I'm getting back into the running again

 To those that know me, they're probably thinking "Noooo! Remember what happened to your knee!?".  To those people I say, "I'll never forget that day".  But I find that my regular route around Sheerwater has gotten stale and boring.  So I'm now branching out to other parts of Woking.  My new favourite route takes in the lake at the Goldsworth Park recreational ground.

I've been running with a friend.  Well I think she's still a friend, I've been sworn at a few times as I'm being a bit of a task master.  But we're taking in the lake and its absolutely gorgeous to run around.  From my place this pond is just over 5km away so its a nice halfway point on a semi-lengthy run for me.  

This entry has been edited a couple of times already as I you'll notice in one paragraph I call it a lake, then I called it a pond.  Then I renamed them both to lake, then both to pond, then I googled "difference between a pond and a lake" and am still none the wiser so I'm calling it both but if I HAD to choose then its a lake.  Maybe.

Goldsworth Park lake / pond

Me being me, I do tend to overcook things which normally means I push myself too hard too soon and don't build up to it.  The first time I did that was January 2020 when I went out for a run, it was only meant to be a 5k (ish) distance but then I thought "I wonder how far I can run?".  Kinda how Forrest Gump did but he ran clear across America. So I just kept on running and managed about 20km instead (or a half marathon).  From that point I was bitten by the half marathon bug.

Fast forward over a year, well in reality in feels like much longer due to COVID lockdowns and injuries.  The most recent injury involved me pulling a muscle in my back when I tried to lift Sasha onto the bed.  A week out of doing nothing and then attempting to get back on the bike on Zwift and realised it still wasn't great.  So a bit more of doing absolutely nothing then easing back into the running. However the sore back came back with a vengence and I had a proverbial warning shot across the bough when one morning I reached for the toilet brush and felt what can only be described as that "fizz" you get when you bang your elbow, but in the muscle on my lower right hand side.

Normally (as in pre COVID) I would then get onto my sports massage therapist to see if they could help, but given that she and her family are abandoning me to head up north, and we're in lockdown I took it easy.  But with walks.  Staying "active" to keep the blood flowing was definitely helping, oh and those microwaveable heat sock things you apply to muscles.

So more recently I've been running with a friend and I'm enjoying it alot.  I get to have company to interact with as do they. Plus they're starting off on their 5k journey so we're doing a mixture of walking and running.  I've never really run with anyone before.  Not that I'm unsociable (ok maybe I am a little) but I dont tend to be all that chatty when I'm exercising.  But its a great re-introduction to a gentle pace which my body is appreciating as I'm now doing the distances AND my back isn't screaming at me in the morning when I rise from my crypt.  Plus having a very dedicated run buddy that swears at me because I'm pushing them (all the while they are succeeding) is rewarding in its own right.  To the point where on our last effort on Friday, when I realised that after our last walking interval there was just over 800 metres to go to the end (we run 0.5km then walk for 2 minutes) I set us going again, all the while keeping an eye on the distance.  Hoping they wouldn't notice I was no longer giving them as regular "distance to go" until we got to less than 0.5km, 300m, 200m, 100m, 50m done!  Then letting them know they had just done a 0.5 MILE effort was brilliant. Hopefully they recovered over the weekend as we're doing it all again this week.

But of course me being me I wanted to get out there again so I went for a run yesterday morning. From my flat 1 lap around the lake (sod it, yes its a lake) then back home in just over an hour (about 13km).  Not blazing it, but I was starting to feel it in my legs once more.  Stretches in the kitchen, recovery shake (that being a Science In Sport drink - not me shimmying myself in the kitchen which frankly just looks weird) then a long hot shower.  Oh and then back out with Keegan to throw a frisbee around and fly his drone for a bit.  But the important thing is my back feels good! 

The challenge this year is in September I have the Brighton Marathon AND the London Revolution Ultra to do, two weekends apart.  I've never trained for two disciplines before so I'm working on my weakest one right now.  Hopefully in a few weeks time things will become more relaxed and I'll join a gym, who knows.  But what I do know is the running distances are now increasing and my body isn't punishing me for it.

I feel another half marathon effort on the horizon, just not yet...