Month: January 2010

Snowbound

ChuckIt was hard enough walking to work today, so I haven’t been running. Nevertheless, I made sure to get some exercise. On top of walking a couple of miles to work and back through the snow, we had a snowball fight at work at lunchtime — well, in the park next to work, anyway. Must be good for a few calories.

But, not content with that, I figured I should do some more formal fitness today, to keep up some kind of routine. So I dragged the exercise bike in front of the telly and pedalled for 35 minutes — about the same time as it would have taken me to run 5K.

So, that’s about all I have to report. I guess the pavements are going to be a bit ropey for a couple of days, looking at the amount of snow there out there and the temperatures we’re expecting — down to ‑7ºC tonight, so this blog might be a bit minimal for a while!

Enjoy the snow, if you’ve got it!

“You should watch — watch your step…

“…don’t look out you’re going to break your neck.”

The Primitives’ fab 1988 single, Crash, poured some good advice out into my headphones as I ran this evening. Because it was bloody freezing.

IMG_0532 2.jpgLook, even my WeatherPro iPhone app said it was minus 0ºC. That’s like freezing, only even freezinger. ((Joking aside, WeatherPro is an excellent app, and I recommend it.))

Luckily, the ice seemed to be confined to the beginning bit of the run — I guess today’s sunshine must have melted anything that had built up on the Portway itself. And once I’d warmed up, which took about ten minutes, in my woolly hat and gloves, the running was fine.

I think I’m nearly back to normal, in terms of speed. I’m not sure the RunKeeper stats are particularly accurate today, as the app had to cope with a lot of interruptions — this is the first time I’ve had a phone call, a text, a Twitter mention and some email all come in during the course of a single run — but if it’s to be believed, I did 5K in 35 minutes, which is fine by me.

Anyway. The point of this week was to get the momentum back after the Christmas break, and this third run of the week means I’m back in the usual groove. I’m going to try to get out for three runs in the coming week, too, to make sure of that. But just in case it gets icier, I’ve also dusted off my exercise bike. It’ll be dull, but at least I’ll be keeping up with the exercise…

Slow Build-Up

Evening Bridge

I’m still not feeling fab, but sleeping in very late today seemed to leave me with some energy, so I decided to go spend it on another post-Christmas momentum-building run. It seemed fitting for the first day of the year — start as you mean to go on, and all. And it was a lovely day, with a distinct lack of rain, at least.

I’ve noticed a few people bemoaning the lack of personal jet-packs as we enter 2010. I could certainly have used one today. At the last minute, I decided I was feeling okay enough to clamber up into Clifton instead of staying on the flat.

I just about coped with it. I was a lot slower than normal — the RunKeeper stats show my average pace being eight-and-a-half minutes per kilometre, which is seriously slow even by the standard of my normal uphill-into-Clifton runs. But hey, I figured it was psychologically more important to do 5K rather than to run quickly, and it felt like an either-or choice today.

My run ended up looking out over the Clifton Suspension Bridge at sunset, which is today’s picture.

So, that’s my second run of the week. As long as I get out this weekend, that’s three in a week, and back to my usual routine. All I have to do is keep that up…