With my little toe nail firmly relegated to the dustbin, I was thrilled to be back running again last night. It felt great to fly through the streets of Stamford last night (Tues) with the Striders. Running really does give you a massive boost of positive energy, not to mention catching up with club members about the very muddy Hereward Relay this weekend. I only managed 2 rather than my usual 3 legs in the top group, and the second was a dawdle off the back of them. I now understand Monday is a rest day in my training plan from Rory Coleman, the coach whipping me into shape for the 6-day Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica this February.

It turns out, cycling on a rest day does matter. I wasn’t pedalling super hard or anything but I really felt Monday’s 14mile round trip cycle to work in my thighs on Tuesday’s run; they felt heavy and sluggish. Hopefully this will improve as I adjust to cycling, but I need to remember to spin really gently on a Monday, and do more cycling to develop thighs of steel.

Tonight I’m going to test out the new super bright but super cheap Thumb 2 headtorch from Mapdec that we have in Trail Running mag this coming issue (on sale 8 Jan), and last night I tested the new Runsense SF-810 GPS/HR watch from Epson (yup, the printer company) that will also feature. Last night it picked up the satellites within a minute, but on first use it’s not quite as straightforward as the Garmin or TomTom watches I’m used to and I’m loathe to admit it but I need to read the instructions today so I can understand it better tonight. Looks promising though…