Spring is coming! I don't know if anyone else is feeling the same but I feel like the fog of winter and the dark is finally lifting. I can just about walk Goose, my dog, at 6.30am without a head torch, the birds are singing loudly every morning and the snowdrops and daffodils are in flower. It's still bloody freezing but the sun has occasionally got his hat on!
I've had a good few weeks of training and I'm starting to believe there might be a few races this Spring.
Week starting 18th January - 66.26 miles.
A great week of training this week apart from Sunday.
Monday 18th - Early run before work. 7.15 miles. Andy's S&C session over Zoom in the evening. I go through the same dilemma every week - I find it really difficult to get to sleep on a Sunday which makes it difficult to drag myself out of bed for a 5.30am start before work on a Monday morning. If I don't run in the morning then making Andy's class and fitting in a run really difficult. This week I managed the early run and was very pleased with myself!
Tuesday 19th - Session with 8 mins, 8 x 45 sec hills with a jog recovery, 5 mins. Approx 2 minutes between the different sections. Total 7.52 miles.
Pouring down tonight so quite proud that I got out and did the session. I did a bit of faffing around while I convinced myself to go and do it.
Wednesday 20th - Easy run before work in the rain. Absolutely soaked by the end! 10.91 miles.
Thursday 21st - An hour run aiming to increase the pace from easy to steady. 8.03 miles. I was supposed to do this with my friend Dani but he was really late (he's Spanish so is a little more relaxed about time in general!) so I did lots of loops waiting for him to appear. A pretty good run. Poor Dani arrived with 20 minutes left which meant I was well into my steady pace and he had to go from zero to running fairly fast without a warm up. Time waits for no man!
Friday 22nd- Tough session today - 5 x 6 minutes but picking it up for the last minute. What a way to wreck your legs! Absolutely freezing today too. 10.30 miles total. PT in the park afterwards with Tom Smith.
Saturday 23rd - Easy hour run, 7.44 miles.
Sunday 24th - It snowed this morning and the aim was 2 hours with a steady final 10 miles. I sent Tom Craggs a text as it was a mixture of snow, ice and slush by the time I went out and he said easy was fine. I tried to avoid the crowds by heading over a trail route but in my effort to avoid people I got a bit lost and the trail was a mixture of frozen ruts and wet snow. By the end my feet were soaking from the melted snow and I was cold and sore. Not my best run and I wish that I'd just waited til the afternoon and tried to do the set session, once the snow and ice had melted.
Week starting 25th January - 45.40 miles
Lighter week this week.
Monday 25th - Didn't drag myself out of bed to run, just walked my lovely dog instead. I never struggle to get up to walk the dog, I'm not sure why getting up to run before work is so much harder. Sadly my lovely doggo is too old and stiff these days to run with me. Home late from work but my friend Ben saved the day by still being keen to run fairly late and in these lockdown times I never say no to run-company. 5.37 miles.
Tuesday 26th - Session of 4 sets of 5 x 1 minute hard with 30 seconds steady between. 8.28 miles total. Ellie joined me for this one which was a godsend - she's super speedy and bouncy and full of enthusiasm for life which rubs off on me and makes a session after work feel quite fun!
Wednesday 27th - All easy in the morning - 6.33 miles - with enough time for a dog walk too before work. Bliss.
Thursday 28th - Rest day!
Friday 29th - Easy run with strides at the end. 6.56 miles
Saturday 30th - The aim was to run a time trial 5km, hard. Woohoo! 5km PB! 18.40 on my watch. I don't care if it's my optimistic Garmin - I'm over the moon!
Called into work in the afternoon but home in time for dinner.
Sunday 31st - Easy run with Ben. 12.4 miles and could have done more with all the chat. Running with friends makes the miles so much easier.
Week starting 1st Feb - 73.91 miles
Pinch, punch, first of the month. The 5km from Saturday was a real surprise and has given me a little more confidence about my fitness. I've felt quite flat for a lot of January and unsure if the uncertainty around racing (I was hoping to run the Kew marathon in March) was affecting my training. I've actively avoided counting weeks until the race and thinking about where in the training block I'm in - I've just tried to take each day at a time. It doesn't always work but this week was a good one.
Monday 1st - Not enough hours in the day! I should have got up and ran in the morning but walked Goose instead and had a slower start to the week. In the evening I had an hour of running to do, a Zoom committee meeting and a Zoom S&C class. I managed 30 minutes before the committee meeting then listened to the meeting while doing my best to follow the S&C class on mute before finishing my run off while listening to the end of the meeting. Couldn't get to sleep for ages - not surprising given my stress levels this evening. 6.94 miles.
Tuesday 2nd - A fun session of 8 minutes, 10 x 50 second hills and 8 minutes. Tough on my own and I always get this wave of fatigue when I get home. Quickly changed and got out the door before my brain could argue too much! 9.11 miles total.
Wednesday 3rd - Longish run pre-work (on call night for me). 90 minutes total and 11.44 miles.
Thursday 4th - Switched my runs round as feeling fatigued and did a lovely run with Ellie with lots of time to chat (not enough in the end - we ran loops to keep talking!). 8.17 miles and lots of run therapy!
Friday 5th - 75 minutes with the last 30 at a faster pace. Pleased with my pace. 10.04 miles.
Saturday 6th - a good session this morning even if I was dreading it initially. 3 x 10 minutes with a 5 minute steady float between. It's maintaining the float that's the killer! 12.52 miles total. We celebrated my husband's new job in the evening with some pub takeout food with cocktails. Full belly tonight.
Sunday 7th - Lush long run in the cold air. 15.7 miles. Lots of wind from the Beast from the East but great company made the miles fly by. Back for a cuddle with Goose, second breakfast in bed and a book for company. Bliss!