Still haven't been out for a run since the weekend as the foot is still sore but is getting slowly better. Instead I have been for a couple of bike rides to keep myself in shape. On Tuesday I did a 34 mile loop from home via Cannock Chase. It was a fair bit further than I expected and quite hilly. On the way to Cannock Chase I took a detour through Longdon thinking it was a short cut to the Marquis Drive area of Cannock Chase but it turned out that I ended up doing a loop and a very large climb for nothing. Having said that the downhill bit was good fun reaching a top speed of 40mph! After 19 miles in the saddle I finally got to Marquis Drive and had a 10min rest where quite a few orienteers were there from the club doing the Tuesday night training (shown by the red dot in the image below).

I then decided to try and find a better route home that was a) not on such busy roads, b) shorter as I was knackered and c) quicker! I ended up just guessing where to go and thankfully things turned out ok, but a lot of the time I was cycling on country lanes not having a clue where I was. After a while the large TV mast in Sutton Coldfield was visible (I live not far from it), so I just pointed my bike on any road that vaguely headed towards it. It worked out ok in the end as the route back was four miles shorter and about 15mins quicker and the whole thing took 2hrs 10mins in all (ave. speed 17mph). My legs felt like they had a hard workout so don't feel like I had missed much by not running.


Today I went out on a shorter bike ride through various bits of Sutton Park and I intended to involve some hill reps. Things didn't go to plan as I was constantly dodging dog walkers, kamikaze runners from the local club, other cyclists wondering all over the place, and park barriers to negotiate. In the end I decided to head out of the park and do a loop from Banners Gate anti clockwise back home. It was about 14 miles in all. I didn't get such a good workout, but I guess its better than nothing.

If my foot is better by the weekend I intend to do a couple of runs then but I'll see how things are nearer the time before deciding whether its worth the risk.

Comments

  1. Steph Cooke9 June 2007 at 14:15

    Glad things seem to be easing, at least you are still getting a good workout on the bike.
    I'm off to Morocco tomorrow; going with Explore, I went with them to Peru in 2003, and with Exodus to do the Tour de Mont Blanc in 2004, think they are both very similar companies really.
    Hopefully you will be running again soon; I intend to build up slowly after the trek.

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