Tag: trains

Sick

~ e.v. ~ 5 Comments

Errrgggh colds. I woke up yesterday morning with a horrible sore throat. OH NO, YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS. It today it progressed into the runny nose and sneezing. The kind of runny nose where you notice you’ve stopped peeing even though you’re drinking a lot, and you’re pretty sure it’s because of all the liquid that your body is expelling nasally. This evening it’s non-stop sneezing. I haven’t really been ill since about a year ago. I had a minor cold in May but not like this. I hate sneezing.

The train was fun this evening. Running late, had to stand, and it stopped for 15 minutes between stations. I’m sure my fellow passengers appreciated being trapped in a small space with me.

So today hasn’t been a great day. But it’s OK, because I’ve decided I’m going to win a million pounds on the premium bonds in the February draw. That will make me feel better, and I am looking forward to it.

I ran today at lunch time (because who stops running just because they have a cold), and it was a noticeable improvement in the abs department. It’s the first time I’ve run and not had any discomfort immediately afterwards. Usually, I get some aches which go away as soon as I stretch, but today it was OK without stretching.

Training

~ e.v. ~ Leave a comment

So ever since I started my new job the trains have been a bit terrible. I don’t actually think there’s been a single day they’ve been within a few minutes of being on time both in a morning and evening. This evening everything through my line was cancelled over about a 3 hour period. I was actually seriously considering running home (9 miles/15k) until my dad offered to give me a lift from a station on the other line. I didn’t ask, but he’s retired and he likes to feel useful, I think. If I wasn’t injured I would have just run it. It probably would have been quicker. The train company is going to get an email hearing all about how disappointed I am that my loyal custom does not appear to be valued even though when I changed job I specifically chose to remain in the city centre because of my previously high opinion of the local train service, and by the way I think you should reimburse me for the ticket I bought today to get to a station I didn’t want to go to.

They processed my first delay compensation claim and gave me back £0.10. Yes, 10p. So I immediately put through four more. The web site is a bit of a user interface nightmare (probably on purpose), but I wrote out some JavaScript to populate all the fields so I can just paste it into the console and whiz through it in a few seconds. At this rate, by Christmas I’ll have recouped a pound!

Actually though I feel a lot happier than I should. When this kind of thing used to happen it would usually ruin my whole evening. I used to get very stressed when things weren’t routine and predictable, especially commuting. I would catastrophise it into “am I going to get home today?”. Today I feel pretty calm about it. I just rushed over to an unfamiliar station, bought a ticket at a stupid machine I’ve never used before, and then asked someone where platform 8A was because their signposting was rubbish. Then I went to a station I’ve never been to before and somehow found the car park where my dad was. I did OK, I think. I was a bit concerned because the train route I ended up going on just happens to be Becky’s route, which could have been awkward, but no, I didn’t see her. I’m quite surprised we haven’t randomly bumped into each other yet, given that we’re actually still in close geographical proximity. I remember writing here once before about being frustrated I bumped into her when I was with my mum and how it always seemed to be her, never other random people from the office.

This evening I started the abs rehab program with two sets of front squats, two sets of back squats and two sets of deadlifts, with very low weight. Even so, I expect my legs to feel like lead tomorrow. I also threw in a lot of core and glute exercises. I think most running injuries come down to glutes being weak or inhibited and other muscles taking over to keep the legs and trunk stable, with limited success. There was no hint of any kind of discomfort, which is notable because a few weeks ago I was finding any kind of core work would be at least a bit uncomfortable. That’s not bad the day after a 12k run. Maybe I’m not doing as badly as I think I am.

Hopefully this will help. But maybe I’m just doing squats because my new HR lady referred to my ‘little legs’? We’ll never know the true reason.

Calm

~ e.v. ~ 1 Comment

At work today I learnt that one of my ex-colleagues from my previous job is an ex-employee of my new employer. How bizarre is that? Two colleagues were talking about some work and one said “I think [full name] did that” and I’m like… “wait a minute…”. Apparently he used to work here about four years ago as a developer, but he’s a project manager now. They weren’t entirely complimentary about his work. Maybe that’s why he moved into management. I sent a message to someone I’ve kept in contact with asking to let him know!

Work itself is still fine, but the trains have been frustrating me. They’ve been 15+ minutes late getting home four of the last five days, which is annoying. I’ve started submitting compensation claims for it. I don’t expect to get much money back, but it costs them money to process my claim so it’s the right thing to do.

I’m putting into action the running at lunchtimes plan. I’ve ordered a bigger bag to carry my clothes and a towel, I’ve got a pack of wipes, more deodorant, etc. I’m going to leave a pair of trainers at work instead of carting them back and forth, so I’ve ordered a new pair. Hopefully next week I’ll be running again.

I’m being pretty good about staying relaxed. I’m currently writing this lying in bed on my new laptop (which I bought specifically so I can spend more time lying in bed! I’m not going to feel guilty about being lazy in the evenings), listening to some new music through some bluetooth headphones I bought on a whim about six months ago, but until I got this laptop, never actually found a use for.

Even though the trains were a nightmare tonight and even though starting a new job is supposed to be stressful, oh yeah, and even though HMRC sent me a letter today telling me they’ve reduced my personal allowance to £3k because they have decided the non-PAYE tax that they were too inefficient to take over the last three years has to be paid in its entirety from my income in the next four months (grr – so much for my pay rise.. until April at least)… well apart from all that, I’m actually feeling pretty calm. But let’s give credit where it’s due; I’m sure the Citalopram is helping here.