The Gym Bunny's Rocky Road to Awesomeness

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Got out for a 10 mile run on Saturday and was pretty pleased with the progress. Still getting some niggling issues in my right calf, thigh and glutes, but think these are still from the change of running style so will sort themselves out eventually. The pain in the front of my lower legs has now pretty much stopped so I'm getting there slowly. The 10 miles was a bit of a struggle, although a huge improvement on two weeks ago when I struggled through 9.5 miles and had to walk little bits of it. No walking this time and I finished in 2:07, which worked out about 12:45 minute miles so that's also an improvement on the last few runs and I'm guessing that's down to the work I'm doing with the new running club.

Sunday was a really, really bad day for me in other aspects of my life and I struggled to get through a little swim. Did some little bits of crawl and back stroke, but mainly did breaststroke as a bit of a change. Weight loss was just under 0.5lb, although I managed to gain 0.5" all over; not quite sure I managed that! Still, brings the total loss to 5.3lb for the year so all is good there.

Did a 5 mile run with Danielle last night; planned a route out beforehand this week to avoid aimless wondering around like last week! The streetlights in town are definitely getting worse (as in loads of them are out) and I nearly face planted from not being able to see where the pavement dipped down for an acess way. We made a mental note on the way round of the streets that are well lit and will try and plan the route around those streets for next week, even if it means doing a few loops of the same circuit. I don't enjoy being out in the dark and not being able to see definintely affects my speed as I'm rather cautious about pot holes, kerbs, sudden drops in the pavement etc, but I do feel good about getting out there and doing it Just under 5 miles completed in 1:04 last night.

No swimming this morning as Mr TST has a cold, which with his medication and very low immunity system means he's pretty ill. Gymnastics tonight though and we start practicing the routines for our first competition on 1 April Well excited!!

[Two-Stroke Tart]

The last few days have been quite exciting for me, I've had some good sessions and finally found the perfect training plan for me for London. Tuesday we made a start on two of the five routines we need to do for the gymnastics competition - beam and the stability & strength routines. We videoed the beam routine we can rehearse the moves at home and remember the order, and I was really chuffed at being able to do a handstand on the beam although I can't land it yet. We won't be using the full height beam for this competition, but doing a handstand on the trainning one is scary enough! Plenty to be practicing for those routines this week, and both will help with core stability which can only help my running.

Wednesday was club night although only about 10 of us braved the cold to go! I did stick some tights on under my running leggings but my legs were still freezing cold so I'll be trying some thermals on underneath tomorrow. We did a kind of pyramid speed session: 3 x 4 mins at 10k pace, 4 x 2 mins at 5k pace and finally 5 x 1 min at all out pace. I felt I worked harder at trying to increase the pace for each set and definitely could feel I was running differently on the all out pace ones. I also felt more consistent accross each actual interval rather than starting off too hard and trailing off half way round. It all felt much better in my head too, which I was really pleased with as I've struggled a lot with getting my head in the right place. When I got home the garmin data actualy bore out that I had been faster on each set, so I was really chuffed! OK, so it wasn't a massive increase, but it was an increase nonetheless and that's the first time I've been able to do that. My coach was really pleased with my progress and said my running style is getting much better now, which has really boosted my confidence.

Had a little swim yesterday, wasn't really in the mood but we went anyway. I took the pull buoy and did some up and downs just paying attention to how my hand enters the water and stuff to try and work out if my style is affecting my shoulder. Forgot to take my finger counter so not totally sure how many lengths I did. After we got back I had a look through a book my running coach has lent me about marathon training and found it is perfect! The plan is a 20 week plan, so I worked out which week it's on now and it's at the point I am now, and I mean the exact point I am now. When I checked back over the last four weeks everything I've done is exactly the same as I would have done on the plan, so I couldn't get anything more appropriate to me if I'd tried! The running days and sessions are all on the days I currently do them, and there is cross training on other days so my gymnastics and other stuff fits in perfectly with the plan. The only things I have to change are my rest day, and I will be doing one swim session and one turbo session a week instead of two swims. I've ordered a copy of the book so I can give coach hers back and then I can keep referring back to my copy as and when I need to. It feels good to finally know what I'm doing and that the plan I have will totally suit me, and it's given me the confidence boost I needed to know that not only can I get to the start at London but that I will finish it too.

It might have been a crappy start to the week, but as it's gone on it's just got better and better! Watch out London, here I come!

[TonyWilson]

Sounds like your week has turned itself around Sarah. Couple this with all the fresh fruit your gonna be growing, and there'll be no stopping you.

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Yes, am excited about the allotment, and fresh veggies and fruit are something I'm really looking forward to

Freezing cold out there this morning, literally; according to the Met Office past data it was around -4 when I went out the door this morning! This year is the first year I've ever done any running in the winter, so it's proving a bit experimental in what to wear. Today I decided that it would be a better idea to plan a run that came past the house a few times so that I could take stuff off if I was hot or add more layers if I was cold, so I plotted a 6ish mile run in a figure of 8 with the house at the centre of it, and I would do the loop twice. I mixed up my High5 powder drinky thing with some warm water, rather than cold water out of the fridge, and that seemed to stay warmish in my belt thing for about the first 6 miles so it was nice drinking it warm rather than cold!

Started off quite well, felt my pace was even and steady and that seemed to carry through for about the first 6 miles. I stopped in for a quick loo stop on the way past the house and Mr TST refilled the bottle with some more High5 stuff as I'd nearly got through the first bottle by that point. Headed off again and some way down the road realised that I'd managed to stop the Garmin I tried to make a guess at when I'd looked at it and could have stopped it accidently when pulling my sleeve back over and estimated that I'd lost about 0.5 mile from what the watch said. So I carried on and figured when the Garmin said 11.5 I would have done my 12 miles! It seemed to get colder as I did the second 6 miles, although I think partly that was because I was getting tired and partly because the wind was picking up a bit. The last couple of miles felt a struggle, but looking at the Garmin data it would appear that my speed was pretty much consistent throughout the run only getting a bit slower at the end few miles.

All in all I'm happy with todays run, especially having never run in temperatures that cold before. My legs were getting cold by the end, but a pair of tights, thermal leggings and then my running tights seemed to do the trick. I think the High5 powder drinks helped too so I shall need to look into those more, and have a look at the Lucazade stuff as that's what they have at London. The distance is a 2 mile increase on last weeks run, so I creep ever nearer the distance for London

[Tritans]

Good steady progress Sarah. Well done.

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Thank you Must admit it feels good to finally feel like I'm getting somewhere, and that's not only due to the training but some other factors in my life right now. I had a look back at the Endo log on Saturday and you can really see a difference from the begining of the year, my pace and HR are much more stable now rather than the erratic graphs of some of the earlier runs! I feel in a good place mentally now too and that's really helping, previously I would have wanted to bail on Saturdays run but although I wasn't keen on it being so cold I did want to get out there and do it. Tonights run will be interesting though as I've never run in snow before I'm planning on going round to the local open space about 5 minutes walk from my house so I can run round that for a bit as the pavements are icy and I don't think they'll be safe to run on. Am supposed to be doing a 50 minute run, not sure how long I'll last out there but I'm going to give it my best shot!

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Yesterday I did my first run in the snow! Last year I used absolutely every excuse in the book to get out of running in the winter and snow was one of the best as people will happily agree that you don't really want to be out running in it. But this year things are different. This year, thanks to the running club, I now have enough confidence in my running to think that I could get out there and at least give it a bash, plus there's that medal calling me and I don't want to mess up my chance of getting it. By the time I left work last night the snow had begun melting and the pavements had turned to slush, which didn't seem like it would be fun or safe to run in, so I decided I'd check out the park and see what that was like. My usual running partner had an emergency at home, so I would also be running on my own in the dark for the first time, but the park is a large open space, fairly well lit and doesn't have loads of shrubbery where people can hide and jump out on you so I figured it would be safe enough. I walked round, rather than running on the slush, and the park looked sparkly and white and just ready for me to try running on. The aim was to try and do five loops one way and then another five back the other way, and this would hopefully take about 50 minutes, which was the planned session. It seemed quite like running on sand, running in the snow, you have to lift your legs more and it was definitely harder in the deeper snow (about 3") than it was where it had been flattened down. I did three one way before turning round and looping back the other way, and I only managed two in the opposite direction but I really hurt and just couldn't do any more. I struggled a bit to get my legs to work properly to walk back so I know I couldn't have done an extra one! In the end I managed 2.13 miles of running in 35 minutes, which is normally how long it takes me to do 3 miles! The Garmin data showed I'd got progressively slower during the session and was up and down according to where I'd gone through the deeper snow, but that wasn't really any surprise. All in all, I'm really pleased with the run last night; first run out in the snow, first run on my own in the dark (which is a big thing for me after the assault), and although I didn't hit the full time I came home knowing I really couldn't have done any more and that's fine by me.

My poolmate watch arrived in the post today and Tony had kindly sent some Kitchen Garden magazines, so I'm not sure which I'm more excited about! Will have to wait until next week to try the watch out as I have to see the sports therapist on my scheduled swim day this week, but I'm really looking forward to trying the watch out and seeing what information it gives me.

Gymnastics tonight, and I expect we'll have some more routines to learn for the competition and I've still got one of the other ones to learn yet! A little cold is also trying to sneak it's way it, but Mr TST is doing his famous cold killing chilli for tea tomorrow night so if it does sneak in then that should see it off again

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Been an up and down week since my last post. Mr TST has been pretty ill so didn't get to gymnastics, which was disappointing. Also didn't attend club night on Wednesday as the pavements were still too icy, although I did do another session running around the snowy field instead using the interval session from my plan. Thursday was another session with the sports therapist so no training then or Friday because of that. She was pretty pleased with everything, although I'm getting knotting in my right leg now and my calf was particularly bad. This is the one I get pain in for a bit when I set off on a run so it didn't suprise me, and also my hamstring is tight on that side. I need to make sure I pay proper attention to what I'm doing when I do my stretches - must admit I don't concentrate as much as I should when doing them - and I need to do an extra set on my right leg. Mr TST also needs to rub my soleus muscle after I've stretched as that is very tight still.

Saturday was a 6 mile run and I managed to find a 3 mile loop round town that didn't require too much negotiation of ice on the way round. It felt a hard run, although my right calf didn't cause as many problems as previously, and I was surprised when I got near to home and checked my watch to see I was at 1:08. I realised I was going to finish in a better time than my New Years Day time, so I put a little extra effort into the last bit to see how much I could knock off and when I got home I'd managed 1:12 which is five minutes faster than my New Years Day time. It's been a long time since I've managed a 12 minute mile over 6 miles so was pretty pleased with myself! Got Mr TST to rub my soleus muscle after doing my stretches and bloody hell it hurt! It did feel better for him having to done it, but heaven knows what the neighbours thought of all my yelping and swearing

[Two-Stroke Tart]

Been a bit quiet as things haven't been going too well the last week really. Managed a 14 miler last Saturday (18 Feb) and then things went a bit pear-shaped. I ran with the sister of my sports therapist who was here on holiday for a few days and is also doing London for the first time so it was nice to have some company. She's a little faster than me though so we ran the first 7 mile loop faster than I normally would! This, on it's own, may not have presented any problems as we took the second loop slower but the wind really started to pick up and on the second half to the loop we were into the headwind all the way which was channelling nicely down the road we were on. About mile 11 I started to get a pain in my knee in the leg I've always had problems with. A different pain in a different place, but it was causing enough problems that I had to walk sections. This wasn't helped by the strong winds that on there own were making it extremely difficult to run (some nice gusts in excess of 41mph according to the Met Office ) and by the end we were reduced to just walking. We made it round the distance though, which was the important thing.

I didn't seem to have any problems when I wasn't running or over the next couple of days so assumed that it was just battling into the wind that had caused the problem and on Monday night headed off out for my scheduled 60 minute run. I managed 30 minutes before the knee started causing me problems again, so took a little walk break (during which it didn't hurt) and then had another go, only to get a minute or two down the road before having to stop again as I was starting to limp. We finished the session as a walk as it evidently wasn't going to suddenly get well enough to run. On the advice of Tarka and another experienced running friend I rested from running until Thursday when I was due to see the sports therapist. She had a good old poke around and eventually hit one small spot on my ITB, about an inch or two above where it joins the bone under your knee, which hurt like hell! It would appear that a combination of running too fast early on, the wind and tiredness which probably caused me to go back to my old bad running style, have caused a little bit of damage to the ITB So, icing and rest were prescribed with no running on Saturday. Fortunately that was only scheduled to be a short run so I'm not panicking too much yet and I did a swim yesterday with Tarka instead so at least I did something. I've been taking ibuprophen and using Biofreeze gel as well so I'm hoping that has done the trick and I will be able to manage an easy run tonight. If not I shall start to panic ...............

[Two-Stroke Tart]

So, Monday's run was a total disaster and now I'm broken My knee started giving me a bit of a problem within about 10 minutes and at 20 minutes I decided it would be better to try a little walk and see if it eased of. It did a little so tried running again, at which point it hurt again. Kinda tried another 10 minutes of walking with a little bit of running to see how it was, but in the end decided it really wasn't a good idea and cut it short. Iced it as soon as I got in and took some ibuprophen. Woke up Tuesday in pain and with a swollen knee and managed to speak to my sports therapist Tuesday lunchtime. The advice was kind of what I was expecting really - total rest for three days, RICE and ibuprophen. Going to see her tonight for some rehab exercises which I start tomorrow and I can go for a short (as in a couple of miles or so) walk on Saturday. I have to take it easy for a couple of weeks, which isn't good, but if I don't sort out now and try to run on it too early then I'll be out for six weeks. No brainer really. I'll find out tonight what I'll be able to do next week and then I have a proper session with her on Thursday so we'll see how things are progressing then.

This, obviously, has thrown a spanner in the works for London Should have been doing a 16 miler on Saturday, which isn't going to happen, and I'm worried about loosing fitness while I can't run. After discussion with the sports therapist we have decided it would be a good idea to shift to the run/walk plan in my book instead of the run one and then I can see how I feel on the day as to whether I stick to that or run it. I did all my training for the GNR as a run/walk and then ran the whole thing and I'm happy to do that for London. So I'm down, but not out, and hopefully a couple of weeks of taking it easy and the rehab exercises will put me back on track. There are still 7 weeks to go so I'm confident that we can sort me out before the day. If I can get to the start line then I'll sure as hell make it to the finish!

Am bored though Even bossing Mr TST about while I'm sat there with my leg up has lost it's attraction now