I hope that everyone who reads my latest training and life update managed to have a good weekend. Everything feels slightly surreal at the moment.

Week six of the Couch to 5k training plan I’m following looked like this.

Thanks to a combination of laziness and a niggly right knee, the reality was, unfortunately, a little different. On a slightly more positive note, my exercise bike got used three times, a personal best for this reluctant cyclist.

Monday – 30 mins cross training

The week didn’t get off to the most positive of starts when I slept through my alarm. It was so late when I woke; I decided that working from home would be the most sensible option. I have no idea how I’d cope working for a less flexible organisation, I suspect I’d be collecting my P45 within the first couple of weeks. I actually ended up having a productive day and completed several admin related tasks. I also managed to delete 500 or so emails relating to historic incidents, Christmas meal planning and work I completed in Wallingford.

I finished work, responded to some blog related emails and headed to bed for a powernap. Hopefully feeling tired all the time isn’t a symptom of the dreaded c-virus. I have a feeling that the months of not getting enough sleep have finally caught up with me.

I very nearly talked myself out of my cross training session. I’d eaten fish and chips a little later than planned and didn’t want to risk making myself ill. I decided to take it easy on the bike but still ended up looking like a walking beetroot at the end of the 30 minutes. My legs felt like jelly, hopefully, an indication that I’d worked reasonably hard on the bike.

Tuesday – 36 mins intervals (Run 9 mins/Walk 3 mins x 3) Rest

I actually made it into the office. I’m not sure if people are avoiding using public transport, but my morning trains were a lot quieter than usual. Commuting heaven. Work was work; we were advised to take our laptops home with us every day ‘just in case’ but otherwise it seems to be business as usual. I finished work at 3pm, got home at 4:30pm and headed straight to bed as I felt quite nauseous. I didn’t feel any better after sleeping for three hours so decided not to attempt my interval session. I figured that my trainers would still be ready and waiting for me another day.

Wednesday – Rest

I didn’t sleep very well which meant I felt (and probably looked) like a zombie for most of the morning. Luckily the office was a lot quieter than usual as I don’t think I would have coped with a lot of noise. I left the office at my usual time, got as far as Birmingham New Street and discovered that I’d just missed one train by a couple of seconds and that the next train to Four Oaks had been cancelled due to a lack of staff. The journey home improved when I spotted a colleague from the Lichfield office at Birmingham New Street. Train journeys are most definitely more enjoyable with someone to chat with. The rest of my Wednesday was so mundane I won’t bore you to tears with the details.

Thursday – 30 mins intervals (Run 8 mins/Walk 2 mins x 3) 30 mins cross training

I dragged myself out of bed, had a shower and was about to get dressed when something made me check the trains were running. Every train from Blake Street towards Birmingham New Street was showing as delayed. I knew from past experience the local bus services would be completely overwhelmed so I decided to work from home. This turned out to be the right decision as the trains didn’t start running again until the evening.

ℹ WMRUPDATE #NewStreet – #LichfieldTV #CrossCity #XCity damage to overhead wires 12/03

See two pictures showing the extent of the damage…👆👇@networkrail are continuing to work on fixing the wires

More updates will follow! pic.twitter.com/hhPstbe1Vr

— West Midlands Railway (@WestMidRailway) March 12, 2020

I managed to have a reasonably productive day working from home and did my best to avoid all forms of social media. I managed to do something to my fragile and increasingly temperamental right knee, one minute it was completely pain-free, the next it was painful. I rather stupidly spent 30 minutes on my exercise bike while watching the first half of the Wolves match in the Europa League. I have no idea why the match went ahead, it was clear that the players didn’t really want to be there.

Friday – Rest

My Friday was so mundane I don’t think there’s much point in going into a lot of detail. I remembered to order some flowers from the one remaining independent local florists for Mother’s Day. I arranged to meet up with my running buddy Ellen at Sutton Park parkrun. I also came into contact with some real idiots on the parkrun discussion group. I hate to think that I give up my time volunteering so that these idiots can get their weekly parkrun fix!

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

The weekend started with my now traditional Saturday morning weigh-in. I think I’m going to have to invest in some better scales as my weight seems to vary considerably depending on where I place the scales. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know.

My Saturday improved when I completed my 35th and slowest ever parkrun. Although I enjoyed walking around part of Sutton Park and catching up with my running buddy Ellen, I was aware that my right knee was quite painful on the numerous downhill sections of the parkrun course. I suspect that by the time parkrun takes place again, my right knee will be fully recovered. Thanks for the photo Pete, I guess the camera doesn’t lie 😉

I spent the rest of my Saturday doing my best to stay away from social media, cleaning my house, ironing, submitting an application for a research job and generally chilling out. After a pretty stressful few days, it was just what this doctor ordered.

Sunday – 39 mins intervals (Run 10 mins/Walk 3 mins x 3) 30 mins intervals

Rather predictably I didn’t complete the final interval session of the week. I did, however, meet up with my running buddy Ellen after lunch for an informal 30 minute interval session.  Ellen has just started running again after being injured for several months so we vowed to run at a sensible pace. We ran from lamppost to lamppost and incorporated walking breaks when required. We chatted the whole time which made the 30 minutes fly by. I’ve missed running with Ellen and can’t wait for our next training session.

So that’s the sixth week of my Couch to 5k training plan not completed. I spent too much time on the couch watching Chicago Fire and not enough time actually training. With everything going on at the moment I needed a form of escapism. As I’m typing this, my right knee is feeling much better so I’ve decided to move on to the seventh week of the training plan.

Training totals

• Runs: 12 (out of 18)
• Time: 5 hrs 40 mins
• Distance: 29.11 miles

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 7/10
• Left knee: 1/10
• Right foot: 2/10

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