Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Crazy Loves Company

I just need to have a little whinge.

Yesterday's speed session was hard!

Not that speed session is ever easy. You can't run fast (ish) for 45 minutes without wanting to toss up your pre-run banana on the odd occasion. And I'd be lying if I said that I'd never thought about faking an injury well before the end of a session. I have those thoughts on a very regular basis but have yet to act on them - I'm saving that for a very special case of desperation.

Yesterday's session was a little bit harder than usual because it was in a different location. It wasn't on our usual almost dead-flat stretch. It was up this enormous mountain!!

Slight exaggeration there. It was up a little bit of an incline. But I swear that incline felt like an enormous mountain by the end. And my legs are assuring me even as I sit here at the keyboard that there was extra work involved. Hello DOMS.

I'm still not back to where I want to be fitness-wise so that might have added to how hard it felt. And I certainly haven't done any hill sessions for probably two months. And I'm only running two or three times a week at the moment. But I'm pretty sure that it wasn't just me who found it a challenging session.

We started off with five sprints up the hill that turned into six because the back markers had to get their five done. Then it was a fun ten minute rep that seemed to be longer. Why is it that time goes so quickly when you're having fun yet so slowly when you're in pain?? Then we got to repeat the first five reps which again became six - despite me really taking those recoveries to the extreme.

I looked at my watch on the last rep and decided that we'd really be pushing it to get another ten minute rep done. My wish, at that point, was that we'd have to call it quits and do a slightly longer cool-down.

I've been running with Coach Chris long enough to have known better. I know he has a sadistic streak so I shouldn't have been surprised that he had an evil glint in his eye when he told us that the last rep would be fifteen minutes.

It always amazes me that despite us all being exhausted and in pain no one ever quits. There may have been dark mutterings from a certain Mr G and thoughts of revenge (the more painful the better) but to a man we all pulled on our big girl panties to finish off the session.

I like to think that it shows that we're a close-knit group of dedicated, hard-core athletes. But I sort of suspect that we're all a little crazy and we've worked out that our crazy doesn't seem so bad when we're surrounded by like-minded crazies.

And talking about crazy - my poor puppy has had an itch that has been driving him nuts. Poor Toby is allergic to something and whatever that something is it's around in abundance at the moment. So he's been spending a lot of time like this.


While the Cone of Shame has it's pluses - like storing food for a snack later on or keeping the rain off your head or making your bark sound so much more impressive due to the megaphone-like shape - it has a lot of minuses - like having your doggy sister snap at you when you make play overtures because you don't realise that the cone is almost a lethal weapon to a 6 kilo dog.


Because it's a pain to take on and off, we've gotten a bit lazy and stopped threading it onto his collar and this has worked pretty well. Until the other day. 

Toby picked up one of his toys to play with and shook it so violently that the cone came off his neck and ended up wedged over the rabbit's butt. 


Funniest thing I've seen in a long time!

10 comments:

  1. OMG. He put the cone of shame on the bunny.

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  2. I love being surrounded by like minded people!!
    Toby is such a cutie!! I love this time of year but hate all the things in the air. Shame you can;t give him some clarentine or something similar!!

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  3. Poor Toby!!!

    And poor you, but it sounds like you're back in the groove.

    Deb

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  4. You'll keep improving. You are very dedicated! And I love hearing about Toby - always!

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  5. Haha! Poor bunny rabbit!

    I tried a hard session this morning and it was a disaster. I had to stop about 3 times. I need your coach...

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  6. Speed sessions are hard but it is only the really hardcore people that do them...like you. Reminds me of Spiral that ate his whole cone when his leg was broken :)

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  7. Cone of shame brothers in arms! I'm sure it made Toby feel better. And ouch on the workout--but a good ouch!

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  8. That speed workout sounds long and brutal - I'm pretty sure that I would have been crying way before the end!!!
    Toby is a funny dog - so great that you have that little guy to keep you entertained!!

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  9. I'm envious of your hills. I have to look long and hard to find the slightest incline around here. Good job on the workout. Hilarious that your sweet, handsome Toby escaped his cone!

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  10. okay, this last picture is hilarious! At first I thought you put a cone on bunny to make him feel better...you know a little: "see Toby, you're not alone...bunny has a cone too!" But then I read what it was really all about. Cracks me up!

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