Training Log Archive: Becks

After a morning walking in the Pentlands in the beautiful weather with Dad and Rob, I just had to get out and run this afternoon. I also had to go to work to set up an alpha screen for Wednesday, so combined the two, coining the new "the fun way to work" run. On to Holyrood and round the road the wrong way, then up to Whinny Hill, a circuit (ish) here, down to the Parliament, through the little bit of wood by London Road (which is undulating and quite a lot of fun), then Gayfield, Broughton Street, Canonmills, and onto the Water of Leith and Inverleith Park. No huge hills but lots of small ones, tried to push a bit up them rather than struggle - sometimes it worked, sometimes it really didn't! But didn't feel tight and angry and argh like I have done since last weekend - seeing Dad was really good and I'm ready to start March with a bit more optimism.

30ish minutes warm ups and downs around the ESOC sprint O. Would have been less if I'd have been alone but I thought I'd be good with Helen.

First part of the ESOC chasing sprint. Good run, did a bit of a merry-go-round at the thicket on number ten. Ran in what felt like a high fourth gear, but never quite dropped into that strong fifth gear. Just over a minute down on Helen. Sasha beat me by one second, which was a little embarrassing until I had to chase him in the final. He is awesome.

The chase bit. Not as techically strong on this part, and every time I thought I was going to power past Sasha he put in an extra little spurt and stayed ahead. Pretty amazing little guy. Again about a minute down on Helen. I really should start training again, I'm not actually the worst/most unfit orienteer in the world really. Though sprinting has always been my strong point I guess in comparison.

Chase - Splits

Open - Splits

Bah, it's not easy getting home these days, what with all the weird shit going on at the West End of Princes Street. My legs felt tired too - done nothing all week syndrome. ESOC sprint tomo and a walk on Sunday, then time to get down to it on Monday.

Into work.

And so Rob turns up, bright eyes at 10am going "CAN WE GO RUNNING THIS AFTERNOON PLEASE?!" I had brought no kit but borrowed some lycra from Ellen and we set off. Felt pretty crap the whole way, everything including lungs tight. Was very annoyed at Kirsty putting the brakes on the action plan for the second time this week, causing me to throw away a second batch of cells and still achieve diddly squat despite dragging myself in with some kind of enthusiasm for the last two days. We also saw a bunch of small boys breaking windows at the old Broughton High School, and were far too scared of the little shits to be good citizens. It's being demolished, but it's still full of furniture and stuff they're moving. Horrible children.

I am majorly majorly fed up now.

Back from work.

Right! Need to sort myself out. I have to turn around, in some vague order, my work ethic, my will to train, and my social life. Because at the moment all I really want to do is stay at home and read books. Which I am obviously enjoying, but is in no way healthy.

So, this week, it's the work ethic. By Thursday I can start doing assays that are definitely going into my thesis, whether they are interesting or not. In three weeks' time I can start getting a constant supply of neurons to assay, and I am up and running. Today I wrote up some methods for things I hadn't been sure were going to going in, but have been shoehorned in in some way or another. It felt good actually, to actually make some positive progress. So if I can pick up the momentum on that, I will be happy.

Once the work feels to be progressing, I might actually be able to find some motivation to train. I've settled on my next challenge in the autumn, so will need to make myself uber tough to do that. Uber tough this year physically, and then seriously back to the O' once the PhD is done. Till then I won't have to time or the money to consider any kind of performance.

And once those are trundling along nicely, let's get me out of the house a bit more! Training will help as I'll see M, Helen, Hollie, Jess and the others more regularly, and if I feel I've had a good day I'll feel more like being sociable. I might even manage some work socialising without irrationally wanting to kill everyone who has more data than me.

Today's little bit of writing felt like a little bit of a turning point. If I can maintain that kind of momentum for more than a couple of days, then maybe some kind of actual plan for my training is the next step. I'm always more motivated with a pretty strict plan, but at the moment even that's not motivating me. One thing at a time!

What a load of emo nonsense. This is more to remind me that when things get bad next time, there was a way out if I just pulled myself together.

C • Yey, come socialising with ... 1

C • So what is... 9

Now Steve's back, a short series of exercises to work on the strength and flexibility of my left quad. Will do pretty much the same next session and maybe next week too - felt really good and concentrating on my weak spots.

Full olympic warm up snatch grip 15kg x 3
Single leg squats stood on block x 5 each side (6 sets)
Alternating with 8 bench presses wide grip (4 sets, 20, 20, 20, 22.5)
Leg press 5 x 8 (90, 90, 90, 92.5, 92.5 (bit more but dunno what central column weights), focus on knees to shoulders and not bending inwards on return
Hamstring medieval torture device 3 x 8 (no, no, 5kg) - nice "massage" on the quads
4 x candlesticks to show Helen

Could add in some lunges next session too, have a bit more time on Fridays.

Crazy new road system, still appalling synchronised traffic lights.

Easy run with Rob. Actually, it felt easy, but my HR is a lot higher than I would expect - which could be partly why I feel so bad this morning (Tuesday).