I did it!!

13.1 miles in around 2 hours and 32 minutes. Damn it hurts!! I'll tell you all about it later, but right now I'm off to get a drink! x

Racing with Ron Hill

Yesterday I raced 10K with distance running legend Ron Hill.

Naturally I let him win; by which I mean that I shuffled to the side of the trail while he gracefully strode by me... or at least I'm sure I would have done if I hadn't been too preoccupied with breathing and moving forward to even notice him pass by me. I believe he finished in just under 55minutes, while I took a (somewhat respectable) 1hr13.08 to cross the finish line.

It was the Pennington Flash trail race, starting and finishing in Leigh Sports Village. For me it was a significant milestone in my half marathon training: I'm nine weeks into my 16-week training plan and I'm about halfway there. Also it was my first 10K race ever (I've only done a 5K Race for Life before - and that was 8 years ago) and I managed to finish it without passing out or falling over - RESULT!

Naturally, I was a little bit nervous to begin with:

Standing at the starting line with lots of folk who looked like they knew what they were doing was a bit nerve wracking. And when they all set off at a gallop my first instinct was to try and keep up, but I forced myself to try and slow down and eventually I managed to find a comfortable pace.

It was hard work, but the scenery - a canal path, a woodland and a lakeside - helped me to try and enjoy the ride, and a tried and tested to technique of singing "happy talk" in my head helped me to keep a steady pace.

One more milestone reached - now I just have to work out how to keep the same pace for twice the distance and I've got it in the bag!

An absence of blogging...

Oh dear, it appears I am being negligent towards my readers and failing to keep my promise of blogging at least every week. Must try harder.

Last week I had a small setback - I fired up the Wii on my Sunday "rest day" after having done a 3 mile run on the Saturday afternoon. I completed a grueling workout with my virtual personal trainer, and the following morning my left knee was less than happy.
:-(
I was due to run on the Monday to start my new week, but chose instead to rest, ice and elevate the affected joint for a couple of days. On Wednesday I set out as planned with my running group, and with help from my knee support everything was fine. I was back on track.
:-)
I dutifully undertook my Saturday long run this weekend, however the knee niggled after the first couple of miles, and so I only completed 3.5 of my projected 4 miles.
:-\
I'll try to make it up to you...

With the best of intentions, I woke early this Monday planning a 2 mile run. Do you know how dark and cold it is at 6:30 on a Monday morning? I decided to do some cross training in the evening instead. Are you familiar with that "just home from work on a Monday evening" feeling? Well, there's a bit of a theme here... However, I did manage to unearth the cross trainer from a pile of clothes and junk on Monday night and this morning I completed 10 whole minutes of "moderate" training. Blimey, that's going to take some practice!!


Tomorrow night - running group again. Yay!

Lynda's Training Schedule

Apologies for a week of silence. The good news is that although I haven't been writing about it, I have been running on schedule for the past seven days. I clocked up 2 miles on Monday (very windy day!), an hour of "quality speedwork" with my running group on Wednesday (which nearly killed me) and a further 3 miles this afternoon which I really quite enjoyed. The cumulative effect of this is that my muscles are WIDE AWAKE! I can feel a whole range of muscles with every movement - and I think I like it...!

I've decided to put a copy of my training schedule here so that you can see what I'm supposed to be doing each day and we can tick each activity off together as we go along.

Week Of		Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	31 Jan	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT
2	7 Feb	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 3 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT
3	14 Feb	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Run 3 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 4 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT
4	21 Feb	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Run 3 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 5 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT
5	28 Feb	Run 2 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT	Tempo run 5 miles incl. 3 @ 13:38	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 6 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT
6	7 Mar	Run 2 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT	Speed work 5 miles incl. 2 x 1600m @ 12:52 & 800m jogs	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 6 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT
7	14 Mar	Run 2 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT	Tempo run 5 miles incl. 3 @ 13:38	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 7 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT
8	21 Mar	Run 4 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT	Run 3 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 3 miles Pace 15:11	Rest or XT
9	28 Mar	Run 2 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT	Tempo run 6 miles incl. 4 @ 13:37	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 7 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT
10	4 Apr	Run 2 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT	Speed work 7 miles incl. 3 x 1600m @ 12:44 & 800m jogs	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 8 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT
11	11 Apr	Run 2 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT	Tempo run 6 miles incl. 4 @ 13:37	Run 2 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT	Run 8 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT
12	18 Apr	Run 4 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT	Run 4 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Run 4 miles Pace 15:02	Rest or XT
13	25 Apr	Run 2 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT	Tempo run 7 miles incl. 5 @ 13:36	Run 2 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT	Run 9 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT
14	02 May	Run 2 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT	Speed work 8 miles incl. 4 x 1600m @ 12:36 & 800m jogs	Run 2 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT	Run 9 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT
15	9 May	Run 2 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT	Tempo run 7 miles incl. 5 @ 13:36	Run 2 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT	Run 10 miles Pace 14:52	Rest or XT
16	16 May	Rest or XT	Run 2 miles Pace 15:20	Rest or XT	Tempo run 5 miles incl. 3 @ 13:46	Rest or XT	Rest or XT	Race Half Marathon!

So far I've discovered that my comfortable pace is a bit faster than I'm supposed to train this early, but I'm just going with it because I can't seem to run any more slowly. Also, because I run with the Women's Running Network on Wednesdays I'm going to be doing an hour of "quality" work for that session which will vary from the schedule, but should be of equal or greater benefit to my training.

I will try to write more frequently in future about my journey, but I promise to update you at least once a week. I hope to write more about my experiences this week, which have included strong winds, lactic acid, sports drinks and the carefully considered purchase of a pair of proper running shoes. Oh and a web-bought running bra which arrived today - after a ten minute wrestle and some painful contortions I did eventually get into it, but due to lack of effective respiration I chose not to run in it. It needs to go straight back to the shop!

A Run in the Rain

I have just returned from my first solo training run - that is if you don't count the two short runs in November when I was full of new excitement and the weather hadn't turned nasty yet. So far this year I have attempted my running activities with support and encouragement from him indoors, or with the Women's Running Network group I joined two weeks ago. Today, however I had no-one to lure me or push me out the door, so although it was raining incesantly (and won't stop any time soon) I had to find it within me to pull on my trainers and propell myself outside.

My main incentive was the new training plan I have devised with considerable input from the Runner's World website, together with the commitment I have made to report my progress to you. I have put my pride at stake threefold - I have told all my friends that not only will I run a half marathon, but I will raise money for the British Heart Foundation and write about it all in a blog to boot! Sadly I believe that the spinning of such a convoluted web is the only surefire way to overcome my aforementioned lack of self discipline.

And today it worked! My goal was to run 2 miles at a pace of 15:20 minute/mile. I dutifully set off on the 3 mile circular route with which I have become familiar, intending to walk for half a mile at the beginning and end as a warm-up / cool-down, and to run the middle section at the required pace. I even have a new-fangled sports watch (courtesy of him indoors for Christmas) which tells me my distance and pace as I'm going along. Foolproof!

However, before I had gone half a mile, I considered that running continuously for two miles might be beyond me, so I decided to start running a bit earlier to allow for a bit of walking in the middle to catch my breath. I noted my walking pace was a little over 16 min/mile so I started off at a jog and after a while I looked at my watch. Was it possible I wasn't going much faster than a walking pace? I sped up a bit and before long I felt completely knackered. I looked at my watch and now it was saying 13:27!! So I slowed down a bit, but the watch didn't seem to take account of this. Confused? Apparently technology is not foolproof - it can quite easily outwit a fool like me and it did so for most of my run today! In the end my average pace was recorded as 13:41, with my fastest pace being 05:58!! I conclude that I may have pushed myself a bit far, and am unsurprised that my legs are aching...

All is not lost though, because I discovered a very wonderful thing: I feel like a runner. Even although it is so very early in the game and I still have to walk a fair bit to catch my breath (because I'm running so much faster than I should be) I actually enjoyed being out in the pouring rain, squelching through puddles. And - much more importantly - when I ran past other runners along the way, they smiled at me and I suddenly felt as though I was running on air. On Monday I will go out and do the same run again - only a bit more slowly.

Beginning to Run

Hi, I'm Lynda. For quite a few years now, I've lived a fairly sedentary lifestyle. I like to read, watch TV, go to the cinema, visit the local pub, and occasionally to go for short walks (usually on the way to the pub). As I get a bit older, I've realised that it would be nice to feel a bit more fit and healthy, however I lack the necessary self-discipline and motivation to get out and get fit. Last year I tried joining the local gym - and for a month there I actually went along to spinning classes and yoga. Like most of my efforts however, it didn't last long.

A few months ago I started to think about running. It's easily accessible and relatively cheap to get into. I would appear to have the necessary equipment - legs, gym clothes and decent trainers. So in order to rack up the motivation I decided to commit to a future goal. I signed up for a half marathon with six months to train, and I registered with a charity to add a bit more pressure. I was excited!

So I got out and started walking more as the training guidance recommends, but then it got very icy and incredibly cold - like about -10C!! So I put it on hold for a while. However, I now have just 15 weeks and 3 days until the race and I've joined a beginners' running club, so it's "game on"! I've started this blog with the intention of writing each day about how my training is going, in the hope that someone might read it and then I'll be embarrassed if I don't keep training. Let's see how it goes. Let the fun begin...