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Yorkshire, home of the puddings...
Week Eight

This week in numbers ...

Miles ran : 46.54
Wine drunk : 2 bottles (Colin's fault)
More wine drunk : 2 large Merlot's in the pub
Pizzas eaten : 1
Things I ran into : 1 lamppost
Weight : Monday 11st12lbs - 72.5kg
Sunday 11st7lbs - 73kg

Monday 19th August

Today is a rest day and thank god because my legs feel a bit wrecked after Sunday'song run.

Busy day of work and next door are having some work done on their house so I also get the added entertainment of the two blokes shouting at each other all day, one of them has now said "I swear down" thirteen times in the last 5 minutes. He actually says "I swear down" after every single thing he says and sometimes in the middle of each sentence

"I swear down I had 4 pints"

"I was just sitting in the car, I swear down"

"I swear down have you seen my hammer, I swear down"

It's a big job they're doing so I think they'll be around all week, I swear down they're going to annoy the shit out of me.

Tuesday 20th August

Back to the club tonight for Sainsbury's reps, been years since I did this one, my legs feel really heavy so hitting pace may be a bit tricky but we'll see how it goes.

Did something really unusual for me and did a warm up, my right leg is knackered and my quad and hamstrings feel ready to twang at any moment. So, 3 mile warm up and then off to Sainsbury's, decide to give it a go and drop out of it doesn't feel right.

B team splits into three and I go in the third group, aiming for 4 mins per lap and we're off and I'm at the front leading it out. I very quickly fall into a rhythm and feel good, lap 1 in 3:57, lap 2 in 3:52, lap 3 in 3:50 and then I find myself lining up with the other B group and off for rep 4 and the niggles become more niggly. Rep 4 done in 3:52 and then the sensible head kicks in and I skip the final rep and take an extra rest before doing the triangle with Chris and Steve, we forget the bit about stopping at each corner and working on form and just run round having a chat instead, much nicer way of doing it.

Easy plod home and quad and hamstring just dont feel right but sure all will be fine.

Wednesday 21st August

Easy miles as always, starting to really enjoy this sunny run up the coast on a Weds morning.

Keep the pace around 9min miles and head to Tynemouth, loop round and back. My right quad is not right, I can't lift my leg fully and have to shorted my stride to stop it hurting. I go with the runner standard mindset of ignoring it and just running anyway, i mean what's the worst that can happen.

Then I hear a familiar voice behind me, it's Ben! I haven't seen Ben for ages and this blog has been a relatively Ben free zone, almost lacking in Benergy you could say. Ben's out running and has caught up with me and we run the last mile back together having a chat, we sing Ben by Michael Jackson and we talk about our favourite Ben's. Mine's Ben Folds from Ben Folds 5 and his is Benjamin Disraeli the two time UK Prime Minister in the 1800's, we both agree our second favourite Ben is Ben Johnson the disgraced Canadian sprinter.

Ben's a lovely guy and time flies by.

Yeah it wasn't 'that' Ben.

He never runs with me, makes excuses about being on holiday.

It was coach Ben from the 6:30 group.

Some might say the alpha Ben of the Poly.

Not me obviously, but some would say that.

Thursday 22nd August

My leg hurts.

I can't lift my right leg high enough to actually put my shorts on, it's muscular and I'm not massively worried but this is gonna need some foam rolling and some trigger point work today.

Working all day, so in-between appointments the roller comes out and I spend 20 mins rolling my quad, groin, lower back and glutes.

It starts to ease loads and I can finally put my shorts on which is lucky as it was getting awkward opening the front door in my underwear.

Today should have been thresholds, a total of 12 miles of intervals but sensible head says to skip it, so I do.

Stupid head says to go to the club and do the new Sainsbury's reps with B team, so I do.

Feel good, hit the times and have a decent kick at the top and on the downhill, no issues with the leg.

Easy miles back home and I'm pretty sure its all fixed, my leg hasn't fallen off so that's a good thing.

Friday 23rd August

Easy miles and hills, it's sunny and it's a nice easy run with some strides up a hill and then home.

I also ran straight into a lamppost today, haven't done that for ages, it hurt.

Today Gail is going away for the weekend and I'm planning on doing the bathroom, the shower tray cracked back in December and it's been patched up since then, as has the kitchen ceiling where the shower tray leaked through onto. So today I need to sort it all out.

I get sidetracked, I start cleaning and then reattaching the loose vinyl tiles to the wall, then I decide to start removing the vinyl tiles as that seemed a better idea and within 5 minutes realise I've made a massive mistake and this 'little' job is going to take me all day, it actually takes me 2 days.

My weekend is now plastering, sanding, painting and cleaning and that's Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday gone and I still never got the shower done.

I decide it's a good idea to paint the bathroom black, I like painting things black, last time Gail went away I painted the hallway black, she liked it and therefore that means in my brain I now have permission to paint everything black. The above photo is an actual photo of me relaxing in the bath in my new bathroom.

The shower tray is still cracked and the kitchen ceiling is still patched up with bin bags. I have a genius idea, I'm going to replace the black bin bags on the kitchen ceiling with white bin bags, that should buy me another 6 months before I need to fix it.

Saturday 24th August

As always it's parkrun day but in a change to my usual routine I'm heading to Blyth as Whitley is cancelled.

Friday night is the standard red wine drinking and pizza eating frenzy and then up early with a sore head and off to Blyth in the car with Lily. We head into Greg's so I can get a bottle of coke to wake me up a little, I need the sugar hit.

Head to the start, see Simmo and Michelle and have a chat and we're off. A terrible start as always by me and I'm boxed in for the first stretch until we take a left turn and get onto the wide paths, weave through and onto the prom where I've got a clear run at last and I can lift the pace.

Mile 1 in 6:32 and I feel weirdly bouncy, mile 2 and I'm picking the pace up a bit and a 6:30 mile, now this is all a bit odd. I don't usually go this quick and it never feels this easy. Coming back along the prom and I spot Lily ready to take a photo and naturally give her the usual greeting, the elderly couple next to her look a little shocked and I laugh to myself. I imagine her trying to calm them down by saying "no he wasnt swearing at you, he was swearing at me, he's my dad"

I run 20:23, my fastest 5k since 2017.

I'm a bit hungover, I dont feel like I've ran that hard, I hadn't planned to go that quick and I'm bloody happy with that.

Marathon training and mushrooms.

The secrets to running well.

Sunday 25th August

A planned 16 miler today.

Now I think im getting a bit blase if it's below 20 miles as I don't bother with a drink today and it's pretty warm, I also forget to some bagels for breakfast so end up having Greek yoghurt and fruit which isn't ideal.

I'm saving the delights of the coast road for next Sundays 20+ miler so decided the good old up and down the coast today, it's mind numbing and dull but marathon training needs a bit of that.

Head from mine up to Seaton Sluixe, a loop through Sluice, then back to Whitley and into Tynemouth with a loop round Shields and back to Whitley and then a final run up to Cullercoats and back.

As always I just run and don't bother checking the pace, I settle into my rhythmn and just keep running. It's pretty warm, I'm regretting not bringing a drink but don't want to stop anywhere to buy one and it's windy.

I run to Sluice with the wind in my face, at least on the way back it will be behind me. I turn to head back, the wind's still in my face, I loop through Shields, it's still in my face, I head back to Whitley and yeah it's still a headwind. Then I loop Spanish City and for a glorious 300m there's no wind.

The run was uneventful, a bit dull I guess, no seagulls talking about me, no lampposts ran into, nothing, boring, I think about tripping someone up just to add a little excitement into the blog but I'm not Ben and I don't do that sort of thing.

Bloody Ben.

16 miles done, finished at Spanish City food market and grabbed a coffee and can of coke from Dickie at Bass Notes Coffee, that man makes a mean black coffee.