Weekly update.

Distance 26.5km [total: minimalist 136.5km: Barefoot 1372.5km] Week 19


A wet wintery week didn't see a lot of running but since the last time I have managed the following:


Monday, 9-May. 5km. 
This would be the best of the days during the week, the weather was due to change tomorrow, rain and cold weather pushing in from the south.
Only a short run this evening, not much sun around at 5pm and a bit breezy from the south but still dry. The beach was good for running, good flat stretches as the tide appeared to be out. I didn't bother bringing my stopwatch out tonight but I did manage to pick up a bit of speed when I got into a race with a runner going in the same direction along the beach.
He passed me as I was having a short breath catching stop under the Henley jetty. I didn't immediately give chase but waited for him to get a good 200m distance away. I managed to overtake him around the midway point between jetties. Once I do this I have a policy of 'never look back' I must keep up my passing speed or even increase it to thoroughly disillusion the opposition. By the end I was flying along the sand and kept my eyes down so I didn't have to look at the jetty and see what distance I had to run. Only once I got to the jetty did I allow myself to look back. The other runner was about 100m behind, hopefully I made him pick up his speed as well, maybe a win win, I don't know.
Well the rain arrived on the Tuesday, it poured on Wednesday as well and also on the Thursday. Finally, on the Friday it stopped in the afternoon.

Friday. 13-May. 7km
I went out after finishing work and ran 7km. The sun didn't stay up long. I set out running along the road for 3km then turned onto the beach. I think sunset is around 5.30pm, I set off at around 5.10pm so by the time I got to run back along the beach the sun was down. As it was also cloudy it made it darker than normal. By the time I was at the halfway point there was not much light around and the beach was largely empty. I got to Grange jetty in the dark, there were lights coming from the nearby pub and cafe and some small lights along the jetty but the beach was dark. I walked back the final 500m to the car not willing to risk running in the dark and standing on something I couldn't see.

Saturday, 14-May. 14.5km
I put in my 14.5km today. The sand was cold and my feet numb by the time I reached Semaphore jetty. I was actually looking forward to running on the bitumen as it might be a bit warmer than the sand. It was slightly warmer but my feet were so numb underneath I found it hard to get the right feedback from my soles. Back on the beach for the final 6km home I was running into a cold southerly wind. I shortened my stride and tried a faster cadence as I wanted to get out of the wind and away from the wind chill. I was glad to get back, I did a time of 1:32h but there were a few exploratory diversions along the way. I didn't hang around to stretch but jumped straight in the car and put the heater on and blew warm air on my cold feet.
I've had enough winter already and it hasn't even begun yet.

Neil