Something Different

As many people who read this blog will have noticed, I do like to complain about the weather.

Never happier than when I am moaning about how wet and cold it is. However, just in case you think I have been milking it a bit recently, stats where released yesterday showing that apparently this is the wettest May we have had for 10 years. As well as that, this year we have had the most days of rain in May in about 20 years. So far we have had more days or rain than not in May (it has rained on 18 days so far). Yes, when I lived in Darwin we once recorded more rain in two days than we have in all of May, but that was during a bit of a cyclone. Besides it isn't so much the volume of rain that is the issue as it is the duration. When you are trying to go for a ride, drizzle for 20 days straight is just as annoying as pouring rain.

Anyway, moving on from the weather. Yesterday I broke with routine a little bit and went swimming in the afternoon. The reasons for not swimming in the morning were many, and not just because the Wednesday morning session is hard. Regardless of the reason though, in the end I was glad for the change. I generally don't like swimming by myself, I find it very hard motivationally. I have found from previous experience that I need to swim in a squad. But as something different, just now and then, it was kind of nice.

I was really surprised at just how quickly the swim session passed and how easy it was to get myself through it. Nice and relaxing too, just being able to do my own thing and enjoy the swimming. Still a solid session, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I wouldn't make it a regular thing, but it was certainly a nice change.

Running this morning. Now that the rain has finally cleared, this morning was cold instead, sub 10 degrees. Recently I have been using some nifty Mizuno running gear which I have been pretty impressed with. One of the things that has impressed me is just how light it is and how well it breathes. I have never used dedicated running clothing before, but I can now see why people choose to. Unfortunately, lightweight and breathability are not necessarily traits you want on a morning when it is 10 degrees. During my walking warm up I think I was actually shivering. It was very pleasant once I had got going, but it was one of those mornings where that took a bit of time. Smoking run though (for me anyway). It was strange, I wasn't expecting it to be a good run when I headed out. I wasn't feeling bad, I was just feeling like a Thursday, legs carrying a bit of fatigue. But when I got going I felt good. The running felt better than it has for a while. In the first 30 minutes I was telling myself to not get carried away since that is what I did on Tuesday, and I paid for it a bit in the final 30 minutes. But this time around I just kept feeling good. It was certainly the best training run I have had for a good while, probably since before I hurt my back way back in February/March. I Haven't really been doing anything special to get the running back either, just solid, consistent training. Which I guess in the end, is sort of all you need to do.

On the trainer again tonight. Since getting things figured out on Tuesday with regards to the Kickr, I am looking forward to the session tonight. I just have to figure out which trainer movie to watch.