Last week

Last week was pretty busy. I ran or cycled for 6 days in a row, which is not at all normal behaviour for me.

Running
I started the week with my longest run, a 7-miler. While I didn't exactly feel superfit, it was a lot better than the 5 miles that exhausted me the previous Monday. It felt good to get a bigger distance under my belt after lots of short runs around Christmas.

On Thursday evening I ran a club session which was 2 minutes hard in one direction, 90 seconds rest, then turn around and run 2 minutes back to where you started. The idea is that you start and finish in the same place each rep, and aim for consistent pace. I did ok, but it wasn't one of my favourite sessions. I don't know why, I just didn't take to it.

Added to those two, I also did little runs on Wednesday and Sunday, which gave me an overall mileage of 17.1 miles, my biggest week since October.

Cycling
Due to some fabulous sunny weather, I had 2 very enjoyable bike rides this week. On Tuesday I got lost in a housing estate, and ended up having to scale a big hill, then on Friday I planned a big loop on quiet roads passing farms, fields and a duckpond. In total, I cycled 20.3 miles.
















Analysing
On foot and wheels, I covered 37.4 miles last week. That's the biggest total mileage I've done since time began - Garmin-measured time at least. I once totalled 36 miles in September 2010, but that was all bike and no running, and even when I was marathon training and running up to 30 miles a week, I wasn't cycling. How marvellous to have all these numbers and dates at the click of a mouse!

Shopping
On Thursday, Emma and I caught the train to Brighton purely to visit the running shop sale. I invested in some new trainers, as I've done over 400miles in the last pair. As it was the sale, I thought it prudent to also take advantage of a new jacket and a top. The shoes are Mizuno Wave riders - not a brand I've had before, but I love the look of them, and they feel really comfortable so far.
















Sneezing
On Thursday morning, I woke up with a head full of cold as usual, and as I was getting breakfast I surprised the whole family with a gigantic sneeze, quickly followed by a yelp of pain. I had pulled something in my neck. It ended up being really painful, and I thought it might stop me running, but I was fine as long as I didn't turn my head. I had a couple of bad nights' sleep, as the pain kept waking me up whenever I turned over, and it was really uncomfortable for a few days. How ridiculous! It's a lot better now, thank goodness.

So January has been going well so far, I just hope I can keep it up...