Been feeling good of late, as the benefit of sustained running etc kicks in. And I no longer feel a pang of guilt as I pass the early morning keep fit group (with its weird assortment of odd-shaped and different-sized people) at the local sports ground on my way to work. Actually this morning was like a scene from a movie as I passed a quite extraordinary number of runners (as if there was a race on, albeit at 6 am on a Tuesday morning!) and the keep fit group at the sports ground had swelled in number to over a hundred. Quite bizarre - I can only think that with the simultaneous completion of the Australian Open tennis and the test series cricket against the touring Indians, people suddenly feel inspired to partake of some vigorous early morning activity...
Certainly the efforts of The Joker (ie Djokovich) and the exciting Tsonga have brought back a gloss of interest to the tennis world, with Federer and Nadal now looking perfectly beatable. In fact they took one hell of a beating, and in the process made mens' tennis suddenly much more interesting. Great stuff.
Meanwhile, the efforts of the Indians in stopping the Aussies in their tracks (just one match short of the world record winning streak) and the shock retirement of Adam Gilchrist likewise made the cricket world suddenly far less predictable. The talk here now is that the Australians have some serious work to do if they are to stand any chance of beating England in England next year. This is based on the fact that the Indians beat us hands down in the reverse swing department, and that the reverse swinging Duke ball is going to be our nemesis unless some counter-punching bowlers can be found in a hurry. And while nearly all our bowlers spend our winter playing County cricket, hardly any of them have mastered the art of swinging the Duke ball to anywhere near the degree that the English bowlers do*.
One other thing is for sure - we badly missed Warne and McGrath. Lee was excellent (named man of the series), but Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clarke were disappointing and Brad Hogg largely useless in the spin department. So interesting times ahead for the depleted Aussies.
But to get back to running for a bit - this morning's crowds and the Almeria epic on the weekend made me hanker for some training partners, as I'm largely a solitary runner. I'd join a running club but the nature of my work (rotating shifts etc) make such things difficult and ultimately frustrating. I am going to the gym this evening with a couple of work mates, so maybe something will develop. Anyway, despite that I continue to run, and have even built up some respectable mileage of late. Am keen to knock off another 20 km beach run sometime soon...
The old injuries that have plagued me over the years have largely been fixed by the orthotics I use - the left knee still lets me know it's there, but shin splints are a thing of the past (three lusty cheers), as are achilles and plantar fascia problems (touch wood). Glucosamine is keeping the knee cartilege in good order and my arthritic toes only hurt at the start of a run - so it's all looking pretty good.
One thing that has been especially helpful of late is simply slowing down. By running slower I run further, burn more calories (and thus shed more weight) and maintain my enthusiasm. I no longer pay any attention to time or pace, and only log the approximate number of kilometres run to ensure I don't slacken off too much. More fun all round - wish I'd thoguht of it years ago.
Enough. More later.
MLC Man.
*[SIZE="1"]Apparently the English Duke cricket ball maintains its hardness longer and thus facilitates reverse swing better than the Australian Kookaburra ball, which goes soft due to the harder pitches here. Sounds like a poor excuse to me however - all our senior cricketers play Country cricket and should be perfectly familiar with it![/SIZE]
Mixed mode capacity.
