Good morning and happy Monday. After a few shocks at work last week, I wonder what will happen this week. My weekend had one highlight; completing the seventh week of my Couch to 5k training.

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

I’ve said it before, but my levels of paranoia are most definitely increasing as I approach the end of the Couch to 5k. In an attempt to avoid picking up a stupid non-running injury, I’ve been avoiding all forms of strenuous housework and gardening, and have been paying extra attention walking up and down the stairs at home. I’ve also been spending 30 minutes each evening working through my strength and conditioning exercises and have been icing my right knee twice a day.

As in previous weeks, each interval session started with and ended with a five minute walk. Cross training sessions comprised of 30 minute training sessions on my exercise bike. After overdoing it a little on the exercise bike last Saturday, I even remembered to be sensible with my pedalling.

Monday – 30 mins cross training

Monday was challenging and I think it’s fair to say my ‘hydrological brain’ was tested to its limits. I’m not sure there’s much else I can say about the first day of the working week. One minute it was 8am, the next it was 4pm and time for me to close down my laptop. Most definitely my favourite kind of working day!

Less than 30 minutes after finishing work I was enjoying(?) yet another virtual cycle ride somewhere random in the middle of the German countryside. Some of the downhill sections were seriously frightening. I don’t think I’ll be purchasing a road bike anytime soon. Even with the windows open, it was a hot and humid session and I ended the 30 minutes looking like a beetroot.

Tuesday – 40 mins intervals (run 15 min/walk 5 mins x 2)

After struggling to run for 10 minutes on Sunday, I found the prospect of having to run for an additional five minutes a little bit overwhelming. Once again, I had started to doubt myself as a runner, not ideal before an interval session. I’m not sure if my running concerns were playing on my mind, but I woke well before my alarm and was completing my warm-up at 4:30am.

Warm-up complete, it was time for me to attempt to run for 15 minutes. The first couple of minutes weren’t brilliant as my pace was all over the place. However, once I’d settled into a pace I knew I could sustain and relaxed a little, I started to enjoy my running and reached the end of the first 15 minute interval feeling great.

The second run interval felt a little more challenging, mainly because my pace kept creeping up and because I was running directly into quite a strong breeze. Despite the minor pacing fail and breezy conditions, I reached the end of the 15 minutes feeling like I could have carried on. The penultimate week of my Couch to 5k training had got off to a positive start.

Wednesday – Rest

As this rather random weekly training and life update is already turning into another one of my essays, I won’t describe what happened during my first rest day in detail. I treated myself to another food box and then prepared, cooked, and ate my favourite Italian oven-baked penne recipe while watching Wolves beat Bournemouth.

🌡️📈Heat and humidity will build today and tomorrow, but all change on Friday as thunderstorms are forecast.⛈️ pic.twitter.com/cmCjsjp0np

— BBC Weather (@bbcweather) June 24, 2020

After keeping an eye on the weather forecast for Thursday morning – a bit of a contrast to the heavy rain the week before – I laid out my running kit ready for the next morning. I decided it was time for me to be brave, to stop hiding my stomach, and for me to leave my running gilet in my wardrobe.

Thursday – 30 mins intervals (run 15 min/walk 5 mins/run 10 mins)

Thanks to the birds having some sort of epic party outside my bedroom window, I woke well before my alarm and had completed my warm-up by 4:30am. Although it was warm and it was obviously going to be a hot day, at 4:30am the humidity was more of an issue than the heat.

The success of Tuesday’s run meant that for once I felt confident at the start of my interval session. I knew that I could run for 15 minutes, I just needed to be confident and to start and maintain my run at a sensible pace. I can’t remember much about the first 15 minute run which is a good sign. I don’t think I ever expected to find myself running past a huge car transporter on a residential road, I felt so sorry for whoever had spent the night in a boiling hot lorry cab.

At the start of the second run, I had a bit of a dilemma; I had the option of either running down or uphill. As I didn’t want to risk injuring my fragile right knee I opted for the uphill option. Running uphill for 10 minutes made the second run a little challenging but I made it to the end of without having to take a sneaky walking break. Progress!

Friday – Rest

Friday was difficult and not just because my office felt like a sauna and I’d spent most of the early morning overthinking and not sleeping. I was clearly correct to be concerned about my job as I discovered I could well be unemployed by the second week of September. Not the type of news you want to receive on a Friday afternoon. I thought my contract ended in November but apparently, it now ends in September. It was very much a case of welcome to the real world Emma, shit just got real. It’s time for the online shopping to stop and the job hunting to start.

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

My weekend started with a virtual bike ride around Lake Garda, again! I’ve now completed the first 30 minutes of the YouTube video so many times I’ve stopped flinching when a white van pulls out in front of the lead bike. Lake Garda remains on my ‘must visit’ list when life returns to some sort of normality. My exercise bike session, unfortunately, was one of two highlights of what turned out to be a slightly mundane Saturday, the other highlight was watching Wolves beat Aston Villa at Villa Park. Sorry for sounding quite miserable but the reality is that my life isn’t very exciting at the moment.

Sunday – 40 mins intervals (run 20 mins/walk 5 mins/run 15 mins)

Thanks to some pacing errors and route selection stupidity, I found running for 20 minutes hard. The first ten minutes were amazing, I felt relaxed and was enjoying myself. The clam conditions most definitely lulled me into a false sense of security. After ten minutes I turned onto Lichfield Road and found myself running directly into the wind. It was hard work, so hard that after a couple of minutes of feeling like I was going nowhere I actually shouted at the wind. I’ve no idea how I ran for 20 minutes, the struggle was most definitely real.

Predictably, the five minute walk felt like it only lasted five seconds. My legs were a little reluctant to switch from walking to running mode. I could have done without being heckled by three lads who looked like they were doing the walk of shame. The final 15 minutes were hard work. I’m not sure what was wrong with my Garmin, but no matter how much I decreased my pace, I kept seeing 09:xx min/miles on the screen. And then a police car pulled up alongside me and a police officer got out and asked me if I’d seen three males. Although I was pleased they stopped me on a hill, I found it quite hard to get going again.

The rest of my Sunday was a relaxed affair. I spent what was left of the morning after my bonus lie-in in the back garden. After spending a couple of hours weeding on Friday, my knees weren’t exactly thrilled when I spent more time weeding. Sorry knees, please forgive me. After yet another afternoon nap, my Sunday ended with a takeaway from my local Chinese. I’ve decided that while I’m still employed the weekly takeaways treats will continue.

So that’s the penultimate week of the Couch to 5k training plan I’ve been following since May more or less successfully completed. I can almost sense the finish and have started to look at 5k to 10k training plans.

The final week of my Couch to 5k training looks challenging but I’m finally starting to feel confident and have started to believe in myself. It’s been a while. I’m aware that I’m repeating myself, but I just need to make sure I run at a realistic and sustainable pace. It really is a case of slow and steady wins the (5k) race. As in the previous seven weeks, each interval session is slightly different but if everything goes to plan I’ve got two more interval sessions, two more exercise bike sessions, and then it’s time for me to run 5k.

Training totals

• Runs: 21 (out of 21)
• Time: 10 hrs 47 mins
• Distance: 57.62 miles

Niggleometer

• Right knee: 4/10
• Left knee: 4/10
• Right foot: 2/10

Did you have a good weekend?

Have you ever been stopped by the police while out running?

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