Tuesday

As I was going out on Tuesday evening, I decided to go for my run after work rather than waiting to go to the club and then have a mad dash getting ready to go out.

I only ran twice last week and in fact feel that for the past few weeks I really haven't been putting in enough training. I'm certainly down on last year and at this rate I have no hope of matching my half marathon time, let alone beating it!

So, I decided to do my old 8 mile run, which I did often last year. It was a bit windy but bearable - rain was always a distant threat. I took my daughter's Creative Zen which really made a difference. I was able to lose myself in the music, only problem was when the tune was a slow one, I definitely felt the pace drop!

I didn't find this run as easy as I should have and the lack of long runs is telling. I'm due to go to the club on Thursday and have arranged with two friends to do a long one on Saturday and hopefully should be able to get the Saturday runs in now for the lead-up to the Half Marathon.

It's great having my Garmin - only problem is when you find out that the run you thought was 8.2 miles turns out to be just 7.7.

Distance: 7.7 miles
Time: 1:16:14

Pace: 9.52

Catch-up

I did run last week, I just wasn't in the blogging frame of mind. Went along to the club on Tuesday and had a really nice run. The weather was good, warm but not too humid and the route we went on was very nice. As most of us were racing the next evening, we took it quite easy.

Distance: 6.6
Time: 1:07:22
Pace: 10:06

Wednesday was the last race in the 5K series. I had run enough races to get a t-shirt which I picked up on the night. Oh, I do so like getting running t-shirts!

I had decided that if the weather conditions were good for me, I would go for it. It had been raining all day which made it a bit cooler than it had been for a while. It didn't actually rain for the race and ideally I would have liked a drizzle but nevertheless, I still decided to give it a go.

I set off at a good pace and tried to keep it going. I felt I was slowing down around 3-4K but then gave it all for the last 1K. I was rewarded with a PB and hopefully next season I will get under the 26 min mark.

Distance: 5K
Time: 26:07

For various reasons I decided to forego this mornings run. It's always the same, whenever I decide to put all my effort into something, be it a training plan, or something similar, I fall at the very first hurdle!

Still, not completely ducking out, I did go to the gym. I persuaded my 15 year old son to come along and attend the Junior Gym (10-15 year olds). He wasn't at all sure as he thought he would be the oldest one there, and sure enough, he was! However, he enjoyed it and I'm hoping he will go along again.

I did my full weights programme - which is both Monday and Wednesdays circuit put together. I then intended to swim afterwards, but guess what! I forgot my swimming costume, doh!

Anyway, whilst there I saw a poster advertising The Grim Challenge. It looks very interesting, to say the least. It's described as 8 miles off road running, wading and crawling!

I'm interested and will see if any of my friends are mad enough to consider joining me!

I've managed to haul myself out of bed four mornings in a row to do my weights and swimming. The fourth morning was very hard but I knew Friday was my rest day! I'm not aching from the weights so I'm wondering whether I need to make them a bit harder? The swimming is good, I can feel my hamstrings are working and I'm improving on my technique, just a little.

The run last night was good. It was a lovely evening, still a bit warm for me but most people seemed to think it was ok. There were two groups, one doing 5 mile with efforts and one just doing the 5 miles. Guess which group I fell into!? I really must put in some effort with these training nights but most of the time I'm happy to go along and run at a comfortable pace. I've got the lst 5K race next Wednesday, so if the weather is to my preference (ie cool and drizzly), perhaps I'll go for it there!

Distance: 5.29
Time: 50:35
Pace: 9.33

Variety is the spice of life

I think it is time to put more variety in my training so with that in mind I went to the gym and worked out a weights programme. I'm only doing upper body and stomach as I don't want to work on my legs and make them too tired for running. The programme only takes about 30 minutes but gives my arms, shoulders, chest, back and stomach a good workout. I aim to do this twice a week, Monday and Wednesday mornings before going to work.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I am doing 30 minutes of swimming, alternate breast stroke and front crawl. I would love to do all front crawl but don't have the technique yet and need a length of breast stroke to recover my breathing.

I am then running Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the club and a long run on Saturday mornings. This leaves Friday and Sunday as rest days, yippee!

All going well - so far, but then again it is only Tuesday!

Went along to the club tonight and a group of us set off for a 6 mile run. My legs felt strong as I hadn't run for a week. The group fragmented a bit as some went off a bit faster, I hung back and stayed within my comfortable pace. Although I felt strong, it was a warm evening.

It was a very enjoyable run and we all felt so comfortable that we added on a mile loop bringing the total up to 7 miles.

Distance: 7.03 miles

Time: 1:09:32

Pace: 9.53

Week off!

My two little nephews, Thomas and Matthew, have been staying with us for a week while their mum and dad went to a wedding in Prague and stayed on for a few extra days. This meant that I missed out on my running this week, not that I intended to miss out but to be truthful, I was too exhausted by the end of each day! I'd forgotten what hard work it is to look after 2 year and 5 year olds. We had such fun each day going on outings that I feel I got my exercise that way!