Friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiday

Boom, the weather's back! Spankingly glorious morning, and a long run to enjoy it. Well, long by my standards - clocked this one in at over four and a half miles, and therefore broke the hold of the 3.x milers. No problem, either. It's all good fitness wise! I reckon I'm already back to the kind of running form I was in towards the end of the Summer 2K7, before I got lazy. I've already done more running this year than in the last two put together, and I don't think I'm far off my total from 2K7 either. I'm certainly running further than I was back then!

Might start looking at a couple of 10K races to train up to and enter, see if I can raise some dollar for charidee along the way.

So, today's route:







Musical accopmaniment: Whitesnake

Cooler, and another 3.x miles

Cooler morning this morning. Particularly after the schorching weather we've had over the weekend. Cool breeze too; not bad conditions for running in. Didn't realise how cool it was until I got home and into the shower though, and my fingers began the warming up process.

It seems that 3.x miles has become the new 2.x miles. Happily knocking them off easily of a morning now; the last four, and five of the last six, runs have all been over three miles. The four mile mark is the next barrier, I guess. I did kind of think I was going to hit it this morning, but turned out quarter of a mile short. Nice run though - went down into Swannington, along the main drag, and then back to Whitwick via Jeffcoats Lane and Limby Hall Road. Very pretty altogether.

The route was nice, and a lot of it was downhill. Unfortunately, you can work out that what goes down must come up, and the last part of the run was aggressively uphill. You can see it on the blue altitude graph on the right hand side of the image below (from my phone GPS & Nokia Sports Tracker). I've also plotted it up using the tools at mapmyrun.com which you can also see below. Kept going though, kept grafting!











Music: Motley Crue

Scorchio, and up the Swanny

What a weekend it has been. Hot, hot, hot weather which continued into this morning, meaning running was a sweaty business. You'd think I might opt for an easy run, might you not? There must be something wrong with me, as I slogged it up Loughborough Road, and again up Swannymote Road. Lovely weather, but not lovely hills. Not on foot, anyway.

Still, turned out nice. Saw cattle, bulls and pheasants, and some lovely countryside. I love living out here, it's ace. Beats running in the city hands down. Not that I ever did too much of that, mind.

Music: Pendulum

Running = good. Dropping phone = bad!

Beautiful morning this morning. Summer seems to have landed early, however briefly it stays. It was apleasure to be up and about this morning, and I decided to head off down towards Thringstone woods and to Grace Dieu priory. Wasn't sure how far it would end up being, but that's a bit less of an issue these days.

Bad start though - contrived to drop my phone as I was coming down Hervey Woods. Didn't appear to be any obvious ill effects, so on I went. All was fine, and I was motoring along nicely - got to the woods and decided to take a picture of the bluebells, very picturesque. That was obviously too much for my concussed phone, and it siezed up. Still playing music though, so I decided to carry on and see if it would unfreeze.

It didn't. So when I got to the priory I stopped and spent five minutes rebooting it and teasing it back into operation. Took a couple of pics of the ruins while I was there to test the camera. Once everything was operational again I restarted the GPS tracking (which had aborted - it recovered my run, but now it's in two halves) and slapped on some new tunes and headed home.

Which in itself wasn't without incident - got tripped up by a bloody dog. Wasn't happy. People should control the things, or not let them off the lead.

Bah.

Still, top run - really enjoyed the running part, even if the whole "event" was marred by technology problems and canine intervention. Wound up being somewhere around three and three quarter miles, which felt good.

Music: Pendulum (pre-phone crash); Guns 'n' Roses (post-phone crash)

Warm, and fun!

Warm morning this morning: ventured out without my jacket on for the first time. Wasn't bright and sunny, but dull and warm. Perfect conditions, really. Slept well last night too, so everything was primed for a decent run this morning.

So it panned out. Decided on a bit of a longer one, and revisited Foan Hill for the second time, but in the other direction. It's a great run, Spring Lane - which I ran up last time - is a nice long downhill coast. Obviously you hit Foan Hill and then Red Hill, and then Talbot Lane, which makes the return trip somewhat exhausting, but I was doing okay!

Was out a little longer this morning, but covered more distance and still felt strong at the end. Bodes well. I might start upping the distance again, depending on the weather and time constraints. Didn't seem to be an issue fitness-wise.

Music: Metallica

Still going

Top weekend. Top morning running! All good!

Up and over Redhill today - it was bright and sunny and almost warm. Great views over the countryside; spent much of yesterday driving around the Peak District, and the views were just as good this morning!








Music: Faith No More

Got a little bit lost, but it all worked out in the end!

As exciting blog post titles go, that isn't, is it?

It was a tough one getting up this morning; proper rubbing sleep out of my eyes and stretching. Mouth felt dry, back felt stiff... not great when you're thinking about running a few miles. Went downstairs, let Boomer in and kitted up (trainers, jacket, headphones, phone...) and set off. Slowly!

Didn't fancy seeing my time if I did my only recognised timeable route, so set off for pastures new, and picked up the footpath down by the old winding wheel at City of Dan. BIt of a slope, and then there's a kids playground on the right, followed by a footpath. Which I took. Sense of direction was working fine (and I've always got the maps on the phone if I get proper lost!) and I ended up at a T-junction, where I turned right, back towards Whitwick. I presumed.

Plodded along for a bit not recognising anything, and starting to have the beginnings of doubt in my mind until I passed a road name I recognised, and then I was suddenly back on familiar turf. Which was nice.

Kinds of picked up my wind at this point. Most people get a second wind - this was my first one. I was enjoying the run today, it had snuck up on me! So I carried on, made a couple of different route choices which avoided the quick route home, and ended up posting more than three miles. It wasn't quick, it wasn't pretty to begin with, but it was fun!

Another week's running done and dusted!

Music: Stone Sour

Grey day, and a new PM

David Cameron's the Prime Minister. It's a grey and miserable day outside. Coincidence? I'll let you decide!

We went out for a meal last night at around seven o'clock, and when we came back the government of the country was being announced. Looks like a decent representation for the Lib Dems, with some interesting policy compromises on both sides. Referendum on PR or AV, and I think the 10K basic rate for Income Tax is still in there, so not all bad news!

Running this morning was reasonable - managed to clock the same time for The Loop as I did on Friday, which was somewhat surprising because it didn't feel "quick", nor did it feel "easy". I guess that's good - be interesting to see what time I can post when it does feel quick and easy!

Sam was up when I got back, and I passed the other two on the stairs. Mayhem commenced while I was in the shower!

Music: Orange Goblin

Wonderful Spring morning, but hard bloomin' work!

Several of my last posts have been about how easy and good my running has been recently, and in some instances I think I might even have used words like "quick" and "fast". This morning was the one that kept the universe in balance. Tough, slow, a slog. Hard work. Tiring, mentally and physically.

Not like I went far, or fast, but every step was an act of will to keep going. Every step a tiny success of mind over matter, and of cursing myself for this madness.

Still, got out, got running, and feel a lot better for it than if I hadn't. Or do I? I don't know, and I can't prove it, so I'll just work on the assumption that I would.

Went for a spin around the lake - not been down that way for a while, and was rewarded (when I wiped the sweat out of my eyes) with new born fluffy ducklings crossing my path (I took steps to give them a wide berth), and a glorious sunrise through the rising mist on the lake. I fumbled my phone out of my pocket to take a snap.

Made it home, wished my wife happy birthday, and then off to work!

Music: Black Label Society

Not as bad as I thought it would be

Up bright and early this morning: first day back in the office post holiday. Did I mention I was going away? Perhaps not. I've spent the last week eating too much, drinking (far) too much, and generally living the life of Riley on the beach and bars of Mallorca. Had a great time, thanks. Did absolutely no exercise though, other than walking to and from the beach, bar, restaurant etc.

So, I set my alarm for this morning, and through sheer will of effort I dragged myself out of bed and onto the roads of Whitwick. Something of a shock to the system!

To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I feared it might be. Ran the clockwise loop of South Whitwick, with which I am more than a little familiar, so there was no shock there in terms of sights or sounds.

Felt good, mostly. Certainly not as bad as I was expecting. In fact, posted a pretty reasonable (by my standards) time for The Loop. So quite pleased! Edit: just looked back, and it's faster than I ran last time out, when I said that felt fast. So that's nice!

Back on the weights tonight, and then a full week next week!

Music: The Cult