I thought I’d put down some notes of my walk-run-walk yesterday, as I happened to use my peg system to keep track of my jumbled thoughts running away with me whilst my feet kept also busy moving. And as we ( LottieMW MissUnderstanding ) recently chatted on the forums about trying to keep track of your thoughts from a run, I thought I’d try to give an account here.
I’ll give the pegs to show how the memory technique works for me, feebly attempting to capture in my memory the ideas that bubble up whilst running.
So let me tell you about my pegs, personalised to my weird brain, and my thoughts that I hooked up to those pegs as I ran:
★ PEG 1 stands for “T” - and I hooked on to that the fact that I was running NRC’s Thank You Run, 45 min of relaxed, feel-good thoughts of appreciation. It simply makes you happy and not just because of a runner’s high. It nudges you to really cherish everything and everyone that helps you keep going.
★ PEG 2 stands for “swan” because of its shape - and I imagine a swan with monocles studying a plan. Studying a plan because I - the master of plans and planning - was running without a plan. 😱😱
Yes, I admit it.
I am in between plans.
Nightmare for me, really! 😏 I have just finished one plan, my adapted James Dunn-returning-from-calf-strain-Jeffing plan ( healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... ). And I will be embarking on another one soon, the NRC 10k plan. ( healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... )
But currently, I am plan-less. Or I was. Because that vacuum had to be filled with a consolidation plan!
So as I aimlessly scrolled the NRC guided run list, tempted to just jump into the 10k plan, I came across the February “Keep On Running” list and, on the spot, decided for that list to keep me company through February. That way, I get the benefit of experiencing some new NRC runs whilst not already jumping into the runs that are part of the NRC10k plan.
And that’s my mini ‘plan’: explore the “February Keep Running” list and gain some NRC badges on the way.
You get one if you manage to run 4 runs from that playlist. Now, I have never hunted Nike running app badges, but today is as good a day to start with badge-hunting as any. In fact, you will see that badges are, at the moment, often on my mind… Or actually, my pegs.
★ PEG 3 turn the number around, and you’ve got … right … boobs - so this is where I hooked my current fascination with sports bras. And my pondering if I should try this newly discovered Enell brand. Good brands for large boobs were mentioned from Enell, Bravissimo, Shock-absorber and good old M&S. Thanks for the chats over at healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... between MissUnderstanding Mudita11 Willtry Coddfish Runninggirl59 JeremiahObadiah Yesletsgo Dexy5 and (teeheehee) Instructor57
★ PEG 4 is a figure 4 stretch - and that is a peg I used for my thoughts about my calves.
I know!
A figure 4 pose actually stretches your glutes, not your calves, but whilst in that pose, you get pretty close up to your calves.
So it reminded me of the fact that the topic of calves in our household comes up a lot. My 10k-walking-hubby has been struggling with calves that seize up every time he runs. Nothing works, yoga, changes of shoes, different gait, stretches, strengthening, physio, even use of our new massage gun. (Although he is the first to admit, there is much more to explore adopting regular S&F! He even popped into the Forum recently! ( healthunlocked.com/strength... ))
Similarly, but with slightly different nuances, I have had a handful of structural-system-related incidents over my last 3 running years, most of them not serious and rather niggles, like knee niggles. But the three serious ones were metatarsal strain (changed shoes), and two calve muscle strains (sudden stabbing pain that takes weeks to recede). And I did this by just walking! Yes, that’s right! Walking?!
So we worry in our household about calves.
And I realised something about why I got my calf strain, something that I didn’t manage to uncover in all my detective sleuthing from some month ago. ( healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... ) But I’ll save that second part of my detective story for the next peg. It’s quite a complex, winding, story….
Talking about winding…
★ PEG 5 snake - convoluted - yes, convoluted like my calf-strain-sleuthing of some months ago, attempting to pinpoint the reason for my calf muscle strain ( healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... ). Then I thought it was the increasing strain on my structural system … I was wrong!
And the recent article that Instructor57 posted - I think - confirmed that. ( healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... ) It’s much less likely that my 3-week illness and my running only once per week increased the load to the point of a calf muscle strain.
The culprit is still sitting in my house in open view. How did I not see it before?
Shoes, my everyday working shoes and my stiff, excessively supportive but inflexible hiking boots.
One has a narrow toe box and a heel, and the other is so inflexible that it probably impacts my mobility, and if ankles cannot move freely, calves will need to compensate. (See deep dive into mobility at healthunlocked.com/strength... )
So this year will be the year I switch over my couple of working shoes and my stiff walking boots. (Sighing as she calculates the costs)
★ PEG 6 is a sheepish grin 90% rotated - and I hooked onto that peg the sheepish grin I did after running away from two dog walkers. The two asked “something something” about the “path”, and I heard “something something” above the music I was listening to, “something something” about the dogs. I answered them, “no, no dogs, I’ve seen no dogs down that path”, and without stopping, I ran on, just capturing their confused glances and puzzled looks. Grinning sheepishly as I ran on (“must peg that”, I thought), I realised I must have misheard them completely wrong, but by then, I was past them and past the halfway point, and I ran on, whilst grinning sheepishly.
★ PEG 7 is my most often quoted number; it’s complex, it feels like a difficult number, and it is unwieldy in looks and meaning. So I park complicated themes on that peg, things I must push myself to do. This time walking vs running, specifically taking a leaf out of other runner’s playbook (woohoo!!! LottieMW @wine Folkylass Doris8 ) and posting regularly walks on Active10 ( healthunlocked.com/active10 ), including the warmup walks and cool down walks of a run as #12minWalks . And hunt for those badges; look at this gorgeous collection from @wine healthunlocked.com/active10...
And if any of you runners want to join us on this month’s challenge over on Active10, February’s #12minWalks challenge, head over here: healthunlocked.com/active10...
★ PEG 8 - turn 90 degrees, and it’s the endless symbol - In my run, there was a point where Coach Bennett started listing all the running things and people he was thankful for. Following his lead, I thought I’d do the same: my Altra zero-drop shoes, my leggings, my peaked hat, all my VRBs that I’ll be chatting to later … about sports bras, recovery times, binja ninjas, jeffing, my hubby and the chats with him, my running books, my family cheering me on, my neighbours waving at me, my colleagues taking a few minutes out to chat workouts, my friends running and non-running, my new gaiters, my future Altra running boots, my beautiful routes, my ….
… endless thanks … how nice is that! Thank you, everyone!
So I pegged my endless thanks to the 8th peg … and immediately thought of a recent post that did just the opposite …
★ PEG 9 Nine or NEIN! , as in “no” in German - as my thoughts of the endless thanks were followed immediately (and with a burst of a giggle) by the memory of reading the post by @carners1 about pet hates ( healthunlocked.com/couchto5...... ), with replies mentioning binja ninjas l, dog leashes, flies, cigarette smoke, driveway-exiting cars, thorn hedges …
And I couldn’t think of a single pet hate whilst recognising everything mentioned.
It must be the good thanksgiving vibes Coach Bennett was giving out.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
So those were my 9 pegs of yesterday’s run. I had a 10th one, but it repeated some of the other themes, so I left it by the wayside.
Wishing everyone happy thoughts on your next runs!
Tight calfs 
My Bridge to 10K training log 💙 [WEEK 1]
