Bad , bad and even worse

Oh dearie, dearie me. A really bad, hard, sore (and short ) run. Must look back to my last one in April, I think,  I must look back to see if there are any similarities, ( had I recenlty  run a longer than usual run like my 10miler last week, which might have just done it? ) no idea. It anyway this one was a real nasty one. Knees hurt from the star despite sprays ans supports. They did not warm up but hurt to the very last step. Then I went on the spin bike and did 20 mins  or so. The lactic acid kicked in early and did not go away. Then a few weights, only 3 and 4kg so now't heavy but I really struggled. Feel flat as a pancake and, to make matters worse, I have no appetite to each said pancake. Total miles this week; about 2 painful miles.  Total bummer.....

Even a quick run couldn't shift the fatigue but a respectable 20k bagged

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster so I won't dwell on it just to say, very, very tired, squeezed in a 4k at the gym on the treadmill whilst watching the Olympic cycling mroad race (comiserations Cav, still a total winner in our eyes) which makes the total for the week Just under 20k, I will round it up as I did run a bit at the boxing class which will scrape the 20k mark. That's where I want to be, either through a long run and a shortie like this week or a number of medium /short ones throughout the week. Feeling better this morning so let's see what I can squeeze into my mega busy week (work and bairn wise) this week. Keep the faith.

The glory of peas and chips (frozen of course)

Do you have chocolate phylidelphia cheese in your lands? Sounds wrong but tastes great . What has this got to do with running??? Well I think it plus the porridge and jelly babies helped me round the longest run so far a good flat 10 miles. Knees were ok , a bit sore by the 8mile mark but the main thing was my stamina was good right to the end and I could have carried on for another 3miles, which I will have to do on the day of The RUN !..... Great to get that under my belt and know I can do the. Biggie.. Time was 1hr 50 so no records broken but at least I know what I can do. Having said tha, I think I over-did it on the carb loading yesterday. Soooooo much pasta consumed so a bit of a pot belly to deal with. All in the name of running!

Disastero currus......

Not a good week, running wise and apologies for the Latin which , I am sure is incorrect but it was along time since I conjugated mitto, mittis, mittis. So after a week of not very much exercise at all and a real sense of fatigue which took me to the doctors today, I thought my miles this week might only make around 5 k which was a planned rather than bagged run on Sunday. But despite being knackered, I managed a 10k this evening. Wasn't fast , wasn't fun on the knees. Frozen chips on one knee (not mine I have to add) and peas on the other to stop any swelling or pain. Ok so while we are on food, ate a lot of crap this eek. Puddings and kit kats mainly. Burnt the rice pudding and troughed the bizarre apple pancake pudding made by the bairn. Having said all that which sound pretty grim, i have just watched a mud run on t.v.and boy, does that look fun! Ohhhhhh might have found my next goal after the GNR!!!

Ok so time totally hammered by LLL.....

Well , nothing I didn't already know. His first park run and he did it in 26.bloodysomthing minutes and that is without all the training I do BUT he is 6foot 59inches and I am a total short arse. Talking of which apparently a very generous female one spurred him on as he thought, 'I cannot be beaten by that big arse' so he overtook her and kept going. I have to say, the overtaking of an arse more generous than your own is a great feeling but there are many occasions when the reverse happens so the size of the arse means nothing in terms of your fitness or ability to run. Anyway, I am determined to improve and get a p.b. the next time I do a park run so watch this space.

Blimey ...a mini du Athalon..and I liked it!

Ok so didn't expect a du at halon (not even sure if that is how you spell it , is it duathalon, or duo as in 2athalon...dust halon looks right but best google that one) but that is what I did tonight. Only a mini one, 15 min warm up on the spin bike, 2.4 mile run, then 20 mins on the spin bike and finally followed by another 2.4 mile run. Great. The caramel shortbread half way round was a help but looked bad in a gym, on spin bike, eating that...! Anyway, needs must and I did not know what I needed as have never done one. Reckon the crumbly short bread covered in smooth creamy caramel and topped with a generous, thick, sweet layer of rich milk chocolate helped. ANYWAY .... This is not about foooooood , it is about the running and I reckon the girl did good this week. I was away on a course all week and did a little, gentle run around the town I used to live in, pretty park, castle and general trip down memory lane. Great stuff. Then a wicked session in the gym at the uni with big weights and a run the next day which took about 50 mins ending with my duo athLon although I reckon this won't be the end as I will squeeze in a run on Sunday. LLL is doing a park run tomorrow morning so good luck with that and he better not smash my time although I reckon he will. Never mind .... Keep the faith. Tough week but I feel good now. On the up I hope.

6k run almost a swim

Things feel a bit slow on the running front at the minute like I am not making any progress, have not done a race in a while and am not pushing myself or being pushed. I need to re focus and get back in the zone or whatever people do. I did manage a 6k run today after swimming with the bairn which was quite lovely in itself as the golf course was closed due to the flooding and the river run was inches frombeing flooded so I was right by the water of the fast flowing, swollen river. The water was right there beside me about a foot away and it felt so strnage to be almost touching this great big river which is normally quite a few feet below the bank. Parts of the run were totally waterlogged so I just bogged on in there....well once the feet are wet there is no point in worrying. So, where are we re the big race. I make it just over 2 months or so - 8or 9 weeks to go and that is really scary. I have only managed to run 12/13k max - . 8 -9 miles and want to get over the 13mile mark before I actually run the race. Will train with iron woman next week when I am on a course (this of course will be really hard and humiliating but need to). Then I need to go for the next 10k race on Sunday week. Then another one in August and a big long run. Might have to join the local running club as soon as I am back as I am concerned about training time with the boss. My knees feel fine tonight , probably because I was running on such spongy ground so I reckon I will do the small circuit of kirk tomorrow morning if the heavens don't open. Good will and support from anyone who has happened on this blog more than once(not sure if that applies to anyone) would be soooooooooo welcome!

Flies , damn flies

Quick run, expected a longer one but only 5k and part through the ruff with flies everywhere. Apart form that an ok run. Really need to ramp it up now. 5k will just not do. Not sure if my training will happen but I have to work out how to make it happen. Might have to join a running club so I have people to run with as a, a bit crap on. My own. Another 10k race in 2 weeks so need to get up some hills.

Running in Spain, football, cocktails and lots of swimming

Well sort of an ok week training -wise although more of a cross training experience than running per se. Managed 2runs early morning, the first I wished I hadn't as at 7am you see the depressing side of the resort we were staying in as well as the serene beauty. Unfortunately the former vision overwhelms the latter. As I stepped out of the apartment I could run at the shore side to the beach or take the road to the beach and I chose the road where I met a bloke whose day was just ending , drunk and depressed (possibly by lack of any action with the ladies or maybe he had just been dumped...?) who looked at me in my running gear with an expression of total disbelief that someone would go running so early, or possibly at all. Then further down into the resort, I was surprised to see a bar still open and in full party swing, beer being consumed at 7 am.... Followed by 3 Brit girls in teeny tiny outfits , totally hammered , stumbling home and trying to find a lapost to lean on , then each one in turn vomited ... and then laughed and carried on staggering to their apartments. Gross really. At this point I was cheered to see quite q few other s out running, mostly local Spanish probably disgusted or maybe immune to the embarrassing Brit behaviour. I also felt slightly smug abut my efforts versus their post boozing states(this is not to say I haven't had quite a few wild times myself but I I don't think I was ever that bad.. ).THe running was pretty slow but ok until I started running on the sand. After a return leg via the beach front, I ended up just plain depressed by the number of drunk tourists still sleeping beside whomever they got lucky with on the sun beds, the evening meal of McDonald's still in evidence at their feet. A grim sight. This kind of put me off the resort which I have been to for years and years as a family base and the bay, which is very pretty usually outweights the general slide towards tackiness which has increased over the years, but for some reason, I was down well depressed by it all this time. So for my next run, I decided to head out of the resort and was much happier, hugging the rocky coast as long as I could and enjoying the early rays of sun with out any drunk tourists in sight. Both runs we're fairly short and sore on the knees -probably 6 or 7kin total but I did use every set of stairs I could on a daily basis ( and there were a lot between the rooms where various members of my family were based ) and of course, lots and lots of swimming. The 8am swims were the best, the sea was totally calm and clear and the only people up at that part of the resort were a few other early swimmers, usually in their 60s and 70s and very pleasant with it. So I have returned feeling pretty toned, not as much cv work as I would have liked, but endurance and stamina from the swimming and steps should help in some way. The copious apple pancakes and cocktails will not have helped the scales. Ok , so now I am back home and here is where the hard work really starts. Countdown to the great north begins. 16th sept is closer than I can believe. Keep the faith nova, keep the faith!