Good - bad

7m run, not timed (forgot to start my watch!). Felt good and, dare I say, comfortable.
Until.......
a couple of hours after, the back of my right ankle (achilles tendon?) seemed to tighten up - not sore, but noticable lack of flexibility compared to my left one. I suppose stretching may help but I don't. If I stretch wrongly I recon I'm more likely to do harm than good.

Fun run training

Did'nt go running yesterday due to the lure of the pub after yet another crap week at work. My daughter (11yrs) wants to do the 2.5m run at the reading half marathon so we did 2.5m at her pace, jogging/walking in 31mins. It made quite a nice change. We'll do it again in 3 weeks or so and see how shes getting on.

Got to go

Ran a quick 2m, 5 laps around the park.
No motivation but its got to be done.
Felt good afterwards.

Some miles but not enough

Jogged over the woods for 50 mins - not very far but a good run. My legs felt pretty tired while running but ok, adding up to a really poor training week.
There were loads of squadies over there doing an orienteering competition, now those young lads were fit. One of them came charging out of the trees and undergrowth following a compass bearing rather than the tracks - like he was getting chased by a lion or something - completely mad!
Must put some mileage in this week, which will mean running in the late evening after work and cutting down on pub visits.
No one said it was going to be easy!

Which excuse

I could list lots but the end result is still the same.
No running this week.
Sunday tomorrow and a nice steady jog over the woods, about an hour and a half. (and no excuses).

Sunday wake up call

Having only done 2 runs so far this week, with a grand total of 4 miles, I decided to do a nice steady long run, with my daughter on her bike for company. Went down to the hospital and back, 7m in 1hr 13min. A bit faster than intended but still a nice run, certainly noticed that running on the pavement/tarmac is a lot harder on the legs than over the woods. Someone gave us a toot on the car horn as they drove past, no idea who, and saw a couple of people I know who looked really shocked - so my 'secrets' out.

Its friday

That goodness its friday. Crap week at work comes to an end, a quick 1.6m finishing on a big hill and then hit the pub.

A bit of a high

Took my daughter to guides, its just by sainsburys, so I decided to do 5 laps around the park. Felt ok jogging around thinking about all sorts of stuff (none of it to do with running), next this I knew I was done. Did it in 21:40, without even realising, felt really comfortable and good! Ok, so its only a couple of miles but I actually feel as if I'm getting fitter.

Read before rant

OK so I didn't read the articles I just flicked through them. They did highlight the most important runs for the week and it emphasises the importance of rest days. My thighs are really sore so 2 rest days will do me good. If you exert yourself on a hard run should your thighs be sore after? I was expecting calfs, or shins, but thighs? oh well not to worry.

My running schedule is

Is what exactly? I can't run on mon or tues because I work then go Tenpin bowling in a league - not even the beginners schedule gives you 2 rest days in a row. What do I do shuffle it all around? Will it still work? I don't want to injure myself by doing 2 sessions back to back which should be split by a rest day. Anyway, my legs were tired this morning after my 'tempo' run yesterday (ha, ha). Ran 4.9m nice and slow in about 1hr (daughter on bike for company), had to walk up 2 massive hills though. Walked the dog for a warm down. Thighs very tired but ok.

Runner's World knowledge

Bought my first running mag yesterday. Flicking through it as we speak (sorry type). Great marathon stuff. I'm obviously a beginner, which means my target time is 5:30 to 4:30 - thats the first useful bit of info I've had since I started training. Turns out my crap week of training wasn't. My tues 'male ego' run was in fact fartlek training, my thurs 'down the hill and back' could have been hill training and low and behold yesterdays 'forgot my gloves' was a tempo run......what a good do! Worth the money all ready.

Cold

No I haven't got a cold (touch wood), I had a flue jab for my asthma that seems to have saved me from all sorts of snuffles so far. It's so cold outside and so warm in the house who in there right mind would go out in this? My kids.....they insisted in a few laps at sainsburys. I forgot my gloves my fingers were like frozen fish fingers, I ran 5 laps as fast as I could 20.35mins. Remember your GLOVES.

Back to work lethargy

I don't want to. It's raining. I'm tired. My eldest daughter was having none of it. We live on a hill so a slow and steady pace all the way down it and all the way back. Not very far but that hill!!! 21.20mins

Happy new year, 4 days late!!!

Oh dear, 3 days 'rest'. Its not as if I over indulged at new year or anything - in fact I was very restrained - I just really struggle with motivation. Having said that I did go for a quick/slow jog today - in daylight. Trouble is everytime I saw someone I jogged fast, then slowed right down again when I'd passed, saw someone else and jogged fast again then slowed down, this continued for the whole run (whole makes it sound alot it was only 25mins). Was this male ego? Is it my mid-life crisis? Am I an arse? Is this normal? Does anyone else find themselves doing this?

Measure this

Today I bought a cheap mileage speedo thing for my daughters bike. Then I (we) went for my first run on a tarmac/hard surface. Jogged nice and steady for 62mins with no walking, including a couple of long hills. It was 5.6m as measured by the gizmo (£2.99 in halfords). It could be a good buy as she enjoyed it and it gave me company while measuring the run.