December 2005 Archives

BUT IT WON'T GET ANY HARDER

Even two short runs per week is still too much for my shins. As last night came around and I was due to run with friends, I still had some slight pain in my shins from the 4k a few days ago. I ran anyway, but I decided against stretching out the run to the 6k I was hoping to do.

They've improved greatly over the past three months and I remain hopeful for a full recovery, but will they be ready by my December 30 target? That's a week away. I'm going to miss it.

[ sigh ]

BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE

I woke up feeling really drained yesterday, and managed to accomplish nothing whatsoever. Yet last night I somehow still stayed up later than I had intended despite knowing that I wanted to get up early this morning and run. So, when I got up two hours late this morning it only took me one look at the clock to decide not to run. I figured my shins had dealt with etra punishment last week anyway, so I'll err on the side of caution this week.

But while getting myself a drink of water a few minutes later, I decided I should at least do some light exercise. Then it hit me - if I'm going to go walking, then why not running? It's not like my shins are sore (flexes the muscles to confirm). I then realised that the reason I decided not to run was because deep down I knew it would be HOT outside.
(Note to non-Australians : Last weekend I got badly sunburned between 8am and 9am. As my version of the saying goes - "Queensland. Beautiful one day, Aloe Vera the next."

So, in the hour I've been out of bed I've decided not to go running, then ran my best 4k run since I picked up the training again, and drank over one and a half litres of water. I'll drink that again in the next hour, but at least I have air conditioning and can sit back knowing that I ran a very satisfying run this morning.

Wow, has it really been two weeks since I last blogged? Time's wings get more efficient with each passing month.

My training has been a little off-target the past few weeks as I've been spending more time doing work around the yard (and recovering from sunburn). It hasn't (noticeably) upset my running progress, but I am now slightly off my weight loss target. I haven't really lost any in the past few weeks. Funny how just a couple of extra workouts make the difference.

There have been positive gains in other areas of my training recently. Last week I stepped up my running to two days per week. I figured if my shins can't take two short runs per week now, they won't have a chance at my planned four per week by the end of the month. Thankfully, they held up well during last week's extra run, and feel good to do the same this week. Secondly, the bike is back in good working order - costing more to fix than I would have liked, but less than I had expected - and despite battling a nasty head-wind this morning I still managed to shave off a couple of mins from my previous 20k rides.

I didn't perform a cooldown after cycling this morning (tsk! tsk!), so my legs are feeling a little tired, but all in all I'm feeling good about starting the marathon training schedule at the end of the month. In truth, I can't wait. These walks are killing me; I find myself wanting to break into a run but having to force myself to hold back.

SLICK PAINT + MOISTURE = ROAD RASH!

Since I dug my big hole a couple of days ago, it has rained fairly steadily around home. Wednesday night in particular was horrendous; when the storm came over on Wednesday evening, I figured it would be just another one of those 'gone in an hour' things that you forget about by dinner time. Maybe it was that attitude that attracted it to hover over my house all night and keep me awake. The thunder boomed off my walls from the time I went to bed, until long after I passed out from exhaustion in the early hours of the morning. It was still rumbling when I got up the next morning, but at least it had moved off, finally.

It rained again last night, but it was no storm like the previous night - just enough to keep the ground wet and my mud patch muddy for the weekend. I've cycled in wet weather before, so I gave no second thought to it when I prepared for my ride this morning.

When the road is wet I'm sure to take it easy on the corners, and this morning was no different.... except I guess I'm not taking it easy enough. I was barely into the first leg of my ride, taking an easy corner, when the back wheel suddenly lurched out from under me. ROADRASH! Thinking back, it must have been as I rode over the painted line marking on the road - those get real slick in the wet.