The post-half marathon euphoria has now passed and I'm back faced with the task ahead. I felt very focused and disciplined yesterday, and I am still focused and know what lies ahead and what I need to do. I'm just struggling with the classic end of the day feeling! What my body would like is to curl up in a ball, have a little nap and eat cheesecake. (And this is what I would have done 2 years ago). What I will actually do is go to the gym, do a decent length workout incorporating lots of weights and stretching, and fell infinitely better for it.
I have scheduled in a run for tomorrow morning, about 7 miles is 'all' I can fit in before work, and it'll be interesting to see how my body reacts to that! But the sooner I get back out there the better as I know how quickly running fitness can dip if you miss a week or two.
I don't understand quite why I still struggle so much to get motivated for exercise! I know that I've never done an exercise session and regretted it, and that once I am there I will actually enjoy it and all the associated health benefits. I had read somewhere that for something to become a habit you have to do it something like 20 times. Well I've definitely clocked up a lot more visits than that and it's certainly not a habit yet! But then I suppose doing something out of choice even though you don't feel like it is actually just as important as what your habits are in the first place?
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Monday, 28 March 2011
Walk in the Park ;-)
Well the Colchester half marathon is done and dusted and the hard work starts now. We have just eight weeks to step it up to double what we did yesterday. The stats for yesterday were chip times of 2:24:31 for Teresa and 2:24:32 for me, seven seconds quicker than Bristol, but as in most things they are just numbers and don't really paint the whole picture of improvement.
I mentioned last week that although we wanted to improve our time (by more than 7 seconds!) the aims of yesterday were really to (1) measure improvement (if any) since September, (2) to learn more lessons that would help in preparation for Edinburgh and (3) to gauge just how much work we need to do in order to be ready for a full marathon. (We also had two further aims- to not be last, we weren't, yay!- and to not be lapped by the winner- we weren't, just. The winner finished in 1 hr 9mins. What a weirdo :S).
(1) Well there was definite improvement in terms of fitness and recovery. Physically I felt really good. Mentally I got a little bit bored and I'm sure that the mile markers towards the end were wrong. Between miles 10 and 11 and 11 and 12 was definitely more than a mile and they should invest in a new trundle wheel for next time. Although interestingly miles 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 of the two-lap circuit were measured correctly. Weird eh? I don't think I could have done another 13.1miles yesterday but could probably have pushed to 15 which is encouraging. However...
(2) That was because I had had a week of carbo loading etc and was fully fuelled. I think Teresa would agree that she probably didn't eat enough in the run up last week and therefore yesterday was a bit of a battle for her. But mentally she is so strong and a complete inspiration to me and I'm certain that had we been properly fuelled we would have been even more encouraged by our performance. However, we are still on a learning curve and I think when the actual marathon comes round I will painstakingly plan out every meal for every day rather than just eat as and when I feel like it without guilt. 'Fail to prepare and prepare to fail' as my lecturer used to say :S Mentally it was very different preparation to Bristol as it was local, we'd already concluded we would be somewhere near the back of the field and it just didn't have the same big event buzz of our first half marathon. And again, because it was 'just' a training run, we weren't as up for it as we perhaps could have been.
(3) So there is still a long way to go. We have pencilled in some long runs in the lead up to the marathon but even our small runs need to be challenging us. My default 'small' run is now 7 miles. Which is a far cry from when I started! But if I only have time for a small run I need to be pushing the pace and trying to get round in near to an hour to really push my body and improve my cardiovascular fitness for the longer runs. Now the half marathon is gone it'll be 3 runs a week. One short, one long and one more either short or intermediate for the first 3 weeks then up it goes again. In between this probably 2 gym session and maybe a swim with one rest day. I will apologise now to friends, family and significant other as you may not see very much of me for the next few weeks. I'm still not quite sure when I'm going to make time for this amongst other commitments but I do know that I need to prioritise this now if I want to finish. And I really do want to finish!
We seem to have come away from yesterday without injury which is a blessing! I am stiffening up a bit now, particularly my back, and I suspect I may need to get rid of some more tummy before Edinburgh to give my back a break! ( But I made a good start this morning by not buying Milk Tray which was on offer. Still celebrating the small victories!).
I was really surprised by the breadth of people racing yesterday. We had expected it to be mainly club runners as there were only 1000 entry places, hence the pessimistic forecast of how we would do. And there were a lot of club runners. But we were very encouraged when, as we lined up to start, they asked anyone expecting to complete it in under 70 minutes to line up behind the first lamppost (like the school playgournd!) and under 90 minutes behind the second lamppost. There was quite a lot of laughter and a general shuffling backwards as a few brave souls put their necks on the line and headed for the front of the pack.
We started out fairly slow and steady and stayed that way! It seemed to me that person after person was coming past and neither of us dared look behind for fear of seeing tumbleweed and the lorry collecting cones that Teresa had nightmares about before the Bristol half. Some people were kitted out in matching running gear, others looked like they'd stumbled out of bed after a night on the town and decided it would be a laugh to go for a run. One guy ran it in plimsolls. I also enjoyed reading t-shirts to keep from boredom. My favourite was probably the one that read 'Pain is just weakness leaving the body', although I did wonder if the owner actually believed that or whether it was just bravado. We didn't pass them slumped over in a ditch anywhere so I can only assume they pushed through the pain and posted a good time.
The marshalls on the whole were superb and really encouraging. Not quite sure what they made of this crazy lady who smiled pretty much the whole way round (see Facebook pics for evidence)- I think I was just in a whole other place yesterday! One marshall helpfully encouraged us to 'break through the wall'. Easy for you to say. We'd already run 11 miles by that point, you've stood and clapped for 2 hours :P Still, we did appreciate them and everyone else who came out to support and encourage.
The slightly disappointing bit was the 'quality goody bag' promised to every runner. It consisted of a hand towel with the half marathon logo (ok, so that is cool and will undoubtedly be used at the gym and strategically placed on machines so my fellows gymmers stand in awe and wonder :D), a key ring, some sugar free mints and some promotional leaflets. To be honest I'd have been happier with a mars bar and a bottle of coke but each to their own!
Finally (thank goodness, I know this is the longest blog post in history) a huge thank you to everyone at AFC Sudbury who gave to our bucket collection on Saturday 26th March and who have already pledged to formally sponsor me in the marathon. We're unsure exactly how much we raised but many of you were very generous and knowing we are raising money for such a good cause is motivation enough to lay off the mini eggs and put in the time pounding (and it really does take a pounding!) the pavements of Sudbury!
I mentioned last week that although we wanted to improve our time (by more than 7 seconds!) the aims of yesterday were really to (1) measure improvement (if any) since September, (2) to learn more lessons that would help in preparation for Edinburgh and (3) to gauge just how much work we need to do in order to be ready for a full marathon. (We also had two further aims- to not be last, we weren't, yay!- and to not be lapped by the winner- we weren't, just. The winner finished in 1 hr 9mins. What a weirdo :S).
(1) Well there was definite improvement in terms of fitness and recovery. Physically I felt really good. Mentally I got a little bit bored and I'm sure that the mile markers towards the end were wrong. Between miles 10 and 11 and 11 and 12 was definitely more than a mile and they should invest in a new trundle wheel for next time. Although interestingly miles 4 to 5 and 5 to 6 of the two-lap circuit were measured correctly. Weird eh? I don't think I could have done another 13.1miles yesterday but could probably have pushed to 15 which is encouraging. However...
(2) That was because I had had a week of carbo loading etc and was fully fuelled. I think Teresa would agree that she probably didn't eat enough in the run up last week and therefore yesterday was a bit of a battle for her. But mentally she is so strong and a complete inspiration to me and I'm certain that had we been properly fuelled we would have been even more encouraged by our performance. However, we are still on a learning curve and I think when the actual marathon comes round I will painstakingly plan out every meal for every day rather than just eat as and when I feel like it without guilt. 'Fail to prepare and prepare to fail' as my lecturer used to say :S Mentally it was very different preparation to Bristol as it was local, we'd already concluded we would be somewhere near the back of the field and it just didn't have the same big event buzz of our first half marathon. And again, because it was 'just' a training run, we weren't as up for it as we perhaps could have been.
(3) So there is still a long way to go. We have pencilled in some long runs in the lead up to the marathon but even our small runs need to be challenging us. My default 'small' run is now 7 miles. Which is a far cry from when I started! But if I only have time for a small run I need to be pushing the pace and trying to get round in near to an hour to really push my body and improve my cardiovascular fitness for the longer runs. Now the half marathon is gone it'll be 3 runs a week. One short, one long and one more either short or intermediate for the first 3 weeks then up it goes again. In between this probably 2 gym session and maybe a swim with one rest day. I will apologise now to friends, family and significant other as you may not see very much of me for the next few weeks. I'm still not quite sure when I'm going to make time for this amongst other commitments but I do know that I need to prioritise this now if I want to finish. And I really do want to finish!
We seem to have come away from yesterday without injury which is a blessing! I am stiffening up a bit now, particularly my back, and I suspect I may need to get rid of some more tummy before Edinburgh to give my back a break! ( But I made a good start this morning by not buying Milk Tray which was on offer. Still celebrating the small victories!).
I was really surprised by the breadth of people racing yesterday. We had expected it to be mainly club runners as there were only 1000 entry places, hence the pessimistic forecast of how we would do. And there were a lot of club runners. But we were very encouraged when, as we lined up to start, they asked anyone expecting to complete it in under 70 minutes to line up behind the first lamppost (like the school playgournd!) and under 90 minutes behind the second lamppost. There was quite a lot of laughter and a general shuffling backwards as a few brave souls put their necks on the line and headed for the front of the pack.
We started out fairly slow and steady and stayed that way! It seemed to me that person after person was coming past and neither of us dared look behind for fear of seeing tumbleweed and the lorry collecting cones that Teresa had nightmares about before the Bristol half. Some people were kitted out in matching running gear, others looked like they'd stumbled out of bed after a night on the town and decided it would be a laugh to go for a run. One guy ran it in plimsolls. I also enjoyed reading t-shirts to keep from boredom. My favourite was probably the one that read 'Pain is just weakness leaving the body', although I did wonder if the owner actually believed that or whether it was just bravado. We didn't pass them slumped over in a ditch anywhere so I can only assume they pushed through the pain and posted a good time.
The marshalls on the whole were superb and really encouraging. Not quite sure what they made of this crazy lady who smiled pretty much the whole way round (see Facebook pics for evidence)- I think I was just in a whole other place yesterday! One marshall helpfully encouraged us to 'break through the wall'. Easy for you to say. We'd already run 11 miles by that point, you've stood and clapped for 2 hours :P Still, we did appreciate them and everyone else who came out to support and encourage.
The slightly disappointing bit was the 'quality goody bag' promised to every runner. It consisted of a hand towel with the half marathon logo (ok, so that is cool and will undoubtedly be used at the gym and strategically placed on machines so my fellows gymmers stand in awe and wonder :D), a key ring, some sugar free mints and some promotional leaflets. To be honest I'd have been happier with a mars bar and a bottle of coke but each to their own!
Finally (thank goodness, I know this is the longest blog post in history) a huge thank you to everyone at AFC Sudbury who gave to our bucket collection on Saturday 26th March and who have already pledged to formally sponsor me in the marathon. We're unsure exactly how much we raised but many of you were very generous and knowing we are raising money for such a good cause is motivation enough to lay off the mini eggs and put in the time pounding (and it really does take a pounding!) the pavements of Sudbury!
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Bring on the Carbs :)
So I hauled my butt out of bed early Monday morning to go for a little(ish) swim, thinking that I was bound to be stiff as a board and that would relax my muscles. So imagine how smug I felt when, apart from a slight ache in my hip flexors, I appeared to be absolutely fine. Swim over, I made my way to work, impressed at how I was able to climb the stairs so effortlessly and how I had invested in shares in Deep Heat for no reason.
Fast-forward 24hours as I go to sit cross-legged on the office floor (as you do!), and something along the lines of 'ooohhaaaahhhhheeeeeooooh that hurts' escaped from me. I did stretch after the run but could probably have spent longer on this. And really need to get into a proper warm up/ cool down routine still if I am to recover quickly from the longer training runs in the lead up to the marathon.
This afternoon I will be doing just a 5 mile run, then carbing it up all the way to the weekend. This is the best bit! Although for this half marathon it will be more complex carbohydrates, lots of pasta, bread etc rather than the fun carbohydrates, chocolate, crisps etc that were consumed all in the name of 'fuelling up' for the last one.
I'm just really interested to see what progress, if any, we have made since our first half marathon. I'm pretty sure we're a bit wiser, we're definitely fitter as our recovery is much quicker, but whether that will translate to a quicker time, who knows? But then this time around the half marathon isn't our end game, just a training tool along the way. When I read back that sentence I wonder who this is that's writing and what they've done with the real Sue! But I fear crazy running lady Sue is here to stay :S
Fast-forward 24hours as I go to sit cross-legged on the office floor (as you do!), and something along the lines of 'ooohhaaaahhhhheeeeeooooh that hurts' escaped from me. I did stretch after the run but could probably have spent longer on this. And really need to get into a proper warm up/ cool down routine still if I am to recover quickly from the longer training runs in the lead up to the marathon.
This afternoon I will be doing just a 5 mile run, then carbing it up all the way to the weekend. This is the best bit! Although for this half marathon it will be more complex carbohydrates, lots of pasta, bread etc rather than the fun carbohydrates, chocolate, crisps etc that were consumed all in the name of 'fuelling up' for the last one.
I'm just really interested to see what progress, if any, we have made since our first half marathon. I'm pretty sure we're a bit wiser, we're definitely fitter as our recovery is much quicker, but whether that will translate to a quicker time, who knows? But then this time around the half marathon isn't our end game, just a training tool along the way. When I read back that sentence I wonder who this is that's writing and what they've done with the real Sue! But I fear crazy running lady Sue is here to stay :S
Sunday, 20 March 2011
What am I doing????!
So I am writing this 'fresh' from a run. Although dead would be a more accurate description. Let's get the stats out the way- 11.8miles, 2 hours, walked the last 0.2 or something as a 'reward' for my efforts but more because every part of me was saying noooooooooooooooo. If you'd have seen me running you'd have actually thought I looked in good shape (apart from the excess energy stores around the waist region). But I find that if I at least act as if I am running comfortably it goes some way to fooling my body that I am indeed fine. As soon as my head/ legs/ arms drop and I start to admit to myself how tired I am I mentally go to pieces and it's game over. So I merely lie to my body and it seems to work!
That is the furthest I've run since the last half marathon in September and I hadn't been particularly worried about the half next Sunday, until now. Having said that I wasn't properly fuelled for the run today and haven't eaten anywhere near what I should have. I always find it difficult to get eating right for afternoon runs so I tend not to bother :S I'll be having lunch soon! So, hopefully having eaten properly in the week leading up to it, and with Teresa there to run with and bounce off hopefully we should still be fine for the half. But the thought of adding another 14.6 miles to what I did today, even on a course that is mostly downhill, is a scary thought!
That is the furthest I've run since the last half marathon in September and I hadn't been particularly worried about the half next Sunday, until now. Having said that I wasn't properly fuelled for the run today and haven't eaten anywhere near what I should have. I always find it difficult to get eating right for afternoon runs so I tend not to bother :S I'll be having lunch soon! So, hopefully having eaten properly in the week leading up to it, and with Teresa there to run with and bounce off hopefully we should still be fine for the half. But the thought of adding another 14.6 miles to what I did today, even on a course that is mostly downhill, is a scary thought!
Friday, 18 March 2011
9 weeks to go...
Which still sounds like a decent amount of time. Until Teresa and I sat down last night and pencilled in our 'long' runs (we're talking 3-4 hours of running at a time :S) in our diaries last night for the final weeks leading up to the marathon. Then it didn't seem quite so far away!
So last night was the first time I had run since being back from skiing as I was lame on Tuesday and basically sat on my butt for two hours instead. We just did our seven mile route and are both going to do about ten miles this weekend as preparation for the half marathon on the 27th March. I will admit the first mile and a half was not comfortable. Coughing and spluttering (a consequence partly of 16 hours on a bus with 70 other people, air conditioning kindly pumping all our germs around!). But after that it got much better. Physically my legs felt really good (in fact after a week of plough, plough, PLOUGH!!! I think they were quite relieved to just be running). And lungs wise we still did a lot of talking so it's looking quite promising. No fear for the half, probably because we know that we can already do that distance, and I'm actually quite looking forward to running Sunday afternoon. Hoping for the sun to shine upon my face :)
I do feel more focused again after last night. We still have a lot of hard work ahead of us. But mentally I'm more positive. One of the lessons I had to learn very quickly when skiing was not to compare my performance to others. This is something I've struggled with for ages and have mentioned before. But last week we were all developing at such different speeds (snail pace for me) that I just had to keep referring back to how I was at the beginning of the week and how far I had come by the end.
So reflecting back for a moment. This time two years ago I was grossly overweight, couldn't run for more than a minute without stopping and walking and never thought I'd get past that. Today, fitter, healthier, can run for a couple of hours at a time without stopping, not daunted by the thought of running a half marathon. 10 weeks time...? What an exciting thought :)
I've decided not to gym today. It's been a busy week for me so I will be heading home and getting into my pyjamas probably before 5pm, and settling down for a quiet night in. Instead I'll swim in the morning for a change, then run Sunday.
I do need to sit down today and plan my eating for next week. In the lead up to the Bristol half we didn't get the whole carbo loading thing quite right. The theory is long run this weekend to deplete glycogen (stored energy) levels. Three or four days of a protein rich diet, with some carbohydrates so it's not too drastic. Then a short run mid week (3 or 4 miles- how nice!). Then lots of pasta, veg etc towards the end of the week with a little bit of protein. What we actually did in September was just eat solidly for a week. Which, I won't lie, was enjoyable, but not the best preparation. So we'll do it right this time and here's hoping for a PB to boost us as we then step it up another gear. Bring it on!
So last night was the first time I had run since being back from skiing as I was lame on Tuesday and basically sat on my butt for two hours instead. We just did our seven mile route and are both going to do about ten miles this weekend as preparation for the half marathon on the 27th March. I will admit the first mile and a half was not comfortable. Coughing and spluttering (a consequence partly of 16 hours on a bus with 70 other people, air conditioning kindly pumping all our germs around!). But after that it got much better. Physically my legs felt really good (in fact after a week of plough, plough, PLOUGH!!! I think they were quite relieved to just be running). And lungs wise we still did a lot of talking so it's looking quite promising. No fear for the half, probably because we know that we can already do that distance, and I'm actually quite looking forward to running Sunday afternoon. Hoping for the sun to shine upon my face :)
I do feel more focused again after last night. We still have a lot of hard work ahead of us. But mentally I'm more positive. One of the lessons I had to learn very quickly when skiing was not to compare my performance to others. This is something I've struggled with for ages and have mentioned before. But last week we were all developing at such different speeds (snail pace for me) that I just had to keep referring back to how I was at the beginning of the week and how far I had come by the end.
So reflecting back for a moment. This time two years ago I was grossly overweight, couldn't run for more than a minute without stopping and walking and never thought I'd get past that. Today, fitter, healthier, can run for a couple of hours at a time without stopping, not daunted by the thought of running a half marathon. 10 weeks time...? What an exciting thought :)
I've decided not to gym today. It's been a busy week for me so I will be heading home and getting into my pyjamas probably before 5pm, and settling down for a quiet night in. Instead I'll swim in the morning for a change, then run Sunday.
I do need to sit down today and plan my eating for next week. In the lead up to the Bristol half we didn't get the whole carbo loading thing quite right. The theory is long run this weekend to deplete glycogen (stored energy) levels. Three or four days of a protein rich diet, with some carbohydrates so it's not too drastic. Then a short run mid week (3 or 4 miles- how nice!). Then lots of pasta, veg etc towards the end of the week with a little bit of protein. What we actually did in September was just eat solidly for a week. Which, I won't lie, was enjoyable, but not the best preparation. So we'll do it right this time and here's hoping for a PB to boost us as we then step it up another gear. Bring it on!
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Swish, swish, swish....Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Just kidding, all in one piece :) I'm sure all four of you that read this have been eagerly awaiting news of how skiing went. Well, it was genuinely one of the best holidays ever, although I certainly didn't take to skiing naturally! In fact, by lunchtime on day 1 I was in floods of tears and the instructor had even suggested I take an early lunch as I was getting so hysterical. Oh the shame! I have many excellent wipeout stories I could share, but let me just pick out two of my favourites.
The afternoon of day 2 was going well. I had had a better morning in lessons than day 1 and was managing to have some control over what my skis were doing on a gentle nursery slope. At the bottom of the nursery slope was a button lift, which is essentially a disc attached to a wire pulley that gets you back up the slope to the top. Sounds simple, right? Yup. So I positioned my skis parallel to the wire, as instructed, and reached for the disc thing. However, having let the disc go too far past me I ended up on my back, on the ground, underneath the wire. I then proceeded to be hit on the head by every disc that followed. As I struggled to shuffle out from under the wire I was alerted to another disc by my friend Becky, helpless to offer any other assistance due to also having planks strapped to her feet. As I rolled out of the way of the disc my right ski became hooked around another button and I began to be slowly transported up the slope, still flailing on my back, to the horror of my friends. Bridget Jones eat your heart out! Fortunately I managed to untangle myself, finally escape the dreaded discs, and laugh about it long and loud afterwards. As a result of that incident everytime I got to the bottom of that slope I would simply pop off my skis, throw them over my shoulder, and frog march back up to the top (faster than the button lift might I add). That was excellent marathon preparation!
The other particularly memorable wipeout was on the afternoon of day 4, when tackling a proper blue run for the first time. One on, not particularly steep, slope, I was gently meandering down, ploughing and turning as I had been practising in lessons, when I came upon this scene. A group of skiers had stopped on the left of the slope to chat and embrace. A group of skiers (perhaps the same extended group) had also stopped on the right hand side of the slope to do likewise. They had also helpfully left a ski in the middle of the slope. Tricky. So I (rather skilfully) took a path in between both groups, avoiding said ski, and picked up a decent amount of straight line speed in the process. Foolishly I shifted my weight backwards and there was no way back from there! WIPEOUT!!!! But rather amusing to watch I imagine as I started with skis first, then head first, then back to skis first, and coming to a halt rather sheepishly wondering whereabouts up the hill I had left my poles. However, on a rather warm day it was quite refreshing to get a faceful of snow and no harm was done :) By the end of the week (and after a couple of days break in the middle to actually enjoy some of the holiday) I would call myself a skier and am hoping to go again next year. Just without any crazy marathon preparation to worry about at the same time.
I think I had underestimated just quite how good skiing is for fitness so I'm optimistic that running this week will be ok. Since returning I have gymmed and swam and polished off all of the delicious Swiss chocolate that I snuck home in my luggage (literally we ate a bar a day while out there and then just skied it off, good times!). I am planning to run tonight, Thurday and Sunday, and gym tomorrow and Friday. This is our last week of training before a week of eating for the half marathon on March 27th. I think that will be fine and really hoping to shave 10mins off our PB from September. But at least it should give us a good idea of how we are progressing and what we still need to do!
While I was away my brother rather gallantly ran the Silverstone half marathon, training in just 6 or 7 weeks for it. I think the official time was something like 2:53:55, and he beat Katie Price, so I want to publicly say WELL DONE to my awesome older brother.
Finally, one more plug for our fundraiser next Friday. We are currently deciding whether or not to go ahead with it due to low numbers able to attend so I will keep you posted on that.
The afternoon of day 2 was going well. I had had a better morning in lessons than day 1 and was managing to have some control over what my skis were doing on a gentle nursery slope. At the bottom of the nursery slope was a button lift, which is essentially a disc attached to a wire pulley that gets you back up the slope to the top. Sounds simple, right? Yup. So I positioned my skis parallel to the wire, as instructed, and reached for the disc thing. However, having let the disc go too far past me I ended up on my back, on the ground, underneath the wire. I then proceeded to be hit on the head by every disc that followed. As I struggled to shuffle out from under the wire I was alerted to another disc by my friend Becky, helpless to offer any other assistance due to also having planks strapped to her feet. As I rolled out of the way of the disc my right ski became hooked around another button and I began to be slowly transported up the slope, still flailing on my back, to the horror of my friends. Bridget Jones eat your heart out! Fortunately I managed to untangle myself, finally escape the dreaded discs, and laugh about it long and loud afterwards. As a result of that incident everytime I got to the bottom of that slope I would simply pop off my skis, throw them over my shoulder, and frog march back up to the top (faster than the button lift might I add). That was excellent marathon preparation!
The other particularly memorable wipeout was on the afternoon of day 4, when tackling a proper blue run for the first time. One on, not particularly steep, slope, I was gently meandering down, ploughing and turning as I had been practising in lessons, when I came upon this scene. A group of skiers had stopped on the left of the slope to chat and embrace. A group of skiers (perhaps the same extended group) had also stopped on the right hand side of the slope to do likewise. They had also helpfully left a ski in the middle of the slope. Tricky. So I (rather skilfully) took a path in between both groups, avoiding said ski, and picked up a decent amount of straight line speed in the process. Foolishly I shifted my weight backwards and there was no way back from there! WIPEOUT!!!! But rather amusing to watch I imagine as I started with skis first, then head first, then back to skis first, and coming to a halt rather sheepishly wondering whereabouts up the hill I had left my poles. However, on a rather warm day it was quite refreshing to get a faceful of snow and no harm was done :) By the end of the week (and after a couple of days break in the middle to actually enjoy some of the holiday) I would call myself a skier and am hoping to go again next year. Just without any crazy marathon preparation to worry about at the same time.
I think I had underestimated just quite how good skiing is for fitness so I'm optimistic that running this week will be ok. Since returning I have gymmed and swam and polished off all of the delicious Swiss chocolate that I snuck home in my luggage (literally we ate a bar a day while out there and then just skied it off, good times!). I am planning to run tonight, Thurday and Sunday, and gym tomorrow and Friday. This is our last week of training before a week of eating for the half marathon on March 27th. I think that will be fine and really hoping to shave 10mins off our PB from September. But at least it should give us a good idea of how we are progressing and what we still need to do!
While I was away my brother rather gallantly ran the Silverstone half marathon, training in just 6 or 7 weeks for it. I think the official time was something like 2:53:55, and he beat Katie Price, so I want to publicly say WELL DONE to my awesome older brother.
Finally, one more plug for our fundraiser next Friday. We are currently deciding whether or not to go ahead with it due to low numbers able to attend so I will keep you posted on that.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Swish swish swish...thud
Today is the day that I go skiing. Or, given that the resort was closed last time I checked, it may be the day that I sit in a chalet and read books for a week! Really hoping my fitness is maintained while I'm away, and I don't get too carried away with Swiss chocolatiers.
Was pretty happy this morning. Went for a long run which, in my head, should have been about ten miles. I paced it really well, it felt really good, and most importantly mentally I made myself go out on my own and do it and stick with it and was ever mindful of keeping something back for later on. So I was very chuffed when I got home to find I'd done it in an hour and a half. Less chuffed when I put it into the computer and discovered it was only about 9 miles, was really hoping to hit double figures, but still 9 miles done comfortably is still an excellent run.
When I return from skiing we've got just one more week of training, then a week of eating right etc before the half so it was really important for me to notch up that run today. I was planning on taking my running gear with me abd fitting in a couple of shorter runs while away. However, having just packed and repacked four times, my running gear did not make the final cut of what went into the suitcase. Instead I decided to stick with things like warm layers, ski wear, boots, sleeping bag etc, things that are slightly more imperative in case the snow reappears.
I'm not anticipating having much internet access while away. And if I do it probably means that I have actually broken all my bones and have little other option to spend my time than in front of as computer. So assume that if you don't hear from me that's a good thing!
One final thing, buy your tickets for the fundraiser!!!! Available from the AFC Sudbury club shop/ Teresa while I'm away, or from me as soon as i get back :)
Was pretty happy this morning. Went for a long run which, in my head, should have been about ten miles. I paced it really well, it felt really good, and most importantly mentally I made myself go out on my own and do it and stick with it and was ever mindful of keeping something back for later on. So I was very chuffed when I got home to find I'd done it in an hour and a half. Less chuffed when I put it into the computer and discovered it was only about 9 miles, was really hoping to hit double figures, but still 9 miles done comfortably is still an excellent run.
When I return from skiing we've got just one more week of training, then a week of eating right etc before the half so it was really important for me to notch up that run today. I was planning on taking my running gear with me abd fitting in a couple of shorter runs while away. However, having just packed and repacked four times, my running gear did not make the final cut of what went into the suitcase. Instead I decided to stick with things like warm layers, ski wear, boots, sleeping bag etc, things that are slightly more imperative in case the snow reappears.
I'm not anticipating having much internet access while away. And if I do it probably means that I have actually broken all my bones and have little other option to spend my time than in front of as computer. So assume that if you don't hear from me that's a good thing!
One final thing, buy your tickets for the fundraiser!!!! Available from the AFC Sudbury club shop/ Teresa while I'm away, or from me as soon as i get back :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)