The Captain is Back

am: Easy 30 mins on trails
pm: 8 x 200 stride/200 jog(75 secs)-30, 30, 30, 29, 29, 29, 30, 28
11.5mi

I slept until I woke up this morning, which was 0840, as I could go into work a little later (I got there about 0945). Today is the first day that I have felt back to normal totally when performing simple daily tasks although I had a restless night’s sleep last night. I had a simple morning at work and then went to meet the Kid for an easy 30 at 1130. This morning I saw the results of Watford last night and was delighted to see Captain Craig Gundersen had obliterated his 3k PB despite a winter of injury - great job skip. The last couple of days have seen some great performances from BUAC guys but special praise should go to Gundo and Josh Gorecki (3.50) for putting months of injury trouble behind them to record huge personal bests. So, I met the Kid and we ran on some twisty trails and then around Kirkstall Abbey. I am now pretty sure I am hay-feverish as I felt really good before I ran but as soon as I went outside and started to jog I felt heavy, had a tight-chest and was generally sluggish. My HR was higher than it should be and the temperature was close to 20 degrees. I presume the pollen count is high because of the heat and humidity so I’m going to start on my meds this evening. For some reason, I usually suffer from hay-fever at the start of summer and then it is ok after 2 or 3 weeks. Last summer I benefited massively from the tablets so I’ll use them again and see the impact. So, I ran with the Kid at a very easy pace but felt poor. I suppose the main positive is that I had no niggles but I felt rubbish and had a higher HR than usual. I enjoyed this run still as I haven't seen much of Nick for 2 months or so and it was nice to have a general catch up. It is good to hear he is stepping his running up again after injury and he seemed genuinely positive about his progress. We said our goodbyes as I split off and he carried on. I had a shower and some lunch and then cracked on with some work. I managed to finish all my separate pieces for the Pakistan vs Australia Test match except for one that needs finalising. I was delighted to find a new route to the train station and so I didn't have to do the last minute downhill sprint to make the 11 mins past train. As has been the case for the last week I once again didn't have to buy a ticket from Burley Park along with a young lad on his way to join the army. He seemed like a good guy and I wished him luck and said I hadn't the courage to be a soldier as I'd be shit scared. He said 'best place for me, can't get a job!' Fair enough! I watched the last ever Friends episode so any of you that have seen it will understand why I was in such good spirits on my way to training! I had the pleasant surprise of seeing 800m star Lil Mikey Salter when I got to training despite rumours that he'd be back in Birmingham for big sesh. This lifted my spirits yet further. I presume I have this a bit from McLeod and a bit from Ali, but I seem to start my warm up jogs very, very slowly now - me and Ali were about 50m behind once we'd been through the car park! I felt bouncy on drills and quickly got on with what was really a glorified session of strides. I felt much better this evening but I still do not feel fresh. I trained in my cross spikes and didn’t suffer from tight calves at all. I felt very comfortable running 30s which I can churn out like clockwork at the moment, but I ran a lot harder off the bend on the final rep without being able to go much quicker! That was a little concerning but I really haven’t done any 15-specific stuff so I can’t argue with that. I don’t have much else to write really. It was very warm and pretty windy tonight, but generally nice for running. I did a bit longer warm down as I was waiting around for the boys and then headed off home. I just missed out on getting Fish & Chips as my mum phoned whilst I wa sin the queue to say she had made dinner; gutted. After dinner, a couple more episodes of 'Strike Back' and ''Question Time' I was ready to hit the hay, though yet again I did not feel tired in the evening.