¡Hola!

As you may have guessed from my salutation, I´m in Spain, or rather Tenerife at the moment. Not only am I on holiday, I´m running again. Woo hoo!

Not everything is perfect though. I still have a little achilles niggle but that goes away as I warm up so I´m not bothered by that. I´m also still bothered by some hamstring tightness, something that I´ve never suffered with before. Still, neither of them are stopping me going out for an enjoyable 6 or so miles every other morning, romping up and down the hills of Los Gigantes.

If you look at the link, you´ll see that the resort is build at the base of some gigantic cliffs. Most of the flatter bits of the town are built on a 30 degree slope. The rest is steeper. :-)

Whethere running up and down hills is good for a man in my condition I don´t know but I´m just loving it. It´s just so good to be running again and I´m forever on the lookout for ever steeper hills to attack in my morning runs. I doubt I´ll be as fit as I had hoped in time for the River Ayr Way race but at least the hills shouldn´t bother me. :-)

Adios!

B*gger it!

I went out for a gentle run on Sunday evening, two weeks after the WHW race. My legs felt full of bounce but I was aware of a little niggle in the bottom of my right calf muscle. I took it easy and it seemed to improve so I carried on for a couple of miles when I stopped and did a bit of gentle stretching which seemed to loosen things up slightly.

I carried on for another couple of mile (with another gentle stretch) but about a mile from home, whilst running up a small hill, I got a sudden stab of pain in my calf and I was forced to walk/limp the rest of the way home. B*gger, b*gger, b*gger!

I iced it as soon as I got home and went to see my physio on Monday who did the usual black magic with the ultrasound and massage but it's looking like it's going to another week before I'm running again. :-( I managed to borrow an ultrasound machine so at least I can repeat the treatments at home.

I think this is the last time I try resting after a big race! It's brought me nothing but grief, firstly in the form of a chest infection and now this.

Still not running, but cross training

That's if you call fence building cross training. ;-)
That's about 70 feet of ranch fencing on 4x4" posts concreted into the ground. I also had to dig out five Leylandii with trunk diameters of 5-7" so it's not been too easy. My upper body feels decidedly odd after all this intensive upper body workout. It's just not used to it!

Nothing happening on the running front although I might try a gentle jog this evening as I'm fed up with this cough. Resting doesn't seem to be helping it to resolve so I might as well go back to running, or at least wheezing and running. My wife and I have finished the first bottle of Cough Nurse and have now graduated to Night Nurse. It seems to do the trick in as far as it means that we are managing to sleep now, despite our coughs.

A bit better I think

Well, I did go doctor bothering yesterday and she reckoned she could hear a few crackles in my chest and I came away with a prescription for amoxycillin.

Of course I don't know whether it was about to start resolving or not but last night was much better and I only had a couple of minor bouts of coughing. Still feeling a bit wabbit but that might have something to do with wrestling with a leyllandi hedge I was grubbing out yesterday and the ranch fencing I'm erecting in its place. I suppose it counts as "cross training" so despite not having run a step wince the race, I don't feel too shortchanged in the exercise department.

Finally got around to putting in my entry for the River Ayr Way race. Having spent so much time encouraging others to enter, I thought I really ought to get a move on and make sure of my own place in the race! ;-)

Bah humbug...

Another horrible night despite copious quantities of real ale, a glass of port, some ibuprofen and a slug of "Cough Nurse". :-(

I had high hopes for the Cough Nurse working as it specifically warns that it may make one sleepy. Combined with the alcohol, I thought it couldn't fail. I think I might have drifted off briefly but I spent a good part of the night coughing and barking like a seal until Muriel forced another dose of Cough Nurse down my throat. This at last did the trick and I did in the end get some sleep.

Sorely tempted to go doctor bothering today and see if I can get some antibiotics. I really am fed up with this.

Blegh :-(

Don't you just hate those tickly coughs that keep you awake most of the night? The kind where you keep hoping that the next cough will clear your throat properly (but it never does) and you'll be able to drift off to sleep at last?

Ever since the WHW race my immune system has been at a low ebb. Sometimes I wonder whether I shouldn't just start running again as I've often thought that an easy run can stop a cold from developing into anything more. All I know is that rest doesn't seem to be curing it. If it's no better tonight it's getting the red wine treatment!