The lifting exercises yesterday have left me in quite a state. Sure they were interesting and a good challenge, but today my legs and glutes are giving me some proper jip.

I went into Southport to buy some presents and ended up getting myself a lovely new pair of shorts, a foam roller to try and massage my aching muscles and an exciting set of dumbbells. The latter was a bit of an impulse purchase, but I’m very pleased with the shiny new bits of kit. Not that I’ve used them yet.

My training plan says that today is a four mile slow run. They’re all slow, to be honest, and today more than most given the lack of any strength in my legs. It was late and dark, so I meandered around the lit parts of the streets near me and had to skip my planned route.

Everything seemed to ease up a bit within about 10 minutes of running and I was able to get around the streets at a pace slightly better than a potter. Four miles in 53 minutes, any slower and I’d be walking (some would argue that it’s almost walking pace anyway).

Now I’m back home and I can hardly use my legs. I had a good roll on the foam – what’s not to love about that? Except that I actually yelped when I first tried to roll on it, the soreness was quite acute. I’m reassured that this is all Good, and that without the pain there will be no gain. I bow to the better judgement of my friends on this one.

We just put the children to bed and it was a struggle getting down the stairs, even backwards. Goodness knows what it’ll be like tomorrow. I might skip the 3 mile run and do some upper body training if I’m in a real state. That said, if I’m writing about a three miler tomorrow, then you know I’ve been encouraged (read nagged or emotionally blackmailed) into doing the run.

I hope you appreciate the Dalek image, by the way. That’s meant to be an amusing reference to stairs. Oh, you probably got it already…

Tonight we will mostly be watching The Bridge. I’m very happy that this is on again, but it’s on just at a time when I’m going to be busy through most weekends in January. Thank goodness for iPlayer.