Running or sleeping? How to choose...

Well, not that long ago, the choice would have been simple enough: S L E E P I N G.

But oh how times have changed...

Yesterday was a pretty tiring day (which involved me driving on the M25 for the first time ever - and I didn't crash or anything! Woo!) so this morning, sleeping in seemed like the sensible option.

I'm certainly not the kind of girl to say no to extra sleep :-).

Yes, I was planning to fit in a training run before I needed to leave to collect Jake. But hey, that wasn't 'til midday - I had loads of time.

At least that's what I thought, until Mark and I properly woke up and saw that the time was now fast approaching 11.00 am.

Oops...

There was a moment there where I had a very clear choice to make: part of me was thinking 'oh, forget it - just stay in bed. You can go running some other time. Ooh, it's so warm in here... mmm lovely... why do you want to go out in the cold, you silly thing??', whereas the other part of me was thinking 'Get up now, while you still have time! You can't waste this opportunity to go for a training run - you might not get the chance again for a while. Come on come on come on!'

And, surprisingly, I actually did get up.

Admittedly, I was fairly reluctant and whingey about it but I got up all the same.

This run felt far more difficult than my first training run. First of all, this run was on roads/pavements rather than a lovely, squidgy woodland path. Secondly, there were quite a few hills to tackle (not least the ridiculously steep slope that leads up to my house). And thirdly, within a few minutes I started to suffer from a horrible running-induced headache.

As a result of all this, I found it harder to maintain the cheery outlook I had cultivated during last week's run. Plus it seemed to take more effort to keep my shoulders relaxed and to stop my feet from dragging.

Still, our imminent departure for Wales kept the run relatively short and I at least now have a little bit of experience of running on roads.

And, you know, I could have just stayed in bed :-).

Stats for this run:

Distance: 3.78K
Time: 32.06
Average pace per K: 8.29

We have lift-off!

I am happy to report that Operation Fun Run Training is now underway!

Yesterday I went on my first training run and, to my rather surprised delight, I managed to run non-stop for 5 whole K without too much trauma or difficulty.

Yay :-)

The lovely Mark came with me (although, to him, it was less of a run and more of a brisk walk!) and we ran along the disused railway (which is actually far prettier than it sounds).

The path was almost entirely flat (which figures, I suppose, given the whole railway thing) and, although it was a tiny bit muddy and squishy, it was pretty easy to run along. Having endured a few runs in the forest last summer, where there are twisted tree roots waiting to trip you up at every turn and a horrendously steep hill to scale right before you finish, I really did appreciate just running along a flat, non-treacherous surface. I have a feeling that this may become a regular route :-).

My legs are aching like mad this morning and I've ended up with a blister on the inner arch of my left foot, but over all I'm very happy with how things went. I didn't once reach the point of whining pathetically that it's too hard (which has happened more than once in the past!) and the initial feeling of being painfully out of breath passed far more quickly than I was expecting.

So, to summarise, here are the stats for my first training run:

Distance = 5K
Time = 45 minutes 18 seconds
Average K Pace = 9 minutes 3 seconds

This is now my starting point, which I will (hopefully!) build on.

All in all, I can say that I am feeling far more confident about Operation Fun Run Training than I was this time yesterday :-).

Behold my Master Plan!

Ok, so I know I gave 2 January 2011 as my estimated ‘going live’ date and that today is clearly not 2 January 2011. It’s not even that close to 2 January 2011.

But, in my defence, I was in bed with the flu on 2 January 2011, along with the days before and after it, and physical exercise was the last thing on my mind. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be on my mind at all was Peep Show, which I kept having weird, feverish deliriums about.

Anyway, dragging myself back on topic…

I may not have achieved my desired launch date but this is by no means an indication that I have fallen at the first hurdle. No indeed. The Plan is still in place and I am fully committed to seeing it through (even if I’m not feeling wholly enthusiastic at this stage).

Right, to summarise: The Plan is to train for the Great Midlands Fun Run (an 8 mile course), which is taking place on Sunday 5 June 2011. Along the way, I hope to raise some money for Mencap, which will go towards helping to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and their families. That, in short, is The Plan.

Now 8 miles might not seem like a particularly colossal distance (especially not to someone like Mark (my partner) who regularly goes on longer runs than that just for ‘fun’ (?)) but if you’re me (and I am), it really is, trust me. Which means I’m going to have to put in a correspondingly colossal effort if I’m going to have any hope of seeing this through.

My life circumstances don’t really allow me a huge amount of free time for scampering about the countryside in running shoes, so my current plan is to go on at least one training run a week (probably during weekends and hopefully with Mark in tow to drag, I mean encourage, me). I can then use the cross trainer at home during the week to keep my general fitness levels up.

That, at least, is my aspiration. Whether or not this will actually be reflected in reality remains to be seen.

At the moment, I am still recovering from the last remnants of the flu so have been holding off getting started.

Hopefully by the next time I post here, I will have some progress (however minimal) to report.

Wish me luck!