BOFHJournal - March 2014

1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024

February's Journal
April's Journal

31/03/2014 [17:30] So things didn't exactly go according to plan. The weather was pretty great, but the wind was exactly against the tide on the Thames, so the first seventy nine crews (out of four hundred plus) got into real difficulties and ended up either sinking, crashing, or just about making it over the finish line. We were just above the start line when the notification came through. That meant we had to sit on the water for another hour or two before slowly rowing back to the boating area again. Basically, at that point we just packed up and went home. Everyone had a considerable amount of energy left over, so I doubt anyone slept any better than I did. I spent Sunday morning at the boat house doing a very light but long cardio-weights session. I was very close to going for a nice long run in the afternoon after going to Tesco, but in the end... didn't. So that's basically it. Not much went on, really. The highlight of the weekend was Rachel coming over. Although that would have been a highlight anyway, I was hoping there might be a little more competitive rowing involved. We're running this evening. A second last run before the marathon. Just 10K or so, I think. Work today was mostly about the two and a half hour meeting everyone had this morning because my division and its sister become one glorious hole as of today. No-one's really sure what it's going to entail/be like, but it's going to be interesting.

28/03/2014 [12:45] Short day today. At least, I think so. There's a party to 'celebrate' the end of my division given it's being amalgamated with the one with which we share this new building. I don't think we're expected to come back to work afterwards. So, free food. I probably shouldn't have made a packed lunch today but I completely forgot. This weekend I'm heading down to London on Saturday to do the Head of the River Race, and then on Sunday very little at all except hopefully a 15K light run with Rachel and some relaxation. She was here yesterday evening after I got back from derigging the boat, I even got her to watch a proper 1970s science fiction film. Hope for her yet! Right, best be off. See you on Monday, without further injury and a top 100 placing, I hope!

27/03/2014 [16:55] Today I have been mostly quietly celebrating the fact I appear to have run 6km without too much discomfort. There was discomfort, even with ibuprofen in my system, but I think I can deal with it so long as it doesn't get any worse. I'm going to try 15K on Monday (possibly Sunday, with Rachel) and we'll see how that goes. Obviously this morning's outing was fine. In fact it wasn't too shabby at all. Some rough edges, as there always are with our performance, but that's just part of our charm. Did some work, did some emailing, generally held the place together for another working day. I'm off shortly to do a nice UT2 6km erg and then dismantle and trailer the boat for the weekend's race. Then home, hopefully in time to have a nice dinner with Rachel, watch something nice on the tellybox and head to bed. Happily, tomorrow does not involve a particularly early morning for me.

26/03/2014 [16:30] Yesterday was a good day, back not withstanding. Today has not been. It started off OK, but then I had a nose bleed during breakfast. That should have been my first warning. My first train was four minutes late, which meant I missed the train I wanted at Kings Cross by four minutes. The next train was going to get me back precisely when my one hour sports massage was due to begin, only six minutes from the train station. I called the massage guy from the train and told him I'd be a few minutes late. Then the tannoy went on the train to say that powerlines were off and no trains were leaving Kings Cross for the forseeable. I called the massge guy again and hoped that I could rebook for another time without forfeiting my payment. I got an answerphone so didn't know initially if he was going to allow it. After about twenty minutes of waiting I got off and used the Tube to get to another station I could get a train from. Eventually, two and a half hours after I wanted to, I got back. I decided to cycle to the sports centre and see if I could rebook in person with the massage person, only when I got there he'd left for the day. As I was leaving to cycle to work, the heavens opened and it began hailing hard, and then raining. Naturally, this was the day I'd chosen to wear jeans so I looked a bit more presentable. I was soaked by the time I got to work. I then had to do half a day's work, hadn't run, and my back still ached. Also, it was appraisal day. Luckily the appraisal seemed to go fairly well and I caved in and took an ibuprofen for my back, something which I imagine I'm going to have to do for the marathon at this point (only something a little more potent than a single 200mg tablet). I think I've managed to arrange a physio/massage session this evening from the rowing club's resident rower/physio, so that's a bit of help at least. Or at least, I hope. I don't know if there's anything that can be done other than stretching to minimise the impact sensitivity, and lots of strong drugs. I wonder if I should run at all before the 6th...?

25/03/2014 [16:35] I'm trying not to speak too soon about my back, but it suddenly felt a lot better on the cycle back from doing some work in town this afternoon. I don't think it's better by any means, but it's hopefully on its way. Maybe I won't run tomorrow, unless it feels perfectly normal. It's incredible how much we take pain-free movement for granted. I feel wonderful now when it doesn't hurt as I transfer weight onto or off my right leg. Anyway, no chicken counting at this stage. Not until I've done more than one run pre-marathon and still felt OK. Chances are I'll still be back to being broken before I get to Rachel's this evening. Hopefully tomorrow's morning's hour of "sports massage", plus some physio stuff tomorrow evening will go some way to making me feel a little better, too. We'll see. Wireless network work today, although it turns out I wasn't given all the information I needed so the job hasn't been completely completed. I'll probably have to go back there tomorrow or Thursday, although I have my appraisal tomorrow afternoon, so it might not be then. Anyway, I need to finish things off so I can leave a bit earlier today. Have a good Tuesday evening.

24/03/2014 [16:55] Interesting weekend. My back continues to plague me. Alternately almost OK and quite painful. After Friday's abortive run I'm again scared to even try it out when it's not feeling too bad in case I damage it further before the marathon. This can't go on. I have to run at least a few times before the 6th. Anyway, rowing doesn't seem to affect it, so I was able to head down very very early on Saturday morning to row with the rest of my crew in a getting-used-to-the-Tideway row. All waves slopping over the side and being surrounded by Cambridge Light Blue and Leander boats doing the same thing. A heady group, and one we didn't try to mix with in any way, shape or form. The outing wasn't too bad and should mean those people who hadn't been on the water there before won't be quite so overawed come next Saturday. One minor issue in that one of our crew needed to go to a nearby Accident and Emergency afterwards for three stitches as he managed to gash his forearm wiping down the boat we'd borrowed (caught it on the rudder fin). Sunday was just the one outing, but a reasonbly long one. It was OK. Having not had time or energy to do the Tesco shop on Saturday evening, I did it at Sunday lunchtime instead and got home just ahead of Rachel. Cue an afternoon of lazing about before dinner at a local restaurant with her parents. They're perfectly lovely people, and exactly the kind of people I thought they might be. Obviously I was a picture of politeness and maturity. I even wore trousers. My kinesio tape arrived this morning and I did my first application at my desk a few minutes later. I'm not sure I've gotten it quite right, but I don't want to waste it, so I'll see how it works for this evening's erg. My back is feeling a little better with every day I don't run, so I'm going to wait until at least Wednesday, even if it feels perfect tomorrow. If it doesn't feel right on Wednesday I'll wait another day and then another one until it does. If that means no runs before a week on Saturday, so be it. But that's not going to help my marathon hopes all that much. A light erg this evening, then I'm out bank partying a women's crew. I should have brought something to eat.

21/03/2014 [17:45] Only did one 8K erg last night as I had to be home to meet Rachel. I think it was the right decision. Not getting up early this morning for the first time this week was another one of a few good decisions which took place in the 12 hours since I left the boat house. What was really lovely about this morning though was being late for work, and then getting a really huge piece of glass in my rear tyre. Right through my GatorSkin. As I was contemplating my lot on the side of the road another cyclist stopped beside me and proceeded to offer me a new inner tube, risked his tyre levers getting the famously tight tyre off, swapped the tube, risked his levers again and then even did most of the inflation. He had to be forced to take a £5 for his trouble and the brand new inner. What a lovely person. I've now got a day or so pay pay that kindness forward. Not that if I don't get the opportunity I'll forget about it, but I'd like to do it while it's fresh in my mind. Work today was pretty much a non-event with only a few routine tasks to complete and very few people needing anything. I eventually decided to go for a 6K run at lunchtime to try out some new compression shorts and discovered that my calf compression sleeves had arrived as I was leaving the building. So they went on, too. After some stretching I started running and immediately noticed that my sacral area was very, very uncomfortable/painful. Achilles? Perfectly fine. So, rather than do something stupid I purposefully chose a route that would take me back to work in 3km rather than 6km. It's probable I shouldn't even have run 3km given how it felt. It's not the distance I wanted, but at least I got out and found my achilles was still doing mostly OK. I've two days of rowing now (one on the Thames, one on my home river), and then I'll see how I feel walking around on Monday before I try another 6K. Other stuff happening this weekend is Tesco, and hopefully a nice dinner out on Sunday evening.

20/03/2014 [17:05] Another early morning today. After last night's nothing at all and a moderately early night I wasn't feeling too bad. Although my back isn't feeling all that smashing, the rowing didn't affect it, luckily. I did a lot of rollering before bed on my legs such that they don't feel to bad. In fact, I ended up sleeping with my roller, completely by accident. I've managed to get my inbox down to an almost sensible (for me) 27 messages. I think only one or two need actual replies though, which is great. I'm going to call it a day and get out of here before the people who work late start emailing me and asking for things. Two supposedly gentle 8K UT2 ergs this evening, then home to await Rachel, watch something nice on the computer and head to bed. Tomorrow's my only other day this week (other than Monday) that I don't have to get up at 05:20 and I intend to make the most of it. Work has consisted of dealing with power blips and other events out of my control.

19/03/2014 [17:40] Last night's 30 minute AT erg wasn't too bad, all things considered. I held a reasonable split/wattage given we were all on sliders, and recovered a lot more quickly than the others (even beating the guy 13 years my junior with muscles like watermelons, then again he was doing much much heavier weights than me last night). Anyway, went home, ate lots, rollered my calves in bed, and then went to sleep, hoping things would be OK for a run in the morning. I'd certainly like to lay the blame for my achilles feeling pretty much fine in the morning to the rollering the night before. I'm certainly not going to stop doing it this side of the marathon if the results I'm getting continue. Up at 05:20, out of the door and to work and changed by just after 06:00 I started my run in the half light and hoped for the best. 2h13m later I was back after two 15K laps feeling pretty bloody shattered, but without anything major wrong with me. Sure, sacral discomfort on the right hand side and there'd been prolonged periods of what felt like firm finger pressure on the worry area of my right achilles, but there'd also been periods when neither had been noticable at all. I did try taking a gel before I started, and nearly had to stop before the end of the first 15K lap to find a secluded place. Not sure I'm a big fan of gels. Managed to hold things together (literally) for the whole 30K though, even if it was slightly off the pace I'm hoping for on race day. No sign of my strapping tape as yet, and this current application is beginning to lose its stickiness. I've made do with some sellotape over the top for now, which really isn't the best thing. We'll see how I feel tomorrow morning for the outing. Work? Yes, there was some. Our sister department managed to cut some fibres of ours they thought were not in use, rendering a chunk of our network off the net for about two hours this morning. They fixed that. Otherwise I've been doing useful small things for the day and trying to remember (and failing) to get up regularly to stretch. I've eaten a lot though. And more to come this evening. Definitely no weights for me tonight. Oh, and I've booked an hour's assessement and sports massage for next Wednesday morning. That should be interesting, and in plenty of time for my muscles to recover for the HoRR on the Saturday.

18/03/2014 [16:55] I got my achilles retaped last night. Only this time it doesn't seem to be as good as the last application. I've got some of my own coming soon, so I can experiment to my hearts (5 metre's worth) content after that rather than wasting my physio's. Did a half-hearted weights session last night afterwards and realised just how much muscle strength I've lost since I started running heavily. That's going to have to change once the marathon's done (or at least the date of the marathon has passed if I don't actually run the damned thing). Regatta season is approaching and I need to be ready. Not only strength, but mass too, I think. Anyway, that's a month away before I begin that transition. Got up this morning and again I couldn't tell if my achilles is happy or not. I really can't tell. So much so that I still don't know if I should run tomorrow morning (30-35K) or not. It's my last long run before race day. I could do it tomorrow, or Friday. I guess I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning at 05:21. Tonight is either a 30 minute AT erg, or I might jump on the watt bike instead. I'll see how I feel when I get to the boat house. Then it's dinner with Kate and then home for an early bed. This morning's outing wasn't too shabby. Not much in the way of exercises, more a steady UT2 paddle. It went well, even with two subs in. Other than that I went into town at lunch time to get Rachel something and got rained on on the way back, and did a load balancer software upgrade this morning which went pretty much by the numbers and have been trying to catch up on other things since then.

17/03/2014 [17:25] Hmm, where to start with the weekend. I guess I could begin with Rachel arriving on Friday and making Friday evening awesome. Saturday morning was two outings in the 8+ which went fairly well, and then Okayish. I should have gone to London to watch our womens crews compete in WeHoRR but I was just too tired, so instead I went home went to Tesco, weeded the back garden and then did lots of washing. Productive, but not terribly sociable. The weater was wonderful too, so I had all the doors and windows open, which was almost an acceptable substitute for not being outdoors. Sunday morning was more rowing, followed by going to the pub to see all the women who'd rowed and hearing about the race. I would have gone for a long run after that but I purposefully left my trainers at work so I wouldn't run until today in an effort to let my achilles heal a little more. In the end though I just dragged on my old trainers and went for a walk, 7.75km slow run, walk and got back just in time to meet Rachel. It didn't seem to do my achilles any damage, so I packed my bag for a run this lunch time. A rather nice evening was had, with us both coming close to falling asleep for good on the sofa. This morning I stayed in bed for a fair amount of time before getting in to work just about on time. The lunchtime 15K weighed on my mind all morning, and it's fair to say I ran gingerly the whole way around. I think the ache I'm feeling in both calves is down to standard muscles-after-running rather than anything else, but at this point I don't think I can tell any more. My EVA foam roller arrived from Amazon about an hour ago, so I can now torture myself in the privacy of my own home from now on. I think I'll head to the boat house now and see if weights is a good idea for me, after that it's home to do a mountain of washing up. Outing tomorrow morning, and then I'm upgrading the load balancer software. Hopefully both of those things will go well. After that, well, I might just be able to catch up with my email. That would be nice.

14/03/2014 [16:55] Physio last night was remarkably positive, considering what's wrong with me at the moment. She seems to think that as there's no real sensitivity to my achilles at the moment it might heal relatively quickly, which is wonderful news. In other news I have two bullet-hard knots in my outer calves (one each side). No matter what she did she couldn't seem to get them to release. Given how hard she was pressing I'm surprised my muscle didn't end up as liquid. If I get the chance I'm going to get some acupuncture, which might do the trick. My back/sacral area is still playing up. Somehow I don't seem quite so worried about that despite it making it interesting to walk/transfer weight onto my right leg sometimes. I guess because I know it's something I can control with ibuprofen, and it's not actually going to be any real damage, per se. The achilles on the other hand... So, I'm off to the boat house tonight. Purely to do static stretching, rollering, and some strength work on my achilles. Gently! No circuits tonight, but I might get some people to help me move the trailer so the women can load their boats tonight for this weekend WeHoRR on the Thames/Tideway. I've got the usual outings this weekend, and Rachel turning up this evening, so that should be nice. No running until Monday at the earliest, unless my achilles feels 100% awesome before then (it won't).

13/03/2014 [17:05] Day one of being worried about my achilles... and my back starts aching a whole lot more than is has done previously. Still, it didn't interfere with the 4+ outing this morning, for which I'm thankful. I've got a physio appointment this evening, so hopefully I'll have some kind of good news, or at least some kind of plan of action to follow to get me back running again at least a few times before Paris. Or at least running in Paris. Before that though I've got at least one erg to do this evening, which I should get off and do in the very near future. Work today was bitty. Nothing really of note. How're you?

12/03/2014 [18:20] It wasn't the 30 minute erg last night, but I can't tell you exactly what it was... I now have nascent achilles tendinitis in my right ankle again. This is so stupid I've immediately shot through anger and frustration and right out the other side into some oasis of calm. This could spell the end of my Paris Marathon. We'll just have to wait and see. All I did was a 6K run at what I thought was a moderately gentle pace. And I thought I'd stretched beforehand, too. No run for me on Friday, or over the weekend at this rate. Immediate cessation until at least Monday, if not Wednesday. I really hoped I'd seen the last of it before Christmas, or whenever it was I last suffered from it. But apparently not. It's back. I've asked for a physio appointment, but short of a new tendon, I doubt there's anything she can do other than tell me to stay off it for a few weeks. Unfortunately, in a few weeks I'm running 42-and-a-bit kilometres on the streets of Paris. Some other stuff happened today, but none of it as important to me as this.

11/03/2014 [17:25] I'm back, and still alive! I really needed yesterday off as recovery and decompression time after the weekend. It started off pretty easily with the two outings on Saturday morning. We motored through them with the head coach on the bank doing some rate pieces against M2 and walking through them without much trouble. The coach was surprisingly positive about our improvement. M2 was down two usual guys though, so they weren't at maximum effectiveness. The second outing was lots and lots of drills. I'd like to think they were very helpful, but only if everyone in the boat remembers what we learned from them whenever we get in a boat from now on. Judging from this morning's outing (more on that below) we didn't quite manage to. Saturday afternoon was Tesco and housework before Rachel arrived. Something else probably happened, but for the life of me I can't remember what it might have been. Rachel arrived later on and we tried to get an early night before the race. Race day, and a quick breakfast before getting down to the boat house to meet other rowers who were racing to do plenty of stretching and chatting. The weather was almost completely perfect so the only advantage to being there rather than with the 4000+ other runners was the secure storage and no queues for the loos. I positioned myself fairly close to the front of the fastest pen, with Rachel a good way back in the same. The horn went and we were off. No matter how much I tried I seemed to be running far faster than the pace I'd planned on, but I seemed to be holding it... At least until the end of the first lap (~7miles in). At that point the wheels didn't so much come off as develop something of a slow puncture. Looking at my splits for the second half I got slower and slower per mile. Amazingly though, my first half speed saw me through to a new PB time (1:25:22) despite worries about my lower back, and being in the midst of a cold. Rachel was only four minutes behind me with a new PB for herself too. I'm very proud. Back at the boat house we stretched, had some food and chatted with rowers and runnings as they came back from their respective exertions. Eventually we headed home to chill out, watch television, and not feel too guilty about not making the most out of the year's best weather to date. We had Monday off, so after a leisurely breakfast headed into town for me to get my £40 medical for the Paris Marathon, do some shopping, window shop for outdoor and sports gear, sit in a bookshop and read and drink, and have a brunch somewhere nice. After a while though we felt a bit drained and cycled home to collapse on the sofa again for the remainder of the day. This morning I had to be up and out of the house before 05:40. Even though I hadn't slept terribly well I managed to get to the boat house before everyone else in my crew. We had a moderately tolerable outing, with the first half being somewhat better than the second in my opinion. It felt a bit like everyone's attention just drifted a little as time went by. I can't point too many fingers as I don't think my energy levels were at 100%. After the outing it was in to work to patch servers, do some OS-level software maintenance and catch up on everything that happened over the weekend and on Monday. Right now I'm about to head off to the boat house again for this evening's erg. I don't think I'll try to do a full-on 30 minute AT erg, but something reasonably close might be a good thing to try. After that it's home for lots and lots of leftovers from the fridge, and an early night. I'll decide tomorrow morning if I feel like doing my long run before work, or a shorter one at lunch time and the long one at the end of the week. I think it might be the second option...

07/03/2014 [16:55] Other than morning exercises, I haven't done any exercise today either. Last night's physio session confirmed what I had been thinking for a while; that I don't hold my pelvis correctly when standing/walking/running. She doesn't think there's any damage, or that I'll do any damage, bit it is going to ache until I make some changes. I'm trying to already. My cold is beginning to take a bit more hold now, which is going to be extremely frustrating this weekend with the outings on Saturday and the race on Sunday. Hopefully I'll still be able to give something close to my best both days. Nothing's really happened at work today, thankfully. This has meant that I've been able to reduce my inbox to only 16 messages, none of which really need any kind of reply or action, which is great. Now I have to decide if I'm going to go and do a core session at the boat house this evening or just go home. Given I have to go there to find the new sidings for the boat trailer I may as well stay there and do it, I guess. So yes, rowing Saturday, plus Tesco. A half marathon race on Sunday, and then Monday off when I'll get my Paris Marathon medical certificate and generally relax and recuperate a bit. If I can't pass it the day after a half marathon I probably shouldn't be running a whole one. I just wish this lower back thing would sort itself out. See you on Tuesday.

06/03/2014 [16:55] I seem to be doing surprisingly well at keeping this cold at bay, and possibly even fighting it of to some small degree. This has been helped in no small part by not going to weights last night, or having an outing at 06:00 this morning (there was one, I got a substitute, apparently everyone was still pretty tired, it wasn't a smashing outing). The extra sleep, the reduced strain on my body, and basically having some quiet time is probably the very best thing I could be doing for myself at the moment given the small but possibly significant things that're bothersome about my body right now in the lead up to this weekend's race. Anyway, I've got a physio appointment tonight and no exercise today, and hopefully no exercise tomorrow either. That just leaves me with two rowing outings on Saturday morning (whichs shouldn't aggravate any running niggles) and then I'm good to go, modulo how my cold might affect my lung capacity and energy levels. Also, having missed Shrove Whatever this week, Rachel's coming over this evening and we're going to have lots of pancakes with all kinds of things on them. Hurrah!

05/03/2014 [18:15] Annoyingly, I appear to be getting a cold. Five days before my half marathon it couldn't have come at a much worse time. I expect to be right in the thick of it come Sunday. I don't think I got it last night when doing the ergs with the rest of my crew, but given I was using an erg that someone else with a cold previously was using... I don't know. Anyway, lots of vitamin C in the vain hope that'll help. We'll see. I did do a quick 6K at lunch time today. That's left me feeling fine fitness-wise, but bits and bobs in my lower joints aren't 100%. This too frustrates me. As does one or two other bodily issues which I'm not going to go into. Hopefully they won't be a problem in the short or long term. I spent most of the afternoon getting a server in the old server room booting again. We have no idea why it decided to get in a snit, but it did, and I wasn't easily able to get it up and running. However, it is now, even if we can't get to it via remote serial console any more. As a result of that work I'm only now about to leave my desk as everything else I was doing got pushed back a good few hours. No weights tonight, and likely no outing tomorrow morning in an effor to see if I can recover from this cold, or even fight it off before it properly takes hold.

04/03/2014 [17:25] I'm feeling remarkably good after yesterday's run. Recovery seems to have gone quite well. I still have what feels like a lot of tension in my lower back but not going to weights, stretching with Rachel, and doing this morning's early morning outing seems to have dealt with it quite well. Of course, I've been sitting down all day and when I get up to head off for this evening's erg it might be all tense again. We'll see. Anyway, everyone was pretty tired still after the weekend's rowing so the outing wasn't as great as it has been. However, it was still better than it has been previous to last week. It was freezing cold this morning. This lead to me worrying about getting soaking wet and cold in the boat being splashed, but amazingly the people in front of me were on good form and didn't splash much at all. This was good. The weather was amazing though, in terms of river mist, the sunrise, and it being still and calm. Rather lovely, really. Still, it was nice to get off the water and into a hot shower before work. I'm off now to erg, then work out what to have for dinner, get another early night, and then get up again tomorrow and do it all over again. Other than the rowing. Tomorrow it's my last run before the half marathon (10K), and then potentially some coaching of the W1 boat.

03/03/2014 [17:10] March! Already! I really don't know what's happening. I've said it before I'm sure, but time seems to be accelerating in its passing. Anyway, it has been a pretty packed weekend, and I'm sure you want to hear all about it. Rachel came over on Friday night, which was pretty awesome. Unfortunately I had to leave pretty early on Saturday morning to get to Norwich for the Norwich Head (rowing race). The weather wasn't 100% brilliant for the first division, but we survived it, and even managed to place second behind our local arch rivals (by 9 seconds over a 5K course (about 17min24sec)). We then had some lunch, stretched a lot and generally tried to dry out a bit before going back and doing the same thing all over again for the second division. Owing to a lack of competition in our category, we were bumped up to the one above, where we imagined competition would be pretty stiff. Which therefore meant that when we ended up winning the division we were pretty amazed and pleased. After more food and showers, and things we went home, half assembled the boat along with all our other crews who'd also raced, and then went home to bed. I was asleep by 21:10, I would have thought. I managed to sleep until around 08:00 Sunday morning, and then had a lazy few hours before getting to the boat house, doing a gentle 10min UT2 erg with a few of my crew, putting the riggers back on the boat and then, when scheduled, boating to do our last race of the weekend. It rained a little, but was fairly breezy. Coupled with just how tired we all were we weren't as good as we had been for both rows the previous day. Nevertheless, we managed to only lose by 4sec over our same arch-rivals, but over three legs managed to finish 2sec ahead... so, another pot claimed for the weekend! There was celebratory pizza and drinking in the boat house until early evening, at which point I headed home and met Rachel returing from a half marathon. Both of us tired, we ordered Chinese food and collapsed onto the sofa for the evening. Amazingly we managed to stay awake until around about 23:00. This morning I managed to convince Rachel that as she'd run on a rather swollen ankle (from being hit with a hockey ball) it would make sense for her to work from home today rather than commute. Amazingly, she agreed. Now I just have to decide if I go straight home this evening, or do weights (and coach the W1) boat and then go home. I think given I ran 15K at lunch time I might miss weights this evening. Or at least this evening. I'll only be doing 10K on Wednesday as taper for the weekend's half marathon, so that should make a little more sense than doing it today. Speaking of which, my back doesn't seem to hurt much more from the run today than it did beforehand, which is good. I think it's becoming clear that it's something to do with my posture and pelvis angle. Hopefully Thursday's physio session will confirm this. In the meantime one Nurofen/ibuprofen post-15K run seems to make everything OK. I'll let you know more as it develops. For the time being though, I'm going home, pretty much on time, for once. I'm going to have 'an evening'. I've heard about them, but can't remember quite what they're like (usually getting home after 20:00 most evenings from the boat house).