Week 7 Round Up

Tuesday:  Training Plan - 40 minutes easy
Time: 43:45
Distance: 7.93km

Thursday: Training Plan - 5 min easy, 5 min HM pace x 4 (40 Minutes Total)

Time: 42:42
Distance: 7.83km

Not very happy with Thursdays effort, seeing as I was running 20 mins of that at a faster pace I should have covered more distance than I did on Tuesday!  Thursdays run was tough, I left my water bottle in the office and it was so warm out I immediately was in a mood with myself. 

The run wasn't a total waste of time though, as I learnt a valuable lesson.  DONT eat ryvita for lunch on days where I'm running!  I had such bad stomach cramp after about 20 minutes and that was all I could focus on my head really wasn't in it and I've never wanted to give up so much as I did then.

On Friday I moved house so I decided I'd use that as my cross training for the week as the programme includes "light weights" as an option.  In the end I'm not sure that lifting sofas, beds, mattresses and the rest of our possessions up and down stairs in 2 houses for a total of 4 + hours necessarily counts as "light" weights but never mind.

I didn't run on Saturday like I have done for the last few weeks I was totally wiped from the move and my parents were staying so Mr D and I went out yesterday instead.

Sunday: Training Plan - 75 Mins easy with middle 20 at HM pace

Time: 1:18:10
Distance: 13:31

My first run from the new house, so that meant a new route! I planned the bulk of it on MapMyRun and decided to take a road I barely even knew about into a wood that I'd never been in either.  As I'd not driven up the road before I decided to look on google maps to get a feel for where I needed to go.  Something I have learnt from this is that there is no sense of elevation on google maps so it was a bit of a surprise when we came round a corner and in front of us was a terrifying hill!  Luckily that was about 20 minutes into the run and I was still running at easy pace otherwise I'd have died - for sure.

Despite the hills of death the route was amazing. As we were going up that steep road you could see the Grove Country Club and Golf Course across the fields.  I can't believe we've lived here nearly 3 years and we'd never been in the wood, it was gorgeous (was also glad of some shade by that point too!):

Just beyond that trail above it opens out onto... a golf course?!  I sped up a bit there to make sure I got well out of the way of the people on the tee, didn't want to get knocked out or anything.  Whilst I was looking for a picture to pop on the blog I have found out that some of Star Wars - The Phantom Menace was filmed in that wood - who knew?

When we got to the edge of the wood we decided we'd run the canal like we normally do as Mr D really loves it along there.  After that we ran up the road past where we used to live which is quite a long slow incline and thankfully that's where the 20 minutes of faster pace finished - I couldn't have gone on at that speed much longer.  From there we went through town, along the road we both work on and then up the main road all the way home.  I don't think I've ever been so glad to hear the voice in my earphones telling me time was up!

Here's the graph for the run:

I'm pretty pleased with that.  You can see where the big hill was (just after 4km) when I really slowed down and you can see a difference in the pace for the middle 20 minutes at HM pace.

You can also see at the top that this was another run that ended with some PB's.  As the run was so long I wasn't expecting it to be particularly fast so that was a nice bit of motivation - here's the stats:

According to the Nike+ app I burned 796 calories which will have come in useful seeing as this week's eating has been so poor.

I did a huge shop on Saturday and all of our kitchen is sorted now so normal service should resume, and it can't come soon enough, I feel bloated and tired and generally rubbish after having so much takeaway and easy food.  Bleurgh.

So that was last week, today is Monday and its time to see how training will look this week:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 30 min easy
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - 40 min easy
Friday - Rest
Saturday - X train
Sunday - 50 min easy with middle 25 at HM pace

Week 8 looks ace to me, only trouble might be my shin.  I haven't worn my compression bandage or taped my shin for the last week or so when maybe I should have as after yesterdays long run I have some serious pain going on.  I spent last night icing with frozen peas and elevating and today its still pretty painful so I'm wearing the bandage at work.  I'm hoping that tomorrow its stopped hurting enough to have my 30 minute run in the morning.  If not I'm not sure what to do???  I really don't want to miss any training sessions but I don't want to make this worse either - guess I'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings???

Week 6 Round Up



Six weeks done already?  I can't believe I'm half way through this training plan, on one hand I'm so pleased that I've made it this far but I'm a bit apprehensive as to what the next few weeks will bring.  Anyway I'll get to what's planned this week later, for now lets talk about week 6.

Monday
Time: 32.32 Distance: 5.71km

Thursday
Time: 47.47 Distance: 8.75km

Sunday
Time: 1.04.03 Distance: 11.53km

Here's the graph for Sunday's run:

Not quite as smooth as some runs, this week's longer run was hard work!  About a year ago me and Mr D were walking along the canal and saw a sign that said Rickmansworth 3 miles and I said that one day I'd run there so that's what I decided to do.

Ian came with me again and so we ran along the main road to Rickmansworth, it all started out nicely, down the hill from home to the roundabout and then it went wrong, you can probably see how slow I was from 1-2km that was all uphill and painful.  There is a nice downhill bit just before you come to Rickmansworth which I was grateful for but a bit worried about slipping over as it was rainy and the pavement is covered by trees so the surface is pretty mossy.  Thankfully I didn't fall on my bum.

Running through the town was nice, it was quite busy for 9:30 but all the people were so polite and let us run past without us having to jump into the road or anything scary.  I was quite worried we'd get lost trying to find the canal path or that we'd go the wrong way but Ian ran ahead and spoke to the lock keeper and we were fine.

I've never been along that part of the canal before and I wish I'd thought it through a bit more because boy was it muddy!!  Most bits you could dodge around pretty easily but there was one patch were you either just had to run through so I went for the edge where I thought it would be less sticky.  Instead it was just mega slippery, I skidded a bit, made a weird loud noise (embarrassing) and as my ankle slipped under me I managed to kick it with my other foot which really hurt.  We weren't too far from home then, probably 2 miles so I decided to just keep going.  It's not too painful now so I should be right by tomorrow's run.

I also had a bit of an incident with a goose.  I'm really scared of birds, and it was a bit of a shock when I came round the corner and there was a great big goose in the middle of the canal bridge.  Ian had run ahead so he wasn't there to shoo it away so I had to keep running and sort of coax it away, I went past and thought it had gone in the canal but it hadn't it was running along after me so I did the only logical thing and sped up.  So that was terrifying but worse was that a very fast proper runner came past me laughing, he'd seen my sad run/arm wave over the bridge to scare the goose.  The Shame.

We're moving on Friday so this weekend was mostly spent packing and didn't leave a lot of room for my cross train session.  Last night I decided I'd do a runners stability session from the book "Real Women Run" by Sam Murphy.  It wasn't very long, just over 30 minutes but anything that will help has to count right?

Well here we are - week 7!!  This is what's in store for me this week:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Easy 40 minutes

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 5 min easy, 5 min HM pace/threshold x 4 (total 40 mins)

Friday: Rest (move!)

Saturday: X train

Sunday: 75 min easy with middle 20 min at HM pace.

What a totally brutal week.

I've done some pinning on Pinterest this week for a bit of motivation and came across these:

Must try harder to remember this, food lately has been pretty terrible.

And this one which I love:

This is my new mantra for when I'm out running and I get overtaken by faster runners it doesn't matter, I'll probably never see that person again and at least I'm out there doing it, the only thing that matters is that I'm improving and sticking to my plan, not anything anyone else is doing.

Week 5 Round Up

I can't believe 5 weeks have gone by so quickly.  This week's runs have been mixed Tuesday was a 30-40 min easy run and I did 40 minutes and then walked for a few minutes after to cool down and stretch out my legs.

Total time 43:43 Distance: 7.20km

Thursday was another 30-40 minute easy run so I decided to run a new route through the posh bit of town then joining up to the park later, I really enjoyed the new part of the run and felt pretty good so I extended the loop so I would get into the park right at the top.  Now I don't know what it is but as soon as I get into the park now I don't seem to enjoy it as much.  Its all in my head no doubt but its bothering me.

Total time: 38:38 Distance: 6.85km

Now seeing as I'd struggled on Thursday I wasn't looking forward to my first hour long run.  I decided to run on Saturday morning, we didn't do park run but I mapped a route before we left Mr D's parents that was just over 5 miles, I thought that would be about right and if we were back home before the 60 minutes was up was could run around the block a few times.

I asked Mr D if he knew the route as it involved a few paths through Bushy Park but he said he knew where he was going.... he didn't.  In the end it was just as well, we ended up popping out of the park at Hampton gate and running down the road to Hampton Court.  That's when the heavy rain started which actually was quite refreshing at 40 or so minutes!  I did panic a bit when I realised we'd only have 20 minutes to get back from where we were but carried on anyway into the park and out the other side, there was still time left so we ran over the railway bridge and we were a minute or two from home when my timer finished.

Here's the graph from my Nike+

Total Time: 1:01:00 Distance: 10.92km

My longest and furthest run!  When I synced my run I had this pop up:

I know it's my first 10k and by default my fastest but I am really pleased with how the training is going at the moment.

I didn't manage any extra yoga sessions like I'd hoped but I did manage to do 40 minutes yesterday as my X train, I'd like to think I'd get some more done this week but that doesn't look likely as we exchanged on our new house on Friday and now all my free time will be spent sorting our things and packing (does that count as exercise??)

This week I've had to change some things around to fit in work etc so here's how its looking:

Monday: 30 minutes (last 10 HM pace)
Tuesday: Rest (I've swapped Monday and Tuesday)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 15 min easy, 15 min HM pace/threshold, 15 min easy (total 45 mins)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train
Sunday: 60 min easy

Quite looking forward to moving now not just so that we can be in the new house but for a bit of variety in the runs, as the time increases I'll still be able to go along the canal I'll just have to brace myself for a hill run all the way back!

Food is going to be a bit weird this week.  We're trying to eat up everything in the freezer so the meal plan is:

Monday Lunch - Pea and Lettuce Soup with crispy smoked bacon (will do the recipe for this later because its delicious)
Monday Dinner: Cottage Pie
Tuesday Lunch: Cottage Pie leftovers
Tuesday Dinner: At my parents house in Wales so probably a stir fry
Wednesday Lunch: Ham and Cream Cheese Bagel with salad and crudites
Wednesday Dinner:  Cheese and Bacon Stuffed Pasta Shells
Thursday Lunch: Pasta Shell leftovers
Thursday Dinner: Pea and Lettuce Soup (Mr D is at rugby so I can't be bothered to cook for myself)
Friday Lunch:  Ham and cream cheese bagel
Friday Dinner: Grilled Venison Burgers and homemade paprika wedges

Alot of that isn't as clean and lean as I'd like but needs must this week!

Week 4 Round Up

Sorry this is late, Monday I was at Wimbledon and my Mum has being staying since Sunday so now I've finally got time to tell you how the training is going.

Thursday I did manage to get my threshold run done in the hotel gym where I was staying.  I did the first 8 min easy then 8 minutes at half marathon pace but once that finished I did have to walk for 2 minutes because of the tightness in my calf and some pain where my leg was taped up, then I ran for 6 minutes easy pace and then 10 minutes half marathon pace (did an extra 2 minutes to make up for having to walk). 

Afterwards my leg was a bit sore but the tape and bandage seemed to do a job - god bless www.sportsinjuryclinic.net for their taping tutorial, without it I never would have been able to run.  (tutorial here if you need it: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/sport-injuries/ankle-achilles-shin-pain/shin-splints/shin-splints-taping )

On Friday I was taking pictures for a Charity even but once those were taken and developed I had a little time to get a run in so I went back to the gym for my 50 minute run which was meant to be on Sunday.  I wasn't very hopeful for two reasons really, one I don't run that well on treadmills, I find it quite boring and two I was a bit worried about running for that amount of time on my leg so soon after running the day before.

I said to Mr D that I would just try to run for 30 minutes and see how I did after that. There were tv's right in front of the dreadmills and just as I started a new Wimbledon tennis match had started so that seemed like perfect viewing.  At 20 minutes my Nike + running app told me how long and far I'd run and I felt like I wouldn't even make ti to 30 minutes let alone much longer but I just tried to zone out a bit. At 35 minutes I had to pause to stick my tape back down, the sweat on my legs had stopped it sticking - gross.  From there I got to 40 and when you think "oh I've only got 10 minutes left" it feels like nothing and I was so happy when I finished.  I've never run for that long before and when i first looked at the training plan I didn't think I'd be able to do that after only 4 weeks.

So here's the stats for the run:

I'm really pleased with that, I know that's not very fast or anything but I still did it and that's a big achievement for me. 

My X train was weights and some resistance training that I saw in my "Real Women Run" book as I couldn't take my yoga dvd with me.  I really miss yoga feels like ages since I've done any so I might try and fit an extra session in this week.

Speaking of this week here is what the training plan says:

Monday: Rest or v easy 30 minute run ( As always I went for rest).
Tuesday: Easy 30-40 minute run
Wednesday: Rest (might do an hour or so of yoga)
Thursday: 30 - 40 minute easy run (no tempo/threshold run this week?)
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train
Sunday: 60 minute run

I'm off to my In Law's this weekend so I've signed me and Mr D up for park run.  I know that's only 5k so I'm going to scan in through the start and finish and however long that takes me carry on until I get to one hour.  The other issue is that park run is on a Saturday so my long run will have to be then and I'll  try and X train on Sunday instead.

Sometimes when I'm running and talking about this half marathon its easy to forget the reasons that I'm doing it.  One is to help a friend who wanted to run one before she's 30, the other is charity.  The nominated charity for Run to the Beat is Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, I'm really pleased to be able to tell you all that on Friday at the dinner of the Charity event I'd be working at I was told that £1000.00 of the money raised that day would be donated to my charity for the half marathon!  The proviso is that I won't get the cheque until I finish the 13.1 miles so that's really helping to spur me on.

Someone who had been at the event that day also gave me £20.00 as his brother had suffered from Leukaemia and he was grateful that I was fundraising for them.  That nearly made me cry a bit!  Nearer the time I'll set up a just giving page but until then if I get any more sponsorship I'll keep you updated.

Week 3 Round Up

Thursday's run was hard, 4 minute "easy" 6 minutes at threshold/hm pace to a total of 30 minutes - I struggled.  My heart rate is still going up very quickly at easy run pace and I ended up with alot of cramp in my calves when going at the slower pace.  When I had completed the 30 minutes and started my few minutes walk home I noticed that my feet felt sort of numb/tingly which isn't normal.  Before you suggest it no my shoelaces weren't tied to tight but I have no idea why this is suddenly happening, I suspect it might be related to the calf cramps - might google it but I'll probably end up convincing myself that my legs need amputating or something so I think I'll just see how I go, hopefully it will pass.

Friday I did Yoga instead of doing it Saturday as we were busy.  Not noticing any real improvement but I think I should just be patient and let my body adapt in time. 

Saturday we went shopping for bits and bobs for the new house, I did go to a nike outlet hoping to get some new things for training but the selection was rubbish and I came out with one pair of running socks.

Sunday was a 40 minute "easy" run, sorry if me putting easy in inverted commas is getting annoying but I honestly can't say that any running feels the least bit easy for me and if anything it feels like its getting much harder?  Last weeks 40 minute run was good, I didn't really ache anywhere too much and I didn't feel like I was going to die cardio wise either - not the case this week.  I ran with Mr D again and as we were in Watford he was more confident about running ahead as he knew where he was going, that was better for me as I can't concentrate when he's running alongside me.

I didn't feel comfortable at all and I couldn't just zone out from running like I have done before and think of other things to while away the time, ever step I was thinking about how long I thought I'd been running and how much pain I was feeling in my legs.  I sort of think that if anything this should be getting easier... I already knew that I could run for 40 minutes, I've done it before so why am I struggling so much now?  I think some of it is me wanting to get better fast.  Its only been 3 weeks I can't expect miracles but then I think that I'm a quarter of the way through and maybe I should be doing better?

Anyway lets not dwell too much, I did it and that's the main thing.  This week looks like this:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 30 min easy
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 8 min easy 8 min threshold/hm pace x 2
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train
Sunday: 50 minute easy

I've got a few concerns this week.  First one is obviously that 50 minute run, that looks terrifying.  The second problem is that I'm away for work on Thursday and Friday (big work dinner that night), Saturday its my cousins 21st Birthday and we're having lunch in the day and then going out on Saturday night and then on Sunday we have to get back home and ready for the week.

I think I'll have to do the tempo run on a treadmill which isn't ideal but at least I can run HM pace rather than HR threshold, but I HATE running on the treadmill, hopefully I'll get through it.  The other problem is what time I'll end up getting home on Sunday and how rough I'll be feeling from the night out!  I might not drink so I can get a run in early but I'll be staying with my sister and I am not at all familiar with the area and planning a 50 minute route where you easily could get lost is not ideal.

The other option is to swap the run to Saturday and try and run the whole 50 minutes on the treadmill - I think I'll have to see how Thursdays treadmill run goes before deciding what's best.

The last problem is that today I think I'm sick.  I was up all night on the verge of vomming and this morning I have been sick, not sure what the problem is but I hope it goes away quick because I've got training to do!

In other news I've also been told about the concept of eating more to weigh less by a friend on a weight loss forum.  I'm still reading up about it to get a good understanding of it all but I'll be blogging about that soon too.

Week 2 Round Up

It's Monday and that means its the start of week 3 of my half marathon training.  When I first looked at the plan I couldn't believe that first of all I'd have to run for 30 minutes non stop in my very first session regardless of the pace and that at the end of week 2 I've had to run for 40 minutes non stop, I almost gave up before I started.

Before I get into how that run went here's how food looked on Friday:

Breakfast was 40g oatbran, 100ml semi skimmed milk, a heaped teaspoon of 4 seed mix, 20g of dried mango and a few strips of dry coconut shavings from my trail mix, it was delicious.

Lunch was the same as Thursday, one wholemeal pitta (no spread/butter) 2 slices of mustard coated ham, one mini red pepper, one mini orange pepper, a 3" chunk of cucumber and a heaped teaspoon of organic houmous.

I got halfway through my wholemeal seeded bagel with organic crunchy peanut butter and a little coating of banana coins when I suddenly remembered to take a photo so apologies for the half munched look!  I wouldn't normally have something like that on a non run day but the last half would have gone rank in my office cupboard over the weekend and I needed to try and get all my calories eaten too so it seemed like a good option.

Dinner was a Chinese beef, broccoli and cabbage stir fry it was utterly delish!  No noodles so I didn't have that gross tired full feeling afterwards which was just as well seeing as I had to drive back to Wales straight away.

Food this weekend has been mixed, Saturday night was my treat meal so I had 2 poppadoms, half a serving of chicken tikka masala, 2 spoons of boiled rice (incidentally did you know that pilau rice is the equivalent in calories of a portion of boiled rice with a CHEESEBURGER in it?? Bleurgh) a quarter of a peshwari naan and half a serving of chana aloo (curried chickpeas and potato). It was yum and guilt free!  I also had one small white wine and soda as I was running on Sunday morning.

Sunday I had one slice of wholemeal toast with olive oil spread and a banana chopped up on top about an hour before we went running.  Lunch was a roast made by my mum, I had a chicken breast, 2 roast potatoes, one yorkshire pudding, loads of veggies and a little drizzle of gravy mmmmm.  For pudding everyone had some chocolate fondants I'd made and stuck in the freezer, I passed as my treat meal was Saturday, and for dinner I had the other half of the chana aloo from Saturday night.

Saturday I decided to do my Yoga dvd again as my X training session.  I'm really starting to love this.  Each time I do it I'm getting a little deeper into the movements and I love the feeling of bringing length and strength to my muscles whilst also having a bit of time to myself to be quiet and relax.  Its brilliant I really can't recommend it enough.

Sunday was long run day....  Mr D decided he wanted to run too and whilst its so sweet that he's trying to support me it does really make me feel down that he shoots off ahead despite the fact that he's not exactly athletic or super fit.  I just have to keep telling myself that yes I probably could go faster but that's not the aim of the easy/steady runs, its just to be able to run for a specified amount of time without completely knackering myself out!

Anyway I was pretty worried about running for 40 minutes especially after 5 easy/5 pace run on Thursday, put that together with having little time for warm up stretches and I started off feeling a bit pessimistic about the whole thing. 

As we were in Wales this weekend at least we had a change of scenery and I'd been on map my run for ideas of where to run, we started off in the park:


Not bad is it?  Then towards the high st and over the Monnow Bridge:



Along the main road, did a loop around a housing estate, back over the bridge, up the high street, past Monmouth Boy's School:


And back through the park to where we started.

I ran for the full 40 minutes and when we finished Mr D and I had a little walk around the park together and talked about how we found the run and noticed that neither of us were out of breath or in as bad a state as we'd thought!  I had a few niggly pains in my knees but those seem to have gone this morning and I'm pleased to report I wasn't as purple as normal either - RESULT!  Anyway, my Nike + tells me the run was 6.79km which I'm pleased about, I think that's my longest run ever and after only 2 weeks.

So lovelies here's my training plan for the week:

Monday: rest day (plan says 30 min easy run/rest  but I've decided that for now I'm just going to rest on Mondays)
Tuesday: 30 Min Easy
Wednesday: Rest (might do yoga)
Thursday: 4 Min easy run/walk 6 minute threshold/HM pace x 3 built into 30 min running
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X train (probably yoga or might do a circuits session)
Sunday: 40 minute run

Well that's my week, how's yours looking?

Week One Round Up

Well week 1 of the training plan is done, I didn't die, or have to stop so I'm seeing that as a positive.  I won't lie to you, although I an running (probably should call it jogging) for the 30 minute "easy" runs I'm so slow its unreal.

For Sundays run Mr D said he wanted to come, I had to tell him to run ahead of me because watching him go at my pace was painful and a bit embarrassing, and seeing him go off so much faster made me worry that the same thing will happen on the day of the Half and it'll just be me right at the back going about 4 miles an hour or something.  Right now I can't honestly see how I'll ever get any faster or be able to run for 2 hours plus.

Still I guess I've got enough time to work that out as I go and for now I'll just do as the training plan says.

Saturday I got my yoga in whilst Mr D had a nap on the sofa in between rugby games (Friday was a late and boozy one).  Even though the dvd is beginners yoga I got a good sweat on and felt great afterwards so I might see if I can fit that in again on a rest day as well as the X train days.

In better (less whingy) news, after doing those stretches I posted about on Thursday, then yoga Saturday, then stretching pre-run yesterday my legs aren't achy today and didn't get so crampy when I was running either so that's great progress!  Big thanks to Momentum Sports for putting those up on your website.

So what's the training plan got in store for me this week:

Monday: Rest/very 30 min jog (am having a rest today)
Tuesday: 30 min easy
Wednesday: Rest ( might do yoga dvd or go to yoga class at the gym if there is room in the group)
Thursday: 5 min easy run/walk, 5 min @ threshold/HM pace x 3. All built into 30 min running
Friday: Rest
Saturday: X Train
Sunday 40 min easy

Just realised that Sunday's easy run has quickly jumped up to 40 minutes, fear that might be to ambitious for me!  Also might be tricky as I'll be away at my parents for Father's day and have no idea where to run around there.  Will have to research on google!

I'll also have to dig out the HRM for Thursdays run, or head to the gym so that I can control the pace, although I hate running on the dreadmill now, running outdoors is so much better (even in the rain) because you are heading for something and the surroundings distract you a bit, staring at a wall or even worse the treadmill display and watching the seconds take ages to tick by is not very motivational!

So I guess that leaves me wondering - If you're a fan of running on the treadmill and not outside, how do you make it easier for yourself? Great playlist?  Towel over the display? 

Actually that's reminded me, if anyone is reading this and they want to give suggestions for really good songs for running or the gym then I'd love it if you gave me some suggestions you can either leave a comment on here of tweet me @amydennies

Think that's enough for today, see you tomorrow!