Hmm, best laid plans and all that, I am now convinced that by running 21km on Tuesday, I may have overshot things somewhat. I still have DOMS today, albeit nowhere near as bad as Wednesday and Thursday. Add to the fact that according to all sensible advice, I should have targeted to run only 1000 km this year (based on last year’s kilometrage +10% uplift), I must admit to feeling a little apprehensive.
January’s bullish mood is now a little more tempered with February’s reality check and it’s only the 2nd of the month. Nonetheless, there are things I can do, such as lose a bit of weight – that will help with not carrying so much of a load, cut down on the alcohol and increase the water consumption. I may need to look at the diet too, increase protein, fruit and veg but cut down on carbs, seems to be the mantra.
One of the excellent C25K Administrators and long time runner, has said she targeted 2000 km+ one year and didn’t manage it. She said that it’s a stretch, what with injuries, illness, life and other things conspiring to get in the way. It’s also been suggested that by giving myself a minimum targeted run distance of 5km, I am not permitting short runs, which are an easier way to rack up mileage, without doing a lot of stress and joint damage.
Okay, that’s all the negative stuff out of the way. It’s blindingly obvious then that I have to be careful, my plan is to do shorter runs. It may be a bit tedious, but my body can get used to the shorter distances becoming a daily norm. Slow but sure I think is the best way of minimising all these risks, and that means making a concerted effort to reduce my pace too. Whilst I am not exactly fast, my pace varies between 6 and 8 minutes a km depending on tiredness. I think I should focus on running closer to the 8 minutes rather than 6, and that too will help reduce wear and tear. Prevention in this case is definitely better than a cure.
That’s the plan, today’s warm up is cleaning the kitchen, then I’m off out. It’s a glam life.
About 3 hours later, I am back having completed another run. Again, I decided to stay close to home, in the event of any unforeseen incident. Running at lunchtime in and around the City is not such a bright idea, as there’s just too many folk intent on getting sushi/sandwich/snacks/shopping.
I decided on running around some of the more residential streets of Islington. Whilst I wasn’t hunting for Monopoly squares, as I am doing that over the weekend, I did come across a water reservoir, and as far as I am concerned that counts as ‘Waterworks’ on the board. Then I started finding little residential squares so I ran around a few of those, not collecting Monopoly squares this time, but running around actual ones.
Charterhouse Square (pictured) isn’t that far from us and has recently been renovated and re-opened to the public. I did the obligatory loop at the end of my run, and was delighted to find out I was around the 7km mark. That’s enough for a pair of legs that are still aching.
Copying the phd runner’s niggleometer, this is how my bod stands – high numbers are a problem!
Head – 7/10 (banging headache again)
Butt – 4/10 (aching but not awfully bad)
Calves – 6/10
Hamstrings 5/10
Feet 0/10 (Thank goodness, something feels alright)
Playlist
Lost In France – Bonnie Tyler
Breakfast in America – Supertramp
Une Nuit A Paris – 10cc
No Particular Place To Go – Chuck Berry
Maid of Orleans – OMD
Penny Lane – The Beatles
Massachussetts – Bee Gees
Boston Tea Party – SAHB
Solsbury Hill – Peter Gabriel
Big In Japan – Alphaville
Africa – Toto
Midnight Train To Georgia – Gladys Knight & The Pips
New York Minute – Don Henley
San Francisco – Scott McKenzie
Go Wild In The Country – Bow Wow Wow
Avalon – Roxy Music
Stats
Distance 7.43km
Time 55:13
Average Pace 7:25 (mins/km)
Elevation Gain 31 metres
Running Streak = 2 days (only the second time ever)
Alzheimer’s Challenge
Kms Run 139.40
Kms To Do 1878.56
