Friday 10 February 2012

training ... and other strange goings on

Still very cold over here.  Not much snow but very cold ... and sunny most of the time.

Not doing much training this week as it's a designated 'easy week' in which I only do two thirds of my normal training and only one long run - which is 50% longer than usual.  On Monday that was 14.5 miles (23.4 km) which was my longest training run since 1 September last year.

Felt good though on the moderate hills over towards Leeds.  A few patches of ice here and there but nothing which made me worry about slipping.

Twenty four hours later I tried my first tempo run of the year.  The plan was to run 3 miles (4.8 km) in about 20:50.  Not done a paced run for quite a while so I was a bit unsure how it would feel ... the patches of ice didn't help either.  As it happens I had nothing to worry about and I managed 20:42.  It did feel quite hard but that will definitely get better and that's a good first time effort considering the mid afternoon temperature was only 4.3 C (39.7 F).

Today was 200m repeats.  Not timed, just running hard but trying to maintain my form the whole time.  Hard work but, like the vast majority of my training, it was enjoyable ... and rewarding.

And now for something completely different.  A strange thing happened last night at about half past nine.  Fay and I were watching a TV program called Eternal Law when all of a sudden we both felt somebody kick the back of the sofa.  The room was empty apart from the two of us and we were both quite shocked.  This isn't the first time strange things have happened in this 170 year old house though.  A couple of years ago someone or something pushed past me in the bedroom as I was putting some clothes away (the house was empty apart from me), last year somebody called my name whilst I was passing Keir's bedroom door - he was at school, Fay has reported kicks to the back of the sofa a few times this year already.

Very strange ... last night's TV program was about Angels.   Hmmmm

Found some very good coffee in Leeds yesterday.  A peaberry from the Yergacheffe area of Ethiopia.  Excellent.  All the details are here.

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