Weds 4th June 2008

RW mail does take time.

The students are extremely effective at getting me through the bad bits.  They tend to turn a deaf ear to my suggests that they "take a loop around that away and I'll meet you at the bridge".  Oh no, they stay and walk with me, and make polite conversation.  Pride being what pride is, I assure you, I am trotting forwards again at the earliest possible moment.

They are very very nice lads.

Greetings all

Great bl**dy club run tonight........ I bled from the belly..... dead centre of the fattest part..... looked like a 3rd nipple explosion, sadly not, just a spot that had exploded massively.... really weird, but showed so much more as was wearing a yellow top.......

What - 10.5m (1:21:13 - 7:44 pace)
Why - Club run... too fast, but felt good..... just left my off rad half there for Sat... Oh well.
Last hard - My belly for bleeding......
Last rest - Yesterday

Take care all

Evening all

Trinni - oh I am pleased for you, this is really great news. . comrades here you come. Wild guess on lyrics - Genesis? But have no idea why I think it is!!

Melissa - scuse my ignorance, but are they all different then? Tattoo's I mean. Where are you going to place this one then?  

Dubai Dave - re turbo, put on some loud music, and then turn it up some more. YEY! That will keep you going. I tend to use the stationary bike but I have Melissa's old turbo trainer. When I used it I put my music up so loud I didn;t notice that I had completey shredded my back tyre until I smelt this rather bad burning rubber smell - oops!

Clink - best of luck with your race tomorrow. Why were you in a bush preparing? What were you preparing..... Don'w worry the pendantics thing is beyond me too! Even with the explanation - sorry guys!

Imski - are you enjoying being a daddy? How old is little one now?

Wabo - I am such a numpty and I've been dying to ask, just WHAT is a TMA?? There I've done it! Is it The monthly Accounts? Great tri training going on there - fab stuff and look forward to report after your 40 mile ride.

Mava - how far is North Downs Run? If you're not feeling great, could you run walk it perhaps?

Melli - ooh Bala sounds so fab. I'm thinking I may stick with tri as can't see my achilles recovering enough to get as much running in as I'd like. There is no way on this earth I could do an IM as I'm simply not dedicated enough - far too lazy,.Plus I thin my marathon distance days are over leg wise.  I work long hours too. But of course if I really wanted to I guess I could as I did get to London, but I don't want it enough. But Bala does sound very attractive to me. I like hilly bikes as that is what I'm used to and it sounds scenic too, which I would love. Is it a half marathon for the run? Maybe if I behave enough <hmm> and am careful I could get to half marathon running distance again and get to Bala next year. That would be fab!

Micksta - eat Haribo! Teenage Scoobs and I munched our way through an entire packet whilst watching Hero's last week. I felt a little ill.....Still to investgate body pump. Why is there not enough time in the day <wail>

Sharkie - you are getting there. what you describe is so typical of post viral stuff. Your lungs will recover. Well done you on getting through the set AND cycling home! Fab stuff.

Stickless - that is one hec of a long day!!! Rest up and recover well. From what I've read you've been doing a lot more recently. Good on you for keeping going today, that must have been really tough considering having vertigo which must have been awful. Good on you.

RFJ!!!! Ooooh toooooo much information! Sorry to hear about bleed. Eeeewwwww!

Right back later, I'm missing the apprentice!!!!

Scoobs - North Downs is 30km so something between a half and a marathon.  It's usually a very hot day and it's very  hilly (well, it's the Downs innit!).   And I haven't run over 8 miles in what seems like months.

TMA - it's a Tutor Marked Assignment with the Open University.  I did them when I did a year of their psychology degree.  

Thanks scoobs

Last Phys session was just a set on measurements of joint movements to make sure I have close to the original motion, and then instructions for what to do up to race day and how to deal with any emergencies during the run. Green light again, just a few cautionary words about the importance of stretching and icing.

Hope BA staff are tolerant of the odd passenger in row 12 who has a t shirt round his toes and looks like he's trying to pull his foot inside out, and how he keeps asking them to fill this ziplock bag with ice.... and how every couple of hours he goes to the emergency exit and looks like he's trying to push the door open ....... mmmmm.

 Lyrics - The Ferryman, Ralph McTell - Obscure indeed after the Ant Alien thingy band watsit!

Another old TMA hand here. I've done three courses but am taking a two-year break while I do my reflexology training.

Wabo
It's a great relief when you get a TMA in the post, isn't it? Have you called your tutor about the missing one?

Mellifera / Flyaway
We feed the birds, but not at this time of year. Had heard you weren't supposed to while they're breeding (something about the littl'uns needing food like flies and grubs rather than breadcrumbs which they don't digest so well?) But I may be wrong...
Anyway we only have red squirrels and every year a bit more of their woodland habitat gets ploughed up so we tend to encourage them. They seem to stay under the walnut tree rather than coming near the bird table. More of a problem is birds like magpies and jays taking all the food before the smaller birds get a look in.

What: 6x400s (1:48 - 1:52) this morning and 4.3k recovery later
Why: trying to get back into 5k training
Lyrics: no

For the early evening run I wore my Nike Frees and they were fantastic. I wear them a lot but had never run in them before. Very tempted to try a 5k race in them. What's the worst that can happen?  

Evening all, race report from the Michelmores 5K

Close & humid, but not quite raining.  Gathering around the cathedral, PA system & aerobics instructor conducting warm-up routines - a surprising number join in!

Wave 1 start for those in red shirts; stake my place at the front for the 5 minute wait & blue start.  Chip timing so it will all be evened out in the end.  After 3 minutes they start us, and we're away.  Given that I'm leading what are meant to be a collection of 500 joggers & walkers I'm rather surprised to be overtaken by a couple of runners after about 200m  - but I can't stay with them.

1st K in 3:40 - and it felt quick!
2nd K in 4:27 - twisting & turning, and into the joggers at the back of the red start
3rd K in 4:10 - more overtaking, kerb hopping & a bit of uphill.  Get overtaken by a 3rd blue shirt.
4th K in 4:47 - steeper bit of uphill, lots more overtaking, overtake 3rd blue shirt
5th K in 4:07 - downhill to finish

Overall 21:10, slower than my 10K pace but a 5K PB to beat next time.

A few drinks at the pub at the finish, then the prize giving.  Much to my surprise the team I was drafted in to won the corporate cup!  Ridiculously large, and embarrassing photo taken for local paper.

In summary - a rather poor run, but a lot of fun.

RFJ - ugh!

Flyaway/Scooby, the M-dot brand is pretty much all the same (big red M with dot above) but some races have slightly modified ones. Some people just get the symbol. My existing one is modified so that the German flag is in the dot; I had planned just to add more dots with flag colours down my calf as I do more. However, the Florida state flag is pretty tricky, so I'm getting another M with the IMFlorida sunburst instead of a dot, with the whole thing smaller than the first one. Complicated!