Happy(ish) Monday. I hope that everyone who reads this had an awesome weekend. My weekend didn’t exactly go to plan because I had to do a spot of overtime. The extra money will hopefully just about cover the cost of the Marathon Talk training weekend I was unable to attend.

Week three of my Couch to 5k training plan looked like this.

In an attempt to warm-up and cool down, each interval session started with and concluded with a five-minute walk. On Tuesday morning it was so cold I ended the warm-up feeling colder than when I’d started. Cross training sessions comprised of half hour torture sessions on my exercise bike. So, how did I get on during the third week of my Couch to 5k training?

Monday – 30 mins cross training Rest

I didn’t feel very well when my alarm woke me at 5:30am so I decided to see how I felt after more sleep. When I woke up for the second time at 7:30am I felt exhausted and slightly nauseous but well enough to work from home. I’m not sure there’s much else I can say about Monday. I managed to have a productive day and responded to a lot of emails and technical queries. Thanks to the combination of half-term and the aftermath of Storm Dennis, I didn’t receive many emails or phone calls. Although I started to feel better by the evening, I decided not to attempt a 30-minute session on my exercise bike. I laid out some running gear and headed to bed at a sensible time.

Tuesday – 30 mins intervals (Run 3 mins/Walk 2 mins x 6)

I felt almost human again better when my alarm went off so I got changed into my running gear and headed out the door before I could think about what I was doing. It was dark, cold and windy; I actually ended my so-called warm-up feeling colder than when I’d started. I didn’t expect to see many people around as it was so early, however, I counted six dog walkers and numerous early morning commuters. I also witnessed some early morning road rage. Seriously, I think some motorists need to calm down. At least my interval session was a pain-free success.

I had a training course in Birmingham which didn’t start until 10:30am so I rather lazily headed back to bed for an hour. I don’t want you all to think I’ve turned over a new leaf and have become super dedicated.

The first day of the training course was excellent. I love spending time with other hydrologists and the food was amazing. If you’ve ever attended a training course at Conference Aston you’ll know how good the food is. The first day of the training course finished at 5:30pm and as we had some free time before our evening meal, a group of us checked out the Victorian swimming pool and gym for a couple of seconds I regretted not bringing my gym gear with me. While a couple of my colleagues made the most of the gym, I headed to the bar for a quick drink.

And then it was time for the evening meal. I did that typical Emma thing of regretting some of my choices when I saw what my colleagues were eating. I managed to take a couple of ‘cunning’ photos; my starter was gorgeous, my main was, unfortunately, a little too well done and I was too busy talking to photograph my dessert. Popping back to the bar after the evening meal for another drink may have been an error but I was sensible.

Wednesday – Rest

As I automatically woke at my normal time, I watched the news and then headed to the restaurant as soon as it opened for an early breakfast. I have no idea where my colleagues were! Breakfast complete, as the second day of the training course didn’t start until 9:00am I headed back to my room and slept for another hour. Bliss!

Following a quite challenging morning – I’m a little ashamed to admit that I don’t completely understand what I call high flow hydrology – lunch was a welcome relief. As the restaurant was reasonably quiet, I managed to take a couple of photos of some of the food options.

I wasn’t brave enough to take a photo of the hot food area as I was too busy loading my plate with Beef Ragu, garlic bread and other goodies. I figured that I may as well eat a larger than normal lunch so I didn’t have to cook in the evening. The training course ended at 3:30pm, I got home just before 5:00pm and headed to bed for a quick nap. It’s a good job Wednesday was a rest day as after eating for England, there’s no way I could have done any exercise.

Thursday – 25 mins intervals (Run 3 mins/Walk 2 mins x 5) Rest

After the excitement of the two-day training course, getting out of bed was a struggle. In an ideal world, I would have been super organised and set my alarm slightly earlier so that I could run before work. I don’t, unfortunately, live in an ideal world so I headed to work and vowed to complete my training run after work.

Work was a bit of a struggle. The minute I got into the office, I experienced one of my mini migraines. Everyone in the office must have thought that my behaviour was a little strange. I sat at my desk with my eyes covered as I knew that I couldn’t look at my computer screen until the visual disturbances had stopped. Luckily, this particular mini migraine only lasted 15 minutes and only left me with a minor headache.

I left the office at 3:00pm, got home at 4:30pm and had an hour before I had to head into Wolverhampton to watch Wolves play RCD Espanyol in the Europa League. I initially felt guilty for missing an interval session but the football quickly made me forget about my missed session.

FT | #WOL 4-0 #ESP

It's all over at Molineux and it's a fantastic night for Wolves who take a four-goal advantage into the second leg against @RCDEspanyol. #WOLESP

⏱🐺 pic.twitter.com/24SFAW5UwH

— Wolves (@Wolves) February 20, 2020

It was an amazing football match; one that I don’t think I’ll forget for a while. The only downside was not getting back to Four Oaks until gone 11:00pm.

Friday – Rest

This weekly update is already turning into another essay so I’ll keep my Friday update short. I worked from home, did two loads of washing, treated myself to a takeaway from the local Chinese and had an early night.

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

The now all too familiar sound of rain hitting my bedroom window woke me a little earlier than planned. I got changed into some gym gear and completed my 30-minute exercise bike session. Bike session completed, I had a quick shower and as the weather was dreadful proceeded to have a productive ‘getting shit done’ morning. I like to think that the hour that I spent vacuuming counted as a second cross training session.

As I had to work, the rest of my Saturday was so mundane I won’t go into too much detail. I watched New Zealand beat Sri Lanka in the Women’s T20 World Cup and spent an hour watching the Indoor Athletics. I scheduled a couple of blog posts and responded to some blog-related emails. All things considered a dull but productive day.

Sunday – 35 mins intervals (Run 3 mins/Walk 2 mins x 7)

When I started blogging, I promised myself that I’d always tell the truth and would try to ‘keep it real’. Yesterday’s interval session was dreadful and left me wondering how on earth I’d cope with the fourth week of my Couch to 5k training plan. I wasn’t in the most positive of moods when I started the 35-minute interval session and I struggled to complete the first 3-minute run. I’m not sure if changing my route made a massive difference, but the wind felt stronger than it was the previous two weeks. I felt like I was constantly running into a headwind and that I had zero energy. I didn’t even manage to complete the final 3-minute run as I ‘bottled it’ and slowed to a walk with less than 30 seconds to go. Not the best way the end the third week of my training, I think this photo shows how I felt about the interval session.

I got home, grabbed my purse, bought some groceries from the local Co-op and as it was only 7:15am, headed back to bed for an hour. I felt slightly more positive when I woke up for a second time and had a productive couple of hours before settling down to watch England play South Africa in the Women’s T20 World Cup. With three overs to go, I didn’t expect South Africa to beat England quite so easily. Fingers crossed England still qualifies for the semi-finals. At least Wolves gave me something to smile about!

So that’s the third week of my Couch to 5k training plan more or less successfully completed. I’ve decided to not dwell on the interval session I missed on Thursday and yesterday’s terrible interval session.

Week 4 of my Couch to 5k training plan looks like it should be achievable. However, after struggling to run for three minutes at a time on Tuesday morning, I’m not completely convinced I’ll be able to run for five minutes at a time. Hopefully, the weather will be a little more runner friendly this week. There is a small chance I’ll be spending the weekend in London. If I do decide to travel down, I may well check out a parkrun near where I’m staying. It will be interesting to see how my right knee copes with the slightly longer running intervals.

Training totals

• Runs: 8
• Time: 3 hrs 41 mins
• Distance: 18.51 miles

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 2/10
• Left knee: 3/10
• Right foot: 1/10

Did you have a good weekend? I hope that the windy conditions didn’t make your runs too tricky. I saw some footage of the Brighton Half and it looked very challenging out there. Definitely not a day for PBs.   

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