Just a quick update on the running because I can't quite believe it's going so well.
Yesterday was overcast and a bit on the chilly side. I love running in this kind of weather - sunny and warm I find to be surprisingly hard work, but I'm much more comfortable when it's cooler. I make sure I'm wearing enough layers to not be either too cold or too hot, so I wear full length running tights (I also have a pair that are capri-length but I find they tend to pull down a bit so I have to keep hitching them up from time to time - the full length ones stay put), a long sleeved top as a base layer - I've only got one of these and it's a weird pink/apricot/orangey colour which matched my hair at one point, and over the top of that a fitted cap sleeved top. Under it all there's an industrial strength sports bra to keep everything in place and I have some specialist running pants that have no seams and soft leg-holes. Oh, also I got some proper running socks that have padded bits and, of course, my lovely Mizuna running shoes which are quite dirty now. I also strap my iPhone to my arm as I use the Runkeeper app to track everything - distance, map, speed, pace - it gives me a running commentary on distance travelled and time taken.
So yesterday I was feeling good, and I decided I'd just start out running from the end of my road and see how long I could keep going before I needed to have a rest and walk for a bit. Turned out, astonishingly, to be 1.25 miles. One and a quarter miles. Non-stop. Bloody hell. If you'd have told me this time last year that I'd be doing proper running, I'd have laughed derisively in your face, opened another bottle of wine but then also bemoaned the size of my backside.
Now, if I carry on this way, I can have that bottle of wine AND a fuck-off sized curry, and run the buggers off!! Hooray!!
In total, yesterday, I ran a total of 5.34km/3.32 miles in a total of 56mins 11secs. This is an improvement on the previous run but, more importantly (to me at least), I ran very nearly the whole thing. I did stop at my turnaround point (a handy bus shelter - it had a seat!), sat down for a minute to catch my breath, did some stretching and then carried on back the way I came (through woodland and along the edges of fields - hence the muddy running shoes) but I really felt I could just keep going and going. And no shin splints either, which is a bloody miracle as they were crippling me last year.
I'm obviously doing something right......
Dutch Sausage and Mash
1 day ago
2 comments:
That is amazing! I don't think I will EVER get to that point in my running, mainly because I dislike it so much and will likely not continue it. Still - your progress is pretty impressive!
Pinklea - Thank you! I got quite disheartened last year because there didn't seem to be any progress. I wasn't going any further nor any faster but I continued because of the blood pressure thing. I wasn't enjoying it very much. When I started again at the end of February (after a 2 month lay up with plantar fasciitis), I did a couple of runs using the C25k app that I'd been using last year and decided that I actually didnt like it much. It's very bossy and tells you exactly when to run and when to walk. So I decided to swap to the Runkeeper app which is more flexible and now I decide when to run and when to walk. As a consequence I've found that I could run continuously for so much longer the C25k would have let me. There's also a website that you link all your stats to with Runkeeper which shows you how fast you were going for each minute you ran and all sorts of nerdy things like that. And I've seen a huge improvement just by swapping to this app and am now actively looking forward to each run just to see if I can go that little bit further and/or that little bit faster.
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