Category: momentum

This May Be the Beginning of a Week Off

20100228-20100228-IMG_0654 2.jpgAs you know, I’ve been having problems with my hip — well, in fact my hip and the top bit of my left-hand gluteal muscle, or “upper arse”, as I believe it’s technically known. I reckon it may be down to shoes, so yesterday I went shopping.

In Moti, the advice was basically, “well, if you’ve done fine in those shoes for the last six months, probably best just to get this year’s version of the same shoes.” Which seems sensible. Unfortunately, they didn’t have my size in stock, so they’re having them sent along from another branch, and they won’t be around until Friday.

Which I don’t think is terrible news — John Bingham’s advice is to give aches a rest before they become actual pain and debilitation, so I may simply skip my midweek run(s) this week, and go out in my nice news shoes on Saturday, assuming everything goes to plan.

As I’ve noticed that my weekend runs don’t seem to give me anything like as much gyp — probably because they’re over more varied, and sometimes softer, surfaces — I went out today for my normal weekend run, and did 7K, which at least didn’t feel like it was making me ache me any more than I already ache, and certainly felt a lot better than Wednesday’s 5K.

Today’s picture is from the work being done to fit new lock gates at the Cumberland Basin end of the Floating Harbour. This is pretty important, as if the lock gates fail, the whole floating harbour could empty pretty suddenly. With some interesting implications for Bristol, bearing in mind it’s mostly the weight of the water that holds a lot of the harbour walls up…

Recovery Run

I think it’s quite fortuitous that this is the week I’ve been reading the chapter on avoiding injuries in John Bingham’s No Need for Speed.

One of the things he talks about is how to pay attention to your body; how to listen to those early, gentle aches and pains that mean you should back off for a day or so, instead of pressing on and turning the ache into a pain and then into something more serious.

So, seeing as my thighs have been aching quite a lot since Sunday’s run — not surprising, as it’s the most hill I’ve ever climbed — I left an extra day, and tried to do a pretty minimal run tonight.

And I’m glad I did, because even the slow 4K was quite a slog, and my right hamstring did whinge a bit at me. Nothing serious, but I’m going to take the advice in the book — otherwise there wasn’t much point in me buying it! — and take another couple of days off, and then go out for something on Saturday and see how I feel.

If I feel good, I’ll do the normal weekend around-the-Downs run. If I don’t, I’ll cut it shorter.

Still, really enjoyed the 8K in the woods on Sunday, and it’s good to open up another longer, hilly route that goes through greenery and ends up at a café!

Craziness

Hotwells

Well, turns out I’m actually crazy. Crazy like those weirdos who go out running when they’re ill and tell you that it actually helps.

Because it helped. Not only did it help, but in some ways, the illness seemed to help the running, too. My lack of concentration made me a bit forgetful. I forgot I was thinking of limiting myself to 5K max, I forgot I was going to stick to a flat route, and at one point I forgot about having a stitch so successfully that ten minutes later I thought, “Oh! Hang on, wasn’t I worrying about a stitch? Where did that go, then?”

I went out along the towpath where I started all this running malarkey. I figured it was flat, and more pleasant in the daylight than the boring old A4. Only I didn’t actually turn around at my halfway point, because I’d not really figured out where my halfway point was going to be.

So I ended up at the far entrance to Leigh Woods, a lovely little area of forest on the other side of the Avon Gorge. I used to do a walking route through these woods every weekend, so I figured I’d just follow that, despite it being a bit hilly.

When I say “a bit hilly”, according to the RunKeeper log and map, the middle of my route through the woods maxes out at about 100m higher up than when I started. RunKeeper reckons I climbed 147m overall, including the undulations here and there.

My run ended up with me crossing the Suspension Bridge — for the first time, while jogging — and that’s today’s picture; the view from the Bridge down toward Hotwells, where I live.

And it also turned out a bit longer than I figured, at 8.23km. Not bad for someone who was so tired he didn’t get dressed until about 2pm.

Mind you, I’m knackered now, and while the run seemed to make me forget about being ill for a few hours, I can feel my nose starting to clog up and I’m sneezing again, so I reckon it was only a temporary respite.

Still, at least it’s eased the I’m-not-running guilt, and that should last a couple of days, anyway!

Speedwork

Okay, back on the road again tonight after my birthday break. Tonight I tried a bit of speedwork, doing some fartlek training where I sprinted a bit and then recovered for a while at normal pace, sprinted again, and so on.

I travelled out down the Portway as normal, because everyone seems to say that warming up properly is crucial before you start pushing the speed, and then did the sprinty bits on the way back. I used the nice, regular lamp posts along the Portway as markers, sprinting between a couple of them, then jogging for the next few, then sprinting.

Seemed to work out fine, and the way back seemed a lot quicker than the way out. I guess that was mostly because I was doing something different and interesting, as I wasn’t actually that much faster.

Still, did my 5K in about 34 minutes, and that’ll do me for starters. Next time I’ll maybe mix it up a bit, sprinting for further if I can, and see what it feels like.

Anyway. My other plan for this week is to be in bed by eleven every night, and it’s 10:45 now, so I’d best go!

The Big Thaw

Hopefully the last photo-less and indoorsy post for a while! There’s a thaw on, and while the slush outside has kept me on the bike tonight, Sunday looks hopeful for a snow-free day with a gap in the big rain that’s impending.

In the meantime, another 35 mins on the exercise bike. Dull, but necessary, I guess. I bumped the resistance up a notch this time, and it felt a bit more like a workout.

Quickie

Just another quick update: it’s still icy out there, but I’m keeping up the “doing some exercise” momentum. Just finished another 35 minutes on the exercise bike, this time distracted by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which seems suitably entertaining. And remarkably close to the original.

Anyway. It was dull enough to do, let alone talk about, so that’s my update 🙂

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…

Activation Energy

IMG_0521 2.jpgBuilding up momentum again after you’ve taken time off is best done as soon as possible. Given that, I decided to follow through on yesterday’s decision and get out of the door despite the wet weather, and the fact I’m not feeling well.

My concession to illness and the rain was to run only a short 3km, just far enough, really, to say, “yes, I went for a run.” I figure I can build the distance back up easily enough; the difficult bit is getting out of the door in the first place.

So, whatever I feel like, as long as it’s not actually icy and dangerous, and as long as my cold/flu/whatever it is doesn’t get too much worse, I plan to get back out there a few times this week, even if it’s only for short little runs, so that I can build some momentum to start the new year with…