Another day, another car into the garage for a service on Monday so I ran back home, adding on a bit to make it a little over 5.5km at just under 6m/km – so neither long nor fast.
The Swim Doctor session in the evening was good – some drills but more general swimming – 1100m in all. It’s going well but I seem to be more out of breath more often than I remember being the case in the past.
Gardening on Tuesday morning and eventually the car was ready (delayed by an errant spare part) so I incorporated its collection into a warm run in the afternoon – 16.5km (over 10 miles) and then mowed.
I nearly ducked out of the hill reps on a chilly Wednesday morning – it was going to be my fourth consecutive day of running (which I try to avoid) and was too close on the heels of the previous afternoon’s longer run. In the end, the desire to get the hill session out of the way prevailed – the usual 8 reps for 9.1km and 290m of ascent (5.7 miles – 951 feet), unusually hard. Later I fitted a new masticator unit to the bathroom in the attics – don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t a glamorous life I live.
I wanted to do one more run in the week but with Saturday and Sunday not available, I swapped my gym session to Thursday after which I mowed and did more gardening. That left the run for Friday before the stint in the charity cycle shop.
Both the visit to the gym and the run were much better with the swapping of the days. My legs were still tired for the run but I managed just over 11km at just under 6min/km. The most impressive thing about it was that I got out before 8am.
Although 42km is a lot less than I have run recently, this was a very hard week packing 6 exercise sessions into 5 days, together with a good deal of gardening, driveway scraping and house preparation. I am sleeping really well and I always expect to wake up rested and ready for anything but I wake up creaking and ready for almost nothing – just cumulative wear and tear on an ageing body, I assume.
I am very grateful that over the weekend we were celebrating our younger son’s 30th birthday so I have at least 2 days off with our sons and their girlfriends and wider family (and perhaps 3 days off depending on who is around on Bank Holiday Monday).
Saturday (lovely weather) was more preparation for the party on Sunday (cooler and a bit wet). It was a great weekend, especially good to see everyone again and have our sons and their girlfriends here for a while.
100k corner (an occasional place for ultra news, worries and plans)
| Week (of 20) | Event’s training plan (km) | My actual (km) |
| 10 | 40 | 42 |
| Cumulative total | 304 | 450 |
Interesting stuff this week
1. African wise words: You know who you love but you can’t know who loves you
2. BBC News website: Instrument on the James Webb Space telescope is now at its super-low operating temperature
The Mid-Infrared instrument has reached -267C, or just six degrees above “absolute zero”. This unimaginably low temperature will allow the observatory to see the distant Universe in unprecedented detail as it is not far short of the point where all atoms are supposed to stop jiggling.
Impressive, but have they run in the UK in February?
3. BBC News website: Carbon-capturing ant is coming under threat
Woodland Trust Scotland said hairy wood ants boosted carbon absorption in woodland, but they risk being overwhelmed by the gaultheria shallon, a non-native plant found across the UK, according to a conservation group.
The hairy wood ant is a key species for removing pests from trees. The ants are also a food source for other animals like capercaillie and badgers. A close relative of the wood ant has been shown to clear up to 39kg (86lb) of carbon per hectare annually.
4. BBC News website: Children spent a quarter of their time in class daydreaming
The study conducted by the School of Psychology, and published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, involved 97 children aged six to 11 years old.
Results suggest that while daydreaming is inevitable, it can affect the ability to learn.
You at the back, listen … there are questions on this later
5. BBC News website: Dutch cyclist Amy Pieters regains consciousness
Pieters, 30, suffered severe brain damage after falling during a training camp in Alicante in December. After undergoing surgery, she was put into an induced coma in January.
In a statement, her team said her condition had changed and she can “communicate slightly non-verbally. Amy recognises people, understands what is being said and is able to carry out more and more assignments. Doctors cannot yet say what residual symptoms and remaining abilities she will have as a result of the brain injury.”
Beyond sad, but where there’s life, there’s hope
(an Old Man in Lycra) 
Re: swimming. Are you swimming any faster? Could explain being out of breath?
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I’m still putting off finding out but I live in hope.
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Number 4 is interesting… whilst daydreaming may inhibit learning, it’s also been shown to enable creativity… which in itself is important for learning…
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Too true – I suppose it all depends when you do the daydreaming. Yet another great reason for running (as long as it doesn’t distract from safety!).
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