Run 55 - Or was it a Cycle Ride?

Well... according to my Garmin I cycled around the village today - not very fast though - I don't think I got faster than about 11kph! But it made a change from running! I forgot to change it back to Running from Cycling after I let Steve use it to try out a new cycling route!

Another "Well..." Today was my longest run since July! All 15 minutes of it. I ended up doing more walking than I did running because I got my distances slightly out - obviously because I thought I was cycling (lol)!

Overcast day but not cold. Hardly any wind (yay!)

So, it was a warm up and cool down and 15 minutes of constant jogging. Hopefully, one more week of my 'return from injury' programme and I can start my 'pre-marathon' plan!

Run 54 - Hard work today but enjoyable

Got up this morning and decided to do my run straight away as the weather looked so nice. Clear skies and not too much wind.

Went out and did a warm up, then 2 of 5 minute walks/10 minute jogs. Covered about 5.5km in all. Not a huge amount, but I am building back up slowly. Felt a bit harder today, must have been the heat.

Came back and did 20 minutes of stretching, which almost felt harder than the run! Went to go into the shower, but the water pressure is down again so I will have to wait. Lovely!

Edit: Did get my shower eventually, much to everyone's relief!

Run 53 A lovely morning for a run

Did a nice 5km this morning along the sea front watching the whales performing. It was a bit windy but I still enjoyed it. How many places are there in the world where you can run and watch the whales at the same time?!

Run 52 - Today instead of tomorrow

I wasn't going to run today but after reading the weather forecast I thought it might be a good idea to run if I don't want to have to run in a gale tomorrow!

So I went out and did 5 min warm up/cool down and walk 5 min/jog 10mins x 2 times.

Felt much more like running today and it got quite hard but good to feel that I am doing more.

Beautiful weather by the way - warm sunshine with a breeze - good to run in! :)

Run 51 - Nice run

It started off to be a very grey and cold morning, and thought I would have to go out in my long sleeves again. However, Steve went for his cycle ride quite early and I had decided I would wait an hour or so before running as I was still tired from being away.

We went to Cape Town for a couple of days to get some more things sorted for John and Sam's wedding, coming up in November. It's great to go, but it is also very tiring with all the travelling. The animals were pleased to be picked up from the kennels and little Alfie spent the whole evening totally 'flakers'. He was shattered. I don't think he could have slept the whole time he was in the kennels (which was only one night!) Anyway, I'm glad to see they are all back to normal today! And Chilli back to eating as much as possible!

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't wear my long sleeves after all as it turned out to be a warm, sunny and windless morning. Beautiful!

Quite a pleasant run - 5 min warm up and cool down with a 2 min walk/5 minute jog alternately, 3 times. Still only a half hour run in all, but I am happy to build back up slowly and stay FIT!

Run 50 - Cold, Wet and Windy

I was looking forward to my run this morning - until I got out of bed and discovered that it was cold, wet and windy! Oh well, I still need to do it! So out I went. Felt like winter, all wrapped up!

Another little walk/jog session around Pearly Beach. I took my ipod with me this time (thank you, Taz) with a Marathon Talk downloaded on to it. I discovered this quite recently and have found it to be very interesting and informative! Nicer to listen to than the wind howling in my ears!

Not a Run day today

Well, it's not a Run Day today but I have done an hour of weights, core work and stretching. I thought I had better let you all know that I don't just go out and run every other day, but there is lots more work going on 'behind the scenes' so to speak!

I don't want a repetition of my last injury so am being very vigilant in the amount of stretching and core work that I do, ensuring (or trying to ensure) that I do enough of this to balance out with the amount of running I am doing, and want to do! Let's hope it works! :)

Run 49 - Very windy this time

Got up early this morning to run, and had been looking forward to it since the last one as I was going to run just a little bit further this time.

However, when I got up the wind was howling. Agh! Still, I went out and managed the run but the first half, into the wind, was not good! My eyes and nose were streaming, but I told myself that once I get around the bend and on my way back it will be much better. And it was! Where was the wind! It had almost vanished!

Run 48 - Bright and Early with Whales, Dolphins and baby Francolins!

I decided I was going to run early(ish) today as it was likely to get very windy later. Well, it was quite windy enough this morning with a strong head wind during the second half! I ran a similar route to last time with 1min walk/3min jog alternately and it felt good. I'm glad that my body bits are all more or less as they should be again! It was very windy, but it was bright and sunny too, and I could hear the whales in the bay. There don't seem to be so many as in previous years but at least there are some to listen to.

Steve had decided to take the dogs out for a run along the beach while I was out and I got back about the same time as he called me on the phone (luckily for him lol) to tell me where the key was so that I could get back in the house! He had discovered a dead dolphin washed up on the beach, probably an elderly one and not one that had been injured in some way, so that is going off to the Dyer Island conservation people.

Meanwhile, I had been dealing with Chilli! She had brought the most tiny, francolin chick into the house and was chasing it around the bedroom! I managed to rescue it from her and it didn't seem to be harmed, other than probably terrified, and then wondered where Chilli had taken it from! Anyway, as I went down to the front of the house and down the drive, there was a francolin parent calling, so thought that maybe it belonged with that one, so I put it down on the ground, and the francolin parent waddled up to the chick, and they seemed to belong together. Later, I saw a whole family of francolins just over the road and I like to think that one of the little ones is the one I rescued from Chilli!

Run 47 After the Hairdressers

I went to the hairdressers this morning for a bit of pampering. It was very much overdue (the haircut, that is) but it was lovely to see a new 'me' at the end of it. Unfortunately, it was Run Day today also, so I had to go out and mess it all up!

Still, it was a lovely day for it, and it wasn't a long run! I did a similar run to my last one, and no aches and pains at all. All in all, a successful run of about 30 minutes.

Run 46 - Hooray!

I had a good run today. I am really pleased because I had no pulling or niggles in the injured area, and it felt absolutely fine, and that is after I have also walked 3kms this morning with the dogs along the beach for an hour!

So thrilled to bits!

I did 20 minutes of running altogether - 1 minute walking/3 minutes jogging, with a warm up and cool down walk. Covered just over 4kms in all. :)

Run 45 - Nice Run

Same route as last time but better weather this time. Sunny but windy. I did a 5 minutes warm up, then 1 minute walk/2 minute jog alternately for 20 minutes. Finished with a 5 minute cool down. It felt good with barely any little niggles. Good to be out! Came back and did 20 minutes of stretching.

Run 44 - with lightning (not 'like lightning'!)

Today's run started off in slightly windy weather and within half an hour it had tried to rain, there had been thunder and lightning and the wind got up really high! And I was only out for a total of 30 minutes!

Good run though, and barely felt any aches and pains at all, so really pleased!

A warm up and cool down with 20 minutes of jogging and walking alternately. Lots of stretching afterwards! :)

Run 43 - A little bit longer

It has been another lovely day today. A little bit windier, but not too bad to get out in. The water has been off today whilst they put a new valve in the water pumping station so didn't want to go out too early in the day because I wouldn't be able to have a shower when I got back.

I went out so that I would meet Steve and the dogs at the end of my run, which was at the beach.

The run was 30 minutes overall, with a warm up and cool down walk.

The first 10 minutes of the walk, and then the jog, was rather painful in the right knee, where everything is still pulling. However, after that, everything settled down and it was a good run.

It was great to get out in the lovely weather. :)

Run 42 - Jogging in the sunshine

What a beautiful day - definitely a spring day today. No wind, a cloudless sky, and warm sunshine. First day out for amonth for a 'proper' run as well, so pretty scary. Did about 2.5km overall, with a walk to warm up, then walking and jogging alternately. Actually felt quite good. I kept waiting for a stab of pain to appear, but it didn't! Came back and did lots of stretching!

So really pleased. Looking forward to the next one. :)

Run 41 (Walk) Very windy

I did a 30 minute walk with Steve and the dogs along Esplanade and back. They had fun digging, as usual, but it was quite cold. Very windy. Not a huge amount of fun today. Still felt knee after a few minutes.

Run 40 (walk)

I did a similar walk today to the last one I did, which was 2.2 kms long. I spent 22 minutes doing it, on the way, stopping to "push" a Jack Russell back to his home! Luckily, his owner came out and picked him up and took him back inside - he isn't supposed to be running around (chasing people)!

After a few minutes of walking, I felt a twinge again, which lasted about 5 or 10 minutes, then disappeared. More stretching when I got back.

I am looking forward to the next walk, which will be a similar length to this one, then after that I intend adding some jogging. :)

Getting over it...

Well, it has been a long, painful month! It has been very disappointing not to be able to run; in fact, it has been very disappointing not to be able to do any exercise at all. We did go away for a few days and spent some time at Montagu Hot Springs, which was lovely. I think the heat of the water did a lot of good and since then I have been doing a lot of stretching - and I mean a lot of stretching!

I have, this week, started walking for 20 minutes, half an hour, and hope that I am starting to get somewhere now and will be running, oops, meant jogging, no, sorry, plodding again soon.

Run 39 (walk)

Started out walking today (properly) which will, hopefully, lead to proper jogging, then running again soon. So, I think I can safely call it a "run"!

I walked from the the front door to the end of Melkhout Road, which was an interesting test and first walk. The first five minutes was warming up, then the knee area started to ache and hurt so I slowed down just a bit (I was going rather fast!) and thought "I hope it's not going to be painful already". I carried on and then it started wearing off, and the last 5 minutes were painfree. I felt it was quite successful as the first time out, considering I had hardly been walking anywhere the last few weeks.

Lots of stretching when I got back. In fact, I am doing lots of stretching every day, twice a day.