13.1 - Training - Week 4

I was almost too scared to see what's in store for me this week! 

WEEK 4 DAY 1..
Monday 15th August 2011

Nice cool morning - almost chilly in fact! Humidity was 53% - so nice and comfortable. Today was going to be rest day but as He-Who-Must-Be-Ignored was up very early (4.45am)  to do overtime I had enough time to fit in today's workout which was a very short one. I seem to be struggling quite a lot with the workouts - more so than when I was doing Bridge to 10k.  I think maybe this is because I'm running almost every day. Perhaps I'd do better to run every other day?  It could also be because I'm running outdoors in the real world, and not on the treadmill?  I think that's probably the reason!

5 MINUTE WARM UP WALK
20 MINUTE JOG
5 MINUTE COOL DOWN WALK

Duration	Calories	Av. ♥	Max ♥	Distance	Walk Speed	Running Speed	Notes
30mins	211	134	157	2.53	*	*	Outdoors

WEEK 4 DAY 2
Wednesday 17th August 2011

After taking a lovely day off yesterday (hurrah!) I was back to it this morning - and dead keen to get out there! He-Who-Must-Be-Ignored was off sick so I didn't have to take the dogs out for a long walk (no feelings of guilt about leaving them home alone all day as I knew they'd have company)  What a perfect day to go jogging!

Attempt number one - I got as far as the main road and realised that I'd forgotten 2 very important things.  My little "girlie" bottle of water. My chewing gum!   So, about turn, grab said items, climb over the dogs (who were milling around thinking they were going out again) and away I went!

Attempt number two: Got everything I need - and in the words of Luther Vandross - Aint No Stopping Me Now - I'm On The Move.... lovely bright sunny morning, 58*f - so a nice temperature and 76% humidity (according to the local BBC web site!) Should be fairly comfortable to jog along in.  With Dexys Midnight Runners filling my eardrums with Come On Eileen (my mums song - she's called Eileen!) I began my jogging interval and I felt pretty damned good!  Having a day off was certainly a great idea.   Now, I've been thinking about Adrian and Janet and their "rude" workouts and thought - well I can't really top that, so what can I do that might be easy to identify.... and came up with a very boring idea.  I'd run around the lines of the local football pitch!  As you can see (hopefully) from the link to Endomondo (click here) - I didn't make too good a job of it. There are two football pitches - I got the semi circles done on one of them but my ankles hurt like a bugger with all the sharp turns I was having to make so I gave up!  God loves a trier - BUT sometimes that trier just has to give over to common sense - besides, the dog walkers (who were sharing the field with me) were starting to give me very funny looks - and I was concerned that the Men In White Coats might come and get me... so I moved on!   I also did a "Lap Of Honour" around a tree a little later in my workout but Endomondo doesn't seem to have picked that up.  Pfft - what a waste of effort! I wont be doing that again in a hurry either!

By the time I got home the sweat was pouring off me - not a pleasant thought is it? And I look and smell a whole lot less pleasant than your imagination is portraying me right now!   I blame my age! Can't be anything to do with working out too hard, can it?   A friend of ours popped round the other night and tells us he's on the sick having had a HEART ATTACK!!     He's about 6 months older than me and HWMBI   Now, that's a very sobering thought. I'm thinking that maybe instead of jogging I should take up watching paint dry or some other such thing.   What do you think dear reader?

Anyway, it's almost Beer O'clock - so that's enough from me right now....


5 MINUTE WARM UP WALK
30 MINUTE JOG
5 MINUTE COOL DOWN WALK

Duration	Calories	Av. ♥	Max ♥	Distance	Walk Speed	Running Speed	Notes
40mins	341	140	165	3.43	*	*	Outdoors

WEEK 4 DAY 3..
Thursday 18th August 2011

I don't mind admitting that I really was worried about this workout.  The words RUN cast a feeling of terror over me. I had visions of having to take off like Linford Christie (swapping the lunchbox for top bollocks of course! )    Adrian did point out that run actually means run NOT SPRINT.  So that sorted that out for me!  ;)  NOT!   I'm not really sure what RUN means, and I'm certainly far too old to be running. Pfft - I started to do this jogging lark so I could burn calories, eat cake and STILL loose weight! Run?  You have to be kidding me, yeah?

Cool day, good humidity, no dog walk to do before my run (HWMBI is still off sick so he walked the girls with me as I did my warm up walk,) then off I went.....

When the very nice lady on my app said run I upped my pace and decided that run probably means go a little faster than I normally do.  I'm not doing this to win any races, not in it to kill myself (not intentionally at any rate!) and I'm not in this to break any records so I don't need to go at break neck speed.  Today I practised lengthening my stride during the running intervals.  In my mind I was gliding along like a graceful gazelle...   in reality I was huffing and puffing and probably looked more like a broken down old nag on the way to the knackers yard!

I was surprised when I got to the last walking interval. I knew it was coming and checked my watch just to be sure. I felt better than I did yesterday when I did less running.  Very strange. 

5 MINUTE WARM UP WALK
10 MINUTE JOG
10 MINUTE RUN
5 MINUTE WALK
5 MINUTE RUN
10 MINUTE JOG
5 MINUTE COOL DOWN WALK

Duration	Calories	Av. ♥	Max ♥	Distance	Walk Speed	Running Speed	Notes
50 mins	350	130	184*	4.28	*	*	Outdoors

*NOTE: HRM was playing up a bit.  Kept loosing link and then soared up to 184 - no way was it that! I've slapped it in the washing machine. Hopefully a good clean will sort it out - if not then I'll get new batteries!




WEEK 4 DAY 4..
Friday 19th August 2011

5 MINUTE WARM UP WALK
25 MINUTE JOG
5 MINUTE COOL DOWN WALK

Bright and sunny day. 47% humidity

Duration	Calories	Av. ♥	Max ♥	Distance	Walk Speed	Running Speed	Notes
35 mins	274	145	163	3.00	*	*	Outdoors

WEEK 4 DAY 5..
Sunday 21st August 2011

5 MINUTE WARM UP WALK
15 MINUTE JOG
10 MINUTE RUN
20 MINUTE JOG
5 MINUTE COOL DOWN WALK

Bright, warm sunny morning, 68*f and 56% humidity
I woke up with a sense of dread, having already looked at todays workout and not liking the look of what I saw!   I had a bit of a lay in so by the time I got my idle self out of bed and ready to jog it was already starting to warm up outside!   Today I used my new Asics in anger for the first time.  Were they comfortable?  Yes they were - except - I tied the laces of my right shoe too tightly and once I'm jogging I'm not going to stop for any reason at all - well, not any reason - but I wont stop for something as small as a tight shoe lace.  Todays workout was VERY TOUGH. I feel that I might be at the limit of my ability.  Rather than struggling to RUN for 10 minutes I decided that increasing then decreasing my tempo throughout the whole workout will work best for me. I'm not looking on this as a failure - just an adjustment of the workout.  A few days ago I told Janet that speed isn't everything -  finishing is all that matters and today I actually listened to my own words of wisdom! 

Duration	Calories	Av. ♥	Max ♥	Distance	Walk Speed	Running Speed	Notes
55mins	487	149	166	4.61	*	*	Outdoors

WEEK 4 DAY 6..
Tuesday 22nd August 2011


5 MINUTE WARM UP WALK
50 MINUTE JOG
5 MINUTE COOL DOWN WALK

I am a proper runner! 
I am a brave person!
I am not ashamed to be seen in public places in  Lycra running pants!

Official!  :)  

I was checking out the distance I did on my last workout - and looking at the way I criss crossed about on the map as I jog around the housing estate where I live - and it got me thinking - where else could I go that would cover a similar distance?  One of the joys of Endomondo is being able to plot a run before hand - which I did, and I realised that I could cover a similar distance by heading off my estate and doing a bit of a round robin. 

I almost chickened out when I reached Fulmar Road, which is my usual first turn onto the estate.  I was tempted to go back to the very safe, tried and tested criss cross the estate routine. Then suddenly I WAS BRAVE and headed down Birchwood Avenue along my intended new route.  Towards the end of BWA I got scared and crossed the road intending to do a kind of double back using an adjoining street and do the Criss Cross the estate route (again!) .   Almost at the point of no return  I WAS AS BRAVE AS THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER  and changed direction (AGAIN!) and started to jog out of my comfort zone and onto Doddington Road, following my pre-planned new route,  ignoring the people in the cars which were lined up at the traffic lights, ignoring the cyclists (yeah, you're in my way, I'm jogging, I OWN this pavement and you're going to come a cropper if you don't get out of my way mate!) and ignoring the nagging thought in my head that I was heading quite some distance from home! 

Unfortunately  Endomondo was so shocked by this departure from the norm that it failed to follow my route properly so I had to do a manual input. 

Endomondo wanted me home!  

Endomondo wanted me home and home fast so it plotted me cutting through peoples houses (morning people of Lincoln - don't mind if I cut through your living room and out of your back door do you?)  and had me crossing a lake (I know I was feeling like a bit of a Goddess this morning but hey - only J.C. can walk on water!) and finally it decided I was home!   It was rather annoying to discover that I'd been "cheated" of half a mile or so - but I soon put that right!

Once I got over the shock of leaving  my comfort zone (quite literally) I actually enjoyed myself! I was hot, sticky and tired. My legs ached. My ankles ached. Towards the end of the 50 minute jog I was grumbling out loud BEGGING for the nice app lady to tell me it was time for my cool down walk!  And then she did, and I thought - Thank Fook for that!  Hurrah!

Duration	Calories	Av. ♥	Max ♥	Distance	Walk Speed	Running Speed	Notes
1 hr	535	148	163	5.16	*	*	Outdoors

So, that was week 4.  I'd like to say it passed in a BLUR but I don't move fast enough for anything to be a blur! 

Please join me soon as I start Week 5