running home by Alaistair

Walked into a telling off this morning from my Physio, should’ve seen it coming but in a momentary lapse of concentration let my guard down and blurted out I’d run the York Park Run on Saturday. I know shouldn’t be running, well not just yet but figured a gentle jog wouldn’t hurt. Think he’s forgiven me, especially when he seemed pleased with the progress I’ve made in the last three weeks…at the end of the appointment he almost relented with the running ban but stopped short at permitting the introduction of a very gentle jogging for the next couple of weeks. I can live with that?

Anyway, the Park Run, my daughter has claimed her second victory smoking me over the final 50 yards. Can honestly admit that couldn’t have kept up if I tried…get this injury sorted and my time will come hee hee hee! Her recorded finish time for 5K was 27:31…how cool is that at her second attempt. My intention is to hold back her effort until her fitness improves as she seems to struggle mentally over the second mile. Just can’t hold back her enthusiasm though, not that I would want to, just gotta keep it fun.

Sunday reported for Marshalling duty at the York Brass Monkey Half. Conditions were dreadful, about 8 degrees but incredibly windy and as the route offers little cover the runners had a right battering. Nice to see a couple of Real Buzzers at the race, Dizzie1981 & RuddysMarathonEffort both finishing very respectably easily under 2 hrs. Figure the grimace on Denise’s face at the finish summed up her enjoyment levels…roll on spring or what!

Hit the gym again today and plan to be in there every day mon-fri for as long as it takes. My sessions have been put together under the guidance of the Physio and am working with a rehabilitation trainer, so they have to date been pretty full on. This weekend my legs were racked with DOMS which just goes to show how much I’ve been neglecting vital areas. Stretching helped ease the aches and they had all but faded ready for todays effort. Most of the program I’m following is fairly straight forward but what’s killing me in the middle of each session are the:

15x3 Squats

15x3 Lunges-on the Spot

10x3 3 Stage Squats

1 min Walking Lunges

finishing with

15x3 Sumo Squats

Clearly need to do much more of this as by the end of all these sets my legs are like jelly. Hoping for no more DOMS this week and will include this aspect in every session.

Certainly feeling much more positive going into this week, I’ve been buoyed hugely by a couple of really inspirational interviews on the Marathon Talk Podcasts. I’ve been aware of the site for best part of a year but never bothered to listen to the Podcasts. Currently whilst I listen to each weeks new offering have also dipped into the archive to discover some real gems. Favourite so far is the interview with Welsh running legend Steve Jones…didn’t realise but he holds the British Marathon record 2:07:13 set in Chicago in 1985! Have had a snippet of the Ron Hill interview and am so looking forward to dusting that off…