Wheels falling off? – Gym and a bad run (plus burkinis, and Happy the unhappy elephant)

After getting back to the UK late on Monday, I drove back to Oxfordshire on Tuesday morning and started doing the washing, while my wife took on the burden of watching the tennis at Queens.

We seem to have brought the sun back with us from Corfu – the temperature was due to rise over the next few days to a fairly rare 30℃ (86℉) on Friday. With the heat, the bruised toe, the washing, gardening (and mowing) and some work being done on the house, I decided not to run until the weekend but that needs to be a long one – the last long run before the ultra on 9th July.

Last week’s long run (which I missed because of the holiday) should have been 45km and this week’s is scheduled at 55km – but I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen. When I decided to sign up the 100km I thought it would be my second ultra – and now I see that, if I had followed the training plan properly, it would have actually been my 4th because of two training runs of ultra distance. Madness!

I went to the gym and did my slot at the bike shop on a very hot Friday. Saturday lived up to the forecast of a cooler day so I ran. I had inspected my tri belt and realised it’s falling apart so I bought a (cheap) running hydration vest in the week and gave it a go.

I had no real idea of how far I was going to run but decided to practice the ‘walk up the hills’ approach recommended for ultras. That’s fine but accepting that walking is OK is, to me, a slippery slope – I’ve run all the way in my three marathons but now I found myself walking a bit on a run that was only 32.5km (just over 20 miles).

A horrible run in just about every way – a real slog with three dumps of pretty cold rain and lots of hip, knee and thigh aches and pains that I’ve not had during the training. Most worrying were pains on the outside of both knees. It was a bit reminiscent of the ITB issue I had more than 20 years ago. I hate the idea of a ‘scented candle’ massage but a sports massage put that right back then so I may be in line for my 2nd ever.

Just the run I didn’t want to go badly …

On Sunday we drove up to London to be treated to lunch by our sons for Father’s Day. Lovely – but the legs are still a bit cranky.

100k corner (an occasional place for ultra news, worries and plans)

Week (of 20)	Event’s training plan (km)	My actual (km)
17	70	32
Cumulative total	664	692

Interesting stuff this week

1. African wise words: Those who accomplish great things pay attention to little ones

2. BBC News website: Grenoble fights to allow “burkini” swimsuits in public pools

Grenoble’s recent decision to authorise all swimwear, including burkinis (which are full body swimsuits covering everything but the hands, feet and face largely worn by Muslim women), in its public pools has sparked a legal battle with the government.

Last month, a local court suspended the council’s policy on the grounds that it seriously undermined the principle of neutrality in public services. France’s Interior Minister called the Grenoble city council’s policy an “unacceptable provocation” that was contrary to French secular values.

No doubt someone thought themselves very clever to mix “burka” and “bikini” to come up with burkini but the burkini is rather the antithesis of the bikini

3. BBC News website: Lynch mob after messaging group rumours

A Mexican political advisor was attacked and beaten by a crowd of around 200 people in the central state of Puebla where he was visiting his grandfather’s house. Rumours began to spread on local WhatsApp group that he had been involved in the kidnapping of a child.

According to local media, the mob then cornered and attacked the man and his two companions, before dragging him to a local field. Police attempted to intervene and placed him in a patrol car, but were quickly overwhelmed by villagers, who doused him in petrol before setting him alight.

The city council said it “strongly disapproves this act and reiterates that criminal behaviour must be judged under the procedures of our rule of law”.

Wow, strong disapproval

4. BBC News website: Happy, the elephant, doesn’t pack her trunk

On Tuesday, New York’s highest court voted 5-2 to reject an animal rights group’s argument that Happy was being illegally confined at the Bronx zoo.

While elephants are “impressive”, the court said, the majority decided that they are not entitled to the same liberty rights as humans and that the legal principle of habeas corpus – which guards against illegal detention – should not be extended to emotionally complex and intelligent animals.

5. Congratulations to Geraint Thomas who won the Tour de Suisse on Sunday.

6. BBC News website: Diamond League, Paris 18 June

I apologise, I’ve mentioned this before but I love it. Competing for the UK in the 100m hurdles at this meeting (finishing 3rd) was Cindy Sember – the international athlete and the answer to the question ‘When is Christmas?’