Banana Power

This morning I should still be in bed. Got home from work at midnight last night so by the time my alarm went off at 4:30am I'd had the grand total of 4 hours sleep.  To be fair I did feel half dead and hungover with tiredness but I had promised my OH that I would give him a lift to the station as he was catching an earlier train.  As I got up and started the morning rigmarole of putting together a ridiculously healthy salad for lunch, I was feeling a little better, shoved a banana down my neck (yes Mum, you are right, a banana is the best snack food around!) a bit of Lucozade Lite and I was raring to go for my morning run.

Managed a nice little 2 miler at a decent average pace of 10:30. Despite it being another sunny June morning (i.e. Wind, drizzle, grey etc.)  I am now feeling wonderfully energised and ready to skip into work with a smile on my face :)  Saying that, I'll probably pass out around 2pm though haha!

Ok, so maybe the sun is an exaggeration 

but this is how I feel today

Drizzle Sticks

Another sunny, dry day in the 'Bourne! (When I say sunny I mean covered in cloud and by dry I mean a constant drizzle in the air.)  It was a little moist outside this morning that "fine rain that soaks you through" (Peter Kay, Early 2000's) so I thought it would be wise to wear my mac to prevent me getting too soggy.  This turned out to be a ridiculous idea.  Although today is damp and grey it is not actually cold so within minutes I was looking (and feeling) like a boiled ham.  I stuck with it for the first mile but found myself doing inadvertent interval training with little walking stops.  The tracks 'Pass Out' and 'I Need Air' playing in my ears were becoming a little ironic!

After the first mile I decided to tie the wretched thing around my waist but it's a slippery little bugger so just annoyed me because I was constantly having to tighten it to stop it falling off.  Grrrrrr.

I made it to the end eventually and covered two miles of running with another three quarters of a mile of walking so at the end of the day, I covered the distance.

Week Eight!

So much for the Monday Motivation I was looking forward to, that seemed to get lost under the duvet yesterday morning as I thought it best to have a rest day after my long run.  

The good news is I have made it to the start of week eight, alive! The last couple of months have flown by and I'm still enjoying the feeling of being able to tackle hills with confidence that I'm not going to pass out with exhaustion less than half way up!

This morning is a cross training session, a bit of resistance training at the gym followed by swimming then a power walk around town while I have a couple of tyres changed on my car (the excitement of that alone may kill me if the hills don't!).

Time for Today's Tuesday Trigger (Instead of Monday Motivation)......

Errghhh.

The title of this post says it all.  I opened the door to a grey, drizzly, typical British summer's morning. I almost headed back to bed where it was warm and I wouldn't have to run 4 miles, but I didn't.  

I gallantly strode in to the drizzle and after a little warm up walk began my run.  It didn't tale long for the malaise to creep up on me and before I knew it I was walking again.   I don't know what is making me feel like this, just general eerghhh or maybe the fact that I've already done one 4 miler in the last 7 days so my body was having a little protest.  That wasn't going to stop me though so I tried to run as much as I could and still managed to do the whole distance in 46 minutes, which is only 2 mins more than Monday so it's not too bad really.  The important thing is that I covered the distance and that's what matters.  I want to finish the marathon, not break any world records for speed!

Looking forward to some Monday Motivation tomorrow!

No Music, No problem.

This morning I got up late and was  intending to have a day off but oh no, once I had woken up a little more, the road was calling me and I had to go out!  Didn't have much time so I threw my running gear on and bounded out the door with barely a thought for what I was taking with me.  

Anyone who knows me will know that I am at my happiest when I've got music around me so I normally run with headphones super-glued to my head at all times, but today I left them indoors.  Surprisingly, I had a good run.  Did a mile in 10:08 then had a little jog/walk back home and I didn't get half as bored as I thought I would as it's quite nice hearing the birds tweeting in the trees and even the sound of my own footfalls on the pavement provided me with a rhythm I was soon singing along to in my head.  In the future I'll be saving the music for the long weekend runs!

2 Miles? Easy!!

Today, I ran two miles without stopping for a walk.  This is not something I haven't done before, but today, it felt easier.  The first mile was on a steady incline but I kept a good pace of 10:24 then the second mile which I normally start to flag on I did in 10:25!  It's only a small improvement but still enough to remind myself that I'm going in the right direction :) 

I am also happy that I have no soreness today - result!  I've got to say that I was a little achy following the four miles I did on Monday, so all that stretching and resting must be working! 

Week Seven!

I had a slightly naughty weekend.  It started off full of good intentions to do my first four miler but, as usual, the lure of the pub was too great. I was restrained for me so there was no smoking, no shouting/singing/laughing hysterically at random strangers and no falling over.  Still, I had a good time and there was a lovely catch up with some great friends.  Despite the fact I didn't succumb to the dreaded shots I still awoke to that familiar 'dead' feeling that you only get after consuming alcohol the wrong side of thirty :(.  Unfortunately, my plans for a spritely four mile run when out of the window so I hung out in bed and moped around feeling sorry for myself instead!  Did start to get a bit angry over it but you live and learn and just need to be a bit stronger in the future and stop with the alcohol a bit earlier on in the night so I won't get so dehydrated.

Luckily, today is another day and being on a late shift at work gave me the perfect opportunity to get that four miler in, and it was good!  Didn't break any records (other than longest run) but kept a steady pace and managed to cover 4 miles in under 45 minutes.  I'm happy with that.

Monday Motivation......