Hashtag Sad Face

Not going well at the moment. Last week at Park Run Ipswich I was forced into an evasive maneuver to avoid hitting a dog, which ran across my path. I felt a twinge in my calf and slowed up. I missed a lot of training last year through torn calf muscles and this felt familiar, though not as severe. I rested it for a few days and it felt a lot better. To the extent where I had completely forgotten about. Possibly because I was distracted by having ManFlu.
Once recovered I decided to head to JAFFA track session. 3 x 12 Minute intervals. I hate these sort of intervals. They may be functional, but I find them boring. Especially on a track. I lack focus at the best of times and I could not get motivated to enjoy this session. What with the icy track too....
Then I felt the calf getting straining. Time to sack this off. Called it a day in the third interval and went home to drink some wine.
Three days on and the calf is back to being non problematic. But I'll not run until the weekend just to make sure.

Long? Run?

On today's run. I was overtaken by the frozen balls which had fallen of a brass monkey.
Could not get warm on the hour out, or back. I picked the pace up towards the end for two reasons.
1. To warm up.
2. To see if I could go any faster.

I enjoyed it again though. Really looking forward to warmer weather, so I can bust out the proper shorts.

It's really working for me doing my long runs early in the week. Due to the nature of my job, I can't be the weekend warrior that I'd love to be😀

3 week of consistent training started with a real bang. 12 miles banked. 4x1.5 mile commuter runs planned for tomorrow. Then I'll probably leave it until park run on Saturday.

Good times.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/678284456

Just another half a mile?

This week i've managed to run 29.5 miles. I think this is the highest ever weekly total of miles for me. The knees are sore, but holding out. A few times this week I have considered quitting running altogether due to the constant discomfort post run. This is something I am not ruling out completely for 2016. For now I'm just focusing on getting to Brighton Marathon. 

Slowly building the miles up. Planning on 12-14 miler next week. After that, I'll start bringing in speed work and intervals. 

Need to dust my bike off too. Ride anyone?

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/BJP1974

A New kind of balance.

Nipped out for another run today. I think thats 6 runs in the last 7 days. Really starting to enjoy my running again now. Although I still need to work on the diet part of my new regime.
Anyway, I'd ordered some New Balance trail running shoes to give me better grip through the winter months. I ran in them today, along with the new Asics dual shorts and a NB Technical t-shirt.
The run went well and for the first time in a while, I did not get the sharp knee pain that I usually get in the first 15 minutes of my runs.
Obviously I don't want to just assume it's the new footwear. It could be the consistency of my running which has helped. It could be that I am relaxing more. Running more naturally and not thinking about stride length, cadence or efficiency. That can come later. For now i'm just running with a smile on my face and music in my ears. So far, it's going well.

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/666786553

The Morning After.

Not gonna lie. Today i'm feeling tired still. Just woken up and its not a physical exhaustion. It's more of a CBA (can't be arsed) tiredness. I am not due in to work until 4pm today. I have tonnes of housework which needs doing though. The front of our house looks like the worst kind of council Tip after missing the bin collection day last week :-(

I am great at making excuses aint I?

 Fuck it!

It's time to get on the Turbo Trainer!

Not quite to plan.

So my first week of marathon training, Christmas week, did not go quite to plan. I ate so much that i managed to gain around 8lb. Pushing me into the "Super-Heavyweight" category 200 lb+. 

Knowing the knee trouble which plighted me 2014  running. I thought it sensible to start of with some short one and half mile commute runs. They all felt good.

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/BJP1974

Today I took it up a notch and tackled a 5 mile loop around Sproughton ans Bramford. This felt real good. slight burning in the knees at points, but not enough to stress me out. The memory of how much I enjoyed running in the past was enough to keep me motivated. 

Tomorrow I think I'll ride or even just get on the Turbo-Trainer with a bit of the Downward Spiral from The Sufferfest. Take a bit of pressure off my knees, burn a bit of fat and get the cardio workout I need.

Today score 8/10

GO time

I have entered the Brighton Marathon 2015. I last ran this race in 2011. My time was 4 hours 11 minutes and 47 seconds i think.
This particular blog is where I shall track and log my training.
I have not run since the Adnams 10k in Southwold, back in November. Now, its almost Christmas and I thought it was time to dig out some training plans. I think i'm going with the Hansons plan. It's an 18 week plan which I've already missed the first two weeks of. So today I need to get to it. Last night at a running club social event, I joked that "I'll be fine" and "No need to worry about me". I am now starting to realise that if I want to return to running for fun, training for this marathon could be my route back in. I have always run for fun, not results, bling and PB's. This is what I miss most. Disappearing for a run for a few hours. Running with no agenda.

Excuses:

• I've just turned 40
• My knees are sore
• I am a chef (Long hours on my feet)
• Married with 3 kids
• Really poor diet
• Too laid back

Listing my excuses I usually use. I can change some of these. But I can change how I deal with all of these. 

• Jo Pavey
• Get physio and stretch
• Rule 5
• Rule 5
• Eat better
• Commit

Let's see how this works out shall we?