I am so sorry it has been so long! The time has 'run away' from me .... boom boom!! I have lots to tell you but first I wanted to share with you something...
I think I have told you that I no longer listen to music whilst I am out running, I like to just be with my own thoughts and take in my surroundings. Well during my LSR I often come up with little sayings due to people I come across so here are a couple that I am sure some of you can relate to!
To the running snob:
I may not look like your typical runner, I may be slow,
but I guarantee that I am putting in just as much effort as you, if not more!
To those who do not acknowledge you:
If I smile at you, please have the decency to smile back, because smiling at you whilst trying to run my planned distance takes up so much effort it takes me far longer!
So where did I leave you....Ah yes the day before my birthday, well I can tell you I had an amazing day at the spa with my daughter. I enjoyed massages, facials, sauna and steam rooms. I even managed to get in a few lengths of the pool too. After the spa we met with Rob and his dad and went to Salt and Good for dinner which is a world food buffet.
Wednesday I went to Body Pump, and then followed that class with Zumba which was so much fun. I didn't stop laughing.... at myself as I was constantly moving in the opposite direction to everyone else. I then popped up to the gym and did 10 minutes speed work on the treadmill.
Thursday was intervals - 4 x 6 minutes work 90 seconds recovery. After I had completed this session it was off to take Chloe (my daughter) to get her GCSE results. I could not have been prouder as she received 1 A* 6 As and 4 Bs. She was accepted to the sixth form she had applied for to do A Levels in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology. I took her to Pizza Express for some lunch and then we met up with a family friend in the evening and Rob for an Italian meal and champagne.
Friday - Unfortunately I suffered badly with my IBS today and had to cancel cocktails with Alison from the BMC. I was gutted, I spent most of the day in bed.
Saturday - I took another rest day due to feeling exhausted after the day before.
Sunday - I went for a Long Run, 12.4km in 1:40:08. It was quite hard today. I have been feeling some tightness in my calfs and some pulling down my ham string. I didn't manage to run the whole of it and did do a fair bit of stopping walking and then running again. In the afternoon we went into town as there was a musical mystery tour where all of the pubs have live music acts all day/evening.
Monday - Thankfully was a rest day after the day before. We spent most of the day vegged out watching TV - mostly Cold Feet which we have watched the entire box set of series back to back ready for the new series starting on 5th September.
Tuesday - Intervals - 6 x 3 minutes fast work and 60 seconds recovery. Only managed 4 sets, I got a nasty stitch and my tight calfs and right ham string were really playing up and causing my knee to pull.
Wednesday - short easy run - 30 minutes - 4.28km. had to stop for a stretch at 15 minutes because of calfs/hammy.
Thursday - I decided not to do any cross training as I was worried about my calfs and hamstring. I was booked into have a sports massage with the lovely Sharon.
Now for those of you that endure sports massages will know that they are not enjoyable, even though you know that they are good for you, you want to punch the person doing them whilst they are doing it. Well today was no exception to that rule, in fact I have never screamed so much in my entire live or told poor Sharon to **** off so many times.
It turns out that I had very tight calfs (tell me something I didn't know) apparently at the soleus/gastroc junction. My right calf in particular was so tight it had caused the biceps fermoris to tighten (the pain in what I thought was my ham string). Now if you understand any of these words well done you!
My Glutes on the other hand were good for once, which goes to show that all the foam rolling I had been doing on my quads, ham string and glutes had done wonders, unfortunately I had neglected my calfs and it was them that were causing the problems! I will not be making that mistake again. I have since stretched, rolled, iced and heated the calfs after every run.
Friday - Rest Day. I am also very grumpy and this is because I am not having any wine. On Tuesday I started trying to lose weight again having been terrible all over the summer. I decided that I was going to watch what I ate and not have any alcohol until my 10k in Finsbury Park which is on 25th September.
Saturday - Stevenage Park Run - Speed session to see my progress. Was very chuffed as I beat my previous time of 35:05 with 34:27. But still grumpy as no popping to pub for a beer to celebrate... I really do sound like an alcoholic!
I bought myself a mountain bike, only a second hand one. I got it for two reasons, one to help with cross training and two because me and Rob cant run together as he is much faster than me so I thought it would be nice to bike together. Not sure it is such a great idea though as I have not ridden a bike since I was a small child, and I drive an automatic car... whats that got to do with it I hear you ask... it has two gear changes, one on the left 1 - 3 and one on the right 1 - 6... what the hell is that all about. Bikes didn't have gears when I was small! It has been put safely in the shed until I can get a helmet (and maybe some elbow, knee and shin protectors.)
In the evening we also got hold of some solid pine wardrobes for our bedroom, so we spent the evening trying to lift them up the stairs and around very tight corners as well as moving are entire bedroom around.
Sunday - I finished the bedroom and took the old furniture to the dump. We popped into town and then I was quite comfortable snoozing on the sofa. I was exhausted after the speedy park run and moving the furniture but knew I needed to get out for a LSR. I forced myself out, thinking I would at least try to get half hour done. I had planed a route with hills in as Sharon thought it was best I didn't do hill reps as that put too much pressure on my calfs. She suggested putting hills into long runs instead which would be more natural of races, and would not put as much pressure on any one muscle.
I was actually quite surprised with myself as I ended up running for 1 hour and 2 minutes and went 8.35km without walking once.
So on to today which is a rest day, and also my first weigh day in my new challenge to myself.... Was the healthy eating and no alcohol worth it? well yes, yes it was I have lost 4 lbs in the last 7 days. I hope that I can keep that up as I am sure that it will be a big help for the 10K... But I do warn everyone, approach with care, because I am hungry and in dying need of a glass of vino!
Much Love
FBB
XX
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