On balance, I think I prefer the cycle park like this (warm and sunny)
I took Thursday as a rest day, we went up to London for supper and stayed the night for an early Valentine’s Day.
Friday it was back to Oxfordshire and back on the turbo – the knee felt a bit stiff and so running seemed inadvisable. A slightly below par 21.55km (13.4miles) in 45 minutes.
Back north to my sister’s on Saturday to continue sorting my father’s personal effects. There were warnings of likely disruption from Storm Dennis (appropriate as that was my father’s name) but he was kind to me and, apart from constant rain, the journeys were better than anticipated.
The storm hit harder on Saturday night and there was a lot of rain again on Sunday. I was going to run when the rain stopped in the afternoon but the roads and paths in the area were pretty flooded so it was the turbo again – 45 minutes for 22.9 km @30.5kph (14.2 miles @19mph).
Monday morning was spent taking a couple of groups for training at the cycle park. A little wet, cold and blustery but, with over 20 children it was enjoyable, nonetheless.
In the afternoon I forced myself out for a run. After a bit of a mental wrangle I managed to push on past the 10km distance that I’ve been running recently and did 13.4km (a little over 8.3 miles). My longest run since the Rotterdam Marathon last April but only just over a quarter of July’s ultra distance.
Still not at all fast – but it’s the distance that matters at the moment. The knee still twinges which is disappointing two months after I hurt it, but it’s not stopping me running so I’ll go with it for now.
If I needed a reminder that getting back into the running has to be done with a certain amount of caution, I got it in the form of a number of random aches on Tuesday morning. Painful right foot, painful left hip and painful left knee. If all the problems had been on the left I’d have assumed the new ones stemmed from running weirdly to protect the knee injury – but the right foot raises a question mark over that.
I had a session on the turbo in the early evening – cold conservatory, rain hammering on the roof and no enthusiasm. A bad combination so just the 30 minutes for 14.9km (9.26miles).
Back to the cycle park to take another couple of groups of children on Wednesday. Cold, windy and a little wet again but one of the girls who could not cycle on Monday was cycling by herself by the end of today’s session – that (and the fact that most of them do not stop grinning for the whole session) is what makes it worthwhile.
Pains (other than the knee) got better through the day. They were slightly replaced by a cricked back from bending down to help small people stay on their bicycles but it was the turbo again in the early evening. Just the 45 minutes for 21.81kph @29.1kph (13.5 miles @18.1mph).
Thursday morning I went for a gentle run with my wife just over 6km (3.8 miles) in a strong wind. Aches and pains much reduced (other than the knee which remains a little ‘tight’) so I decided today was part of my experiment with double-up exercise sessions on one day a week. Accordingly, 50 minutes turbo in the early evening for 23.75 km @28.5kph (14.76miles @17.7mph). Probably a bad idea as it was tough.
For me, that’s quite a hard week of training. Less running than I’d have liked, more turbo than I wanted but you have to fit in around the weather and the injuries, don’t you.
The knee is still not quite right after the tendon sprain – but looking on the bright side the Achilles Tendons that hurt every day for several months leading up to the Rotterdam Marathon are behaving well (so far). Hope I haven’t just jinxed it.
(an Old Man in Lycra) 