (5.48 km, 28:40). It felt good to be running again and I forget why it has taken such an effort to get back out.  I hope this is the start of me building up my mileage again, especially as I have entered the Surrey Hills Trail Challenge. I have entered A class, 30 km, so I will have my work cut out.  It will, however, be really good training for the SLMM.  My partner for that event has decided to join me so it will be a good opportunity for us to run together, especially as we missed our training weekend.

I also hope to get out a do a bit more orienteering over the next few weeks to hone my nav skills in preparation for the SLMM. And I am also going to try a few night runs as well as I am going to try and persuade a few friends to take on somewhat of a more challenging event.  We will see.  Watch this space...

Excuses and slow running

I went out for  run this morning.  I wasn't feeling brilliant; no specific complaint, just a general feeling of being below par.  Running didn't actually help either. I went very slowly round the 5.48 km campus route in 30:03. Not exactly going to set the world alight, but better than not going at all.

Water left in ear after swimming

Which was one of Eddie Izzard's alternative settings for Star Trek phasers, just so you know.

I had a session in the pool today. About 55 mins and 72 lengths (I think) which equates to 1.8 km.  That isn't bad going I reckon.  I was feeling pretty good as well. My stroke seems to becoming more efficient, I am learning to glide a bit more, some I am using fewer strokes per length. Still finding it tiring to do lots of lengths of front crawl in a row, so I am interspersing front crawl with breast stroke so I don't get too tired.  It'll be a long road, but I feel that I am now slowly making progress.  Exhausted now of course and hungry, as usual.

Post-work out

I spent a rather nice day down in the New Forest collecting some data loggers from our field sites.  We were back nice and early which meant I was on my normal train home.  I was feeling pretty tired on the train by I dragged myself out for a run when I got home and I'm rather glad I did.  I did a 7.95 km route in 41:20.  It was pretty hard work as my legs are still suffering a bit from Sunday I think, but it was a reasonable time and I don't feel to bad now.  despite having had dinner I am still hungry.  That's why we run isn't it? So we can eat more? It's probably half my motivation.

Oh and by the way, the title of this post made me chuckle. It's a good job I amuse myself. No-one else finds me funny.

Sunday run update

News just in!

Dave has sent me the log file from our run on Sunday. Clocks in at 27.69 km (17.2 miles) in a time of 3:02:00.  That is 6:34 per kilometer pace, which over that distance isn't at all bad.  Surprisingly I feel pretty good this morning, only one minor niggle, which is a bonus. I am chuffed.

Week round up

So I haven't updated for a couple of days, so here is what I have achieved since Wednesday.

On Thursday I went out for a longish run.  My aim was to run for 2 hours, without worrying about the distance.  I set out on a 20 km route, but as I was running up the final hill I still had another 5 mins to go, so I tacked a loop on to the end.  In the end I ran about 22 km (I need to re-map it due to some software inadequacies) in 2:05 which isn't bad going and achieved my aim.

Friday was a busy day with field work and then first aid cover, so I didn't get out to do any exercise proper, but got plenty of fresh air, so was pretty tired by he end of the day.  Saturday my aim was to go swimming but I resolutely failed due to a combination of a lie in and domestic chores.

Sunday was a bit of an epic day.  I met Dave in Nuffield for a long run.  Again, our aim was to spend some time running without worrying about the distance.  Dave had planned a fantastic route which took in the Ridgeway, the Thames, the Icknield Way which came out at about 11 miles.  We finished this bit in 2 hours.  It was a fantastic run, great scenery and the weather was kind.  Dave had cunningly planned a loop from the car, so we decided to do that as well, which was about another 5 miles. So we set off to do that.  We were both pretty tired by this time and did a fair amount of walking up hills in that final hour, but we finished in 3:03 having covered about 16 miles.  I will update this once Dave has sent me the route file with the total distance. It was hard work, especially the final hour, but it was good to have been on our feet 3 hours and covered a fair amount of distance.  It bodes well for the months to come.