fred_mouse

I went to Parkrun, despite misgivings, but took a backpack with cane and ventolin (plus spacer) Just In Case. This is because the right hip / thigh were snarly, and my lungs have been unhappy post poor air quality (although they didn't hurt when I went to bed last night). I did not use the ventolin, but I did pull the cane out after roughly 2km. I did get close to 50 minutes even so! (officially: 51:18)

And then we went and collected a bookshelf, which is going in the new study. It is not intended to be there forever, but is for the piles of books that are on the floor in the library that I just haven't had time to deal with. Some of those haven't been catalogued, some don't fit in the allocated section of shelf. I do have an intention of thinning the non-fiction so that they fit on the specified sets of shelves, but that isn't a this month kind of thing. I do have hopes that I'll read some of them and decide that I don't need to read them again.

Having done those things, and in the hope that I won't overdo things, I have declared a self-indulgent afternoon of reading. I've moved to the couch, I have a non-fiction book (The Makers of Scotland: Picts, Romans, Gaels and Vikings) and a fiction book (A Room with a View*) which I'm alternating. The fiction is much easier going, because the font is larger and the line spacing easier.

And I've already done more recorder practice than I do most weeks, having gone through all of the first movement of the Bach, noting which specific bar numbers need working on, and then going through the third movement while ignoring all the bum notes, the stuffed up whatever, and just attempting to get the bones and the rhythm right. Can't do piano, because Youngest is working on their (dratted) assignment; they are underwhelmed with it, but persevering.

Today was my third Park Run for the year. Given that the last two times I've done Park Run I've ended up with a shocking headache, I've attempted a whole lot of different things, and so far I'm okay. I'm slightly uncomfortable, but that has more to do with my right shoulder hating me running (I have no clue), and today being more running than last time (well, jogging more than running). And I did it doing a personal best of 47:25 (which means I've achieved the first 'can I get faster' challenge, of <50 minutes).

For the next attempt, I'm going to see whether I can repeat this, and then start modifying parameters to see what the minimum necessary prevention is. I assume that being fitter is going to confound this somewhat, but that isn't going to be an issue unless I stop for a significant period of time and then start again.

So:

• it was cooler (<30°C) and more humid (~70%) - these are not factors I can influence, so I'm just tracking them. Also slightly overcast.
• sunglasses - wore them the whole way around. I know that glare is a significant problem for me, so I anticipate this will be part of the minimum.
• hydration - I took a large Tupperware water bottle of hydralyte; I drank half before, and half in the car after. I then refilled it (with Berocca, in the hope that I'd get some bounce from it) and drank that over the next hour. I anticipate at least the 'in advance' being a necessary part of minimum.
• coffee - delayed somewhat afterwards, made at home. I think that this is necessary only in that I would definitely get a headache without it, and that would confound my variables.
• hair up in high pony tail, but looped (my hair is long; what I did was pull the hair all the way through except the last one, where I left about 10cm not pulled through, so this was just longer than shoulder length) - I'm not sure on this one; it might have caused my head to be less hot?
• no hat - I think this is important, although I don't remember if I wore one last time (I did at Canning River, and it took a long time for my head to cool down).
• different clothes - I have a pair of Target brand bike shorts, so I wore them rather than my regular shorts. I think that the sports bra is the same one I've worn before. And to lose more heat I wore a tank top, which is specific althleisure wear.
• I did a tiny bit of stretch and cool down; I don't think I've done that before.
• banana! This was the 500th at this location, one of the health insurance companies was there giving stuff away, they had bananas. This might actually be an important detail, which I'd ignored until writing this up. I also ate breakfast before hand, which Artisanat thinks is weird.