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