Some Time Off

One month on from Tango Ultra, and I'm still not doing much.  Not by choice.

Two weeks after the race, I joined a gym, Konami Sports in Sannomiya, and started lifting and swimming but no running.  The lifting was focused on the legs to add power/ strength for MDS.

Then, at the end of last week, I went for the first run.  Guess who was there to greet me?  My friend the 'funny hamstring feeling'!  Yay, welcome back!

This funny feeling started at the end of August after a 3hr 45min run which finished with a 30min hard effort.  After that, I could feel it (not painful) every morning, but it always loosened up after a few minutes of running,  so I didn't think it was major and didn't treat properly.  Well, I'm paying for it now.

Scouring the internet has led me to a small tear or strain in my hamstring (self diagnosis).  This calls for rest, icing and a recovery strategy.
- 2wks no leg weights and no cardio (no run, no bike, no swim)
- wk 3, introduce light weights and short cycle and swim
- wk 5 (mid-Nov), introduce short run and run/ cycle sessions

Some helpful articles and a video on injuries.
- Heat vs. Ice
- Triathlete Injuries
- Hamstring Strains (Video)

Dining Out

Interesting article about how restaurants get us to eat and spend more than we should.

Vice

no, not that vice

Generally, my diet follows the previous health and nutrition post, but I failed to mention a few things: salt, coffee (caffeine) and peanut butter.

Salt - all savory meals that I cook are doused in salt.  When cooking for my partner, I salt for flavor, serve her plate and add another helping on mine.  I'm aware this isn't totally healthy so try to keep it in check by only using himalayan rock salt/ never table salt and never adding salt when eating out.

Caffeine/ coffee - strong, black, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet, I love coffee.  Living in East London with a coffee addiction is like a chocoholic moving in with Willie Wonka.  Sat morning post training, Sun afternoon catch-up, break from work?  "Let's grab a coffee."  For most people that's just a saying for 'let's grab a seat, relax and chat,' but for me, it's literal.  I try to limit one per day, generally successful, and having left the cafes of Redchurch St and Haggerston behind should help.





Peanut butter - does life get any better than relaxing with a flick and jar of pb?  Growing up, my diet was half pb&j (no, I wasn't very healthy) with a high pb to j ratio.  Most of those habits have been left behind, but pb remains: straight from the jar, covered in chocolate, cake or ice cream form, doesn't matter.  I'm good not buying it, if it's not there, I don't think about it; but once it's in the cupboard, there's no guarantee how long it'll last.