Starting Febulous

So the old school marathon talk listeners might remember the first year of Jantastic. After the first month they carried it on and called it Febulous, and then came Marchvellous- before they decided that was long enough! Anyway, month 2 means that you select your workouts per week, and also include the distance of your longest workout each week.

Now, I can’t work out how to view them, but for the first week I had to run 15 miles as my longest of 4 runs, as per my training plan. Next week I didn’t choose such a long run because we are away for the weekend, so my long run will actually be on the Monday of the following week (half term).

This week:

Monday– Rest day. I considered a walk when I got home, but my cold was pretty bad- my sinuses were sore and my teeth and eyes were aching, so I opted for PJ’s on in front of the TV instead.

Tuesday– Club run. We did 4 miles- mostly chatting with another member- it was so cold at first it was hard to breathe or feel your legs!

Wednesday– I opted out of SRC as I still had my cold so didn’t fancy trying to keep up with the others, plus there was the option of cutting it short if I needed to. 5 miles was on the plan, and 5 miles was completed, again in the cold. Kept a pretty good pace too (just over 10min miles). I wanted to be home a bit earlier too, as my eye had been a bit sticky- I initially thought it was down to doing some Vicks bowls, but then I thought it was more like conjunctivitis. It said on NHS direct that you could go to a pharmacist, and there was one open until 9, so we went along and I was given some antibiotic eye drops- much easier than the time I got it before and had to wait at the doctors for a few hours until they had a gap in appointments.

Thursday– Hooray- booked onto pump. Kept my squats and back weights a bit lower, which I think is better for me at the moment.

Friday– Rest. Had a walk after work.

Saturday– Went to parkrun with my dad and brother (I realised I had forgotten my barcode so Dad had to turn around and drive home, so by the time we parked we had to jog to the start). I played a game of “catch the person in front” and didn’t look at my watch at all. It seemed to work, as I was very surprised to see 28-something in my watch as I crossed the finish line! All 3 of us got course pb’s! 28.35 for me- the fastest on that course and it is a hilly one! Perhaps a jog to the start is the way forward?

Buckwheat pancakes, blueberries (mostly hidden under the pancakes) and that amazing vegan butterscotch sauce to celebrate a pb! Woohoo!

Sunday– 15 miles. I need to start having breakfast before I go I think. But I couldn’t decide on anything, so took some dates with me, and ended up forgetting and eating them during the final mile. The run was OK, but I got quite stiff towards the end. Plus the weather was weird- sunny (not complaining about that) but really cold- you could see your breath the whole way around. So I got very sweaty but stayed really cold. Quite strange really. After my shower I got back into my PJ’s (could not decide what to wear), and had a lovely coconut drink (Chi chocolate coconut milk) while I cooked French toast, which I had with a banana and blueberries and sauce. I was going to laze about, but then of course active recovery is best, so we had a 2 mile walk in the sunshine.

So another successful week. 27.3 miles, only one more than last week but that was down to my cold in part. I do have a task for this week though- to actually plan something to eat before a long run- I know I need to start trying things, but I feel so much better running on an empty stomach, so at the moment I don’t have that motivation. So you can all tell me off if I don’t do it next week.

Do you have a good pre-run routine? I tried porridge for a bit, or toast, and sometimes have a clif bar before a race, but I can’t settle on something that I really like.