Every cloud....

Well after the events of Saturday I did indeed go out for a beer or 5.  At which point we went to another local pub which was serving:

After 4 of these at 6.5% I was struggled to get out of bed at dinner time, let alone at the crack of dawn.  A wasted opportunity :(  Be aware of the reserve, it's lethal!

Come Monday I was still feeling a bit rough but had decided that since I'd missed Trinity and my long run that I'd better pull my thumb out and get on my toes for a long run.  I linked up two routes I've been doing after work/during lunch.  The first route being off road through fields from near Warwick Uni (I work in Coventry in case you're wondering why I'm there) towards Kenilworth and back via the uni.  Most of this is quite rural and you could be in the middle of nowhere, it's brilliant running with my Myo RXP headtorch :)  Since this was a bit of a tester for the Long Mynd Valleys Race I thought I'd run with a bladder and take some gels to see how my stomach coped while running (I've previously only used them on long distance walks).  The good news is that my stomach was fine (I was using High5 gels) and I did 10.3 miles in 1:50 with a few stops for gels, putting the torch away (so I don't look like a plonker in my Skins tights with a headtorch) and a closer than comfortable encounter with a cow so a fairly pleasing time and comfirms my belief for a 1:50 half in March.

In the morning my hip was suffering.  This is an injury I picked up a year ago when I ran up the Wrekin (a local 400m hill) without warming up properly.  The injury got worse even with no exercise, some stretching sorted it out but it took a long time.  When I felt a similar (but not as bad) pain I thought it was time to get a proper diagnosis so I got in touch with the Sports Injury Clinic at the National Sports Centre in Lilleshall.  The lady was great!  She immediately diagnosed Piriformis Sydrome.  Tired gluts mean the Piriformis takes over and the gluts go to sleep.  As the Piriformis gets tighter it pushes on the Sciatic nerve causing pain.

After a painful massage I feel much better, I've got some stretches to do and should be running again tomorrow and fine for the weekend.  I can't speak highly enough for the treatment, it was immediately noticeable :)

I'm dry tooling indoors on Friday and Sunday at the Shropshire Climbing Centre, hopefully some photos to follow.