Sunday 31 December 2006

finishing off the year nicely

up early with the intention of running 4 miles to top up the total for the year

I set off on the R5W2 schedule as it seems to be working, Iwent on my old out and back route, which is mainly downhill going, making it easier to warm up. By the time I turned after the fourth R5 I was getting into the groove and past my toxic 25 stage.
Running back up the hill, I didn't want to give into the hills as I normally do. I decided that I would stick to the R5W2 schedule but also watch my HR - if it went above 150 when I checked at each lampost, I would allow myself a walk to the next lampost, but I didn't need to walk; it didn't go above 145 on the first incline and then after the next W2 and getting steeper again it didn't go above 147 - a triumph!!

By the time I got home it was 4.4 miles done :>) total for the year 653.7.

I shall have to concentrate if I am to get near that next year, as I don't have any half or full marathons planned. It means I need to target 14 miles / week. At the moment my runs with A are just around 2 miles, but they will ease up to 3 and even 4 over the next few months I guess. We can make the Saturday run a bit longer, though we don't always get to do that together as the boys have races some weeks. It would be good to make my Sunday runs a bit longer, but normally they are determined partly by RB's training needs.

Saturday 30 December 2006

another run done

Out into the park again with A

RB was doing hills so we went along the river bank - and very muddy in places too - that slowed us down!

A has been having calf and achilles problems, so we stopped during each W2 to stretch, but did NOT stop at all during the R5 bits

last of the scheduled R5 W2 runs - though I plan to do another tomorrow - need to do 4 miles to bring my total for the year to 100 miles more than last year!


will we be able to do R8 W2 x 3 next week?

Thursday 28 December 2006

more plodding

I think I am getting the hang of this running business

A, my new TP is quicker than me but happy to be slowed down by me cos every time she has tried running in recent years she has gone too fast and then been injured

We are now up to R5:W2 x 4 - and did it fairly comfortably this evening - even up the little grinding inclines
Having A to run with makes me keep plodding even when things begin to hurt, and I know that it is not for long, hopefully as we increase the R bits I will still be able to keep going

:>))

Wednesday 27 December 2006

its all over then ...

well studentbeanz and BF have gone, so its back to normal life now - just a bit of turkey to eat tonight and the cake and the mince pies ........

it was our Boxing Day race yesterday - not an official race but lots of local club runners do it - about 200 turned up this year
runningbeanz and I decided to warm up by walking / jogging the 2 miles to the start; mrbeanz drove part of the way and then walked, he still has problems with his achilles so wasn't running but was willing to be bag carrier
met up with lots of clubmates from both clubs and we separated to take our starting positions near the front (RB) at the back (me)
I started off with V69 but he zoomed off too quickly and I knew it was no good me going to fast, I'd just be miserable, so I plodded along, the race starts off flat but soon reaches the bank where RB does his hills training, we were to go diagonally up the bank, and I managed most of the way before needing a short walk, passing various teenagers who were not runners, but had been inveigled into coming, including our minister's son, whose dad was way ahead somewhere

and then it's down into the village
after about a mile I am running with another lady of about my age (or maybe older) who tells me how she has been running for 20+ years but never gets any faster because she always takes the beginnners at her club (but maybe she wouldn't get faster anyway)
we chat and plod together intermittently for the rest of the race - this really helps me get round, with only a few paces of walking when an incline gets the better of me
as we come back into the park mrbeanz and RB are there to cheer me on and again after a final loop to make up to 5k we are nearly there and we decide to plod in together rather than go for the 'sprint' finish - so we are joint 190 with at least 5 behind us (I was last, last year) although my time was slightly slower than last year I enjoyed it more and felt better throughout - I suspect the warm up did help

Oh and teenbeanz is 20th in 19:30 ish, having been paced for part of the run by a quick chap from his club. An excellent result for him, especially when I think about the quality of some of the other runners there

Friday 22 December 2006

after the fog .....

ran 2.4 miles with A in thick fog last night so I couldn't believe it when we woke to bright blue skies today, with the fog frozen out onto the plants:




Tuesday 19 December 2006

good day overall

so starting with the good news - all clear at the hospital - benign calcification I believe the technical term was

routine recall in 3 years for another mammogram

after some shopping in a very crowded Sainsbury's I nearly made it home when I managed to bump the car in front - silly really, approaching the roundabout he set off to go, stopped because a motorbike was being indecisive about lane, I didn't stop :<(
nobody hurt, and not much done to his car but my front crumple zone took a suitable crumple and is going to take some fixing, so the logisitics of getting it into repair, hire car meanwhile .... to sort

ho hum


but a good evening followed up - met A at the club and went for a R3W1 x 6 session from the RW beginner's schedule - I was just warming up as we finished - perhaps should have jogged on but that seemed mean, 1.83 miles done

by the time we had finished it was very cold and quite foggy and the skinny lads in RB's squad all had very cold hands which were quite painful as they warmed up - even thought they had been wearing gloves (I think Santa needs to go shopping)

Monday 18 December 2006

long run

a run with the ultra queen today - which was lovely - long for me but all in a days plodding for her

seriously, it was really good to run with someone who is willing to plod nice and slowly with me

the last mile or so was hard going but 9.34 miles completed - she's a hard taskmistress!

and it was off road along a canal so no serious inclines - just suited me well

I'm a bit stiff now but I am sure will be fine tomorrow

back to the hospital tomorrow - fingers crossed

Sunday 17 December 2006

running weekend ....

Friday
Well no run, but it was the RW East Midlands Christmas social.





mrbeanz, Steady, LFV, Mr Jars, MrsJars, mark*w, Denmeg and LMH were there.





Much fun was had with the contents of the party boxes which included squeakers and 'rocket balloons' which when inflated would whizz round the room with much noise.
MrJars was the most accomplished inflater - something to do with keeping control of a workshop full of 14 year olds I suspect.



















Saturday
Runnerbeanz had Hill Reps, so after a lie-in (the first of the hols) and breakfast it is off to the park. I met up with one of the other Mums (A) who used to be a sprinter but has not run for a long time. She would like to get going again so we went for a run-walk, 2.3 miles done. We could have gone further but A's husband and younger son turned up and we stopped to talk to them and marvel at these lads who just ran up, along and down the hill in continuous reps. A is also overweight (but not as much as me I suspect) so we are going to try and support each other to a healthier 2007.

Sunday
A beautiful morning for a run so off we went for our Sunday morning shared run - RB has 50 minutes on the schedule so its out for 25 and then turn. Up to 20 minutes I was hating it and thinking that there is no point in going down to b-z tomorrow - I will not make 2 miles let alone 10. However the third R4:W2 rep begain feel better (ok it was mostly downhill) and on the return I actually managed R6 cos I didn't want to walk after R4! I am afraid I did walk up the last hill with RB who had caught me up by then and had a sore lower calf - just hope its not a dreaded achilles problem. 3.6 miles done.
Still not sure about 10 miles tomorrow, though that slave driver might make me do it.

Wednesday 13 December 2006

the best laid plans ...............

Monday
early Doc's appointment to follow up blood tests - a low blood count - not anaemic but low iron reserves (not sure what that means?)
then Dentist for the usual scarpe and polish
then town to try and break the back of the pressie shopping, after a slow start I managed quite well - but was knackered when I got home

Tuesday
a recall appointment at the breast clinic to follow up the mammogram from last week, I was not too worried as they called me back 3 years ago too
but the little bits of 'very probably' calcium have got a bit bigger since last time and a few more of them, so they wanted to be sure
which meant a core biopsy - which I had not been expecting, so it was a bit of a shock

although the nurses were very good and the whole process was fascinating and can be added to my store of 'physics in action' stories it has left me a bit drained of energy - rather achey and not wanting to run

tomorrow I am on a course but hopefully by Friday I shall feel like going out for a shuffle

after all I am doing a long run with ultra runner extraordinaire b-z on Monday!

(results of biopsy appointment on Tuesday so fingers crossed)

Sunday 10 December 2006

running ( and walking) again

Wednesday
A tiring day on Wednesday - teaching all morning, Christmas Lunch with the girls - very noisy - then crowd control during the staff panto.
When I got in the car to drive home the last thing I felt like was going to run at the club. But runnerbeanz was all changed ready to run when I arrived home (good for him) so I had to go.

When I got there V69, who I have not seen for a long time was there and suggested we went for a walk, since I was not dressed or shod for running. Of course after a couple of miles I wished I was in my kit and could run. Still, 3.8 brisk miles walked.

Thursday
A tottering day at school, definitely no energy to run - and a really wild night too, but RB did his club session well.

Friday
End of term! At school until 7.00 though, for end of term staff do - rather hampered by no drinking as I had to drive home.

Saturday
RB has a track session, so I took him down and went in my kit - walked at first with another Mum and her younger lad. After he had had enough I went for a little plod - another lap of the grounds. I had forgotten my garmin but 2-2.5 miles done.
Meanwhile RB was doing 1000m reps - hard.

Sunday
Now that RB has a written down schedule from the coach he is more focussed onsticking to it. So for today it said 45-50 minutes easy. His original plan was to get up early for breakfast so we could go out at 8.00. (Sound familiar?)
However when I went in to his room at 7.30 he had not eaten. Now in the past he would have turned over and gone back to sleep. But he didn't - he got up and came out, sleepily and slowly to begin with.

And we used our new strategy of run out for 25 minutes and turn, and he caught up with me on the way back and then loped on home while I staggered up killer hill. So I did 3.5 miles at R4W2- he did rather more. (And agreed he could run without eating first.)

I now need to work out a plan for the next three weeks in this window of opportunity to run - as well as get ahead with the planning for next term, so that I am not so knackered and can face running in the week.

Monday 4 December 2006

not running blog

So a hectic week at school (only 4 more working days to go now) which included:

Course on Wenesday after school - great to meet some other physcis teachers and be inspired again
Late night Thursday with Fair Trade group
runnerbeanz racing XC on Saturday 25 miles away
Christmas Concert on Sunday evening at school

and no running again - but I am not beating myself up about it, just telling you that as this is supposed to be a running blog - so I'll put in some running pics:

RB warming up,




















tigerrunner, finishing well,


















RB in the woods