The weeks running didn't get off to the best start - Tuesday I was up dressed and out the door at 6am only to discover there was zero visibility due to the heavy fog which had crept in overnight. After a few mins on the doorstep debating how safe it is to run in the dark and in such heavy fog I found myself back in bed having an extra hours sleep. So my morning run turned into an evening run. The plan called for 5 miles, consisting of one mile warm up, 3 miles fartlek and a mile cool down.
I mixed up the fartlek training the whole 3 miles; alternating between markers - traffic lights, lampposts, street signs etc. I've not tried fartlek training before but I found the 3 miles flew past and I felt like I'd had a really good workout by the end. I was expecting my average pace to be slightly higher but it was still a good run.
Wednesday I was in a spinning class at 7am and then running club in the evening. I parked at my parents and ran to the mile to where we meet. We then had a casual 3.5 mile run which incorporated one of the toughest hills in the area. Last time we ran up this hill I thought I might die - slight exaggeration but it was hard. I was surprised not to find it so hard this time - it was still tough just not as bad as before. Then I ran the mile back to my parents to collect my car so got in 5.5 miles.
Thursday I didn't want to end up in the same situation as Tuesday with the fog so did my scheduled run in the gym. I find getting to the gym a 6.30am so rewarding - there is great satisfaction in arriving at work at 9am having already done your daily workout. The plan called for 5 steady miles but I changed this to an interval workout as I felt Tuesday's run wasn't the speed workout I was hoping for.
I put the treadmill on a 1.5 include and did 2 mins on 6km per hour followed by 3 mins on 12/12.5km per hour. I did this for 3 miles then I paused my watch and did some core work. For the final 2 miles I only had 1 min at 6km per hour and stayed with 3 mins at around 12km per hour.
Friday I had a black tie event to attend and although had every intention of still doing Parkrun at 9am, this did not happen. But I did force myself to the gym later that morning for a Body Pump class. This was the first time I have tried the new release and I really enjoyed it. Feeling a little worse for wear I took it easy on the weights but still went into the gym after to do some core work.
Sunday I woke up in pain. Apparently I hadn't taken it as easy with the weights in Body Pump as I thought I had. To make matters worse the weather was horrendous - pouring with rain, windy, grey and miserable. I thought about postponing my long to Monday but the weather could have been just has bad and I'd have to do it after work so I sucked it up and kept to the plan. With my trusty baseball cap in place to keep the rain out of my face I set off and was drenched in minutes.
I wanted to do 12-15 miles. The plan called for a slow 12 miles but I have a 20 mile race on Feb 16th so want to be increasing each week until then. I ran a 6 mile loop twice. The loop incorporated some pretty big hills but they didn't feel too bad despite my sore legs. I also only took one energy gel but I didn't like I need it. I took it more because I'd took myself I would take it at mile 7 to break up the run. But all in all I felt pretty good and told myself I would do 14 miles. However at mile 12.5 as I was running past the end of my road, with the wind and rain (sideways rain at this point) it was too tempting to just head home to the warmth so I finished on 12.57miles.
I'm running the London Marathon to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and this week I received confirmation from my local Tesco Extra superstore that I can rattle a tin at the entrance for the 4 dates I requested between now and April. I lost my grandmother to breast cancer in 2008 so this is a charity really close to my heart and I'm really pleased my fundraising plan is also going to target.
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