The stolen week.

Got up extremely late this morning. Woken up by the bloke delivering the weeks groceries some time way past 9:30am, which is embarrassingly late. However, the whole family has an excuse for being stay-a-beds. We're all just getting over a whole week of some dread lurgy, pitched somewhere between a nasty cold and all out flu. I actually had a flu jab just after my last run on 21st Dec, so I suspect I picked something up and had that and a de-activated flu virus to handle.

I was third of the five of us to get something, hitting me on Boxing Day, but having two kids with fevers and stuff gushing from just about everywhere for the previous two days had meant running had been suspended anyway. Then D got it a couple of days ago and I was Mr Mom while she got the fever and achy bones. My son spent nearly every waking hour since Christmas wrapped up in a blanket and watching a constant loop of Doctor Who in the living room. I don't think he remembers he was ill now - sci-fi-self-hypnosis.

However, not wanting to fish for sympathy (sickness is what holidays are for isn't it?), I've not posted on the subject till now, as I've not had a run to talk about.

Which I do now.

After the groceries had been packed away, I headed out to try and do some catching up and general lung-clearance. I know I'll have a continuing cough for a week or so, and I think one benefit of the exercise is to get fresh air into bronchioles which otherwise just hold the gunky stuff. Lets say I cleared some of that out and leave it there.

Although still short, all seemed to go well and I don't have much feeling of tendinitis at the moment. Still keeping to my previous plan, the run was:

1.88 miles, 18 minutes running @ 6:1 averaging 9:34 pace (best pace 9:18 on first 6 minutes)

It's unseasonably warm here. 10C this morning and I managed to find a time between rainstorms, so although the streets were wet, I stayed dry.

Had a nice post card from my Physiotherapist this morning, with a "Hope all is well" message. I'll have to write back.

Just checked on my target 10K date: Stourbridge Stumble 2007: Saturday 16th June 2007 at 6pm. It's in the diary!

Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you. All being well, I run NYD morning.

Mr Stumble

Shortest day, longer run

Thursday was my first day of the Christmas break, so I allowed myself an extra half hour in bed before heading out. This meant that thigs were just getting light, although the fog made things a light grey. It was also pretty cold, -1.5C. Not having running tights, I'd dug some old paint splashed track suit trousers from the back of a wardrobe - what the hell, no-one was going to see me.

This run, as promised, was three lots of 6 minutes, starting to move the time up. I've changed the route so the whole thing is under streetlighting. Pace kept fairly easy, averaging just under 10 minute pace.

[update: 1.82 miles, 18 minutes runnig @6:1, ave 9:54 pace.]

I finished the run fine with no real problems, but have had all the signs of tendonitis again in my right ankle. The tendon may have healed, but I can feel a lump of calcified tissue in there, and that is causing some inflamation when I run.

It being the wrong part of the year to make a doctors appointment, I'll have to wait till after boxing day. I need further ultasound to break down the deposits. In the meantime, I'm going to carry on as planned, but with a load of icing, massage and stretching. I really feel that if I can chase this last problem away, keep the program easy I should be able to finally make the progress I need to. I'd love to be able to make a 5K in the spring, and the Stourbridge Stumble next April.

So another 18 minutes on Christmas Eve.

Mr Stumble

Running in the dark.

Well, after that bit of planning, it all went to the wall as the weekend turned into a long haul of many different things - mainly concerned with finding a school for my son who has special needs. We had some bad news on Friday concerning his secondary school placement - our local education authority appears to have rejected the school everyone says he should go to and we are waiting for a formal letter, telling us we have to choose a mainstream school.

Never one to wait for the bad news, a lot of letter writing ensued and our campaign to appeal the decision has already started.

Yesterday (Monday) I realised that even if there were a plan, there would always be something to prevent me running in daylight and that I had to take the plunge and run in early morning darkness. And this meant overcoming the daemon of complacency, whispering about the cold, the safety aspect (cars and psychopaths), how mad this would appear to sane people who are still tucked up in bed at 6:30.

D commented that I would never get up, and that really solved the problem for me as I'm stubborn and won't stand for this prejudgement. She knows this of course, so it was a double bluff.

As it turned out, it was dryish and a bit misty - the fog descending an hour later as I was driving North for work. Temperature was around 4.5C. The side roads were empty except for a couple of people heading for the bus and aside from an excursion through the "Woodlands Walk" - part of my normal daytime route, all was lit by street lamps. The Woodlands Walk was pretty dark - a 3 minute section with no lights except that coming from the main roads at either end and the perfect place for Rutger Hauer to be hanging out, so I might re-plan the route for next time.

The only problem - as I couldn't see Mr Garmin, I managed to fudge up the display by pressing the wrong button when trying to get it to light up, so there was a fair amount of guessing for the segments. Also, the Garmin speaker grill was muffled by my fleece jacket and I couldn't hear it. So, I'll be repositioning that next time.

No bio-mech problems so I expect to be out Thursday with an increased time and distance.

Tuesday - 1.4 miles @ 5:1 - 10:10ish pace

Mr Stumble.

Focus.

Thanks Phil for your comment. In today's 15 minute run-let, I realised the problem was - just as you were telling me - not having a plan. Therefore no focus on a goal and before long it will all come off the rails. So, given these few moment, here's the plan outline.

1) whatever happens, if a run causes pain for more than 24 hours, back off.
2) keep things in 3 "intervals" of running separated by a minute walking.
3) increase each week by around 1 minute per interval (so 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 minutes total) unless I have good reason to think I can increase by more (say the 24 to 30)
4) run 3 times a week. At least.
5) plan the next goal when I have 3 lots of 10 minutes under my belt.

So next run will be my last at the "15" level, and that should be this weekend.

Mr Stumble.

Winter blues.

A poor week for running. I am doing a lot of travelling at the moment and the idea of getting up extra, extra early to run in the dark, when it's only 3C outside - and it's raining and blowing - I 'm not in that place at the moment.

Being usually home based, I had been planning to run at lunchtimes - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but since early last week, have not been home at the requisite time to do so. Except on Thursday last week. I did actually manage to get out of the door on Thursday, but managed to get about 400 yards down the road before the double glazing van I had been waiting in for shot past me in the other direction. At least I now know that I can run short distances at a higher pace!

Once I'd had the faulty pane measured up for replacement it was too late to go out again - people to speak to, tasks to complete. The weekend then turned into a dead loss, and I'm sat here blogging on my second train trip to London this week.

I guess this is the perennial runners problem of winter motivation. Too dark. Too cold. My motivation has been exceeded by sheer volume of excuses. The answer, of course is to increase my motivation somehow. Perhaps listening to Steve's Boston 110 again will help. Or just be bloody minded about it and force myself out onto dark and rainy streets. I might actually fond that I like it once I try it!

Anyway, I'm working from home tomorrow, so am planning to get out sometime between 12 and 2, come rain or shine.

Mr Stumble.

Head full of goop

I managed to pick up a cold in the middle of last week - I think my immune system has caged up a few nasties over the last 6 weeks and has started to release them. This happens to me when my job has me running on adrenaline on a sales opportunity and I can't get sick. I get the backlash when things calm down again. Anybody else get something similar?

Last week I had some physio booked for Thursday and having had the green light, wanted to get a couple of runs in beforehand. On Monday I ran the basic 15 minutes at a 10.02 average pace and repeated this again on Wednesday with a 9.45. Both went fine, a little tightness in the right calf and ankle - only slight discomfort the following day.

The physio session was for a sports massage on my right calf, which has become increasingly knotty over the past few weeks. Rather than my regular physio, Nicky I was with Joe, who specialises in sports massage for runners.

This was the most painful half hour I've had in a long time! A lot of time was spent trying to separate my calf muscle from the bone. Where it had become very tight and was putting up a fight. This being my last scheduled session, I got some tips on how to continue teasing the muscle out to loosen it, and even more variations on stretches.

On Friday, I lost my voice (there was some cheering from my work colleagues - thank God for instant messaging) and then spent the weekend with a head full of gunk and garden fences to repair after some strong winds on Friday night. Yesterday, I was breathing a little easier, so got in another 15 minutes at lunchtime. I can feel an improvement in how I feel after the run already, but there is some way to go before I get back to where I was in July.

With a busy week ahead, I'll probably run next on Thursday and then at the weekend. Perhaps then I'll start to increase the running time to 18 minutes.

Hope all is well with you.

Mr Stumble