10th Feb

So, 10 days in to the new month and how many runs have I done? Well, 3 so far, and about to go out of my 4th in 25 minutes or so.

I'm still doing the press-ups and sit-ups, and still have a deficit of 60 to make up, but I'm finding them easier so I'll get rid of that soon.

I've even managed to stop eating everything I can see! Well, sort of anyway - need to try a little harder on that one in the evenings.

Yesterdays run was a lunch time one at work and was quite interesting. I hadn't eaten enough, despite learning from January that performance is impaired by not eating enough. Then I set off too fast, and was quickly slowed by a river of mud as I ran up the hill, then half a mile of frozen snow/ice! It was like backwards moon-walking most of the time, and ended up with about an 8m30 mile for the first one. Then I just took off, and did around 7m30, 7m50 then another faster one (I can't remember the times) and averaged about 7m45 over 4.5 miles. Pleased with that!

I need to stop putting pressure on myself - the biggest cause of me stopping and having poor runs is when I under-perform compared to my initial expectations. I need a way to encourage myself to do decent runs, but also to stop giving up when I don't meet what I intended.

Todays run is a round-the-block, hopefully 4-5 miles (a slightly new route).

I want to do some intervals again and get back into at least once a week with those. I'm intending a long-ish run on Thursday, but it'll probably be slow as Kev's recovering from Bronchitis, so I might do the intervals tomorrow. Funny - that'll be 5 days in a row, (Sunday-Thursday) if I manage it - and I'm not at all worried about over-doing it! Hoorah, I'm loving this change in attitude at the moment :-)

Well, I say...

So, 31 days in a row, then 4 days off. Then this:

Mile 1: 6m57
Mile 2: 6m58
Mile 3: 6m51

5k: 21:26 (6m54)

Then 2 miles back uphill (8m16 average).

Blimey! I enjoyed that. I didn't intend to do it that fast - I just told myself before I left that I'd run how I felt. I felt good for the first 2.5 miles really, then I couldn't let it drop below 7min/mile so I gasped my way to 5k (making all sorts of embarrassing noises running along the road!)

I had a breather and a little walk afterwards, and then slowly jogged back up the hill. I didn't want to run the bit back, but I decided that it will be the miles that help keep the speed going (if that makes sense?).

While in the shower, I think I finally understood how to get fast at running. Run lots. And make some of the "lots" fast. For January, I averaged over 20 miles per week and put in a performance like this at the beginning of February. If I look back over my history since I had the Garmin, the best times are always after the most running. So it seems you can't cut corners - you just have to run and run and run.

Lucky I'm enjoying it at the moment :-)

I did some more press ups and sit ups yesterday, and they were very painful - my pecs ache like hell! I know in a few days they'll stop, and I can catch up on those 60 that I owe to get the average up over the month. I also did 45 minutes of stretching, so I'm OK with that (10 minutes per day average) - I enjoyed it last night while watching Hustle, so I'll try again tonight to do a load while watching the TV.

I did go out for that walk yesterday lunch time, and here are some of the pics that I took up on the heath area near work. These were all taken with my 10-20mm lens (ultra wide angle) which I haven't used for a while:

No running!

I'm going a bit mad here! I haven't run since 31st January - not because I don't want to, but because it's a little impractical at the moment. I'm on my 4th day of not running, and trying to decide whether to go out at lunch time or not.

You see, I took Sunday (1st Feb) off - this was intentional, as I wanted a rest from the 31 days of running. Fine. Then it snowed - lots. I didn't go to work on Monday as I probably wouldn't have got home. The kids were off school, the roads and pavements were ridiculously covered and there was no chance of running, so I thought that I'd have 2 days off - no problem.

Then it snowed more on Monday night, and I woke on Tuesday to a proper white scene outside the door. Even less chance of running today, I thought! Still, never mind - it'll all be gone by tomorrow. After all, this is Southern England, and we don't get snow down here.

So, it's Wednesday today, and it hasn't snowed since last night. There is, however, a LOT of slush around and areas that haven't had a decent amount of sunshine are still covered - I'm looking into the car park at the moment and it's still 70% covered in slush and some of the cars still have snow on the roof.

So - do I risk it and go for a run? There's a fair probability that I'll end up slipping and injuring myself, which won't really do me any good. But then, it's been FOUR days, and I could do with running!

The alternative is to go out for a walk with my camera and see what I can find. I might do that, actually - it's still exercise, less risk of hurting myself etc. Another day shouldn't hurt... should it? It's supposed to snow again tonight, so it might be up to about 7 days of not running if I don't get out soon...

Might spend the time "off" planning the running I'm going to do in February - I want some structure to my schedule - including some longer runs (6+ miles) and definitely some intervals.

Still, on the press ups/sit ups/stretching front - I've started. Missed 1st and 2nd Feb, but did 30pu/30su yesterday (3rd). I've decided to allow myself to catch up - i.e. average 30/30/10min each day, but take it easy for the first week or so as my pecs are hurting today from the press ups yesterday! So, at least that's proceeding.

Hmmm. Will have to see what the weather brings...

February 1st - A review

I've spent today wanting to go out for a run! It's typical - and I know it's only 'cause I'm not supposed to. But I'm missing it.

What have I got out of this? Well, quite a lot, really.

Firstly, I know what causes the shin pain that I've been getting on and off for the last 10 years, and I know (a) how to sort it out and (b) that it can be sorted out. Running through injury is probably the biggest thing I've taken from this. There was a point where I seriously thought I was risking a fracture, and it was quite worrying. But I listened to my body, made some good decisions with the help of a great Sports Medicinist :-) and got through it. I've still got a few niggles and I think it's time to get it properly checked out (see if I can blag an MRI through Bupa!). I've realised that you only start looking at injuries properly if they affect you seriously. I ran with this problem on and off for a long time, but when it flared up beyond a normal occasional ache, I did the sensible thing and took time off running - a few days of rest. In this way, you never address the problem, as you let it sort itself out. Running every day forced you to look at the causes and solutions in a way I haven't done before.

Secondly - I can get out every day. The mental challenge was the main reason for doing this - I was fairly convinced that I wouldn't end up faster by the end and I was sure I wasn't going to end up being able to do long distances. But I'm already feeling a little uptight about not going out today, and I've changed my attitude to the point where running most days is a part of my life. I don't know how this will keep up, but for today it's the way I feel and that's a fantastic result - the one I hoped for.

Thirdly - 3 miles can be a long way! Yes, I can run it, but on some days it can seem really far. And very, very dull!!

Fourthly - It doesn't get significantly easier at the end of a month. It's still hard to get out, and still hard when running. But I do think I'm fitter, I do think I have a much better foundation to start tackling speed, and I think that I recover better out on the runs.

Fifthly - I've lost some weight. Not a huge amount, but I'm sure I've built some muscle up as well - I bought some new trousers today and have gone down a size! I'm set up to get to a weight I'm happy with by summer if I keep going half as well as I've done in January :-)

I'm really, really glad I did this, and I've taken so much from it mentally and physically. I can genuinely recommend it to anyone who fancies a challenge and bit of soul-searching - writing the blog is handy to crystallise thoughts at well.

I've attached a few charts to this from an excellent program called SportTracks. Click on the images to get a better view, but they should give an idea of what I've been up to.

So, for what for February? Running wise, I want to get my speed up, so I'm thinking about 5 days running a week with at least 1 interval session and 1 longer distance run (starting at 6 miles and upping to 10 or so and keeping that regular). My daughter is due in February, so it's possibly not going to go exactly to plan, but what the heck...!

I do feel the need to do something every day for the month, though, so I've decided on the 30 press ups, 30 sit ups and 10 minutes of stretching every day. It's not too much considering the impending birth, and I do have a view that flexibility is essential for speed (and also reduced by doing speed training and not stretching enough). The press-ups and sit-ups should do a little towards some core training and tone a bit so I feel even better when I've lost a bit more weight! The 30 is a minimum again - hopefully I'll be doing 50-100 per day by the end of February.

So, I don't think I'll keep writing blog posts every day in February, but I'll pop back occasionally to write some thoughts down. What started with a January challenge feels like the start of a set of challenges for 2009 - and I have to say, I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Day 31

The last one. I'm a little sad about this, in a way.

I decided to make it a good one and go charging off, only to get disheartened after a mile or so by how much wind there was and how knackered I was. Average was fairly fast by the end but there were lots of stops so it doesn't really count.

Still - I've done it! All over, no more running for...

Day 30

Friday - only one more day to go!

I was going out for a a beer and some Thai food tonight, so I didn't each much before the run and went the full 4.6 miles round the block. Nothing too exciting about this, although it wasn't all that slow which was nice.

Day 29

Thursday... This was a run out towards the Basingstoke Canal - a route I haven't done for ages (well, lots of runs at least!) Not very fast, but OK none the less.

Day 28

Wednesday. I'm writing this after it's all finished, and I honestly can't remember this run!