Monday, 11-Apr. 7km
A day off work today so a bit more freedom in what time I head out for my run. I did a road and beach run today covering about 7km at low tide. The hamstrings have recovered but I felt my running was a bit uneven, tightness or placing more emphasis on my right leg.
Tuesday, 12-Apr. 0km
I spent the today with a sore left Achilles and was aware that I was not walking evenly, it is always worse when I'm wearing shoes at work, barefoot is much better.
Wednesday, 13-Apr. 9km
I was still good to run tonight but stuck to the beach, which, for once, presented me with a nice flat surface and a low tide.
I ran 9km but still felt a little unbalanced but no problems at the end.
Still deciding if I should run in the 10km race on Good Friday. As it is a free one there is no financial pressure on to run it. I'll let the weather make the decision. If is wet then I'll have a lie in if not I'll get up and drive across the city and have a go.
Friday, 15-Apr. 8km
I had a choice tonight, go to the pub and have some farewell drinks with the ex CEO of the company I work for or go out for a run on what will be fewer and fewer nice warm evenings before winter arrives.
Earlier in the day it was the pub for a beer, as the day passed and I'd been sitting on my backside all day at the computer I decided the healthy choice was needed so I bypassed the drinks and went to the beach.
I ran 8km in my usual loop of Grange-Henley-River on the road then back on the beach. The sun was just on the horizon, about to sink into the sea as I got back to my car.
Saturday, 16-Apr. 18.5km
A beautiful morning, sun shining, about 17C outside. I hit the beach at around 8.30am and saw a vast expanse of nice flat sand to run on, perfect.
Today I started off by running south to Henley then back to Grange before then running to Semaphore, this added 4km onto my usual 14.5km run.
It was hard from a psychological point of view to run one way then go past your start point again before heading off.
I was trailing another barefoot runner Peter I believe he introduced himself as.
He first passed me as I stopped at Grange jetty for a few seconds. I thought I would easily outpace him given enough distance but he was pretty good. He stayed in front for the next 5km before eventually turning to run back the other way.
I had a quick chat with him and mentioned that it was IBRD on the 1st of May and if he was interested I'd be there at 9.45am at the cafe at Grange.
This seems to be my only way of recruiting seeing as I am being politely ignored by the SA Road Runners Club.
I passed another limping runner another 500m after leaving Peter, had a quick chat and looks like he'd pulled a calf muscle. I told him he better not try running on it as it would be as sore as hell once it cooled down. Off with those injurious shoes I told him!!!!
I carried on running and got to the jetty at Semaphore then walked along the jetty and onto the walkway that runs alongside the beach reserve. It's nice to have a change in surface, this is bitumen and concrete, your feet automatically register that there is less give and so you bend the knees more. After filling up on water from a tap near the entrance back to the beach I set off on the home run.
I was running into the cool southerly wind now, in the next few months this will be stronger and colder, time to get the leggings on.
I was starting to tire by about 15km but kept on going and then perked up a bit in the last kilometre. It did feel good to stop.
I had a well deserved paddle in the shallow pools trapped by the sandbank. Not a bad effort 18.5km, recorded time of 1:54:27.
When I ran the 16km Brighton to Hallet Cove that took me around 2h but was steep and stony, will I improve on that time next year?
3 Heel Strikers in a Row (East Cheshire Half Marathon May 1986)I have my new Blendtec blender arrive this week so I can now start to get more green leafy vegetables into my diet via green smoothies. I did a simple spinach and peach drink and was very impressed with the blender. There is no comparison with the one it replaced. It was a real struggle with that one and the blend was not very smooth. This one does the job properly.
Sunday, 17-Apr. 6.5km
After my long Saturday run I took it a bit easier on Sunday and just did a 6.5km run around West Lakes.
A nice sunny morning but it took me ages getting warmed up and into a good rhythm.
I'd covered around 2.5km before I felt like I was in my comfortable pace. During that warming up distance I was passed by a runner sporting all the triathlon regalia, he turned off as we approached the rowing club. I carried on running over the island towards West Lakes when he passed me again, we exchanged pleasantries and he said I must have feet like steel. Isn't it funny how people misunderstand what running is about, they assume you need feet of steel if you are bashing them into the ground, if you don't then you can just have regular feet, ok maybe a bit tougher.
Neil
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