Pressing pause...

 

I’m not good at admitting when I need to step back a bit - this applies generally, but all the more so when it comes to running, and especially when I’ve been on a bit of a roll with consistency and distances. 

Last month went well - 3 runs per week, 11 in total for the month. I exceeded my monthly target of 50 miles by 7, increased my distance to beyond 10k, ran the Virtual Vitality London 10k, and got myself to within 50 miles of my annual mileage target too. I also did several strength sessions, a fair bit of stability work, and a LOT of stretching, however, I also aggravated a bit of a niggle in my left foot and ankle, and ran on when I knew I wasn’t really feeling “right” which has lead to me feeling rather out of sorts and under the weather for the past week. And of course in spite of THAT I ran some more... Add in quite a lot of walking and general time on my feet, all this on top of a LOT of mileage covered walking in September too, and frankly, my body is crying out for a bit of a break.

This week then is a re-set. No running for at least the first few days - instead either a strength or a stability session each day, and a longer yoga/stretching session too. Walking to get my daily aim of 5 miles in, but not too much more. Plenty of fruit and veggies, lots of water. Listening to my body and giving the niggles a chance to settle. All being well I’ll get a run in on Friday - just possibly Thursday - but I’ve suspended any weekly target for this week, and won’t be putting myself under any pressure to do too much until things feel right again. With what is now being referred to as “Lockdown 2” approaching, I think it’s likely that I’m going to want to be able to get out and run or at least walk plenty over the next few weeks, so a bit of stepping back now should help to put me in the best possible place to allow that. 

While I’m not spending too much time on my feet this week, I plan to turn my attention back to some of my old unprocessed photos. I’ve got airshow stuff going back years that I want to look back on - from the 2 Lancasters flying together in 2014, through to the various classic jets that we no longer see fly for various reasons, there is plenty of stuff to be working on, and the new laptop is proving to be an absolute delight to work on, too. Slightly more up to date software is also meaning I can get far better results from my processing, so that in itself is proving an incentive to work on some stuff that I ignored or just simply missed previously. I’ll maybe post some of the results here - but in any event a fair number will appear on Instagram (@robyn_pf) or Twitter (@EssexHebridean) and as usual everything will land up on my Flickr account (Photozone72) so pop over there and take a look! 

Robyn