Jane writes:
The Short One!
The last two weeks have involved me taking great care taking running in the dark – slow, careful and on full alert. I mostly try to avoid dark runs so I’m excited to be running in the blessed ever-increasing light of the day! It was going great - until it wasn’t. I fell again, during daylight if you can believe it, and sprained my ring finger. Ouch! I’ll be ok and I’m blaming the Ealing pavements and not myself, thank you very much.
Update on Training
I’m using a plan (RunSmart) that I used last year for NYC. It’s got a reasonable goal but I’ve adjusted it as I’ve gone along. I can’t always run the speeds nor the distances it calls for - however, that may be changing soon! On occasions, I’m very comfortable with the plan details and I’m feeling… not strong, but stronger!
What’s Helping
I had a real niggle with my left knee that limited my running. I was also unwell (cold/cough) during the week of the 5th Feb so I pulled back on mileage. I have added more strength/weight training to my weeks and it is starting to make a difference.
It seems my left side is much weaker than the right. My trainer asked me to do single leg presses in the gym when we discovered this difference. The load I could manage was 20 lbs less on the left leg. I’m working to even the score.
As promised, I’ve managed to move my long runs to mid-week and I’m hoping to get at least one, if not two, long cycle rides in. I am finding that this cross training really helps. I’ve added at least one 30 minute workout, also from RunSmart. Sadly, my pull ups will have to wait for my damn finger to heal.
The Health Report
Despite my slowdown in training over the last two weeks, I think I’m in better health than the NHS!
I found out that there are delays in getting MRI reports – up to five months! Yes, five months, far longer than the 6 weeks I was supposed to wait. Good grief! Luckily, I managed to chase down where my spinal MRI had been moved and I asked where the overdue report was. I registered my dismay (politely, of course) to the nice woman who told me about the long delay. After a long discussion about the process etc, she asked if I wanted to speak to her manager. BINGO! Yes, please! I managed to get the manager to expedite the results delivery to the 26th of March. It’s still an appalling wait and won’t help me decide whether to run London or not. In truth, I’ve made that decision already.
What next?
Easy does it is my motto. I’m having a massage at the end of this week. I’ll try to do my long, easy run tomorrow in the good weather. I hope nobody I work with finds out!
I’ll attach some happy photos next blog, I promise! On the day the blog is due, I’ll be flying to sunny Málaga for a couple of weeks. Hurrah!