An Update

Just for bear!!









he-he I was very tempted just to say that but I shant!!

If, like bear, you wondered where I am these days ... well mainly on Fetch and RealBuzz as I can get to both of those places during work. Unlike the old days, when I was at college and the old work place, I can't chat all day and I don't tend to go online much at home.

Anyway that promised update.

Good News:

1. I won a 32" LCD TV!!
2. I'm running 6 times a week!
3. I'm using not wearing my HRM.
4. I'm averaging 20m+ a week now!!

Bad News:
Despite lots of running I'm still err lardy because I'm comfort eating constantly. My phone is by my side 24/7 and I am expecting a call any time, to be honest I am amazed grandma is still with us, so yes I'm expecting the call, dreading the call and stuffing my face. Good job I am running lots then really! I'm worried it will become a habit though so I am trying to adjust the eating, I'm trying to bring in lots of fruit and eat that, or low fat low calorie crisps/snacks. I mean eating 2 of those gives me 2 lots of "comfort" food but has less impact than 2 packets of McCoys or 2 kit kats. Neither are good though I know.

Training is, however, going great. I'm doing the HR training stuff and have done for about 2mths now. I started off swearing at my HRM and struggling to do 14:30mm pace. Now I am doing 13:10 pace and the best bit is .... my tempo runs!! I'm doing our normal 2.9m run in a smidge over 30mins now!

Racing wise .... my Race 4 Life has been postponed twice now!! I believe it will be on 12th August and I hope to go sub 32 mins but I don't know what the course is like, e.g. is it grass or path etc. On 16th September I am racing with v-rap in the Hydro Active in Brum. Another ladies 5K where I would like to get close to the golden 30mins. Over on Fetch I found out about a new 10k in September too ... it's just 10mins drive from me. It's a new club and a new race and so I am very tempted to show my face as a err "training run". Jules from work may also do it ..... having never raced before! He's also reading the Marathon News!!

Talking of FLM ... my entry is already in the post. I have applied through the ballot and bequeathed. If I still don't get in I will be asking Macmillan for a GB place and if all else fails, well I am rejoining my club next month! I WILL be at Blackheath next year and I will RUN not complete FLM08. I'll be aiming to raise at least £2000.00 for Macmillan whilst I am at it. Then that will be me done with London. It will conclude my desire to run London but not marathons or to get a GFA. After completing FLM08 I will have run it twice .. following grandad's death and then grandma's death (there is no way she will see 2008). So I will still aim for that fast GFA time .... it just happens to be the same GFA for Boston! Yep if I can get a GFA I will go to Boston with my mum (dad and hubby won't fly!).

Oh and as for work ... still loving it!

Oh look I can get in!!

Sorry for the delay in service! My old PC was playing stupid and I have been unable to log into blogger! But 1 new puter later and I'm back!

Last weekend was the Trailwalker ....which made me re-read my 2006 blog and brought back many memories. I've read v-rap's and bee's and even slowboy's blogs and yep very emotional! BUT TW will not be for me in 2008 because 2008 is my FLM year

Grandma is very ill and I am amazed she is still with us. It's for her that I am running FLM08.

Since her diagnosis I've been running loads, and I am now averaging 20m a week. Loads to say but not much time so I will say TTFN and I'll be back!

Kick up the Bum

Right no more sulking.
Time for being serious.
This is a proper blog from a proper aflete after all.

For those who don't know my grandma has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has a limited time left. The emotional blog is elsewhere (mail me fetch mail me if interested).

This blog is now dedicated to lots of running. This Pixie will be running FLM 2008 for Macmillan Cancer Research. When I say I WILL I mean there is now way I will not be at Blackheath on 13th April 2008. I will apply via the ballot, bequeath, ask for a Gold Bond place and will be re-joining my club just in case! If I have a serious set back injury wise I will walk FLM but my goal is to run it all (apart from a hug stop at mile 17!) not just complete it. I also want to raise at least £2000 for Macmillan who were at grandma's side within 24 hrs of her being told the news.

I have 10 months. The next 5 or 6 will consist of lots of slow HR based runs, 1 club run/tempo run and lots of attitude.

This will be my story.

Gone Running ...

... had some bad news tonight.

Not sure when I will be with you again.

Love

Pixie

What's Your Number?

What's your number?What's your number? Mine is 9, no actually it's 10.

It's not my weight (I wish!) or my age or cholesterol level but sadly it's the number of people I know who have been affected by or lost the battle with Cancer. I'm hoping it won't soon be 11 - we're still awaiting results for my grandma.

Statistically 1 in 3 people will be affected by Cancer.
Statistically more people are surviving Cancer than ever before.

Looking at all cancers combined the five-year relative survival rate has now reached 50%. The survival rate in women (56%) is higher than that in men (43%) and this is also the case for ten-year rates (39% vs.52%).

This is great news and we want that survival rate to increase, but more importantly we want to help cure Cancer.

Events like Race for Life are an important way in which Cancer Research UK is able to fund its life-saving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. By sponsoring me now you could help more people survive cancer.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me - Cancer Research UK will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.So please sponsor me now!Many thanks for your support - http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/kim_sayers

And so ....

Life is an odd one. These last 3 weeks have seen me bite the bullet and to the best of my ability start to train with my HRM. That's to say I am doing most of my runs at 70% of HR but I have still had the odd tempo run!

Running to HR is odd. I'm a slow runner and this makes me slower. I've always been slow and frustrated at being slow yet now I am purposely running slower than ever before! Yet these last two weeks something has happened. I've run more.

Each week I have done 2 doubles. This means I've done about 8 sessions of exercise in 6 days. May saw me do 54m which isn't a huge amount until you realise that this is the highest running mileage I have done since Jan 2006! The last 2 weeks have also been my highest mileage this year. In fact only 4 weeks last year had higher mileage and 3 of those included races over 10m and if you exclude FLM in 2005 only 2 weeks were saw higher mileage in 2005 too.

Fetch is a wonderful thing (I can get there from work for a start meaning I blog there too!)

I always assumed that I ran 20m weeks yet Fetch says ... since Jan 2005 I have done 3 weeks of 20m+ of running or 4 when you include FLM. The truth is I've actually been running 10-15m a week with most of the last 2.5yrs seeing weeks of 10-12m and very few of 15m.

One of the reasons I started running was to lose weight. Assuming the arbitrary value of 100calories per 1m you need to run 35m a week to lose 1lb on running alone. Given I have run off on average 1200 calories a week (probably less than that actually) and eaten about 1500 extra "because I've run!" it's hardly surprising I'm the same weight now is it?!

So where am I going with all this? Well running to HR may be slow (for now ... Mr eLbee assures me I will get quicker!) but I can run more often and therefore do more miles and therefore use more calories. I've concluded that I am totally useless at restricting my food intake so therefore I have to train more. This isn't actually a bad thing as more training means more improvement in fitness, tone and ultimately speed.

The down side is I have so much washing to do! I have some lovely chaff marks from my bra and HRM (cos I tend to slouch when I run meaning it all rubs on my flab!) I have to get out of bed to exercise before work when I can or use the tready at home late when I can't train before work. I like my bed too much so this isn't ideal!

In the 3 weeks since I started training this way most of my runs have been about 14:30 pace (oh so slow and even slow on the tready when I get hot so the HR goes up more) but Friday I did a run at 13:40 pace. Could I be improving?

In a months time I have the R4L which I will run as a tempo run. My last tempo run was just short of 3m but if I can run that pace I will get a PB. My goal is to get to 30-31mins for the 5K in September and onwards and upwards from there.

I'm in training. I'm happy! I'm enjoying my running and injury free.

Long may it last!

Keep smiling folks!

Hmmm

Interesting few days.

Monday J was in for almost a whole day which is the 1st since December! He's officially still called up but off "sick" with a sore wrist (suspected carpal tunnel syndrome I think). It was nice to have the full team back together and with his return came the return of the boys and I going for our run.

I did put on my HRM but knew I wouldn't be using it properly! We did the normal route which gave me my longest run since January and it was just a few seconds of my 5K PB which was fab! The HR also confirmed that this was indeed a tempo run coming in at an average of about 85%.

Whilst off J had been advised from his RAF PT about using a HRM and had bought one - not used but he had one! So we spent most of our run discussing the use of a HRM - see I could still chat whilst running! Just! Still it was a very enjoyable run!

Yesterday I was back to being sensible because I was following the hard/easy principle of training and knew I had a 1hr PT session today! The run was more undulating than I thought and the odd thing was I actually enjoyed it! Yes I was crawling along but it wasn't an effort I wasn't stress breathing and yes it was good! >shakes head at self<

Today I got up, entered the Hydro Active in Birmingham (5k on 16th September) and toddled off to work. Lunchtime came and off to the gym I went.

15mins warm up on the tready followed by the next 45 mins of squats, lunges more squats and some upper body work interspersed with 2 sets of 5mins spinning on the bike (min 100rpm) then some crunches and stretching to finish. Boy was I glad to get back to work! My legs have a dull ache and my knees aren't too impressed!

To make me feel better I got a text from J this afternoon saying "My legs bloody hurt thank you!" he-he