Back on Track

I'm feeling good... my eating is working it's way back on track and I've been eating pretty much back to normal the past few days. I'm so glad that blip didn't last too long. I know it could easily drop back to bad eating habits but hopefully I can keep a hold of things.. The other issues that were affecting my eating haven't been completely sorted but they're getting much better. Hopefully they will stay that way so I don't take another knock! Sorry for still being so cryptic by the way it's just things I don't really feel too comfortable discussing on the blog plus they affect other people and it's not really my place to write about them on here!

Ok. Onwards and upwards!

My first workout back was just a quick one. I was struggling having only just started eating more again with major bloatedness and that feeling of lead in your tummy... I was going to run but Mike was doing this so I just joined in with him instead. Since my first week of half training was such a major flop half training is beginning again this week.. I had a few spare weeks in case of injury or tiredness I just wasn't intending on using one of them up so soon.. Oh well, that's life isn't it!

Anyway - here's Saturdays workout.

5 x 3 min rounds containing

30s burpees
30s constant punching 1-2
30s screw shots
30s burpees
30s constant punching 1-2
30s shadow boxing

30s rest, repeat until flopped in a sweaty heap on the floor... or 5 rounds...

Now, on to yesterdays run. It was exactly what I needed. Good fuelling and better sleep meant I was able to run double the miles I ran on my last run at over a minute per mile faster than last time.

6 miles in 50.44
ave pace 8.27
Mile 1 - 9.01
Mile 2 - 8.35
Mile 3 - 8.32
Mile 4 - 8.26
Mile 5 - 8.23
Mile 6 - 7.48

Score!

I really needed a confidence building run after my last flopped run and just after having a rough couple of weeks. This run didn't even feel too hard except for the last mile when I really just took off I was breathing fairly heavy for the rest of it but it was reasonably comfortable.. Yay! I real ready to take on my half training and rock it :D I totally gave it my all in that last mile and couldn't speak when I got in I just sat on the floor for about 5 minutes trying to catch my breath I love that feeling where you've left it all out there. I know you can't run like that all the time but it feels great to do it once in a while!

What races are you training for at the moment? Got anything exciting fitness-wise on the cards? Tell me, tell me!

Some Fun Runs

I've got a lot of admiration for people who work full time and stick to a good exercise regime. It takes so much dedication to haul your arse out there for a run when all you really want to do is fall into the sofa and stay there! I'm still not fitting in as much as I used to when I was at uni/unemployed but I'm working on it!

After my early shift on Tuesday I definitely felt like slumping down into the sofa and staying there. Instead I quickly said hello to Mike and went upstairs to put my running gear on. I knew I'd feel better once I'd got out there.

6 miles in 54.17 avg 9.03
Mile 1 - 9.23
Mile 2 - 9.06
Mile 3 - 9.05
Mile 4 - 8.58
Mile 5 - 8.58
Mile 6 - 8.47

I wish I'd managed a slightly faster pace, would have been nice to see the average beginning with the number 8. I'm happy though.. I need to remember it's not all about going as fast as you can it's building endurance and getting time out there on my feet! I also managed a negative split... I'm getting better at those! It's just having the patience to go out slowly. I'm not a particularly patient person!

My legs felt mega sore at work on Wednesday but it was that good kind of soreness. The kind where you think yeah I ran x miles yesterday, go me! haha

I also did a music-less tempo this morning. Do you like to run with or without music or aren't you bothered? I cut the last mile as I really hate running without music and I was just getting bored! I was feeling surprisingly good during the tempo portion though, my legs and lungs felt pretty happy once I was finished with the first mile which seemed to shock the system a bit... Think my body was ambling along quite happily at my warm up pace then in the first tempo mile it was like errrm.. What's this? I thought we were takin' it easy, nah... I'm not playing.. Come the second tempo mile things eased up a bit and I was able to start pushing the pace a bit. And yay again for negative tempo splits! Huzzah!

4 miles, 3 miles at ST pace

4 in 35.46 8.57 avg
3 tempo miles in 25.22 8.27 avg

Mile 1 - 10.23
Mile 2 - 8.44
Mile 3 - 8.26
Mile 4 - 8.13

It feels so good to be running regularly again. Although I think I might have lost some speed the rest was probably needed if only to remind me how much I miss it when it's gone!

On a totally different note I wanted to ask everyone, is there anything you want to see more of on the blog? More boxing workouts, more food, healthy desserts, veggie stuff, anything you want to ask? I might do an 'ask me anything' post if people do have any questions you can find my email on the top right hand corner of the blog! I wouldn't ever start posting my daily eats I like reading those blogs but I would not like to have my daily food out there for scrutiny, it would make me way too nervous! But if people were interested I might post a sample day.... Interested in your ideas, I always want my workouts documented but would love to know what else if anything people want to see!

Hope you're all having a good week!

A 6 Mile Stitch

But first, The Deep! Yesterday we went to the Deep with some of Mike's family, it's a pretty cool ocean life museam kind of like a small seaworld but all inside.

The Architecture
(those horrible looking clouds did indeed soak us on the way out)

An ugly fish... I'm not sure what sort!

Luminous jelly fish

Sharks

Nemo! They were so cute!

Now, on to the running!

6 mile tempo
1 mile easy, 4 miles mid tempo (8.38), 1 mile slow

My Plan
1 mile @ just under 10 minute pace
8.48
8.42
8.34
8.28
1 mile @ just under 10 minute pace

What I did
6 miles in 53.31 average pace 8.55
Mile 1 - 10.00
Mile 2 - 8.48
Mile 3 - 8.24
Mile 4 - 8.37
Mile 5 - 8.37
Mile 6 - 9.02

Why I didn't stick to the plan...
It's all well and good having plans, and I love making plans! But in running and training sometimes your body just wants something else! In the first mile I got a stitch almost straight away, this is really wierd, I never get stitches. I putt it down to the fact I'm running after a day out where I didn't plan my food or drink well. I know I was dehydrated before I left the door but it was too late to remedy, I also felt pretty full but I didn't want to put the run off any longer as we hadn't seen Roxie much all day and we wanted to spend the evening with her.

I took mile 1 slightly slower and paused at one point to try and get rid of the stitch, it soon became evident that the stitch was there to stay! I felt really defeated in mile 2 thinking I'm never going to hit pace with this stitch.. grump, grump, grump... However, just before mile 3 it dawned on me, the stitch was there to stay no matter what pace, and the faster I went the faster I'd get home and could stop running! Subsequently mile 3 felt strong and although I'd intended to go for negative splits I decided to just go with it! I pulled back a little for miles 4 and 5 aiming for pace of 8.38 and hit just under. Overall I got slightly faster than the mid-tempo pace. That just shows what the mind can do, if I'd stayed being all defeatist I'm pretty sure I would not have hit my time. My cool down mile was a bit fast too... I just wanted to be home!

Running is such a mental game sometimes, that's one of the reasons I love it!

Hope everyone's had a good week, mine's been pretty productive! I've bagged myself two job interviews and some more voluntary work. The job interviews are for working at care homes and the voluntary work will be on an acute psychiatric ward. All will be great experience for my application for mental health nursing. I will get on that course! I got feedback from my interview, apparently only 2 people from my group got on!! You had to get full marks on the interview and I was a few short, it was really competetive just to get an interview as they had a 300% increase in applicants... The lady I spoke to said I probably would have got on last year so that was kind fo comforting, at least it wasn't me, it was just that some were better. I also feel better for next year knowing they do think I'm capable. It just means a bit of waiting, but so long as it all comes together eventually what's a year?

Lots of Bits'n'Bobs

Well I've had a bit of a hectic week, it's amazing how busy you can get being jobless!

On Tuesday I had a meeting with my mentee, we were going to yoga but I also wanted to get a run in as I had a full day on Wednesday. I ran to meet her which was 2 miles, we then did 1hr 30 minutes of a yoga class. I wasn't a fan of the yoga, it was a beginners yoga class but it went a bit slow, I know it's not supposed to be fast though so maybe it's just not for me, I prefered doing it from a video anyway. After that I ran a legnthened 4 mile route home. I was surprised how tired I was, I expected to be able to do it a lot faster after the break in the middle but that wasn't the case!

6 miles in two parts total 53.00, pace 8.47
Part 1 - 2 miles
1.5 hours yoga
Part 2 - 4 miles

Mile 1 - 8.38
Mile 2 - 8.20
Mile 3 - 8.39
Mile 4 - 9.13
Mile 5 - 9.05
Mile 6 - 8.51

Wednesday
I think I've probably mentioned on here before that I was applying to study mental health nursing. On Wednesday I had a day long interview/selection process for the course. I only applied to one university and I kind of felt confident I'd get on because I easily had the qualifications required and I had experience both personal and through voluntary work. I found out on Thursday I did not get on. Gutted doesn't even come close, I cried my eyes out, I don't know what to do with myself career wise, there aren't any music jobs and I finally thought I'd found my calling. I felt the whole day went well but apparently there were only 20 places and a huge number of applicants. I don't know how huge! I've emailed asking for feedback as I've decided to apply for another university close enough to commute to but it's not ideal. It'll work if it gets me where I need to be though. I'm so upset though, I feel like I'd make a good mental health nurse and now I'm recovered fully from my eating disorder I felt I could turn that experience into a positive to help other people.. Oh well it's not over. I'm stubborn, I'll keep on trying and if it's meant to be it will happen.

Thursday
Strength - density 20 minutes - as many push-ups, chin-ups, chair-dips and frog stands I could do in 20 minutes
Push-ups - 27
Chin-ups - 6 + 37 seconds hanging from the bar
Chair-dips - 43
Frog stand - 36 seconds in total

I felt so weak doing this workout, and that was before I got the bad news about the course! I still managed some core work for 15 minutes.

Finally, today I had my tempo run, let me tell you, it was horrible!! Why are they so horrible! I just don't know but they really take it out of me! I really struggled and even had to stop for a few moments during mile 2 when I was almost sick and embarrassingly dry heaved at the roadside for a little while whilst Mike propped me up! I'm not sure how I managed to acheive the pace, after the first two miles it felt entirely impossible!

Stats
5 mile tempo run 44.41, 8.57 minute pace overall (8.21 for the mid section)
1 mile slow 9.58
3 miles short tempo 8.23
1 mile slow 9.58
Mile 1 - 9.36
Mile 2 - 8.32
Mile 3 - 8.26
Mile 4 - 8.05
Mile 5 - 10.05

Well I'm going to go chill out and watch some tv now! We had quite a day today after the run as we found a stray dog, a west yorkshire terrier who was absolutely adorable but in need of a good bath and full groom. We sent him away with the dog wardens he will not be put down if no-one claims him (I wouldn't have let him go if that was a risk!). Anyway I totally fell for him. If no-one claims him we might well find ourselves with a little doggie! He was so sweet!

Amazing Run!

I had the BEST run yesterday! I felt like I'd borrowed someone elses lungs! It was so good :-) The run I had planned was a 6 mile long tempo run which I was supposed to run at an 8.53 pace.. The fasted I'd ever run 6 miles before was a 9 minute pace so I didn't actually think I would acheive the pace set out in the plan... I was so wrong! I set out with a plan to run some miles fast, some at pace and some slow. My first mile would be a slow warm up then I intended to speed up just a little bit... I sped up a lot but it felt really good... I was concerned I would burn out as I have done many times before so I decided I would make sure the next mile was a slower than pace one. When I started that mile it just seemed comfortable around an 8.40-8.45 pace so I hovered around there and decided the next would be slow, the next mile ended up being a slightly slower but similar pace... I forced the 5th mile to be a slower one so I could ensure a strong finish, my last mile was a 7.50 pace! The last time I ran 6 miles, I was so tired by the last mile I ran a 9.28 mile and my previous ones were slower. It felt so good to smash my old time! Yipeeeeee!! I also beat my old 4 and 5 mile times along the way! I've no idea how I did it today I hope this trend continues!

My times;
4 miles in 34:49
5 miles in 43:40
6 miles in 51:31
6.2 miles in 52:56

My splits;
Mile 1 - 9.08
Mile 2 - 8.13
Mile 3 - 8.42
Mile 4 - 8.47
Mile 5 - 8.51
Mile 6 - 7.50
0.2 - 1.24 (7.05 pace)

Annoyingly, I lost my belly button ring on the run... I lost one on last Sundays 9 miler too!! I have two piercings in my belly button and I'd just replaced the one I lost last week, what are the chances of it happening again!! When I noticed it was gone I didn't know whether to laugh or curse... so I did both! Another thing... this woman in a car stopped me for directions! Erm lady I have a pace to keep here haha.... couldn't help her cause I didn't know what she was looking for but to be honest, I'm not sure if I would have helped if I did, there were plenty of walkers to ask...why pick me! Has this ever happened to any of you? I was really surprised to be honest haha

I have some exciting news.... Mike found me a bargain Garmin 301 on ebay!! I'm getting my own garmin... how long have I been going on about getting one!! It's slightly faulty but it's only that the mode button doesn't always work... I can live with that! Yay :D

Right... must go get ready for work... boohoooooooo

3.33 Plank Hold

I was going to run intervals today, I like running intervals at the beginning of the week but my legs just didn't feel powerful enough so I decided to swap them with my 'long' run. My prescribed pace for the 6 miles was 8.58, I was ok for 5 miles but I dropped right off in the last mile.. I really need to better my aerobic endurance. I've decided I'm going to switch up the long runs and try and run a bit longer but slower and try and be a bit more consistent with my pacing over them. I'm intending on trying to start slow finish strong in my next one. I'm starting to get really worried about my pacing for the half and also about reaching my time goals. The more I run the more ridiculous the goal I set myself seems..

Today I ran 6 miles in 53.57. I beat my old 4 mile and 5 mile records along the way and ran 2 seconds faster than my 6 mile time.. this is one good thing about being a new runner, I'm still improving my times a lot! My average heartrate was 181 though, I really wish I could get that down, my legs still feel strong when my lungs and heart let me down. Anyway here are the splits.

Mile 1 - 8.58 HR 168
Mile 2 - 8.51 HR 181
Mile 3 - 8.52 HR 182
Mile 4 - 8.51 HR 184
Mile 5 - 9.00 HR 186
Mile 6 - 9.28 HR 185

Gahhh that last mile was so frustrating. I really wanted to quit, my finger was poised above the pause button more than once. But finishing slow is better than quitting so I'll take it! My new 5 and 4 mile times save this run a little bit!

5 miles in 44.32
4 miles in 35.32

I just hope I can sort my endurance and pacing problems out. I'll be so upset if I mess up my pace and burn out early on in the half marathon.

Before tea Mike and I decided to test our max push-ups, pull-ups and plank. My push-ups were 27, 3 less than my max of 30 which is suggesting I ought to be doing them more often, and I think my weekly totals would agree with that statement. I still can't do a full pull-up from dead hang so they were a bit of a non-starter too, but from dead hang I can get higher up, I was close but just didn't quite have the strength needed. My plank, however, as you might have guessed from the title was pretty damn good! I lasted 3.33 what a fun number haha. I don't know how I stayed up so long, I remember looking at the timer at 1.44 thinking I can never hold this another minute but I put it out of the way and tried not to think about it. I was thinking about Mike doing a 5+ minute plank (he is strong!!) and I thought if he can do more than 5 minutes I can do 3! I was shaking so much when I dropped.

Oh yeah.. and then like a complete crazy lady I did a core workout with Mike, straight after the mega plank... I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!! We did 20 minutes of core and called it a night. I'd meant to do all these tests before the end of March so I could put them on my monthly recap.. which is still to come, but they'll start April off nicely at least!

10-11/03/10

I had a pretty good run yesterday, I wanted to see if I could run 6 miles at my goal half marathon pace, I have no idea if a 9 minute pace for my first half marathon is attainable, but I would absolutely love to do a sub 2hr one! That of course may be impossible! And honestly all I'm really worried about is finishing it but sub 2hrs just sounds good, a nice round number!

I couldn't fit my run yesterday morning so it had to be an afternoon run, this is my least favourite workout time so I hoped it wouldn't affect me too much. I don't think it did...

Afternoon 10/03/10
6 miles 53.59
average pace 8.59
average HR 175

On a side note, the Waitrose shop came yesterday, I was pretty impressed, we got a lot for what we spent considering it's known as one of the more expensive stores, I think perhaps their prices have gone down a bit.. When they had somehow forgotten to deliver two items they re-delivered them with a five pound voucher, not bad! I think we'll be shopping from there again, the food is nice and it actually worked out cheaper than Tescos...who'da thought it!

I also got a freebie at Lush yesterdat, if you take in 5 empty pots you get a free face mask and we'd finally got through 5 pots, I have a yummy smelling oat, banana and vanilla facemask sat in my fridge called Oatifix, I tried it last night and it was lovely, and I still have loads left. Fab!

Today I was at my mental health mentor training again, I'm now all trained up, all I need is my CRB, goodness knows how long that will take! It's my scheduled rest day today but since I didn't get my core or isometrics done yesterday I've done them today, they're not too strenuous so I don't think it matters too much for a one off!

PM 11/03/10
Core - Standing Ab Roll-outs (to a wall) 5 x 10
Isometric Punches - Jab/Straight/L.hook/R.uppercut