Much Better Week

After the shock of last week and after finally getting rid of the remnants of my man-flu it was good to get back to some sort of normality this week. It's still very weird at work though. I had to go through the 'stuff' on his desk and in his lab and sort out the full time group that he manged. I am now officially the new Ivan. Big boots to fill. I'm looking forward to the challenge though. 

Not ideal circumstances by any means but I am now the principal electronics teacher leading a team of ... erm one! Just me until we recruit. Interviews next week. I feel bad but I've already made changes to 'my' lab. I've suggested we officially call it 'Ivan's Lab' (because that's what we've always called it) and get a sign or plaque in his memory. I also think it would be good to have the 'Ivan Wanhill' prize at the end of the year for best electronics student. 

My role at work is going to change drastically. At the moment I work with Level 5 (pre-degree level) students doing mainly 'correspondence' work. I have never met some of my students. Our only contact is via the web and email. From next week I will be working with a full time Level 3 Electronics Class, Monday to Thursday 9-4 for the rest of the year. I've never had so much student contact since my early days of teaching in the UK. 

The best thing about it is that I have the freedom to run the course how I want. The second best thing is that once we recruit NO MORE EVENING CLASSES FOR ME!!! Yah!!!! This will definitely help my training ... there, only took me four paragraphs to actually get onto the subject of the blog! 

The best part of the week was the fact that I got back out there and ran. I did a very sensible (18 minute total) walk/jog combo on Monday and then did a very stupid 5k run on Thursday. The run went unexpectedly well. I tried to keep the pace low but I also tried to keep the cadence high and it resulted in a sub8:30 mile pace. I know this is not that fast but it was supposed to be a gentle get back into the swing of things run and it wasn't. There was no reaction from the calf though and so no harm done. Maybe this is my natural pace for my lanky stride at a 170(ish) cadence for short distances. I'll have to see how it works out over the longer distances. 

I now suspect that my previously gangly low cadence running style (now it's high cadence gangly) was a big contributor to my calf problem. When it went last time I know that I was running unconsciously (or should that be subconsciously). I wasn't thinking about pushing off with my big toe and keeping my cadence high. I was just running. Fatal. My calf was actually niggly walking to the start of my run the other night BUT when I started running 'consciously' the niggle went and the calf was OK. It's just a theory. Much like the compression socks one :( Hope this one  is actually a bit more long term!!! 

My other big news of the week is that I finally gave in and bought a wind trainer. A special offer came through on email for half price and it was hard to resist ... especially with the temperatures we've been having recently. I think I ordered it Monday and it was here Wednesday. Great service as always Torpedo7

I used it Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Nothing like the motivation of getting a new toy. I love it. I started off with just 30mins and built up to a full hour yesterday. My legs were trashed after the hour. I've got it set up in the basement in front of the TV/DVD and fan. Been watching U2 concerts and alternating hard/recovery intervals with each change in song. I love hearing what Bono says mid song in concert but during the hard intervals I just want him to shut the f*ck up and get on with the singing!!! I 'm working on the rule that Edge's guitar starts an interval and Larry's final drumming ends it. Usually works to my advantage. The songs on the new album are longer than normal so that should make for some long intervals when that DVD comes out. 

Today I headed out on the bike at 6:50am into the freezing cold. I had two pairs of cycle shorts on and multiple layers on top as well as gloves. I realised on the first downhill that I should have also worn a woolly hat underneath my helmet. Instant brain freeze. Luckily the sun came up after about 20mins and it warmed up a bit. Still bl@@dy cold. Glad I've got the wind trainer.

I rode Welcome Bay Rd and turned right up some of the side roads that work their way up into the hills. I don't think any of them were as steep as Reid Rd but it made a bit of a change. There were some great views.

There is a hill that we can see from our house with trees on the ridge that I for some reason christened the U2 hill. I've often wondered where it is and how to get to it. 

Well today I found it by mistake at the end of one of the hilly climbs. If you look carefully (and have maybe smoked something weird recently) you can sort of see U2 in the middle of the hill in the shadows. 

My bike is propped up against the electrical supply box that is all ready for the house that's going to be built at the foot of the U2 hill with great views the other way of the estuary. You can't quite see the Mount but I'd settle for the view. It's on a new development and the roads to it are extremely steep. Jo is not keen but I think it's fate. Maybe ... :)

Tomorrow is family/rest day but I might just put in an hour on the trainer at an easy pace. We're off to see friends in the afternoon and she loves to bake and feed us up when we go there. I'm going to try to be good and only eat one roll/muffin/shortbread/cream cake etc but I think an hour at an easyish pace will offset some of the damage.

I am really looking forward to getting some runs in next week although I hereby do promise not to go mad and re-injure myself. Blogging it here will make it so!