Wellingborough 15K

The Wellingborough 15K was a new event for NHRR and February's run of the month. Since my last post I suffered a little bit from a cold (but luckily not as bad as Mr C and Little Miss C) so I hadn't run so I suppose I should have been well rested!
It took us about an hour to get to Irchester Country Park. The race was 3 undulating laps of 5K (there were 5K and 10K versions of the race too), it was off road and pretty mild. The first couple of laps were quite busy but the last lap was a little lonely as the shorter distance runners had finished.
I finished in just under 1:35 which I was really pleased with, I walked a bit on the hills but felt stronger as the race went on and, most importantly, didn't come last. I even got cheers from Mr C and Little Miss C which was a nice way to finish!
All in all I'd recommend this race, nice atmosphere, nice course and nice cafe at the end!

February - has a corner been turned?

At the beginning of January I did a 1500m reps session where I struggled to do 3 reps...well, on Tuesday I did a mile rep session where I sailed through 4 reps! Hurrah! And this was after having run the day before as well. Woooooooooooohoooooooooooooo! Maybe my running mojo is back after being on the longest holiday ever?
Hopefully I have turned a corner. I've noticed this before with running and getting fit, you slog away for ages with no sight of the corner ahead and wondering if it will ever appear...then it appears and you zoom round it and along the straight (I'm trying to say that getting fit is hard, but once you are fit and in the habit of running, keeping fit and getting fitter are much easier).
However, I shouldn't get too excited, I am currently cursed with a cold and about 1000 cold sores on my lip (very painful...) so I am resting and hoping I feel better soon...I blame germy children once again!

January training update

As mentioned in my previous post, the start of my London marathon training wasn't the best but it was improving. I am pleased to say that the rest of January got better. Week 3 was OK (a 5.5 mile total 1500m reps session and another shorter run), Week 4 included a couple of hour-ish longer runs, a 2 mile trot with the beginners and the East Haddon XC race and Week 5 was mainly made up some 2 mile reps and the Southern XC @ Parliament Hill (very cold and muddy!). This isn't really as much as I had hoped to be doing. However, on reflection there are some good signs including a lot less walking at the 2 XC races, at last!

Where have the last few months gone?

The last time I blogged I was trying to train for the Rutland Water marathon. Sadly, things didn't go as planned and a cold, a cough and a weird lump on my achilles meant I missed a load of training. I almost ran the marathon anyway but I had missed so much training I was worried about coming last so I decided not to. As it happened, I probably wouldn't have come last BUT I came down with a really evil cold the next day so it would probably have all ended badly...
Shortly after all this I discovered I had somehow managed to get a ballot place (one of the extra for those who bequeath to charity) for the London Marathon 2011. Eek, I didn't expect that to happen when I applied for a place in April! Oops.
Since then I have had one cold after another culminating in flu between Christmas and New Year so my training hasn't started well...still, onwards and upwards, I am sure things will improve! On the plus side, I've lost half a stone so I am starting to get a bit lighter which will hopefully help (what's the secret? Eat less and exercise more)

My first week of training can be summarised in 4 words, Pirton Boxing Day Run, my second week has been better, a 4 mile run and a 7.8 mile run:

Training update

Thought I had better post a quick training update...last week's training didn't include any running for a few reasons:

we were on holiday in France

I had had a nasty cold which left me with a bad cough :-(

Struggling to breathe due to my cough and with half an eye on the Duck n Dash I decided some swim training was probably in order. The pool at the campsite was pretty small so I ended up doing between 40 and 50 lengths in order to get the right distance in!

Drowning Squirrel?

This week's sporting activity took a slight change of tack, I took part in the inaugural Duck n Dash aquathon, a 400m swim and a 5k run based at Letchworth outdoor pool. I have only ever done something like this once before and that was quite a number of years ago...I don't think I have been this nervous for a very long time indeed! Didn't help that we only got back from our holiday at 11pm the night before and I barely slept knowing I was going to have to get up at 5:15 (ouch, on a Sunday too).
I had been very careful with my swim time estimate which meant I was 4th in the pool...as it happened I didn't swim as slow as I feared but I was pretty slow on the run (a result of the cold mentioned in a previous post). However, all things considered I really enjoyed it and would definitely do it again!

Spoke too soon!

Since I last posted I have had a cold...not impressed!