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Day 88–A Morning Run Just Before It Got Dark

I think I got about 30 minutes sleep proper before waking at 1am to work on the opening day of practice for the Australian GP. Until around 4am it seemed waking early was a complete waste of time as technical issues meant I was able to do precious little work. Things slowly improved during the course of the morning, but it was a busy old day, not finishing until gone midday.

I slept for around three hours then dozed for another, finally getting out of bed at around 4:15pm. I wasted no time putting on the running kit. The weather outside was a change to recent days, grey and a little dreary, but at least it was dry, if not a little breezy. I left the house just before 5pm and from the first steps it felt every bit like an early morning run. The body and legs tired, not yet woken up, shuffling along with little in the way of pace or intensity.

The first couple of miles were the hardest, mostly uphill to Barrowby and into a headwind. The left hip and inner thigh are quite sore – I’m sure its coming from the back but there are so many tender spots around the back and legs it’s hard to be definite. Once in Barrowby the wind was mostly at my back and I headed down The Drift towards the canal path I last tackled just a couple of days ago. Slowly getting dark, once back in town I was able to make it onto the river path with just enough light to see – the breeze now unkindly back in my face having enjoyed a pick up in pace when it was behind me.

In the last mile the legs were really stiff, suffering the twin pains of lots of miles and nowhere near enough sleep. The customary coughing fit on completion of the run marked the end of a run I could have rather done without, but pleased enough to have force my body out to run it.

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Day 81–Quicker Than Yesterday…

After yesterday’s interesting club run which remarked a particularly telling Strava comment are you logging your walks now? it was back to business this morning. A narrow window to head out, I was originally planning to run ten miles but only had time for eight.

The legs felt a little tired, but not unbearably so. The only real developing issue at the moment is a grumbling left hip (the opposite one to the one that’s been giving all the trouble for the past few months) which can also be felt at times in the IT band and the Piraformis. Hopefully this can be kept under control with massage and stretching.

Using the eight mile run that takes me up to Barrowby on the A52 and back into town, the opening miles are hard going because its uphill, the rest of the miles are pretty easy as they are all flat or gently downhill. With the breeze less than it has been in recent days, this was a pleasant and fairly straightforward run which leaves me with the option of running parkrun in the morning if I choose.

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Day 74–Batteries Charged

If anyone is under any illusion that a GPS watch is the last word in accuracy and decries a race long! or short!  based on the findings of a bit of plastic on their wrist, they should carry out the following experiment:

In determining whether my replacement Garmin Forerunner 910XT was sent complete with a duff battery, my watch took part in a two hour run where it went no further than sit on my study windowsill. Despite not moving an inch (unless it sneakily did a runner whilst I went to make a cup of tea) the watch claimed to cover a third of a mile when all it did was relax looking out of the window watching the clouds pass by.

If its ability to capture totally accurate data is compromised when standing perfectly still, imagine the challenge it faces when constantly on the move, turning sharp corners, speeding up and slowing down, often passing under bridges and the like. It’s a mini miracle these devices come up with a distance half realistic at all.

The fun of a motionless run done and relieved that the alarming battery drain of yesterday appeared to be an anomaly, several hours passed looking at pictures of racing cars in Bahrain before I headed out a little before 5pm for an easy paced recovery run. The first mile was a torrid affair – the legs just didn’t want to know.

Thankfully things improved so that my regular recovery run to Dysart Park became just that – perfectly regular. I found a better alternative route to the park now that the footbridge is temporarily closed – a dead straight road that runs alongside the River Witham. There was little in the way of pain – the right groin ached a touch. The main issue was I was a touch overdressed wearing tights and cycling shorts underneath, feeling uncomfortably warm.

By the end of the run and with the Garmin on for around an hour, the battery showed 94% remaining, which is just about spot on for a watch that has a claimed life of 20 hours. Whether the replacement fixes the issues I had is another, as yet, unanswered question.

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Day 70–Little to Report

This was a run to get up early and get out of the way to tackle the rest of the day. An early, for me, depart meant the first mile had legs that just didn’t want to work. They didn’t work that well for the rest of the run either but at least they ticked over, which they weren’t doing for the first ten minutes.

Other than being stiff and tired there was little of excitement on this run. The usual out and back to Dysart Park has been temporarily spoilt – a footbridge has been closed for repair, forcing a fiddly diversion that may see me try another route for the next few weeks.

It turned out to be the last run for my current Garmin Forerunner 910XT. After finally getting through to Garmin Customer Care (A mere hour and five minutes on hold) the man on the other end assured me that the problems I have with my watch are not typical of the model, despite what I might read on the internet, and suggested I send mine to Garmin for a replacement. So my Garmin is currently in the post and the old faithful 305 has been brought out of the cupboard and charged ready for a a return to service.

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Day 67–Easy Running

Day three of the Bahrain F1 test I am covering – I cannot decide whether the most exciting action of the day was breaking the news to the world (via a third party) that Jenson Button had proposed to his now fiancée Jessica Michibata, or revealing to the world that Lotus tested an exhaust that is off centre at the rear. It was that exciting.

Hardly surprising then that I was keen to get out for a few miles running, more so after watching the apparent injustice in the short track ice skating with our disqualified British skater (cannot understand how a sport can have a judge seemingly penalising athletes at will without the need to explain themselves nor have any grounds for appeal. It seems ripe for corruption – not that anything like that would ever happen in the Olympics…)

The burning embers of injustice barely stoked the boiler in the opening mile or two, the legs feeling decidedly stiff. Somewhere along the run though I forgot about the achiness and helped somewhat by the wind blowing behind me for the closing stages, was able feel much better in the final miles – a successful recovery run.

I’ve got my eyes now on a record mileage week. I shouldn’t let myself chase these meaningless targets, but it is tempting…