Well - I'm back on track, I've nailed it. 30 minutes again, and a smidge faster than I've done before, therfore I've run a smidge further than before. Maybe that's what I should do from now on - state what I will do on the blog beforehand, then do it! An hour on Wednesday perhaps?
It didn't feel too bad only that it is so cold at the moment, I can feel my lungs working harder. I have no idea if that makes any sense - I've never exercised before so I don't know if I'm doing anything sensible. Should I be wearing more? I still put the same shorts and T-shirt on every time and that's pretty much it.
And finally I have signed up for Santas on the Run - a 2 mile run through Oxford in a Santa Suit for Helen & Douglas House http://www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/features30.html. I'm not asking for sponsorship but if any of you are in or around Oxford it sounds like fun and I will post some action pictures here next week if I can!
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Week 17
Don't you love technology? I've just posted a long post that has disappeared!
Week 17 so far has been a Wednesday run and a Saturday run. Wednesday started with the realisation that while I have now hit 30 minutes I'm still running woefully slowly. Problem is that in April I will have to run a fixed distance and not a fixed time and according to my treadmill I'm not even at 6ph yet which would be 10 minute mile pace.
So I've stepped up the pace a little but just ran 15 minutes. I don't think my heart was in it and could probably have struggled to run 30 at my usual plod anyway but at least I've made a start and upped my speed slightly. I think my next goal by Christmas eve has to be to run 30 minutes at 6mph though I think I will be varying my speed somewhat to see if I can go further than 30 minutes (OK, 31!) on other occasions.
And the Saturday run ... it just gets so late, after Xmas shopping, food shopping, cooking, eating, waiting for food to settle, and walking the dogs, the run suddenly becomes at 9:30. The first two minutes of the run felt awful, but I managed to ride it out to 15 minutes. However I didn't really have the desire to run any further so late in the day so stopped right there.
Feels like this week is stalling a little bit - I was so pleased to hit 30 minutes last week but I think I need to find that motivation back! I will announce now then that I will do at least 30 minutes tonight so as not to fall back a week.
Week 17 so far has been a Wednesday run and a Saturday run. Wednesday started with the realisation that while I have now hit 30 minutes I'm still running woefully slowly. Problem is that in April I will have to run a fixed distance and not a fixed time and according to my treadmill I'm not even at 6ph yet which would be 10 minute mile pace.
So I've stepped up the pace a little but just ran 15 minutes. I don't think my heart was in it and could probably have struggled to run 30 at my usual plod anyway but at least I've made a start and upped my speed slightly. I think my next goal by Christmas eve has to be to run 30 minutes at 6mph though I think I will be varying my speed somewhat to see if I can go further than 30 minutes (OK, 31!) on other occasions.
And the Saturday run ... it just gets so late, after Xmas shopping, food shopping, cooking, eating, waiting for food to settle, and walking the dogs, the run suddenly becomes at 9:30. The first two minutes of the run felt awful, but I managed to ride it out to 15 minutes. However I didn't really have the desire to run any further so late in the day so stopped right there.
Feels like this week is stalling a little bit - I was so pleased to hit 30 minutes last week but I think I need to find that motivation back! I will announce now then that I will do at least 30 minutes tonight so as not to fall back a week.
End of week 16 - message to my blog followers
OK I'm running behind now (no pun intended). Last Sunday, end of week 16, should have been my usual third run of the week. But I scrapped all that for a pig out and a day off the running and the diet.
So instead a message to my followers and well-wishers. Hello mother, hello sister, what would you like for Christmas?
I hope there are other followers or occasional dippers-in out there - if not this is all good entertainment and record for me so I don't really mind.
So instead a message to my followers and well-wishers. Hello mother, hello sister, what would you like for Christmas?
I hope there are other followers or occasional dippers-in out there - if not this is all good entertainment and record for me so I don't really mind.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Another PB
Well another run on the treadmill on Saturday morning and I wanted to prove to myself that my 30 minute run was no fluke.
This time though it felt easier - no dodgy minutes 1,2 or 30 and it really did feel that running is finally something I'm comfortable doing. I'm still not fast and have a long way to go but those mental barriers of running 4 or 5 minutes or whatever was so hard only a couple of weeks ago have long gone.
This time the last minute felt fine, and I genuinely had the "could go further" feeling. So I did, just one minute, to 31 minutes, just so I could leave the treadmill with another personal best. But I want to start pushing myself now as for the first time in a long time I'm not quite so daunted by this marathon as I once was!
This time though it felt easier - no dodgy minutes 1,2 or 30 and it really did feel that running is finally something I'm comfortable doing. I'm still not fast and have a long way to go but those mental barriers of running 4 or 5 minutes or whatever was so hard only a couple of weeks ago have long gone.
This time the last minute felt fine, and I genuinely had the "could go further" feeling. So I did, just one minute, to 31 minutes, just so I could leave the treadmill with another personal best. But I want to start pushing myself now as for the first time in a long time I'm not quite so daunted by this marathon as I once was!
Friday, 21 November 2008
Breakthrough
Well it's only in getting lazy updating this blog that I've realised people are following this and wanting to know how I'm doing! So thanks again everyone for your words of encouragement. And if you can figure out how - get commenting!
Anyway it hasn't got me completely back into good habits as this entry, on Friday, is about my run on Wednesday. In fact just before I was getting changed to go for a run I spoke to my mother on the phone, who because of the lack of blog updates, wanted to know how I was getting on. I mentioned of course that I was running 20 minutes at a time, and that hopefully by the end of Novemeber I would do 30.
Then as I went to the treadmill in the garage I thought why wait 12 more days just because of a self-imposed deadline? It might have been November 19th, so why not now? It was the usual story really - minutes 1 and 2 were probably the most tiring, by minute 8 it felt great but like I'd run 20, the rest passed far too slowly but I did run 30 minutes, much to my amazement and pride. Minute 30 was probably the only particularly difficult one apart from the first one as it's so difficult not to clockwatch but I do feel like I've made great progress here. When I start talking about miles run and not minutes, then I'll have cracked it (about 3 I reckon!)
Anyway it hasn't got me completely back into good habits as this entry, on Friday, is about my run on Wednesday. In fact just before I was getting changed to go for a run I spoke to my mother on the phone, who because of the lack of blog updates, wanted to know how I was getting on. I mentioned of course that I was running 20 minutes at a time, and that hopefully by the end of Novemeber I would do 30.
Then as I went to the treadmill in the garage I thought why wait 12 more days just because of a self-imposed deadline? It might have been November 19th, so why not now? It was the usual story really - minutes 1 and 2 were probably the most tiring, by minute 8 it felt great but like I'd run 20, the rest passed far too slowly but I did run 30 minutes, much to my amazement and pride. Minute 30 was probably the only particularly difficult one apart from the first one as it's so difficult not to clockwatch but I do feel like I've made great progress here. When I start talking about miles run and not minutes, then I'll have cracked it (about 3 I reckon!)
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Last week update (week 15)
Sorry blog-followers, seem to have neglected my duties recently!
Well last week I did no midweek run as I was recovering from a cold, so just Saturday and Sunday to tell you about. A personal best 21 minutes on Saturday followed by 20 on Sunday means I'm being more consistent now. And certainly on the Saturday run I felt I had a little more in the tank
I need to break the 30 minute barrier by the end of the month, but let's aim high and say the end of the week!
Well last week I did no midweek run as I was recovering from a cold, so just Saturday and Sunday to tell you about. A personal best 21 minutes on Saturday followed by 20 on Sunday means I'm being more consistent now. And certainly on the Saturday run I felt I had a little more in the tank
I need to break the 30 minute barrier by the end of the month, but let's aim high and say the end of the week!
Monday, 10 November 2008
End of week 14
I've missed a post - this is for my Sunday run ...
I actually felt good running today. Not for the first minute, that felt heavy-legged and difficult like it always does. But it never really got worse. Twenty minutes later and I was still running and I'd equalled my best.
Good thing about this run though is that I never really clock-watched. OK, I did, but less than usual. I really did feel I had 30 minutes in me, though because it was late I stopped at 20.
I might just do this, you know!
I actually felt good running today. Not for the first minute, that felt heavy-legged and difficult like it always does. But it never really got worse. Twenty minutes later and I was still running and I'd equalled my best.
Good thing about this run though is that I never really clock-watched. OK, I did, but less than usual. I really did feel I had 30 minutes in me, though because it was late I stopped at 20.
I might just do this, you know!
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Thank you
I've heard a few people are reading this now but haven't figured out how to post comments. Not sure if there's something dodgy with the settings, or whether that just shows the general technological nous of my friends and family, but whichever is true, then thank you for sticking with it and all your support!
Well today I didn't feel so good, or perhaps I was just nicely full with a good pub lunch and a sneaky pint and a half of bitter, but I couldn't put the training off. Again I decided to run as far as I can on the treadmill.
Strange as I felt after 4 or 5 minutes that I wasn't destined for a long run, but as every minute passed I felt that however bad it felt I at least had another minute in me. At 10 I decided to push for 12, at 12 for 15, and so on until I managed to run for twenty minutes.
I think running just one stint is helping - I may only have run today the same as running 4 5-minute stints, but it feels like four times the achievement. I'm optimistic now that I'll be able to run for 30 by the end of November - I have to aim for it if I'm to push on. But who says I can't do it?
Well today I didn't feel so good, or perhaps I was just nicely full with a good pub lunch and a sneaky pint and a half of bitter, but I couldn't put the training off. Again I decided to run as far as I can on the treadmill.
Strange as I felt after 4 or 5 minutes that I wasn't destined for a long run, but as every minute passed I felt that however bad it felt I at least had another minute in me. At 10 I decided to push for 12, at 12 for 15, and so on until I managed to run for twenty minutes.
I think running just one stint is helping - I may only have run today the same as running 4 5-minute stints, but it feels like four times the achievement. I'm optimistic now that I'll be able to run for 30 by the end of November - I have to aim for it if I'm to push on. But who says I can't do it?
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Another PB
Another run yesterday and I decided to see how far I could go in one run again. I do need to find a way of entertaining myself as after a few seconds I genuinely find it quite boring. At the moment I'm getting a nice satisfaction at the end of each run when I hit my target or beat my best so far, but the rest I could do without. How will I cope with 5 hours of this?
Anyway a thoroughly impressive(?) 17 minute stint this time and again I'm pleased that I've run the furthest yet. I need to step this up and hit half an hour before long, so I'll revise my targets and tell you all that I'll hit 30 minutes by the end of the month.
I'm not sure why I write "you all" though, is anyone actually reading this rubbish or is just for my benefit?!
Anyway a thoroughly impressive(?) 17 minute stint this time and again I'm pleased that I've run the furthest yet. I need to step this up and hit half an hour before long, so I'll revise my targets and tell you all that I'll hit 30 minutes by the end of the month.
I'm not sure why I write "you all" though, is anyone actually reading this rubbish or is just for my benefit?!
Sunday, 2 November 2008
End of week 13
I seemed to only get 2 runs in this week which is not very good. At least I'm making progress. Another pre-breakfast run today (though pre-breakfast on a Sunday means 9:30 not 6:30 thankfully).
It seems anyway that I've got over the difficulties of running for only 3-5 minutes at a time. Now my latest challenge has to be just to get out there for longer. Today I ran 10 minutes, walked for 2 minutes and ran 8 minutes further. All good progress I think. And it doesn't really feel like I'm gaining by stopping and walking for a little bit, which is at least acting as a good incentive for me to step up the running stints faster than I previously had.
Maybe that should be what I do on the big day, just run the whole thing. Is that what anybody else does?
It seems anyway that I've got over the difficulties of running for only 3-5 minutes at a time. Now my latest challenge has to be just to get out there for longer. Today I ran 10 minutes, walked for 2 minutes and ran 8 minutes further. All good progress I think. And it doesn't really feel like I'm gaining by stopping and walking for a little bit, which is at least acting as a good incentive for me to step up the running stints faster than I previously had.
Maybe that should be what I do on the big day, just run the whole thing. Is that what anybody else does?
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