Winchester 10k, 2017

It was an unsettled sort of morning; as Mrs S and I drove into Winchester there was drizzle, black skies and a rich rainbow.  We jogged up to the Guildhall in plenty of time, with me using the old binbag trick to keep warm.  I got a few funny looks.

I had a good chat with Alan Graham from Lordshill at the start.  He and I are very evenly matched at the moment and we both agreed that we were looking for about 38 minutes.  The start through central Winchester seemed to flash by in seconds, and we were out into the suburbs and the open countryside.  The conditions were good.  At around 5k we were heading into the wind (much colmer than the forecast had threatened) and there were some long, straight uphill drags... difficult to keep your focus and a wee bit dispiriting when 2 or 3 runners move past.

At the 8k marker things started hotting up, with no more significant hills.  The last km was a straight downhill plunge, which was exhilarating, although I was terrified of getting caught.

I came home in 38:48, a respectable result after a difficult month suffering with a sore knee.  1st M45, which was even better.  Here are my stats.  Mrs S did a stormer too, recovering from not one but two bad knees.

Back to form, and onwards to the berko half next week!

The Lovely Mrs S had a cracking race too...

...and here's Richard, celebrating becoming a grandad in style

Dancing on ice

Towards the end of January we had freezing fog which coated every surface with ice.  I walked out of the door one morning, heading off to work, and slipped at the top of a step.  I managed to just about stay on my feet by doing a violent pirouette on my right leg.

As I drove off to work, I was aware of a bit of a twinge in my right knee. Six hours later, I was hobbling around the office.  Since then, I've been seesawing between feeling OK and being in despair at the chronic ache from my knee.  Sitting seems to be bad news but spending the day doing stuff in the garden is fine (I did this after a respectable 18:26 parkrun, my first fast run for almost a month).

Last Thursday I went to see Viv, who confirmed that it was muscle damage (the quadriceps) and reminded me how chronically tight these quads are.  (I know; when I kneel down there's a big air gap between my feet and my bottom.)  She applied the Elbow of Death which left me gasping a bit.  The upshot was that on Saturday I ran a respectable parkrun (18:26) and felt OK... and I'm starting to believe that I might be OK for the Winchester 10k this weekend and the Berkhamsted half marathon a week later.

Viv also gave me my first taste of muscle activation.  I haven't fully understood the logic of this yet, but I'm very intrigued.  It seems that various muscles work much better when you knead particular spots that aren't obviously connected.  The before-and-after effects are dramatically different - I was amazed how much more power I had after a bit of uncomfortable prodding.  Take a look at the video below and sympathise with the poor guy getting the head treatment that bizarrely makes his legs stronger.

So fingers crossed for the weeks ahead.  In the meantime I'm putting frozen peas on my kneee each evening and wincing as I prod behind my ears.