Sunday 22 May 2011

To misquote Mark Twain...

...rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

I know, I know, ten days blog free (in writing as well as reading) but to cut a long story short there's been little to blog about either in running or nutrition, and when that happens I have a tendency to hide myself away. If I'm trying hard but finding it tough I think I wear my heart on my sleeve in blogging terms but if I'm finding it tough because I'm not trying then I'd rather disappear into anonymity than 'fess up.

Let just say I got stuck in a rut where little/no running through injury/DOMS/work lead to a terrible diet, which in turn knocked confidence and desire to run when I was able to, which led to avoiding running, which led to even worse diet...

You know how it goes.

Still, by Friday I'd mentally turned a new leaf and whilst my food intake still wasn't perfect by a long shot I spent 8 hours cooking healthier food yesterday* and today I went for a run. I feel like I'm on the way back.

So, here's today's run, but rather than inflict the usual melodramatic homespun psychobabble, aside from the intro, I'm opting to give a flavour through two of my secret pleasures: thnumbers and lists.

The route went along the Aire valley from Kirkstall abbey (where they televised Frankenstein’s Wedding from recently) in Leeds, to the edge of Shipley then back again by a similar route; following a mix of road, towpath, riverside path, fields and woodland.

The weather was generally sunny, with occasional light rain and an extremely strong blustery wind.

The Run in Numbers

6 - The number of weeks since Paris.

15 - The guesstimated weight gain in pounds since Paris.

2 - The number of runs I've completed in the last 3 weeks.

16.24 - The number of miles ran today.

438.3 - The metres of climb the Garmin claims I completed.

9.08 - My average speed (ouch).

160 - My average heart rate (ouch again).

43 - The number of stiles/gates/fences I had to navigate (which will have slowed the pace wouldn't they?)

18 - The number of bridges I went over.

13 - The number of bridges I ran under.

2 - The number of times I absent mindedly went the wrong way while trying to distract myself by keeping count of all this stuff.

4 - The number of solitary magpies I saluted while running.

3 - The number of stops.

6 - The number of squares of Clif Shot Bloks I consumed across these stops.

500 - The millilitres of water I drank to accompany these.

12.52 - The mileage at the final stop and the point from where my hip flexors really began to tighten and complain.

99 - What I treated myself to when I got back to the car park - thank you Mister Whippy!


The last few miles felt really hard and by the end I felt really wiped out, underlining how much fitness I've lost, but through sheer bloody mindedness I got it done, and for that I'm pleased.



* A fantastic vegetable korma; a cold Indian aubergine dish; chana dall; spinach & paneer; Indian carrots, peas & potato; Gujerati green beans and okra with onions. All taken or adapted from a couple of Madhur Jafferey books. The korma (unlike anything from a restaurant), carrots/peas/potato and the aubergine are absolutely outstanding dishes and I'd strongly recommend them. If you've never used mustard oil then the C/P/P one in particular is really worth giving a go.

5 comments:

BabyWilt said...

Good to have you back and I've no doubt you will be whipping you regime back on track within no time. This was possibly just life that got busy and created a bit of post marathon blues.

Maria said...

Love the race in numbers, esp the 99 at the end haha!
Wow that is a lot of cooking too :)
And was Paris really 6 weeks ago? That is crazy!

Manj said...

About bloody time! ;0) x

Unknown said...

I want your healthy indian food lol yumm! Glad to see you back :-)

Alison said...

You've been missed! :)

I understand the disinclination to blog when you're going through a rough patch. Sometimes it takes us time to reconcile ourselves with it in private before we're ready to talk to others about it. I enjoyed your return with then numbers run-down though!