Chase the Bunny by StephenWright

Phew!

This week I was working in Leeds and Birmingham (Tues-Fri) and so had to adapt my training programme to the conditions and being away from home. It was certainly cold "oop north" and I was in Jane Tomlinson territory. The ground was icy and after a long day at work I decided to decamp to the hotel, and with no gym there I took advantage of the free access to LA Fitness gym in the city centre. It was certainly different to the Walnuts (local authority) gym in Orpington - with trendy music, big plasma screens and "secluded lighting" in the 20m pool. V enjoyable and I spent about 90 minutes there. Not quite the 2 miles per programme but okay I thought.

Thursday I was scheduled for a 7-mile run. I was now in Birmingham and so went to a brand-newly-built Tudor Grange Leisure Centre where I did some 25 mins on the stepper before attending the scheduled Body Balance class. I enjoyed the class so much that I did it again on the Friday!  So core strength well catered for and some aerobics done.

Saturday back home and to Larkfield, in Kent for the first aquathon of the year, and my second ever after 'Clash of the Tritons' last August.. This was asmall but well-organised event with a 500m pool swim followed by a 5k run round an industrial estate just beyond the M20. Now it's fair to say that I haven't done much swimming this year, and with the exception of the trendy pool in Leeds I'd swam less than 500m all year. So needless to say my 500m at race pace was questionable, and rather annoyingly a "boy" who started 1 minute after me was able to catch up in the snake course as we did 2 x 10 lengths of 25 m. Then there was a relaxed transition period of 10 minutes - enough time to change into full running gear, have a couple of goes on the slide, then head out for the 5k course. I completed the swim course in 11:44 and then the 5k in 22:45. This put me 29th out of 40 finishers.

I felt slightly disappointed with the result in that my swim time let me down, so I decided today that I needed to get back on form. Having ducked out of my 16-mile run the previous sunday, and in fact not having run over 10-miles in this whole training season, I decided to head out and do at least 16 miles for today's long run. I couldn't sleep on Saturday night and so rose at 5am, made some porridge, then set off at 5:20am. It was dark but not too cold. I donned hat, three layers and an iPod with a podrunner (1h) track at constant pace. I basically headed off from Orpington, then to Petts Wood, Chislehurst, through somewhat secluded roads (a bit unwise!) then back to urban streets heading towards Bromley. I arrived at the city limits after 1 hour, changed podcast tracks, drank my whole sports drink, then continued on for another hour to return home at 12 miles (just before 7am).  I needed to return because of a desire to make a Paula Radcliffe type stop, but I didn't want to break any council byelaws. After this I felt much better, and as the sun was rising I removed one layer, put the ipod down and then headed out for a further 6 miles. It was spectacular to be out so early and get so much fresh air, with almost no-one else to spoil the dawn. The GPS his 18 miles after 3:03 and at 8:20am. I returned home, showered and then spent most of the morning snoozing. Then it was lunch at my parents' house, further snoozing in the afternoon, and now at 9:25pm I feel like I could sleep for a week!!

I will count up the total mileage done since January and I wonder where I will be?  We're now looking at Week 9 - a Tue 6M, Thr 6M, Sun 6M. Lovely. I will be spending Tuesday in Liverpol and Wednesday in Glasgow. Can't resist doing some remote training so yet again the training guide will be thrown out of the train window!

Also got a mild fundraising boost and am close to £400. Keep it up fellas! It means a lot to me and all the little puppies with their cute vets.