Good morning and Happy Monday. I hope that everyone who reads this latest blog had an amazing weekend.  My weekend had one highlight; getting to the end of my first week of the Couch to 5k training plan without my right knee dropping off.

With apologies for repeating myself, as several people have said that they enjoy reading my training (and life) updates, I’ve decided to produce weekly updates during my Couch to 5k training. As always, I can’t guarantee that these updates will be interesting, but I do promise to be completely honest and open.

A couple of people have asked why I’m starting again with the Couch to 5k training plan. I think I’ve completed the Couch to 5k at least four times. However, after not running since November due to a right knee injury, I decided to be sensible, to go back to basics and to start again. I did a spot of online research and found this 8-week Couch to 5k training plan.

I added a couple of cross training sessions and rest days into each weekly schedule and produced something that looked achievable.

The first week of my Couch to 5k training plan looked like this.

As I wanted to do my best to avoid ending up with yet another injury, each interval session started with a 5-minute warm-up and cool down. Cross training sessions comprised of 30 minute training sessions on my exercise bike. Most importantly, I placed a lot of importance on strength and conditioning.

Monday – 30 mins cross training

I hate to start a weekly update on a negative note, but my week didn’t get off to the most positive start when I got to the station and discovered every train had been cancelled. I’m fortunate because my employer actually encourages working from home. On Monday I really needed to be in the office as I’d arranged to meet up with someone I worked with over 10 years ago. I’m sure there will be another opportunity.

I managed to have a productive ‘getting shit done’ day and sent out 83 emails. I just hope that I don’t receive 83 responses to my emails. I closed down my work laptop and responded to some blog related emails and scheduled a blog post. All really, really exciting stuff. I’m not sure what went wrong, but one minute it was 5pm and I had loads of time to fit in my cross training session, the next it was 8:30pm and I was rapidly running out of time. Spending 30 minutes on an exercise bike less than an hour before heading to bed wasn’t ideal.

Tuesday – 24 mins intervals (Run 1 min/Walk 2 mins x 8)

The day got off to a positive start as the trains were actually running. I won’t bore you all to tears with the details, but I had a productive day in the office. I got home at 4:30pm(ish) and started to prepare a double batch of turkey Spaghetti Bolognese. In an ideal world, I would have completed the first session of my Couch to 5k training plan and then eaten, however, I felt so hungry I knew that I had to eat. I also figured that I’d be safe as the first week of the Couch to 5k doesn’t actually involve much actual running as it’s all about getting started.

If you’ve ever been injured, you’ll know just how scary the first post-injury run can be. All sorts of questions were going through my mind. Would my right knee cope? Would I injure myself again? Would I be able to walk the next day? Would I enjoy myself? 

I’m pleased to be able to report that my right knee felt absolutely fine and I enjoyed every second of the eight minutes I spent running. I wasn’t quite so keen on the two minute recovery intervals that followed each running interval. I seemed to encounter quite a few ‘interesting’ characters while I was walking, and spent the majority of the time wondering what on earth I was going to bump into next. I guess I did look a tad overdressed walking around wearing my reflective Proviz gilet.

Wednesday – Rest

I think the highlight of the day was finding out that this blog had somehow been shortlisted in the personal blog category of the 2020 Running Awards. Huge thanks to everyone who voted for me at the end of last year. I’ve checked out the competition and have zero chance of making the top 3 as I’m not keen on continually asking begging for votes on social media. I think the other highlight, especially for my colleagues, was my voice finally giving up the ghost. Evidently running outside with a sore throat and cough wasn’t very sensible.

Thursday – 18 mins intervals (Run 1 min/Walk 2 mins x 6)

When my alarm woke me at 5:30am, I took one look outside, saw how icy the pavements looked and headed back to bed. I may not be a medical doctor, but I knew not spending three hours commuting to and from Solihull was the most sensible option. I had another productive day and managed to get through a couple of slightly overdue phone calls before my voice faded away to nothing.

I’m not sure what happened, but I forgot I was meant to be running and ordered a takeaway from the local Chinese restaurant. I still felt like I’d just eaten when I headed out on the first of six running intervals. Although I sounded terrible, I actually felt ‘normal’ and I really enjoyed my second interval session of the week.

Both of my calf muscles felt a little tight during the final couple of recovery intervals so I made sure I used my foam roller when I got back home. I didn’t feel brave enough to christen my Pulseroll massage gun.

Friday – Rest

Friday was a strange day. I received an email informing me that I hadn’t got a ballot place in the Royal Parks Half. This was slightly unexpected as I hadn’t actually entered the ballot. A couple of hours later an email entitled ‘Your Run3D Interpretation Summary’ appeared in my inbox. This contained a copy of the report I received at The National Running Show, a summary interpretation report containing key findings and recommendations, and a focused rehabilitation programme based on my results. I spent an enjoyable hour or so reading through the reports.

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

Although I didn’t make it to a local parkrun, the weekend got off to a good start as I dragged myself out of bed and got my cross training session done and dusted before I could change my mind. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I found peddling on my exercise bike for 30 minutes far more challenging than my training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. The fact that I find cycling on an exercise bike just as boring as running on a treadmill probably doesn’t help.

The remainder of Saturday morning featured some rather dull tasks including ironing, housework, sorting through some of the boxes of junk in the loft, preparing some listings for Farcebook. I scheduled a couple of blog posts and spent far too long keeping a watch on the weather forecast.

⚠️⚠️Amber warning updated⚠️⚠️

High #winds expected for Wales and most of England due to #StormCiaًra, with an amber warning valid from 0800 to 2100 on Sunday

Latest info https://t.co/3FNEJgzqbs

Stay #WeatherAware pic.twitter.com/6nOfhp2ysx

— Met Office (@metoffice) February 8, 2020

I’d love to be able to report that my Saturday got more exciting but, thanks to several train cancellations, it, unfortunately, didn’t. I had originally planned to have a meal with some old school friends in Birmingham but ended up drinking on my own in The Crown. Some you win, some you lose!

Sunday – 30 mins intervals (Run 1 min/Walk 2 mins x 10)

My alarm woke me at 7:00am and I got dressed and headed out into Storm Ciara before I could change my mind. The five minute warm-up was quite entertaining. One minute I was wondering what all the fuss was about and the next I was struggling to walk. I found running into the wind a lot easier than trying to walk into the wind. I’m not sure what was wrong with my Garmin but there’s no way I was consistently running at 6 minute/mile pace into a strong headwind.

Much as I enjoyed my training session in Storm Ciara, after having to run past a tree lying on its side, I was quite relieved to make it home and out of the wind and rain. When I looked in the mirror I realised I was looked like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards #keepingitreal!

I’d love to be able to report that after getting up early I had a productive day but I didn’t. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I’ve been struggling with my mental health recently and have been finding it hard to motivate myself. Even completing the most simple tasks like washing and ironing takes a huge amount of effort. I had hoped that being able to run again would help but it hasn’t, yet.

The second week of the Couch to 5k training plan I’ve selected looks reasonably straightforward and I’m confident I’ll be able to complete all of the training sessions.

Training totals

• Runs: 3
• Time: 1 hr 12 mins
• Distance: 5.80 miles

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 2/10
• Left knee: 1/10
• Right foot: 1/10

Did you have a good weekend? I hope that Storm Ciara didn’t cause any disruption wherever you live. I think I ended the day with the same number of trees I started the day.

Would you like me to write a dedicated post about my Run3D gait analysis? If people think it will be useful I’d be more than happy to invest some time writing a more detailed review.

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