Monday, January 3, 2011

Reward For Effort

It's taken me two days to recover from Sunday's run. Two! Whole! Days! Never underestimate the effect of heat and humidity on how much and how hard you can exercise. In hind sight, it would have been far more sensible to finish at 15k, or even 12. But I am obviously not sensible. My brain said - "Okay, you've got a half marathon in 7 days and you haven't done a long run in a couple of weeks so maybe you should cram one in." All I can say is that Sunday's half WILL be much easier than Sunday's run - or today's, for that matter.

Today was speed session (of course - it's Tuesday and Tuesday is always speed) I'd promised myself an easy session because I was so knackered after Sunday's run, and because I've got a half on Sunday, and because my knee was a bit niggly last week, and because I've got a weird tight hamstring thing that isn't a strain or a tear but it feels tight, and because I only had four hours sleep last night and because today was going to be every bit as hot as Sunday. (Excuses, excuses, excuses) So we do our warm up and get put into pace groups and I start thinking that this does not bode well for running easy. And I was right!

Coach Chris's mean streak is continuing and he had us doing Kenyans again - but not just ordinary, nasty Kenyans ... we had to do 2k Kenyans!! I knew I was going to be in a world of pain. And I was right. The only redeeming feature of this session was that it finished! And my knee didn't hurt, not one little bit. And I probably was 2 kilos lighter when I finished (but not now).

After the session I had breakfast with Jenny. We have it at a lovely outdoor eating area which we have to share with the local wildlife. Today we had to share our table with a butcher bird.

He sat on the back of a seat and watched us eating. Of course I couldn't resist feeding him a small bit of my toast, which he took right from my fingers. He spent some time swallowing it (it was a bit dry and he didn't have any coffee to wash it down with) and then, to thank me he burst into this beautiful song. It was like a birdy flash mob! All the other diners stopped eating to listen and once he'd finished they refrained from applause so he wouldn't be scared away. And I rewarded his efforts with another piece of toast. What a smart bird!

13 comments:

  1. What a cute and smart bird.
    I need two days to recover after any hard workout, heat or not.
    2k Kenyans sound like a major torture.

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  2. Great video. Loved the story about the bird eating from your fingers.

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  3. Awwww, what a beautiful bird, can't believe that bird sat that close to you. I guess you were feeding it though. I love animals, birds, etc!

    I've had long runs that have taken me a few days to recover from; I can definitely sympathize!!! Good luck on your half this weekend!

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  4. Good luck on your half Char! You must have a gentle spirit for this bird to feel comfortable so close to you. OH, and the food it was hoping to get. :)

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  5. your comments always make me laugh. I just read your comment on Leonela's blog at running over 40 something about looking at her schedule for 5 minutes...love your sense of humor. It feels good to laugh...maybe you don't even intend to be funny so sorry if I'm just laughing for no reason and you're actually offended that I find you funny. :)

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  6. good luck at your half! that bird is a sign of good luck! :)

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  7. Now the half marathon will seem easy in comparison to those Kenyans!

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  8. Awesome job on the speed sesh! Now rest up for the race!!

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  9. You are doing some hard training, well done! I love birds so I loved the bird story and video, thanks!

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  10. Beautiful video of that bird :) Glad your knee didn't hurt and
    good luck on your half marathon, Char!

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  11. Knackered? That's a new one for me. Good luck in your race. You're ready!

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  13. First and foremost, sorry for wasting 5 minutes of your life :)!

    You are one tough cookie getting through that long run and then that speedwork. You are ready for the half and you'll do great! Maybe, you will have a bit cooler temps.

    I love that picture of the butcher bird! That's very cool!

    (PS, deleted my previous comment cuz of my misspellings, hate that!)

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