More By Accident Than Design

I’m still tapering on the bus and again considering a lunchtime run but again I don’t risk it. The new sensible me.

Its rains on me, of course, but this is nothing compared to what it’s apparently going to do on Sunday. Great, another wet bike ride.

I get an email from the Great Manchester Swim people proclaiming ‘Five weeks to go’. Eeek! Entering such things is part of the old unsensible side of me.

Another Friday, you can never have too many Fridays. I offer L a pasta night ahead of her event tomorrow but she gives that suggestion short shrift. Friday is Thai night, regardless of the event.

Not a problem. Glad to be of service.

She even ends up being AF, more by accident than design. She just doesn’t seem to get around to it. Never mind, more units for the rest of the weekend. 

(Friday 29^th May)

Another Comeback Run

It’s windy today, so I take the bus and get another free ride because they don’t turn up in a coach again.

I attempt a lunchtime run. Run Report...

Calves: Very tight until I stopped to stretch them, probably should have done that before I started.

Knee: Sore at the start but got better as I went along. Throbbing afterwards though.

Blisters: Lost one plaster but fine

Side strain: Recovered

New Shoes: Seem good

Fitness: Knackered, wheezed all the way round.

Anyhow 5k done.

L says I don't sound much like a 25 year old. I’m sure it was a misprint and should have been

125. All the same, I enter us both in next weekend’s Not The Roman IX which is 12k. I mean, why not.

L is home alone with the boys tonight as I’m out on the razz in Bingham. If such a thing is possible in Bingham.

She’s having a girlie night in tonight but without the wine/chocolate and with a closed back door. Although I’m not sure she’s ran this plan past MD.

In Bingham we settle in at the Horse and Plough with a pint of Dark Star Original which is 5%, very dark and very nice. We manage to get two in before we tour the sights. The sights are disappointing as the Chesterfield has nothing above the Doom Bar standard and the Wetherspoons isn’t much better but we end up staying there. We end up on the Abbot.

(Friday 9^th January)

The Important Bit

My lunch time run was as good as expected. Which is to say ‘not great bad’ but ‘not bad’. Hardly fast and also not pain free. Luckily my next event the Sundowner Half Ironman isn’t for a full 18 days. L though helpfully suggests I should perhaps downgrade to the sprint event. Never. I’ll be fine. The run can be muddled (crawled) through, the bike section is the important bit and the swim... that’s just the bit you have to get through to get to the important bit.

Talking of ‘that’ bit, I go to John Carroll pool after work and it’s packed. Where are they all coming from? They really have to stop encouraging these people to get fit.

I end up in lane number one purely because it has the most space and then, of course, I have to justify my place there by swimming fast enough.

(Tuesday 19^th August)

Time To Let Our Hair Down

At lunchtime I do another 5k run and then after work I swim. For once, I arrive at a near empty pool and get a lane to myself. It’s so good that if anyone had tried to join me I would have started backstroking to stop them. I swim 60 lengths.

Daughter has temporarily gone back to Sheffield ready to do clearing for the university tomorrow and is staying until Saturday. So we have the house to ourselves... we can let our hair down for a bit and have a Friday night, every night. 

(Wednesday 13^th August)

The Risk Of Falling In The River

On the bike today and I even go out for the run at lunchtime. The run is a bit unpleasant down by the river with flies everywhere. It’s incredibly difficult to run if you have to keep your mouth and eyes closed. It makes breathing difficult and there’s also the risk of falling in the river.

I bike home, and then head off to dog training.

(Wednesday 14^th May)

Bicep Strengthening

I run at lunchtime, again doing 5.57km in 27:14. L also runs today. Proving she’s clearly as fit as she looks and not as unfit as she thinks she is.

With hindsight my own run was probably a bad idea as I now have a tight calf ahead of my swim tonight. So I could be using the pull buoy to float my legs for the entire 61 lengths or however many my watch decides I’ve done.

All that bicep strengthening in the water will be good for the ball chucking to come later on. Then again you’d think all the ball chucking would be good bicep strengthening for swimming? Although as I only use one arm to ball chuck, this may explain my inability to keep to a straight line in the water.

(Wednesday 26^th March)