One step at a time

Yesterday I was very pleased to find that the walk with the dog had been fine for my foot (all be it very dirty and muddy as far as Lincoln was concerned), so I attempted a very hilly walk along the beach and beach banks. Practically crawling by way of slowness up a very steep muddy bank was still progress though, as last year I had to get on all fours to climb it. My legs are definitely stronger.
I then got home and did 30 minutes stepping and I have to admit I found it very tiring... maybe that was because of the hilly walk first? I'm not sure. I finished off with a set of squats. I only went up to 55KG for a set of 8 reps as I wasn't sure how my foot would handle 3 lots of exercise in one go! So far so good though!!!

Graemes' brother Paul came over and they went off up to the gym to do some weights. They were doing deadlifts and I had to point out to them that doing lunges beforehand really wasn't such a good idea... especially as it is Pauls' first attempt at deadlifting. They tackled 55KG and the strain showed on Pauls' face. I wanted to tell them to be more careful, but decided that they probably wouldn't appreciate too much of my input and so I left them to it. Afterwards Paul said deadlifts are the hardest exercise he has ever done... I didn't dare tell him how his back would feel today!

It seems Paul really wants to be as best as he can be ready for when we all go to Amsterdam for the marathon, and has decided to do strength training twice a week with Graeme to better his chances of a good marathon time. Whilst Graeme picks out certain things that I do in my training schedule and incorporates them into his own exercises, there are a lot of things he simply wouldn't attempt... for example deep water running and the core work I do. They both said their stomachs ached during the deadlifting and I thought that was wierd. Graeme reckons I don't have an issue there because of the core exercises I do.... how long before they ask me to show them what they are eh?

This afternoon when I'm finished work I'm going to take Lincoln for a walk through the dene. It will be one of our running haunts when he's old enough to run with me!