Sunday, July 22, 2012

First Cough of Winter

Distance 52.2km [total: minimalist 285.6km: Barefoot 3228.9km] Week 29

Tuesday, 17-July. 11km. 

I didn't run on Monday due to residual soreness in the glutes from a gym workout on Sunday, in other words a sore ass. That, along with a feeling that I was coming down with a cold and the weather was uninspiring. Today though the sky was blue and it felt a little warmer, the cold didn't develop, its just a throaty irritation. I had to hurry tonight as Tuesday is our cinema night, the film was on slightly later at 7.10pm so that gave me a window of opportunity to get out. It was a good run, the soreness had faded and I had some strength in the legs. It was an out and back run on the road with the last 2km on the beach. It got cold as soon as the sun disappeared and I felt frozen running along the beach. I wasn't dressed for the conditions, just a t-shirt and shorts in 10C.

Thursday, 19-July. 11km

Each morning I wake up I my throat feels claggy as if the cold is just waiting to pounce on me and then by mid morning its gone but my voice is a bit gravelly. A damp start to the morning, by afternoon a bit of warmer sun evaporates the water on the roads and paths and I get a good run in. Once again I go from Grange to West Beach and back. The tide was high so no running along the beach. My feet must have acclimatised to the cold now as I don't mind it as much as I did the first year of barefoot running. A few runners say 'Hi" as I see them on my daily run. In the early days I felt really self conscious but now that I have developed the confidence of good running form it doesn't bother me. I took it easy tonight as I felt a bit tired from a Wednesday gym session where I did some hip exercises, I think this had a subtle effect on my running tonight.

Saturday, 21-July. 22km

I collected the morning paper at 7am and noticed it had been a warm night (well, not down to 5C). I wanted to get a long run in today, I missed out last week do to the cold windy weather.
Today when I got to the beach there was no wind, the sea was calm and the tide was out. My feet stayed warm for the entire run. There was low cloud or sea mist drifting in but I had the feeling the sun would burn it off and a bright sunny day would emerge later on. Running up the beach towards Semaphore I could see around 1km before the view disappeared into the mist. On the way back it became thicker and at one point there was a fantastic scene. I was running along almost perfectly flat sand, there were no people around, the mist was quite thick, I could see around 100m in front. The sand just disappeared into the mist, then with the sun shining from behind me it made an illuminated arc in the mist. It was like I was running into an arch of light, it was magical. The mist damped nearly all the sound, I could just hear my breathing and a slight sound of the water. I got back to the Grange jetty, only seeing it when I was 100m away. Once under it and on my way to Henley the mist just lifted and it was a clear sunny day, I looked behind and there it was still, a bank of mysterious mist. I had to push myself for the last few kilometres, the beach was very stony and weedy and when your tired it is hard to negotiate your way around the shells and stones. I did a time of 2h 4m 29s was faster than I ran it last time. I'll be under 2 hours in a month.

Sunday, 22-July. 8.2km

 My head is clogged up today with a cold virus. It's not on my chest so I can go out for a run. It's a beautiful sunny day after a cold night, at 6.30am it was 4.5C pretty chilly, once the sun came up the temperature climbed and by 10am when I was ready to start my run it was 12.7C. Calm conditions made for a nice easy run. My fast stretch was completed in 6:01m over 10s slower than my best. I did a gym session after the run, concentrating on chest and back.

 Neil

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