Tough Cookies

Missing out on Sunday's race was tougher than I'd thought. It felt strange to not be on the start line along with everyone; hoping for that half marathon PB to kick off 2010. I played it safe and have instead spent the last couple of days mooning about the house like a lost lamb, wishing my niggles better and eating too much comfort food. An easy run on Monday was niggle filled but gratefully less so around the Achilles. A good decision then.

To add to our woes, Monday night was the first week of our college assessments; there are 5 of these to come, last night being an optional practice. We all opted to be assessed and the pressure to pass was tangible. We all lined up in our stiff, scratchy and rather ugly navy dentist style suits, complete with ugly matching clogs. This was our first chance to lay our oily hands on proper paying punters. As the lights dimmed the floaty music led us into our first massage exam; the tutor tiptoeing around each one of us, clutching his clipboard, watching for exposed toes or limb crushing moves. The hour flew by as we tensely recalled our body routine, carefully counting the minutes massaging toes and arms. With 7 minutes for legs and 20 for backs I was terrified of exposing a forgotten boob or bum cheek with all the tension.

I was all done at 8pm. The tension was massive as we saw our clients out and awaited our results. With a grand drum roll...we passed! I still can't believe it. A great start to a week of holidays. No more frantic routine rehearsing in the car. It's the real thing for the next few weeks but if I've passed one I know I can do it again. We'll soon be proper massage therapists. Though I don't think I can give up the day job, it might make us a bit of pocket money...

So, back to running and today was a return to some quality to test the legs with the hope the Achilles was behaving. A 1k road circuit with a flat start and a killer uphill finish was the session of the day. With no company this week the times were down but the heart rate high enough to call it VO2 work. A total of 6 reps with 90s recovery brought the session total to 9 miles and some very wobbly Elvis legs by the end. Fingers crossed I can keep the niggles away.