Bob's Bits.

OldGreyFox · 2 May 2017 07:23

If all my runs were as hard as this morning, I’d hang up my running shoes and take up ‘Fishing’…

Mags · 2 May 2017 17:36

Oh dear Bob, was it a bad day?

OldGreyFox · 2 May 2017 19:33

Not one of my best Mags…At only six miles it should have been a walk in the park, but right from the start my legs were heavy and mechanical. I tried to vary the pace half way round, and although I was moving a little bit smoother, I wasn’t feeling the love…A pity really because it was a beautiful sunny morning. In the end I was glad to get home but it felt like the last six miles of a marathon and it’s taken me all day to recover.

I’m toying with the idea of accepting some defeat and cutting down my mileage, but if I stop running ten miles on Sunday, pretty soon I’d be feeling the same after an eight, and then a six, and gradually it closes you down until you are no longer a runner. I’ll see how I manage on Thursday’s eight…

Val_J · 2 May 2017 20:54

Runners or home keepers, we all have our off days Foxy, sometimes I can whip round and get my chores done in no time at all, sometimes it’s a struggle to finish. It’s probably just a blip and you’ll be back to normal in no time.

Mags · 2 May 2017 21:11

Don’t push yourself too hard Bob, if your body tells you it’s not up to it, take notice of it and rest for a while or it may lead to further health problems

myrtle · 2 May 2017 21:54

I agree with Val … good days and bad days … we all have them.

Twink55 · 3 May 2017 05:19

Foxy, you need to remember that we are all getting older and putting your body under too much strain could also be bad for your health. Why not reduce the length of your runs? I think you do it for health reasons, but your body is trying to tell you that you are doing too much!
We all have to change our routines when this happens, so why not give yourself some new targets to achieve? One day you may have to accept a brisk walk, rather than a run, so what about taking some photos at designated spots, through different seasons. You photos are lovely, so that would give you a reason to go out and keep you fit.
When you body says " I don’t want to do that anymore" why not reply “OK well lets start doing this…” ?

OldGreyFox · 3 May 2017 09:11

Thanks everyone for your comments of support and good advice…
On the 28th of July 2018 I will have been lacing up the running shoes and turning out for a run exactly forty years. Three months has been the longest layoff following a heart attack back in 2004, apart from that, layoffs have been very rare, perhaps a week here, and a couple of missed runs there. When I first started taking running seriously I realised that because it is something that I love to do there is a tendency to overdose on it. So I decided then that I shall only run every other day, and give my body time to recover…;-);-)

Over the years I have made many friends through running, and as we have all been overcome with age, there are very few who still go running. Some were training hard to accomplish targets, some [like the amazing Ron Hill] have tried to run every day of their lives and have fell by the wayside. I’m still going, albeit slowly. I have never really set targets or asked for anything from running other than the freedom of the open road or fell, payment enough for me.

Ask me why I do it and I can produce a hundred reasons why, but over the years each reason has, at some point, been tested and has failed, and the truth of the matter is, I just don’t know why I do it.
I suppose it’s just like the elderly chap who’s house backs on to ours. In his mid to late eighties and a devout Catholic he attends his church twice daily, three times at the weekend. Every day of his life [certainly for the last twenty years since I’ve known him] he leaves his house at seven in the morning, and again at six in the evening. Is running my religion?

Over the years I expect some deterioration, and there has undoubtedly been plenty of that. Distance wise, I have been reduced from long runs of over twenty miles every Sunday to Ten miles. Speed has been reduced from six minute miles to over ten minute miles. The question I must ask myself is this:- Is this a normal depreciation due to age Or something else? There are other runners down the club as old as, or older than me running so much better. Granted, they have not suffered a Heart Attack, but should I accept that this is the best that I can be?

I can’t deny that even though I have never really set targets, I have been, and still are, highly competitive, as much as with myself than other runners, and it is this that has probably encouraged me to turn out on those winter mornings in the wind and rain [or worse] to run through pain and obstacles on ultra marathons or fell runs, when the only friend was a rain soaked map and a failing torch. This is why I will fight for every mile. I might lose the odd battle, but I will try my utmost to win the war.

Basically, I’m just saying what Val and Myrtle said earlier that everybody has a bad day…How much better it looks after a good nights sleep…

myrtle · 3 May 2017 09:15

great post OGF

OldGreyFox · 3 May 2017 09:19

Cheers Myrtle, once I get going I tend to ramble on a bit…

myrtle · 3 May 2017 10:21

You can’t beat a good ramble

OldGreyFox · 4 May 2017 09:52

Overcast and blustery at six thirty this morning when I set off in earnest [why do we say that? Who is Earnest anyway?] for Thursday’s eight mile struggle. Expecting a poor run I set off very cautiously, still a bit stiff and mechanical with a niggle coming from my left knee. By halfway the knee niggle had disappeared [knees do that sometimes] and I wasn’t feeling too bad, I mixed in some faster pace bits and realised it wasn’t a bad run after all. The time wasn’t too shabby either…

I think I understand why I’m feeling stiff and mechanical sometimes. The large muscles in my lower back and buttocks are still stiffening up after a run, and being as these groups of muscles are responsible for power it would adversely affect running gait.
A bit like a car running on three plugs…

Twink55 · 4 May 2017 11:54

Overcast and blustery at six thirty this morning when I set off in earnest [why do we say that? Who is Earnest anyway?] for Thursday’s eight mile struggle. Expecting a poor run I set off very cautiously, still a bit stiff and mechanical with a niggle coming from my left knee. By halfway the knee niggle had disappeared [knees do that sometimes] and I wasn’t feeling too bad, I mixed in some faster pace bits and realised it wasn’t a bad run after all. The time wasn’t too shabby either…

I think I understand why I’m feeling stiff and mechanical sometimes. The large muscles in my lower back and buttocks are still stiffening up after a run, and being as these groups of muscles are responsible for power it would adversely affect running gait.
A bit like a car running on three plugs…

Get Mrs Foxy to give them a rub

OldGreyFox · 4 May 2017 19:20

She’d think I was being pervy Twink and hand me the vacuum saying “That’ll loosen up your muscles”…I think I might have to enlist the help of a professional…Perhaps one of those Russian girls at the end of the road…:-D:-D:-D

Twink55 · 5 May 2017 04:38

Don’t worry Foxy, Mups and I will come over and help… we are qualified as man manipulators

OldGreyFox · 5 May 2017 07:18

Thanks Twink that would be lovely, I might have to enlist your services after today’s walk.

Another solo one and about ten or twelve miles from Bempton bird sanctuary along the coast path to Bridlington. I usually park at the Coastguard Station at the North end of Brid and catch the bus from Limekiln Lane to Bempton. But first, calling in at my local Tesco for supplies…Sausage rolls and pork pies, there’s nothing like healthy food on a long walk…and sausage rolls and pork pies are nothing like healthy food…

OldGreyFox · 8 May 2017 10:24

[CENTER]Bridlington to Bempton – Friday 5th May 2017[/CENTER]

It didn’t go exactly to plan today. I thought I had allowed enough time to drive to Bridlington after first calling in at the local Tesco for a bottle of water and a tasty looking chicken salad sandwich, but the two slow moving tractors I sidled up behind en route stole some valuable time.

The weather looked perfect for walking with not a cloud in the sky as I rolled into the car park , about 13 degrees C and getting warmer all the time. I was trying to make sense of the ticket machine - I lost three quid the last time I was here - when the bus went sailing past with another hour until the next one.

So plan ‘B’ then, Walking to Bempton and catching the bus back. It had been warm in the car and I was quite happy in just a shirt, thin jumper and shorts, but that first mile along the cliff tops with a strong North Easterly in my face required more substantial clothing so after a rummage around in the rucksack I produced a thin fleece, hat and gloves.

With no decent rain for weeks the going was firm and dry, the occasional valley crossed my path, Danes Dyke, South Landing and a couple of smaller ones which required going down the steps at one side and up the steep steps at the other, I was soon warmed up, but soon cooled down when once again facing that keen North Easterly on the exposed bits. A runner passed by, and after passing the time of day he disappeared over the next rise, it was some minutes later that a large brown Labrador came jogging past, and I heard the runner shouting his name but there were too many interesting things for the hound to investigate at the side of the path, so he slowly zig zagged his way into the distance. What a great way to exercise your dog, a part of me wanted to catch him up and run with them, but not today, it’s just a walk.

I was dazzled by the sun reflecting off the bright yellow fields of Oil Seed Rape and then impressed by the magnificent white painted structure of the Flamborough Lighthouse. It was approaching lunch time, but North Landing was stacked out with visitors so I pressed on to Thornwick Bay, where I found a small rock strewn beach nestled between two headlands and at the end of a steep climb down. Not as busy as the beach at Thornwick Bay itself, I think the climb down put people off, so It was here, out of the wind and a high tide sending rollers in one after the other that I despatched the Tesco Chicken Salad Sandwich, and with the beach to myself, I rested back onto a rock and contemplated paradise.

As you leave the enormous sprawling campsite of Thornwick Bay and climb back up onto the cliff top path you are now walking beside some of the tallest cliffs in Britain, it’s the wild life sanctuary of Bempton Cliffs. All manner of sea birds hovered overhead screeching at passerby’s and the closer I got to the visitors centre, the more people I met carrying cameras with lenses the size of the ‘Hubble telescope’ some were seated just watching the action, and others stood in amazement watching the ariel display.
I turned away from the cliffs now and took the paved path to the Visitors Centre, a small gate at the side allowed me to quietly slip on to the road back to Bempton.

I tore the wrapper off a Mars Bar, and as I suckled on its sweet delights I was doing hasty calculations in my head considering what time I thought the bus would arrive at the end of the lane. I was wrong! The lady with the dog informed me that I had just missed one and perhaps the train would be a better proposition. I considered this as I walked with her to the station, and just as we arrived a train turned up, marvellous. In the event, nobody came round for my fare, so I arrived in Bridlington courtesy of Trans Pennine, however, it wasn’t all good news. After passing the car park and almost touching my car, the train travelled on another couple of miles to the station in Bridlington adding another mile or two onto the twelve miles already completed…