An easy week this week.
Monday:
Trip to the physio to iron out the legs after a few tough weeks. He's an old boy and an old school boy. I squirm and grunt and huff and puff on the massage table. Really not enjoying it. Some of his comments, quoted directly, were:
"You're the worst person I have ever seen..."
"I categorise my patients and you're the only one I'd put into the "mess" category..."
"You can't take it..."
"You should retire immediately boy..."
"I don't know how you can even pedal a bike, never mind do an Ironman..."
Great. Well, at least it wasn't anything I didn't know - I've long known that my body is a mess, my back is a mess, my muscles are a mess, my biomechnics are a mess. I put a lot of effort into my stretching and core work and weights to try to enable me to do what I do, but I wish I wasn't such a physical mess...
My foot still hurts and I've been creaming it with expensive Arnica cream and various other supposed "miracle creams", none of which are having the magic bullet effect. Only time will tell, but I hope it clears quickly.
Tuesday:
Already the easy week is not going to plan - I'd have liked 2 days off in a row, but work commitments meant an overnighter in England in mid-week, which meant I had to cycle tonight, and run when in England, and have the second day off later in the week. It was a nice evening and I headed out to Gladhouse reservoir with Kev, a nice easy 2 and a half hour spin out. Enjoyed it.
Wednesday:
Ran first thing in the morning, managed an easy 30 minutes. Foot felt better running that it does walking. Headed for England. I knew there'd be a lot of walking and carrying bags and time on my feet. None of which were needed, but I had to get through it. The hotel didn't even have a bath - I had planned a long hot bath. Had to go to a conference dinner. Dinner was nice but so inadequate. I was hungry 5 minutes later. Didn't touch any drink. Got back to the hotel at midnight. Ravenous. Pleaded with receptionists for food. Pleading efforts were rewarded with an apple. Better than nothing.
Thursday:
Terrible sleep. Hotel room was boiling. All day on my feet or sitting in a cramped uncomfortable train seat. Got home. Stretched back. Went straight to bed. Not the rest day you would want.
Friday:
Easy swim. Did 2300 yards at 1:44.5/100m pace. Fairly unremarkable.
Saturday:
Again juggling the plans - usually I'd cycle, but went to the Peebles Parkrun with Deirdre. I did an easy hour of running along the river Tweed cycleway - all off-road and really nice - river, trees, forest,hills, quiet. Enjoyed it, even though I am spending every minute of my runs waiting for my foot to go big-style. It hasn't happened yet and I've no idea how I am getting away with my running, given that I can't walk properly.
I'd heard about the Peebles Pies ages ago, you get them from a butcher's/baker's called Forsyth's. Last time I was in Peebles was for the duathlon in September. It was on a Sunday. The pie place was closed and I was gutted. Got a steak pie and a lasagne pie. Tremendous.
Sunday:
Easy bike day. Took the hybrids out for a spin over the Forth bridge. 2 and a half hours in total in the saddle, with a few stops/scones/sandwiches, meant it was an all-afternoon jaunt. The bridges really are very impressive. There's the 19th century rail bridge, the 20th century road bridge (now closed to all traffic except bikes, pedestrians and the odd bus/taxi), and the 21st century new motorway bridge, all lined up. Nowhere else in the world do you get 3 centuries spanning one waterway in such close proximity.
It's a bit weird crossing the old road bridge, I remember crossing it years ago when heading to Edinburgh or the central belt from Aberdeen for running races. Or even when I first moved to Edinburgh, the new bridge wasn't finished. Now the old bridge is like a ghost bridge - no cars, no noise, just a few bikes, a few walkers and when the occasional bus rumbles across, the whole bridge vibrates and you think it's no wonder they had to close it and build a new one, and hopefully it won't fall apart before we get across to the other side...
Training was as follows:
Swim 2.1km, Cycle 70 miles, Run 12 miles
Monday:
Trip to the physio to iron out the legs after a few tough weeks. He's an old boy and an old school boy. I squirm and grunt and huff and puff on the massage table. Really not enjoying it. Some of his comments, quoted directly, were:
"You're the worst person I have ever seen..."
"I categorise my patients and you're the only one I'd put into the "mess" category..."
"You can't take it..."
"You should retire immediately boy..."
"I don't know how you can even pedal a bike, never mind do an Ironman..."
Great. Well, at least it wasn't anything I didn't know - I've long known that my body is a mess, my back is a mess, my muscles are a mess, my biomechnics are a mess. I put a lot of effort into my stretching and core work and weights to try to enable me to do what I do, but I wish I wasn't such a physical mess...
My foot still hurts and I've been creaming it with expensive Arnica cream and various other supposed "miracle creams", none of which are having the magic bullet effect. Only time will tell, but I hope it clears quickly.
Tuesday:
Already the easy week is not going to plan - I'd have liked 2 days off in a row, but work commitments meant an overnighter in England in mid-week, which meant I had to cycle tonight, and run when in England, and have the second day off later in the week. It was a nice evening and I headed out to Gladhouse reservoir with Kev, a nice easy 2 and a half hour spin out. Enjoyed it.
Wednesday:
Ran first thing in the morning, managed an easy 30 minutes. Foot felt better running that it does walking. Headed for England. I knew there'd be a lot of walking and carrying bags and time on my feet. None of which were needed, but I had to get through it. The hotel didn't even have a bath - I had planned a long hot bath. Had to go to a conference dinner. Dinner was nice but so inadequate. I was hungry 5 minutes later. Didn't touch any drink. Got back to the hotel at midnight. Ravenous. Pleaded with receptionists for food. Pleading efforts were rewarded with an apple. Better than nothing.
Thursday:
Terrible sleep. Hotel room was boiling. All day on my feet or sitting in a cramped uncomfortable train seat. Got home. Stretched back. Went straight to bed. Not the rest day you would want.
Friday:
Easy swim. Did 2300 yards at 1:44.5/100m pace. Fairly unremarkable.
Saturday:
Again juggling the plans - usually I'd cycle, but went to the Peebles Parkrun with Deirdre. I did an easy hour of running along the river Tweed cycleway - all off-road and really nice - river, trees, forest,hills, quiet. Enjoyed it, even though I am spending every minute of my runs waiting for my foot to go big-style. It hasn't happened yet and I've no idea how I am getting away with my running, given that I can't walk properly.
They build tunnels under roads so you don't have to cross them. My kind of thinking.
I'd heard about the Peebles Pies ages ago, you get them from a butcher's/baker's called Forsyth's. Last time I was in Peebles was for the duathlon in September. It was on a Sunday. The pie place was closed and I was gutted. Got a steak pie and a lasagne pie. Tremendous.
Sunday:
Easy bike day. Took the hybrids out for a spin over the Forth bridge. 2 and a half hours in total in the saddle, with a few stops/scones/sandwiches, meant it was an all-afternoon jaunt. The bridges really are very impressive. There's the 19th century rail bridge, the 20th century road bridge (now closed to all traffic except bikes, pedestrians and the odd bus/taxi), and the 21st century new motorway bridge, all lined up. Nowhere else in the world do you get 3 centuries spanning one waterway in such close proximity.
It's a bit weird crossing the old road bridge, I remember crossing it years ago when heading to Edinburgh or the central belt from Aberdeen for running races. Or even when I first moved to Edinburgh, the new bridge wasn't finished. Now the old bridge is like a ghost bridge - no cars, no noise, just a few bikes, a few walkers and when the occasional bus rumbles across, the whole bridge vibrates and you think it's no wonder they had to close it and build a new one, and hopefully it won't fall apart before we get across to the other side...
Training was as follows:
Swim 2.1km, Cycle 70 miles, Run 12 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment