This week I have progressed to running the entire distance of my training runs. I'm really happy about this as I've managed it much sooner than I'd anticipated. Most of my runs this week have been on the treadmill so my pace has been steady as well. In the past I have found it difficult to transfer the steady pace on the treadmill to the streets so I will have to see how I get on this time. That said the treadmill is not proving to be my friend. Whilst it is helping to keep a steady pace the gym I'm a member of seems to randomly impose a 30 min time limit on the equipment. I can understand why this is implemented but the gym is not busy and I don 't understand why they are not implementing it on every machine. It is currently taking me 35 mins to run 5k so the 30 min time limit is having a major impact one ability to cover the distance I need to. Having said that it is probably a good thing that I had to kerb my distance a I did not feel great after my 7k run on Sunday and so today I only did 3k. This could be a good thing as I have covered the 10k over 3 days. |
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Running Week 3 #running
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Running week 2 - Playlists #running
The second week has been good. It's been really cold in London this week and getting myself out of the door has been quite a challenge. I ran Friday, Sunday and Tuesday and covered 17 km in a mix of walk and run. Next week I am planning to ditch the walk apart from the first 5 mins for a warm up.
I use an iPod nano with a Nike+ sensor and receiver. I only use the nano for running and until this month I hadn't updated the tunes on it for at least 2 years. I have downloaded the ministry of sound 5k tracks and all of that but I don't really like them so I've always made my own running playlists with no real genre grouping. I sometimes like to run to whole albums (or at least the fast tunes on an album) in particular I like the first 5 or 6 tracks of Take That "Progress" and the fast ones (I.e. most of) the fame monster by lady gaga. On Thursday I watched a repeat showing of the Matt Lucas in Les Mis documentary and this in addition to watching "the story of the musical" earlier in the evening inspired me to make a musicals playlist.
Once I stared to look through my iTunes it dawned on my that the musical is the ideal place to find an upbeat, inspiring, "you can do it" kind of song. I now have an hours long playlist ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein (Oklahoma!) through Lloyd Webber, Rice and Macintosh (Evita,Superstar,Joseph) to very recent shows (Hairspray).
I ran 7k with it on Sunday and it was the best run I'd had all week. My only issue is that I want to sing along the whole time and that messes my breathing up a bit and some songs make me want to botofago mid stride - which will eventually lead to the inevitable spectacular fall so I try not to actually do that. I do allow myself the odd arm move and sung word thought I try not to be too loud.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Monday, 16 January 2012
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Running week 1 #running
I have decided to get seriously in to running. I tried last year and I did it for a while but I tailed off due to going on holiday and not taking my kit and then not really starting again seriously when I came back. So this year I am going to make room in all my bags for my kit and get on with running at least 3 times a week. Oh and I’ve signed up for a 10k on 4th March so I really need to be able to run properly by then.
Before I stopped I was doing 5K in around 33 mins. I have re started with a slow build up. My first week’s runs have been split between 5 mins walk / 10 mins run to cover the distance required by the Nike+ 10k coach (though quite frankly I think the coach is way excessive so I just use it as a guide to frequency rather than distance).
The first run I did was in the rain, which was a good thing, as the subsequent dry runs have been easier. I covered 4.44km followed by another 4.6km run 2 days later and 7.11km 2 days after that. Here is the proof that I actually RAN 7.11km
The Nike 10k coach suggested I should have done 8km but I’m not listening to him. Finally on day 7 I did 5.29km so I’ve covered 21.44km in my first week. I am very pleased and surprised that I have managed this. The 5.29k run was split 5 min walk, 15 min run, 5 min walk then run to 5k mark and I covered this is about 38 min. As I was doing 5k in 33mins last year, and I had 10 mins of walking during this run I am really pleased with my progress. I even felt like I was enjoying it for some of the time (and not just during the walking bits) and I feel really motivated to carry on.
At the end of my first week I’m feeling good about being “a runner” and I would definitely like to be able to say that is what I am but I don’t think I’m there yet.
We shall see how I get on.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Friday, 6 January 2012
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