A bad week

Last week was brilliant - at least, on the exercise front. I had done three sessions in rapid succession (Thursday: solo run, Saturday: run with Kim, Sunday: serious weights with Kim). Each time it had improved my constantly blue mood (result of business being appalling at present, but that's another story) and I felt that I was finally getting back both to the level of fitness and the shape (especially shape of my face) that had made me so much happier. And at least the ankle is now fine (whisper it) and the only aches-and-pains relate to being on the bench for three months, not to injury.

During this last week, however, I haven't done a thing. And I haven't been busy - quite the reverse, and taking myself down to the gym would have been an obvious remedy for a fit of the miseries. But I have been avoiding running on the local roads, as I still think that the camber on them was one of the culprits for the ankle problem - and that was the quick-and-easy way of getting my exercise fix. Now I need to jump in the car and go somewhere else to make it happen. And when I'm in a real strop, the more effort it takes, the less likely it is to happen.

The two planned sessions didn't happen, either. One with Kim fell on an evening where a real pea-souper of a fog descended, and even the driving to meet up didn't seem like a good idea - never mind running when we got there. And the second occasion - a beautiful sunny afternoon - was scuppered by a long discussion about computers with a friend, which I don't begrudge, but by the time I'd got away it was very dark!

The net result has been that I've been six days without any exercise, and feeling as down as I have been recently anyway, this was not good. So this evening's run with Kim was a life-saver. We started, as usual, at the gym for a warmup; then headed out to our new "tough run" - the very hilly couple of miles into the new housing estate being built round the back of Longwater. However, this time we (a) didn't split the run in two - we kept going, albeit at a pace that could hardly be called running; and (b) added on a bit more at each end, bringing the total distance up to 2.83 miles in 32:30. Not exactly speedy - average pace of 11:29 - but given those hills, we were still pleased. And, more to the point, it's the first time since November that I've run for that long without stopping.