Litany

With each entry this log is reading more like a litany of injuries than a record of athletic prowess. Not least, the very latest one that has just taken another two weeks out of training… so I won’t go there.

The Monday evening coaching session has seemed to be paying off. Running with and against others has had an effect and it does seem to have spurred a bit of an improvement in the jogging. It doesn’t seem to be quite so much of a plod around the distance. The sessions mainly have concentrated on intervals of some kind, whether with doing a set distance or a set time. On the last but one it was 0.3 of a mile around a block of houses. Two of us running fast counter to each other to see who would get furthest around the circuit. Recovery was the remainder of the circuit. The last session was running out on a straight road first for 100 yards then extending the distance by another 100 yards each time, ending up at 600 yards after each effort.

The ‘homework’ sessions should have been another long pace run and a longer ‘easy’ run. So far, I’ve managed only one week where I’ve completed all the requirements while still putting in a session in a kayak. I’ve used the ParkRun as the Pace run which incorporates two, five minute efforts with five minute recoveries in between. Frankly, running on paved roads in the dark, and in wet/cold/icy conditions hasn’t been conducive to running at speed. It was the the incident on the second week of stepping on a kerb that wasn’t there, that took me out for two of the weeks… but we won’t go there.

Nevertheless, the sessions have wrought some improvements and sooner than might of happened if I’d been left to my own devices. Some of the stretching and mobility exercises are new to me and do seem to be finding weak spots that I didn’t know were there. I’ve used the Richmond ParkRun with its attendant hills as the pace run, so it’s been something of a workout. Unfortunately that’s reflected in a slower time than I would have liked but hopefully it will pay off in the end.

The last session in a kayak went a little better than the Hare & Hounds of a month ago, at least I went over the same course a little faster, but still with lots of recovery time dragging the time out. I missed the last H&H as it coincided with the second ‘Beast from the East’ and I didn’t feel like fighting my way down to Basingstoke to get snowed in. There are still another six H&Hs to the season so there’s still time to improve… but we won’t go there.

All in all, it’s been a mixed bag of a month but rather better than it deserves to be… onwards!