Feb-u-lous

The theme for the Spring Motivation this month is Febulous – predict the number of weekly runs with an added twist, name your long run – gulp. Now long to me at the moment means something like Pi, 3.14 – however its the way forward as I need to go longer. I know I can, FFS I’ve run 2 marathons albeit 3 years ago. Funny isn’t it, people think just coz youve run a marathon you can pop out every Sunday and do another one eay peasy lemon squeezy.  Working on the basis of softly softly catchee monkey, I predicted 5, 6, 7, 8 – images of that Steps band spring to mind J

So first week I bucked the trend of LSR at the weekend as had AL on Tuesday – got caught short at 4 miles, landed in my new locale and hadn’t a Scooby where the public ahem conveniences were – not at my convenience clearly!  So I slunk into the baths, pretended I was a customer by asking for a leaflet at reception – I felt a fraud using the facilities otherwise lol. Aaanyway it turned out there was free swimming  on the leaflet so for once my bodily functions had a positive outcome!

Second week I woke in a right old mood on the Monday – four letter words abounded SNOW SNOW SNOW, grrrrrrrrr. I went into panic mode, had visions of the week turning into an Arctic backdrop – when WAS I going to fit my runs in.  Aaanyway as usual I worried for nothing coz on the lunchtime I got out with the works running club – now I did say to the main honcho are you sure its safe on the canal coz out of my window I can see snow on the bridge cobbles. Nah itll be fine he said I’ve just run up the first bit to meet you, no problem. Famous.Last.Words.  He ran off with an athletic young female 8m miling, me and another gingerly jogged along. The bridges were lethal – ice, we had to walk on them. I made an executive decision and said fck this, lets swap to the road – by this time our socks were wet through, you just couldn’t avoid the vast icy puddles the width of the towpath. Needless to say when I got back to work I sent him a missive giving him short shrift J  And, faint, he replied admitting we should have gone on the road. I knew I was right – always am ;-)

Another first later in the week, ran home – the intention was take my bus pass and give up either when the predicted snow came or my legs gave out.  Amazingly I ran the whole way – 7 miles, so my long run not only done by default but target of 6 miles exceeded – feb-u-lous!  Saturday ParkRun loomed and I decided to try and run a couple of miles beforehand, timing it to join the back of the PR as it started – slight mis-timing meant me circling a tree near the start for a couple of minutes, but hey another 6 miles in the bank.  Sunday run became a mini personal remembrance run for Miss Houston – she was a damn fine singer, and a playlist of slowies enabled me to keep my cadence on an even paced keel.  Breakthrough, went through the 20 miles for week barrier – yay!

Week -  3 – milestone, went through 100 miles YTD  - sneaked an extra run in midweek, getting addicted again – time on your feet and all that.

Final week, my confidence starting to return I decided to look for a half to enter in April/May – after all you dont just train for the fun of it do you J  Decided on an old friend, Stratford – having done 2 marathons there and looked on enviously at the halfers turned off for home at 11 miles, I decided it was my turn to have that feeling of thank gawd I’m not doing the marathon.  Really wanted to push long run to double figures, but held back as conscious of overstretching increased mileage – it was around 9.5. Next day I had a new pain/ache – bottom of my feet really tender, this extended into a gentle 2 miler after a day of rest.  Maybe I need new trainers.

So final scores on the doors for the month, 20% increase in mileage and 50% increase in time on feet(no wonder feet are sore!) over January.

Did no swimming in February, really need to get back in pool – maybe an aquathon on Sunday not the best time to do it, but hey its something to work off J

In a fit of pique last October I deleted my Fetch account - yes it warns its irretreivable, but I still went ahead and pressed the big red button. Like its that easy to erase the last 3 years - I wish

Aaanyhoo - its a new dawn, its a new day and all that - my life started again, ironically enough at 50 so I have a new target - a new category V50 - I read somewhere that you can improve times etc post 50 - despite the fact that when I was a gal, 50 was like like soooooooo old

Another catalyst for reinstating my training on a regular basis was the creak of the scales post Xmas - I am going to be brave enough to post the damning figure here, as it is the last time I will ever state it , 11 stone 11 lbs. 3 years ago I was 9 stone 11lbs - though its fair to say that life was also at an all time low.

Now since I have transversed to the dark side my quads, and maximus(Russell Crowe was a fine gladiator) glutes have swelled to epic proportions - and yes it is a fact that muscle weighs heavier than fat. However I can hardly attribute my obvious muffin tops to triathlon - so I am aiming for a 10 something weight. 10, 13 will be sufficient.

Following on nicely - I completed a satisfactiory first tri season - 5 pool sprints completed, first time was 1 hr 50 ish and last one was 1 hour 20ish - fairly good progress. Next stop open water - so I have entered one in July, and will be researching wetsuits come spring

Second challenge is to get back to half marathon distance - last one in October 2009 ended on a high acheiving that much trained for sub 2, however it completely fecked my ankle and my confidence then over longer distances. So am looking at either Lichfield or Malvern in late Spring. Long run is now up to 5 miles again, and by the end of this month will be 8 - thats a promise.l

January stats - coz you cant take the stats out the girl - 64 miles run(none in december) and 5lb weight loss.

Onward and upward dear friends