Week One Day Six: Stitch

So much for blogging everyday but I thought I should update my progress now:
Monday: 7.5k Run & Gym
Tuesday: 3k Run & Gym
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 5k Run & Gym & Abs+Arms Class
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 6k Run
And hopefully Sunday after work I will use the cross trainer, I am aiming for 10k on the cross trainer tomorrow.

All of the runs at the beginning of week went quite well, I was full of motivation after my longest ever run on Monday.Today, I on my schedule was 5k but I knew that I wouldn't be going to the gym today. I'd decided to just use the cross trainer instead because my legs felt a little bit stiff but I wasn't really sure why as I hadn't ran since Thursday and then my brother asked if I wanted to go out for a run and before I changed my mind I decided I'd go. We planned to try and do at least 5k but would see how it went.

I did 6km and was quite pleased as I didn't really think I'd go out for a run, plus the weather was lovely!
I had mixed feelings about the run, I realised just before I went out that I'd had nothing to eat and knew I couldn't run on empty so I grabbed a small wholemeal roll and of course I got AWFUL stitch for most of the run! I was annoyed because I had to stop at one point and didn't really run very fast but then I was pleased I went out at all!

Previously for lent I have given up bread and chocolate, this year I have given up crisps (because I eat them for the sake of it, because they are easy to grab and eat without any value really and they are high in calories), biscuits (basically for the same reasons as the crisps) and white things, like white bread, pitta breads, pasta, rice etc I know its only been 4 days but so far it is going ok, I think as long as I am prepared and organised with snacks I won't need crisps and I don't really eat loads of biscuits and I prefer wholemeal pasta, rice and pitta breads anyway!

I hope anyone has given things up for lent is doing well! And spring marathon training is going well!

Oh, I almost forgot, when I got home from my run today I had a letter for my 10k including my race number and chip, it all seems very serious so I think I better get seriously training for it, I think everyone is going to be really professional! I don't know the route but I have found it on the internet so I am going to drive to find at and I'm going to walk it once so I know where I'm going and then start running it so I know inclines etc

Love x

Week One Day One: Longest Run!

It's time to get back on track, last week I only ran once and the week before only twice and I feel like time is slipping away quite quickly and before I know it it will be May!

A couple of weeks back I designed a 12 week 10k plan but didn't start it. I changed it to an 11 week plan today and started it.

Despite waking up full of cold with a really bad throat and a banging headache, I knew I had to go to the gym today otherwise it would be another unmotivated week and I really can't afford it. When I'm not exercising I'm not eating well either! 

On my schedule for today was: 

2KM EASY, THEN 4 X 500M FASTER, WITH 500M JOG RECOVERIES, THEN 2KM EASY = 8KM 

I knew that 8km was quite a lot for me, so I went into the gym thinking I'd do the 2km easy, 2 x 500m faster and 2x 500m jog recoveries and 1km easy, totaling 5km.

Whilst I am running I am constantly changing how far I'm going to run, where I'm going to run, when I am going to slow down, how fast I am going to go etc.

So of course I changed my 'route'.

I did the 2km easy

the 4 x 500m faster and 500m jog recoveries (with a bit of walking) and then 1km easy with a 500m cool down, equaling 7.5km

THE LONGEST I HAVE EVER RUN! 

And yes it took just under an hour because of the walking, and yes I was red hot afterwards but it really wasn't as hard as I thought! 

I was very pleased that I have got a lot closer to the 10km mark, and I didn't nearly die! The treadmill does cut out at 1 hour though so for now, I am going to aim to get 8km under the hour mark at first when I'm doing a long run. My personal best for 5km is 29 mins, so I'm hoping to get a sub 1 hour 10km. For now I need to try and get my 5k on the treadmill at 30 mins because at the moment it is usually about 39 minutes. It has always been longer on the treadmill though, I think it's because of the atmosphere of a race or a run.

Tomorrow is planned as an easy 2km run and a rest day on Wednesday but I may increase this to 5km depending on how my legs feel tomorrow. 

I will keep you updated (hopefully daily) on how I am progressing, how far I'm running and what I am doing for my cross training activities!

Love x

Horrific Hangover = No Run

I have taken it easy this week with the running so I don't put too much strain on my knee, actually I've taken it easy with all exercise and any form of healthy eating! I was planning to run 2 or 3k on Thursday morning after a class focusing on abs and arms, I got into the gym still planning to do 2k, I got to 2 and decided to do 3, I went over 3 so decided to do 3.5, then I remembered if I ran 4.4km I would have got to 100km since I starting running on 09/01 so I thought I may as well do 5km! I didn't really look at the time, I know it wasn't fast (it never is on the treadmill) but I definitely ran more than I usually do, I tried to keep the pace at 8km/h, a steady jog really, I did slow down a couple of times but sped up slightly too, I think my average pace was 7.7km/h overall.

Friday was a rest day as I'm at uni all day and then I was planning to go for a run (as long as possible) on Saturday, but due to a vile hangover I did NOTHING all day! So really looking forward to running tomorroww!

Love x

I finally ran again for the first time on Monday, 0.7km because I nearly fell over on the ice!
So Tuesday I went for a 2km run, which ended up being 3km so I was pleased.
Wednesday was my rest day and fingers crossed tomorrow I will do 4km, rest on Friday and then run on Saturday.
I will be starting a 10k training plan on Monday and I am using this week to ease myself into running.

Still no weigh in but I know I have put on weight because I have been eating a lot, I just hope I haven't erased all of my hard work!

Love
x

Starting Off Slowly

I have not run since the 26th Jan! And even though I am back at Uni and have other things to concentrate I feel like something is missing! My knee feels much better than it was before so I'm going to run again tomorrow.
I am going to start off slowly and build it up very slowly, no more than a 10% increase each week! There is 12 weeks on Wednesday until my 10k so I am going to come up with a 12 week training plan and start it on Thursday I think.
My plan is to run on Monday, Thursday and Saturday I think this week, maybe just do a little bit on Tuesday depending on the time I have.
I plan to do 12k this week and then hopefully a 5k on Saturday but I may postpone it until next Saturday because I have not been training!

This week at the gym has been a bit of a fail, I only actually went up to the gym once so I plan to be better next week! I'm sure once I'm running again I will have much more motivation to exercise more and eat better! As I have not been eating brilliantly either! I was away for my weekly weigh in last week so it will have to wait until next week now!

I am to have run 100km by the end of February, which gives me 3 weeks to run 21km, which I think even taking it easy, is possible!

Fingers crossed!

I ran 79km in January so 21km in February is do able!

I am a bit disappointed that Janathon is over, because people aren't blogging as much and I love reading other people's blogs for inspiration! I'd love to be like some of you guys one day!

Love x

10 Reasons To Love The Treadmill!

"10 Reasons To Love The Treadmill"

I saw this title of an article on the internet a couple of weeks ago (can’t remember if it was RunnersWord or The Running Blog). I didn’t read the article but decided to see if I could come up with my own reasons to love treadmills, especially as I mainly use treadmills for training rather than running outside. Here goes:

Run anytime:  When you have a treadmill at home or a gym membership you can run whenever you want to!Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl there is an ideal time for you! Personally, I don’t feel safe running in the dark, you never know who is around, and I know my parents wouldn’t want me running around the dark streets near my house alone! With a treadmill you can run late at night if that is what you prefer without the added danger.

Climate control: no debating whether to run in the rain, whether to slip over on the ice or brave the gorgeous sunshine to sweat to death. With a treadmill you can just go and run, if it is warm turn on the air con, if it’s cooler, don’t. I give you the power to control the weather for your run ;)

Distractions: Other things apart from your ability and current mood can play havoc with your time! Aiming for a personal best? I don’t think so, not with slow people blocking the pavements, cars parked up on the curb and people riding bikes on the pavement. I understand other people have just as much of a right to be walking on the pavements as we do running on them but on the treadmill it’s just you, yourself and the open machine!

No carrying a water bottle, phone, iPod, keys etc: you can throw everything in a locker and your phone/iPod and water in the water bottle holder on the treadmill! I find it awkward when I go out for a run if I want to take my phone (safety) my Ipod, a bottle of water and my keys to get back in my house. And I always worry about things falling out of my pockets and losing them, especially my keys.

No having to ditch layers during your run: so it’s freezing outside, and in order to brave the cold you need running tights, top, jumper, coat, gloves and a hat! But 10 minutes in, you’re sweating, what do you do with your layers? You can’t not wear them at all can you? Or put them in a locker? With a treadmill you can, you can run in your PJ’s if you wish, only at home though, not at the gym!

Speed: if you have a pace target it can be difficult to stick to this, or even exceed it if you don’t know the pace you are running, a treadmill can set your pace and you can always see it in front of you, adjusting it up or down accordingly.

Incline: Easier to do hill training whenever you want: finding an outdoor hill is not a challenge for me, I live surrounded by hills! But for some it can be difficult! Want to do a 2k run up a steep hill for training? Go for it, it’s easy on a treadmill, just incline it!

Entertainment value: as amazing as the views can be on an outdoor run can be, and I’m not disputing this(!) sometimes all you see is grey pavement, grey sky and boring houses. Why not watch your favourite TV programme? That film you never got to see in the cinema that’s on the TV and you’d miss if you were out for a run? It’s called multitasking! Watch TV or a film whilst you run and sometimes the view may be better, plus the time can fly by!

Distance: Using a treadmill you can set an exact distance you want to run (if you want to be precise) rather than running around the block 3 and a half times until you get to the 5k you’d planned.

Unwanted substances: In the gym and on the treadmill (hopefully) there is no dog poo, which I have seen a lot of on the pavements running outdoors; is it so hard to pick it up? Surely if you have a dog and take it out for a walk, you have the responsibility of clearing up after it? Sorry rant over. Also unexpected pot holes and uneven pavements aren’t good for your ankles! 

So there is my 10 reasons to love the treadmill, I could probably come up with more but they would start to get silly! 

I haven't blogged in a few days because I've not really had much to say, I have not been running and although I'm new to it, I really don't like it! Friday I went to the Ab Box class but didn't go in the gym afterwards. I wasn't going to run I was going to use the cross trainer but after doing squats, squat jumps and star jumps I thought it was best to leave my knees. Because I can only feel my knees hurting whilst I am running I went for a walk on Saturday. A nice brisk (but cold) walk, and it turns out at 5.85k it could be decent running route if made up slightly to 6k. There are a few hills, both up and down so would be good to up my outdoor distance when running again.

Today I had planned to go to the gym and to try and run and if not go on the cross trainer. Then I looked out the window and it was freezing! I thought it was pointless driving to the gym to just use the cross trainer when I have a cross trainer at home. I planned to do an hour on the cross trainer today because I know the distance on my cross trainer goes up fast and it doesn't seem to burn many calories. 

I completed 50 minutes on the cross trainer, covering 19km and burning 430 calories. To be honest, I don't know why I didn't either round it up to an hour or 20km. The programme I was watching on iPlayer went off so I stopped, silly really.

I am going away tomorrow for a couple of days so I won't be in the gym but hopefully I will be doing some walking. BUT I was also probably be eating awfully for 2 days so a lengthy gym session is needed on Thursday. This week is not going to be a good week for either food or exercise but we all have our setbacks. I will try my best and not deliberately pig out and will get back to it on Monday. Hopefully by Monday I will be able to run again and I can carry on training. I will only increase my distance slowly this time as I think I did too much too soon before.

Anyway I am off to bed with a hot chocolate as I'm finally back to Uni tomorrow and then off for a lovely trip away. Sorry for the long post and I'll update you all when I'm back on Thursday.

Love and happy running!

X

Words, Words, Words.

Disappointed.
Annoyed.

Aggravated.

Upset.

Frustrated.

Let Down.

Disheartened.

My current feelings with my running after another failed attempt at 5k due to bad knees.

Time for rest!

Love x