another morning another run

It all feels a bit routine now - is that a good thing? Or should I still be in the mega-congratulatory stage and think I'm being wonderful???

So, yeah, another pre-breakfast run. And it was ok really. Feel good for having done it and not dreading the next one.

Of course boyf decided he was going to do one as well and probably ran as far as I did but managed to do it 20minutes faster... Such is life

5.92 miles, 56' 09", 9' 28"/mile, 592 cals

Hurrah - a feel-good run.
Apart from being exceptionally out of breath heading up to the observatory.
On the last mile or so I really went for it and got my speed up to 8 1/2 mins a mile which is quite impressive for me. (There is an element of endorphin still knocking around me I reckon)
So I feel quite pleased with myself - but there is a downside - by putting in this extra effort and getting some sort of result from it - will I have to continue doing this and try harder and harder each time? Most of me wants this to get easier and easier, not harder. There might even be a danger that if I did do the 1/2 marathon again I might really try and beat 2 1/2 hours. And that would mean dedication and commitment. Hmmm.

Sometimes I amaze myself, you know

Yes, it's true - I went for another pre-work run this morning, about 5 miles I reckon.
If life was fair I would now have the physique of a racing snake but the truth is somewhat different, more blistery and sweaty than supermodelish. Hey ho.
So I just have to keep this going a lot and I will reap the benefits one day. Or I will simply stave off the effects of old age a little longer. Or, in the case of my knees, accelerate them.
Have to work out why I'm doing it really. I do feel fitter and stronger than I have for a while which is nice, but I'm still the size and shape of a middle-aged woman and I have no idea how that happened...

Get me

Look at this will you - I've only been on a run today - BEFORE work - only 2 days after the last one.
Am getting rsi from patting myself on the back.
In truth it was to make up for a day of sloth on Monday where I did nothing other than watch tennis and eat toast, 2 of my favourite activities.
So there I was, 0615, running up the road wondering where the sun had gone and why it was raining. But I kept going, all the way up to the downs then chickened out a bit as I was getting tired, and didn't put the loop in round the water tower, but headed home. And I felt good for going. Perhaps I could learn from this?
Didn't use the nike+ thing cos I wanted to listen to the radio which I find more distracting from the little voices in my head telling me to walk for a bit (is that just me?)
And now I am resting on my laurels having also cycled 5 miles or so into town - can I stay awake all day though - might need to catch some zeds at lunchtime...

55m 23s, 5.65miles, 9m 48s/mile, 565cals

It's incredibly hot right now - getting up to 30c today they reckon. So it had to be an early run or nothing - 9am is quite early isn't it?
I did the run round the downs with the trip up to the observatory - which is a hell of a hill climb. At the top I remember thinking 'I am a long way from home'...

But I got back all right and felt I've done myself some good. Still old and fat of course but at least I've done a run today...

1h 13mins 42s, 7.48 miles, 9m 51s/mile. 0 cals again

Feet aching, small blister on toe, feeling of invincibility - I must have been for a longish run. Actually forget the last bit, I feel like I'm about to fall to pieces.

Success!

1hr 9mins 51sec - 7.19 miles - 9'42" per mile - 0 calories again

So this was success in the sense that i managed to get out of the house to run and managed to go a long way. Now of course my bum aches and the sides of my calves ache and I feel like all I want to do for the rest of the day is collapse on sofa and watch the grand prix and perhaps some gentle internet surfing.
But isn't that what Sundays are all about!!!

So, should I go in for the 1/2 marathon? Seeing as how doing 1/2 that distance has just about wiped me out I'm not sure how good an idea that would be - but there are still 3 months to go and it's a matter of building up to it now rather than beginning from scratch... But it still remains a hell of a long way to run and my legs are aching.

3 weeks later...

...and I have been for a run. It was jolly hard work, but because I was dropped off at the water tower, it was mainly downhill which made it a lot easier. But less challenging.
Wish I could suddenly be as fit as I have been in the past without all this training malarky.

4.21 miles, 40 mins, 9.29/mile, and 0 calories for some reason. Can't be right.

Getting better

Well, I did run again after that last disastrous one and it wasn't so bad

Then last weekend I went for a run along the seafront at Whitstable - it's the nearest I'll ever get to running for sheer pleasure... I love the sea air and the flatness of the course... It was only 35 mins or so and I'd forgotten the nike+ thingy, but I felt a lot better for going and it made the day of eating and drinking seem a little less reprehensible.

43'19", 4.45 miles, 9'43"/mile, 435 cals

Had to walk. 3 times. Felt rubbish.
Possibly something to do with the wine last night and the lack of breakfast. But still crap.

46'17", 9.31 min/mile, 4.86 miles, 474 calories

OK - how do you get ipods to put a podcast into a playlist? There I was a-running, wanting to listen to the Friday night comedy thing from radio 4 - and nothing. The music was there, but no podcast. Very, very annoying

The run was good though - fantastic weather for once, and I actually felt good. Towards the end, I even put more effort in and went faster, but I'm not sure how long I could keep that up. Does that even matter? The important thing was I felt good - hips aching just a little, the  slightest of twinges in my achilles, but really, nothing to worry about at all. Now I am just waiting for the weight to fall off me...

6.21 miles - 59'21" - 607 cals - 9'33" / mile

The one thing I've discovered about the whole running around to get fit lark is - it's bloody time-consuming.
In order to get going, I now have to stretch - a lot - 6 stretches, each held for 4 mins or thereabouts (sometimes I wimp out cos it hurts too much)
Then I have to decide what to wear which takes ages because now it's getting hotter, I don't want to cover up so much but I do want to conceal my wobbly bits with something tied around my middle. And my long trousers are in the wash, my tight cropped ones are ugly and my baggy cropped ones are ugly and a bit too small, but I have to go with those.
So now I'm up and running - and I go further than I have for a long time - over 6 miles according to the nike+ and when I finish a nice American lady who's probably very famous in America - pops into my ear and tells me I've done very well. I don't feel patronised at all...
But I haven't had the ache in my hip joints which I've had for a long time now. As long as I remember to lift up my knees and make sure my core bits are busy. There is also an element of that chi running - trying to lean forward in order to keep going and that seems to make some daft kind of sense.
So that's all lovely.
Then I see myself - bright red face, quite alarmingly so.
The shower seems to have a blockage, but I need a shower so badly I get in and just paddle. But when I get out, I'm still bright red, so there then comes the make up challenge of piling it on to cover up the red without looking like I'm wearing make-up...
And at last I'm ready to face the world - it's a lovely world today, all sunny and a weekend... but I'm having to spend most of the day getting prepared to be seen out in it. I know I'm probably a bit over-sensitive about such things, but the reality is, as you get older it takes longer and longer to look like you haven't spent hours on getting ready to face the world. Sometimes I do wish I was one of those people who genuinely don't care what people think, but then I look at them and feel they ought to make a little bit of an effort. Am I very shallow?
Possibly.
It's now been an hour or so since I finished and my arse is aching, but in a way suggesting it's been exercising, rather than anything injurious. Slightly worrying achilles heel twinge... So getting old also includes loads of extra aches and pains, but I think I knew that already.

Calibration news

mapometer - 3.62 miles
nike+ - 3.6 miles
I think the nike+ might be calibrated - yay! About time too and all that. There is still the issue with my crap ipod not working very well and it takes several goes to get anything through to the thing. Not happy with it, but at least it's something to listen to while struggling with the terrible realisation that I'm out on a run and suffering from being old and decrepit. Either that or a bit unfit.

For some reason my return button's not working. Hmmm








 - well it it - cos look, I'm way down here now, but it didn't show on the screen.
hey ho - now it's working again
life's rich tapestry and all that 

Double done it

1. I have been for a run - hurrah. Not the most elegant as I am feeling very fat and unfit, but it's done. I just did the short run - about 3.5 miles - but it's a start.
2. I have calibrated the nike+ - amazing, I know. I used Sefton Park rd as a measured distance (0.3 miles) and ran down it first, managed to mess up the calibration, so did the run and came back the same way and the lady in the nike+ said it was successful. So next time I drag myself out, there should be some kind of accurate measurement.
We shall see.
My aim for the next few weeks is to do 5 miles twice a week, plus the gym and cycling. That should shift some pounds. Oh, and cut out the over eating. I would like to think I could lose half a stone by May (about 6 weeks)
Again, we shall see.

I NEED MOTIVATION

I'm feeling overweight, depressed, under the weather, unfit - and a whole heap of other negatives, so I ought to be throbbing with motivation to get out and run.
But I'm just not.
It's grey and cold and miserable outside. And I'm scared of not being able to run. I don't like the thought of the 'out of breath feeling' and the aching legs. Even though all that is temporary and unimportant.
And I know I will feel better once I've been. And it will do me good even though I have serious doubts about that. 
So why the hell can't I just get out there and go for a little run?

A level playing field

Well, if not a level playing field, then level hips and shoulders...
The osteopath discovered my left hip is way higher than my right and my left shoulder is way lower than my right. It was quite a marked difference - and a little unnerving and embarrassing really.
But, after a session of manipulation which was curiously enjoyable despite the pain, I seem to be well on the way to being far more level headed. (See what I did there)
It explains why I've liked running on a camber which drops off to the left - it was my body crying out for levelisation
So, with all that sorted there are no excuses for not running like the wind and becoming one of those irritiating people who live to run and get all twitchy when they can't. Are there?

More spending

Spending, this time, is on an osteopath to get rid of the niggles - the niggling lower back pain, the niggling shoulder pain.
If it works, it's money well spent.
I know there'll be an element of me having to do stretches and exercises at home, ones which I expect I would get from going to yoga more often, but sometimes by simply paying someone to tell you to do something, it makes it a gazillion times more likely that you'll do it.
That is the theory...

day off work...

...and I went out for a run - how very.

Really hard work but, like going to the gym, never something to regret.
Except when I go for a long run and mash my feet and toenails.

So now I have to up the distance, up the frequency and up the nike+ calibration efforts.

I have run!

...and it was horrid - hard work and painful - but at least I was out there in the glorious spring sunshine pounding the Downs with a load of other people. I think it's cos it was sunny and it really feels like spring is round the corner - at loooong last.

I think was the Bath 1/2 marathon today - how I ever dragged myself round the Bristol 1/2 all that time ago I have no idea.

I still haven't calibrated the Nike+ but it's ok I will get round to it sometime soon. I wanted to listen to the radio today anyway - the Archers omnibus, how very middle-aged...

Spring is sprung...

...and that means it really is time to get the nike+ calibrated and get some serious running under my belt. And it's going to happen very soon. Honestly, it really is.
For instance, this weekend I may very well calibrate the thing and take it for a run.
Or I might just calibrate it.
No point in ploughing in there all guns balzing and risking an injury is there.