Less Is More

D minus 168

Now here is a curious thing.

In the past week or so I have only been out every other day - instead of 2 or 3 days on the trot followed by a rest day. Yet this morning’s run was the most comfortable, the fastest and longest to date. Was it easier due to the extra rest, or because I was not fussing in my head about the run but thinking about something else?

Recently I have been trying to vary my route as I realised that I had been getting into a rut and comfort zone. One of these routes involves a significant amount of steady if slight uphill work and is only short before it forces a U-turn and repeat. Not the most inspiring but does provide a choice.

Away from home for a weekend I was able to try a footpath and cycle path route along a by-pass.  Not very nice but I could not get lost. Generally level, boring and noisy. But with less visible litter than one might expect - only about 2 cans per Km.

Back to my usual route today I just cruised around. Only walked at the gate and across the footbridge - all the rest was running. 7min 20sec + 9min + 4min to achieve the target 20min. The pace to my 1.25Km waypoint was also the fastest yet.

Distance covered - using the ruler on the map and ignoring the bridge - approx 3Km. A little over 5mph. Modest maybe - but both speed and distance increased, no aches and pains or strained breathing.

It has taken me a month to get to this point All I now have to do is gradually extend my distance over the coming five months. Things can only get better!

While running I was thinking about the previous night’s TV - “The Special Relationship” with Michael Sheen in his TB role and Dennis Quaid as Bill. Wondering which bits were quotation, attribution, or invention. Was portraying TB in his bath-tub meant to be an ironic Churchill-Roosevelt reference?

Surprisingly it was a more sympathetic portrait of the main players than I had been let to expect from the pre-programme spiel.

The fictional drama was more believable than the final piece of newsreel footage that featured the real TB and George W during their “Colgate” moment.

Now here is a curious thing.