Running - Third Weak

No that wasn't a typo. Tough week this week. I have been feeling quite weak indeed. I won't bore you with the details, but early in the week I was struck down with an illness of the stomach/bottom variety and it interfered with my training.

Here is the schedule I was supposed to keep:

Monday: run for 30 mins
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: run for 30 mins
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday: run for 40 - 45 mins
Sunday: rest

On Monday just before I was due to go out it became very apparent that it was not going to be possible. I was suprised at how gutted I was to be missing my training and how much I had started to look forward to it. Also, I felt if I messed this up I would be letting people down (sponsors... the kids!) Plus, I'm a proud man. I don't want to fail and certainly not in public. Anyway, a few days rest and all was well once more. My revised schedule now jammed a week's running into 4 days and looked like this:

Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: run for 30 mins
Thursday: rest
Friday: run for 30 mins
Saturday: run for 40 - 45 mins
Sunday: rest

I'm not a fan of running two days on the trot, as I have previously said, but I am up to a stage where running for 30 minutes does not cripple me, leave me stiff or in any pain the followng day. I also recover almost as soon as I get home and have a glass of water. That is one of the biggest revalations. Not the ease of which I am begining to find running, but the speed at which I feel ok once I stop. I felt 2 days back to back was something I could now quite easily do, but wouldn't like to make a habit of. Especially as next week onwards is when we start to push it. For now I am hovering around the 3 mile mark. It starts to steadily rise to my target distance of 10K (6.2 miles) in the coming weeks. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here.

Wednesday was a good run. Felt nice to be back out there, even though I had only missed the Monday, it felt like too long since I had run. 5 days!!! I went out with Rick for the first time. On a route he had devised. It was, of course, not a nice normal flat run up the road. Most of it was on the road, but Rick likes to take things "OFF ROAD!" So off road we went. Running up steps and slipping in mud and puddles was both not nice and imense fun. It was a welcome change of scenery. I am someone who can be accused of liking routines and getting stuck in repeating the same things again and again due to nothing more than familiarity. But being forced into something new always equally puts me out and excites me in equal measure. This was fun. It reminded me of cross-country at school. I will not be making a habit of having to hold onto a tree whilst sliding down a small banking to avoid falling in a muddy puddle though. It was good to be running with a partner and we ate up the 3 miles quite easily in the catch up chat we had on the way round.

Friday was a run in the driving rain. With Rick again. Was good to train in different conditions. I really don't mind running in the rain once I've warmed up. In fact it's quite refreshing. Meant the mud and puddles weren't a consideration either. We just splashed on through. I'm not a big fan, however, of running the day after having a few beers. I was noticably flagging half way round. Although I did get a second wind on the home straight and cruised on home uphill with relative ease.

Saturday morning I, thankfully, felt none of the previous evening's run. Today was the big one (well, biggest so far). I set off with a kind of sketchy route in mind. The initial downside was that my trainers were wet and freezing. I was quite aware of it for the first mile or so. Once I had fully warmed up I forgot about my feet and got on with the running. Remarkably by the end of the run my trainers were dry. I have bought an armband for my iPhone/iPod and was keen to try it out today. I used the iMapMyRun application on my iPhone. It means I don't have to sit tracing out my route on t'interweb to see how far I have run. Anyway, I ran up the road with the intention of turning left after about 20 mins, cutting through the estate and back down to home. That, I figured, should take about 40 - 45 mins. However once I got to the first turning for the estate I had only been running for 15 mins, so I carried on. By the last turning onto the estate I was up to about 19 mins, so decided to head for the top of the road (as it was only meters away) and go all the way around the estate on the main roads. I managed to run 4.78 miles (thank you iMapMyRun for the acurate reading) in a time of 45 mins and 47 secs. I am extremely pleased with this. Only 3 weeks into my 7 weeks of training and I can cover 3/4 of the distance required. I was surprisingly ok at the end of it too. I struggled a little in the middle. I wouldn't call it "The Wall", more a small fence with weather damaged. As I had been running constiently uphill for over 2 miles I figured that being knackered was inevitable. The last 2 miles or so was mostly down hill, so I managed to get my breath back (amazes me how you can rest and recover WHILST still running) and continue at a steady pace. The armband for my iPhone also meant I could listen to MY music. Thank you U2 and The Joshua Tree. I got through most of the album and it kept me going nicely.

Look I can embed my run in my blog...


Has felt good to grasp this week's training back from the jaws of defeat and turn it into better than I could have imagined. At the start of the week it was looking very unlikely I would do any running during the week, let alone make up my full compliment. Am pleased to have been motivated enough to push myself round the 3 runs in 4 days. Just shows how much of a spur it is to have a goal to reach for.

Sponsorship is going really well. I am up to £107. Which is amazing. My goal (which I didn't think I would get anywhere near) was £100. I've surpassed that with 4 weeks to go. With the gift aid that is pushing £137. Not quite though, as my Dad didn't know to tick the box for gift aid on justgiving.com. He has sponsored me an extra £2 to make it up to the kids. He also added the encouraging words of "If you do not do well you will get a bloody good hiding. Dad" so the support is good too and completely at odds with the policies of the NSPCC. Although as I'm not longer a child (chronologically speaking that is) I don't suppose it falls in their jurisdiction. So, thanks to all who have sponsored me so far, your support has been a driving force for me. If you haven't sponsored me, sponsor me here http://www.justgiving.com/craigwtonks/