As always, I hope that whoever reads my latest life and training update had a fabulous weekend. My weekend had one highlight; successfully completing the final interval session of the fourth week of my Couch to 5k training. The rest of my weekend was, quite frankly, pretty shit.
Anyway, week four and the midway stage of my Couch to 5k training plan looked like this.
In an attempt to avoid ending up with another frustrating, random injury, each interval session started with a 5-minute warm-up and ended with a 5-minute cool down. Cross training sessions comprised of 30 minute training sessions on my exercise bike. And most importantly, I invested time each day to complete the strength and conditioning exercises I was recommended following my gait assessment earlier this year.
Monday – 30 mins cross training
As I had a busy day of Zoom meetings and didn’t want to risk my usual post-morning exercise energy slump, I decided to delay my cross training session on my exercise bike until after work. I thought this was a sensible plan until it got to the middle of the afternoon and I started to feel uncomfortably warm. The heat reminded me that my office which cunningly doubles as my home gym gets a tad warm after about 2pm. It was going to be a hot and sweaty 30 minutes on my exercise bike.
I finished work and got changed into some exercise gear straight away as I didn’t want to give myself time to talk myself out of my exercise bike session. It was a hot but enjoyable 30 minutes. Opening the windows made no difference and if anything seemed to make the room warmer. I was reminded of the gym I was a member of a few years ago, the air conditioning never worked. I’m not saying that the gym was located in a rough area, but the police used to perform regular patrols of the gym carpark and changing rooms. Still, seeing the police used to make me run faster, I’ve no idea why.
Tuesday – 32 mins intervals (run 5 mins/walk 3 mins x 4)
At the start of each week, I’ve identified the interval sessions I struggled to compete earlier this year. I looked at why I struggled, as I didn’t want to make the same mistake this time. The first interval session of week 4 was one of the interval sessions I found hard. I guess I’ll never know why as running is a totally unpredictable sport, but I had the most amazing early morning interval session.
It was the first time this year that running felt effortless. I suspect that having to run along the roads – it was recycling day so the pavements were blocked in places with wheelie bins and boxes – rather than along uneven pavements helped.
This probably won’t make a lot of sense, but I was able to focus on my running rather than on what I was running on. I started to struggle a little towards the end of the final five minute interval but reached the end without walking. Such an improvement on the last time I attempted the same interval session earlier this year.
I reached the end of the interval session and spent a few minutes reflecting on my run. As I couldn’t see any early morning dog walkers, I also tried and failed to take a decent post-run photo. The photo above was meant to show me looking happy after my amazing interval session.
Wednesday – Rest
Once again, this update is rapidly turning into an essay so I won’t describe my rest day in detail. I think it’s reasonable to say that I found not running on a wet Global Running Day difficult. I’ve always loved running in the rain, and after a difficult day at work – we were warned that office-based staff may have to work from home for the next 12 months – would have found the post-run endorphins beneficial. I ended up ordering a selection of running books in an attempt to cheer myself up.
Thursday – 21 mins intervals (run 5 mins/walk 2 mins x 3)
The news and uncertainty about working from home meant that I struggled to get to sleep and woke several times during the night. When I woke for what felt like the millionth time just before my 5am alarm, I decided to get up and to head out to complete my interval session. What a contrast to Tuesday. I found the interval session a struggle from the start. I felt tired and mardy and was all too aware that I was running at a pace I wouldn’t be able to maintain. The final five minutes were a struggle and I spent a lot of time looking at my wrist counting down the seconds.
The combination of the lack of sleep and early run left me feeling so tired, the rest of the day was a struggle. I clearly need my sleep so it’s a good job I never had children. The day wasn’t all doom and gloom, I found out that I’d won a pair of Oofos in the Runner’s Need competition I entered last week. Sharing that post-run selfie on Instagram was worth the embarrassment. I’ve wanted to see if Oofos help my fragile feet for ages and can’t wait to wear them. I doubt I’d be able to wear Oofos in the office so I guess there are some advantages to working from home.
Friday – Rest
I think the highlight of my Friday was my fortnightly MS Teams catch-up with my line manager. I was able to share some of my concerns about my future, I felt slightly more positive after our catch-up.
Saturday – 30 mins cross training
My Saturday started with my weekly weigh-in and a much-needed reality check. The last week has demonstrated that it’s impossible to outrun or out-train a bad diet. I’d assumed that cutting out alcohol would be enough to counteract the mid-morning and afternoon snacks. It clearly isn’t enough, and I need to improve my diet. Once I’d stopped feeling sorry for myself I completed another virtual ride around Lake Garda on my exercise bike.
The remainder of my Saturday could only be described as dull. I’d love to be able to say that my Saturdays were more enjoyable before the start of lockdown but most of the time they weren’t. Once I’d returned from volunteering at parkrun I’d rarely leave the house.
At the start of the year, one of my aims was to spend more time on experiences similar to last year’s Hidden Heights tour. As it now looks unlikely that life will be returning to normal any time soon, I need to find a way of filling my Saturdays.
Sunday – 40 mins intervals (run 5 mins/walk 3 mins x 5)
I’ll be honest. My interval session on Thursday completely knocked my confidence and left me feeling slightly fearful of the final interval session of the week. I was also aware that my pacing had been all over the place and that I needed to slow down and to run at a more sensible and sustainable pace. With this in mind, I decided to run at and maintain what felt like a ridiculously slow pace. The pace was so slow it felt completely unnatural, having long legs does have some disadvantages.
I can’t remember a lot of detail about the actual interval session. I’m taking this as a positive sign. Running at a sensible pace definitely helped as did selecting a generally flat route. I also explored a couple of new to me Cul-de-sacs and I think running somewhere different helped. I ended the 40 minutes feeling so good, I decided to record and share my first ever video on Instagram. I hate listening to the sound of my own voice so much I suspect it will also be my last video.
Like the previous few weeks, the remainder of my Sunday was a relaxed affair. I had originally planned to spend some time weeding the front garden, but it was so wet, I decided it wasn’t gardening weather. I spent some time watching mudlarking videos on YouTube and treated myself to a takeaway from my local Chinese restaurant.
So that’s week four of the Couch to 5k training plan I’m following successfully completed. I can’t believe I’ve completed the first half of the training plan.
The fifth week of my Couch to 5k training plan looks challenging. I’m aware that I’m repeating myself but I’m not completely convinced I’ll be able to run for eight minutes at a time. The jump from five to eight minutes does seem a little unattainable at the moment. I just hope that my fragile right knee and foot allow me to at least attempt the next three interval sessions.
Training totals
Niggleometer
Did you have a good weekend? Did it rain a lot where you live? Did you meet up with anyone for a socially distanced training run?
Do you have any tips for taking better selfies? I can only assume that some runners have very long arms and far superior photography skills.
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For selfies, try to find something higher to prop your phone on: a tree, fence or even wheelie bin. Also I notice that your face is often in the shade. I suggest you work out where the sun is (or should be) and get your face pointing towards it a little more.
But nevermind all of that, because your selfies are absolutely fine 😉 What I would like to know is, does your hat have a neoprene-like brim? It looks very much like my favourite cap which I wore until it disintegrated last year. I loved it because the material was extremely lightweight, cool and breathable, whilst the brim was malleable and so could be stuffed into small spaces easily. That hat looks remarkably like it. (perhaps I’ve asked before. If so, sorry. I would just like to replace my hat)
It does sound that you had a fair number of good, steady, runs this week. ?
I don’t want to tempt fate but my training does seem to be going well. I just keep reminding myself to slow down.
Thanks for the hints and tips. I almost got caught taking a selfie yesterday, I had to pretend pulling strange poses next to my phone was completely normal. Hopefully I won’t see the lady walking her dog for a few weeks. I did think about balancing my phone on one of the many wheelie bins that were waiting to be emptied. Concerns around Covid stopped me. I’ve started taking selfies facing towards and away from the sun. The next step is mastering ‘action’ shots. Some runners must have really long arms.
The cap I’m wearing is a Salomon XA Running Cap and it can be stuffed into small spaces easily. I don’t think it has a neoprene-type brim but I love it and have just seen they now sell it in loads of different colours. Perhaps I should treat myself.
Another good training week for you- well done!
Ah, I have no idea with selfies- I can work the timer now but finding somewhere to prop up my phone is not easy and it seems to always tilt the wrong way, plus half the time I am looking at the screen not the camera, and half the time my eyes are shut (in my family, it is always exciting if there is a photo of me and my dad with all of our eyes open at once!).
After being in a classroom with the same group of children all week, I didn’t think it was a good idea to go on a group run(my running club did their first socially distanced group run on Sunday), just in case I had picked something up, but I am hoping to run with my dad on Saturday as it’s easier to keep apart when it’s the two of us rather than more people. I am really looking forward to it.
Thanks Maria, I’m finally starting to believe I can make it to the end of the Couch to 5k.
I’ve accepted that my ‘action’ shots and selfies aren’t going to be very good. I think (and hope) it makes my blog more relatable to other runners. I have a terrible habit of closing my eyes in photos. I have loads of official race photos of me running with my eyes closed. When I asked a professional race photographer about me looking like I’m sleep walking, he said it’s usually because people smile when they see photographers.
I must admit that I haven’t wanted to attempt a second socially distanced run with my running buddy Ellen in Sutton Park. Even with just two of us it was so busy it was hard to keep the correct distance apart.