February 2017

[Sweder]

Doris Day

The day arrived and so did Doris. She was right outside the back door, and she wasn't happy. 
The reason for her complaint was lost in her howling rage. She bent trees, smashed into bushes and hurled rain at the windows with enough force to pitt the glass. Just as I thought about telling her to do one, OATR arrived on my doorstep. Bedraggled, glasses rendered opaque, grinning from ear to ear. 'Shall we?' 'Let's'

We did. I strapped on the HR watch, as much out of habit as anything else. This was no time for MAF. Doris was so fierce that any attempt to walk was met by a firm thrust backwards, so it was plod on, no matter the heart rate. We sashayed up the old Moyleman start, sploshing through puddles and sliding on mud, bouncing across flint, finding shelter amongst the ravaged shrubs. Up past the stables we lost our windbreak. It was a challenge to stay upright. Every now and then a gust would throw my lifted foot into my standing ankle in a crude attempt to trip me up.

OATR accelerated up the steep climb to the trig point, turning to snap my arrival with the less-than-impressed hounds. The plummet towards Mount Harry was exhilarating, aided by a firm shove in the back from Doris, who was far from spent. We thundered home via the sheltered woods and exposed tops of the chalk pits, managing to exchange sentences every now and then. 

Once home and warmed by coffee, eggs, bacon and avocado, we set about amending Instructions to Runners (2017 edit) for the Moyleman. We're just over two weeks out from race day. Numbers will be posted this week, pretty much everything is in place. It's an exciting yet slightly nerve-racking time for the Moyleman team. Plenty to do, yet the one determining factor we can't do much about is the weather. Doris will be long gone, but who knows what mischievous weather sprites the 12th of March will bring?

         

8.8 kms in 1:03:08
Average pace 7:10 mpk
856 calories burned
1380 Kcals (MiCoach)
Average HR: 120 bpm (nonsense as I left it on for 20 mins after we got back)

Feb total so far: 113.2 kms (Jan was 70.8)