Category: Wimping out

Easy Tiger

This training schedule really means business. I now think that the key to coping with the interval, tempo and race-sim runs is to take the easy runs easier; I must try harder at trying less hard.

This morning I was tired and aching from yesterday’s interval-a-thon. It was going to be a beautiful day –  I noticed frost on a playing field as I plodded by, with a mist hanging low over the grass. The four storey townhouses on Coolhurst Road were looking more than usually majestic in the pearly light as I climbed the hill, panting in an undignified fashion.

About 4 minutes in to my run, I realised that they only way I would be able to run 4 miles today would be to slow down drastically. I was practically crawling by the time I approached the Broadway, put on a bit of a show of speed as I passed the W7 bus queue, but had to stop to walk up Mount Doom after I’d passed Marks and Spencer.

Is it ever ok to walk? I might have to change the name of the blog to “notarunner”, if this keeps up.

Vampires ate my trainers

I gave blood last night,  but I didn’t think through the consequences for today’s interval training run. It’s an absolutely beautiful day – cold and crisp and sunny, perfect for running – and I’m dying to get out there, but the nurse said I shouldn’t do any exercise for 24 hours.

I am quite tempted to go anyway, but I know I have a tendency to put running before sense so am trying not to do that this time. One day is not going to make any difference to the training. It’s Shrove Tuesday, so perhaps  I c0uld try interval training with pancakes instead: 5 pancakes at 10k pace, with 2 minute recoveries?

The blood-letting was fascinating.  It was held in a decrepit church hall, with queues of whey faced people and barking nurses. Like a post-apocalyptic triage hospital with unlimited tea and biscuits. My pint drained out in 4 minutes, which seems frighteningly fast. I wonder if it’s a sign of a healthy heart?  I am kidding myself that it is. I have now done some scientific research (thanks Wikipedia) and see that it will take 8 weeks for my blood to magic itself* back to normal. Just in time for my race, which was obviously the plan.

*official scientific term

Friday Fail

A confession: this morning I spent 45 minutes reading my book club book in bed this morning instead of running 6 miles. I am currently feeling pretty guilty, though I will run it tomorrow instead.

As if a Friday morning spent eating toast and drinking tea  in bed, when I could have been running in the cold, wasn’t already enough of a guilty pleasure, the book I’m reading made it even more so. Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls is more Irish than a pint of Guinness eating a potato in a peat bog. I’m only 50 pages in but I’m already feeling nauseous from the steaming mounds of hokey oirish charm seved with a side order of paedophilia and domestic violence. I feel like a teenager reading a Maeve Binchy hidden under a geography text book.

Back to the running guilt. My knees are feeling a little strained after the exertions of the last 3 days so I think a rest was necessary rather than simply fancied. They have to make it through 14 miles this weekend, so I feel it only fair to let them de-creak for a day.

Weekend round-up

It’s late, but here’s my weekend round-up and summary of last week’s running.

I had a skirmish with some wine on Friday night so Saturday’s run started out painfully slowly, but after 15 minutes the fug cleared and I felt good, maybe even great. Ran 8 miles in an hour dead on, a 7.5 minute mile average.  Buoyed by this success I proceed to clock up a massive zero miles on Sunday. Oops.

At New Year I made a semi-serious promise to myself that my baseline would be 25 miles a week, when not training, and last week’s the first week I haven’t made it – only 17 miles.  Proper training for my next race (Ranelagh Half Marathon on 8 May) doesn’t start until the end of February so I’ve got 4 weeks to get serious.

Snooze button special

it’s 7am on Friday morning, so I must be writing this whilst on my run- wow, I am very skilled in multi-tasking. There is no way I could be writing this while lying in bed, drinking a cup of tea and eating toast. A cat did not just sit on me and I didn’t pick up yesterday’s Guardian crossword. How could I do that? I’m currently racing through Crouch End Broadway. It’s cold today!

(I just heard that on the radio…)