Day 22 - Training Blog 15th January 2013

Iced back of left knee through evening and fell asleep in bed with ice pack on! Ice burn not too bad and a better nights sleep. Up at 5:30, knee still not feeling great and I am still feeling pooped. Quick cup of hot water, wash and brush up and off to get ready for my morning run with Tony. Quick warm up and massaged in Tiger Balm to behind and to the inside of my knee. Tony turned up early and we set off at 7am to Whippendale. Pitch black and freezing cold and off we went into the woods, not bad underfoot in the woods and across Golf course but once out in the park the paths were icy, a few dodgy moments and a very girlie shriek from Tony on a particularly slippy down hill section and we completed a very invigorating 6.5k run in a very steady 41 minutes. Leg ok but not great, hill reps tonight and I do not want to miss them! Home quick shower, 2 granary toast and tea whilst icing knee and hip. Did not feel great all day, still a bit light headed and feeling a bit queasy! Sat down at 5:30 for a quick cup of tea and a Nature Valley bar and promptly fell asleep! I woke at 6:15 and rushed to get ready, apply voltarol to my knee, lower back and left hip in the van and off to the club. Very busy again, everyone seemed to be buzzing talking about the training half marathons coming up in Watford and Berkhamsted. Looks like GVH will have a good presence at both. Our group set off for the mile or so run to the start of the reps at the bottom of Gadebridge Lane. Very cold, so the pace was quite quick to get warm, Guy pushing the pace as normal. 10 x approx 400m hill reps! A killer, I normally hurt for the first few then find a rhythm and I am able to push for last half. Today it was a slog from start to finish and with Vince pushing the pace back down the hill, a good but very tough session complete with my chicken sandwich lunch just about kept down! It is so different training with people in this way, there is no way I would have pushed myself anywhere like this on my own. We have a great mix of runners, Vince just keeps going, Guy, James, Matt and Tom share the front running and pull us all along. Feeling very ill at the end and after a few minutes rest we start a walk up the hill and on our way to the club house in Boxmoor. This soon turns into a jog which turns into a run. A good pace is kept until the last turn into, I think? Heath Lane, it runs along past Hemel School to the Sports Centre. At this point all conversations cease and the pace picks up again and at every speed hump an increase again up to a full blown sprint to the end of the road and the final slower jog to the Steam Coach pub and the finish. Very tough but very enjoyable, including all stops we have taken 1'00"43 to do 12.12k, all good. However I still do not feel good, legs almost pain free which is a bonus but I feel quite sick! Probably just the hard work and the not fit enough body, my heart tells me I can just do it but my body takes a bit more persuading! Still another good day's training complete.