I'm Running. I Promise.

This week has been both fab and crap all in one. It’s been crapulous. According to my training plan, I’ve pretty much fallen off the chart, which hasn’t really done much for my motivation. Whatever though, it’s my birthday week, and that is a FABULOUS excuse.

Where did I last leave off? I think it was Wednesday (CBA to check - whatever, birthday week), when I didn’t make it to Bootcamp. Well, I didn’t run on Thursday either. I thought I deserved the lie in, so I slept up until the very last minute before work and ignored the guilt (birthday week birthday week birthday week).

I did, however, make it to Bootcamp on Friday though. ON my actual birthday. And I did, in fact, RUN to the station. I tied extra layers around my waist to put on once I was on the train and cooling down and made it to Bootcamp a little bit early. YAY FOR ME! The girls outdid themselves. Dani, Orsi, Rachel, Bangs, Candice, Christiana and Elles had me practically crying with happiness (I’m a sentimental fassy) with birthday presents, hugs and kisses. Candice MADE me beautiful cupcakes and battled commuters to get them to the gym unsquashed and fabulous. I have never had anyone do something like this for me, so I feel a little overwhelmed by this gesture. What a WOMAN! Christiana, hailed herself a cab to bring me a birthday balloon and chocolates (she is ‘fabulous’ personified). So anyway, blah blah blah, training done, we left the gym and made for the station. I did a little video with Christiana that I was going to blog, but I was a bit too sweary, so that will stay in the vault because it wasn’t that exciting anyway. I was supposed to run home, but that’s kind of hard with a balloon and chocolates and a big box of cupcakes.

(I’m scowling because my picture is being taken by the fabulous Dani and I’m post-work out, sans make up and I look about 6 years old. CHECK OUT MY CAKES AND BALLOON THOUGH!)

I got home, showered, made my hair fabulous, then climbed back into bed and watched Transformers and painted my nails. Work started at 2pm and finished at 11pm, and was high-adrenaline all day. Birthday celebrations that followed were marvellously hilarious.

This morning, I didn’t think I was going to run. I woke up still exhausted so I knew I wasn’t going to fit in a run and time to make myself look fab before heading out with my family for a birthday meal. So I stayed in bed and paid off my sleep debt (I’m a huge believer in paying back sleep debts). I did, however, run this evening. Luckily Rachel hadn’t been out either though, so we teamed up for some Sunday evening jogging and I finally cracked out my first 5-miler.

*insert celebratory shimmy here*

This is the screenshot of my run earlier:

It took just over an hour to run five and a half miles. That doesn’t sound very good, but let’s not focus on my speed, I’m happy being a slow-mo. I’m pretty psyched that I managed to run that far and for that long. This is NOT something I have envisioned myself doing at any point in my life so far. I also managed to fix my pacing and I was comfortable running for further and for longer before I needed to stop. I made it to nearly 2 miles before I did slow down to walk and that was because a stitch in my left side hit me hard. Then when I started running again I got one in my right side. Can somebody PLEASE explain how to get rid of stitches because, whatever I do, it doesn’t work and they really friggin’ hurt!

Other than the stitches, I still beat my target of 5 miles, I didn’t stop at all throughout the last mile and a half, I slipped in a sprint on the home run to my house and now I feel really good. Fabulous, even.

I treated Rachel and myself to birthday cake and tea after our non-fabulous stretching on my driveway.

I hope you all have a FABULOUS week. Go forth and be fab.

I’m really nervous. I have to crack 5 miles this evening.

I’ve had enough sleep, I had a coffee after my lunch earlier, it’s been at least 2 hours since I last ate.

But it’s really cold outside, it’s been raining on and off all afternoon, I haven’t done much training this week and ummmm… It’s cold. Wait, I said that…

On another note though, as I sit typing this with my legs up on a stool stretching my hamstrings (which are always tight), the front of my thighs feel AMAZING. Muscle definition has come up out of hibernation and, from the front, my legs look great.

Now, why can’t my stomach look this fab?

WHY IS IT RAINING SO HARD?!

I NEED TO GO OUT AND RUN!

IT’S TOO COLD FOR RUNNING IN RAIN!

I AM NOT THAT MOTIVATED!

I so fully endorse this! Motivation at it’s finest…

spikesandheels:

It’s time for a fitness revolution. It’s time for women who train for the love of it. Time to get the focus off calorie counting and scales. Time to focus on how exercise makes us feel. Time to focus on being focused, determined, driven, goal oriented badasses who will race you to the bus stop and get in a lunch time press up competition with you. And we will win.

It’s time to not give a f**k who sees you in your lycra. It’s time to celebrate your sweat. It’s time to push yourself, to run so hard you leave your lungs on the track, throw your heels on after a session and walk home like a don.

Take the elevator if you want, we’ll be racing up the escalators, putting hand wraps on in the work bathrooms ready to go beat some pads come 5:30, clocking up miles between meetings, doing core exercises while we wait for the pasta to cook.

The time is now.

Be pretty on rest days.

I will use (and ignore) any tactic to get me motivated enough to get up and out of bed in the mornings. If I could choose anywhere to waste hours away it would be my bed (I have The World’s Best Duvet Ever) or the shower (I really love showers, you know?).
This morning was no exception. I have a really long day today so I mentally structured the early part of my day to make sure I wouldn’t stress myself too much. I even translated my mental schedule into a literal schedule so that I’d stick to it. This is what it looked like:
6 - alarm.
6:30 - up, wash, dress, eat.
7 - run to station.
8 - Bootcamp.
8:45 - get train home.
9:15 - run home.
9:30 - shower, wash hair.
10 - snack.
10:15 - sleep.
11:45 - get ready.
12:45 - leave for work.

How fail-proof is that?! I was anticipating exhaustion and I wanted to combat that and get everything done on time. That way I could sleep before I got to work so that I wouldn’t be a zombie for the event I’m hosting tonight.

Good plan.

I woke up naturally this morning (for once), before my alarm went off, just when it was starting to get light outside. My first thought was ‘oooh, Spring is well on the way if it’s this light this early’. My second thought, after looking at the clock was ‘FML ON CRACK’. It was 07:51. ‘Nice one, idiot’.

My plan of military precision went out of the window. I had ages before I had to get up so I went back to sleep.

Moral of the story kids, although you may be stressed and sleep-deprived, NEVER FORGET TO SET YOUR ALARM.

My legs have been aching for three weeks now. Every day.
Sometimes they hurt when I move and sometimes my muscles are so tender I feel pain no matter what position I’m sitting/standing/walking/lying in. I have at least four muscle groups in various degrees of pain just because I tried to do some press ups last Friday.

It’s just occurred to me that I’m probably going to be aching non-stop until about a fortnight after race day. I already feel like I need a break just to experience life without my legs hurting.

F M L

See, now, as I’m typing this, I’m wishing I had run that little bit extra to at least make it 4 whole miles. That vacant 0.07 miles is annoying me. Excuse me while I just run up and down the stairs for a while…

… Back.

This morning’s run was quite good. I’m still finding it hard to keep going and not stop, but I did alright considering I haven’t ran at all since last Sunday.

Rachel, another Bangs on the Run girl, suggested we run along the river in Greenwich, near where our parents live. Nice spot, bright and open, and thankfully quiet on a Sunday morning. Obviously we came across loads of other runners though (or were taken over by them) and a couple of cyclists too, so we weren’t the only ones trying to make the most of the early start. We both find it really entertaining that runners like to nod and pant “morning” to you as they jog past.

Basically, we can establish that I run at a very slow pace. I’m averaging at about 11-12 minutes per mile. This would all be very well and good if at least I could run without stopping to walk, but this is not the case. I stopped around 4 or 5 times this morning to slow down and walk to stretch out stitches (NOTE: I do not ever stop to stand still, I do keep walking), and I felt bad because I was obviously slowing Rachel down and killing her stride (soz, babez).

Nothing dramatic happened this morning. There were no pools of blood or vomit so this morning I managed to focus on my pacing and breathing without much interruption. Of course, Rachel and I chat like the world is ending tomorrow, so I know I definitely gave my lungs a good work out.

Rachel is also a great coach. Even though she’s learning to get to grips with this whole running thing too, she really pushed me to work hard. She reminded me to lengthen my stride, focus on my pace and pushed me to sprint twice during the 50 minutes we were out running, including once up a hill. Afterwards, we stretched, did some lunges, squats and drank protein juice thingies that Rachel ‘borrowed’ from her gym buff brother. THIS is what they looked like. Needless to say, protein drinks taste vile, and this one (as long as you didn’t smell it) was like taking a rather amusing shot:

Rach’s encouragement was MUCH appreciated, because I still haven’t broken that wall yet where I enjoy running. I’m a bit worried to run on my own because I think I’m a social runner. When I run on my own I don’t push myself with much success. The running angel sits on one shoulder saying ‘GO GO GO!’, but I respond SO much better to the running devil who sits on my other shoulder saying ‘you should really stop now, this is getting ridiculous’.

Anyway, to cut a long BLAH short, today’s run was OK. I could have done better and I wish I did.

I need to run on Tuesday AND Thursday this week and not cop out like I did last week. I have Bootcamp on Wednesday and Friday morning and events that I am coordinating on both days which means I won’t leave work until at least 11pm on those evenings. It’s also my birthday on Friday. This week is going to HURT. I’m already so sleep deprived after a really stressful week, I literally don’t think I’m going to be able to stand by next Saturday. Apologies to my friends, but this week I’m out of social action, except to work and train. 

I am 100000% too tired to run this morning but I haven’t ran at all this week so I need to get out and run.
My thighs, arms and chest are aching from Bootcamp on Friday (they made us do PRESS UPS!) so this run is pretty much guaranteed to be painful.

Here goes…

Guess who’s been slacking off this week? Oh… You don’t look very impressed. Hmmm.
I was supposed to run on Tuesday. Oops. Instead I went to the Nike Make It Count campaign exhibition at 1948 (I feel really strongly about this campaign - I think it’s really powerful). So I think because I went to a sport-influenced exhibition, I can let myself off. No? That excuse isn’t valid? Oh. Well, I was wearing Nike Free Run trainers - at least I was working the muscles in my feet and legs.

Boot Camp yesterday was fun. By fun I mean lots of pain but lots of laughs with the girls. I could never do this on my own, they really make this all a lot easier. The sit ups that I did on Monday night killed my abs and they’re still kind of aching. Add to that an intensive work out with lots of lunges and ab-focused strengthening exercises. FML. Then try a whole day of work. And THEN try going for dinner with a friend who makes you laugh so hard that you can feel each individual abdominal muscle tense and slowly disintegrate as you double over and wipe the tears from your eyes. Now THAT is a (very welcome) work out!

I didn’t run this morning either. Today has apparently been headache season and even after a pint of water, breakfast and Ibruprofen, there was still a dull ache that threatened to be a migraine. Plus it was wet and cold outside and I wanted a 30 minute shower. I forgive myself (that’s right).

This week has been nothing short of shit, if I’m really honest. I missed a dentist appointment on Monday (and I NEVER forget appointments) and then experienced such stress and worry that it has felt like a bad break up. Three days of this has left me feeling drained and all remaining energy is devoted to feeling angry. So please excuse my non-running. But I’ll run tomorrow. I promise.

So today’s plan to get to a yoga class failed. My fault. Lack of planning.

However, to make up for it, I just did 50 crunches. Without stopping.
That’s enough, huh?

(Let’s not mention that I’m now in bed eating chicken wings and waffles, watching House).

So… Guess who ran their first four miler today? Guess! GUESS!

Dahahahahaaa! That’s right, I did. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t this energetic immediately post-run. In fact I didn’t even manage a victory dance of any sort. I just kind of glared at Bangs for making me run an extra half a block to get back to the start point.

On Friday, after Boot Camp 1.2 (week 1, session 2), Bangs offered to run with me for my Sunday long run. I thought instead of doing my usual routine of running around near where my parents live, giving up far too often, and yelling abuse at my brother, that I would take Bangs up on her offer and called her on Saturday night to arrange everything.

Fab. So, she said we’d do a morning run. As I’m trying to get my early morning groove on now I have this training schedule, I agreed, and when Bangs suggested a 10am start, I suggested an 8:45am meet time and a 9am start.

MOTIVATION!

What really happened is that I woke up at 8:30am and inhaled a bowl of Weetabix (I have mine with honey, what do you have on yours?), washed and threw on my running uniform (I’m still resolutely calling it that). It was like minus four million degrees this morning and I managed to twist my ankle falling off the kerb as I ran laps round my car, spraying de-icer wildly at the windows and scraping off a thick layer of frost. I then got lost on the way to meet Bangs and ended up being almost an hour late. However, that didn’t mean we were cutting any time off our run.

 The night before, on the phone to Bangs, I said I was aiming to do two miles, but could probably stretch to three miles, and as long as she didn’t tell me what she was doing, she could trick me into running more. I fully believe that sometimes ignorance is bliss. If I had set out to do four miles this morning, I would have cracked and walked more than I ran.

We basically ran from Westham to Mile End and back. Now, there’s nothing really exciting near where my parents live, but let me tell you what we saw this morning…

The first thing I spotted was a pool of dark brown syrupy liquid that was on the edge of the pavement, spilling over the edge of the curb and spread about a foot into the road. It took me a while to realise that it was blood. No dead man in sight but I definitely vommed a bit in my mouth at this point.

The next thing we came across was a substantial amount of actual vomit on the pavement. Bangs kind of went “weeerrr-oooaaahhhh” and I grabbed her arm and yanked her to get us round it whilst clamping my jaws shut and swallowing the second bit of my own sick. (I should probably mention that I feel nauseous 99.9% of the time when I run so it doesn’t take a lot to throw me over the edge).

The letchy men deserve a shout out. We encountered three fine specimens this morning. I’m telling you, nothing makes you think ‘husband material’ more than an unwashed middle aged man leering at you, saying “hey sexy lady” as you jog past, holding your breath so you don’t catch their lurgies. They do make you run a bit faster to get rid of them though.

There weren’t a great deal of people out at just-past-ten this morning, but there were like a BASPILLION runners. It dawned on me that we are still in the ‘New Year Resolution Mission Get Fit’ period though and a lot of people are also training for the London Marathon and other runs this Spring. Still, that’s a lot of Lycra for a Sunday morning. Yay for you if you did your long run today though! Did you see @RunDemCrew’s callout to the masses to get up and get the week’s long run done?

Anyway, just as it was getting super tough on the way back from Mile End, Bangs said there was something good coming up. I panicked, thinking she was being sarcastic, and expected her to make me run up a steep hill over a flyover. Not so. We came up to a bus stop with the Nike #MAKEITCOUNT campaign poster featuring Mo Farah. I yelled “Mo!” like he was an old friend and it kept me going for another hundred metres. Similarly, a billboard with the Megan Fox for Armarni Code advertisement kept me distracted for a full minute until we had run past it (that new short bob and fringe is hot on her, non?). Last, but not least was the Mastercard advert with the slogan “PRICELESS LONDON”. That made me smile. There’s nothing quite like living in London. And running through it is always entertaining.

Bangs and I finished our run with tea, toast and talks about running and life. As much as she joked on Twitter about distracting me with “unicorns and rainbows” her company and brilliant conversation kept me well entertained and she kept me focused when I needed help. Bangs has taken on a mentoring role to coach me and many others and I bombard her with running questions all the time. She is an asset to my life!

I also had a great chat with Charlie Dark (Run Dem Crew founder and general OG) and got some great advice about my attitude to running and doing this half marathon. There’s nothing like a healthy dose of perspective to get you rolling.

I drove over to my mum’s afterwards for that hot bath I promised myself. I saw a boy jogging up Shooters Hill on the way. WTF?! He was like NINE and he was in a tracksuit and running trainers. What a little G.

Anyway, enough of being talky and boring you senseless. Here’s something for you:

CLICK HERE FOR UNICORNS

Totally sucks having to work on your rest day. Especially when there is an emergency evacuation and it’s only 2 degrees outside.
I feel alright though. My thighs aren’t aching as much and my glutes are ok except for when I’m walking up and down stairs.
I’m having an early night and I’m going for a run tomorrow morning. Then I’m going to go to my parents’ house and spend 4 hours in a hot bath.

Don’t be jealous of my rock and roll lifestyle.