Ah, that funny period in between marathons! 8 days since Berlin (the "serious" race) and 13 days til Eden Project Marathon (the "fun" race). Needless to say I did not do any running for a few days after Berlin. I was on my feet a lot the following day doing some touristy stuff and seeing the sights, but whenever there was a chair I grabbed the chance to sit down! I'm glad the day involved a fair amount of walking though, as it probably helped ease the stiffness. Wasn't impressed with being on the 3rd floor of the youth hostel though with no lift - going downstairs with a big bag was a nightmare!
I didn't really do any exercise til Friday evening, and having had the whole week of work it was a great excuse to take it easy and have some lie-ins and lazy sofa days! Bliss! I couldn't do it for long but there's nothing like having a duvet day knowing it's well and truly earned. All the best things about being ill, without actually being ill.
Friday I went to Airkix Basingstoke for a Scrambles competition. For non-skydivers, this was a fun competition event in the brand new indoor wind tunnel, involving teams of 4 trying to out-fly other teams. We had a really great night of flying and was great to catch up with and fly with a fellow triathlete/skydiver as well! Need to fly more often as the months have gone by doing so much running and tri that I forget how awesome the tunnel is. Our team "Anything Cheesy" came 6th out of 12 so not bad but it was all about having a good night out and flying with new people of different levels. A couple of hairy moments involving unintentional backflying and a scrum on the net, but it would not be a proper Scrambles without that sort of thing!
I wasn't sure if I'd make Park Run on Saturday morning given that I didn't get to bed til 2am on Friday night, but I ended up being wide awake at 6.30am and couldn't get back to sleep so thought I may as well get up and give Park Run a go. Was planning on doing a short, easy run sometime over the weekend to check the legs still worked and always more fun in a big group.
Park Run was good fun, even though my iPod battery died 10 seconds into the run (not reliant on the music, but nice to have). Went round gently in a very modest 33 minutes, legs felt alright - not stiff or sore but was finding it quite hard work, like running uphill or as if it was a very hot day. The coffee and cake at the park cafe with Rich and a couple of others was well enjoyed afterwards though!
On Sunday I was volunteering at the Royal Parks Half Marathon. This was a great day out with my friend Pat, we were at the finish line firstly setting up the goodies/drinks/water etc and then handing them out as finishers crossed the line. Saw all 16,000 runners start and finish the race! It was totally manic for about 2.5 hours handing our bottles of Lucozade and bags to everyone, literally didn't stop and the time just flew by. Hugely impressed by each and every runner, from the first man through to the final runners walking/hobbling through the finish line at 1pm. Great to see that side of things and does give you a new perspective on running as you see how people cope with the distance, whether it's aiming for a PB or just wanting to finish. Congrats to Matt too with an epic PB of 1.23, he came through very early and well before the rush of the masses came in!
Today it's back into the Tri-Force training schedule but think I will try and get away with not putting in 100% effort this week, hopefully they will understand! Swimming tonight will be good as be nice to do some exercise which doesn't involve pounding the streets on poor sore legs. Circuits tomorrow might be a killer though if doing squats! That is out of the question! Might also try for a short 2-3 mile run this week. By Sunday I am hoping I will be find to do the Herts 10k, this time last year it was also 2 weeks after the Loch Ness Marathon and I'd recovered enough and got a PB so lets see if I can get my time back under 1 hour.
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