2015: Resurrection

[Antonio247]

Best of luck tomorrow,S. and take it easy to avoid injuries!

[Sweder]

Best of luck tomorrow,S. and take it easy to avoid injuries!

Gracias, Amigo.
Do you remember what I should do with one of these?

   

No matter the size of the race, it's good to feel those pre-match nerves on raceday.
Time for some Progidy.

[Antonio247]

What a beautiful race number, amigo! Good luck!

[Sweder]

Alive, knee fine, not much oxygen.
More soon.

[Sweder]

A return to the hills, to cold winter sun, pockets of ice, and to mud. Lots and lots of mud.
Two kilometres or so, maybe closer to three, an hour after jetlag's Long Sleep Of The Dead. I spent a good deal of the twenty-or-so minutes tip-toeing along the slick camber of Landport Bottom. My knee, swollen after yesterday's journey, complained a good deal less than my lungs.

On the return, a vertiable scamper across the top of the field, my breathing settled. It's the first sign of 'normal', that blissful respite after the early, high-chested struggle. It gives me hope. More short sessions to come, maybe even an interval or two. Happy days.

[Sweder]

After a good 48 hours' rest I returned to Landport Bottom in dawn's grey, lifting mizzle. Rain-slicked paths kept my pace modest, as did tea-bag lungs and slightly stiff legs. To be expected after so long a break, I suppose.

A shuffle along the bottom of the Bottom, including a mild incline to the Rabbit-proof Fence. I walked this steepest section, despite the urge to run halfway up, enjoying deep breaths and a slowing heart-rate. From the 'summit' I took off at something close to normal speed. The Garmin will be unearthed later so I can record distance, if nothing else. Around 2k or so.

More of the same to come. Updates here will be summaries until anything of note changes.
The plan is -

- walk/ run a full lap of the field
- run a full lap of the field (including all hills)
- run two laps of the field ...

This may take a while.

[stillwaddler]

Excellent Sweder it sounds like the shuffle is going to up a gear soon

[marathondan]

Steady as she goes, Sweder. Just checked my diary from earlier in the year. 11 months from zero to marathon for me (all being well). Look forward to seeing your progress.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

As long as you're good for a run to the pub when I visit toward the end of April. Although, then again, if we have to walk, that's fine too.

[Sweder]

SP stands for ...

I was going to open a thread for February but realised it would most likely be a dull read, offering little by way of progress or variation.
So here we are. And where, you might ask, is that?  It's a place called Steady Progress, and I rather like it.

Today's outing was the chilliest yet. Frost masquerading as light snow lay round about, delivering a satisfying under-foot crunch. I managed a full circuit of Landport Bottom, around 25 minutes door-to-door, with minimal dog-related stoppages and no walking. This is Steady Progress. On the flip side, there is some discomfort. Not pain, to be clear, just a low murmur of disquiet. The knee, yes, but that was to be expected after the loss of a chunk of shock-absorber. But also lower down, in the calf and achilles. Possibly just an adjustment to renewed activity, but worth keeping an eye on.

The constant effort needed to wrangle my right foot into line reminded me of M. During a stroll in Almeria*, she'd noticed that my right foot stuck out rather more than my left. It was clearly quite pronounced,  perhaps indicative of an underlying problem, the prelude to the damage caused on the football field perhaps.

On the home stretch I attempted to open the throttle, chuckling to myself at the lack of response. I expect too much. Plod on,  take encouragement from the small steps you're taking. We're each an experiment of one. Sometimes the results of that experiment are neither expected or quite what we'd hoped for.

On, on.


*Sadly I won't be there this year. I'll miss the madness of the Andalusian 'Bull Run' and all the social loveliness that follows.
Here's wishing everyone a good run and a fabulous weekend.

[stillwaddler]

Sounds like the plodding is taking shape - the really important element is that you are getting out there. I hope the achilles and calf are a little quieter after a nights rest? the cold probably didn't help. Go to it Sweder.

[Antonio247]

Hope you get better soon and no discomfort will bother you from running in the beautful Downs or wherever you feel like, S.

We'll miss you in Almería next weekend and Molly Malone pub will notice that a lot of Guinnes is left after the half marathon weekend.

Saludos desde Almería Greetings from Almería

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Who among the regular RC crowd is going to Almeria this year? This has been the quietest Almeria lead-up I can remember...?

[Sweder]

A fun exercise this morning. 
At 09:50 I booked a taxi to the airport, for 10:30, then set off on my 25 minute circuit with a view to knocking a few minutes off (cue Queen bassline, Mr Bowie warming up)

I made it, in a fraction over 20 minutes. Not before I'd started far too quickly, run out of puff halfway and had to walk a short section in order to catch my breath. Silly boy. Even on a quick dash, I still need to get over the initial O2 deficit. 

The lope home, along the top of the field, wind assisted, was much better. It felt like ... well, like running.
Bloody cold, too. Might need my Under Armour on Friday. Still in shorts, though.

Oh, I made the cab, and the flight (12:30 to Geneva)
Such fun. 

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Geneva eh? Got a gig with the UN?

[Sweder]

Geneva eh? Got a gig with the UN?

Food ingredients and supplements, sadly.
Oh, the glamour!

[marathondan]

But it is a convention. In Geneva.

[Sweder]

For some reason The Knee is not enjoying the cooler weather. This makes little sense to me. Perhaps it's a lack of insulation previously supplied by the now-removed shock absorber. In any case, I was obliged to ditch my every-other-day routine to allow for additional recovery. Saturday's plod was ugly, Monday's more enjoyable.

Still just the one lap of the field, around 22/ 23 minutes door to door. No plans to increase that this week.

[marathondan]

There may be a reason for this. But only if you are an "eccentric family member".

Well done on the restraint. Keep up the gentle work.

[Sweder]

Mini update. 
Managed a modest city-centre plod around the Vancouver Convention Centre last week, around half an hour, pausing to snap shots of the sun rising behind the dock cranes. The knee didn't much enjoy the hard pavements, swelling and moaning for a day or so afterwards. I rested up.

This week I've knocked out a run every other day, culminating in a 3.2 kilometre, hilly slog up the racecourse, down Sweder's Hill and back up along the bridleway. Such slippery fun! We've endured a lot of rain in recent days and the trails were short on traction. 

   

I recorded the effort via Runkeeper, the simple iOS app on my iPhone. it seems to do a job, though I've yet to interrogate the data for anything as interesting as elevation.

Amended: ah, here we are. Not quite P2P, but still ...

   

More of the same this week. The Moyleman looms large, a wider field this year, though perhaps not the numbers I'd hoped for. 30 have signed up (and paid) in 48 hours from a list of 106 pre-registered. I have meetings with Harveys brewery (finishers' area) and Circa Events (caterers) on Monday. We're about to cough up GBP 800 for medical cover, and we (as organisers) are insured, though the waiver should take care of most potential legal problems. 

Marshals' tabards, runner numbers and foil blankets are ordered.
Two weeks today we'll be in the pub looking back on it all.