May 2010

[Sweder]

The sun has got his hat on and no mistake.
Took the Barefoot runners out for a spin this morning, another warm blast through fields of ripening grass. A parliament of Magpies hopped and cawed as we bounced by, all angry posturing and flappy indignation. I raced my trusty hounds up Landsdown Bottom, past the racing stables, up Mount Harry and turned for home at Blackcap, pausing there to drink in the hazy vistas across the east Brighton hills, over the Big W and on to the distant point of Seaford Head.

The barefoot experiment continues to bring joy. I truly love the feel of terra firma under my scantily-clad plates; I've not worn running shoes for a while now. Injury-wise I'm pretty much off the hook. My achilies are tighter as a result of 'T-Rex running' - shifting my body weight forward - but improved stretching should help minimise any long-term problems. Body weight is another matter in itself. My diet has been shocking these last few weeks with no prospect of improvement and my use of Chia seeds is sporadic at best. I hereby vow to address that right away. The warmer evenings mean lazy hours with a good book and a bottle of fine ale. I have stocks of TEA, Speckled Hen, Marstons Pedigree and HobGoblin on hand and easy access to Badger and Harveys just a short stroll away. It doesn't look good for the midriff.

This is my fifth outing of the month of May, an appalling return that reflects a number of ongoing issues.

1. Work is busy, and not always in a good way. Volcanic ash has played havoc with airfreight and I have a number of tricky situations to resolve, not to mention customers who fail/ refuse to connect world issues with their own interests.

2. Connemara recovery continues. Based on the addage that one should rest one day for every mile of a long race I should just now be out of recovery phase. Actually this a red herring; I've felt pretty chipper since getting back from Ireland and my legs are fine, so apart from adhering to the perceived wisdom I'm over it.

3. Spinning. I've been substituting weekly spin classes for a run. I've managed five of those this month so perhaps I'm not quite as slothful as the stark Garmin data suggests.

I've no plans to run long until later in June when I'd like to complete a private, hilly marathon early one Sunday morning. This will be along the same lines as my training run before Ireland, ie: a sort of run/ walk/ picnic affair in something approaching five hours. It may well involve an extended section in the FiveFingers, with runners for the hard-top sections carried in my back pack.

Pip pip.