My route hates me but my fish loves me

There is no other reason that I can think of about why I find the shortest, flattest, most simple and non-looped route, the hardest one I do! 2.93miles. No traffic or roads to cross. Scenic. No up and down curbs. Pretty flat. How is this not easy for me!! Why does it hurt so much???

I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that it's under 3 miles. It means that by the time I get into my stride, I've almost finished. It means the run I do is the first 20mins of pain and then a few minutes of finishing. I had a target time of 8 m/m yesterday which would have been 23:26 and just couldn't do it. I finished in 24.31 which is 8.22 m/m. That's the pace I'd need to run the Royal Parks in to complete it under 1:50:00!! I struggled to do it for 3 miles!! Madness.

The evening continued with it's usual after run thing of Biofreeze gel and compression sleeve on my left calf and shin. Not sure what to do about this injury really. I go through the 10 miler fine wearing the beautiful compression sleeve I mentioned the other day. You remember the one right? Yes this one. It means I'm confident of doing the distance but could really do with the ability to walk after the shorter runs. Maybe I'll just have to wear it for every run I do. Have anyone tried running in compression socks? Do they work with regards to stopping the aches and pains arriving too early?

Got to see LG last night which was good though. She's very busy at work and is constantly being sent round the country at the moment and working 17 hr days! Hopefully it won't last much longer though as I tend to buy things and find new hobbies when I get bored and she's not there to keep an eye on me. Even more so after hearing that eatingtrees is building himself a fixie now. A building stuff project!! I'm very jealous.

To my new toy that arrived last week then. Well what can I say. It's bloody awesome and I love it. Review??? Well it's a bike. You pedal and move. It appears that I've already started the 'accessorising' of it though. Semi-slick road tyres (specialized nimbus), and an NC-17 single Speed Freewheel 13t sprocket on the way to make it a bit more of a challenge and to give me more speed! Eventually if my plans to do a triathlon next year continue, I'll need to sort myself a geared road bike but for now I couldn't be happier with this one!!

FISH UPDATE:
Anyone who knows me through facebook will have heard about mine and LG's forced adoption of a fish (as it was left in the flat when we moved in). Well we have now got rid of the horrible bowl he was in and got 'Flinty' (called because he's as black as flint and we moved in the weekend we won the ashes) a new tank, filter and gravel and this coming weekend, we will have a friend join him and a bit of greenery. I'm not sure how you tell what a happy fish is but he's certainly moving around a lot more and also quicker so we're taking it as a good sign!! 


Hauling My Carcass: Saving the planet one bike and fish at a time!

Thank you

to anyone who kept their fingers crossed. The new toy arrived!!!

A good weekend all round!

My weekend was goooood!! 2 runs, some partying, seeing a flat we love and not crying in pain through injury! Rock on!!!

I headed out for my 4.6 mile Putney/Hammersmith bridge loop with eatingtrees on Saturday as he was in the neighbourhood and despite a couple of stop and stretch sessions due to him having been on the bike too long and us both nearly dying after the 200m sprint across Hammersmith bridge, it was all good. I have to stretch before and after sessions now because of the back/hip thing but it appears to work with only slight aching now rather than actual pain. It was way off a good time but we purposely didn't even take a watch. Mostly just chatted (not proper, more like word, breath, word, breath, word, breath) and dawdled along. Then we headed off to a leaving party for a friend who's heading back to NZ. Jealous. Hell yeah!

Obviously drank too much and had a hangover come Sunday morning but nothing a sausage sarnie and espresso doesn't sort. Really good to chat to someone who's doing her first ever Sprint triathlon in a couple of weeks though and seeing how she was getting on with training. There was a definite group split with the people talking about exercise and then the rest of the normal people and our group was a lot smaller. We know our place in the grand scheme of things!

Then Sunday myself and LG continued our flat searching, for a place that will be good for us. I got a call in the afternoon to say we could go for a viewing if we fancied. I'd seen the pics and wanted to see it but wasn't that excited. Anyway, we'd decided to run on Sunday anyway so by killing 2 birds with 1 stone and thus ensuring that after, the rest of my afternoon could be spent sitting on my arse watching The Open on BBC and listening to the cricket commentary on TMS, we chose to run to and from the viewing. Only a mile and a bit away but going there, it's ALL uphill!! Plus we ran back on a longer loop ensuring we weren't too lazy and I think completed around 3.5miles in total. I think we had extra adrenalin because despite the photos, the place was lovely!! High ceilings, LOADS of natural light, large balcony plus a communal garden and most importantly, space for this!

This will be my new toy. YAY!!! Doing it through the Ride 2 Work scheme which means I'll be able to cycle 6 miles every day which will keep my joints loose and only pay about 50% of the cost due to the government tax break and I'll have a gorgeous bike!

This morning (after looking at the flat again last night), we've agreed to take it which means it's all good and LG can start planning the entire layout including beds, new furniture, bookcases, TV, cooking stuff and all manner of bits and pieces while I drool over a picture of a bike and organise a van! Nice!

Dropping out like a dropping out thing from dropping out-ville

I'm pulling out of the Thames Towpath HM. This really annoys me but the fact is, the maximum distance I've run in the last 3 months is 10k a couple of times and as I've been taking it easy due to these stupid re-occurring hip/back/hamstring problems and even though I might be able to walk/run my way through the miles in a very slow time, I just don't think I'll enjoy it if I can't push.

I think my time would be better spent building up to the Hard As Snails 10k in August and then the Surrey Badger HM at the beginning of Sept ultimately leading the the Royal Parks HM in Oct. This makes a lot more sense to me rather than accidentally causing more injuries while trying to haul my carcass around 13.1 miles when not fit enough. I want to enjoy my running, not endure it.

It's a shame as it looks like an awesome event as it's a point to point run but I just can't do it. It's a sold out event so if someone wants to run it in my place, get in contact via e-mail and I'll try and dig out the details from home.

On the injury front, things are getting better with a lot of stretching and walking while on Skye so it's looking like it's doing some good so just keeping by fingers crossed at the moment and trying to build some fitness back up. Incidentally, Skye's bloody amazing. Absolutely beautiful place (when you get lucky with the weather) and some great places to do some long walks.

On another note, I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment. I have a great landlord and he's currently completely renovating a lovely flat for myself and LG but there is one sticking point. Due to the law about escape access, he won't allow a bike ANYWHERE on the property. This is a real pain as I really want to get myself a single speed mountain bike to cycle to work and back every day. It'll save me money and get me fitter but we just can't work out whether to stick with the landlord and not have a bike or go elsewhere in a place that feels less like home and get the bike. I just can't work out the best option and it's becoming a real pain. The place the is being readied for us is great. Some quality items like NEFF ovens etc so it will be wonderful but no bike is a tough call!! I don't want to have to leave it on the path permanently even if it is locked up. I just can't work it out!

Anyway, sorry for the dullness of today's blog, maybe I should be sponsored by NightNurse. I promise the next one to be full of fun, laughter and joy!