Training Plan - Week 49 - Nov 30 to Dec 6 - Amended

Probably my last race of the year this week as I go up to Elgin for the Cross Country on Saturday. I am running really well at the minute so it will be good to get a race in and see how all my good training form converts to actual racing. I am also planning to get back to spinning this week after missing last week with the cold. 

I have decided to let my increased bike target go for the year and just try to get something in every week. Rather than fight for long miles in the cold I am going to try and stick to sessions of 2 hours or less through the winter. This has the added bonus that I know I can afford to work a bit harder. The consequence being that I really have to be doing at least 2 bike sessions a week. Either both days every weekend or a midweek evening spin or gym session has to become the norm. 

The target numbers take a little bump this week as well as December starts and my S-curve moves again.

Ok, so that was lazy. Didn't even look at my calendar for this week before I wrote all that and so it needed a revamp before I even got to the first session. Tuesday night is out as I have an Energy Institute presentation to go to. So Monday I had to put in a run in order to get my run miles for the week. The other two runs both have to be 6 miles each to get the rest though. 


Monday - Core session.
Easy run.

Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Easy run.
Energy Institute presentation

Wednesday - Fartlek run. 

Weights and stretching sessions.

Thursday - Spinning session.
Core session

Friday - Rest day.
Yoga session.

Saturday - North XC Champs - Elgin.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday ride.

Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 53.6 miles. Run 14.9 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 48 - Nov 23 to 29

Monday started well. I got home from work and planned to go for an easy run with a friend. She bailed at the last minute but I was already changed so I went out on my own. I planned to still take it easy and not tire myself out before swimming but somewhere that plan feel apart and I ended up cruising round 4 miles at a decent pace. After shovelling down a monster helping of goulash I then went to the club swimming session expecting to struggle. This week was another good swimming session. Lots of straight swimming at high pace and no problems from running first. 

Tuesday I expected again to be suffering after the tough double session. So I went out for another easy run around the park just to get my 30 minute pact in. I looped around the park to get all 6 of the Strava segments and accidentally clocked a CR and a couple of top-3's. 

Wednesday was the club fartlek session. I parked a half mile away to get an additional warm-up / down to get a full 10k run in. Through the session I felt like I was taking it fairly easy on the first lap and managed to set 2 more PBs on Strava segments. About half way through the second lap I started to struggle on the reps, pace drifted but I was still going quicker than I had any right to expect for a fourth fast running day in a row. 

Thursday I felt that I had the start of a cold that is going around. I decided to be cautious and skip spinning in the hopes of being healthy for a longer ride at the weekend. And Friday I was still not quite right so I stuck with the safe option of resting again. The cold never really turned into anything serious so on Saturday I decided to test out a short run.  It was terribly slow, but I didn't feel ill so I clocked an easy 30 minutes and packed for biking on Sunday. 

Sunday I got up with a plan to do a shorter ride. I had to get back home for 11 as Dexter was coming to visit so I aimed to put in about 45 minutes with the group and then turn back. As that mark approached there was an obvious turn a couple of miles ahead so I carried on to 50 minutes and then looped back. I felt quite good at that point, especially compared to my last few rides which have been a real struggle. I managed to push on to keep the group's pace going as I solo-ed my way back.

When I arrived home it was instantly obvious that an afternoon of watching the F1 with a cuddly Dexter was not going to happen unless I took him out to tire him out first. So I took him for a couple of miles run first. The result of that was that while I managed to tire him out enough not to be a pain, I also did enough to put myself to sleep for pretty much the entire grand prix anyway. In the evening I did manage a short stretching session during the latest bit of televisual gold from Sir David Attenborough.

The couple of missed days have hurt the numbers again this week. In particular losing the spin session meant that the bike was going to be under target whatever I did on Sunday so I could simply cut that further without thinking twice about it. The swimming was close enough to ignore the extra 200m or so that were missing, and running I once again went way over. 

Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Monday - Dyce easy loop 4.0 miles in 31 mins. 
Swim with TPT 1.4 miles in 56 mins.

Tuesday - Dyce park loops 4.2 miles in 32 mins. 

Wednesday - TPT Fartlek 6.2 miles in 61 mins.

Thursday - Cold?

Friday - Cold?

Saturday - Slow jog 3.3 miles in 31 mins. 

Sunday - Kintore Sunday Lite 26.7 miles in 1 hour 47 mins.
Jog with Dexter 2.7 miles in 24 mins. 


Actuals - Swim 1.4 miles (2,250 m). Bike 26.7 miles. Run 20.4 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Original cumulative target) [New cumulative target]
S 96.7  (85.7)  [91.4], 
B 2086.0  (2019.3)  [2211.4], 
R 752.6  (620.3)  [708.4].

Training Plan - Week 48 - Nov 23 to 29

Another quiet week. As winter starts to bite everything now comes with a tag of 'subject to weather', especially bike miles. This time last year I managed to steam-roll over the weather by going into the gym at work whenever the weather was a problem. In previous years I would resort to the mountain bike if road biking wasn't an option.  Neither of those is available to me now and I don't have the willpower to just replace them with the turbo-trainer and treadmill. 

Spinning class should help to limit bike losses a little. And I just need to wrap up and live with the cold and wet on runs and allow for the effect of surfaces on speed. 

Monday - Core session.

Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Easy run.

Wednesday - Fartlek run. 

Weights and stretching sessions.

Thursday - Easy run or spinning session.
Core session

Friday - Rest day.
Yoga session.

Saturday - Bike if weather suits. Swim if it doesn't.

Yoga and stretching.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday ride.

Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 47 - Nov 16 to 22

Monday was a tough swim session. Longer reps and shorter rests, suited me much better than the last few weeks. Also I was in a much better mood 

Tuesday I just went for an easy jog around Dyce. Accidentally went a bit too fast but kidney didn't bother me the entire way round and knee was barely annoying. 

Wednesday I decided to enter Inverurie Duathlon. I looked at the weather forecast and it says snow. If that actually happens the race will get cancelled anyway, if not then hopefully it will be dry and windless enough to take the TT bike. If not I will probably just write off the £17 entry fee and go out for a steady ride instead. In the evening I went to the TPT fartlek session most of which follows the duathlon course. I also took the opportunity to go to the new gym in Inverurie and check out their spin class arrangement and sign-up for the Thursday night spin class. 

Thursday I went to the spinning class. I am going to randomly assign that as 10 miles worth of cycling. The class wasn't really what I was looking for but the instructor seemed interested in setting up a more specific session to suit a group of us. The class also included a chunk of core work at the end so I am going to claim that session as well. 

Friday was a trip to the last of the Hunger Games movies. 

Saturday I got up early to go for an early swim only to find the pool was closed due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. The overnight snowfall meant that Inverurie Duathlon is likely to be cancelled. Unfortunately that is just my guess so I couldn't just take the opportunity to put an alternate session in to Saturday afternoon.  

Sunday the snow was worse and as predicted the Duathlon was cancelled. As was the Kintore cycling group. I decided to go out for a jog round Dyce in the snow. When I got back I took the opportunity to do a yoga session. The kidney problems really don't like yoga, on top of DOMS from thursday's spinning and core session it was really uncomfortable to get through the session. 
So another almost all red week on the numbers. I scraped over the run target with Sunday's slog in the snow but everything else misses again. Another week where plans were changed outwith my control. I am now going to accept that the increased cycling target is going to evade me. There is still scope to make this my longest cycling year ever and I should still manage to pass my original cycling target. 


Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Monday - Swim with TPT 2,250m in 54 mins.

Tuesday - Dyce easy loop 3.8 miles in 31 mins. 

Wednesday - Easy warm up 1.0 miles in 10 mins.
Fartlek with TPT 5.1 miles in 47 mins.

Thursday - Spin class ~10 miles in 45 mins.

Friday - Rest day.

Saturday - Nothing.

Sunday - Easy run 4.1 miles in 38 mins.
Yoga 26 mins. 


Actuals - Swim 1.4 miles (2,250 m). Bike 10 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 1 short core, 0 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 26 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Original cumulative target) [New cumulative target]
S 95.3  (84.2)  [89.9], 
B 2059.3  (1974.3)  [2166.4], 
R 732.2  (606.3)  [694.4].

Training Plan - Week 47 - Nov 16 to 22

By Wednesday I need to make a decision on whether I want to race on Sunday or just train through instead. Since it has to be pretty close to perfect weather for me to even consider racing I am going to plan the week around just going for the Kintore Sunday ride. 

I am also looking at possibly adding a spinning session during the week to try and claw back some of the bike miles. 

Monday - Core session.

Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Easy run.

Wednesday - Fartlek run. 

Weights and core sessions.

Thursday - Easy run or spinning session.

Friday - Easy run.

Saturday - Bike if weather suits. Swim if it doesn't.

Yoga and stretching.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday (or Inverurie Duathlon).

Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 46 - Nov 9 to 15

Monday I had a shit day. By the time I got to swimming I was already depressed and that was leading to huge amounts of tension in my back that was giving me problems. I forced myself through the warm-up but when it came to the main set I couldn't cope any more and had to get out. My knees is also hurting from a couple of jerks it got biking on Sunday. Low gear seemed to be missing and slipping. 

Tuesday I still felt bad when I got home late from work. I managed to go out for a jog round the block but it was slow and terrible. The tension in my back was messing up my stride so it was half a hobble. I had hoped last week's depression was only going to last a day or two but apparently it is going to stay for a while. 

Wednesday the club fartlek run was replaced with a long steady run to suit people who were racing at the weekend. Suited me as it allowed me to take it easy on my knee and it didn't bother my back.

Thursday I went to the hospital for some further investigations on my kidney problems. A somewhat uncomfortable inspection of the inside of my bladder revealed I have a lovely collection of 5 or 6 small calcite kidney stones. They don't quite explain all the health problems I have had so they are still sending me for further investigations to ensure there is nothing more serious happening inside the kidneys themselves. The continuing discomfort meant no training.

Friday I felt a bit better but just wasn't in the mood. I did a short walk to get my 30 minute pact in but nothing serious. Then went to see the Steve Jobs movie in the evening.

Saturday was a swim at ASV, which was a bit terrible. Kidney problems were affecting my back and I kept steaming up my tinted goggles. Stopped early. One week swimming coming up 500m short doesn't really matter at this point. I put the bike up on the stand to fit the mudguards for winter. Took the opportunity to tweak the gears to try and get rid of the skip on the low gear and winterise all the moving parts with winter lube etc.

Sunday I went out for the Kintore ride with the intention of cutting back a bit early and getting about 43 miles. By mile 10 I was cold and wet and had more than enough, my knees were cold and wet and the niggling pain was coming and going. The low gear was still skipping any time I needed it and jarring the knee again when it did catch. Can't really understand why it is perfectly smooth on the stand and then won't sit when I take it out. At mile 15 I pulled off from the group to head back on my own. It took me almost another hour to cover the freezing and wet 11-mile route back to the car. I then had to sit in the car and thaw out for about 10 minutes before I could get changed and pack the bike.

A whole week of red numbers. That is the first time this year that absolutely everything has been below target. It has been down to a combination of health issues. Kidney, knee and depression all cost me miles. At some point soon I am going to have to accept that the increased bike total is not achievable, or do something very different to make up the shortfall.
Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Monday - Swim with TPT 500m in 24 mins.

Tuesday - Easy Dyce loop 3.4 miles in 30 mins.

Wednesday - Steady run 9.0 miles in 91 mins. 

Thursday - Nothing.

Friday - Nothing.

Saturday - Swim at ASV 1400m in 32 mins.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday 26.2 miles in 1 hour 48 mins.


Actuals - Swim 1.2 miles (1900 m). Bike 26.2 miles. Run 12.4 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions. 0 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Original cumulative target) [New cumulative target]
S 93.9  (82.7)  [88.4], 
B 2049.3  (1929.3)  [2121.4], 
R 718.2  (592.3)  [680.4].

Training Plan - Week 46 - Nov 9 to 15

Another interrupted week as I have a meeting with a pension broker on Tuesday and we have more wedding planning on Thursday night. The rest of the week I am just going to stick with the same plan as last week and hope that Saturday's weather gives me a chance to get some bike miles from my backlog. 

Monday - Core session.

Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Pension meeting. 

Wednesday - Fartlek run. 

Weights and core sessions.

Thursday - Wedding planning.

Friday - Easy run.

Saturday - Anything that fits with the weather.

Yoga and stretching.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday

Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 45 - Nov 2 to 8

Monday I was just too tired to fit in a run before swimming. The benefit of that was that when I got to swimming I was able to push a bit harder without causing too many problems. I had a bit of cramp early on but that eased off during the main session. 

Tuesday I went to an Energy Institute presentation on Brent decommissioning. It ran late into the evening and by the time I got home I was just too tired to train. 

Wednesday was a trip to Kirkhill for the Club fartlek session again. Seemed much harder this week, although the time doesn't seem to be any different. 


Thursday was meant to be bonfire night and fireworks at Kemnay. Instead I had problems with a bout of depression. It has been a long time since it was this bad. The entire time I was unemployed I didn't have a problem, even though that should have been much more stressful than now. 

Friday, I still felt shit but had to get in 30 minutes of something for my GymPact so I dragged myself out for a very slow lap round the block. 

Saturday I was feeling a lot better but wedding stuff tried to get in the way. Early morning the best man started collecting favours with a lift to the airport. That actually worked out well though as I went for a quick swim on the way home. Then in the afternoon the fiancee went for a dress shopping outing. That also worked out in my favour as it meant Dexter came to visit and we went out for a steady run at Kirkhill. Clocked the rest of the target run miles for the week and got some cuddles from a very sleepy Dexter afterwards.

Sunday I planned an easy ride for beginners with the Kintore Sunday group. Unfortunately no-one turned up for the shorter ride so I decided to step up and go out with the main group for the full 50-mile version. I was fine until about 20, where we had a second puncture stop. I was a bit stiff when we restarted but I managed to keep ticking over and I was surviving until 30, but from there it was just a slog to get back.

I passed 700 run miles this week. That makes it my second longest running year ever and well on course to become the longest. My second swim on Saturday took me through my original target for the year of 92.6 miles. And the long ride on Sunday covered all of this week and nibbled another 5 miles off my backlog. 

So the core numbers make this look like a good week, but it really wasn't. Friday I was forced into a session by the financial penalty in my GymPact app. Saturday was rescued by Dexter. And Sunday's bike miles were only so high because no-one else turned up for the Lite version I had planned.



Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Monday - Swim with TPT 1.2 miles in 57 mins.

Tuesday - Energy Institute.

Wednesday - Kirkhill fartlek with TPT 5.0 miles in 1hr 3 mins.

Thursday - Depression.

Friday - Slow Dyce loop 3.8 miles in 33 mins. 

Saturday - Swim at Bucksburn 1,000m in 19 mins.
Kirkhill with Dexter 5.3 miles in 1 hour.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday 50.1 miles in 3 hours 42 mins. 


Actuals - Swim 1.8 miles (2,900 m). Bike 50.1 miles. Run 14.1 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 0 short stretching sessions.  mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Original cumulative target) [New cumulative target]
S 92.6  (81.2)  [86.9], 
B 2023.1  (1884.3)  [2076.4], 
R 705.8  (578.3)  [666.4].

Training Plan - Week 45 - November 2 to 8

I have an Energy Institute event taking out Tuesday evening and Bonfire night and fireworks taking Thursday. And I am not sure yet what is coming to the cinema this week but as it is Strictly season, Saturday cinema trips are out so I can probably write off Friday evening to the cinema as well. That leaves me trying to squeeze everything else in and it looks like something will have to give this week (and next).

As I am falling behind on the bike and I need to get back in to the Sunday rides so that I can set up regular Lite rides, it can’t be that. Monday and Wednesday Club sessions are also on the definite list. They are too valuable to drop in terms of socialising as well as training. So that still leaves me looking for about 8 miles of running, about half a mile of swimming and as much extra biking as I can find. Trying to squeeze a double session into Monday nights is not helping my swimming as I arrive at the pool tired and my back gives me problems, but I am just going to live with it again this week. I do need to keep that sensible in terms of distance though so it will stay short and easy. That still leaves me trying to fill Saturday with bits of everything, and Sunday evening with all the extra sessions.

That simply isn’t going to fit so the plan will be to let the weather dictate what I can do on Saturday and then try and fit in the shorter sessions wherever I can squeeze 15 minutes in through the week. If there is nothing decent on at the cinema this week then getting Friday night back would certainly help.

Monday - Core session.

Swim with TPT.

Tuesday - Energy Institute.

Wednesday - Fartlek run. 

Weights and core sessions.

Thursday - Fireworks.

Friday - Turbo session or easy run?

Saturday - Anything that fits with the weather.

Yoga and stretching.

Sunday - Kintore Sunday

Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 1 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Training Review - Week 44 - October 26 to Nov 1

Monday I managed to get out for an easy run before swimming. Trying to grab sessions this week is the only way I am going to get enough done. Even then I am not going to get anywhere close to the bike this week. 

Looking towards the end of the year I wonder if I might have to trade off somewhere and just go nuts on the bike. I am so far ahead on swimming and running that some time next week I am going to pass through my original end-of-year targets.

Having wasted Tuesday on the worst Bond film in history I was back to the serious stuff on Wednesday. This week's club fartlek session came with the added bonus of a dark, wet forest run at Kirkhill. It was really good fun being out for my first torch lit run of the year and it was a good session as well. I did remember the right orthotics for my trail shoes this week, but still came back with some aches in the stabilising muscles in my calves. 

Thursday I went out for a nice easy recovery run. Turned out I didn't need much recovering as I cruised round my 4 mile loop in my fastest time ever. So Friday I went out and did the a similar run but at a properly casual pace. I used it as a warm-up for a long yoga session. That definitely helped ease off some of the aches that I have been building up over the last few weeks. 

Saturday I had a day off from the main sports but I decided to get in a double stretching session and another big chunk of yoga. 

Sunday's Kings Aquathon will get a report to itself. 

Another milestone ticked off this week as I went through the 688 miles that I had originally set as my 2015 run target. But that is more than ruined by a complete zero on the bike. 



Target totals - Swim 1.5 miles. Bike 45.0 miles. Run 14.0 miles. 2 short core, 1 short light weights and 2 short stretching sessions. 30 mins of yoga.

Monday - Dyce loop 3.9 miles in 32 mins.
Swim 2,000m in 59 mins.

Tuesday - SPECTRE.

Wednesday - Kirkhill run 5.3 miles in 63 mins.

Thursday -  Dyce easy loop 4.1 miles in 30 mins.

Friday - Dyce easy loop 3.3 miles in 31 mins. 
Yoga session 32 mins.

Saturday - Rest day
Stretching session. 

Sunday - Yoga session 12 mins.
Kings Aquathon 750m swim in 13 mins.
Run 3.5 miles in 24 mins.

Actuals - Swim 1.8 miles (2,750 m). Bike  miles. Run 20.1 miles. 0 short core, 0 short light weights and 1 short stretching sessions. 44 mins of yoga.

Cumulative (Original cumulative target) [New cumulative target]
S 90.8  (79.7)  [85.4], 
B 1973.0  (1839.3)  [2031.4], 
R 691.7  (564.3)  [652.4].

Race Review - Kings Aquathon

Here is my race review from my last attempt at this race. I could dig out a couple of others but they were all on the old course so they are not really comparable. 

Preview

The Kings Aquathon (the spell checker keeps changing that to 'Equation', which is nearly as annoying as the increasingly common 'Aquathlon')  was my first ever multi-sport race. Long before I ever even thought about doing triathlons. I used to breast stroke up and down for about 10 minutes for the 400m swim and then run past people on the 5k run. Occasionally I have also done the long 750m swim /10k race. Nowadays the race is a mixed distance, with a 750m swim and a 5k run. 

I expect to swim a solid but not a spectacular time. Anything under 13 minutes will be pretty good. If I can race anywhere near the 12:28-35 marks that I was doing for summer races that will be excellent. 

I am running really well. The only other time the race has been on this course I clocked 25:10. The course is slightly long for a 5k so it wasn't as terrible a run as it looks. I still expect to hack a minute or two off that time. 

Pre-race

Briefing was pretty standard. Key factor was that they had changed which pool we were swimming in, which in turn changed the exit and the start of the run. Adding an extra 300m or so. They also announced a 3-lap run, but fortunately a quick confirmation had them move it back out to the full 5-laps.

Setting up transition I ignored my own note about socks from my previous blog. Instead I went for wearing my race shoes slightly looser and dumping a lot of baby powder in them.

The run route was changed to allow for the shift to the other swimming pool. About 300m extra around the pool building before joining the previous run course. 

Race

I started the swim pretty comfortably. I easily caught up to the girl in front but I decided to draft her for a few lengths. By 125m, it felt just a tad too slow so I passed her and within a length I got straight on to drafting the other guy in my lane. I took another few laps easy behind him before deciding I could still go faster on my own from the 250m mark. Once I was out in front I towed them for a few lengths before trying to break away. Turns out that even at full pace I didn't have enough to break their tow, so I stayed at the front doing the work for a few hundred metres before I decided to play a bit more tactically and let them past so I could draft and recover through the last 150m. It did cost me over a second a length from there but I was saving a lot of energy so I decided it was worth it. 

I barely felt the tap from the lane counter but I had been checking the watch so I knew to expect it and I knew there were only two lengths left. Unfortunately the girl in my lane didn't feel hers and carried on for an extra couple of lengths. Trying to get out of the pool with high edges is a bit of a challenge. A bit of a belly flop onto the side and then dragging myself out was all I could manage. 

Swim time 13:01, just about what I predicted.

I had an ok transition, despite dropping my phone when I tried to pick it up. I like to have the step counter with me even on a short swim/run race like this, on top of the habit of making sure I have it for any cycling race in case I ever have another crash.

27 seconds through transition.

Out on to the run and I was trying to figure out where I was overall. The 6 people from the faster lanes were definitely all out in front. The guy from my lane that got out ahead was faffing about in transition and I had shot past him. And one guy from the final lane was out with me and had a slightly better transition so maybe 8th? About 100m in to the run it became partly clear why as he had to stop and tie his shoelaces. So I think I am up to 7th at this point. I could see a few people in front and I started working my way after them one at a time. This was going really well for the first couple of laps as I made at least a couple more places. There was only one other girl in the race so I knew when I passed her. 

As I continued passing people, I couldn't tell if I was lapping back markers or making places. I picked off another 4, who were generally really struggling with the run. Turned out they were all back markers as I still finished 5th overall. I was definitely closing on another couple of places but I maybe took the run a little bit easy in the middle. 

Run time 23:36. 

I would have been happy with that on the old course, so on the new longer course I am really pleased. On my slowest of 5 laps this time I was still seconds faster than my fastest lap last time out. 

My no-sock decision has bitten me, as expected, and I have now skinned the same part of my foot as I did the last time I did this race.  I have also blistered the big toe on my other foot. Both of those are going to bug me for a couple of weeks but I think I will be able to run over them.