Janathon '12 - Ooh crikey.
Blimey. Been a while since I did one of these isn't it! Let's try and catch up on where we've been and what we've been doing, shall we?
For a start, Janathon isn't really going particularly well for me, hence the gap in blogging. We'll come to the specific reasons why in a bit, but it isn't going... well, it's not going the way Janathon '11 went, nor the way Juneathon '11 went. Maybe it's a change in perspective, a failure to take it as seriously this time, or just winter lethargy and SAD getting in the way, but hey. I'm still more active than average, but let's say I won't be racking up the yardage like I have done the last two 'athons. That doesn't mean I've given up, though. That ain't happening!!
We'd got up to Day 11, so I'm only a week behind. Oops. Let's start at 12 then!
Janathon '12 - 12: The Horseshoe of Doom
This was a 10km-ish lap from my place, along Meanwood Road and through town, then along Kirkstall Road to the Better Half's place. It was doom because after about 6km on the tarmac my calves and achilles started seizing up, so I ended up half walking, half jogging, half stopping to stretch for the next 4km, to no avail. I'm guessing it's just from more mileage than usual on road and hard surfaces (I haven't really had a good steady off-road run so far this month, save for Jan 1st!), but it hurt. A lot.
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Janathon '12 - 13: Double Drop
3km from the Better Half's place to my office, uphill, cursing myself for pushing it the night before. 5km home around the Ring Road and back through Meanwood (via Waitrose for dinner) and into a hot bath to try and sooth out some of the aches and pains.
The way home was more of a 'fast walk' than a run, which annoys me a bit, but I'd rather not injure myself so I'd rather back it down and trek rather than try and 'push through it' and wreck. Ho hum. Music helps as usual
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Janathon '12 - 14: Parkifying
A token short bimble to the far end of Meanwood Park and back. I'd love to claim this as a proper off-road run but it wasn't, it was on a hardpacked gravel track and the odd bit of frozen earth, was again a 'fast walk/jog' rather than a run, and my legs still felt lousy.
The afternoon and evening were spent over at the Better Half's, staying relatively* sober and taking lots of very embarassing pictures of other people. There was a large quantity of chargrilled animal, an icy shot luge, many cakes, firey things (provided by yours truly. Can't be known as Pyro and not play with firey things) and a small beverage or two. All the essential ingredients for a successful barbecue, really.
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Janathon '12 - 15: Not running? Again?
Nope. This time, out kayaking. Instead of biking I went boating, to the Upper Tees to be precise, with York Uni Canoe Club and assorted hangers-on. The section (High Force to Low Force) is relatively short, but good fun grade 3/3+ with a couple of 4s. I made a mess of the Dog Leg (pictured) and ended up taking a silly swim after flipping on the boil line - in my defence, the 'Hearts of Gold' rock (just out of shot) is a nasty place to get pinned, and my sensible head thought it better to get out before that happened to me!
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Janathon '12 - 16: To the pool
This one was a straight-off walk. I'd gone to bed at 10pm on the Sunday night (very unlike me) after a 3am finish and 8am start on Sunday, and with an LUUCC pool session to go to, so I walked up through the Woodhouse section of the Meanwood Trail, over to Hyde Park and down to the pool. Lovely hour and a half of playing around in my Squirt Boat (if you've never heard of squirt kayaking, it's worth having a look at) and then a nice gentle toddle back. My legs still felt manky, despite stretchings, beatings with a foam roller, hot baths etc, and it's something that's getting on my nerves. This is probably the point I decided to stop battering myself repeatedly and go for walks or walk/jogs to get in the mileage rather than force myself to run and get hurt.
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Janathon '12 - 17: Round and round we go.
Another walk/jog to the Better Half's house, via Cardigan Road, Kirkstall Road (I seem to spend half my running life on Kirkstall flipping road, and it's long and flat, just the oppostie of what I like running on...) Morrisons (to get ingredients for a rather lovely fresh Tuna and Shiitake Mushroom Ramen soup) and up the hill to the house. Legs have started feeling a touch better, still very tight on climbs though, and the tightness and awkwardness feels like it's throwing other points of my gait out of line - left hip, Gluteus and hamstring feel 'odd'. Not painful, just 'odd'. I think I'll stick with the jog/walks for a while!
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Janathon '12 - 18: What was all that about?
Another same-route wander from the Better Half's to the office. The hill in the middle of this bit (Butcher Hill) really is a little stinker if you're running. Great if you want to do reps on it, like the local running club do, but a sod first thing in the morning when you're cold and not with it and not warmed up. Ho hum.
In the evening, a fairly direct walk home, up to Lawnswood roundabout, down the Otley Road to Headingley, then down Grove Lane home to make it just shy of 7km for the day.
It does seem odd that just jog-walking like this, I'm still pulling in a fairly decent level of kilometrage, I'm just doing it slowly. I think some of the bigger runs, including my 15km'er on Jan 1st, and the level of tarmac I've been bashing, have made this year harder on my body than last year so far. I'm struggling to get into the swing of things, I guess. Oddly, a week of not feeling good and taking it easy, including one day with no running, and I've still covered 45km on foot in total, plus 5-ish in a kayak. I'm down on my first Janathon's total so far, but I would put that on not getting the longer runs in at the weekends so far. And frankly, I've said the last two times "I'm not bothered about the numbers" and lied through my teeth when I said it. Maybe this time I've less of a point to prove.Maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age. Maybe all of the above...
*Compared to the majority of people there, VERY VERY sober.
For a start, Janathon isn't really going particularly well for me, hence the gap in blogging. We'll come to the specific reasons why in a bit, but it isn't going... well, it's not going the way Janathon '11 went, nor the way Juneathon '11 went. Maybe it's a change in perspective, a failure to take it as seriously this time, or just winter lethargy and SAD getting in the way, but hey. I'm still more active than average, but let's say I won't be racking up the yardage like I have done the last two 'athons. That doesn't mean I've given up, though. That ain't happening!!
We'd got up to Day 11, so I'm only a week behind. Oops. Let's start at 12 then!
This was a 10km-ish lap from my place, along Meanwood Road and through town, then along Kirkstall Road to the Better Half's place. It was doom because after about 6km on the tarmac my calves and achilles started seizing up, so I ended up half walking, half jogging, half stopping to stretch for the next 4km, to no avail. I'm guessing it's just from more mileage than usual on road and hard surfaces (I haven't really had a good steady off-road run so far this month, save for Jan 1st!), but it hurt. A lot.
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3km from the Better Half's place to my office, uphill, cursing myself for pushing it the night before. 5km home around the Ring Road and back through Meanwood (via Waitrose for dinner) and into a hot bath to try and sooth out some of the aches and pains.
The way home was more of a 'fast walk' than a run, which annoys me a bit, but I'd rather not injure myself so I'd rather back it down and trek rather than try and 'push through it' and wreck. Ho hum. Music helps as usual
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A token short bimble to the far end of Meanwood Park and back. I'd love to claim this as a proper off-road run but it wasn't, it was on a hardpacked gravel track and the odd bit of frozen earth, was again a 'fast walk/jog' rather than a run, and my legs still felt lousy.
The afternoon and evening were spent over at the Better Half's, staying relatively* sober and taking lots of very embarassing pictures of other people. There was a large quantity of chargrilled animal, an icy shot luge, many cakes, firey things (provided by yours truly. Can't be known as Pyro and not play with firey things) and a small beverage or two. All the essential ingredients for a successful barbecue, really.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nope. This time, out kayaking. Instead of biking I went boating, to the Upper Tees to be precise, with York Uni Canoe Club and assorted hangers-on. The section (High Force to Low Force) is relatively short, but good fun grade 3/3+ with a couple of 4s. I made a mess of the Dog Leg (pictured) and ended up taking a silly swim after flipping on the boil line - in my defence, the 'Hearts of Gold' rock (just out of shot) is a nasty place to get pinned, and my sensible head thought it better to get out before that happened to me!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This one was a straight-off walk. I'd gone to bed at 10pm on the Sunday night (very unlike me) after a 3am finish and 8am start on Sunday, and with an LUUCC pool session to go to, so I walked up through the Woodhouse section of the Meanwood Trail, over to Hyde Park and down to the pool. Lovely hour and a half of playing around in my Squirt Boat (if you've never heard of squirt kayaking, it's worth having a look at) and then a nice gentle toddle back. My legs still felt manky, despite stretchings, beatings with a foam roller, hot baths etc, and it's something that's getting on my nerves. This is probably the point I decided to stop battering myself repeatedly and go for walks or walk/jogs to get in the mileage rather than force myself to run and get hurt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another walk/jog to the Better Half's house, via Cardigan Road, Kirkstall Road (I seem to spend half my running life on Kirkstall flipping road, and it's long and flat, just the oppostie of what I like running on...) Morrisons (to get ingredients for a rather lovely fresh Tuna and Shiitake Mushroom Ramen soup) and up the hill to the house. Legs have started feeling a touch better, still very tight on climbs though, and the tightness and awkwardness feels like it's throwing other points of my gait out of line - left hip, Gluteus and hamstring feel 'odd'. Not painful, just 'odd'. I think I'll stick with the jog/walks for a while!
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And finally, getting us up to date!
Another same-route wander from the Better Half's to the office. The hill in the middle of this bit (Butcher Hill) really is a little stinker if you're running. Great if you want to do reps on it, like the local running club do, but a sod first thing in the morning when you're cold and not with it and not warmed up. Ho hum.
In the evening, a fairly direct walk home, up to Lawnswood roundabout, down the Otley Road to Headingley, then down Grove Lane home to make it just shy of 7km for the day.
It does seem odd that just jog-walking like this, I'm still pulling in a fairly decent level of kilometrage, I'm just doing it slowly. I think some of the bigger runs, including my 15km'er on Jan 1st, and the level of tarmac I've been bashing, have made this year harder on my body than last year so far. I'm struggling to get into the swing of things, I guess. Oddly, a week of not feeling good and taking it easy, including one day with no running, and I've still covered 45km on foot in total, plus 5-ish in a kayak. I'm down on my first Janathon's total so far, but I would put that on not getting the longer runs in at the weekends so far. And frankly, I've said the last two times "I'm not bothered about the numbers" and lied through my teeth when I said it. Maybe this time I've less of a point to prove.Maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age. Maybe all of the above...
... but I'm still not going to quit.
*Compared to the majority of people there, VERY VERY sober.
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