Aching legs

Phew, I think I might have been overdoing it these last few weeks. Last Sunday was the Milton Keynes half marathon which took 1.5 hours. In the week I managed five 1.5 hour workouts, one hour long swim, two hour long bike rides and four 1 hour long runs. It would have been five runs and two swims but Friday was comic relief and everybody in the lab dressed up as pirates to raise money (see picture below – I'm in the red bandana, I even had to go to a staff meeting in that get up). We has a pirate pub lunch which I was keen not to miss (even though the only vegan thing on the menu was salad (minus the dressing), so I didn’t go running, and in the evening I was feeling really run down so decided to go home and veg out rather than going swimming. Still, all together, the week gave me 16 hours of training. In fact it was probably closer to 17. This is because my workout, runs swims, bike training etc tend to be 3-10 minutes over an hour. I usually just round these small points down but if you add them all up over the week it actually comes to around another hour of training, plus there is the daily commute to work and back by bike, so all in all I get my exercise fix I think.

I usually have Saturdays off and then do a long run on Sunday (if there is no race on) but this week I’m going to London on Sunday to meet some friends, so I decided to do the long run on Saturday instead. I managed three hours around Cambridge. It was hard going at first as I felt very tired but after an hour or so I seemed to perk up and it was easier. I half felt like I should keep going for a bit longer but I did have other stuff to get done today so decided to stick with the three hours.

I’m also a bit worried about my legs. They feel very heavy recently and in addition, last Tuesday I decided to do some bike training and cycled out towards Girton (a village north of Cambridge). At one point I had to go over a narrow road bridge, there was a bus coming the other way that didn’t see the point in letting me past so I had to swerve but in doing so I hit a pothole and was throw off the bike, rolling to a stop literally right in front of the bus. It was quite an experience and I bruised my left hip and knee and did some small damage to my bike (though amazingly my new phone was left unscratched). It’s been really painful and I’ve had trouble lying on my left hand side this week but I’ve still managed to keep running. Hopefully it will sort itself out soon.

I may try a hours cycle tomorrow as well. I will need to burn off as many calories as I can as I’m meeting my friends for a chocolate making experience day in London. Although I’m vegan I can have some of the dark chocolate and a few other bits and bobs so it should be fun. I would be good and make a few chocolates for Mothers Day next Sunday but Mum does not like chocolate so that one is out.