Back in the saddle

The sore throat I had during the marathon deteriorated into a full blown cold last week. It's 6 months now since I took more than 3 days off running and I'd planned to have just one day off after the marathon last weekend (it was only ever meant to be a training race), but after running 9km on Tuesday, I realized I needed a few days to recover. Taking time off is always difficult for competitive athletes, but if there's one thing I've learned with age, it's that a few days rest can save being knocked out for a few weeks. So rest I did until yesterday, when I headed out for a 'steady' 22km run. 

At the turnaround point during yesterday's run.
The 254m high Kullen peninsular just visible in the background

The past week had two key work objectives; the first was to finalize and submit a funding application to the Heart Lung Foundation. The Foundation is one of the largest Swedish funders of cardiovascular and cerebovascular research. Together, these diseases kill roughly two thirds of men and women in Sweden and abroad; although the diseases are being treated better than ever before, because most Western societies are living longer, more and more people develop cardiovascular disease and eventually die from it. The Heart Lung Foundation works hard and plays an incredibly important role in Sweden to help fight these devistating diseases. They also provide patient education and advocacy. I've been lucky enough to be funded over successive years by the Foundation, which has supported all of my key research on the genetics of cardiovascular disease. So as each grant cycle draws to an end, I make a big effort to ensure my next funding application is highly competitive. 

Our application this year focuses on studying genetic and lifestyle determinants of long term deteriorations in blood pressure and blood lipid concentrations. Fortunately we've just had a major paper accepted for publication outlining our most recent research on lipid genetics in one of he top genetics journals (PLOS Genetics), and we've had several other major papers published in the past few months, which all help support the new application for funding. 

The second key task last week was to attend the Swedish Research Council's information day for grant reviewers. For the past two years I've been invited to sit on one of the panels that evaluate research funding applications for government money from Swedish medical scientists. So on Thursday I headed up to Stockholm to meet with other members of the evaluation panels to discuss how the process would be run this year. It's a ton of work reviewing grant applications (something that will take most of the summer), but it's also an important aspect of my work, as any well structured research funding mechanism requires rigorous peer review.

So back to the run yesterday. Having felt rough all week, I needed to test my legs and lungs to see if I'd been able to shake the bug. It was great running weather so I headed out on my seafront trail route into a slight head wind. I usually hold a 3hr marathon pace on my long runs (4.15 mins/km), but because I've been sick I focused more on settling into a comfortable pace, regardless of how fast or slow it might be, and not coughing and spluttering too much. At 11 km I got to the turn around point on 4.16 min/km pace, and with the wind behind me on my way back I cruised through half marathon distance bang on 1hr 28 mins (4.11 min/km pace), without feeling too worse for wear. A relief, given that it's now just over 5 days until my next event, the 54 km ultra marathon on Kullen!! I also got back in the water today after nearly 4 months off swimming. We live close to the sea and it's now just about warm enough to train. So I knocked out 1500 m before dinner. Tomorrow I'll get up early for one of my first bike sessions this spring, a 96 km ride from home down to the diabetes center at Skåne University Hosptial in Malmö, where I work.