Yume No Chikara

After Wednesday's (cough) run I decided to rest especially when it seemed I had a cold. Fortunatley this one seems to have died as quickly as it arose, despite having 3 nose bleeds in 4 days! Feeling a lot better today. So what have I been up to..... well I rested Thursday and Friday, did junior club (indoors) on Saturday and 1hr in the pool with son on Sunday. Junior club included 15 mins of dodge ball with the adults throwing the balls ... this was effectively 15mins of squats and boy did my butt know about it on Sunday!! Today I did go to work despite thinking otherwise (I felt guilty at the thought of staying at home when the team is so short of staff) so took my trainers in and did a 34min power walk. Felt good actually and I had a smug grin on my face as I came up behind folks and over took them as they wandered alone! I even did a couple of short stretches with the "race walk wiggle!". Problem is I now feel inclined to do this 3 times a week (non clu

Well woke up in the night coughing and this morning there was no douting it - I have another cold. This time I will be sensible and sod work - I will not be in today. This means I have to be really positive as I am very down about this cold ... I hadn't got over the last one really. Will try to re-think training too. Already decided to drop to the 10m at Bramley meaning Ashby will be my only 20m.

Club: Well I had 500ml of Lucozade before club and a banana as I hadn't had tea (7pm meeting time) and felt good so expectations were good. First 1-1.5m fine, faster than last week and feeling good - phew I thought looks like I'm back. Then the legs started to slow and feel heavy. By 2m I had to walk (not helped by this being the hilliest part of the run). by 2.5m I called it quits. My thighs felt almost stiff, my calves started to tingle and I sounded like an elephant as I cold hear and feel my heavy foot fall. At first I thought it was my shoes as I losened them and was able to trot a bit further, but no the energy had gone, I was drained. I sulked off home. I had also had a head ache that afternoon and it hadn't gone. Went to bed early too. This morning I felt rough and almost didn't go to work. Head was fuzzy, snivels still there and still feeling drained. I have picked up as the day has gone on but fear I may have another cold coming, so bought some tonic t

Tonight is club night and my goal is to do as far as last Friday but better! I need t o put more effort in and work harder. Friday I will ask if we can be out longer - well Brian does think I should work towards 2hrs at club!

So now this is more of a team thing ... Stu (gain 1st), Manoj (lose 1st) and me!! Also Stu has decided to put £50 on it - I've agreed with any winning going to my charity. Oh help!

Well I cooked my chick peas this morning and then had a couple before work to test them! As I have a fan assisted oven I only gave them 40 mins and I think I should have reduced the temperature and cooked them for 45 instead, as they were not as crispy as I expected. Still very nice though! Not sure if they are low GI thanks to the Olive oil - I will look at this, I think you could use less or no oil really. Next time I do this I will use slightly more salt and perhaps some cracked pepper and or chilli! Makes a nice change!

I've decided to go for it ... start with the stone for FLM for my charity and take it from there. As I am training I need some energy so don't want to diet dramatically just (as Robert says) get the balance right!Today is staff lunch which is always a major challenge as it's free food! Need I say more! Anyway I will weigh in at Boots at lunchtime and give Stu the scarey evidence. Was not quite with it this morning so was late putting the bread on for the boys' sarnies so seeing as I knew I would have to pop home after the school run and before work I also put the oven on. Recipe from the GI Diet book by Rick Gallop (low GI or "green light" as he says) Dried Chickpeas 2 cans of drained chick peas 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2tsp salt pinch cayenne pepper mix well and bake at 200 for 40-45 mins Good snack food does exist it seems and apparently this is like chips etc as it has some crunch and salt. I'll report back later! Talking of m

Enter stage right .... screwny work mate. Enter stage left .... not so slender pixie. Stu has for months been saying he wants to start weight training again but has to date failed. Pixie has for years wanted to lose weight! Stu thinks that we should make this a challenge .... me to lose 1st and him to gain 1st. Given he can eat a house and not gain an ounce his gain will be muscle by pumping iron. So suggestions please on what the bet should be (he suggested money perhaps) and how long to lose that stone!

Hubby has advised that he wants to "go home" on a weekend in March - the weekend of the Ashby 20! This can't be happening, not fair :-(

Well today the aim was to do about 10m having decided that I was in no state of fitness to complete Helsby. I could do 13.1m but it would have taken a lot out of me and my goal is London so sensible head took control. The alarm went off at 7.30 and I dragged myself out of bed! Got dressed and downed 250ml of Locozade and 2 handfulls of dry shreddies as breakfast and pre-run fodder. Not ideal I know but I have enough blubber to burn! Having reviewed the icey paths outside I donned hat and gloves and long top and with a pocket full of energy gels and tissues I left. 2m later I realised that the "I've forgotten feeling" that I had was not my missing marbles it was my water! a slight amount of panic hit in, how would I manage? should I turn round? should I cut the run short, pop home then out again? Naturally I automatically went into "I'm soooo thirsty" mode just because I didn't have any water! 7m later I walked the last 1/2m in as a cool down (ex

Well two things come under this heading today well actually three. Firstly me! Today I have been good! I've behaved food wish, I've listed to myself and although I have had a treat I was in controll. Breakie was a yoghurt with cereal (grape nuts 20g) mixed in which seems to last a few hours with minimal calories! Add the curry from last night and this meant Breakie was late and also no snacks eaten!! By lunch I had drunk 1.5l of fluid too! Lunch was a wholemeal pitta with a small tin of tuna (with sweetcorn and low fat mayo) with a LARGE salad (box takes almost 1l and it was almost full) followed by a yoghurt. As a treat I bought an individual chocolate ... it was very nice but much larger than I thought but hey ho!! I also looked at low carb foods ... not cos I am going all low carb and atkins but because they have higher protein levels. It is often mentioned that slim fast is a good replacement for a recovery drink and now they have a "lo cal, lo carb" ra

Well it feels like it!! Since my lurgy my running has been going backwards ... work has been really stressfull and the weight has been going nowhere (except my belly) Last night I was out with some of the folks which was nice (the boss paid despite the fact that work may not give him the money - grrr big gripe, shant go there!). Anyway this means I now have a large belly and today I need to start getting serious. Now I know I have said this sooo many times before but I've put on more weight over Christmas, New Year, hubby's birthday and with the lurgy preventing me working any calories off for 4 weeks I'm probably the heaviest I have been post Oliver. I'm uncomfortable and my bra is rubbing when I run meaning I have chaffs all over the place and I feel ashamed. So I MUST lose some weight, even if it is just to get back to below 11st I have to shift something. So sensible head on. Tonight is club run and I hope it will be better than the last 3 post lurgy runs .

Tonight was club run ... have had 2 days off so thought I would be fresh. Again it was really hard work. Tried the new shoes out (same as old ones) and they were lovely, until I got a blister on my heal (never had one there before ... I can see what it rub on, its the insole). So sensible head time ... if Fraggle does come up then I will do Helsby, otherwise I won't. I'm just not ready anymore. Really annoyed but if I want to get to FLM in one piece I have to be sensible.

Tonight is my 1st ever committe meeting! I've never done anything like this before so a tad scared! I also don't know the place where they are meeting! hehe! Tomorrow is supposed to be cold, with a colder wind chill factor, some strong winds and possible snow. My lunchtime run will be fun won't it!!

Sorry for the silence! Right so what has been happening??? Well Thursday was a rest day which was nice! Friday was a club run - not so nice! Felt really hard, HR was still up, legs refused to work and the group where after a fast run as it was the AGM that night too! Still at about 1min over per mile to where I was before Christmas. At the AGM I somehow managed to get myslef a place on the committee! Yes I am now the fixtures secretary which means I have some nice files to look after and have to look out for races of interest and let everyone know! Oh and I got some new shoes! Saturday was junior club (where I tried the new shoes!) followed by their AGM ... and I am now one of the child/parent awaareness officers oh and I also need to look out for junior races! Other than that Saturday was a rest day - we also went out for a meal as it was hubby's birthday on the Sunday! Sunday was, as is tradition, long run day. Spans had set me a goal of 7-8m but I hoped for more than

Back from club ... shorter run tonight as I warned Brian I had hardly run so only 3.6m but this did include some faster sections. No coughing fits (well a few throat clearing coughs but none that made me stop!) and although the HR maxed at 195 (!!!) on 3 occasions I felt OK. Could't have done much more though! Oh and for Beanz and Benz and any other 4hr 20 milers, there is a chance that I could act as a sweeper as such and do a slow trot at the Ashby 20 - will know more after the next meeting that the ladies captain goes to and update you! Bed now!

1) It's " that " time of year again! Yes indeed the number of runners out on the roads has increased dramatically - could it be something to do with the 94 days to London?? 2) The North/South Divide does exist! Only this is a different one! When I lived down south you never saw kids on the streets playing (probably on their XBox or PC) and "sports day" was a non-competative team event thing. Up north (OK the midlands!) there are kids playing footy in the street and out on there bikes. My son's primary school has 2 sports days and proudly displays school trophies won for cross country running, badminton, football ..... Also the local paper actually has (on the back page!) a section about the running club! Yes my clue (The Ivanhoe Runners) are mentioned after each club race (I mean 2-3 paragraphes and a picture!) and having not been to club for a month it was this paper that told me their is a club meeting this Friday! 3) Chill man ... what's the rush. I

Well when I first finished I looked at my watch and thought OMG I beat yesterdays time! but I now realise I was looking at the last split which was 36 seconds! Todays session was intervals so I expected it to be slower. I also found out it is very windy out there! As I 1st went out I was messing with my watch so was unable to take my splits for each sprint and was unable infact to see the time! So I did 2 lamp posts sprint, 1 walk (to enable coughing, splutter and nose blowing!) then 1 jog. According to my GPS, best pace was 7.48mm!! The last 2 sets were into a head wind so only go to 10.30mm! As I finished my last set I jogged into the wind at a massive pace of about 16.30mm then turned the corner out of the wind and suddenly I was at 12mm pace! As I said it was windy out there! Oh and the knee wasn't noticed at all which is good! I also realised why I chucked on Sunday (sorry!), it seems that cos I am not a chap and used to gobbing (!) when I clear my throat of phlegm it m

So according to coach spans I have some intervals to do today ... about 3m in total with 6 sets of 30 secs effort 30 secs recovery in the middle, ETA 45 mins. Sounds fine but I did notice some stiffness in my right knee again yesterday (I must have run harder than I thought or was ready for yesterday) and it is blowing a gale again! Well not a gale like "up north" but 20-25mph which is fairly breezy! Will report back later! Wibble!

Todays run was in much calmer weather! GPS didn't want to play ball so teh distances are from Tracklogs, this is the same course ran on Friday when the GPS said 5K so fairly accurate! Distance 0.3m 0.5m 1.2m 1.7m 2m 2.4m 3m 3.2m Split 1.58 2.07 8.06 5.56 3.24 5.44 7.11 1.54 Time 1.58 4.06 12.13 18.09 21.34 27.18 34.30 36.24 Av HR 167 173 181 181 187 187 188 193 The first 1.2m is quicker than my run on Thursday which is good and the HR is down this week (could the end of this cold be near??!) But I did still suffer from snotty nose and phlegm throat! (Not a nice thought I now and I applogise!)Breathing is still hard work but a much more satisfying run than yesterday! The thought of a half in under 2 weeks still fills me with dread!

Well by the time I had wandered round that field I think it was about 5.5m which is just under 15mm!! So as I said earlier crap! Oliver then wanted to go swimming so we then spent 45 mins in the pool - he can't swim so it wasn't swimming as such, a couple of widths of the junior pool and some water aerobics. Followed by roast pork belly + yorkshire pud (Oliver loves it!) + crackling and now on the wine! Tomorrow's run won't be a recovery run now will it!! Two weeks today I'm supposed to be doing a half. I suspect it will be a struggle but as Frags says "it's a training run"! and unless I die it should still be a PB. I may consider changing the Bramley 20 to the 10 (I have until 7th Feb to change). Beanz wants to do tha Ashby 20 so I will see if A there is an offical cut off and B if I can run it with her. That's when I next go to club which will hopefully be Wednesday. Also need to go to club so that I can get some new shoes as the chairma

Question is was it the lack of condition afetr 4wks off, the cold still remaining or the bottle of wine last night? Or maybe it was a combination of all of the above and a lucozade gel for breakfast! I was out for 80 mins which sounds good but it was only about 5m and most of the last 30 mins was walked. I went XC (mainly trail) and got lost at the end finding myself walking through a cows field (mud was too rough to run) and climbing over an ancient stone water trough (no idea where the style was cos the footpath signs had disappeared!) Had to stop and splatter with the 1st 1/4m and stopped to cough, splatter, blow nose and (yes it's try!) chuck up (it was that lucozade gel!) at 1.2m! Some noce lady runner stopped to express concern and agreed about the gel! From there is got no better! The route was lovely though! My legs felt heavy, my nose made breathing hard, and I died with the GPS batteries! Until then I at least had the GPS bleeping to keep me going but when that stoppe

Todays run was in a very strong wind and very hard work! Distance 1m 2m 3m 3.1m Time 11.11 13.37 12.36 1.30 Overall Time 11.11 24.49 37.26 38.56 Av HR 179 184 188 190 Started off great with 1st half mile in under 5 mins and feeling good, then I turned the corner straight into a head wind. Didn't take long to slow down and the extra effort started my coughing. Phlegm lined throat (sorry!) made me splatter and I had to stop and walk for a bit. A tad disappointed after yesterdays great run. Today I used my GPS and I think that the route measuring via Tracklogs yesterday was a tad inaccurate (say 0.2m). If I had todays run yesterday I would have been happy, but because yesterday was good today fel bad! Does that make sense? Oh and the snot monster is back!

Fri 7/1/5 3m steady Sat 8/1/5 rest/junior club Sun 9/1/5 6-7m LSD (don't let the pace slip too slow) Mon 10/1/5 2-3miles recovery run (30mins) Tues 11/1/5 45mins/3miles inc 6 x 30secs @ pace 30 sec recovery in the middle Wed 12/1/5 club run Thurs 13/1/5 rest Fri 14/1/5 club run Sat 15/1/5 rest/junior club Sun 16/1/5 7-8m LSD Having consulted my online buddy and coach my altered plans to get me to Helsby are shown above!! Thanks Spans!!

Thanks to Leon for the table code! Distance 0.3m 0.5m 1.2m 1.6m 1.7m 1.9m 2.0m 2.1m Time 2.11 2.09 8.16 4.10 2.20 1.36 1.34 1.11 Overall Time . 4.20 12.37 16.47 19.08 20.45 22.19 23.30 Av HR 155 177 185 187 190 191 187 189 Notes Standing start Feeling Ok Noticing lungs! Is this a mile yet? Shall I pass the office?? To this corner? Just a bit extra Phew! Av HR for run 193

still got a slight cough and still got the snot monster! BUT today I got fed up and went for a lunchtime walk/run. This, however, turned into 2.1m of continual running! Next to no coughing and snotting (sorry!) and although my HR was up (as expected after a long break) the pace was higher than expected (and didn't feel that fast either). Yes the legs were tired and I knew I had run but they don't ache and I feel so much better now! Looking ahead now, Helsby on the 23rd and FLM in 100 days!

Yesterday afternoon I got to the stage where my head was so painful. The right side of my face felt like it was one big tooth ache and throbing. So I called the doctors (expecting an appointment for Tuesday) and was in the surgery 20 mins later! I'm now on a 5 day course of anti-biotics. Hopefully this will cure the problem and let me get on with my training. Last night I was in bed by 10 and had only just got to sleep (due to sinuses) when the fireworks went off! Then again I had just got to sleep and people started leaving parties (at 3AM) and wandering the streets shouting Happy New Year. Hubby them got up late for work (new alarm clock and obviously not set correctly!) so I had a nice restfull night! Today I have done some spring cleaning and cleared some clothes out from my cupboard - the ones that may or may not fit but I won't wear again like dead straight skirts, work is smart casual so don't need them. Oliver is now tidying his room and I'm here! Also