I couldn't run yesterday, no time. How can getting your hair cut take three hours? I mean, it's very nice of him to take his time over it but for fuck's sake. I was sitting there thinking HURRY UP! I need to go for a RUN! But it was too late.

I think these two days off may have been beneficial though, as although I did still have some twinges in my leg today, overall I felt much fresher. Decided to do a treadmill session today (howling wind, thunder and torrential rain) and a trail-ish run tomorrow (come rain or shine).

I stuck the treadmill on Marathon Mode and tried to zone out whilst watching the footie results roll in (we are still chasing our first elusive win of the season... could only manage a 0-0 draw with bottom-of-the-table Charlton today. Dullsville...zzzzzzz). Anyway it worked for a bit. Started off slow and built up to a steady/moderate pace over first twenty minutes. Then added in some hills. Increased the incline by 0.5 every two minutes until it was on 6.0 by which point my HR was running at 192. Turned it down and dropped the speed for ten minutes or so. Then increased the speed by 0.1 every minute until I got to a 9:39 pace and held that till the end which I found really tough. God I'm so unfit. Oh to be able to maintain a 7:30 pace for even one minute let alone one mile. What must that feel like?

Anyway I ran 10k today, and that's the furthest I've run since the marathon, I'm ashamed to admit. So I'm pleased about that at least.

Oh great, my neighbours are having weird shouty torture sex again. Nice.

15 x mins crosstrainer
10k x run. 1hr 9mins 25 secs.

I'm feeling a tiny bit panicky. Not because of the race itself, but because I've hurt my leg and I haven't had a meaningful run since Sunday.

As well as aching quads, which have gone now, I also woke up on Monday morning with a strain-type pain in the back of my left leg, just above the heel and extending to about halfway up. Hurts most when I first get up after sitting for a long time, or going downstairs. It feels like a pulled muscle I suppose. I can't, for example, stand on one leg (on that leg at least). It's really tender. And if I make a circle with my ankle, with my foot pointed, when my foot is at about 3 o'clock, it makes me wince in pain. It shoots all the way up. On Monday night I thought I would just have a gentle run on the treadmill and see if it made it better. Sounds stupid, but it's sometimes worked for me in the past. It felt ok while I was running. But yesterday I felt much worse. I was even having trouble walking. I didn't do anything at all yesterday, exercise-wise.

It was still bad this morning. I am still walking a little bit spazzy. I didn't know what to do tonight. I had planned to do a full-on hills session along Montepelier. But I decided against it in the end and went to the gym instead. I never know whether I'm doing the right thing or not. But I just worried that I would make it worse. But now I feel even more behind on the training front. And I'm out tomorrow night at the Raconteurs gig.

If it feels better by Friday, think I will do the hills session then. And I want to do at least one run of around one and a half hours this week. Got to make sure I get that in before I leave for New York. In precisely 6 days.

Funny. Tonight I did a solid hour of cardio, and half an hour of weights. But because I didn't run, I don't feel like I've exerted myself really, or done anything much at all.

20 x mins crosstrainer
20 x mins cardiowave
20 x mins treadmill (fast walk incline 6 - 8) (+ 5 mins run on incline 3)
30 x mins weights

I ached all day today. Not too bad, but bad enough.

I have hardly got any more opportunities to run now, before I go to the States next week. Bollocks! I can't run tomorrow, and Thursday I'm going to see the Raconteurs. That leaves Weds, Fri, Sat, Sun .... and maybe Monday if I finish packing in time. That's only four or possibly five more runs. Of course, I will try and run in New Jersey too in the couple of days before I fly to Texas. I wonder if there are any hills in Metuchen? I ran to a nice park last time but I don't remember it being much more than flat. I always get such bloody bad jetlag - last time was horrendous, about 6 or 7 hours total sleep in three days - but I'll just have to try and get over it. I can't face arriving in Austin feeling like I did last time. Like a zombie. That really wouldn't do. I wonder how it hot it is there at the moment... shit I forgot about the heat.

Christ! BBC website says it's 96 degrees today. Buggering hell. It better have dropped by the time I get there. I know the race is in the early morning but even so.... I'll probably collapse and impale myself on a cactus before the 1 mile marker if it stays like that.

Honestly. Anyone would think I was worried about this race or something. I'm not. I'm looking forward to it now. I've accepted that I'm going to come last, or thereabouts, and as I've never run anything remotely like a trail run before, my only aim is to finish it, preferably in time for lunch.

Monday:

15 x mins crosstrainer
20 x mins treadmill
15 x mins step machine
30 x mins weights

Devil's Dyke

It was such a gorgeous day today, a cloudless, warm autumn day. I decided to run from Jack & Jill windmills to Ditchling Beacon and back - a trail which I think is about four or five miles in total, with some good undulations. Got all my gear together and went over to mum and dad's for some pre-run scoff and a cup of tea. About 3pm I went to get changed and ... I'd forgotten my sports bra... arrrggggh I was SO PISSED OFF. This might seem like a minor thing but believe me it's not. I couldn't believe I'd gone all that way and forgotten such a fundamental thing. Felt like I was never going to get a decent cross-country run in before the race... and only one more weekend to go.

In the end I had to compromise ... got a lift back home, rushed in and got properly attired, then Dad dropped me off at Devil's Dyke instead. I ran out from behind the back of the car park where there's a trail but it came to an end after about half a mile (I don't really know this area very well) so I came back the same way and found another path. It led up onto the top of the Dyke and then followed the road all the way back. In fact, I ended up running all the way back to my flat. The trail was great - totally exposed with amazing views all around. There were a few other runners and lots of mountain bikers using it, but it wasn't crowded. The only annoying thing was that it was pretty much a gentle downhill all the way, save for a couple of smallish hills. Next weekend I will do it in the opposite direction. My quads ache a bit tonight. I really enjoyed this run though. Although I did have a watch on, I didn't really care about time today. I'm not absolutely sure of the distance but I think it was somewhere between 5.25 and 5.5 miles.

Sunday:

5.25 - 5.5 mile run - 57 mins.

Saturday:

10 x mins crosstrainer
5k run: 32.09
40 mins weights