Easy doesn’t it

Easy by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

The second run of my latest comeback and having chastised myself all week for doing too much last Tuesday, I ended up doing the same distance but quicker today – when am I ever going to learn? 

The problem was today there was perfect weather for running when I went out, 20 degrees and sunshine but with a cooling light breeze.  In T-shirt and shorts I was neither too hot nor too cold and so I could run easy without getting too hot and enjoy the crowds out enjoying the Palermo lakes and the weather like me. 

Thoughts were split between two things today – finding form and keeping the body as balanced as possible (i.e. not very) as always, and also the organisation of IH TOC50, since I’ve spent the rest of the day trying to out the schedule together and am about to email all of the lovely speakers with the latest details.  Schedule seems to have come together quite smoothly – a wide variety of sessions spread throughout the day from early morning to late night GMT – will we survive the 15mins breaks between sessions?  We had 30mins last time out, but I reckon with separate rooms and hopefully different moderators each time we should be fine.  

I’ve also had a fun idea about my own session at the conference on helping NQTs settle in to the job and survive their first year of teaching.  But I think I’ll keep that under wraps for now so I have a little surprise in store on the big day.  

Easy Kneesy

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A quick and easy 5k today since the back of the right knee felt tight and after humming and hahing for a while about whether to go at all I decided to just run an easy and see how I went.  I went fine enough, once I got going the tightness loosened up, although the knee is very tight now as I cool down.  I’m really enjoying the atmosphere of these balmy summer nights down at the lake though, so I really didn’t want to miss out, although I really don’t want to get injured so I miss out even further. 

Thinking wise I was running through my talk at the IH DoS Conference tomorrow morning, which I’m really looking forward to as it’s the first time we’ve done an online link up and we’ve got lots of interesting ideas to share.  Let’s hope the tech holds up, especially my computer which with its dodgy battery is able to turn itself off without warning at any moment – and I’ve left the netbook at work so no back up to rely on!  Let’s hope it goes well so that the focus is on the ideas and plans rather than tech hitches.  Time will tell. 

Easy start to New Year of running

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First run of the new year and the easies just got a little bit harder.  Which probably means I’m increasing the workload too quickly and will no doubt pick up another injury soon.  But after the walk home from work, even though it was getting on (and was already dark) I was really in the mood for a run.  Couldn’t decide wether to do hills, fartlek, fast or easy, so went for Easy, which is a concession to slowly, slowly at least. 

I ran a bit further than I’d intended though, since I ended up going out the other wat down Dorrego and then back up the hill again to finish, only because it was very windy and dusty so I was trying to keep the debris out my eyes by hiding behind the car park between the hippodrome and the small lake. 

A good solid easy run, not as quick as last time out at all, but sets me up for some hills or fartlek on Wednesday hopefully. 

Thinking focused on all the work I should have been doing as IHWO coordinator over Xmas, some of which I was scrabbling to put together to deadline this morning and more of which remains undone with ASAP as a deadline (so why am I writing this you might sensibly ask).  I also spent rather too long relishing Arsenal’s last gasp loss today, which makes up for their win on Saturday (thereby gaining two points on the Mighty Spurs) and gives us a great opportunity tomorrow once again to show we are more title credential nurturers than competitors for fourth place.

Happy New Year everyone! 

3 Xmas runs, 2 lingering injuries and a target for the New Year

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Three runs over Xmas including a pretty decent 7.5km today (relatively speaking).  The new insoles are treating my feet well, although they strain the knee muscles a little as they get used to them.  Heel blisters are the new enemy, since my feet are in different places in the shoe with the new insoles, need to re-break them in – actually buying new shoes would be a good move.  But then what to buy – now they say that the cushioned shoes of today aren’t as good for running as flat feet – Zola Budd had it right apparently…

The back is the second lingering injury – think that’s down to too much time on the sofa in the fortnight leading up to xmas (working of course) but it doesn’t affect the running at least, just got to be careful when stretching not to do it any further harm.

Thinking has unfortunately taken a big back seat recently.  My mind on these runs has been on nothing, concentrating on moving the body well and enjoying the view of the lake and the Portenos accompanying me on their evening exercise.  Well and a little savouring of the current situation Tottenham find themselves in, playing sublime football and keeping themselves in contention for the league while cementing themselves solidly into the top four and Champions League qualification.  It’s good to empty the mind every now and then, and I’ll need it fully rested for the challenge of the Delta Modules Intensive starting in ten days time.  Eek!

Easy does it

Easy by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

My last training run before the big day on Saturday.  My first 10k race since 2009?  It can’t be, I must have done a few in 2010, but perhaps I haven’t done a race since I fell of my bike at the back end of 2009? 

Anyway an easy 6k today to build on the long run of yesterday and get my legs feeling how the last few k might feel on Saturday.  Would like to go for a swim tomorrow but since we have to go and fetch our kits I doubt I’ll get round to it.  

Thinking wise I tried to concentrate on making a to do list for Sunday about what I need to do for the conference but my body demanded my full attention so I didn’t get very far.  Going to be a busy two weeks with Montevideo next weekend and then the conference on the 25th.  Exciting times. 

Already breaking the rules

Easy by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

Having gently upped the distance yesterday, the new rules say no running til Thursday, but since the wife wanted to go running, I was called upon to accompany her.

I tried to take it as easy as possible and certainly ran slowly, but still almost ran 5km again the day after running the distance for the first time in over three months.

It was hard work but at times I felt good and at others I felt not-un-surprisingly leggy.  I’ve managed to get back to the coach and the ice pack without signs of being worse for wear.  Hopefully I’ll have built up some stamina with the double shift over the last two days without putting the comeback at risk.  Time will tell.

The worrying thing is I spent most of the run thinking that I’m getting old.  The body’s not responding as well as it used to, the mind is starting to struggle to find the right word at times, I’m clumsier than ever.

Hence the need to get the comeback right and run consistently back into shape to try and keep the years under control…

Take Five

Easy 5km by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

After a third easy run last Thursday which I didn’t record properly on my watch (hence the lack of a blog post) I decided it was time to up the stakes a little today, so I ended up running 5km although keeping it at quite an easy pace.

After a heavy weekend food wise, I felt pretty sluggish. although I started out at 6:30 pace, which is quite sprightly for my present lack of fitness.

I was pretty knackered at the end, although i did toy with the idea of a second lap of the Palermo lake since I was feeling pretty good as I came to complete the first, but in line with my new slowly slowly philosophy I managed to resist the temptation.

About the only thought I remember having on the run was that my target for the Nike 10km should probably be just to finish. Although I’d hope to finish in under 1:10:00, this may not be possible since I only started training again so close to the race.  To think I could run a 56:00 10km and run to work every day (3.5km) and hit 90kg a couple of years ago now fills me with amazement.  If I can get back to that level, I’ll appreciate it a lot more than I did at the time, that’s for sure.

Still Taking It Easy

Easy by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

Another Easy run on Monday, trying my hardest to keep myself in check and slowly and surely build it up, so as to avoid injury.  The short term goal is to complete the Nike 10km without injury, the long term goal to run next year’s Buenos Aires marathon – haha!

Managed to run a tad quicker this time and keep running the whole time, so pleasing progress.  Was also able to ponder how to attract teachers to record and certify their professional development.  Conclusions?  Needs to be continuous, inclusive and as much as possible teacher centred and teacher chosen.  All of which make it more difficult to administer from an organisational point of view, but there’s the challenge.

Hopefully once I start running a bit further I’ll start having time to think more too…

Back on track

Easy by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

Almost three months after injuring my foot and I finally hit the roads again.  Gentle as you like and with plenty of ice afterwards, but I managed 3km and 25 minutes of slow jogging and it just felt so good to be out there again.

The aim is to take it slow and build it up and try and have an injury free summer, but since I ran today almost continuously I feel like I’ve already overdone it.

And since I was really focused on how my knees and feet were doing and how I was running, there weren’t really any flowing thoughts today, just a blurred feeling of relief to get through it and happiness about finally being back on track.  Long may it continue!

Nice and Easy

Easy by mcneilmahon at Garmin Connect – Details.

A relatively short but still quite pleasingly quick Tuesday evening run.  I do need to plan my running better though.  I left home not knowing whether I was going to do hill work or easy and started out thinking hills but then changed my mind when I imagined Mer would want to do hills tomorrow and so went for easy.

The new running style, straight and pushing from the backside forwards while trying to use my quads more is working well at the moment.  I hope that’s why I’m going quicker, I certainly feel like I’m running softer which is vital for me (clumsy oaf that I am) if I want to avoid repeated injuries.

Since I was thinking a lot about my posture and form once I’d decided what kind of run to do, I didn’t do much by the way of thinking this evening, just the following:

This part of the blog is pure self-motivation.  I hope people realise recording my runs here and posting the Garmin maps etc. is simply a way of gettign me to run – I get motivated by thinking I’ll be publishing my run once I get home.

Why does that motivate me?  I like statistics, I love the technology that Garmin gives me, I love being able to see the improvements I make visually on the screen, and I enjoy the recording of my mental notes as well, it helps me remember some of the littler thoughts that I may come back to one day, you never know.

And so Running Roads is helping me to run better and hopefully will help me to run smarter.  Will Singing Songs get me writing songs again?  Will it ever encourage me to publish my longer writing here? Will the teaching areas help with my teaching?   We’ll see.