Monday 3 November 2014

Monday Madness!

Hello blog lovers.

This morning I woke up to a dismal day!  The sky was grey and the rain came down.  But, training is training. Unlike the wicked witch of Oz, we do not melt in the rain!  So after the school run I got my things together and the went to collect Tracy.  We were not going to be doing the usual Monday morning route today, we were going to the park!

Wendi lives up the end of the road so she was going to meet us at Normans park.  I thought it would be good to show Tracy exactly what we are aiming for.  Show her the route, get a feel for running in the park.  But the weather was deffo against us!  Me and Wendi synchronised our watches and we started on our run, from the carpark end we went through a the gap in the fence to run walk on the grass.  It was very soft, very slippery, even just for walking on.  Our Two minutes finished while we were still on the grass and we started running.  That's when I decided that it was best to stick to the tarmac for the whole way round.  At least we know that we will cover the 2 miles that we have been doing!

Tracy said that she had been doing her 6 minutes of running and 2 of walking on the tread mill at the health club she goes to.  I am not a fan of the old dread mills, and as Tracy will find out, she will know why!  The first 8 minutes of running done and both ladies were doing brilliantly.  The first run is always the hardest bit, your lungs suddenly wake up and say "Whoa, blimey is it that time already" and then they try to get the oxygen into your blood stream and get rid of all that bad air, as well as have their 'morning stretch'  I guess it's a bit like getting teenagers out of bed, while getting the toddlers dressed ready for nursery school and making the babies bottles for the day, all while trying to get yourself a cup of tea, breakfast and get the dinner ready for later!

But once it's all settled down, the lungs work perfectly, you're under control, your breathing rhythmically and enjoying the run! Can't say much about the 'house wife' scenario I used as a comparison!  I was never organised!  The second 8 minutes started and both the ladies were looking good, Wendi chatting away keeping the pace going Tracy with a true concentration on her face, wanting to keep going for the whole 8 minutes.  I must learn to count properly because I told Tracy that we had 30 seconds left when in fact it was 2 minutes and 30 seconds left.  As you can guess, maths was not my strong subject either!

The rain continued to come down, not heavy but enough to make 'noises' on our rain coats, and best of all to keep us nice and cool.  The last 8 minutes started, I thought this would get us back to the carpark, just perfectly timed! But that last 8 minutue stretch Tracy was struggling, especially when I did the whole calculation thing wrong again!  "I'm running to the tree and then I'm stopping" she said with that determined look on her face. I knew that would mean she wouldn't be completing the 8 minutes of running, and I knew she would be disappointed with herself, so I just encouraged her to keep going, Wendi encouraged her to keep going and between the two of us Tracy made it passed the tree she had chosen to stop at and kept going.  Even with the last 15 seconds we encouraged to to just put a bit of speed on, there was no need to save any energy for another 8 minutes of running.  And she did it, she found that last bit of energy for a short sprint!

Geeky stats for you.



Then there was my run.  I wanted to do some extra miles, I need to start building up the distance again.  After dropping of Tracy I drove back to my place and parked my care.  Still dripping wet from the rain  I sat for a few seconds watching the rain 'fill' in the windscreen with more raindrops that the wipers had wiped away.  I looked at my wet running cap on the chair and then looked out and up to the sky.  "Well Old Girl" I said to myself, "It's either going in and getting breakfast, and then maybe you will get it together to go running again later, or just get your fat, wet, lazy arse out now and be done with it"

I turned on my Garmin, saved the the first run and it seemed the satellites how found me straight away.  "I should go now, before I go in, I'm all ready wet, so just flippin go now" I said to myself.  And so I did.  I started up to Petts Woods again, in the rain, thinking to myself, "this is total madness!" I mean, who else goes out, again, in the rain for fun, after being out in the rain, for fun already!  Only runners!

I chose my route, it was going to be up Hollingworth down Shepperton then into Petts Wood to run along past the Daylight Inn and then back down Southborough   I started off ok, I had stiffened up slightly from getting from Normans Park to here, so I had to loosen up all over again. I was also feeling a little bit chilled, but the harder I work the warmer I will get.

I only wanted to do another 5k, and I think the route I had planned would get me the extra 3 miles I wanted to do today.  Getting up the hill on Hollingsworth, although still blooming tough, I found I can do it without puffing out my backside like I used to do.  Now that's when you know you are getting fitter!  I know I have to build up my stamina again, my energy over distance.  And I am hoping that the track sessions will help build up speed for me, as long as I make sure I put in the effort of course.  Those track sessions right there, they are going to be my 'beatings', Not from Hels and PhysioMike who do the sessions, they have nothing but praise, but the beatings will have to come from me!

Anyway, I digress.  If you can read between the lines then I was feeling a little disappointed with my solo run!  Which is why half way round I started to think about the track sessions and how I am going to have to really train hard and put in tons of effort, unlike my solo run today!  But as Sherry said on Sunday, "At least you're out here, doing it"  Yes, at least I am out here doing it, and I am running faster than any one sat in the houses dunking the digestives in the hot sugary tea while watching Jeremy Kyle!

When I got back from my run I looked at my watch and realised I was a tad short of my three miles!  I realised then that I usually go do to the Harvester and go through the park! Darn it!  But I did a little extra bit when I had to run around to the shop to get my poorly son some lucozade and soothers!

So geeky stats for my solo run,

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