A week of feeling behind

It’s been a week of snow and power cuts and hence a week that has not really gone to plan. Other than the long-awaited outdoor 10k I managed last Saturday, the snow has derailed pretty much all my running this week. However, to be honest I’m kind of used to that after this long, bleak winter, and Geth and I have been looking into ways to make treadmill running less boring. I’ve ordered a Zwift Runn sensor, which you attach to the side of your treadmill in order to connect it to Zwift. I’ve been interested in trying Zwift for a while and a prolonged period of snow seems like as good an opportunity as ever… Of course, I thoroughly expect that as soon as it arrives, the snow and ice will clear up and I won’t need to use the treadmill again until next winter. Still, it’s a win either way!

In the meantime, Geth has discovered the RunDisney YouTube channel, which provides lots of nice video tours around Disneyland that enable you to watch the screen while on the treadmill and pretend you’re running round a theme park on a hot day in Florida (something that feels like a total fantasy at the moment). I watched one of the videos during my treadmill run this morning and it felt a lot less tedious than usual! Geth originally wanted to do a real-life RunDisney event for his 40th birthday last year, but obviously that has had to be put on hold for now. We’re determined that it will happen eventually, though.

The power cuts we had earlier this week, meanwhile, meant that work was disrupted quite a bit and I’ve not really been able to catch up. As such, I’m going to have to do a bit of work at the weekend, which is something I’ve been trying to avoid šŸ™ Hopefully things will go a bit more smoothly next week.

Snow, February 2021
The world is endlessly white at the moment.

This week’s earworm playlists:

Saturday

Cast of The Sound Of Music – ‘So Long, Farewell’*
Kate Bush – ‘Wuthering Heights’
Barenaked Ladies – ‘One Week’

*RIP Christopher Plummer.

Sunday

The Bangles – ‘Hazy Shade Of Winter’
Lindisfarne – ‘Meet Me On The Corner’

Monday

Lindisfarne – ‘Meet Me On The Corner’
Duran Duran – ‘Friends Of Mine’

Tuesday

Cast of The Sound Of Music – ‘Edelweiss’
Cast of Mary Poppins – ‘Let’s Go Fly A Kite’
Queen – ‘Flash’
Ladytron – ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’
Duran Duran – ‘Ball Of Confusion’
The Weeknd and Daft Punk – ‘Starboy’
Duran Duran – ‘Five Years’

Wednesday

The Weeknd – ‘Blinding Lights’
Lil’ Dicky, Chris Brown, Ed Sheeran, DJ Khaled and Kendall Jenner – ‘Freaky Friday’
Queen – ‘One Vision’
Duran Duran – ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’
Robson & Jerome – ‘Unchained Melody’

Thursday

Adam & The Ants – ‘Prince Charming’
Randy Newman – ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’

Friday

The Bangles – ‘Hazy Shade Of Winter’
Revo – ‘Sylvan Tranquility’
Duran Duran – ‘Winter Marches On’
Traditional – ‘Bonnie Ship The Diamond’

Parallel universes

Another Wednesday interval session today…

…which was tough, but I’m kind of enjoying them in a slightly masochistic way. It was Geth’s turn to brave Sainsbury’s today, so I was able to focus on my run.

I then spent the afternoon finishing off a paper for a client, and am now weighing up options for the next few days’ entertainment. Disney Plus launched in the UK this week, which has been good timing in retrospect. Geth bought a year’s worth of subscription yesterday and put on Aladdin and The Sword in the Stone last night, which sparked a lot of fuzzy childhood memories. It also means we can watch the latest Star Wars TV series, which I expect we’ll be doing over the next week.

In the parallel universe where coronavirus didn’t happen, I had to make a decision about whether I was going to be spending tonight at the poetry night or at my ukulele class end-of-term concert (it would have been the concert, as that only happens three times per year – and for unrelated reasons was probably going to be the last one ever – but that’s all academic now). While the decision has been taken out of my hands, the poetry night is doing a Facebook Live event this evening, so I’ll have a nosey at that.

I’ll also be poking my head into the videogame world this evening – both playing them, and having a think about the next one I’m making…

Interval splits
Some of my best interval splits from this morning’s workout (I know this is a real ‘running bore’ picture but being in the house limits my photography ideas!).

Today’s earworm playlist:

Koichi Sugiyama ā€“ ā€˜Unflinchable Courageā€™
Toto – ‘Africa’
Cast of Aladdin – ‘Arabian Nights’
Bill Conti – ‘Gonna Fly Now’