Take it to the Bridge

Going for a run with my brothers

One of the good things about living in a Catholic country is that you get a fairly decent number of holidays. I suppose, had it not been for the Catholics, they would have been good old Pagan holidays (or, in Spain, I should probably say Moorish but let's not get into that). Anyway, unlike in the UK, Spain respects the day that the holidays fall on, which means that, if they happen to fall on a Sunday, that's just too bad... This year, we had Monday the 6th of December and Wednesday the 8th of December off thanks to some Saint or other, so I took a cheeky day's holiday to make the "bridge" (el puente) and get a whopping 5 days holiday which we spent in Asturias.

As you can see from the photo, it could just have well been taken in England or perhaps in Wales but, what you can't see in the photo is the marvelous sea food which I packed in after the run. If you are ever in Villaviciosa - the capital of the cider county - you have to try the Sidrería "la Ballera". For a mere 28 euros we had a delicious and abundant 3 course meal for 3 adults and two kids including drinks (a bottle of cider, coke, water), coffee and desert. It's as if they never noticed the arrival of the Euro.

This week I got back to some slight training but treating it like a holiday and putting enjoyment first. I did a very picturesque but vertically challenging 2 hour cycle ride on a mountain bike, going in a circuit through Colunga,  Lastres, Luces and Villaviciosa. The countryside is so beautifully distracting that I am surprised when I remind myself that it was actually pouring with rain the whole time. I also went for a few runs along mountain lanes and roads - good strength training!

If I am truly honest with myself (and you) I'm noticing the tendons in my feet, especially those in my left ankle, a little sore from last week. They seem to get slightly better each day but, for now, they are on my watch list. I think I will stick to cycling for the rest of the week, do some ankle strengthening exercises and work again on my POSE technique. You can see from this slow motion video that I shot that I am landing a little ahead of my centre of gravity and it could be what is causing the problem.