Hitting 170

Having had a two week break (not for holiday, just been too busy) I made sure I got in the gym on Wednesday and again today. Been keeping an eye on my HR coz my sheet says on the 6th and 12th visit of this card I have to note my HR. Well my HR was 138 on the treadmill but up to 170 at times on the bike and the cross trainer. Dont know if this is good or not, because the guideline says that 170 = 85 % for a 20 year old, 166 = 85% for a 25 year old, and I am 23, and I felt weird when I left gym. I say weird because I wasnt light headed or dizzy, but I definitely felt odd.
Plan for Sunday is at least 12 miles, although I would quite like to do 13, and since Christmas came early today, in the form of a Garmin Forerunner 101, a present from my Mum, it should be easier for me to work out my mileage without having to resort to Google Maps.
As they say, watch this space!

Exhaustion and Pain

I didnt get around to going to the gym last week at all-but it wasnt for lack of trying. Unfortunately my life is currently rather hectic. My goal for yesterday was 12 miles, but unfortunately that wasnt to be either. I knew from the moment I got up that it wasnt to be my day, but I tried desperately to suppress such feelings and the negativity that inevitably results in failure. I was still tired when I got up, and then I got distracted on the internet while trying to plan my route on Google maps. Then I couldnt get my MP3 player to work-and I find it stressful to run without it. Then when I did go out, I realised I had forgotten to change my trainers, and then my MP3 player ran out of battery, but since I hadnt even got out of my road, I went home, put the correct trainers on, and hunted for a new battery. By the time i got out, it was 2pm, and the cloud cover that promised a cooler run, had dispersed allowing the temp to warm up. My new route takes me up to the A27 and into a village with a rather steep hill. I change my routine here from 2 mins/2 mins to 1min/1 min to limit the feelings of exhaustion, and make it to the petrol station a minute quicker than I did during the week. I come down the road past the race course, a road that feels never ending, and despite my sports jelly beans, I feel knackered, with another 7.5 miles to go. I nip into the shop to get a bottle of water, and manage to make it another mile, but then Im zapped. I can still walk, but when I try to run, i cant, at it feels like my legs want to give way. I ring C for encouragement, and to talk through the problem. Walk he says, and just run if you think you can. Which I do, the last three miles back to the house, along the main road. I only just got through the door, now in pain, all the way up my spine. My shoulder which was stiff the day before now absolute agony which gives me a migraine. So later i get in the bath, as my legs are aching too. Gym this week, C tells me, that is probably the cause. Just make sure you get in there, whatever else is going on.

4 miles is better than no miles......

I didnt have time to go for a run on Sunday. It was far too hot anyway. So since it was given for rain on Monday, I decided to put it off til then. But it didnt rain Monday, so I put it off til Tuesday. It didnt rain during the morning, and in the afternoon I had already arranged to take out my son. We ended up at Brooklands park in Worthing, and he went on the ponies and the train and ran around a lot, and by the time I got back I was knackered. So much so that really i shouldnt have been driving. But I knew if I didnt run that evening, I would put it off til Wednesday, and then til Thursday....
and you get the picture!
Thing was I had to be somewhere at 7 to look at a car. So i figured I would run the four miles to where the car was, meet my dad there, bring the car back and run another 8. I did well in that I covered the 4 miles in just over an hour (which is quick for me, especially since there were two hills, both long and tough). But I was so wrecked that I couldnt even contemplate the other 8 miles. So the new plan was to go to the gym today, and again on Friday, and run on Saturday the 8 outstanding miles, because I have plans for Sunday with C*
Well, because I had so much to do, I didnt get to the gym, so now the revised plan is to go tomorrow after my interview (I have a job interview in Southampton tomorrow) and possibly run to gym and run back again on Saturday.....
Watch this space as they say!

* BF has objected to use of "BF" despite my insistence that it protects the identity of innocent parties (lol) so from now on I shall use his initial C....until he moans about that and I have to think of something else!

New Tattoo

Ive decided to get a new tattoo. Something to mark the marathon with. A permanent magical mark that will not only provide me with inspiration, but will be a permanent testament to my commitment and dedication. Its taken me a while to decide what to get and where to place it; all I knew was that I wanted an inscription. I sought the advice of close friends and family, and having decided to go for my upper left thigh, I narrowed a list down to four. One phrase stuck in my mind, and so now, the idea is more formed.
Audere est Facere.
To dare is to do.

So on Monday, I gave blood, because once ive got my new tattoo I will have to wait six months before I can give blood again. So now I can get it done.

Its been one of those weeks......

Summer holidays are now in full swing, so im having to do all the usual things PLUS look after my son, so have had no time to go to the gym. Even on the one day I had time, I was so knackered that I wasnt up to going, and on friday I had a tooth extracted and wasnt allowed to go anyway. Had an idea about at least fitting in a session on the track at uni, but didnt even fit that in. And my sunday run? Didnt have time for that either, and to be honest, its far too hot anyway, so thats been relegated to Monday. So thank God its given for rain-with any luck it will be cooler!