Saturday update

Thursday's run was tougher than expected and got progressively slower from the 3rd to 6th mile, and I didn't feel there was a whole lot I could do to prevent that. It was along the canal so flat barring the set of locks (pictured a few posts below) so it shouldn't have been difficult but it was still warm and sunny and I suspect (judging from the colour of my wee after!) that I was poorly hydrated.

Still, I've had enough bad runs not to be worried and overall 8.0 minute miles was OK considering I'm a little out of shape.

Yesterday included a trip to the physio to get some advice on groin, Achilles and back. It was to a new physio as the original is on maternity and her replacement has since left.

All in all she seemed to know little or nothing of the groin injury but tested my engagement of the core muscles and felt I engage them well and appear to have good strength and stability as a result. she also tested if my glutes 'fired' well and felt they did. Cautious optimism.

For the Achilles she could find no tenderness which suggested the stretching of the calves is helping but felt I had a hint of plantar fasciitis, but seemingly nothing too much to worry about.

For the back she massaged and found a fair bit of tightness but whether this was cause or effect it was impossible to say. Overall though she thought it was probably more to do with overstretching the piriformis (which figures as I'd been stretching 3 times a day rather than the prescribed once) and suggested I stick to a gentler stretch until that eases.

That all seemed a bit of a result but by lunchtime I had a little bit of groin pain, whether from the previous day's run or the manipulation at the physio I couldn't be sure but this got a little worse after 40 minutes on the cross trainer at the gym in the evening. The latter also seemed to trigger some Achilles pain which was present again this morning.

Diet wise Thursday was good again and yesterday was so so. I went over by 570 (or under by 430 depending how you view it) partly because I was home alone in the evening, partly because the bulgar wheat/quinoa based salad I made had more calories than I expected and partly because I used the http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/ estimate of calories burned on a cross trainer - which is only a third of what the machine tells me I've burned with the truth possibly lying somewhere between.

Importantly though, I logged everything meaning that know I'm still 56 under for the week!

Today I'll aim to go 'over' by about 500 again, mainly because of tomorrow's race, but can do so without a fear of what that will do to Sunday or Monday's weigh ins. In other words, its an example of how the focus on the process rather than the immediate results allows me to eat more sensibly relative to activities.

Not that a 10 mile run should really have me in need of doing anything special but recognising that I'm not in the best shape I suppose I feel I need to give myself every little bit of help!

So, today's plan is to tentatively restart the core stability work, go for a 3 mile jog with a few strides thrown in, go out for a curry early evening and make sure I drink water regularly throughout the day particularly as the forecast for tomorrow is disappointingly 21/22c and sunny.