am: 1600, 3 mins, 8 x 400 (1 min), 3 mins, 5 x 200 (30 secs) @ 5k, 3k & 8/15 pace – 4.38, 68, 66, 67, 66, 67, 65, 66, 64, 30, 29, 30, 29, 28. Thornes Park, Wakefield.
pm: 35 mins easy in Cannon Hill Park
13mi
I got myself to bed early(ish) last night and finally slept well which was a massive relief. Despite getting a good solid kip I still felt as if I’d been on big night out as I stumbled into the kitchen to make some breakfast. Such is the politics and general incompetence of Leeds City Council, there is not an available track in Leeds on a Saturday morning. As a consequence we are forced to drive to Wakefield and use Thornes Park; this isn't really an issue for me as it is only 15 mins but from the other side of Leeds you are looking at almost 45! I met Dale and Smithy in the car park at 0930 with the sun shining and we did a lap of the park as a warm up. I did not feel like training at all as my body is still not back to itself. I decided to approach the session in as professional a manner as possible to get it done effectively. I did no waiting around (I didn't have the time anyway as I had to be at Headingley for 1145) to try and wake my body up so I did stretching, drills & strides like clockwork. It was windy as ever so Smithy and I decided to share laps for the duration of the session. I still wasn't in the mood although my legs felt fresh enough; it was the rest of my body & mind didn’t. I felt very bouncy and relaxed on the mile rep and I could have banged out a good number more 400s too. I talked myself into the session and managed to get a really good workout at faster than what I thought I’d be capable of today. It was brilliant to share the session with Smithy as he’s a pretty metronomic runner (as I am) so we just banged out the session with minimal fuss – I certainly don’t think I could have trained as effectively on my own. I got a big blister on my left forefoot on the 2s which is usually a good sign I haven’t been rocking back on my heels! I am not sure how my posture was today but I was making a deliberate attempt to forefoot strike. I’d struggle to be more pleased after getting that session in the bag. I took Barry Fudge's advice and got my SIS Rego down as soon as I could before doing an easy lap of the park and racing across to Headingley Cricket Ground for the match against the Netherlands. I didn't even have time for a shower so I had to blow cold air on myself whilst in the car instead. I arrived on time, got changed and then did my 90 minute stint of programme selling. I went for the soft sell by listening to plenty of old people's stories, ranging from simple ones such as 'these use to be 50 pence you know' to tales of working in the armed services. Having sold my quota I headed to the press box to watch the first innings and thankfully there was a buffet set up as I was famished. Whilst updating the Yorkshire Twitter feed and marvelling at just how fast 93mph bowling looks, I managed to persuade Danny into coming to Brum with after the Netherlands had batted. I picked him en route and made it to Selly Oak in good time. It was nice to see my basketball housemate Jake had made a running comeback as he'd just returned from an easy 5 with Wilko and the boys! I ran to and from Cannon Hill with one big lap with Dan. I ran almost straight out of the car and as a consequence I felt terrible for the first mile or so but after that initial tiredness I was absolutely fine. My hamstrings felt a little fatigued from this morning’s session but other than that I had no complaints. We kept it very easy and it was perfect for an evening run. Cannon Hill is a fantastic place to run around and unsurprisingly on a beautiful evening it was buzzing with young families feeding the ducks. I had a very quick shower and arrived late for 'Big Ladz Curry' at our usual haunt of Chamon on Bristol Road. It was a brilliant night and our camaraderie was unbelievable - I think Danny Davis will have left thinking just how brilliant a place to be BUAC is. The particular highlight had to be Josh Gorecki's downing of a jug from the pickle tray and then going a bit crazy. We headed down to The Gun Barrels for an hour or so before getting to bed at a half-decent hour.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Friday, 14 May 2010
Jinxing Pakistan
pm: Easy 35 mins along the canal
5mi
After another night of little sleep I am starting to get exasperated by my tiredness. I felt the worst I have felt all week today. I can’t carry on with such little sleep as I’m convinced that is the main problem as I just feel beaten up all the time. I didn’t do much moving around today as I wanted to expend as little energy as possible; hence my short blog. Walking to & from the train stations was hard work! I have had an incredibly annoying runny nose since I came down and it is starting to get to me now. I spent most of today writing an article on Pakistan's woeful record against Australia, specifically highlighting their uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It is 15 years since Pakistan won a Test against the Oz which is quite ridiculous. Similar to yesterday I almost sacked off my run as I was laid out on the sofa like a dog in the med. I ran almost all on the canal so I could just switch off for half an hour. Remarkably I actually felt ok running and if I remember rightly I felt fine running post-St Moritz but horrendous the rest of the time. My right Achilles was a bit sore today but got better as I ran; it was irritated uphill. I felt easy and ran slowly but I didn’t have the ease that makes you feel like you could run all day. I got home and caught the end of the T20 final between the aforementioned sides. Surprise surprise, the Pakistanis are in an almost (and I must stress that it always 'almost' with them) unassailable position but Mike Hussey hits 60 from 24 balls; the PCB should make 'The Beer Drinker's Guide to Sports Psychology' from Charlie's book a compulsory read. I watched a bit of Newsnight to recap this week's politics as well as catching some of the League 1 playoffs. I went to bed as soon as I felt sleepy to (hopefully) sleep like a log.
5mi
After another night of little sleep I am starting to get exasperated by my tiredness. I felt the worst I have felt all week today. I can’t carry on with such little sleep as I’m convinced that is the main problem as I just feel beaten up all the time. I didn’t do much moving around today as I wanted to expend as little energy as possible; hence my short blog. Walking to & from the train stations was hard work! I have had an incredibly annoying runny nose since I came down and it is starting to get to me now. I spent most of today writing an article on Pakistan's woeful record against Australia, specifically highlighting their uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It is 15 years since Pakistan won a Test against the Oz which is quite ridiculous. Similar to yesterday I almost sacked off my run as I was laid out on the sofa like a dog in the med. I ran almost all on the canal so I could just switch off for half an hour. Remarkably I actually felt ok running and if I remember rightly I felt fine running post-St Moritz but horrendous the rest of the time. My right Achilles was a bit sore today but got better as I ran; it was irritated uphill. I felt easy and ran slowly but I didn’t have the ease that makes you feel like you could run all day. I got home and caught the end of the T20 final between the aforementioned sides. Surprise surprise, the Pakistanis are in an almost (and I must stress that it always 'almost' with them) unassailable position but Mike Hussey hits 60 from 24 balls; the PCB should make 'The Beer Drinker's Guide to Sports Psychology' from Charlie's book a compulsory read. I watched a bit of Newsnight to recap this week's politics as well as catching some of the League 1 playoffs. I went to bed as soon as I felt sleepy to (hopefully) sleep like a log.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Coerced back into blogging
So the plan had been to blog just while I was in the picturesque serenity of Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (to give the full name) but I have been pestered by a handful of people to 'update your bloody blog!' The final straw being my friend and training partner Harry Harper declaring 'a blog is for life, not just for altitude.' I have endeavoured to remember as much of Tuesday & Monday as possible with yesterday and today still fresh in my mind. Thankfully I keep a very detailed training log so it shouldn't take me too long!
pm: Easy accelerating 65 mins on canal trails + strides - 7.12, 6.36, 6.34, 6.30, 6.18, 6.12, 6.10, 6.02, 6.36, and 5.58.
10.5mi
As I thought would be the case I woke up at 0530 this morning feeling like I'd been dragged through hell; and back again. I had some cereal and thought I may as well get the 0747 train again as I was ready for it. The annoying thing about my route to work is that my connecting train departs Leeds at 0759 whereas the train from Woodlesford is due to arrive at 0800. I am hoping that by the law of averages I will be able to catch this train at least once over the next 3 weeks although I'm not holding my breath. As expected I entered Leeds station at 0801 and had 30 mins of kicking my heels at platform 3a. I read Spedding's book to fill the time and I was hugely encouraged to read that he ran a 4.25 mile in between running 28.17 at the Bislett Games in Oslo and winning an international 5000m for England at the Palace. This goes to show we are all human and touch wood I'll run be running low 28 minutes and mid 13 mins soon enough (after all, 4.06 translates to about 4.23 for the mile so why not run QUICKER than Charlie did ...). All joking aside I have folding this page to remind myself that even the best athletes have bad runs and sometimes they can even run inexplicably badly. I sat in on a few more meetings today and felt as if I contributed well to some discussions. My main task of the day was to write a brief introduction for the Yorkshire Cricket Mela that will go on their website. Essentially, the Mela is a 10 day festival climaxing in the Pakistan vs. Australia Test match at Headingley. Fundamentally it is designed to encourage Yorkshire's Pakistani demographic to attend. I'll post a link when it's up there and I'm happy to take all criticism; as long as it's constructive! I managed to negotiate the route home without ever being asked for a ticket and I was able to watch most of England's run chase against Sri Lanka while having some pasta so I wasn't running on fumes this evening. To be totally honest, I very nearly didn’t get out of the door this evening. I felt rubbish and considered just giving myself a rest day to freshen up for Saturday. I eventually just got out and committed to doing an easy half hour. I felt fine once I got going and after the first easy mile I got progressively quicker without thinking about it. This run felt easy but anything quicker than about 6.20 and I had to think about the pace. Because I couldn’t be bothered to start with and saw 70 mins as a long way off I played this game of running every mile quicker than the next which meant picking it up for certain periods to assure this. I had an emergency stop after 8mi and then decided to stretch my legs to finish with. I was getting pretty pissed off today as I have literally never encountered so many midges on a run; I had to angrily knock them out of my way with my hand although I must admit it was entertaining to see other runners doing the same! The dog must have had something wrong today as he was miles back and this was frustrating me no end. So, consequently tonight wasn't the stress-relieving run I was hoping for although it did have me once again thinking about racing a 10k on the road but I tried to forget about it and concentrate on the track season. I felt pretty terrible on strides; almost as if I was tying up. I cut them down to about 8 secs in length and felt a bit better but still poor. I had dinner with my Mum and then watched a bit of TV before surprisingly my sister phoned me. Usually, this means there is a problem or she wants something but tonight we simply had a half hour catch up which was nice. I asked her for a bit of advice on mobile phones as I'm due an upgrade tomorrow. She recommend her new phone the 'HTC Desire' that runs on the Google operating system - I'm open to suggestions from anyone. I watched most of Question Time as ever and was in bed for just past 11pm.
pm: Easy accelerating 65 mins on canal trails + strides - 7.12, 6.36, 6.34, 6.30, 6.18, 6.12, 6.10, 6.02, 6.36, and 5.58.
10.5mi
As I thought would be the case I woke up at 0530 this morning feeling like I'd been dragged through hell; and back again. I had some cereal and thought I may as well get the 0747 train again as I was ready for it. The annoying thing about my route to work is that my connecting train departs Leeds at 0759 whereas the train from Woodlesford is due to arrive at 0800. I am hoping that by the law of averages I will be able to catch this train at least once over the next 3 weeks although I'm not holding my breath. As expected I entered Leeds station at 0801 and had 30 mins of kicking my heels at platform 3a. I read Spedding's book to fill the time and I was hugely encouraged to read that he ran a 4.25 mile in between running 28.17 at the Bislett Games in Oslo and winning an international 5000m for England at the Palace. This goes to show we are all human and touch wood I'll run be running low 28 minutes and mid 13 mins soon enough (after all, 4.06 translates to about 4.23 for the mile so why not run QUICKER than Charlie did ...). All joking aside I have folding this page to remind myself that even the best athletes have bad runs and sometimes they can even run inexplicably badly. I sat in on a few more meetings today and felt as if I contributed well to some discussions. My main task of the day was to write a brief introduction for the Yorkshire Cricket Mela that will go on their website. Essentially, the Mela is a 10 day festival climaxing in the Pakistan vs. Australia Test match at Headingley. Fundamentally it is designed to encourage Yorkshire's Pakistani demographic to attend. I'll post a link when it's up there and I'm happy to take all criticism; as long as it's constructive! I managed to negotiate the route home without ever being asked for a ticket and I was able to watch most of England's run chase against Sri Lanka while having some pasta so I wasn't running on fumes this evening. To be totally honest, I very nearly didn’t get out of the door this evening. I felt rubbish and considered just giving myself a rest day to freshen up for Saturday. I eventually just got out and committed to doing an easy half hour. I felt fine once I got going and after the first easy mile I got progressively quicker without thinking about it. This run felt easy but anything quicker than about 6.20 and I had to think about the pace. Because I couldn’t be bothered to start with and saw 70 mins as a long way off I played this game of running every mile quicker than the next which meant picking it up for certain periods to assure this. I had an emergency stop after 8mi and then decided to stretch my legs to finish with. I was getting pretty pissed off today as I have literally never encountered so many midges on a run; I had to angrily knock them out of my way with my hand although I must admit it was entertaining to see other runners doing the same! The dog must have had something wrong today as he was miles back and this was frustrating me no end. So, consequently tonight wasn't the stress-relieving run I was hoping for although it did have me once again thinking about racing a 10k on the road but I tried to forget about it and concentrate on the track season. I felt pretty terrible on strides; almost as if I was tying up. I cut them down to about 8 secs in length and felt a bit better but still poor. I had dinner with my Mum and then watched a bit of TV before surprisingly my sister phoned me. Usually, this means there is a problem or she wants something but tonight we simply had a half hour catch up which was nice. I asked her for a bit of advice on mobile phones as I'm due an upgrade tomorrow. She recommend her new phone the 'HTC Desire' that runs on the Google operating system - I'm open to suggestions from anyone. I watched most of Question Time as ever and was in bed for just past 11pm.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
My First Day
pm: LSAC v BUAC v Army (+ guests) 1500m @ Loughborough: 4.06, finishing mid-field + 5mi easy warm down
8mi
My body is adjusting to the altitude (or lack of) as I woke up at 0500 this morning and couldn’t wrestle myself back to sleep. On Monday night it was similar but I managed to steal a few extra hours by getting up late; today I had to catch the 0747 train to Headingley to start work experience. I was planning on doing an easy 30 mins at lunchtime but I felt very sluggish just walking around so I thought better of it. It was an enjoyable first day as I was introduced to the workings of a professional sports club and goodness me it is complex; the number of staff and departments is staggering. Although I enjoyed it, the fact that walking from the press box to the office felt like I was scaling Everest was probably a good indicator that I should have waited until Monday to start this role. I was allowed to leave 2 hours before the 5pm finish time because of racing this evening and boy was I glad for it. I got home and had a quick nap to try and get a bit more energy but I noticed little difference on awakening. My Mum got home from work, we had a bite to eat and then set off down the M1. I was very relaxed going into the race and trying everything to keep the pressure off myself. George and my Dad had told me to run a 1500 but said to be prepared that I may run poorly. In hindsight, I think I may have been TOO prepared to run poorly and consequently, I did. I ran 4.06 finishing mid-field which undoubtedly was a poor run. The first thing I wrote in my training diary was 'Poor run, as expected after 3 days back at sea-level.' How much of this was psychological? I had convinced myself that a poor run would be acceptable since the session of 6 x 2 mins on Saturday, and perhaps even before then. One has to be honest though, how can a 'poor' run EVER be acceptable? It is, by definition, unsatisfactory. I am not going to sit here and say I am in fantastic 1500m shape, but I think I am in somewhere between 3.58 and 4.02 shape. Some of you may say 'you've been to altitude for 3 weeks, how are you not fitter?' Well, I am fit, but not very 1500m fit. I think if I was to race a 10k now, I'd run really well, but I am just lacking that track sharpness at the moment. The long and the short of it is that I underperformed today for a number of reasons but the one that was in my direct control, my mental focus, has to be better managed. Without ever being explicitly negative pre-race, I successfully lowered my expectations via negative reinforcement to a point where underperformance was deemed acceptable. The race: I felt terrible today, especially warming up. I jogged, did drills, strides & 45 secs hard and all of it was a real effort. I took extra time between drills as I felt so heavy legged at the end of each one. When the gun went I tried to run conservatively in a choppy, slightly windy race where I never felt at ease. My body felt weirdly tingly at about halfway and I probably tightened up a bit. I was 3.00 at the bell and I really had to dig deep to re-pass Booker with 50m left after initially deciding I wouldn’t bother! I don’t feel at all disheartened as the job was to turn the legs over and the job has been done. My only disappointment is my inability to pick it up on the last lap though having spoken to Phil he said I can’t expect to if I am just a bit off it. I did a long warm down and felt better the more I did and I wasn’t tired at all. My chest was bit tight and I was coughing a lot but I am usually like this post-track race. I genuinely think I could have run another 1500 at the same pace given a 15 minute or so recovery. Bizarrely, I am incredibly positive after this race as I have highlighted something that I let talk me out of running well and I won’t let it happen again. Fulham's defeat in the closing stages of the Europa League final was a huge disappointment on the journey home but it was nice to catch with my Mum about my trip away and what she's been up to as well. I got home at 2315 and wasn't in bed until nearly 1am as I was wide-awake and there was no way I could sleep.
8mi
My body is adjusting to the altitude (or lack of) as I woke up at 0500 this morning and couldn’t wrestle myself back to sleep. On Monday night it was similar but I managed to steal a few extra hours by getting up late; today I had to catch the 0747 train to Headingley to start work experience. I was planning on doing an easy 30 mins at lunchtime but I felt very sluggish just walking around so I thought better of it. It was an enjoyable first day as I was introduced to the workings of a professional sports club and goodness me it is complex; the number of staff and departments is staggering. Although I enjoyed it, the fact that walking from the press box to the office felt like I was scaling Everest was probably a good indicator that I should have waited until Monday to start this role. I was allowed to leave 2 hours before the 5pm finish time because of racing this evening and boy was I glad for it. I got home and had a quick nap to try and get a bit more energy but I noticed little difference on awakening. My Mum got home from work, we had a bite to eat and then set off down the M1. I was very relaxed going into the race and trying everything to keep the pressure off myself. George and my Dad had told me to run a 1500 but said to be prepared that I may run poorly. In hindsight, I think I may have been TOO prepared to run poorly and consequently, I did. I ran 4.06 finishing mid-field which undoubtedly was a poor run. The first thing I wrote in my training diary was 'Poor run, as expected after 3 days back at sea-level.' How much of this was psychological? I had convinced myself that a poor run would be acceptable since the session of 6 x 2 mins on Saturday, and perhaps even before then. One has to be honest though, how can a 'poor' run EVER be acceptable? It is, by definition, unsatisfactory. I am not going to sit here and say I am in fantastic 1500m shape, but I think I am in somewhere between 3.58 and 4.02 shape. Some of you may say 'you've been to altitude for 3 weeks, how are you not fitter?' Well, I am fit, but not very 1500m fit. I think if I was to race a 10k now, I'd run really well, but I am just lacking that track sharpness at the moment. The long and the short of it is that I underperformed today for a number of reasons but the one that was in my direct control, my mental focus, has to be better managed. Without ever being explicitly negative pre-race, I successfully lowered my expectations via negative reinforcement to a point where underperformance was deemed acceptable. The race: I felt terrible today, especially warming up. I jogged, did drills, strides & 45 secs hard and all of it was a real effort. I took extra time between drills as I felt so heavy legged at the end of each one. When the gun went I tried to run conservatively in a choppy, slightly windy race where I never felt at ease. My body felt weirdly tingly at about halfway and I probably tightened up a bit. I was 3.00 at the bell and I really had to dig deep to re-pass Booker with 50m left after initially deciding I wouldn’t bother! I don’t feel at all disheartened as the job was to turn the legs over and the job has been done. My only disappointment is my inability to pick it up on the last lap though having spoken to Phil he said I can’t expect to if I am just a bit off it. I did a long warm down and felt better the more I did and I wasn’t tired at all. My chest was bit tight and I was coughing a lot but I am usually like this post-track race. I genuinely think I could have run another 1500 at the same pace given a 15 minute or so recovery. Bizarrely, I am incredibly positive after this race as I have highlighted something that I let talk me out of running well and I won’t let it happen again. Fulham's defeat in the closing stages of the Europa League final was a huge disappointment on the journey home but it was nice to catch with my Mum about my trip away and what she's been up to as well. I got home at 2315 and wasn't in bed until nearly 1am as I was wide-awake and there was no way I could sleep.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
A Tory PM with a Liberal Deputy
am: Easy 35 mins on golf course & trails
pm: Very easy 35 mins + strides from SLS
10mi
My work placement at Yorkshire CCC doesn't start until tomorrow which is a huge relief as I struggled to get some consistent sleep last night. I woke up and just felt incredibly flat. It is amazing how sitting around doing nothing at home can make you feel so lethargic, whereas doing exactly the same for 5 of the last 6 weeks abroad has simply been a 'full-time athlete lifestyle.' I lazed around for much of this morning and then tied up a few loose ends which meant I went out a little later than I usually would. When I put my HR monitor on I was pleasantly surprised to see a resting HR of 36 – the lowest I can ever remember having. Unfortunately, this didn’t reflect how I felt whilst running. I went through short periods of feeling a little better but in the main I felt shit. My legs felt tired and I was generally sluggish; I couldn’t really be bothered to run beforehand so that probably played a part. I kept it very easy and spent most of the time encouraging my dog, he seemed to be having more of an off-day than I. I think I felt a bit flat after getting home and having no one to run with and knowing half of my apartment was still in the Fort, being a little run-down from travel and the weather being poor. I spent the rest of the day catching up on the 5 episodes of '24' that I have missed over the last few weeks and I am pleased to say that it is the best series for a long time. I had to set off to the club early as my Mum is on the entrance desk from 1745 on a Tuesday so I tucked 'From Last to First' under my arm with the intention of finally making some progress. This was to be in vain as I got roped into doing odd jobs for John Lunn, Martin Horbury and Leeds City A.C's new Secretary Janet Wilkinson! It was nice to catch up with people when they started to arrive and tell a few stories of my travels but what was even nicer was being able to run comfortably for half an hour or so. I felt really good running tonight; totally different to this morning. I had no real niggles apart from a slightly sore left foot. I warmed up with the guys and then did the rest with Ali around the clearings. It was at this time that he told me how he'd snuck into the Leeds Half Marathon the previous Sunday without a number and tried to stay with the leader for as long as he could! It was cool but nice weather which I think helped my mood as it was enjoyable to just do a nice relaxed run. I felt decent on strides too which was an added bonus. As I left the stadium news was filtering through that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had come to an agreement and David Cameron was the new Prime Minister. I couldn't help feeling excited at the prospect of a new government with the Lib Dems finally having a say; most importantly they will be able to temper the right-wing elements of the Tories. Suddenly, that vote for Nick Clegg had paid off. After dinner stayed up a little later than I should have because a) I wanted to watch all the reaction to the forming of the coalition and b) I had to scrape together an outfit for my first day at Headingley after realising 90% of my smart clothing is still in Selly Oak!
pm: Very easy 35 mins + strides from SLS
10mi
My work placement at Yorkshire CCC doesn't start until tomorrow which is a huge relief as I struggled to get some consistent sleep last night. I woke up and just felt incredibly flat. It is amazing how sitting around doing nothing at home can make you feel so lethargic, whereas doing exactly the same for 5 of the last 6 weeks abroad has simply been a 'full-time athlete lifestyle.' I lazed around for much of this morning and then tied up a few loose ends which meant I went out a little later than I usually would. When I put my HR monitor on I was pleasantly surprised to see a resting HR of 36 – the lowest I can ever remember having. Unfortunately, this didn’t reflect how I felt whilst running. I went through short periods of feeling a little better but in the main I felt shit. My legs felt tired and I was generally sluggish; I couldn’t really be bothered to run beforehand so that probably played a part. I kept it very easy and spent most of the time encouraging my dog, he seemed to be having more of an off-day than I. I think I felt a bit flat after getting home and having no one to run with and knowing half of my apartment was still in the Fort, being a little run-down from travel and the weather being poor. I spent the rest of the day catching up on the 5 episodes of '24' that I have missed over the last few weeks and I am pleased to say that it is the best series for a long time. I had to set off to the club early as my Mum is on the entrance desk from 1745 on a Tuesday so I tucked 'From Last to First' under my arm with the intention of finally making some progress. This was to be in vain as I got roped into doing odd jobs for John Lunn, Martin Horbury and Leeds City A.C's new Secretary Janet Wilkinson! It was nice to catch up with people when they started to arrive and tell a few stories of my travels but what was even nicer was being able to run comfortably for half an hour or so. I felt really good running tonight; totally different to this morning. I had no real niggles apart from a slightly sore left foot. I warmed up with the guys and then did the rest with Ali around the clearings. It was at this time that he told me how he'd snuck into the Leeds Half Marathon the previous Sunday without a number and tried to stay with the leader for as long as he could! It was cool but nice weather which I think helped my mood as it was enjoyable to just do a nice relaxed run. I felt decent on strides too which was an added bonus. As I left the stadium news was filtering through that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had come to an agreement and David Cameron was the new Prime Minister. I couldn't help feeling excited at the prospect of a new government with the Lib Dems finally having a say; most importantly they will be able to temper the right-wing elements of the Tories. Suddenly, that vote for Nick Clegg had paid off. After dinner stayed up a little later than I should have because a) I wanted to watch all the reaction to the forming of the coalition and b) I had to scrape together an outfit for my first day at Headingley after realising 90% of my smart clothing is still in Selly Oak!
Monday, 10 May 2010
Tiddler 1 - 0 Ryan Air
am: Travel home from Font Romeu (door to door 0630 - 1530 GMT)
pm: Very easy 50 mins + 4 uphill strides on trails
7.5mi
It was an early start to today as myself, Sarah Tunstall & Aaron Thomas' group headed to Girona Airport at 0730 to fly back to Leeds Bradford Airport. It was set to be quite an eventful drive as Charlene told us that she wasn't a very good driver, hadn't driven in weeks and had never driven abroad. I managed to steal a few naps on the way down but any period that I was awake for involved near crashes, missing motorway junctions and a bit of cursing. We arrived safely at the airport 90 mins before departure and my next task was to get a 15kg sports holdall and a laptop satchel onto the plane without paying £35 for hold luggage. This involved initially sweet-talking the woman at the kiosk to no avail before ultimately emptying almost half my bag behind a pillar and asking the ever-reliable Jack Hallas to watch it (this was a huge risk in itself). Amazingly, the woman was happy to accept that I had discovered 5kg of basmati rice at the bottom of my bag that had to be sacrificed. The more difficult stage was negotiating boarding with two bags while the Gestapo blocked my way to Britain by announcing there was 'strictly one piece of hand luggage each' and watching like a health and safety officer in Aberdeen. I decided that to avoid an argument I would tie my laptop case to the bottom of my bag to give the appearance of a flat bottomed sports bag; I also dropped my passport at the feet of the steward as an added distraction. A fairly nondescript 2 and a half hours later I was out of the airport and on the bus home. I'm not sure whether it was mainly psychological but I felt incredibly drowsy and lethargic on my way back to Woodlesford but content with my 3 weeks work and happy to have made so many new friends, hopefully for life. Once I got home and started to sort my stuff out I felt even worse with really tired legs just getting up from the sofa. Come 1800 I ran through Millennium Park & along the canal trails. Surprisingly I felt really good. I was shocked to look at my HR and see it was in the 120s for at least the first 10 mins so that has to be a good thing. I expected to feel very sluggish as I had during the day but as soon as I set off I felt bouncy and fresh so I was naturally pleased. I ran with Lav who also wanted to run easy so I made sure I kept it very, very easy and just ran at what felt like the right pace. I didn’t feel too good on the uphill strides but not particularly bad; my Achilles was a little tight too. I know I'm settled back in Yorkshire when I've had once, mushy peas & a bread-cake from the local chippy for my dinner before hitting the hay relatively early as I was positively wiped out.
pm: Very easy 50 mins + 4 uphill strides on trails
7.5mi
It was an early start to today as myself, Sarah Tunstall & Aaron Thomas' group headed to Girona Airport at 0730 to fly back to Leeds Bradford Airport. It was set to be quite an eventful drive as Charlene told us that she wasn't a very good driver, hadn't driven in weeks and had never driven abroad. I managed to steal a few naps on the way down but any period that I was awake for involved near crashes, missing motorway junctions and a bit of cursing. We arrived safely at the airport 90 mins before departure and my next task was to get a 15kg sports holdall and a laptop satchel onto the plane without paying £35 for hold luggage. This involved initially sweet-talking the woman at the kiosk to no avail before ultimately emptying almost half my bag behind a pillar and asking the ever-reliable Jack Hallas to watch it (this was a huge risk in itself). Amazingly, the woman was happy to accept that I had discovered 5kg of basmati rice at the bottom of my bag that had to be sacrificed. The more difficult stage was negotiating boarding with two bags while the Gestapo blocked my way to Britain by announcing there was 'strictly one piece of hand luggage each' and watching like a health and safety officer in Aberdeen. I decided that to avoid an argument I would tie my laptop case to the bottom of my bag to give the appearance of a flat bottomed sports bag; I also dropped my passport at the feet of the steward as an added distraction. A fairly nondescript 2 and a half hours later I was out of the airport and on the bus home. I'm not sure whether it was mainly psychological but I felt incredibly drowsy and lethargic on my way back to Woodlesford but content with my 3 weeks work and happy to have made so many new friends, hopefully for life. Once I got home and started to sort my stuff out I felt even worse with really tired legs just getting up from the sofa. Come 1800 I ran through Millennium Park & along the canal trails. Surprisingly I felt really good. I was shocked to look at my HR and see it was in the 120s for at least the first 10 mins so that has to be a good thing. I expected to feel very sluggish as I had during the day but as soon as I set off I felt bouncy and fresh so I was naturally pleased. I ran with Lav who also wanted to run easy so I made sure I kept it very, very easy and just ran at what felt like the right pace. I didn’t feel too good on the uphill strides but not particularly bad; my Achilles was a little tight too. I know I'm settled back in Yorkshire when I've had once, mushy peas & a bread-cake from the local chippy for my dinner before hitting the hay relatively early as I was positively wiped out.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
The Last Run & The Worst Run
am: 90 mins very easy on trails in horrendous conditions + strides
pm: Light Circuits
12.5mi
Week: 75.5mi - A good week battling the snow for a lot of it and I seem to be managing my niggles
The flights were back departing Barcelona by 0700 this morning so it looks like I will be back in Old Blighty by tomorrow afternoon. The weather was shit this morning and I was not looking forward to the long run. I had some porridge and orange juice and reluctantly headed to reception. I spoke to George beforehand about how much to do as I know you’re supposed to run easy for the last few days of altitude. He said to drop to 90 mins and keep it very easy; thank goodness I didn’t have to do 1hr 50 today. I felt great today, my legs were fresh, my niggles had settled but the conditions were horrific. It is easily the worst Sunday run in recent memory. It rained very hard, there was a gale-force wind in our faces for most of it and anywhere we ran was covered in soaking wet ground so you couldn’t move fast. My face, hands and legs were numb by about 30 mins and it was just a case of survival. There weren’t many hills today, probably a good thing as I just wanted to get back to the flat in as little distress a possible. I struggled to peel my banana in the car as my fingers had lost all sensation but I got there in the end. I had a hot shower followed by soup, tea and bread back at the apartment. As is standard protocol here, I just got into bed with the intention of doing very little for the rest of the day. Jonny shouted up to me that on the news 20 Spanish airports have been closed until 8pm so the dream of staying a bit longer is back on! I am always very hungry post-Sunday run so I had some toast and cereal about 1330 and then played a bit of Pro. I did circuits some light core in the afternoon. I had to move my conditioning around a little this week due to the moving around of sessions due to the weather so this was a mini-maintenance session as if I am back in the UK tomorrow I’ll do circuits with the group and if not I’ll have drills with George. We watched bits and pieces of Chelsea's 8-0 demolition against Wigan to win the Premier League before going out for 'The Last Supper' at La Fromagerie. It was a great end to a great trip that I am so glad I went on. I was jealous as I got ready for bed knowing that Nuttall's boys were staying for another few days; plus I wasn't looking forward to an early airport transfer!
pm: Light Circuits
12.5mi
Week: 75.5mi - A good week battling the snow for a lot of it and I seem to be managing my niggles
The flights were back departing Barcelona by 0700 this morning so it looks like I will be back in Old Blighty by tomorrow afternoon. The weather was shit this morning and I was not looking forward to the long run. I had some porridge and orange juice and reluctantly headed to reception. I spoke to George beforehand about how much to do as I know you’re supposed to run easy for the last few days of altitude. He said to drop to 90 mins and keep it very easy; thank goodness I didn’t have to do 1hr 50 today. I felt great today, my legs were fresh, my niggles had settled but the conditions were horrific. It is easily the worst Sunday run in recent memory. It rained very hard, there was a gale-force wind in our faces for most of it and anywhere we ran was covered in soaking wet ground so you couldn’t move fast. My face, hands and legs were numb by about 30 mins and it was just a case of survival. There weren’t many hills today, probably a good thing as I just wanted to get back to the flat in as little distress a possible. I struggled to peel my banana in the car as my fingers had lost all sensation but I got there in the end. I had a hot shower followed by soup, tea and bread back at the apartment. As is standard protocol here, I just got into bed with the intention of doing very little for the rest of the day. Jonny shouted up to me that on the news 20 Spanish airports have been closed until 8pm so the dream of staying a bit longer is back on! I am always very hungry post-Sunday run so I had some toast and cereal about 1330 and then played a bit of Pro. I did circuits some light core in the afternoon. I had to move my conditioning around a little this week due to the moving around of sessions due to the weather so this was a mini-maintenance session as if I am back in the UK tomorrow I’ll do circuits with the group and if not I’ll have drills with George. We watched bits and pieces of Chelsea's 8-0 demolition against Wigan to win the Premier League before going out for 'The Last Supper' at La Fromagerie. It was a great end to a great trip that I am so glad I went on. I was jealous as I got ready for bed knowing that Nuttall's boys were staying for another few days; plus I wasn't looking forward to an early airport transfer!
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