morning runs going ok

Two more morning runs have been squeezed out this week. On Monday I did 50 minutes and this morning 42. I realised the training plan I'm working off calls for 40 minutes this week so needed to curb my enthusiasm and not jump too far ahead. All in all it's been a series of good strong runs and that works fine for me.

In unrelated news I've signed up to do the new London Half Marathon event in October.

10k and still going strong

This weekend I managed a running milestone. For the last number of weeks I've been getting up to 35/40 minutes run per trip. As each run has gone on I've felt stronger and stronger (altho the starts can still be tough going) and finished feeling like there's been more in the tank.

So, given I'm doing the Valentine's Love Run in two weeks time I decided I needed to push the boat out a bit and see whether I could get to an hour, and if possible even manage the full 10k. I knew from my previous 10k's that I generally finish them around the 70 minutes mark so if I could stretch to that ballpark I'd be ok in two weeks time.

The good news is I ran for 75 minutes and discovered afterwards I'd run almost 11k. The even better news is my ankle was fine and I really felt like if I'd had to run farther I probably could have, the tank wasn't empty. I was quite dead chuffed with myself considering I think that's the longest run I've ever done.

Of course now I have to put it out of my head and think about the next run tomorrow morning. Alarm clock is set.

No to heels

I did a bit of a silly thing today and then it got compounded by tube suspension.

Details are, I wore heels to work today (no problem there), unfortunately I ended up doing alot more walking than I'd anticipated thanks to London Underground suspending some of the late night lines (I was in Covent Garden with no alternatives when they made the decision).

Problem with all this is that my right ankle hasn't quite made the transition back to being heel friendly. High heels walking more than designed = sore ankle = sore me, now.

Slogging and bouncing

Had a tough 30 minutes run this morning. Can't say I enjoyed it, can't even say I felt that thrilled when it was over. Ultimately I think it was one of those runs you put down to doing your time.

My online alien did some damage today. I entered another 8k "race". I am beginning to think someone somewhere is having a fantastic laugh off all the lunatic things I've found myself entered into. Imagine a human roulette table if you will. That's me, on red 35, going around in circles.

Love Run

Last year I ran the Valentine 10k Love Run in Battersea Park and well, suffice to say wasn't too impressed with the organisation. In the interests of fairness though, I've decided to re-enter to see if the various comments and suggestions for improvement from me (and others) have been taken on board.

Let's hope so.

Post injury, new year, back in the shoes and we're off

A handful of days into 2008 and it's only fitting I'm beginning to feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. I was glad to say goodbye to 2007 if I'm honest. Parts of it were fab and from a sporting perspective it was (pre Sept) my busiest and most productive yet. There's a slew of medals and t-shirts marking what I was getting up to and I'm dead chuffed about that. Even better tho, I'd gotten my 10k time down to less than 65 minutes and set a new 5k PB of 31 minutes. I went up a level in the London Triathlon (the the Sprint) and tore strips off myself to finish in a personally whopping 1 hour 53 mins.

All good.

Then there was France where I tore my ankle ligaments and ended up on crutches. Cue sad music and tumbleweeds .....

Then, finally, a couple of weeks ago, I dipped my toes back into my running gear. Even though I'd continued cycling and swimming (leisurely more than anything else I have to say) it's the running that drives my fitness levels (and weight) I've come to realise and not being able to do any since since early Sept was simply crap. I knew the one thing I really needed to be careful of though was coming back too quickly, doing too much and putting myself back into injury land.

I'm about 6 weeks back into my running programme and today managed a long run of 4 miles in 40 minutes. It was my week to be at 35 minutes but feeling good I decided to see how the extra five minutes felt. It was good.

Hopefully if I continue to listen to my body and not push by anymore than the usual few minutes per week things will get back to where they were post France. I've signed myself up to do the Ballycotton 10 in Ireland in March. I've not heard yet whether I'm 100% in or not but I'm going to train as if I am. I've realised it's important for me to have a goal to be running towards (sorry about the pun) so 10 miles in March seems as good as any.

All being well, regular service will resume here again. The whole house move, DIY heavy changing job, injury hell I've been in is all a thing of the past. ;)

Happy new year ..