This step-back week was completed with only one more minor concession to my wobble last weekend –- Wednesday’s short fartlek was downgraded to easy pace.
Friday night was a 7.5 mile tempo run -– although at 52 min 10K pace, still not really worthy of the name. Random thoughts in no particular order:
- Mentions of the arrival of spring seem to be pushing their way through the snow reports in all of the training diaries, and this is no exception. I’m down to one layer, and the shorts will no doubt make an appearance soon, even for late night runs. Only one other runner spotted tonight – and she appeared to be wearing a ski jacket of some sort. All I know is that if your clothing rustles when you run, it’s probably too thick.
- When someone stops me for directions, I expect it to be for an obscure local address. Last week someone asked me how to get to Slough. This week it was Birmingham. Next week I’m expecting Manchester at least, if not Edinburgh.
- Am I alone in finding the following church poster faintly amusing? "Coffee morning Saturday – with stalls."
Sunday night was 10 miles easy, accomplished without too much fuss, in 3:57 marathon pace. I’m starting to go a little stir crazy on the long runs –- plenty of time to think, yes, but I find myself unable to think about much other than running. So I took the mp3 player for a change, loaded with Radio 4 spoken word worthiness. Apparently I listened to articles about transport policy, interbreeding between first cousins, Vatican II, and wild big cats in Wales. I didn’t take much of it in, but it was comforting to have a succession of pleasant middle-class voices burbling away, and it did indeed pass the time.
By the end I was feeling a bit encumbered –- water bottle, mp3 player, bag of jellies (not really needed at this distance) as well as the thick jumper round the waist intended to simulate the mild inconvenience of a tutu. I swung by the house before the final half-mile mini-lap and was able to jettison most of the junk, which was a great pleasure. Transport of supplies during the race is an issue to be addressed. I never used to like bumbags, but maybe considering the other crap I’ll be wearing on race day it won’t be an issue.
The remaining unfortunate incident to recount was that I badly startled a young woman. I’ve previously had a few people look round with a start as I approach from behind in the dark*. This time there was a young woman ahead in probably the only narrow and badly-lit section of my 5-mile circuit. I considered calling out "excuse me" at about 20 yards, but that seemed ruder than nothing at all. So I expected a quick startle and step to the side as I approached. What I didn’t expect was that she would just leg it at the sound of my footsteps without even turning round. As the path opened out she realized her mistake and stopped; I crossed over as I passed, in an attempt at politeness, and we exchanged apologies without me breaking stride. A minor case of running etiquette breached by me I think –- it would probably have been best (had I not been zoned out on the iPod) to have stepped out into the road and avoided the encounter altogether.
I also broke in a new pair of Asics 1120 this week –- although with modern technology the term "broken in" is a bit of an exaggeration. I picked up two pairs for under £80 after Christmas on the web. But it seems they’re now out of production, so next time it will be a trip to the running shop for gait analysis, and more like £80 for one pair.
Heading for a 15 miler this week –- so far I’m feeling confident. I also got hold of some tutu material, so will start putting my dressmaking skills to the test…
[SIZE="1"]-----------------------------
* There’s no unsmutty way to write that.
[/SIZE]
Feb 09 - A Hazy Shade of Winter
