It's going to sound crazy, and I have spent some time analysing myself, but I actually felt bad about my running after Sunday's 10k.
What it boils down to is that I pushed myself (hence the PB), so the running felt difficult (it was!), leaving me feeling bad because I took a few walk breaks, legs felt shoddy in the final few kms etc etc. It was a weird juxtaposition because I felt awesome about the PB but bad about the actual running. Anyway, today I thought I'd just run and see where it took me. I set out aiming to run for around 4 miles/40 minutes and ended up doing an extra mile. Although it was warm and muggy (I was sweating like a pig by the end), the actual running felt good. I know that for the marathon, endurance is going to be key and speed matters not (except that bit of my brain that currently tells me that if I push a bit I'll get there sooner - must work on that). I'm aiming for strong, longer runs (with some tempo work for variety). Faith restored. Yoga done. Gratitude felt.
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In 8 weeks, Pickle and I are going to doing Race for Life together, something that he's been very excited about. Now that I've got a few ParkRuns under my belt, I thought I'd see if he fancied giving it a go, so I registered him and off we tootled on Saturday morning.
We had a bit of a wait before the start as he said he'd rather get there early and park closer (!!!), so we looked at the geese and goslings by the river and watched the rowers. What can I say? He kept going - even though his legs "hated him"! We were lucky that a rogue photographer was hiding in the undergrowth, so I have some lovely photos of us running (1st lap) and walking (2nd lap). With the end in sight, his little legs decided to get a second wind and we ran to the finish. Although I let him go through first, we shared a finishing time of 38:44 - not bad for a first time and a non-runner. A PB set...watch this space! So I started thinking about the fact that I've signed up for a marathon later in the year. Not saying that the idea fills me with dread but...well...after the Shine Walk last year, I did say to Dave "I'll never attempt to run a marathon" - famous last words!! I did some googling of walk-run techniques and stumbled on Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run method. This basically suggests that you can actually travel faster overall if you take timed intervals of running and walking. The walking intervals give the body a chance to recover from the stress of running, and it keeps your core body temperature down. Using his guidelines, I decided on 3 minute run:1 minute walk intervals based on a running pace of 10 minute miles (which was my half marathon pace). I took a route that I'd run on Tuesday (4.7 miles). Here are the results: I was honestly staggered when I looked at the stats.
Even considering that I obviously took off at a faster pace today, that only accounts for 1 minute. This is definitely a technique I will be continuing for longer runs going forward, and I may look at 4 minute run intervals to try to increase my overall pace. On 1st April, I managed a 27:02 ParkRun, which was close to my PB of 26:27 - close but no coconut in this case. I pushed pretty hard, I felt pretty awful (see photo!) and I really didn't think I could have run it any faster. Fast forward a week, back at the start line and my trusty friend Andrew said to me "I reckon you'll go faster this week." My response was quite literally "not a chance" - I'd quite literally given it everything the week before and I didn't think I had any more in me. Added to which, I was feeling groggy and my lower back was stiff and sore. But, as is the way of group running, I set off fast and kept pushing. In fact, I had decided last week that ParkRun was destined to be my "tempo" training run of the week. As with the previous week, I started my FitBit then didn't look at it again as I ran - there was no need to check the distance as it's a set course, and looking at my time might either depress me or make me anxious to push harder. I followed my body and my breath (out of) and... Over the weekend I managed both ParkRun and a 10k short long run!
ParkRun was great - I hadn't managed it for the previous 3 weeks (felt like a lifetime) and I was well motivated by my friend and part-time training partner Andrew. We took it gently (he is nursing an ankle injury worse than mine, unfortunately) and got round in 31:55. My ankle is holding up very well, with only a slight ache after the 10k that was gone by the end of the day. So, that's almost it. This week I've run a 5k (Tuesday, 29:50) and I'm planning a gentle ParkRun on Saturday, plus plenty of yoga (today will be day 22 of "30 days of yoga with Adriene") and maybe some meditation, possibly a bike ride and/or swim. Not to mention a spot of carb-loading on Friday and Saturday! We also had lots of fun trampolining at Rush on Monday (where we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves for half an hour - the joys of home educating). Bring it on... Just 10 days now before my first half marathon. My ankle is hardly even swinging now, which is great, and I managed to squeeze in a 3.3 mile run yesterday in spite of events attempting to conspire against me (one child with flu, another injured at gymnastics class requiring hours waiting in A&E). It was far quicker than I was intending or anticipating, but again I didn't push, it just happened, which was nice. Then today Mike the Bike and I had a date. Quite a short ride for me, but fast and nice to blow the cobwebs away. I rounded the afternoon off with day 15 of my "30 Days of Yoga" practice, which was pretty blissful if I'm honest.
I am also now the proud owner of a meditation cushion and a yoga block! So on to the serious stuff. The Day is fast approaching and I'd really love it if people felt able to sponsor me. Here's the link to my Just Giving page - even just £1 from each visitor to my bog would make a massive difference. Thank you :) I did it!
An actual, real run! This is how my day panned out: 4 miles (yes, you read that right) walking the Ollie-doggo in the pouring rain/howling gale first thing (followed by shower, breakfast and coffee). The a spot of Yoga with Adriene (day 12), followed by a short shopping trip and home for coffee and peanut butter and honey on toast (my current favourite lunch). After some digestion time then a short (0.45 mile) walk/run warm up, I decided to take the plunge and risk it... The sun was shining (a total turn around from first thing, although it was still windy), the zombies were chasing me - well, I needed to run. I ran as easy as I could and was staggered when I got home to find that my pace was well under 11:00 per mile (and my cardio health score remains at 41 in spite of my 3 week rest). Adriene helped with a quick post-run stretch, then I re-taped my foot using kinesiology tape (more on that another time). Another mile walked with the mutt (again, in the pouring rain!) and D&I are off out for a well-deserved meal this evening. I feel confident that with careful training in the meantime, I will be able to tackle the half in 2 weeks. Happy days :) OK, I don't want to jinx this, but I may actually be getting there.
Yesterday I tried to run and made it about 100m down the road before I decided to bail out, and went for an 11 mile bike ride instead (so Mike the Bike was happy!). Today I tried a different tactic. No expectations, 30 second intervals on my FitBit. I managed 10 walk and 10 run intervals before feeling like I needed to stop (ankle), so walked most of the way home, then ran the last 0.15 miles. It doesn't seem like much, but the fact that a small yoga session killed any aches makes it feel like a massive step forward. I then walked Ollie-dog with no pain at all (and no painkillers). Softly softly, catchy monkey!... I have a niggly ankle all week which I have been trying to ignore, which was flipping stupid because 6.5 miles into my run this morning I couldn't run any more...my niggle is now an injury.
I ended up walking home 2.3 miles in the FREEZING cold, which was miserable. So...next week I will be cycling and swimming - no running until my ankle feels ok. Painkillers, icepacks, rest blah blah. I promise! But please sponsor me! It will make me feel better! Thanks. Last night I was babysitting, which was fine, except they said they'd be back at 11pm and they didn't get back until 12.20am! So by the time I got to bed it was around 1am. I woke up at 7am, so was really thinking I'd take it easy at PR today. That was my intention. Honestly. My mum says "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"... I started myself somewhere in the middle and LOADS of people passed me as well. But in the second mile I found my running stride and just kept going, and it was me doing the passing! It was a little muddy underfoot (but I was wearing my trail shoes) and the snow held off for the duration, which was nice of it. Really pleased with my time and a new ParkRun best for me... Distance: 3.11 miles
Time: 29m:02s Average pace: 9' 28" Fastest mile: 8' 59" Type of run: ParkRun (threshold) Cardio fitness score: 41 |
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May 2018
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