Week 25: School holidays

Wow, pretty tired and weak at the beginning of the week.  It is the school holidays, so looking after kids might get in the way of running.  Decided to do some core training exercises and stretching that I have picked up from Trail Running magazine.  The weather was miserable wet, cold and windy so I could not really drag the kids out on their bikes to accompany me.  I have read somewhere that it's a good idea to have easy weeks every three or four weeks so after my 40km last week I might use that excuse.
I have got hold of a foam roller which I read is good to help with muscle recovery.  I was surprised at the size, expecting a small roller that fits in the hand.   I discovered that the roller is about 40 cm long with a 13cm diameter.  It is a rigid tube covered in molded foam that can be used to massage tired leg muscles.  It is pretty easy to find examples of how to use the roller on the internet, but one I particularly like is from the Garmin cycling team.  Appartently the roller is very good for ITB syndrome, a common injury for runners.
My first session of the week was at the gym.  The tourists have arrived and it was very busy so I only did short sessions on each machine.  Some work on the weight machine, fifteen minutes on the bicycle, another fifteen on an Elliptical machine and finally fifteen minutes on the running machine.  I haven't used the Elliptical machines much and I can't say I enjoyed the experience, but maybe the variety of exercise will be good for me.  As for the running machine I alternated fast and recovery runs.
The next day I was working in the morning but with the sun shining in the afternoon my feet were itching to get out, after four days without running.  I went for a ten kilometre run and was very pleased to see that my time had improved again, so maybe a few days off was just what I needed.
A gym session midweek before a weekend visiting relatives.  We went skiing as a family in very cold and windy conditions on the Saturday.  The snow was good but by the end of two hours we were all soaked through.  Sunday I managed to get out for a 11,5km, very slow run with my wife.  I wasn't too concerned at our slow pace as we didn't know the terrain and it was fairly hilly.  However Sylvie was very frustrated as she had to walk a few times and felt she was holding me back.  I was just happy to be out in the sunshine on a very mild day.  I think our philosophies differ on running.