In my last couple of posts you may have read that I had started to do a little swimming recently, I'm a bit scared of water so this is really exciting for me. I went swimming again to my local gym with a friend; the pool at the gym is nice and small so I feel quite comfortable there. I was shown how to go underwater and to relax, and also how to control my breathing when swimming. It seems I am no longer a member of the dry hair brigade!! We also went into the gym and for the first time in months I did a proper workout in there, instead of walking around and doing weights that aren't effective! I now have a session that I can get done on my own and know that it will make a difference, and I quite enjoy it too. I have made Saturdays my day to go to the gym, which seems to be working well so far, and I have some lighter weights at home, so I can also do 10 minutes every day of upper body core work specific to running that will also help my form. I also took myself off for a hills session on Beacon Hill. This can only be described as a bloody stupid idea as my shoulders and arms were still dead from the new gym workout my so called friend had given me!!
Also my diet is undergoing a change; it was taking so long to recover, especially after the long runs so I bought some whey protein to help with that. I have started to drink green tea, eat only low GI carbs and base my meals around protein and I already feel that I have more energy and am getting lighter. I have found that the only way I can do this is by getting obsessive about my diet, and have made the marathon and getting into some kind of decent shape my only focus. Yes, I have turned into a marathon bore!
This week has been quite heavy going, It was the first week where I have had to ramp up the training miles and add another run in, so my first real tough week. My last two weeks have been reasonably high mileage; 26.5 and 29.5, but this week I had to get 36 miles out of my legs! I had a rest day Monday, I was supposed to go to spin class this evening but I had the most awful run on Sunday and I really wasn't in the mood, although I knew that I should have gone, but Monday nights are a bit like a zoo in my local gym so I decided for my sanity to steer clear! Also I didn't fancy another falling over incident!
Tuesday I had a nice run. I ran in the 2 miles to the Pump Rooms in Leamington and met with Regency Runners, opting for the 3 mile route as I fancied putting my foot down a bit, now when I say this, I mean running at 10-11 minute miles, not my usual long run pace of 12 minute miles, so don't expect anything too impressive!! I quite liked the route as at 1 mile, it has a ridiculous mountain (Campion Hill) and then the next two miles are downhill so I was able to maintain a decent pace once I had got to the top of that ridiculous mountain – 6 lamp posts exactly!
Now I don't usually run on Wednesdays, but this week I needed that extra run and a friend from running, Sharon, needed a long run as she is training for Silverstone Half Marathon, so we decided to meet at the Pump Rooms and do 6 miles, before we both ran home, which gave us both a total of 10 miles. The run went quite well, although it took us along the dreaded Myton Road which we both hated! I was really glad to get home that evening, so had a nice long hot bath (yes I know it's supposed to be cold but, no way!) and an early night, I was exhausted!! I slept VERY well!
I have to admit that my legs were so heavy come Thursday, and I was really sore from Wednesdays run. But hey, no point in doing something if it's going to easy! I dragged myself out, in pain, for another 5 miles, 2 miles down into town, and then a 3 mile timed run. I opted out of being timed, I know that I need these runs to help my fitness but considering how sore I was, I just wanted to get round and tick off the miles, which I did. So that’s 20 miles in 3 days, I was glad to see a rest day on Friday!
Saturday was weigh in day, and it turned the day into grump day! I need to lose a lot of weight, and not even a single pound loss....rubbish!! So instead of moaning about it, well alright I did a little, I stuck one of Davina’s trusty DVDs on and did 20 minutes of boxercise, quickly followed by 20 minutes of pump. This was followed up with a quick change of clothes and off to the gym I went. I jumped on a bike and got through a 10k ride, in 23.01. I worked bloody hard for this so was cross with myself that I didn't get under 23 minutes, but it was a PB so can't be bad I supposed. After a 10 minutes hill walk just to settle my legs off I went upstairs and got through my new circuits in the weights room, I think some of the guys in there thought I was a bit weird, I then realised, after a filthy look from the rudest PT in history that I still had my iPod in and I was 'singing' to myself, quite loudly, ooops! Considering that as the gym gets busier it fills up with weight nickers, I managed to get round and do everything that I wanted without having to wait around for stuff. I got home and found it almost impossible to move my arms, result!
So, Sunday morning came around and that as always is long run day, and after sitting on 12.2 miles for the last two weeks I decided I was going for 14 miles. Regency Runners were doing an 11 mile run this morning as some of the group are training for Silverstone Half, so my plan was to add 3 miles onto that, ok ok simple maths I know! Meeting time is 8.30am but I was so worried that I would have a bad run again that I decided to do my 3 miles first, and then carry on with the run as the rest of the group are much faster than me and they would soon catch me up. I left home at 7.30am and ran into Leamington and round the block to make the first three miles, then carried on up the hill for the start of the 11 mile route. I remembered today to come out with my iPod so found that this really helped me get up the hill without thinking about it. I got to 7 miles and another hill into Warwick but a lovely downhill afterwards that I made sure I enjoyed!! The next few miles were quite up and down so this did slow me down a little, but like I have said before, I need the miles under my belt, not the pace.
Once I hit 10 miles, the route was pretty flat which was lovely, but I felt really tired and my legs were so heavy, and my gluts were really hurting, well at least I know that they are now working I guess!! At a mile to go suddenly I felt great! I was in disbelief that the group hadn't yet caught me up; they surely must have been delayed as I wasn't running quickly! The very last part of the run was down The Parade, a favourite of most of the group I think! It's downhill all the way and you can really pick up some speed which I know always makes me feel better when I finish. I clocked my run at 2h53minutes which I was really pleased with as I had given myself 3 hours to get my backside round the route.
So, after the elation of finishing the run and getting well over that 12 mile wall, reality soon hit when I remembered that I have to hit 16 miles next Sunday. This certainly isn't getting any easier, but at least I can say that I am managing these long runs on my own when I need to, which I thought would be really difficult. I have run a total of 34 miles this week, that something that I never thought I'd say! My target was 36 so I am just shy, next week, 35.......gulp!
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