Zen and the lifting of heavy things.

10:37

7:40

7:34

8:07

8:56

7:19

== 50:16

No excuses.

11:20

8:13

8:09

9:15

9:59

9:08

== 56:07.

No excuses. I may have been running slow, but I ran it.

10:53

7:50

7:46

8:41

9:12

8:08

== 52:31

The thing about discipline running in the pouring rain is that after the first kilometre, you’re as wet as you’re going to get, so you might as well keep going. Also, water cooling is generally more efficient than air cooling.

10:41

7:46

7:44

8:44

10:38

8:04

==  53:38

No excuses.

I forgot how to push the buttons on my watch, because I’ve had ten days without running, and therefore ran like shit anyway. Tomorrow will be better.

11:14

7:37

7:34

8:41

9:20

7:34

== 51:53

No excuses.

So last night I was chatting to Andy the carp, who is quite the fitness freak (biking, running, kayaking, you name it), and he suggested we go running together this morning. I was looking forward to getting my arse kicked, but he brought a friend of his who is in decent shape but not, as he puts it, in running shape – my first big hill was a struggle, my second did him no good at all, and from then on we joggeda little, walked a little. So a relaxed 5k today, and no times.

But it was useful because he brought a calibrated pedometer! I think what I’ve been calling 3k is more like 4, which makes the 5 more like 6.5 and the 7 more like 9. Not that it really matters, so long as I’m doing the same route and trying to improve my own time, but kinda interesting to see just how far I do run.

After getting back into the weights yesterday, I am sore sore sore. Today, I think I have a bath and stretch. Being a fitness bunny I can handle, but stretching? I think I’m turning into a hippy.

Bleh. And I know, I’m nursing an injury, and I know, I’ve just run 7K. Still bleh.

db rows: 2×8@54

Front raises: 2×8@22

db squats: 2×12@44

Vertical rows:2×12@44

Bicep curls:  2×8@22

kb lifts: 25/20@54

num-dip-crunch-super-invert: 23/25/30/45s/40s – 22/25/40/45s/40s
(That’s writing numbers, dips, leg raised crunches with 22lb weight, superman and … superman the other way round)  Could have gone harder on the first set, judging by the numbers on the second.

10:45

8:04

8:01

8:43

9:33

7:04

== 52:10

8 seconds. Fuck. I was pretty sure I’d be slower (and so I was!), but in the last 2 minutes I thought “Fuck it, I can make it!”. 8 fucking seconds.

The last 2 weeks I’ve run 29k each week, split over 5 days. This week I’m trying to boost that to 35k – 7 a day, 5 days. We’ll see. I’m also going to start lifting again – no excuses. The shoulder is fine for everything except Bench Press, that’s a whole lot of stuff I could be doing. In addition to 4 trapeze sessions and 2 straps classes. It’s time to really get serious….

To which end, thanks to my lovely wife, I now own a watch.  Todays 7k breaks down as follows (these are not “per kilometre”, these are defined “stages” on the run:

10:22

7:27

8:10

8:10

9:35

8:17

== 52:02