Good morning. Happy(?) Monday. As always, I hope that whoever takes the time to read this weekly life and training update had an amazing weekend. If for whatever reason, you didn’t have a very good weekend, I hope that the week ahead is kinder to you. My weekend had a couple of highlights; volunteering as a marshal at Sutton Park parkrun and watching Wolves win a game of football for the first time this season.

The NHS Live Well website provided the following information about the interval sessions in Week 3 of the Couch to 5k training plan.

My Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday morning interval sessions started with a fast 5 minute warm up walk and ended with a slightly slower 5 minute cool down walk. I supplemented the three interval sessions with cross training sessions and a couple of rest days. I’m yet to invest in a new exercise bike, so cross training sessions comprised of 30 minute walks, usually to the Post Office to drop off eBay sales, and the Pilates workouts provided by the physio.

I’m acutely aware that I’m repeating myself, but as I actually want to complete the Couch to 5k, I dedicated time each morning and evening to work through the exercise program provided by the physio. Now that I have an exercise ball, I was able to have a go at some of the more challenging exercises. I don’t think I’ll be getting asked to join the local netball team any time soon.

Monday – 30 mins cross training

Although I enjoy working as a hydrologist, nothing beats the feeling of not having to spend a Monday at work. I made the most of the weather and spent the majority of the bank holiday morning working through some of the gardening tasks on my ‘things to do’ list. Some of these tasks were reasonably straightforward, others were more challenging, and I’d had enough by lunchtime. After finding I could hardly move my arms after spending two hours clearing ivy from the front of my friend’s house, I decided that gardening would have to replace the Pilates workout I’d originally planned for Monday.

The rest of my bank holiday Monday was incredibly mundane even by my low standards. I spent a couple of hours listing more of my unwanted bits and pieces on eBay and packaged up what had sold over the weekend ready to post. I spent an hour working through the exercise program the physio provided, my right knee twinged a couple of times but otherwise felt okay. I downloaded the third week of the Couch to 5k onto my Garmin and in an attempt to get myself organised, laid out some running gear ready for my early morning interval session.

Tuesday – 18 mins intervals (run 90 secs/walk 90 secs/run 3 mins/walk 3 mins x 2)

At 5am on Tuesday, I was rudely awoken from what felt like a deep sleep by my alarm. In stark contrast to the previous week, it felt very what I’d describe as autumnal outside and I reached the end of my 5 minute warm-up walk feeling colder than when I’d started.

The route I’d selected was busier than I was expecting which was slightly irritating as it meant I had a run along the pavements rather than the roads. I counted two milk floats, several vans, and the usual traffic as I approached Mere Green. It made me wonder if the last couple of weeks had been far quieter than usual. As for the interval session, I tried to run the first longer interval at a slightly ambitious pace and reached the end of the first 3 minutes feeling terrible. I managed to run at a slightly more sensible pace during the second 3 minute interval and reached the end of the 18 minutes feeling great.

Once I’d completed my cool down walk, I took some selfies, walked home, drank some chocolate milk, stretched, updated Instagram, and then headed back to bed for another hour. I’m not saying I got cold during the interval session, but I didn’t start to feel warm again until I’d had a hot shower.

The rest of my Tuesday wasn’t brilliant. I’m not sure what caused my sudden migraine, but I didn’t appreciate the visual disturbances and feelings of nausea. A quick walk to the Post Office to drop off my weekend eBay sales didn’t seem to do much to clear my head, so I decided to finish work early.

Wednesday – Rest

I’m aware that I’ve already waffled on far too much and that I’m in danger of writing an essay rather than a blog, so I’ll fast forward to Wednesday evening. The Wolves match was shown on BT Sport which meant that although I got to spend a not very enjoyable 90 minutes watching Wolves fail to score against Bournemouth, I didn’t get to end August with a midweek trip to The Quill and Taper.

Thursday – 18 mins intervals (run 90 secs/walk 90 secs/run 3 mins/walk 3 mins x 2)

For the second time in three days, I was rather rudely awoken at 5am by my alarm. It felt a lot warmer and breezier than it did earlier in the week and I reached the end of my 5 minute warm-up walk feeling like I was wearing too many layers.

The roads were fairly busy which meant I had to spend more time running along the pavements than I would have liked. I’m not sure if running on uneven pavements made me slow down without realising, but on Thursday I managed to run at what felt like a far more sensible pace than I did on Tuesday. I was surprised when I discovered I’d run slightly further than I had earlier in the week, sometimes running is a complete mystery to me.

I do think there was something wrong with my Garmin as I know I didn’t spend my 5 minute cool down walk trespassing in people’s front gardens. Once I’d completed my cool down, I tried and failed to capture an acceptable selfie, walked home, drank a pint of water, spent 30 minutes stretching, and then headed back to bed.

The rest of my Thursday comprised of phone calls, meetings, more phone calls, more meetings, and a spot of number crunching. I’m not sure if I was more tired than I realised, but I found some of my strength and conditioning exercises more challenging than usual.

Friday – Rest

Friday was a positive day. Thanks to the flexitime system where I work, I finished work at 3pm, tidied away my work laptop and notebooks, and by 3:20pm was walking the short distance to the Post Office to drop off some more eBay parcels. I didn’t feel like cooking and knew I wasn’t heading out for lunch over the weekend, so I decided to treat myself to a takeaway from the local Chinese.

I ate my not so healthy takeaway while watching the BBC coverage of the Diamond League athletics in Brussels. While I love watching athletics and enjoyed all of the events, my personal highlight of the evening was watching Ciara Mageen win the women’s 1500m setting an Irish national record in the process.

Saturday – 30 mins cross training

My 4 and a bit mile walk across Sutton Park to Banners Gate was just the start to Saturday I needed. I wasn’t in a rush, so I was able to spend some time talking to some runners I’d not seen since before the first lockdown. I’m not looking forward to the mornings getting so dark I start to feel unsafe safe walking across the park on my own.

After last week’s slight failure on the number checking front, I was back volunteering as a marshal at one of my favourite locations in Sutton Park. I must admit that I felt a pang of anxiety when I was handed a first aid kit, luckily there weren’t any fallers, and I didn’t have to use any of the contents of the kit.

I captured some terrible selfies while I waited for the parkrunners to reach me, volunteered and then as I’m determined to walk 100 miles this month, walked the rest of the course with the tail walkers. I handed back my volunteer vest, said goodbye to everyone, and then walked back home.

Following a quick shower, I dropped some more eBay parcels off at the Post Office, ordered my nephew’s birthday presents, and then headed across to Wolverhampton to watch Wolves play Southampton. After the stress of last Sunday, it felt good to see Wolves win a game of football. I completely forgot to take any photos so please just imagine a photo containing lots of relieved Wolves supporters.

Sunday – 18 mins intervals (run 90 secs/walk 90 secs/run 3 mins/walk 3 mins x 2)

After being injured for 14 months, I hate complaining about an interval run but the final interval session of the week was not a lot of fun. I woke just before my 6am alarm and when I got outside, I discovered that it was dark, drizzly, and incredibly windy. I hate running into the wind and instantly started to have doubts about my ability to complete the session.

With apologies for sounding like a broken record, my pacing was all over the place. I’ve no idea why but I’ve always struggled to maintain a sensible pace when it’s windy, I suspect that most runners slow down when they are running directly into the wind. I seem to do the opposite and have a habit of speeding up. It’s like I’m trying to get away from the wind into calmer conditions as quickly as I can. At least my knees weren’t too niggly, and I was able to forget about them.

I got home treated myself to a bit of a lie and then watched the closing stages of The Big Half in London. Watching The Big Half made me realise just how much I’ve missed taking part in organised events and left me feeling determined to complete the Couch to 5k.

The remainder of my Sunday was unfortunately a bit of a write-off. I occasionally have days where I feel like I’m completely lacking in motivation, sadly Sunday was one of those days.

So, that’s week three of the Couch to 5k successfully completed. I just hope that my temperamental right knee continues to cope with the training. The way I feel at the moment, I’m not sure I’ll cope with another lengthy break from running.

Week 4 of the Couch to 5k training plan I’m following looks more difficult than the previous three weeks. I think it’s going to be a case of unless I learn to run at a sensible pace, I’m going to struggle to run for 5 minutes. Reading my training updates from last year has been useful as it’s clear that I’ve previously found Week 4 of the Couch to 5k difficult. So, although the version of the Couch to 5k training plan I’m following this time looks easier, it’s still very much a case of watching my knees, starting slow, and staying slow!

Training totals:

• Runs: 9 (out of 9)
• Time: 2 hrs 57 mins
• Distance: 15.02 miles

Niggleometer:

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

Do you have any tips for running at a sensible pace? I’m still finding running at what I’d describe as a sensible pace I can maintain difficult. Any hints and tips would be gratefully received.

Did you take part in any organised events? I’m not going to lie, it felt like 90% of the runners I follow on Instagram were taking part in an event this weekend and I felt slightly jealous.

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