Wildlife

Life seems to have been getting in the way of my running (and blogging) somewhat over the last week. I managed only 2 runs last week and no long run. When I ran on Saturday afternoon it was extremely windy here so the only option was the creek flat. The plan was to do 20 laps (about 12ks) but my stomach was really playing up so I quit running at 10 laps and walked another 5. I finished my stomach ulcer meds last week and the stomach was settling down.

Still I did manage a 14k long run the previous weekend which was good. I have a new plan for myself to get over my running/energy slump and that is that when ,y heart rate gets over 170bpm I am allowed to walk until I either get to the top of the hill or it goes back to 160bpm. Strangely this is having a positive effect on my enthusiasm levels. I want to run if I think it will be enjoyable. I started on this plan as I didn't want to jeopardise my Grave's remission (and heart palpitations were one of the first symptoms I noticed when I first became aware of the Grave's). Now I just need to find the time to run!

As for the title I had some good wildlife spotting last week: an echidna (seen and patted while out walking), a python (seen by me and patted by the boys - it is living in the ceiling near the chimney) and 2 eastern grey kangaroos (we see thousands of wallabies, no exaggeration, but very few kangaroos on our road).

Scabbly Knees

Still plodding along. My running has been slow but consistent. Today I managed a 10.2k long? run down the creek flat. I didn't want to go too far as G is away at the moment (somewhere off the coast of NSW in a friend's catamaran) and I didn't want to be too far from home if the boys needed me. I was pleased to run this in 1.07.47 - under 7 min pace for the first time in ages! The quicker pace was helped by it being a lot flatter than my usual hilly route. I used the Ipod but am wondering how people cope with running on a treadmill. This was 17 laps of a 600m circuit with birds, wallabies, trees, kids, dog to look at and it was still a bit tedious. How do people run on a treadmill? I guess it must be like swimming laps where I used to get into the zone and it was a bit like meditation. I prefer running up the road where I have little choice but to run home again when I get tired.

In good news my thyroid levels are perfectly normal and I have been off the medication for three days. I know this is early as it takes a few days for things to get out of your system but I am feeling fine so far.

As for the title of this post? I had a spectacular fall about a week ago while out running. Was trying to do a tempo run, going downhill at the time, glanced down at my watch ever-so-briefly, caught my foot, propelled forward and had one of those moments where you think 'This is gonna hurt' and it did. I shredded the knees of my favourite long running pants, not to mention the skin on my knees and hands. My right knee was quite bruised too as I went down hard on it. It is coming good now just over a week later so I guess I can be excused for a few slow ones this week.