Let's just repeat that.....
8 MILES!!! I ran 8 whole miles yesterday. And, I am not crawling on my hands and knees, begging for mercy from my running hell but can actually walk normally today. Now that is an achievement that deserves a cake if ever there was one. Actually I've had two cakes in celebration: a blueberry muffin yesterday and a raspberry and white chocolate one today. Ha! Well the fandangled Nike+ app reckons I worked off almost 900 calories during those 8 miles so I figured I'd earnt them. Plus they were homemade by me so I'd definitely earnt them. (The weight loss still isn't going terribly well. Can't imagine why....)
Earlier this week I had a brief conversation with a colleague who reads this blog from time to time and she said to me something along the lines of "I am a bit concerned that your runs only seem to be about 3-4 miles. Are you actually going to manage this?". I also get quizzed regularly at work by various people about the running and they give me furrowed brow expressions of doubt at my responses. And truthfully, I share your concerns. I'm not really sure that I can run 26.2 miles in one week let alone in one day. But this weekend has heralded the start of the long, long runs. By that I mean a proper long run. Before, 4 miles was a long run to me and now 4 miles is a short mid-week effort. This is new view of 4 miles is quite extraordinary to a cake-loving settee sloth.
Here's a few highlights of the 8 miles.
Discovered this incredible graffiti in an underpass about a mile away from where we live. I've never run along there before and was so amazed by it that I had to stop and take some quick pics on my phone. Stunning detail with all the little faces in the lockets too.
Ran around Wollaton Park which is a great park (apart from the hills!). It was perfect running weather- cold but bright and sunny and with not even as much as a breeze let alone evil wind to take my precious breath away. The view around the lake is so good that I ran round it twice!
Now I know this doesn't look like a hill on the photo but it really is a horrible hill of pain and doom. I, of course, walked up it. (Hence the ability to take a photo!) I'm banking on there being no hills at all in London. If you know information to the contrary, please don't tell me- blissfully ignorant is best.
So that was yesterday's run. I also fitted in a short 3.7 miles on Weds and a swim on Thurs so a pretty good week back training.
Next week should hopefully be:
Monday: Swim
Tuesday: Short run- maybe evil threshold
Wednesday: No time to do anything!
Thursday: Matt out so can't go out unless home from work early.
Friday: 4 miles short run
Saturday: 9-10 miles (aaaaaghhhhh!!!)
Sunday: Crawl from bed to car etc, no exercise.
Now then, I've got a confession. When I'm running, I have a playlist that I listen to. It currently features the fairly shameful selection of the following:
Rhythm is a dancer- Snap
Do it like a dude- Jessie J
I kissed a girl- Katy Perry
The Edge of Glory- Lady Gaga
Umbrella- Rhianna
Jump- The Pointer Sisters
And a LOT of Glee songs. Over half of the playlist is Glee in fact. Tragic, I know.
But I'm getting a bit bored of it and I need your help: can you please suggest some good tracks for me to run to?! I'm not really up there when it comes to music prowess and often the cheesier the better but I'm open to all suggestions.
This is an interesting website:
It works out beats per minute for tracks and then recommends tracks that have the right sort of bpm for your chosen running speed. I reckon I need between 160-165bpm which should help me bop along at about 10-11 mins/ mile. I presume that if I listen to 180bpm tracks I'll fly along at 8 mins/mile with my feet a blur below my solid bottom and passers by will marvel at my running skill and endurance. Excellent plan.Anyway, either comment below or on fb or send me a text with your suggestions and I'll give them a try during next week's 10 miler. Oh joy.
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