miles 28.36; Bike Miles 1 (!); Units 22

You may initially be impressed by the mileage, and think that it is nipping back up again. Alas I must explain that this is an 8-day period, and thus contains two long run. I see this as entirely fair, largely because I had to postpone my Sunday long run to the Monday. Janet and I took a 5-day break, and packed a lot of room painting into it - so, I decided to run on Monday so as to get a few coats on. Unintentionally it turned into a chunky 15-miler at a fair old pace. On my return I weighed back into eggshelling galore - foolish boy! - so by Monday night I was cream crackered and glad to get back to work for a rest!

The one, solitary bike mile is because it was tipping it down on Wednesday so I didn't ride into work. I was determined to have at least one ride a week, so this is a measly cycle into Waitrose!

Winewise, we drank pretty well to compensate for the hard work, including a silky-smooth Volnay vielles vignes (old vines) by Potel from the 2005 vintage (not widely available) - just a simple villages burgundy, but for all that a pleasure to drink, all straberry fruit and earthy chunkiness. Also a rather toothsome bottle of Oyster Bay Pinot Noir 2009 (Waitrose, Majestic £9.99) which was elegant cool climate pinot noir at its best. Fragrant, soft and flavourful with aromas of ripe cherries, plums and gentle sweet fruit tannins - good stucture, ood length, perfect for something mid-weight like chicken, omelette, duck, asian food - that sort of thing. And, the weekend was also punctuated with the odd glass of Hidalgo's La Gitana Manzanilla (Waitrose £6.99) - just fresh, salty, and marvellous with some dolmades from Romsey market. So it was not all work work work you see..)

Happy days!

Comments

miles 20.64; Bike Miles 0; Units probably too many!

A couple of runs this week, Tuesday and Sunday, the latter a great long run - just over 14 miles - really feeling back in the swing of things, and ready to book some races now. It was just glorious to be out in the cool but sunny weather - absolute joy! I am finally feeling like I am able to run again. It has also been a bit more of a relaxed week at work, with a couple of days on a training course, and the rest of the time in the office. Also, the throat was gently easing out by the weekend ( I did promise not to go on about it).... ....which is good when I tell you that we went to Hotel Terravina again, this time as a gift for my 40th Birthday from Carol and Huw, to take part in a 'sabrage' event, which means that you chop the top off a bottle of champagne with a sabre! All very extravagant and grand - see me brandishing said bottle in the attached photo. What a great experience that was, really very special. Thanks to C&H for that! Other than the Champagne we also had tw...

miles 30.46; Bike miles 0; Units 27

A good running week. I planned for 4 runs, however only 3 resulted as the Saturday run fell to the combined demons of ice, cold and shopping (!). I thought I might be able to nip in a cheeky 3 or 4 miles after we had returned from the delights of the first batch of Christmas shopping (oh, and buying a new telly...so it was not all bad) but it was not to be. And a rather nice bottle of La Tour du Mons 2000 (Cru Bourgeois Margaux) called too.. This week, I managed a hill session in the cold on Wednesday, which did not tax me too much, a steady 7 on Friday, and then a challenging and hilly 18 on Sunday. This was a great run in the cold air - just splendid to be out there when it is so quiet and cold. Just really wonderful. The temperature hovered between -1 and +1, no snow in sight, and a bit of occasional ice. Just really good. I was reflecting as I ran on one significant change in my attitude since running - and that is my approach to artificial fibres. Before running, it had to be c...

Miles 33.84; Units 27

Exercise-wise, a back end loaded week. I had to miss three training days through pressure of work. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing, as it gives you a chance to recover. All too often, we runners can run ourselves into the ground, if we are not careful. However, after two days you start to feel the lack of exercise, and imagine that you are ballooning up in weight. This of course is not true, though that is little comfort. This may also be a personal thing, however I usually find that when I take more than one day off, a number of niggles emerge - in this case a touch of plantar fasciitis (for you non-runners, a pain like a drawing pin being lodged in your heel - see the gloriously Heath-Robinson picture of the necessary stretching to help the recovery). Maybe the body is just seizing the day and bringing the bad stuff out that it has kept under check whilst you are exercising - clearly 3 days is enough for it to think "oh good, we seem to have stopped all this mad runn...

I Drink, therefore I Run

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