September 2013

[Sweder]

Another brief catch-up. Not a lot of running to report. 8.5 miles (Lewes Marathon tweaking, mostly) on Sunday, then two hill sprint sessions, one on Monday, one today. Tuesday saw a pre-dawn departure to Hamburg, returning home just after midnight with not so much as a dash up the escalator at Hamburg Bahnhof.

Today's sprint session, 2.8 miles covered in 30-odd minutes, was a good one. 8 x 30 seconds flat out, with 30 seconds recoveries from 1-5 and 60 seconds recoveries from 6-8. I try to hit the first two on the downhill. This gets me into 'fast sprint' mode, so that when I turn uphill I'm still trying to run as fast as I can, albeit slower by comparison.

Jake took my truck in early. A colleague, due to give me a lift, got the time wrong so I was still out with the dogs when they called. Stranded, I took Jake's state-of-the-art mountain bike over the hills to Plumpton and on to Ditchling. 8 hilly miles, another tough workout (50 minutes) on top of the sprint sessions, had my poor legs groaning in protest. I failed in one important respect. Back when I was spinning regularly I invested in some proper cycling shorts, replete with generously gel-padded seat. As I wobbled and jolted across impossibly rugged trails they lay in blissful hibernation, separated from my poor, beaten arse by the haste of my departure. Lesson learned.

Weight statos may like to know that a number of post-long-haul travel checks revealed a neutral outcome: nothing added, nothing lost. A win of sorts. I'm now hoping to push on towards my target weight of 85 kilos. My average over the last three days has been 87.8. I started out, 6 weeks ago, at 94 kilos.
Reasons to be cheerful, part three.

On, on.