Good afternoon! I hope that whoever takes the time to read this weekly training and life update had an amazing weekend. I also hope everyone made the most of what may well have been the last sunny day on Saturday.My weekend had a couple of highlights; a spot of parkrun volunteering and a humid but enjoyable training run yesterday morning.

The third week of my Couch to Half Marathon training plan looked like this…So, how did I get on during the third week of my Couch to (hopefully) Half Marathon training? Did I manage to avoid picking up an injury? Did I manage to assemble the exercise bike? Did I allow life get in the way?

Monday – Rest

I love starting the week with a rest day, however, it was so wet on Monday morning, I kind of wished I was out running rather than getting soaked walking to the train station. I’m not convinced it actually got light all day; the day definitely had a ‘Monday’ feel to it. I escaped from the office at 3:30pm and thanks to some train delays didn’t get home until just before 5:00pm. I had originally aimed to make a start at assembling my exercise bike, however, an epic post-run nap meant that I had to choose between the exercise bike and eating. I’m sure you can guess which option won.

Tuesday – 28 mins intervals (Run 2 mins/Walk 2 mins x 7)

I had a meeting in Birmingham which meant I didn’t have to leave for work at 6:00am. Like the idiot I am, I forgot to switch off my alarm so decided to get up and complete my interval session. I know I’m repeating myself, but I love running when it’s cold, I’m definitely not a hot weather runner. It took me two minutes to discover that I prefer running for two minutes rather than one minute at a time. Running for a minute at a time was fine, but I was starting to get a little fed up with the feeling I was having to check my watch all the time. The interval session felt so amazing I was actually a little disappointed when I realised I’d reached the end of the session.

My journey into Birmingham was for once incident free and I wasn’t the last person to arrive at the meeting venue. The meeting itself was incredibly informative and definitely worthwhile. I got back to Birmingham New Street and discovered there had been some sort of major signal failure. The journey home was entertaining…

As I’d completed my interval session, I had no excuse to delay having a go at assembling my exercise bike. Almost two hours, a lot of swearing, and a couple of bruises later, I had managed to assemble something that at least looked like an exercise bike.

Wednesday – 30 mins cross training

At 7:00am I rather gingerly sat down on my exercise bike. I’m not great at making things and I was a little concerned because I’d struggled to attach the saddle to its base. I pressed ‘play’ on a 30 minute ‘virtual bike ride’ YouTube video and started peddling. This was where I encountered a slight issue; the display screen on the bike told me how long I’d been cycling and a distance reading. I’m such a cycling novice, I had no idea if the distance was in miles or kilometres. After 15 minutes I got off the bike, had a drink and found something more interesting to watch than a random bunch of people cycling through what looked like the dullest road in Australia. The final 15 minutes were surprisingly challenging and I was relieved when I reached the end of the session.

Following a morning of working from home, I felt Birmingham and reached Wallingford a couple of hours later. Being back in my old office felt amazing, almost like being back at home. I spent a couple more hours working and then headed with one of my old colleagues to the Old Post Office pub in Wallingford. We were sensible and only had a couple of pints as it was the middle of the week. We also made sure we ate something substantial! For about the millionth time I wished I’d felt well enough attend the hydrology technical specialist interview a few weeks ago. I’m not saying I would have definitely got the job, but I think I stood I really good chance.

Thursday – Rest

By the time I’d packed my work laptop and clothes, I didn’t have enough space to pack my trainers and a set of running gear. I felt a little guilty about not completing the second interval session of the week but sometimes life gets in the way. I had a productive day in the Wallingford office and managed to get my work emails and time recording back under control. By 4:00pm, thanks to the heat my brain had stopped functioning and I felt ready to leave the office. Luckily for me, I wasn’t the only person who was feeling ready to leave.

The weather was so gorgeous my colleague and I stopped off at the Boat House pub for a couple of pints next to the river. Once again, I realised just how much I miss living and working in Wallingford. Pints completed in record time, we dropped off our work bags and met up with my old team leader for a Thai meal. The food and company were both amazing.

Friday – Rest

The day got off to a foodtastic start with cooked breakfast in the Old Post Office. I didn’t ‘need’ a huge breakfast but I decided to make the most of my final morning in Wallingford. Following a morning of meetings, I decided to treat myself to the traditional Wallingford office Friday lunch of fish and chips. Next week, I promise that normal eating habits will resume.The journey back up to Birmingham reminded me of the one negative of working in Wallingford; the traffic in Oxford. Thanks to the combination of road works, the climate change protests, Oxford college open days and general Friday traffic, what should have been a 40 minute journey took far, far longer. My ‘Challenge Anneka’ impression through the centre of Oxford meant that I caught my train with about a minute to spare. I slept well that night.

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

My Saturday morning routine is getting a little predictable so apologies in advance. I popped round to my friend’s house and washed his car. The same friend then drove me to parkrun so the minor allergic reaction to the car shampoo was just about worthwhile. I was on number checking duty so I had a reasonably stress free hour or so. I also managed to avoid the photographers, definitely a win-win!

It took me hour to walk back home via Boots so I decided I’d done more than enough exercise for one day. My new exercise bike is already gathering dust in the corner of my office, I need to ensure I complete one cycling session a week. The rest of Saturday was so uneventful I’ll stop waffling now.

Sunday – 4 miles (Run 2 mins/Walk 2 mins)

This may sound slightly weird, but I was quite pleased when I was woken by the sound of torrential rain at 5:30am. I’ve always loved running in the rain and wanted to get my four mile interval run early. I’m sure you can guess what happened next, I stepped out the door, completed my five minute warm-up walk and it stopped raining. The humidly seemed to increase pretty much instantly and I realised I was wearing one layer too many.

I didn’t want to head back home so I decided to carry on with my interval session. I’d love to be able to report that I found the four miles easy but it wasn’t. I’d forgotten how uninspiring running along Lichfield Road and through the centre of Mere Green is. I kept thinking about how difficult everything felt compared to last year when I was training for the Royal Parks Half. Yesterday’s interval session made me realise just how much of an impact my diet has on my running. I’d eaten and drunk far too much while I was in Wallingford and I paid the price.

I’ve checked out the Couch to Half training plan and week four looks more than achievable. I just need to ensure I remember to schedule my training sessions around a two-day training course I’m attending in Birmingham. Most of the sessions look the same as week three, the only difference I can see is the session on Thursday which has running intervals of three rather than two minutes. For some reason, the run on Sunday is another four mile run. I must remember to trust the plan!

Training totals

• Runs: 8
• Time: 4 hrs 25 mins
• Distance: 21.82 miles

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 2/10
• Right foot: 3/10

Given the choice would you rather run in torrential rain or hot weather? I’d opt to run in torrential rain every time. It was so warm on Saturday, just walking through Sutton Park felt like hard work. I may have stopped off at the ice cream van en route.

Do you prefer time or distance based intervals? I think I prefer running for a set distance rather than a set time. I seem to really struggle with a mixture of the two.

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