another late night and crying cat kept sleep to a minimum. another late start to the run, but at least it had stopped raining. with gail off to the law library i headed up the road to the church turnaround. past the cows and the sheep and sleepy binsey village. noticed the rock wall which had fallen down was still down. around the corner and away i went, but couldn't help but notice my legs just weren't coming with me. quads were basically dead. not good at this point 1.5 miles from the house and i decided to run down the lane and see how i felt when i got to the trail across port meadow.
got lucky here as my friend Lorraine was coming out of one of the houses and we had a chance to catch up as i took a short break. and then headed off again. legs were not any worse and i decided to head across and down the thames to see just how many trees did not survive yesterday's trail work.
slowly, very slowly and down the thames i went. caught another break as my even slower than me friend was out with his wife and we headed back up the trail a bit so he could also check out and then bitterly complain about the down trees and the sterility of the entire work. will be curious to see how it ends up. though i was hoping for a little work being done on the two obvious flood areas, the city council seems intent on re-doing the entire trail. time will tell.
and back down the trail to john's house where i left him and headed over towards the templeton college trail. turned towards home at that point promising myself to be real careful about whether i ran tomorrow or took the day off. turned the corner where i usually run my striders without one teeny little thought of doing that today.
then bam!
around the corner and about twenty trees had been cut down in the rewley abbey garden. 2 foot stumps now stood where pretty trees and shrubs had been yesterday morning. maybe they just wanted more sunlight to get into the garden area. at any rate, another lost set of nice trees and lost shade on the trail. maybe there is time in my life to become the next johnny appleseed yet.
and on the way home now and picked up a few things at the store and called it a day. highlight of this run was seeing friends again rather than the run itself. about 6 miles worth of calories and legs that need a break maybe. plan was to cut back on the mileage soon and start doing some more speed training. with a morning heart rate of 45 this morning i should not have been this tired.
home and gail still at the library. did some laundry and after the usual morning stuff headed up to the range. had some thoughts to try out. had gone over my notes from last couple of lessons. why were some days so good and others so bad. not a real in between. i hit well or i hit rubbish(UK expression).
and the first 20 balls or so were more rubbish than good. put some hitting tape on my gap wedge to see where i was hitting the ball. most shots had been weak and thinly hit with a leaking right movement. thought back to what jim linza had told me about coming out of my posture several weeks back. somehow the club face was not squaring up fast enough. too far from the inside or too much body motion?
tried a little faster rotation and pulled the next few shots. went to a 9 iron. really concentrated on the right knee flex, a lighter grip pressure and staying down and behind the ball. and BAM! high, long and straight. about 135 yards or. a decent 9iron. even hit the middle of the red circle on the tape. and did that about 10 times in a row.
best thing was that the swing felt so easy and i could really get through the ball and clear the left hip and whack away. and felt no pressure on my back which i certainly did after yesterday's 250 attempts. if i normally shoot 85 or so- 87 , whatever, and 30 putts or so and say 8 pitches or chips- too kind to myself here probably- then then 49 full swings are in a round of golf. a large bucket is two rounds, 250 balls is five rounds. just thinking out loud on paper.
but i only hit 110 balls today. got 10 freebies from the guy next to me who got tired of the cold wind. but i kept on with my little experiment. longer swing produced more balls a little on the toe. what felt more like my normal swing kept the ball in the middle of the club. a better release and finish with the club over my shoulder helped the ball penetrate through the wind and hit the green. an over active right hand stopping a good release made the ball leak right- into the imaginary bunker.
i worked all the way up to the 6 iron. wanted to be able to keep working on stuff and not defeat myself mentally. not all great shots as i am not that good no matter what i try, but clearly this is the way to go. just turning the chest and not using the hands and keeping that right foot down helped get the left shoulder under the chin and my back more away from the target. let's face it i am not mr. flexible.
once there the club just dropped in the slot and the hip got out of the way more naturally and the club went on its own. and my balance was really nice. the club also didn't come across the line so fast. of course probably by tomorrow this swing will be lost in my memory archives and i will be searching for it. jotted down some notes and hope they serve as a reminder. should fly "J" over here for a look. maybe tiger will loan me his plane.
had to get going. just as well as mr. bang the club into the mat and curse out the ball is now hitting next to me. bet that helps. so does the big time sway and chicken wing elbow. i am quiet and i leave. i can go days here without hardly talking to anyone. not my norm.
met gail and went with her to get some stuff at Staples- same one as the usa has, just more expensive. was $66 for printer ink cartridges. amazing how bad the dollar is. stopped on the way home at the used book store and bought the next book club book and one for gail and gave some advice on running to the owner and then home for some dinner and down time. listened to last night's news hour and gwen ifill shows. will read some and call it a day.
outside now someone is shooting off fireworks. go figure.
signed up for the race for the cure in DC as i will be home then and also for the relay for life. nice to be able to start planning things back there. but only time will tell how it all plays out.
note- looking at my watch just now i noticed that it is april 12th. i hardly keep track of the days here at all unless i have to catch a plane. and though i would love to not run and rest tomorrow, i never do not run on april 13th in memory of my friend steve thompson who passed away on that day. i have six days like that in my year now. getting old has a little bit of everything to it.
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Fact of the Day
The US Civil War began on this date in 1861, when the Confederate Army bombarded the government-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Southern-based Confederates won the skirmish in a day and led to four years of strife across the country.......
Scotsman Digital Archive.
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