I am pleased to report that my new attitude to training and running persists! I wrote last week:
“I also feel much calmer somehow, no longer worrying about the November date or the training that I will or will not be able to fit in my schedule over the coming months; I just run each session at a time, not worrying so much where it fits in the whole, each run a gift to myself…”
And it seems that there was more truth in that than I thought when I was writing it: my running workouts have stopped being a chore and returned to being a real treat – yes, even the intervals that really test you and make you feel your chest can no longer contain your panting lungs! It’s that new (or rather re-found) outlook that has meant I’ve sought out every opportunity to go for a run – and for a second week in a row, I’ve used a work-related overnight stay in London to will myself out of a warm comfy bed much earlier than I needed to and go for intervals in Regent’s Park – today sporting the new Huncote Harriers training top no less! I was really proud of myself (I know it’s commonplace for most runners out there, but I’ve repeatedly admitted that early morning runs are not my thing) so I rewarded myself with a decent omelette and croissant for breakfast in the hotel and walked the 2.5km to the office in the sunshine!
That was on top of the first Cooper test I did after work yesterday: not part of my plan, but I think I’ll include them on a monthly basis, just to give me an indication of how my fitness is (hopefully) improving as a result of my training. Thing is, every training session feels very tough (ok, apart from easy run days), so I think an objective measure of my fitness would help.
On other news, there was no long run for me last Sunday (every so often my plan will substitute these for a progression run, which is actually crueller in its own insidious way!), so I took the opportunity to do a strength workout as well. Unfortunately the miCoach app has been playing up recently (I think they are preparing to launch v3.0 and for some reason that has necessitated messing up the current version!), which meant I couldn’t start my next Strength and Flexibility programme, so I went with one that I had designed for me at the gym in my last three-monthly assessment. It’s short and sweet (over in about 25′), but it seems to hit all the bits that matter and how! I think it is the kettlebell swings that I find particularly hard, not necessarily when I’m doing them (although I do try to go as heavy as I can), but 1-2 days after… They leave me feeling aching all over and most surprisingly drained of energy in a way I’ve not experienced with strength training before… I read about them a bit, and they seem to provide a comprehensive workout (which could be why they seem to tax me so much), with low risk of injury so they are staying!
So I’m pretty pleased with how things are progressing training-wise, although of course there is a long way to go still. The only change I think I’ll make to my routine is to add something to strengthen my upper back: My shoulder / shoulder blade area seems to get stiff on long runs, and I think it’s calling for some attention… a desk job doesn’t help much, I suppose! Any suggestions?
My only regret is that I haven’t been on a club training night for a long time. It’s usually because I’ve been away, or because I had a specific workout of my own to do on that day, but I’ve hardly ran with the club all summer! I’ll see if I can tweak the sequence of my runs in a week to keep Tuesdays open for a general run with the Harriers.
Running the Marathon. Again. 