Been a bit of an off week for running, really, work and illness getting in the way.

Mon 27.10

nothing

Tue 28.10

zip

Wed 29.10

nada

Thu 30.10

5k

Fri 31.10

3k

Sat 01.11

resting

Sun 02.11

3k

Mon 03.11

rest

Tue 04.11

5k

Wed 05.11

5k

Thu 06.11

rest

Fri 07.11

more rest

Sat 08.11

even more rest

Sun 09.11

5k

11k and 15k respectively. These two weeks were pretty full-on workwise, but usually I can use running or the gym to relax: was just too keyed-up to get out of the house.

The main reason I was so stressed was a meeting in London over two days, and for the first time ever I took my trainers on a trip with me. Running in London was brilliant – more active and demanding in lots of ways, and I didn’t really have a chance to get into a rhythm apart from along the Embankment, but really exhilarating to be faster than everything else. Beating taxis, owning bus lanes, moving outside the usual crowd dynamics – at speed you see spaces between groups that don’t exist at a more pedestrian pace. Felt like some kind of superhero.

Did something tricky to my back though, probably hopping off a kerb or swerving past someone outside Holborn, which rather brought me down to Earth again on Wednesday. Think a gym week might be in order, as there seem to be lots of bits of my back and legs that aren’t hanging together very well at the moment. Though perhaps my lack of feeling fluent has more to do with learning that a colleague of mine used to run ultramarathons.

Despite feeling ropey though I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else at 4pm this afternoon, running along the gorge with the post-storm sun low through the bright yellow leaves, and watching the last of the clouds disappear over the hills to the south.

Mon 20.10

rest

Tue 21.10

another rest (felt pretty ropey)

Wed 22.10

more rest (felt really bloody awful, to be honest)

Thu 23.10

5k

Fri 24.10

3k

Sat 25.10

back to resting

Sun 26.10

full of cold

It looks like my attempts to dodge the cold that’s been sweeping around the office like a practice run for bird flu have been less successful than I thought. And staying up late on Friday night with T and K probably didn’t help any. Official wellness break.

8k: could do better, see me.

Mon 13.10

gym

Tue 14.10

7k

Wed 15.10

3k

Thu 16.10

9.5k

Fri 17.10

rest

Sat 18.10

even longer rest

Sun 19.10

8k

Thursday’s run was meant to be a 10k, important to me because the last time I ran 10k it was a big event, and one of my goals has been to get to the stage where 10k is a lunchtime jog. Which it very nearly was, and had I been a little more accurate with the cursor it might still have been. As it was, it was a pretty good run, not sure I would have done it as well on my own (so thanks, Tim) but it felt pretty good. Lovely day too.

And I was a kilometer out on my guess for Sunday’s run as well. Will be looking at pedometers and suchlike, I think, though I’ve been trying to avoid going gadgety for as long as possible. I like the romance of running through leaves and tables of numbers bore me, but I guess soon I’ll need to take more notice of how long it takes me to do things if I want to improve.

There’s a path up to Leigh Woods from the towpath that I noticed a few people turning onto. Might think about that once I’ve got the 10k done. 27.5k this week.

At some point in the future I will branch out and start adding times as well (that is, length of run, not just times. 07.31: sunrise. 10.41: first tide. 21.30: last waltz & taxis).

Mon 06.10

gym

Tue 07.10

5k

Wed 08.10

gym

Thu 09.10

3k

Fri 10.10

9k

Sat 11.10

rest

Sun 12.10

5k

The gym was hard: first time back for a couple of months and, surprisingly, the only thing I was any good at was running. Out on Tuesday morning, as the sun came up (much easier to write that in the winter), I felt like Snow White as I scattered birds from my path: a panting, heavy-footed Snow White, dressed in fluorescent yellow. Running isn’t the best way to discover nature – by the time I’ve seen something it’s run away or I’ve gone past it.

Going to the gym on Wednesday was probably a bad idea for someone who has to dress themselves. Arms were back to normal by the weekend though, in time for the worst run ever: glorious day, afternoon run along the gorge but stiff and clunky, legs too long and kept hitting the ground ahead of schedule. First time for years I’ve gone for a run and felt it was just a slog. Was busy, as well, with cyclists behaving like SUVs and runners behaving like cyclists and pedestrians walking out in front of anything they could find.

22k this week. Longer and less frequent seems the way forward, if I’m going to be in the gym more.

Dickens wishes he thought of serialising this instead of wasting all that time on orphans and inheritances. Number tumpty in a series of thriftyneen.

Mon 29.09

5k

Tue 30.09

5k

Wed 01.10

5k

Thu 02.10

5k

Fri 03.10

8.5k

Sat 04.10

rest

Sun 05.10

7k

Saw a fox on Monday, running as the sun came up: it was scared from the track by a freight train and dropped heavily onto the path in front of me, pausing just to register me before speeding into the bushes on the mudflats.

That’s 35.5k this week. Probably better to do a couple of short runs and the gym in place of a couple of the 5ks. I found that the last one was a real struggle, although I had the same time as usual, around 27min, and I think a bit of variety might help.

And I bought a pair of Ron Hill tracksters and a high-vis lightweight running jacket. I’ve always associated this sort of outfit with proper sportspeople, so I suppose this marks some kind of boundary. They’re nice to run in, though, and hopefully they’ll keep me running outside over winter instead of being stuck in the gym.