Workout Capacity 101 Before Breakfast...!

Remember the Natural Balance bars I reviewed, the Nakd and Trek bars? Well the lovely people at Natural Balance have put me on the news part of their website, how exciting :-) go check it out here!

Yesterday I ran intervals (no HR data as Mike was wearing his garmin.. I so want my own!!)

Warm up 1 mile @9.45
1600m (7.53) 7.31
400m RI
1600m (7.53) 7.44
400m RI
800m (3.49) 3.45
Cool Down 400m

Those intervals were tough! My legs felt so heavy in the last 800m, I think it's my own fault, I paced myself too fast for all the repeats, though I got closer each time (the time I was supposed to run is in brackets)! I couldn't believe how much harder they were than my last interval workout when I did 400m repeats. I cut the cool down short as I'm trying to save my legs so I can do all my planned workouts this week. My knees were ok but they felt a bit sore and stiff afterwards. I iced them as planned after the run but they still felt a bit stiff last night, hopefully they will be ok tomorrow for my tempo, I don't think they're injured I think they're just a bit sensitive.

When I got home from my run I had a package from pulsin with a few discs to try. It was too late to try the pre-workout snacks but I had half the protein disc after my lunch. Unfortunately all the discs contained soy so Mike couldn't try any. This was the biggest downside to them, especially as it was just soy lecithin so they could have used sunflower lecithin to allow people with soy allergies to enjoy them too, one of the discs had both in! I noticed cause I got excited thinking Mike could try it but then we saw the dreaded soya! Other than the soy the discs had good ingredients. The protein sport disc had a nice chocolatey taste and a nice texture with protein crispies similar to the trek bars. The disc had 15g of protein and just over 200 calories, not bad!

The discs they sent

We did some bodyweight strength before tea, we did core, push-ups, pull-ups and chin-ups. We did our core moves in our rest periods for the push-ups and pull-ups. I did tempo push-ups, 3 seconds going down and 2 seconds going up. For the pull-ups and chin-ups I did the 3 second hold at the top, middle and bottom. In the rest for the push-ups we did 60s isometric holds which is going to make up the core challenge sample workout 3!
10 wide hand push-ups
ab wheel hold 60s
5 normal hand push-ups
plank 60s
2 diamond push-ups
crunch hold 60s
3 knuckle push-ups
leg raise 60s
7 wide hand push-ups
L side plank 60s
4 normal hand push-ups
R side plank 60s

Then on to the pull-up/chin-up sets

normal grip chin-up
30 crunches
normal grip pull-up
30 crunches
close grip chin-up
30 crunches
close grip pull-up
30 crunches
wide grip chin-up
30 crunches
wide grip pull-up
30 crunches

And done for the day!

Sample Core Workout 3

This is a challenging workout just using isometric holds, I think all the moves are on the core work page except the ab wheel hold which is just a hold as you would be in the lower position of the ab wheel move. Choose how long you hold the exercises for, just under your max so you can finish the workout.

ab wheel hold
rest 30s
plank
rest 30s
crunch hold
rest 30s
leg raise
rest 30s
L side plank
rest 30s
R side plank
rest 2 minutes and repeat the circuit.

How is everyone's core challenge going? Let me know how you're doing :-)

I was going to publish this post last night but I was experiencing some technical difficulties with my photo editor, as in, we had to reformat the computer and lost the program and I couldn't for the life of me get it to reinstall! I asked Mike to try to make sure I wasn't doing something daft but he couldn't get it to work either so I've downloaded picasa now. I've just used it and it seems pretty good, Mike had to help me a bit, I'm pretty rubbish when it comes to figuring out technology!

Oh yeah, check out our set up to get the CD player to work on the laptop... It's not going to last much longer!


We had a mega busy day today so we got up early to get our workout in before breakfast. Let me tell you, workout capacity 101 before breakfast is very unpleasant! I felt so sick and I was a bit dizzy afterwards, tough workouts on a totally empty stomach are not good! The workout went like this (this is a modified version);

5 chair dips
10 band slams
15 burpees
20 star jumps

x 10 rounds

I finished in 16.35 - tough stuff! In hindsight I wish I'd worn the heart rate monitor to see what my heart rate actually was, it felt high!

We were busy today as we were volunteering at the university, we had to get two buses each way so it's almost 2 hours of travel even though it would be about 15-20 minutes in a car... I wish one of us drove! We experienced two bad bus drivers today, we ran for a bus and just as we got there he pulled away not letting us on and leaving us in the cold and rain to get drenched waiting 30 minutes for another bus, they are supposed to be every 10 minutes but that's English public transport for you... Another bus driver wouldn't let a man on because he'd started the engine going, he then proceeded to stay there with the engine going not moving because he couldn't back out of the bay. It would have been no problem at all to let that man get on, the mind boggles, people can be so selfish!

Whew what a long post! Hope everyone's had a great day!

Hill Race Video and a Boxing Workout

Remember my first race, the hill run? The running club posted some videos to youtube! They aren't great quality and you'll not want to watch the whole of video 1 (they managed to film a man erm relieving himself by the side of the track...how did they not notice and edit that out..really!).. oh I just realised the screen shot at the beginning of video one is the man weeing!!! What?? How strange.. They must have known it was there!!!

Anyway in video one you can see everyone start, Mike appears around 40 seconds in overtaking people on the outside in navy trousers and a dark grey hoody (you can spot both of us a mile off cause we're the ones not in proper running gear!) and you can see me from around 50 seconds onwards pretty much at the back! At 1.30 in it goes to the finish line, skip to around 6.30 to see Mike finish then go to video 2, you can see me in the distance from around 3.50. Unfortunately it doesn't show any of the race in between the start and finish, there were people taking pictures though so I'm hoping to find them on the net somewhere..







Hope you enjoyed the videos!

For todays workout we did some boxing. We used the Bas Rutten track when we were on the heavy bag, the rounds were 2 minutes and on the exercise/shadow boxing rounds we did 30s exercise 30s shadow boxing x 2. In between rounds we had 1 minute rest. It went like this;

• Burpees/Shadow Boxing
• Heavy Bag
• Mountain Climbers/Shadow Boxing
• Heavy Bag
• Medicine Ball Burpees/Shadow Boxing
• Heavy Bag
• High Knee Dumbell Press/Shadow Boxing
• Heavy Bag

Then we did the circuit from a few days ago, 20 seconds on each station then 1 minute rest before repeating the circuit.

• Burpees
• Shrugs (10kg in each hand)
• Push-ups
• Jumping Jacks
• Upright Rows (10kg barbell)
• High Knee Dumbell Press
• Chair Dips
• Lunges
• Mountain Climbers
• Dumbell Punches
• Leg Raises
• Clean and Push Press (10kg barbell)
• V-ups

I was tired after that lot! I have a nice relaxing night with a pot of green tea and a Mike planned! Hope everyone has had a nice Sunday, and hope all the racers today had good runs, looking forward to the recaps!

Charity Races and the London Marathon

Did anyone in the UK watch the Dispatches on the London Marathon last night? It just clarified what I was talking about a few weeks ago about most of the charity races. Not enough goes to the charity.

The London Marathon charge people who win ballot places £32, but they charge charities upwards of £350! They make so much profit from the charities, they make over £600,000 from ballot places alone how can they justify making so much from the charities on top of that, bear in mind that they also get huge sponsorship deals from large corporations. The London marathon also gets reduced rates for staging the event as it's a charity, policing it costs £400,000 and London Marathon only pay the police £52,000 as it is a charity event. On top of that, councils close areas for free or very reduced costs £80,000 normal cost down to £5000 in Tower Hamlets. A 10km race in London going past the main landmarks costs £400,000 to run, if it only costs this for a 10km race not being subsidised as it is not a charity race how can the London Marathon justify it's huge profits masked as running costs. The London Marathon 'charity' make £18 million profit, out of that there are £12 million unspecified outgoings... Some staff salaries are £240,000-£250,000 per annum, double the highest paid staff in other large charities.

There is also unfairness in the choice of charities being let in to the event with the larger, more well known charities being given the cheaper golden bond places. Smaller charities are simply not considered for these places. It is not publicised which charities have golden bond places and how many they hold it is all very secretive. Strange for a charitable organisation...

A more expensive solution is offered for smaller charities, 4 'free' places for £5000-£8500s worth of advertising via banners on the London Marathon website. Usually this type of net advertisement is based on page views and not by flat rates as used by Real Buzz (aka the London Marathon.. unoficially...). Over half the money raised for those charities goes to London Marathon and not to the charities.

It is cheaper for British charities to fly people to New York to run the New York Marathon than it is to get them into the London Marathon.

The London Marathon have a monopoly and stop any other marathons in London, even half marathons in London. A half marathon organised by the same company which runs the 10km race mentioned earlier was forced to cancel as London Marathon claimed a breach in copywrite.

Their finances are sketchy too, as well as the 12million pounds worth of unexplained outgoings, the London Marathon charitable trust is incosistent by £4million in how much money they have given out in grants. Most of which has not actually been given out yet, 14 million pounds worth of grants have been awarded but not given out, many dating back as early as 2004. Last year only 55% of what they pledged in grants was actually given out. Furthermore, they give money to local authorities - why? There is an unexplained £4 million to given London boroughs with no guidance from the Marathon comittee as to what the expect the boroughs to accomplish with the money.

They saved the most shocking statistic for last. For every £6000 they received less than £1 went to charity.

It really grates on me because I think if I'm raising money for charity I'd want it all to go to the charity not to a business making profit out of people's hard work and kindness. I don't want people out of pocket but I don't believe they should be making a profit from money people think is going to charity. I have avoided several charity races because out of the entry fee none of it, or barely any of it goes to the charity and I don't think it's right. I know a lot of the charities which have places in the London Marathon can make a great deal of money through it and because of that they are acheiving good but I do not see why they feel the need to make so much profit.

For fairness sake you can read what the London Marathon had to say about the documentary here.

I know I will always choose races like the Humber Bridge Half, I will pay my entry fee myself and then I can raise money for a charity which is really close to my heart and all the sponsorship money I raise will go directly to the charity. I actually tried to set up a Justgiving account for the charity I'm supporting in my upcoming half but Justgiving charge charities £15 a month for the privelege to be on their site (as well as 5% of all sponsor money), and this charity is a small local charity which can't afford that. I don't even know if I'd make them enough to break even if they set up that account, I was so shocked at them charging £180 per annum, they don't tell that to the public, only to the charities. But that's another rant and I'm sure you've heard enough for today!

Weekly Totals
Miles - 14
Push-ups - 126 (16 weighted)
Chin-ups - 14
Pull-ups - 17
Neck Exercises - 1
Isometric Punches - 0
Wrist Curls - 1
Core - 2

Not bad totals this week, got my two core workouts in... actually I'm really happy I've got some support on this core challenge, it's been really motivating for me, thanks guys!

Hope everyone's enjoying the weekend, it's been gorgeous sunshine over here today, I hope it stays sunny tomorrow!

Bodyweight Strength Day

Well, today I had intervals planned but I didn't do them. I was all dressed in my running gear at the door and I decided it was a bad idea, my knees felt bad to walk on and although I really didn't want to miss a workout I really don't want to injure myself and put myself out for any long period of time so I decided to play it safe. I think it was the right descision, my knees are still feeling sore tonight.

Since I wasn't doing my running I decided to get some push-ups, pull-ups and chin-ups done. The push-ups were done with varying hand positions, wide, normal, close and knuckle and the chin/pull-ups were done as negative holds, jump up to the top hold at the top for 3 seconds, middle for 3 seconds and bottom for 3 seconds. I did;

38 Push-ups
8 Chin-ups
8 Pull-ups

Core Challenge Sample Workout 2
Ab Roll-Outs
Complete 5 sets of ab roll-outs either standing to a wall or kneeling. Choose the reps according to how it feels for you - just past when you feel the burn! If you don't have an ab wheel you can use a dumbell with the weights loose and hands either side of the weights.

If you don't have the equipment for ab roll-outs here is an alternative circuit (if you don't have a medicine ball you can use small handweights instead)!

Sit-ups with medicine ball
Side bends
Russian Twists

Complete the circuit 3-5 times and remember to stretch afterwards. Be prepared to lower the reps as the weights will probably make you more sore than a bodyweight core circuit... They do for me anyway! Remember to stretch out afterwards!

Hope everyone's enjoying the first week! Just want to do a quick shout out to Lauren who got a 3.30 plank on her first timed try! Only stopped by her socks slipping - something which always gets me too, I never remember to take them off! Check out her first core post!

By the way... I finally joined Twitter to see what all the fuss is about.. no idea what to do on it yet haha, is anyone else on it? My user name is BoxRunEat.

8 Fun Miles and a Strength Fail!

Yesterday I decided to go on a nice long run and just enjoy it! I've been very concerned with my pacing lately and I don't think it's good to be too obsessive about it, especially when I'm not always managing what I set out to do I end up feeling really down about it when things don't work out. I decided to ignore my pace for the run and go on heart rate. I aimed to start slow and keep my heart rate below 175 for the most of the run and then finish my last mile strong. This seemed to work really well, I was so surprised when I got home and looked at my pace, my average pace was 9.17, a lot faster than I thought I had gone. I still had quite a bit of energy at the end too, if I wasn't worried about increasing my mileage too quickly I would have gone for another mile or two! My average heart rate including the last faster mile was 173 so I was happy with that too, hopefully some more runs like this will help build my aerobic fitness and endurance.

8 miles in 1:14:16
Mile 1 - 9.50 HR 156
Mile 2 - 9.15 HR 171
Mile 3 - 9.02 HR 175
Mile 4 - 9.05 HR 175
Mile 5 - 9.16 HR 174
Mile 6 - 9.35 HR 175
Mile 7 - 9.40 HR 175
Mile 8 - 8.33 HR 183

It rained the whole run yesterday, which I actually welcomed a bit, it was nice and cooling and refreshing! The weather today is just beautiful though, if my knees weren't achey I would have gone and done my intervals today... I bet it's raining again tomorrow haha. Speaking of my knees, I think they're aching cause I didn't manage to ice them yesterday, they felt good after the run but they got really stiff last night.. I must remember to ice my knees after running it really seems to help. I didn't do them yesterday cause just as I was about to sit down to my lunch and some ice packs my mum rung and said she was outside with my gran and grandad and was it ok to come in for a bit so I put lunch on hold and said of course! It was my grandad's first meeting with Tia, she liked him and sat on his knee the whole time they were here :-) cute!

Today I had a bit of a failed strength workout :( I started with a deadlift which didn't feel bad at the time, in fact I felt like I could have gone a lot heavier but apparently it completely fried my body and I had no strength what so ever in the other exercises.

Deadlift 40kg 2 x 6
DB Clean and Press 10kg 1 x 3, 1 x 1
Pull-ups Negatives 1 x 2
Chin-ups Negatives 1 x 2
Weighted Push-ups 5kg 2 x 8
DB Curl 7kg 2 x 8
BB Wrist Curls 22kg 30
BB Reverse Wrist Curls 12kg 30
Neck Curls 10kg 40

I did that workout in the morning and in the early evening I got some bodyweight work done including core to get my two in this week! I did a circuit consisting of

2 x pull-up/chin-up
1 x close push-up (2 sets) - 6 x normal push-up (2 sets) - 8 x wide push-up (1 set)
10 x standing ab roll-outs to a wall

x 5 rounds

My arms are killing me now!! No more work today! We were going to do some yoga after the circuit but we ended up tidying our workout/junk room a bit... it needed doing! Tada!

Makeshift punchbag stand - not bought a ceiling hook yet!

Weights, skipping rope, resistance bands, deck of cards with workouts on

gloves, headguards, pads, gumshields

Core challenge update. The following people are signed up, it's not too late to join in if you want to! Anne had the great idea of using a logo if you are participating, I had Mike help me make one read make me one...


Lacey
Joanne
Laura
Anne Marie
Anne
Lauren
Lizzy
Sherri
Marcia

Oh and I had a heart shaped plum which I had to take a picture of...
Pretty!

Boxing Workout and First Sample Core Routine

Yesterday morning Mike and I did a boxing workout. It was tough!! You would think 1 minute rounds with 1 minute rests would be really easy. It's not! You go so all out in the rounds, more than you could in a 2 or 3 minute round so it's really intense, every punch is a power punch and you don't break between combos, I was gasping for air in between the rounds and my legs felt like jelly in the later rounds! Fun stuff!

10 x 1 minute rounds/1 minute rest

We then did a circuit, 20 seconds on each station then 1 minute rest before repeating the circuit.

• Burpees
• Shrugs (10kg in each hand)
• Push-ups
• Jumping Jacks
• Upright Rows (10kg barbell)
• High Knee Dumbell Press
• Chair Dips
• Lunges
• Mountain Climbers
• Dumbell Punches
• Leg Raises
• Clean and Push Press (10kg barbell)
• V-ups

I was so sore all evening after this workout, way sorer than I felt I should be given the amount of work! (circuit included 15 push-ups)

Don't forget to sign up to the core challenge here. Here's my first sample routine.

• Leg raises
  
• Crunches
  
• Sit-ups with a twist
• Alternate knee to elbow

Run through the circuit 3-5 times, take some rest between the circuits if needed. Finish the workout with a max plank, don't worry if it's nowhere near your fresh max plank time, my max planks at the end of core routines tend to be a lot less than if I were fresh.

By the way, there's a Nuun giveaway here at Barefoot Angie B's blog, it looks good, go check it out!

Core Challenge

A few comments on my plank post got me thinking about core work and it's a really important part of training. It helps with balance, stability and power, virtually all athletic movements involve and use the core muscles and therefore it is vital we strengthen it. Now I've been slacking a bit in my core work, I haven't always managed the two workouts I try to do per week, so, I thought about doing a challenge for one month, starting this week and ending on May 2nd. I thought we could have a weekly check in, say if everyone comments on my weekly total post to say how they've been getting on on the Saturday then on Sunday I can post an update on everyone. If you're up for it, the challenge is to do core twice a week for one month, I'll post some exercise ideas but you're free to do what suits you. Also I thought to show improvement we could all test our plank holds at the beginning of the month and aim to improve our times over the month, that means I have to get more than 3.33... now that is a daunting idea!

The reps you do for each exercise shown below should be done bearing your own ability in mind. You should perform the exercises until it you feel a good burn around your midsection and then a little more but not to failure. I didn't want to put specific reps for each exercise because what works for me won't be right for everyone so do reps which are challenging for you!

One of the best core moves is the ab rollout, you can start by doing them on your knees and progress over time to doing them from standing. The idea is to work your way up to being able to do it from standing to pretty being flat on the floor and back up again without a wall to help... That's a very advanced variation that can sometimes take years to acheive. Neither Mike or I can do that yet so we use some of the variations shown below, standing to a wall and kneeling.

Kneeling roll-outs (not to a wall if you can)


Standing roll-outs to a wall (make sure to put a cushion, or something soft on your wall so you don't ruin the paintwork..speaking from experience unfortunately!)


Another way we like to train our core is to pick and mix to create a circuit and try to continually work for 15-20 minutes. If that is too long don't worry, shorten it to a time that is something that challenges you but don't injure yourself.

Here's some of our favourite exercises to choose from but feel free to add your own!

Leg Raises
Start low, hold for 10 seconds then raise and hold again, then repeat, lower down holding each phase as well. You can also slowly move one leg in and alternate between for a variation on the leg raise. It's much more challenging if you don't sit on your hands.. not sure why! Also from the leg raise hold you can circle your legs slowly in both directions (not pictured).


Hanging Leg Raises
These are tough! Done from a pull-up bar start from a 90 degree hang and raise your legs to 90 degrees, try to keep your legs straight.


Captain's Chair
Start again from a 90 degree hang on the pull-up bar and raise your legs up with your knees bent.


Hanging Knees to Elbow
Again start by hanging with arms at 90 degrees and then bring your knees up to your elbows.


Plank
Try to keep your bum down and body straight


Side Plank
This can also be done with a little movement to good effect, you bob your hips up and down, aim for high reps.


Crunches
As well as doing these fast you can do high tension holds, hold the pose in the second picture for 10 seconds, release and repeat until you feel it.


Sit-ups with a Twist
These are good for getting the side core muscles.


Sit-ups with Medicine Ball
...or home made sandbag in my case, this is around 10kg but choose a weight accordingly.


Russian Twist
Put a fairly challenging weight on a dumbbell and starting from the middle position turn to each side with the weight. Beware of the weights coming loose on this one if you have dumbbells with twist on locks as they can work themselves loose. Also remember to lift with your legs and not your back to get it up to the starting position.



Side Bends
Again use a challenging weight, be careful to lift with your legs and not back. Once in position slide the weight down your leg keeping your free arm by your side or touching your ear, whichever is more comfortable.


V-ups
I find these pretty tough but they're good!


Alternate Knees to Elbow
Bring your elbows to alternate knees


Post Core Stretch
I think this is a yoga move but I can't remember what it's called! Anyway do as I say and not as I do and try and remember to do this, I guarantee you'll feel better for it the next day! I forgot yesterday and doing these pictures hurt like hell!


Now since it's a comptetition there will be a small prize, an ab wheel, and if you already have an ab wheel I'll think of something else since I haven't bought it yet! To enter in to the prize draw you must complete two core workouts a week, starting this week, Monday the 5th of April and ending Sunday the 2nd May. From everyone who completes two core workouts a week I'll pick a winner randomly at the end of the challenge. Please comment on this post to enter and I would appreciate you posting on your blogs if you're participating then hopefully more people might be interested in getting involved. Don't worry if you don't have a blog though, you can still join in! So bring on the super strong cores we're all going to get!

Edited to add, for people who want it, I'll post two sample core workouts a week then you can do those if you want to!

Monthly Recap - March

New Years Goals
Running/conditioning
Complete half marathon (current 4 miles) As of end of March longest run/jog still 8 miles but I've competed in my first race!
One mile in >7.30 (current 7.55) from 7.28 to 7.16 - New goal to get it under 7 minutes
Two miles in >15.30 minutes (current 16.23) 15.24 - new goal >15
Three miles in >24.30 minutes (current 25.25) 24.33 - so close!!
Four miles in >35 minutes (current 35.47) Not tested

Strength

Hold a plank for 3.30 minutes (current 2.30) 2.47

3 pull-ups in a row (current 0) Not tested as not been working on pull ups this month, must remember them next month!
5 chin-ups in a row (current 1) As of end of January 4 but from 90 degree not dead hang, from dead hang can do 1.
30 push-ups in a row (current 10) Can now do 30! - new goal, 50!

Boxing
Improve hooks and uppercuts – practice in sparring
Improve stance so weight is spread more evenly
Angle off – don't stand square
Win my first fight!
The boxing goals have not been going too well since the upset at the gym and consequent lack of gym.. I'm hoping to get to a new gym soon but Mike's not too keen so we're keeping it up at home together. I miss the gym, it's not the same at home but it's something we started together and do together so I won't go to a new gym without him, hopefully he will want to start again soon!

New Years Resolutions
Do core workouts twice a week Done at least one a week some weeks have not managed two.
Neck exercises once a week Done except for one week.
Wrist curls once a week Done except for one week.
Isometric punches once a week Done except for one week.
Boxing three times a week See above!
Running three times a week (distance, sprints and intervals) Getting there!
Follow pull-up/chin-up plan Done the chin-ups, pull-ups need work

Monthly Totals - March
Miles -56.05
Push-ups - 325 (25 weighted)
Chin-ups -16 (25 on assisted machine) (5 weighted)
Pull-ups - 8 (45 on assisted machine) (14 bar hangs)
Neck exercises - 5
Isometric punches - 2
Wrist curls - 4
Core work - 6

I haven't included my new plank time from yesterday since technically that's an April acheivement since I'm a bit late posting this! My strength work needs the most work, I've really slipped on my push-ups and chin-ups.

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!

Weekly Totals

Weekly Totals
Miles - 17.4
Push-ups - 25 (weighted)
Chin-ups - 5 (weighted)
Pull-ups - 0
Neck Exercises - 1
Isometric Punches - 0
Wrist Curls - 1
Core -1

Fairly embarrassing totals this week, I've dropped off a bit on some of the stuff since we haven't been at the gym but I need to not let the lack of gym and lack of imminent fight mean my training drops!

I took an extra rest day on Sunday. My legs were so sore after Fridays race and I was hungover. Three drinks at a family party and I'm in bed all day. Must stick to two in future.. It must be my lightweight limit! By the way, I figured out how to look at the elevation on Mike's garmin readout, I've included a picture of the hilliest route we had done before Fridays race. There's quite a stark difference!

The hilliest route we had done before the race

The race elevation.

Mike accidentally hit pause a few times cause he was wearing the garmin on the inside of his wrist so he knocked it, but you can still get the idea. The highest hill we had run before was about 150 feet, these hills were all around 300-400 feet! I need to get to this area to train again a few times before the race next year, and I will run it again next year, even though my legs still hurt now!

I Did It!!

Oh my gosh I didn't realise just how hilly the hill race was going to be...haha maybe that's naive but I don't think there was any flat land! I expected it to include hills but not to be all hills.. I was wrong! It was all on trails as well which I'm not too used to but I enjoyed, there were some lovely views and I loved the race atmosphere the speedy runners at the front crossed by us at one point and were cheering the slower ones on and I got to see Mike briefly so it was nice for us both to know we were both doing ok.

I can't even begin to describe how tough and steep the hills were though, I ended up having to walk up a lot of them. I felt like such a fish out of water at the start, although my bib number says 383 the numbers must have carried on from a previous race, there were 54 runners and Mike and I were the only runners not affiliated to a club! I was ahead of a few runners for most of the race but they passed me right near the end so unfortunately I came last. The competitive side of me hates that, but I didn't drop out, and a few people did, I'm happy I finished it and I was only 30 seconds behind the women who passed me, I just couldn't quite keep up at the end. I was chatting to them at the beginning of the race and one of them had been running for 10 years and run in national cross country championships so that made me feel better about coming last, there was really tough competition on a tough course. Everyone who we spoke to at the start about it being our first race looked at us like we were insane! They were all saying, you do realise how hilly it is don't you... It was probably good that we didn't realise just how hilly it was until we were doing it else we might well have chickened out!

Anyway I'm going to have to leave you with that very brief race report as Mike's little sister is on her way from down south and we don't get to see her very often so I'll be off the computer for a while. I will leave you with a few pictures! I think my final time for the run was 7.3 miles in 1.20 the official results aren't up yet.. please don't judge the time it was soo hilly!

Ready to go

Outside the registration area.

That's me in the distance.

Almost there...

It's over!! Phew!

Have I Gone Mad?!

I might have done something crazy....

Mike and I were just looking for local races as neither of us have ever raced before and we'd like some race experience before our half marathon.. I spotted a race for tomorrow... The Good Friday Hill Race!! 7.3 miles of hilly fun! Here's the route. Look at those scary contour lines! I vaguely know the area as somewhere we used to go sledging as children for the steep hills haha, I don't think this is going to be easy but I'm really excited! It's a really low key race, only £2 to enter, I think it's only going to be the really speedy dedicated local runners running it so I think I'm probably going to be the slowest runner but I'm just going to finish it, I'm not going to worry about timings. I won't be able to wear the garmin anyway so I'm just going to run and keep running.

Aaargh! Wish me luck!