Andy Loughran

Tag: Trail Run

  • Upgrading My Recovery: From Thumper to Theragun Mini

    I’ve made and maintained a positive start to the year when it comes to running & exercise.

    I’ve managed to get to the gym – two or three times a week. The lovely team at Format Fitness have been putting me through my paces.

    I’ve also joined a new run club @ the Byrds in Leytonstone. It’s at 7pm on a Tuesday night for a 5k run up to Whipp’s Cross and around Leyton Flats.

    It’s pretty good to be running regularly again, and even the 1°C run this morning was enjoyable.

    I’m also saying goodbye to my massage wand; Thumper – having upgraded to the Theragun mini. It felt like it was a super-luxury purchase. However, after some Achilles problems last year, it’s already paying dividends on loosening up my calves and hips. The associated app also provides some neat stretching routines after my runs.

    I’m adding more races to my calendar this year. I am growing in confidence. I’m very much looking forward to joining my “littlest” brother Charlie. We will take on the Manchester Half in October.

  • Training begins..

    In about 16 weeks time, I’ll be participating in the ‘Castle-to-coast’ half-ironman distance triathlon.

    I’d not been well over the Easter weekend, and ended up on the sofa reading a few of the “Foundation” series novels by Asimov. I found them quite enthralling, and managed to get through nearly 1,000 pages of novel; which is quite an achievement for me.

    That said, my plan for this weekend was to do a FTP test and baseline myself for the triathlon training that I’ve got coming up. As that didn’t seem sensible given how poor I was feeling, I instead spent the weekend resting.

    On Monday, feeling a bit better; I managed to get myself off the sofa and onto finally doing some tri sports. Focusing instead on technique and enjoyment, I headed to London Fields for a few lengths of the lido in the sunshine. It was glorious.

    We then went for a 7k target run at 10k race pace read for a planned 10k in two weeks time. That went really well and I felt great during it. The bounce was back in my step and my breathing felt great. Looking forward to getting back on it, and will see whether the Strava plugin for wordpress products some prettyness to these posts.