Yes!!

In answer to bedders - yes I did do it this morning

30 minutes this time

I retrieved my garmin last night from Tigerrunner who had borrowed it for his FLM training - so now my running log has all these very fast training runs in it! He ran 2.51 on the day. The Sinfin peeps I went down to FLM with stopped over until Monday. Last year we walked the emabnkment - this year they went to Covent Garden and this is a picture they took:

Yep, they met the ladies winner and she was happy to have her pic taken with them :>)

Getting my Garmin back has been great - I am such a number geek, I really like to know how far how slow etc.

I been looking at Shades marathon training on three or four runs a week. It looks like a sensible approach - and seems to work at a 'get you round in a reasonable state/time' kind of way, given the miles run. So I am going to use the first half up to Robin Hood half (as I have done it for the past three years it seems a good idea to have another medal on the wall) and then pick up the last few weeks and repeat for Amsterdam half.

early birds

This is the week I am supposed to be starting my running before school. As I get up anyway at 6.00 it means getting up very early for a run first.

So today I did it. It was not a good day to start - lots else going on but I knew that if I didn't get up today I'd find another excuse tomorrow.

So I was awake before the alarm and out of the house by 5.20 - no visible sunrise but a very noisy dawn chorus.

I only went round the block once - 20 minutes run. It was not much but I felt better for it and I then had time ot get ready for the rest of the day without upsetting anyone else. I have decided on a run to HR approach. And will gradually build up the morning runs in time, and a longer run or two at the weekend.

The reason for needing extra morning time was that I took my first school trip out today. Pretty nerve racking (sp?) I have to say - we took 32 Year 9s to Alton Towers! Imagine the risk assessment!

Alll back in one piece apart from me - I stumbled going down the bus steps this morning, caught my back on the door handle and drew blood (did not discover that until this evening). I turned my ankle slightly but apart from stiffening u p a little after prolonged sitting, no long term damage there.

Can you tell that TOTM is nearly over and I am feeling perkier?

hot hot hot

Saturday
Off to London at the crack of dawn - well the 6.53 train anyway. Sinfin runners made their way to london for the marathon. First stop the Expo (after droppping our bags at the hotel).
Even before we got to the expo I told the club runners that I felt a fraud and wished I was running. Certainly once I felt the buzz I wanted to be there the next day. I managed to restrict my spending to a vest for runnerbeanz, a lovely (bargain) red top for me - and an essential cap for the next day. I met up with Hippo, Stickless and sundry other forumites on the RW stand, where i picked up two huge bags of supplies for Mile 17.

The SRC weekend has a standrd format, expo, pub, rest in the hotel and then out for pasta. As last year we went ot carluccios and had a good simple meal - foccaccia (sp) which was rather salty, spaghetti in tomato sauce and lots of water. Into Waitrose to collect supplies of water, milk and other essentials, and then back to the hotel for an early night.

Saddo that I am, I did some marking first!

Sunday
Up early for breakfast and then off to catch the DLR to Greenwich. The train was VERY crowded and it was a struggle for me to get off at Mudchute!

I was disoriented when I got off the train and it took me a while to work out which way the runners would be coming and where the RW cheering point would be - but I worked it out in the end.

I was on my own for quite some time and wondered what had happened to everyone else. Then I found out. A train full of runners ground to a halt at Mudchute and did not restart - so everyone offloaded and had to walk to Greenwich - maybe 2 or 3 miles? The train then blocked the line so nobody could travel in either direction. Soon more runners were walking past - from further back on the line. And the other RW supporters were having to walk with their bags of goodies - gosh was I pleased we got up so early.

And then we got ready for the day:

packed pounds of jelly babies:




blew up balloons


well you can't really miss us now can you?



but these two Brits didn't stop for a chat :<(



I had a great time, met some more forumites and Miniwomble and managed to convince myself (easily) that I was pleased I wasn't running ......

On the train on the way home I set myself some preconditions for entering the ballot next year.

I shall let you know if I meet them.

back to work

Back to work today and the cold is marginally better,

but I had forgotten how tiring being on my feet all day can be - and I've only been off 3 weeks.

Anyway, it was a good day back at the chalk face.

It's going to be hectic up until Whit - exam groups wanting to do lots of revision ( I hope), which will need marking. The colleague who left at Easter has been replaced by a mishmash of supply cover, so we three remaining members of the department will be picking up lots of the admin that was shared by 4 and will now be shared by 3 - not to mention reports, school exams etc

And as the cold retreats I need to find time to run. I am seriously considering getting up half an hour early and going out in the morning, its just no good at the end of a long day. But that will mean going to bed early - difficult to do!

huh

Why is it that every time I begin to formulate a plan I am stimied by circumstances?

Tuesday is Runnerbeanz's club night so my night for running with the Mums. I wrote on the Waister thread about my frustration with the group that night - not sticking together and not coming back the agreed route meant two of us hung around for ages waiting for one person who had just gone off and done her own thing. So we did a couple of slow miles of run with a lot of walking and hanging around - just when I had made a decision that as we had an out and back route I could run to HR. And then she wondered why we waited for her!

Wednesday I woke with the stinker of all colds, I used the time off work to see the sports therapist whilst RB saw the fizz, I had a good deep masssage and have not been able take advantage of the looser calves because I can't breathe let alone run

The cold lingers on and it has also made concentrating on work difficult and I have wasted a lot of time surfing the forums when I should be getting ahead in my preparation so I can go to support at FLM without worrying about work.

nearly giving up ....

I'm pretty fed up with running at the moment - and said to Mrbeanz this morning that maybe I should give up trying

he pointed out that I have entered a race in October so maybe I should keep at it

the trouble is that I am back at square one - still overweight and now no running fitness - I've not run consistently for a year now - since I finished FLM last April

so I went out and tried but without any plan - do I try Run-Walk or running to HR - and if so what HR?

I just don't know


so I have just posted this on RW training thread

the question
I can't decide whether to go back to basics and start with run 1 walk 1

or base train at 70% HR

I think I tend to mix them both and end up with worst of all possible worlds!


An added problem, not mentioned on the thread, is that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I run with other folk - who don't understand schedules - and certainly not structured run-walking, so I tend to just huff and puff and struggle to keep up on those days. And I don't have the courage to say 'this is what I am doing' for all sorts of reasons.

Help????

back home

well, I walked a lot, ran a couple of times

had some good wine

really relaxed

and took some pix too

A day out to Lake Garda

this path is in fact level - it just looks undulating close to - the lines in the distance are also wavy!



I just couldn't resist the tree trunk


Lake Garda on a sunny day in March (it was raining back in the home town)


back to the home town across the mountains


Up the hill
Another day and a walk on the local highpoint (I'm afraid we went most of the way up in the car!)



The sinking city
the last day and a morning in Venice before the flight home:

in Venice everything is delivered by water - even the water!


yes the sky really was this blue

I just love the variety of styles and colours ....



one of my favourite views


and now its back to everyday life - but at least I lost a pound while I was there :>))

maybe it was all the fresh veg:

from Italy ...

This is weird - blogger is in Italian and its an Italian keyboard too - so punctuation is tricky! And the mouse is on the left - something to do with RSI I think.

My sister works as a translator of technical documents, I am using her computer whilst she is at her gymnastics class - no chance of me doing that I am so uncoordinated and I wouldn't understand the instructions anyway.

I just thought I might blog as I have been exercising as well as eating and drinking well.

My sister tries to go for a 30 minute walk each day so we did that on Tuesday evening after supper and yesterday morning after our cappuccino (sp?)- including a hill!

I have been getting lots of sleep - this morning I had planned to get up at 7.30 to go for a run and set the alarm on my phone - but had forgotten to move it on an hour when I arrived- so did not wake until 8.15. But I still went for a run - just a couple of miles but there is a good fitness trail that is about a mile long, I only did it once today and my calves were SO tight. Maybe another day I will do it twice.

Tomorrow is swimming.

So I am feeling very rested and relaxed - doing lots of reading too.

that's better

Finished school on Friday for three whole weeks - feel better already!

Its not that I don't like the job - no regrets about the change but it has been a tottering end of term - got worse last week, but I found I was not alone .... so some small consolation there that it may be them and not me!

So a plodette on Saturday whilst Runnerbeanz pounded the hills - and also some standing around in the fresh air - definitely made me feel better

And another plodette this morning and a couple of hours in teh garden this afetrnoon - we filled the brown bin and my back said 'no more' - will have another blast when I get back from Italy

And I have entered Amsterdam half - so had better get in the groove of running again.

bleurgh - moan warning

I'm supposed to be entering Amsterdam Half - I've bought the air ticket and committed to the hotel room

but I'm fatter than I've ever been (truly - the scales do not lie) and seem to have no will power to do anything about it

I haven't run for a week and my sore back is morphing into an excuse not to run

its spring and I should be getting out in the garden - but said back is putting me off risking doing any bending or digging

I have almost no social life - the highlight of my week is chatting to A whilst our lads train and afterwards with the coach - the fact that we are parents and have running sons is about the limit of what we have in common

work is tough at the moment, there is a general feeling of lack of support from the top on discipline issues - and I am concerned that if I refer upwards and get no support I am in a worse situation than ever - it is sad how a few girls can spoil an otherwise pleasurable job

ok so all that is the tip of the iceberg moan - I can think of three good things, though they don't really keep me going very well:

• I have a healthy family
• I have some good friends out there in the ether
• only a week to go to the end of term (sorry state school peeps) and then I am off to Italy to see my sister (wishing I was not so blobby)

PS I suspect all this is TOTM related so can be ignored really

a week on ..

thanks for the support


Had a nice day out yesterday - went up to Sunderland to the National XC champs.

Very windy but at least it was dry.

TB ran well, despite a sore achilles he kept going and improved his relative time compared to last year in the same age group - shame there were 100 fewer runners in the group - all those soft southerners who couldn't make the journey.

He'll be moving up a group next year to Junior men so it will be a 10k race - which might suit him better if he can keep building the endurance between now and then.

Must have walked at least 5 km yesterday.

Got up this morning to run, but as I was getting dressed something went in my back and I am now walking and sitting as though my spine is a pile of bricks that might topple if I don't keep it straight. I really should do my core strength even though I am not finding much opportunity to run.

what was there to say?

Haven't posted for a while - life has just been difficult

Work continues to be all consuming - I know it should get a bit better next year - but there will still be new stuff to be taught, so the preparation load will not ease that much

and I haven't done all that well recently - too much busking it to be comfortable

on other fronts, very little running of any description

not enough healthy eating to make a difference

so all that adds up to feeling low and not very sociable

so no blogging

no forumming

but thanks for the emails of concern

take this as a reply

pushing it on

My beginner wasn't at the club tonight, so there was nothing for it but to run with the quicker peeps - ok some of them have never run for more than 25 minutes, but they are slimmer, younger and quicker than me.
Off we went round the block - 2½ miles in 35 minutes - including warm up and warm down. In the middle we did 1½ miles in 19 minutes, at a pretty steady pace - so that's about 12:40 minute miling - it felt like work to me, but I kept going - HR up at a steady 156 too! I was pretty pleased with that, considering how little running I have managed recently.

Off away for a couple of days now (it is half term, but it's not away on holiday), but will take my kit.

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.