Harry

I was looking at the run they’ve been on in all comps prior to the 2 defeats in a row - essentially disproving the ‘streaky’ tag (for his time at Sunderland)

Ha ha. Bit of an overreaction there methinks. They’ve just lost 2 in a row having just lost only 2 in 28!!! I think a 17-9-2 record affords him a bit of wriggle room after 2 defeats. ?

Nice climb that, mate. Yeah, wherever you go round here there’s a bloody gert hill to get up. But what goes up must come down so it’s always a relief going the other way.

After 7 weeks out with injury, I managed to get back out on the bike today. Foot still not giving me enough to be able to run yet, so I thought, I’m climbing the bloody walls here, so I dug the bike out of the garage. It’s not seen the light for 3.5 years, had a few cobwebs and needed a bit of tlc this morning, but I managed a good 45 mins and was able to put enough pressure on the pedal without hurting the foot. So all good. Hopefully won’t be too long before I can start running again, but I really enjoyed that ride today.

Oh dear. Waelly has bought himself some new trainers. Nice that he put one of my favourite pastimes on there - Gas Waq. I used to love giving the gas a waq.

They are appointing a new ‘Head Scout’ at the end of this month. It’ll be interesting to see what ‘type’ this will be, ie someone in a exec position appointed by the new owner (ie an Ashton-type) or someone with a true football recruitment background (ie a Burt-type).

Ha ha. Yeah, I’m thinking I might have to get my bike out of the garage next week. Just get out there and at least be able to do something. Can’t put too much pressure on the foot but might be able to exert enough to pedal at a half pace.

Especially for you 2 (pics below). 1 year today. Me and @terpinlooking good, @Rob knot so ?? That aside - I’m bored out of my skin! Foot is still playing me up, haven’t been able to run now for 31 days!! And can’t see any chance of that improving in the next couple of weeks either. I’m climbing the bloody walls, especially with this perfect running weather the last couple of mornings. Wish I was on those big bean bags at the beach bar in Benalmadina.

Ha ha. I knew you’d bite Nick ? Course I’m not serious. But I did want to make the very valid point that the real upturn didn’t happen until Divvy gave them a good talking to. ?

Yes. I think there is a fair amount of selectivity when remembering Cotterills reign. Let me be clear, I totally loved him in that double winning season. It was fantastic. But think back to his early days. He arrived when we were 2 points from safety and a -5 gd. After his first 14 games, he only had 4 wins and we were still 2 points from safety and -8 gd. It was only when a member of the CSF was allowed in the dressing room vs Gillingham that the players started taking our plight seriously and the last 13 games after that they won 7 and drew 5. I put that superb run of results as much down to Divvy and his honest assessment, as much as to SC’s motivation of the troops who’d just won 2 in 10 games!! Of course, the rest is history and if I ever see Cotts (which I have done) I am always forever grateful to him for that 14/15 season. But let’s not kid ourselves to think he was an instant success - it was only Divvy’s intervention that saved us that season! Cotts struggled at the start, was excellent in the middle, and then struggled at the end. But he’ll always be well regarded.

Not sure what league table you’re looking at. Lost 1 less than Bournemouth?? The table I’m looking at says we’ve lost double the amount of Bournemouth. And yes, we are in turmoil. We need 11 points from 15 games to stay up. We’ve only managed 12 in the last 16!! Unless something drastically changes, we are definitely going to be in a relegation scrap. I don’t wish to be rude, so please forgive me, but some people really need to wake the hell up.

Yep, I’m wondering if it was technique and footwear related. A few days before I started getting the pain I’d run 14k in the icy conditions which had me slipping a lot and so not running correctly, plus I did a few km of that route off-road, where it was also slippery and I didn’t have trail shoes on. Perhaps a combination of both of those might’ve had a bit of an impact. Swelling has gone down a little bit today, currently led down with it in the air and icing. Hopefully get the swelling right down tomorrow. Nearly 2 weeks now since first pain!

Was in enough pain today to finally say “I gotta go see someone about this”. Foot still painful and swollen. Swelling not reduced since last Wednesday. Been painful for 10 days now! Anyway, popped into Yate minor injuries unit. Was seen by a nurse practitioner who is a big city fan. We had a good old chinwag. Says he’s had people turn up there before in rovers shirts and he’s told them to bugger off “the only thing wrong with you is your bloody football team”. Ha ha. He knows quite a lot of the “old faces from the 70’s/80’s”. Anyway, he reckons I’ve got tendinitis. Which is what I suspected. But he also said I’ve got lots of bruising on the bottom of the toes which he thinks is from the running. Thinks I need to get a gait analysis and a properly fitted pair of running shoes. I know this chat has been on here before but I can’t remember which page, but what’s the place up in Clifton that does the gait analysis, and what’s the make of the specialist running shoes that people recommended?

Yeah, I actually do those calf stretches regularly, using the steps. Still not good at the mo. Very swollen. Was at its worst on Monday probs and gradually going down. Had a video consultation and Doc reckons it’s an infection of some kind and nothing to do with any ‘impact’. Just patiently waiting (and dropping ibuprofen).

Yeah, I’ve checked the shoes, they’re still in decent nick but are on 590k now, so ought to think about some new ones soon. Started feeling the foot a bit last Wednesday but I did 2 runs on it Weds & Thurs so probably aggravated it more. Started becoming uncomfortable on Friday and have to say it hurts like hell today!! Can’t put hardly any pressure on at all and it’s much more swollen. I wonder if it was caused a bit by running in the ice last Saturday - tend to have to change the stride pattern and the way the foot falls, maybe I just impacted differently on the footfall than normal. Hopefully back soon, but in serious pain today!!

On 96km for January so far. Was hoping to easily pass 100km, in fact was hoping to get that up to about 120km with a couple of long runs this weekend. But... got a massive pain in the bottom of my foot. Just all along where the toes meet the base/ball of the foot. Hurts like hell today and can put very little pressure on it! Not sure what it is or how I got it, but I might be stuck on 96k for Jan, which is disappointing. Is this some sort of ‘runners’ injury??

Nice. Yep, the road up to Hawkesbury Upton is the one with the tasty hill. Although, can’t quite tell but I reckon that route just avoids the biggie. If you go straight on instead of that 90 degree right turn just before you head up to Hawkesbury, you should carry on straight for a km or so and then do a right. That’ll take you up the big one.

Excellent. Good to hear you’re active. Yeah, I’m just over in Charfield and have ran up Chase Lane a few times, then along toward King Lane. It’s a lovely route. I’ve only noticed a few dwellings up there - a row of houses just up from the entrance to Lower Woods, and then another row just by the turn to Orange End. Aside from that just a few farmhouses. Whereabouts are you? I think I might run that route again this weekend maybe. Silvio Dante is the other who’s run along there, having run from the Wickwar side of Yate/Sodbury. I’ve yet to do the hill all the way up to the monument, which Silvio did the other week. Might have to try that this weekend, doing the route straight on at Orange End.

True. I enjoy running in the rain and also enjoy the cold. But never wind - hate running in wind

Ah bugger. No running this morning with all this snow ️

@Rob k Mate. Just seen your Strava from today. You’ve done another bloody marathon! Wow. Congrats mate, that’s superb. And 4:35 too. Mint time. Proud of you bud. I know you’ve worked damn hard for that. ????

Hi mate. On Strava. Go to analysis. It breaks down certain ‘known’ parts of your route. JWR (0.53k at 6.9%) is easier than Bridge Valley (0.7k at 7.6%), judging by this. Here’s your effort today :

I did. It’s a tough climb even for those pro’s. In comparison, this climb today would be more like the Planche Des Belles Filles!!!

@SuperDziek @Silvio Dante @Rob k Interesting to see you mention Bridge Valley Road SuperDzieck. I always considered that to be a super hard climb - and it is. I thought I’d have a quick look at the climbs we all did this weekend. Bridge Valley - 0.7k Grade 7.6% Somerset Monument - 0.7k Grade 8.3% Old London Road - 0.7k Grade 10.7% I knew the other 2 were biggies but had no idea they were beastlier than Bridge Valley. You were right Rob K - she’s a bloody brute! To think @mozodid this blighter on Xmas day, 15k into a half!!! Maaaan!! I absolutely hated going up there this morning and yet I absolutely loved it too. And I absolutely never want to do it again but know I will love it when I do ?

Yeah, I was surprised at the time to be fair. I usually clock around 4:45-4:50 per km on average, those massive inclines had me at 6:30!! However, on the way down I was sometimes hitting 4:00 pace - I felt half Kenyan for a few minutes ?