Inspired by strangers

It's been a week of highs, lows and highs but you'd expect that in any journey in life.  But before we get into that I was inspired by strangers this week.  Strangers who swim with me but we don't often get the chance to talk while doing sets.  On Friday an elderly gentleman (late 60s?) asked me how far I was swimming.  He then went on to explain he used to do two miles but through health issues he'd cut it down to one - in his late 60s this guy is swimming a mile 4 times a week!  Amazing and he's hoping once he gets "sorted" to get the mileage up.  I was also chatting to a lady who it turns out won an ironman event 15 years ago in the UK - not an age grouper, but the whole race.  Another girl has just swam the north channel and all of these people are in the same pool as me.  It just shows that everyone has a story and goals they are still pushing for so never judge a book by its cover as they say.
On Tuesday the physio was pleased with my hammy which was great news.  On Wednesday I went for a short run - pulled up after 3 minutes. Back to physio on Thursday and it turns out to be a different part of the hammy and that my glute is in need of some pounding!  The secret is knowing how far you can push a muscle that is sending out distress signals because it still needs to be worked. Inactivity could set it back.
The first test was on Saturday - a walk up Tinto hill, 711 metres high using walking poles for the first time.  The poles were like having a 4 wheel drive.  I power walked to the top which was in cloud base so no views to be seen.  The rain was heavy on the way down but I tested my hammy and glute with a couple of runs over 200m - I could feel the hammy but it was ok.
Rather than go out running today, with only 62 days to go I need to spend more time on the hills as there is 18,000 ft of climbing and 14,500 ft of descending in G2G.  So I headed off early morning with my coach Genevieve to go up Ben Ledi which is 879 metres high.  We started off by going the wrong way which added 50 minutes to our time.  But it warmed up my hammy and glute which was just as well as it's a steep start.  My hammy was fine on the way up and when we got to the top, yes you guessed it, we were in cloud base!  I chose to really test the hammy and glute by running down the mountain and managed this with no adverse affect.  That's a real confidence booster but I'm not getting carried away as it's still work in progress.  This week I've got the physio, a massage and yoga exercises and the chiropractor!  I've got to make it to that startline uninjured so a lot of time will be spent "nursing" my injuries.  I'm going to be spending a lot of time up mountains before heading to the Caynon.  I just hope there will be a view from some of them!