Volcano interruption!

I have been away in the USA and delayed by an Icelandic volcano spewing ash and preventing my returning to the UK until today.

Unable to sleep, I thought I might as well update this blog with some of my running activity whilst I was away. The place I went to in the USA was fairly flat and devoid of many hills so fairly easy running at a relatively fast pace was in order. I think on the whole I managed, when I was on my own, to run at around 8 minutes per mile or 5 minutes per km. I wasn't really paying attention to the times as some days I was running with new friends or a work colleague and they couldn't keep up to my pace. Still the distance I covered was roughly the same as I would have covered in the UK. Some runs on roads, some in parks and on cycle trails alongside roads running through public parks.

I did all of the runs shirtless.

It seems that the Americans also have their fair share of people that do not appreciate or want to humiliate runners (rednecks?). I was shouted at once from a passing car and hooted at a couple of times. So this phenomenon is not restricted to the UK. However, I did see quite a few more shirtless runners there in the parks than I have in the UK. Maybe the spring weather being sunny and in the 14C to 20C range had something to do with that.

I also managed to get a good massage on the first Sunday I was in the USA - just the thing to sort out tired muscles and the stress of flying. Come to think of it, I could do with a massage now to relax me and get my internal time clock back on UK time!

I managed to keep my weight under control too - tipping the scales at 68Kg this morning. Not as bad a gain as I had expected given the size of food portions in the USA and the amount of food that was on offer.

Till the next time - and hopefully not at 5h30 in the morning!

A quick catch up

Sorry for the infrequent posts - business trips interfere with blog postings! I am feeling better and did a little cycling and running over the Easter weekend. Friday a 6km bike ride and then a timed 1.5 mile run in 11m35s. the run was slightly downhill with an uphill return which I found quite tough.

Saturday was an equally tough and hilly 8.8km run in a relatively slow 55 minutes. It was with my normal group so understandably slow - but enjoyable nevertheless. Monday was another group run of 10km in just on an hour - again slow but over a cross country course with a few obstacles. Again, enjoyable and fun albeit a little muddy.

Will run tomorrow and then probably try and get some runs in when I hit the USA this weekend and during the week too. Maybe even try swimming in a cold lake if i can find one. Keep watching this space for more updates.

Weight is up again - must really be careful about what I eat when I am away and keep up the exercise. It will be very tough.