Turbo, run (hill reps), swim, run, gym, run (plus, great sporting injuries and an unexpected catch)

Monday was cold – not a day to be going out if it wasn’t necessary. I opted for the turbo trainer in the early evening – 45 minutes @27.4kph (17mph). Still some way off what I was doing in the summer.

Hill reps on a rather brighter and slightly warmer Tuesday. I pushed it up to 10 reps this time – just over 10km (6.2 miles) and 335m of ascent (1,100 feet). I managed to make the last rep the fastest – but that owes much to the others all being pretty slow.

I’m not sure that it’s a textbook hill for running reps as I’ve seen it suggested that you should sprint up for about 40 seconds and then jog back down – my best for this hill is about 1:50. It’s so steep that anyone would be excused for not knowing that I was sprinting up it – and the steepness means that it’s not an easy jog back down.

It’s also a bit sad that I’ve taken the Strava ‘Local Legend’ title from the creator of the segment (but not so sad that I’m going to stop).

I drove down to Bournemouth on Wednesday to take some stuff, to collect some wood I’d previously chopped up in the garden and – to my surprise in November – to mow the lawns. Listening to England being beaten by New Zealand in the semi-final of the cricket T20 world cup on the way back, was a downer but I had just enough spirit left to take my sinking legs to the pool in the evening.

I have researched the sinking leg syndrome and, luckily, it is a very straightforward matter. It is simply a question of poor head position, or breathing, or rotation, or leg kick, or catch or pull (or, more likely in my case, all of them). Once that small issue is sorted there’ll be no stopping me. I swam 1km in 27 minutes – a bit faster than usual.

Being a poor swimmer makes 1km in the pool hard work, so Thursday morning’s run back from taking a car into the garage was tough for just 5.5km @ 5:36/km (3.4miles).

Gym and bike shop, as usual, on Friday which went well but I had a miserable, interrupted, sleep when the cold that had been brewing for a couple of days arrived, in some style, bringing with it sneezing fits and a simultaneously blocked and running nose.

That put paid to the planned morning run on Saturday. The reserve plan was to get on the turbo in the afternoon but I canned that too after planting some hedging in the morning left me tired and a bit breathless.

I ended up just watching a succession of rugby matches while soaking a succession of handkerchiefs and generally feeling sorry for myself. Particular credit to Ireland for a fine win over the All Blacks and to England for beating Australia – but, my word, there was some bad hair on display.

I was feeling a bit better on Sunday so, with my wife out shopping, I decided to go for a run. I took it gently but ended up with over 12km (7.5 miles). I thought it might be a bit of an exercise in kill or cure but I appear to still be breathing and my nose is still running (even though the rest of me has stopped) so it looks like I have delivered on neither of the likely outcomes.

Second session of supper and Schitt’s Creek viewing tonight. It will be interesting to see how it continues to shape up – I’m not sure how many sit-coms make it across the Atlantic successfully (with, for me, the notable exception of Cheers).

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: A roaring lion kills no game

2. BBC News website: One of the all-time great self-inflicted sporting injuries

After getting out late in Wednesday’s cricket T20 semi final against England, New Zealander Devon Conway punched his bat in frustration as it appeared that his dismissal would seal England’s win. Despite the fact that he was still wearing his batting glove, scans have shown that he broke the fifth metacarpal in his right hand.

Against the odds, New Zealand won the match – but Conway has put himself out of the final against Pakistan on Sunday.

If you’re reading, Alanis, that’s ironic

3. BBC News website: Buyers show remorse over pandemic purchases

Covid lockdowns led to a surge of sales of some items that people could enjoy at home or in the garden, or to keep up their fitness but now, a survey says that buyers’ remorse has kicked in for some, who admitted typically spending nearly £1,400 on the items.

Gaming equipment, DIY tools, home gyms, bikes, clothing and jewellery, musical instruments, kitchen appliances such as bread makers, garden furniture, pizza ovens and hot tubs all appeared on the regret list.

The survey of 4,000 people found some had sold or given away the items they regretted buying.

Wow – ‘some’ people regret their purchases and ‘some’ people have sold or given away things they regret buying. Whatever the survey cost it’s been worth every penny.

4. BBC News website: Fishing gear seller caught in hacker’s net

The UK’s biggest fishing shop has been hacked, with its website redirecting keen anglers to an adult website.

As well as the website redirect, its Twitter account was compromised and the attacker posted a mocking tweet claiming the company had been sold to adult website Pornhub.

The ultimate phishing scam?

5. BBC News website: Regular 10pm bedtime linked to lower heart risk

There appears to be an optimal bedtime – between 10pm and 11pm – linked to better heart health, say researchers who have studied 88,000 volunteers.

They followed up what happened to the volunteers in terms of heart and circulatory health over an average of six years. Just over 3,000 of the adults developed cardiovascular disease and many of these cases occurred in people who went to bed later or earlier than the “ideal” 10pm to 11pm.

The researchers tried to control for other factors known to affect a person’s heart risk, such as their age, weight and cholesterol levels, but stress their study cannot prove cause and effect.

At last, some justification for my ‘lightweight’ tendency to make for bed by 10.30