November Chills

[Sweder]

A visit to the lovely Nikki this morning confirmed one or two things.
First up my post-run stretching has improved. She measured my 'front to back' stretch - the one where you stick one foot out in front and one behind, in parallel, bending the front knee and forcing the back heel flat to the floor. An improvement on my last visit (eighteen months ago) but still, we agreed, crap. Toe-touching was slightly improved. I've reached 'socks' level - last time, my notes reveal, I was 'just below knees'. I should point out that today I was wearing Thurlo ankle socks, so for all you smartie-pantses about to point out that socks can be just below the knee, bog off.

Hammies checked out OK. My right still harbours a rogue 'nodule' - a bunched area that may cause trouble if not properly nurtured - and my calves are fair to middling but in need of more work.

All in all I was quite chuffed.
We talked (and this is why I rate Nikki so highly) about running boots, future plans, training schedules and races. She was delighted to hear about the TOM, and suggested that as it's a road race I incorporate at least one hardtop plod per week to 'aclimatise' to roadwork. I'm going to heed this advice under protest; I hate road-running, mostly because I love the hills so much. C'est la vie. Read what is says on the month's intro - no whining.

Nikki's Sweder dossier records my spring 2005 problems as due to 'poor stretching regime and over training'. So a point in support of Andy's comments there. She liked the idea of 'less is more' but cautioned (and its a fair point) that this makes gradual increases in distance a little more difficult. Finally it was agreed that my plan, albeit flawed and 'far from perfect', is at least that; a plan. Better than none at all, but only just.

That's good enough for me.
Last but far from least I followed up the session (which included some rather lovely hamstring and calf massage) with a round of golf with Captain Tom and SP at the breathtaking Seaford Head muni. I'll not say too much about the standard of play (bleugh) but here are a few snaps to give you an idea of how beautiful it was out there.