I’m conscious of two things – i) that my birthday’s looming ever closer and ii) that I need to get more mileage in during the week.
Trying to forget the former and concentrate on the latter, I have devised a new training programme which, subject to tweaks here and there as my training builds up, should see me through to the start of Marathon des Sables (two months and 28 days!!).
With the need for more mileage in mind, I decided to try out a longer route to get home from the office while I’m still in London.
Armed with a water bottle in one hand and a London A-Z guide in the other, and warmly wrapped up against the elements, I set off from Ladywell, along to Lewisham and then through the Greenwich foot tunnel over to the Isle of Dogs. So far so good. Checked the left Achilles – it had decided to play ball. Then along the Thames path on the north of the river, up to the Highway and across Tower Bridge, weaving in between the tourists and remembering the elation when I ran across it during the London Marathon in 2006. I continued along Jamaica Road and then popped into my friend Maxine’s for a hot chocolate and quick catch up. OK, so not part of the training programme, but this was the furthest I’d run in a few weeks and I didn’t want to overdo it on my first outing and undo the physio’s hard work. Maxine was heading my way so gave me a lift towards the flat (again, I know, not in the programme). I hopped out at Deptford and carried on gingerly back to Ladywell. Did some stretching when I got in and iced my left heel, which always seems to help. Then on with the rest of the day.