thanks

thanks for the support

well this week I have managed 4 miles so far!

At the Tuesday club - where Runnerbeanz trains , we now have a group of up to 10 ladies - spread between Tuesdays and Thursdays. Varying paces and experience, but we are managing to group people together.
I have the slowest group of real beginners, and there were just the two of us this week, so we did R3:W1 - which she managed for most of the way, and we'll repeat that next week to try and get another rep or two before we move on.
Then Wednesday I ran with the friendly club, where V69 and I did three miniloops to make just over 2 miles. Since he broke his shoulder in the summer, he has aged rather and lost confidence about running in urban areas with the hoodies in abundance, so he likes to stay close to home - no R:W here, he just goes out, no warm up, slowly but steadily. So we did that, and I only stopped running for kerbs but it WAS a very slow pace overall.

I think I shall aim to take my Tuesday lady to R4L in May, and for us to run it continuously if possible, given the crowds.

No forecasts as to when I plan to run again, but I have plans, just daren't write them here for fear of that putting the hex on them.

Crumbs no blog for 10 days

seems much longer actually

thanks to those who enquired - I just have not had the time or energy to blog or forum recently - I KNOW that it takes too much of my time in surfing around, so I decided I had to do without completely for a while

I have missed my friends having some ups and downs and I regret that - but I am sorry, I just didn't have any capacity at all to cope with anything outside my tiny little world

so on emerging today I suspect part of the problem was exhaustion, and part was TOTM - so much for that disapeparing as you get older - seems to be worth than ever both before and during

anyway, I did get to the club last night and we had two new recruits to our mini running group - both beginners, so I am back to R2W1! I will have to try for something more sustained at the weekend.

this is now officially my lowest mileage month ever - I really need to find a race to focus my training, if I had been doing FLM I would have gone out when I got home tonight and squeezed out a few miles but as it was I just gave in and cooked tea instead

but I can't actually face the idea of any kind of race at the moment, so inspiration is needed


please

never write a positive blog

every time I write a positive optimistic blog something happens to blow it out of the water

a week ago I twisted my back, which was then sore for several days and although I went to the club in kit on Tuesday, a gentle shuffle across the carpark confirmed it was to be a walk not run evening.

This was followed by a current stinky cold - which feels sore across my chest - so no running for over a week :<(

keeping it going

I didn't manage to run on Tuesday - I had a dentist appointment at the time we run and it left me with a rubber mouth.

Wednesday was the teenbeeanzes' 17th birthday so didn't go to the other club

Thursday's run with the club plodpals went well - we are up to R12:W1 x 2 and the one who hasn't run (NewRunner) before was not convinced she could do it - but she did:>) I hadn't realised she has never run before - she is slim and trim and MrNewRunner is a prize-winning vet whippet and her lad is the speediest in the training group all our boys belong to.

Saturday (today) is usually a training day for Runnerbeanz so I would run while he trains, but today he has the last of the league XC race series, so I needed to get out early if I was going to run.

I don't have any short term races planned so it is hard to keep the training going. But I am in discussion with Coach about an Autumn half or two - and one of them has a 3 hour time limit so I really do have to get some serious continuous running in place. I was lying in bed thinking about possible races and then it occurred to me that I'd better get out of bed and train!

Another W5 then R12:W1 x 2 done - in the park with an undulating route. I struggled on the first rep as I was not really warmd up, but by the second rep I was going better - timed it so that I had finished the session before the serious climb at the end!

I am not sure whether I have actually stuck to a RW schedule properly before but we are keeping ot this one pretty well and it does all seem possible at the moment. Next week is R15 W1 and after that it leaps to R30. NR said she thought that would be an impossible leap, but I said (and nearly believed myself) that the W1 is so small you could miss it and hardly notice.

Not sure what we do after that the next RW schedule has speed work and stuff but I think we need to consolidate first, maybe increasing the time of one of the runs each week.

humph

Back to work and immediately into the knackeredness, can't get my act together feeling.

Didn't do enough work in the 'holidays' so now am paying for it with having to work when I might be running. Lovely day out the window today but I am cooped up at my desk.

So didn't run Thursday - as blogged below.

Didn't run Friday because left early for an all day conference in Brum - but did walk lots.

Saturday should have been take runnerbeanz to County XC champs, but he has had a niggly achilles all week and decided not to run. Just as well because I didn't wake until 9.15 and was not much use then - went back to bed at lunch time for a couple of hours.
Wasted the rest of the day pootling on the computer and not doing much work.

So that brings us to today, when again I didn't get up and run but am trying to catch up on my slothfulness of the past month.

Why am I such a procrastinator?

friends :>)

didn't manage to plod tonight after work - rushed to get there and instead of saying 'hang on can I just have five minutes to wind down before we go out', I said 'I'm too knackered, go without me'
so they did and when they got back, I'd had a mug of tea and relaxed, and I felt like I could go for a run

nice kind TP said 'next week we will wait for you to recover, cos it wasn't the same without you'

Club night

Made it down to the club - and V69 was there ready to run, but he has begun to lose confidence in running the streets in the dark, so wanted to do a little minilap close to the club - which is fine, it has a little rise and fall to it, which is good for me.

And he goes a little quicker, which keeps me going, and I almost didn't walk for the two and a bit miles we did.

keeping to the schedule

Been out for a plod with A - and now we are four!

Our sons are all in the same training group so we are all hanging around together several times a week, and the two newbies have been persuaded to join us (both their husbands run quickly).

We are up to R8:W2 x 3 - was a bit anxious as I am really bad at keeping going but I did all three reps without walking and even up inclines - not quick but definitely not walking :>))

I think I am beginning to gain confidence in my ability to keep going when it hurts.

New Year, New Target

Now this is not a weight loss blog, but having weighed and measured myself this morning I know that I am officially obese - well I knew anyway but just had to confirm the figures for the start of the year!

So while trying not to obsess about food and weight and all that stuff, I DO have to lose weight for the sake of my health and longevity - heck there is too much I want to do to keel over now.

So the targets for the year are not an amount of weight to lose, but running targets which will not be acheived without weight loss, and working on the running targets should also help the weight loss. (Does that make sense?)

So targets:

• run a 10k race without walking
• run a cross country race next winter season
  

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.

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?

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

:>))

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

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:

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)

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

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.

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)

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.

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