Out of routine!

Hey!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and stuff about the run- it means loads to me to have so much encouragement and advice and so on. So thanks.

Because of my general excitement yesterday, I totally forgot about my training review of the week- these bank holidays are messing up my routine big time.

So this is for last week:

Monday- 9.5 mile run in the morning (think it was cooler but can’t really remember back that far!)

Tuesday- Aerobics as usual

Wednesday- 5.7 miles after work- think this was when my enthusiasm was low. But I did it.

Thursday- Body pump- back to my highest weights for the squats, a bit higher for the back.

Friday- Quick 3 mile run before breakfast (30 mins), plus some walking

Saturday- lots of gentle walking- we walked all day around various gardens and towns and stuff. So not really much rest!

Sunday- 20 mile race/ training run. (Check it out- I looked at the results here and the last person finished after the 4 hour cut off! I really did not need to panic! And seriously, how did the winner finish in 2 hours??)Plus some walking (and worrying about falling into a river- Andy only took pictures of me in case I fell in I reckon!).

Honestly my legs were so sore and some of the gaps are really big (plus the surface was slippery) I really did think I might fall in!

This means that in that past week my mileage got up to a whopping 38 miles! And as I have had my Nike+ a year (it was my pressie from Andy last year) I have done 948 miles in a year! Not bad!

So Monday was a rest day, and I just realised looking back that it was my first real rest day in a week. Phew!

Today my leg was still sore- I did a lot of foam rolling last night, which helped (and had some birthday carrot cake- this is sure to help with muscle soreness), so I opted out of aerobics and did a gentle 3 mile run after work. It surely was gentle as it was the same route as Friday, only it took me 34 mins instead of 30. Plus a lot of stretching afterwards.

Also I have a weird feeling with my little toe- I thought I had a blister when I finished, as it hurt. But there is no blister. All day today it has felt sore, as if I stubbed it perhaps. I then convinced myself (while driving home) that the nail was going to come off, but I checked and it is still attached. So I have no idea what it is, but any pressure on the toe (or could be the nail- my little toe is really very small) is sore. Who knows.

I now have some reflections from the run on Sunday.

I can run without my mp3 player and not panic about my breathing (I had one point going up a hill where I got very self conscious as I was with the cyclist guy, and it got very hard to breathe properly, but then I got out my tissue to wipe my nose and that distracted my brain! Clever). I know that clif bloks, jelly beans and cocoa orange nakd bars are good for me to eat while running. I should trust my pacing and go nice and slow and steady. I am getting stronger because I managed a walk later on that day (compared to my first half marathon where I could hardly move). I need to remember to drink a lot (and I can run for 4 hours nearly without needing to go to the toilet despite drinking loads).

I also again want to emphasise how great all the marshals were on the race. The entry fee was small (I think £12 for non club members or something) which made it great value for money. Most runs around here were geared up for London so were too early for us, so this one (billed as a run up to Edinburgh) was perfect timing, and I would really recommend it. Check out the website here.

Right, I am off to pop up on some blogs now- need to catch up on the latest 🙂