Running Project: 5k Training Programme Wk 7 Results - It's the Grind, Mate, Just Keep Going

Woke up this mornin' feelin' fine, There's somethin' special on my mind ... Something tells me I'm into something good.

Herman's Hermits: I'm into Something Good - I was going to say, "but he was talking about sex", then I found this little clip from The Naked Gun. I'm still talking about running.

I woke up this morning singing this little song, which came out in 1964, it's a happy little song. It's a long time since I woke up singing and this has been a tough week - I was looking to see where I was on The Change Curve, but it doesn't seem to have a stage called It's a grind, just keep going. I guess it's right at the bottom of the dip, that's certainly where I felt I was scrabbling about, like a spider caught in the bath, can't find the plughole and freedom, and can't scrabble up those steep, slippery sides.

Insights: The Change Curve

Elsewhere, I talked about how tired I was - I was in bed by 8pm four nights last week, and one night I slept until 8.45am the next morning! As Coach Craig (@cstrimel) put it, "It does take a big adjustment to develop a consistent practice. It's a fairly significant lifestyle choice, and that requires some shifting of priorities and routines,to say the least" (my italics).

Like many of us in this day and age, I'm going through constant iterations of the change curve. I know it's tiring and you have to look after yourself. My last iteration was about two years ago when I was made redundant, which meant moving home as well as putting a new income in place. I'm sure I must have felt trashed at some stage then, but even so, I wasn't ready for the depths of tiredness that this training programme has created over the past few weeks.

In fairness, it wasn't only the training programme that was going on last week. For a long time, I have planned to have some work done on a patch of ground at the back of my house. It's driven my neighbours mad because I have insisted on keeping it as "managed woodland" a euphemism for an unruly patch of scrub and young saplings. Last Tuesday, I got a text from the gardeners saying they had had a cancellation and could do the work on Thursday.

I forgot to take a before picture, but this is the before-I-do-anything-with-it picture of the new terracing. My neighbour has suggested a spa and hot tub, I'm thinking tomatoes.

It was also the end of the tax year, so half a day on a financial review and starting to get my accounts together. And then the first row at work, marking the end of the honeymoon period. I'm working with twenty-nine organisations that want to incorporate as a consortium to pursue their collective ambitions, which means my job is managing twenty-nine different sets of interests. This week, some of those interests collided. It's inherent to the process, but it's tiring, because in the midst of various parties letting rip, my role is to be calm.

There was a casualty, which was #steemcampuk. The first meetup in Birmingham had been planned for last Saturday. I'd been looking forward to going since early in the year, writing about it, telling others, going shopping for my little pile of sharing treats on Friday afternoon. Saturday I woke with a throbbing headache, double vision and flashing lights in my eyes. I wasn't going anywhere. I spent most of the day lying down in a dark room. Fortunately, there are lots of posts, so I've been able to keep in touch.

Catch up with the latest SteemCampUK posts or follow @steemcampuk

Sadly, I also had to forego my Sunday morning run.

But now it's Monday!

Ever faithful, Week 8 of the Training Programme arrived in my feed late Sunday afternoon. I looked it over to see what was in store, smiled wryly at the words, "You are now on a steady roll, and applying stress to your body in prescribed doses, with required rest intervals. This is causing all sorts of wild adaptations to happen inside you." Tell me about it, I thought to myself, and checked out the changes from the previous week. These didn't seem quite as pronounced as the week before. Hmm.

I went out this morning, planning to do the distance. Apart from the lift in my spirits, my lower back and right hip have been feeling progressively better over the past few weeks, and I wasn't experiencing any soreness or stiffness. I was exploring a new route for the longer distances and I had decided that I was going to pace myself, paying attention to posture and technique and, especially, enjoying the environment.

This is the start of the route. This area has wide, quiet, tree-lined roads.

I really enjoyed being out, the trees, the enormous houses and university buildings. I'd planned a 3.6km route, which took me as far as the University running track (further on it leads to the Arboretum and other open spaces which I've planned for the longer routes). However, the route home took me past the entrance to the Botanic Garden, so I had to go in and check what was happening, which meant the final distance was 4.70 km.

Snakes head fritillaries and other spring flowers in the Botanic Garden.

I was very tempted to run the long central drop in the Botanic Garden, it would have been exhilarating, but I was aware of my right hip - no discomfort, but I was aware of it. I could have run, the same as, on previous occasions, I could have run further and faster, but my sense was that, just now, running would have caused another injury. I managed the distance comfortably today, without over-extending myself, leaving myself with enough energy for other things I want to do today and in a fit state to function at work tomorrow.

One of the many things I seem to be learning is what I can and can't do and how to adapt to keep progressing without over-doing it. It can be exhilarating - being outside, running - and that can take over sometimes, rather than being a little considered and taking time. I'm using considered rather than cautious, because there is some testing in order to find out what you can do, but then, you have to learn from that and adjust accordingly. The important thing for me is to continue to go out three or four times a week, to keep that going.

But I was pleased to feel well today, and to wake up singing.

The new route I'm exploring, which takes me further afield.