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Sunday 30 October 2011

A balancing act............

Parkour with spectators by ultraBobban
Parkour with spectators, a photo by ultraBobban on Flickr.

After the disappointment of not featuring in the Blackwater Marathon this weekend, I consoled myself to getting in the car anyway, albeit after a nice lie in :) and driving up to Mersea to cook for the folks. 5 hours of cooking later and a nice hearty melt in the mouth shoulder of lamb followed by a few ales quaffed and I felt better.

This is the first time back to the island where I have not run round the island....the 13 mile round route +1 if you count the down to the beach and back. Did I miss it? Yes! Did I regret it? No!

After an afternoon catching up on paperwork ready to go back to school tomorrow I went out for a tentative late afternoon run. The plan was to run as "off road" as I could, preserving any impact on my leg. I ran down to Beckenham Place Park and did a circuit of the 2 lap 10k trail route (12th Nov for the race - although all being well, A20Marathon) and back. I was pleasantly surprised until mile 6, then the niggle started, although disappeared after a mile of slowing down well below 8.30s. A nice 9 mile round trip to put me in a better mood.

Saturday 29 October 2011

hopping mad

I awoke at 5.38am and promptly decided that the Blackwater run was a no-go. I went downstairs, looked at my leg and the dull ache that I had not appreciated for the last 2 days manifested itself as some internal bleeding again around where I broke my leg.

In the main, the pattern seems to be when I have driven a long distance. Time 1; drving back from France. Time 2; driving back from Lake District. I might not drive long distances for a while and see how the recovery goes. Anyway, I was not gutted this morning but as I sit here now, I am more disappointed with my own recovery of late and a reminder to seek some professional assistance with this.

Marathon 22 will have to wait a few weeks I think. More to the pity, a chance to enjoy the flat Essex countryside on a glorious end-of-october-day with temperatures of 16 degrees will have to wait until next year.

Friday 28 October 2011

A different climb

Summit boy by ultraBobban
Summit boy, a photo by ultraBobban on Flickr.

Having been away for a few days, the camera came out and the running boots swapped for walking boots to bag some peaks.

Work commitments meant only 25 miles last week. Not great but a rest needed was fulfilled with a walk up the 2800ft Blencathra followed by a very very windy ascent up 2600ft Carl Side and then the scramble route (hair raising!) up to the summit of 3064ft Skiddaw. There was a lot of leg and arm work invoved in the route to the top but we took the gentle way down via the main footpath.

Back down to earth for the 19th Blackwater Marathon in Essex tomorrow. I will have just 2 x 10 milers in my legs for this week ready for the XC muddy fields and coast marathon. XC shoes or road shoes.......I think a fairly easy choice if the ground is wet.

Thursday 6 October 2011

doing my head in

after a steady stream of 50 mile weeks and the loss of 6.1kg body mass in 5 weeks, I have hit a problem. The area around and below the leg break wound has turned black with bruising.

Not that it hurts to run, but driving, walking and sleeping is burdensome. I have done 2 runs, 11 miles and 4.5 this week. The 4.5 was a tester run as it was hurting the day before. Both were fine after a mile or so. I managed sub 7s on the last 3 miles of the short run, but running home from work on monday I found that the downhills are the aggravation to the old injury.

I have a flat marathon in 2 weeks which I may or may not do. I'll just need to get it checked out if I ever get time to do so