My longest run so far…

I’ve been pretty good this week, mixing it up with my swimming and walking and even managing to do a long run on the Saturday.  My plan was just this, to build up to a longer run on Saturday so I did 4 miles on Monday, walked a couple of miles Tuesday, ran 5 miles on Wednesday, walked 3 miles and swam on Thursday, rest on Friday and then Saturday (yesterday) I ran about 7 miles!  Well if I’m honest I did have to walk some of it but Sussex is really hilly and the route I took was quite a killer so I’m not ashamed…

I suppose it’s good to get used to doing the miles whether walking or running it doesn’t matter – I can’t really imagine I’ll be able to run the whole thing so it’s just being realistic.  I’m going to go for a walk in a moment and this should bring my weekly miles to around the marathon length (i.e. 26.2 miles) which is good news! I was speaking to someone who’s running the half marathon in February – seems weird swapping tips – apparently in the last two months I’ve become a proper runner, who’d have thought it.

Anyway, laters CJ xx

Fitness freak!

Yes that’s right, you heard it here first! I’ve become a fitness freak. OK, I may be exaggerating somewhat but this week so far I’ve been for a 4 mile run (Monday) a 5ish mile run (yesterday) and today I walked to the sports centre (about 1.5 miles away), swam for about half an hour, then walked back.  Not bad, even if I do say so myself.  I’m planning to do a good long run on Saturday too as long as I can get my stuff washed! Got a bit of an issue with the washing machine…

So with all this running and fitness stuff, I guess it’s inevitable that I would get a bit more svelte (I mean the slender part of the definition, not the polished/refined bit!) but I do have nightmares that I start looking like Madonna – to be fair I have 27 years on her so I hope my arms aren’t going to look like that.  I’m a bit more liberal with my eating habits so hopefully I won’t get too slim!  Watching River Cottage at the moment and it’s making me hungry, although I’ve just had a Chicken Tikka Masala and a Frijj – I had to cool my mouth down after the Tikka Masala! Burn baby burn…

Rightio, well hope someone is still reading this – thought I’d put up a picture I took the other day of the pretty Xmas lights, might be more interesting…
CJ x

And the rain came down…

Oh dear, I guess it had to happen some time and today is as good a day as any!  Not only did the battery on my iPod run out but yes, it also started raining.  To be fair it could have been worse, just meant I turned around and ran faster up the hill! It’s the first time I’ve felt really cold though. BRRRR!

I think I ran about 4 miles, I didn’t want to overdo it because after my 5.5 mile run last Monday I was shattered for the rest of the week! I’ve decided I need to be more disciplined with my walks as well as runs because I need to be covering more miles a week I think. I also might do some swimming to build up my fitness without putting the strain on my joints.

The countdown to Christmas has truly started.  All the adverts on the TV, Christmas music on the radio, decorations everywhere – I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone.  It’s going to be hard to stick to a regime over the Christmas period guess I’ll have to allow myself a bit of time off but not completely neglect the training.

Uh oh the alarm is going off on a house down the street. Hope it’s not the pesky burglars back again…It’s all very well having a house alarm but does it actually do anything? Or is it just designed to annoy the burglars away! It’s certainly pretty freaking irritating! My housemate thought it was my rape alarm going off, nice to see he came running to my rescue.  Oh good, it’s stopped now. Hopefully all’s well.

Might try and get an early night tonight (although this never actually works)…Night CJxx

Tired legs

Oh my, my legs are really aching today.  No way I would be playing football tonight, I think they would fall off! I ran yesterday, around 3.5 miles I think but I was aware my legs were already quite achy so didn’t want to overdo it in case of injuring myself.  I also didn’t have my favourite running attire available, which always puts me off kilter.  I had my hoddie on but it doesn’t have any zip pockets only one ‘pouch style’ pocket which my iPod was intent on escaping from, so that was quite off putting.

However, I have to keep at it, I believe it was Aristotle who said ‘We are what we repeatably do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit’ or something along those lines.  I guess it’s a rather more profound way to say ‘practice makes perfect’ but there we go, if we are to excel we have to be tenacious and committed! Simple really but not a mantra for the lazy.

Anyway enough philosophy for today.   All the best, CJ xx

PS. I will put some more pictures on soon, and maybe a video if I see fit.

Crank it up!

Considering I was a bit of a slacker last week, this week I’ve decided I need to start cranking up training. I went for a long walk yesterday, well went to visit my friend at the pub about 2 miles away and then walked back. And today I mapped a new route, which I thought was about 4.5 miles and it seemed to take a while – I was out for nearly 55 minutes but when I came back I recalculated and it turns out it was actually 8.9km, which is 5.5 miles!! My longest run yet! The best thing is, I actually didn’t struggle.  I only walked a few times and I ran up Castle Street, which is the biggest hill in town (but that’s not hard!).

I even spent time yesterday sorting out my running playlist. This helps a huge amount, listening to the right music – has to be motivational with a good beat and not something I want to sing along to too much! Otherwise I run out of breath. One of the most interesting things I find when I run is picking up on all the different smells.  From people’s houses, to the pubs and restaurants you come across a huge mix.  My favourite is still the smell of washing – anyone who knows me well, knows I have an unhealthy obsession with the smell of washing powder and literally smell every item of clothing when it comes out the machine!

Anyway enough blabbering – but my time today means that I could still potentially do the marathon in 4.36 hours! hmm yeah we’ll see.

Right keep on trucking CJ xxx

Slacker

I’ve had a weird week this week, and it’s meant I’ve been a bit slack with my running and my blogging. I had my Tuesday run as I wrote, then on Wednesday I did another run, which was just under 4 miles – my longest yet! My legs felt much better, although achey on Thursday after running 2 days in a row.  So I decided to not play football on Thurs, which was probably a good idea as it sounds like it was quite a boisterous game.  Two guys got injured, one hurt his shoulder so badly he’ll be off work for a week – apparently it was caused by our HR Director, so much for looking after your assets! haha.  Still, even though I avoided getting injured at football I did manage to hurt my arm when I was out and about in Newmarket – I shan’t go into it too much but basically something was digging into my arm and I couldn’t let go for fear of injuring my professional sportswoman legs so had to grim and bear it.  So then I had a dent in my arm and it felt really dead. Still sore now and a little swollen but at least it doesn’t affect my running abilities.

I went for a run today too, a bit earlier than usual – at 10. There was some sort of racing event on the Cam so I saw a lot of the boat clubs setting up and getting ready for the race later on in the day.  I didn’t go as far as I probably should but I felt better than usual on a Saturday. I think I’m really going to have to start to step up the training soon, it’s been nearly two months now, can you believe? I do feel like I’m getting somewhere but it’s slow and I’m not sure what sort of effect Christmas will have on the training schedule. The adverse weather isn’t great either but I’ve still been lucky and not really been caught by the rain yet! I’m sure that will soon change!

Anyway going to make a nice casserole come stew now, aren’t I a ‘Domestic Goddess’?

Keep reading, CJ xx

Tuesday run, different!

A bit different to usual this week as I was down in London yesterday so did my run today instead.  It was alright, I made sure I stretched my calves well (is the plural of calf muscle, calves or calf muscles?), anyway I certainly didn’t stretch my baby cows well so I’m sure you know what I mean.  The weather was much nicer so it made for a pleasant run. I did about 3 miles, I try to mix up the runs a bit so I’m not always doing the same route but obviously I don’t really know how far I’ve gone until I get back and map it.  I suppose it’s more about doing the time that the distance…and building up.   Think I need to go back to the schedule rather than freestyle as this gives me a better idea of how I’m getting on.  Although tonight I did try to keep to a rhythm by running for the duration of a song then having a break, then running again – I think this worked reasonably well.

I might have to go for my next run tomorrow as I would usually, although I might be able to fit it in Thurs or play football but I do have plans to go out.  Tough one.  I’m trying to keep a bit of a habit going and be disciplined but I guess there has to be some flexibility. Just have to keep motivated and not get skewed too far off the ’straight and narrow’.

I could do with an early night as I’ve been shattered lately but if I know myself, which I hope I do by now…it won’t happen! haha

Anyway sorry if it’s a bit boring today – will try and keep it interesting, any feedback is much appreciated!!

Oh I did forget my number one accessory, the LED bands, tonight! Gutted – I reckon they’re next season’s hot buy.  You heard it here first!!! CJ xxx

Shocking weather!

Dear me, the weather today is seriously horrible.  I can hear the whooshing of the wind bending over the tree outside and the rain hammering down, as I write. Luckily when I went for my run earlier it wasn’t raining but was still incredibly windy. At one point I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere just jogging on the spot! Again my calf muscle or ‘gastrocnemius’ to be precise were feeling a bit tight so didn’t manage to run as far as I wanted to, I think the weather had an adverse effect too.

The weekends seem to go so quickly these days, I don’t know where the day has gone – I guess it feels later too because it’s dark outside. But having gone for my run and done a bit of cleaning etc it’s nearly 17:00.  Still trying to decide whether to go out tonight or not, had a couple of offers but because the weather is so rubbish part of me just wants to stay in!  England vs Brazil now so will see how I feel after a cup of tea and some football!

Hope you don’t get blown away. CJ xx

Another 3.3 mile run

It seems even when I think I’ve run further, when I get in and map my route it’s only 3.3 miles. Definitely a reoccurring theme.  It was good though I was proper sweaty when I got in, must be due to my new sweaty betty arm bands.  I found an old pedometre in my room so thought I’d wear it on my run, it has quite a few cool gadgets on it. Obviously it’s a pedometre first, with stepometre and distance calculator but it also has a handy torch and a rape alarm!! What more do you need?  I found the torch quite handy when I was by the river but then when I tried to turn it off the bloody rape alarm started, managed to turn it off quite quickly but didn’t see anyone rush to my aid so not sure how effective it would be in a real life situation.

The bottom of my right leg felt quite tight again, it’s weird, tends to feel heavy and a bit solid.  Hopefully it will get better it tends to go away reasonably swiftly but can be a bit of a pain.  The good news is I’m starting to get a lot of money in sponsorship and that makes it all worthwhile, have my minimum £250 pledged now and want to raise as much as possible so won’t stop there!! Still lots of people to bug .

Haven’t played football for a while so might play tomorrow if I feel OK, I do get a bit worried I will get injured though.  I’ll have to take it easy, I suppose and see how it goes.

Right, well that’s all for now folks,  laters CJ xx

 

Accessorise this!

I got to wear my new accessories tonight, reflective arm bands with LED lights in them. I must say – looking rather hot! haha
I don’t mean ‘water wing’ style arm bands – it wasn’t a swim in the river!  Check out the pics below courtesy of my housemate.

Might not be the best quality but never mind. I found the run a lot easier than on Saturday, it was really cold though, my hands were frozen to start with.  Soon warmed up after a while, had my leggings on under my running trousers which made it nice and toasty!  Right leg looked a bit swollen when I got in but not sure if that was just my imagination, certainly seems to be my right leg which hurts the most. I’m sure it’ll be OK!

Right well off for now, watching a film ’starter for 10′ James Corden with extremely long hair, James McAvoy and Dominic Cooper – random! CJ xx