It’s that time of the week again (well, almost-sorry I’m a bit late with this one!)… how’s your Questing going fellow Questers?
It’s been an utter washout here. The cold that started mid week three turned into full on laryngitis and I’ve felt pretty rotten. I’ve managed to walk a few times but that’s about it. It’s a bit demoralising after I felt like I was back in a groove again but that’s the life of a runner, isn’t it? Great times and tougher times. Any good tips for not getting too despondent? I’ve found taking pictures on my gentle walks has helped keep me focussed on all the lovely things nature has going on at the moment. This little guy in the photo was singing his heart out. It almost compensated for my lack of voice! This week I’m hoping to manage a comeback run (Coach Bennett is waiting for me) and see what else I feel like.
So how’s it been going for you? I’m really looking forward to hearing what you’ve been up to and hoping you’re avoiding the bugs! While I’m not running, reading about your runs and other things always lifts my spirits.
If you’ve missed what the quest is all about, here’s the introduction followed by the previous weeks of posts. It’s never too late to join in!
Oh no MissUnderstanding that sounds really miserable 🙁but you are definitely doing the right thing by taking it easy. I think hanging onto the thought that you will be back out there very soon should help to keep the gremlins at bay and that you've already got your HM plan at a good stage now.
My week has been a bit topsy turvy as well. W8R3 ✅ on Monday but time restraints on Wednesday meant a quick loop. Unfortunately it was on the nasty hill that I can only describe as a V so decided for the sake of my knee I decided to just walk this bit. The rest of the run went well though.
This morning I wasn't really feeling it either (hayfever has already started for me which wears me down) and decided that a 30 minute run might be too much so treadmill it was. Found a couple of 10 minute interval runs through Apple Fitness and had a brilliant time. No knee issues and playing around with the speed on the dreadmill was good. I am aiming to introduce at least one short interval run a week from now on.
Physio exercises done and I am hopeful things are going in the right direction.
Hope you manage to get your comeback run in this week🤞. Thank you very much for hosting this month and keeping us runners in check ☺️.
Thanks for such a lovely reply. I’ve managed a better night’s sleep and although my voice is still off hiding somewhere, I’m feeling a bit better. I’m hoping to try a very gentle comeback run later today and see how it goes. If that turns into a walk, that’ll still be good.
Being cautious with your knee is a super sensible course of action. Hills can be a challenge. When mine was recovering from my fall, it was always the downhill stretches where I’d feel it. Hay fever is such a pain. I’m allergic to basically all of nature and if always catches me out how early it comes around. It’s the one disadvantage of all the plants coming back to life again! Hope you can find something suitable to ease yours.
Interval runs are so much (hideous) fun. I love them. If you’re into that sort of thing, the Nike Run Club app has some great ones too. Hill, hillier, hilliest would be one to try on your hills when your knee is ready!
Oh no! Hope you feel better soon 🤒. A virus then covid has detailed my quest for 2 months running 😏but us runners are made of stronger stuff 💪🏻😂
Once again, I haven’t managed to achieve my quest of getting to 10k by the end of the month but I managed just over 8k this morning so I’m back on track 😁 After I struggled to get to 7k last week as I just hadn’t got the energy, this run was much more comfortable and I had a bit left to spare at the end. I’ve had a couple of days off work, I slept well and I had a couple of rich tea biscuits before I ran to give me some readily available fuel. I kept my pace slow, telling myself to slow down on the downhill parts and giving myself permission to go slowly on the uphill parts. All in all it was a slow and steady run with no hiccups 👍🏻. I ran the NRC 60 mins with Eliud Kipchogi (spelling?? 🤷🏻♀️) which I enjoyed, and rounded it up to the 8k.
So guess what my March quest is 🤦🏻♀️😂😂. Happy questing everyone!
Thanks for your kind words and glad you’re back after covid. It really did knock the stuffing out of a lot of us.
I really enjoyed Run with Eliud when I did it. He’s got such a lovely way of speaking. So calm! It sounds like you’re making great progress. It’s hard when it’s energy that feels a bit lacking. I’m absolutely sure you’ll get to your 10k in time. No need to change the goal, just give yourself a kind and flexible sort of time frame to get there. ❤️
Hi,birdsong is uplifting, and they are all paired up, my first ' little bit of bread and some cheese' in the distance today, the joy of no headphones and ear talk! The quest for greater fitness (aka speed ) has gone well this month, evidenced by being able to maintain pace up my modest hill on the short up and down interval run.Hope you get better soon, there are some good Scottish remedies for a throat and a good night's sleep!
I haven’t thought about “little bit of bread and cheese” in years. Thanks for the reminder-so many memories of going out in my nan’s garden to listen for that particular brand of birdsong.
Glad your quest is going well. Speed work is fun! It’s a different kind of fitness. There’s something absolutely brilliant and slightly shocking about asking your legs to pick up the pace and finding they start flying!
There are some green shoots of recovery. Thanks for your good wishes ❤️
Arghhh MU, poor you. You’re doing the right thing by taking it easy, as am I. I have yet another cold and a 40 a dayer kind of cough. Bang goes my PR tomorrow, and so far I’ve only ticked one measly run off my new HM plan. 😩
Despondent? Yes. Very. But we’ll be back won’t we? I love your photo and that dear little fellow is making up for it isn’t he? ❤️
Thanks for your lovely post. Sorry you’re suffering too. There’s so much about at the moment. It feels like once we’ve got rid of one bug, the next one come around. We’ll bounce back! Look after yourself and make sure you keep smiling too 👊
Moisturised hands and feet here (although I have realised that although many people comment on my 'youthful' appearance, my hands give it away), yoga was just about hanging in there but I'd not properly been tracking the days and fear that, like last month, it was a bit scant... but I decided to revive my Lent habit habit and declare every day in Lent, which so far has given it a bit of a boost.
Not quite as much running as I had hoped - I've two runs to get in before the end of the month if I am to reach my target. This last week's was a bit of a shocker as I had to have several sit downs (and would have preferred to lie down), contemplated dragging poorly back Mr GM out to rescue me... the cause being a small bowl of cereal and oat milk after, it seems, not enough other food (I already know I can't eat cereal and milk on its own). As I was by the steep banks of the fast flowing Derwent, it was sobering.
Well done on reviving the yoga habit. Are you following a particular programme? Daily yoga is so uplifting-hope that habit sticks for you!
That run sounds really scary. I’ve had a couple go that way when I’ve been coming down with something or not eaten enough. That walk home when you’re feeling dodgy is horrible. Hope you’re not too shaken up and perhaps take this is a good excuse to take something nice with you (jelly babies, biscuits etc) with you? Sorry, I sound like my mum!
The Derwent has some beautiful scenery. We used to live in that area and my husband has walked the whole length of it. What a gorgeous place to run. ❤️
Sometimes it just doesn't feel fair does it? The cold of 22/23 has laid so many people low for so long. Hopefully with the world of nature waking up and the birds singing we will all be healthier. My quest has to be run in Bath this week, even if it's only a little way 😃
Bath is a great place to run-I know it very well! Hopefully the sun will be shining and it’ll be looking at its finest for you. There are lots of lovely places for post run chill outs too. Enjoy!
Post run chill out has to be the thermae spa which is our reason for going, but I'm determined to run as well, our 10 year anniversary of meeting on a dark damp night deserves something special
Thank you! There are some improvements today. Feeling a bit less tired and the coughing is better. I slept well which makes all the difference. My HM plan has me running ten miles today but hopefully I’ll take coach b out for fifteen minutes instead and that will feel like a triumph. ❤️
There was definitely something going round in October/November 2022 here, though for me it was more a lack of energy. (There were other things going on from September to January for me that could also have contributed.)
I have been fighting off the sniffles a bit in the last week, too, but that might be more that the very changeable weather is affecting my sinuses.
My currently drained feeling is different. I have done a lot of mileage in the last week: 12km, 10km, 4km, 5km, 12km, 5km (parkrun) and today 21.1km.
And I'm not done. My current plan is to do a shorter run tomorrow and finish the month with a run into central Manchester for work's team pizza lunch.
Glad to hear you seem to be on the right side of the bug.
Your mileage at the moment is seriously impressive. Are you due a cutback at any point or do you think you’ll play it by ear? Dare I ask about March? It sounds like RED has been a really positive thing for your runs.
I’m finally feeling much better today, thanks. I did a short run yesterday which was much better than expected and went out for (sensibly paced) intervals today. That was fun. My voice still sounds a bit more Bonnie Tyler husk than usual but at least I’m feeling like myself again.
Totally playing it by ear at the moment. If I'm about to kit up for a run and something feels wrong, I'll be taking a rest day. So far that hasn't happened. After yesterday's long run my ankles and lower calves were sore, but today they're fine.
As I'm likely to be working the local elections in May (6am-10pm), that puts a hard limit on my ability to run every day.
Sorry about your cold MissUnderstanding , there's some really nasty bugs around. They knock you out more than you realise. I got one in January and had to take two weeks off running. I really only started feeling 100% in the last week or so. It's one thing to feel well enough to work/housework/socialise but it's another to do all that and run and feel able to do anything other than collapse on the sofa and have a nap.
This month, for the first time in ages I have actually managed to complete my Quest. OK, I was aiming low, but I've aimed low and missed the last few times.
The goal was to run more than last month. In January I completed 5 runs and covered 22.65 km. This month it was 7 runs and 25.92 km. OK, objectively it's not an impressive total, but it's moving in the right direction and I did a lot of walking, nearly 233 km (I just checked the figure and I am very impressed with that as it's about 10% up on my monthly average )
So we're nearly at the end of the month and the days are longer, the daffodils are out and soon we'll all be fully recovered from our bugs. The world is our 🦪 🦞
Sorry you’ve have a tough time with bugs too and thanks for your kind words. Apart from during covid, I haven’t really known a year like it for so many people absolutely floored by colds. You make such a good point about it being housework or a run but not both. Having to choose what you spend your limited energy on like that is never fun. I’m finally feeling better today. I almost forgot what it was like go out for a run with some energy and not just trudge along!
Brilliant news about your quest success. Those are some really impressive numbers! I’d be thrilled with those! Maybe a little celebration is in order? A bunch of daffodils maybe?
It’s lovely when the daffs come out. Mine are still not quite there. Any day now! Here’s to a full recovery for both of us 🏃♀️🌼❤️
Yes!! I wasn’t mentally prepared at all. It only started out as a little sniffle then it went on for nearly two weeks. When you’re in the middle of it, it’s so hard to see if the end will ever come! I’ll take things easy this week and see how it goes.
The cheery daffs have come at just the right time now!
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