Quarter Way Thoughts

Here I am in Week 4 - so I'm a whole quarter of the way through the 13.1 program with 3 whole weeks under my belt and I'm looking Week Four "square in the eyes" and trying not to show it how much I'm scared of it!!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?    

I thought that before I start to waffle on about how well I've done during Week 4 (yeah - just not dying this week will be a coup!) I could have a recap and share a few thoughts about how it's going so far and how I'm feeling compared to when I started running

•  I'm sure I've already told you that 3 years ago I tried to jog between lamp-posts when I walked my dogs in the street - and was seriously out of breath with the effort!  (first sign of old age - repeating yourself!) When I see other joggers spring past me with the grace and finesse of a gazelle I must try to remember that I'm actually doing  rather well, all things considered!

• I now look forward to doing my running outdoors. Even on rainy days  I've done my workout and enjoyed being out in the fresh air.  (Paragon of Virtue moment!) 

• I'm no longer afraid to be seen outdoors in my running gear, no longer finding it necessary to get up at stupid o'clock because I feel silly being seen out and about.  I feel that I've proved to myself that I can run outdoors and that I'm not a fraud. 

• I'm way out of my comfort zone now. My final workout of week 3 was very difficult. I struggled. I was hot, my heart rate was up, I burned loads of calories (that's not a bad thing!) BUT I kept on going and I did what was asked of me.  The sense of achievement that gives me is immense.

• I think that as the weeks go on I will probably tackle my workouts thus: if I "fail" and can't quite make the running parts of my training without taking an unscheduled walking break I will repeat that workout the next day instead of moving on. If I fail again but think it's almost under my belt I will try again, perhaps doing the whole week again to build up my confidence before tackling the bit I've stalled on.  If I fail to complete the required running time again then I will throw and complete and utter full blown tantrum - the sort you see toddlers doing at the local supermarket - sprawled on the floor, limbs flailing all over the place and screaming the place down. One I regain control I will consider taking the workout onto my treadmill and continuing from there. 

• I want to run my first outdoor 10k (6.10 miles) but I'm still a way off doing that - but I hope it's possible. It HAS to be possible as I strive to do the half marathon distance. (I keep telling myself that doing a half marathon distance is possible - and I'm trying not to be negative BUT I'm not convinced I've got what it takes to do longer distances than 3-4 miles outdoors)

• As I'm doubtful I will be able to manage the longer workouts outdoors I need to STOP thinking of going back onto the treadmill as FAILURE!  I'm 50 years old for goodness sake - and I've NEVER run this far in my entire life EVER - not even when I was a kid.  I'm doing so well that if I have to start to use my treadmill again for the longer runs then so be it. That WILL NOT be looked on as a failure. 

• BIGGEST QUESTION (apart from will this healthy new hobby of mine actually KILL ME?) is this - how come when I was doing Couch to 5k and Bridge to 10k I was told that I should only run every other day?   And this 13.1 training is giving me ONLY ONE DAY OFF A WEEK?    Seriously - is He-Who-Must-Be-Ignored  in cahoots with the makers of this app and are they both trying to kill me off??   Seriously though, I think I've said it last week - the time is coming when I'm not going to be able to manage to run every day - mainly because of time constraints and also because I feel that I do need a little more time to recover. After all, I'm no spring chicken!

I came across this amusing picture (below) yesterday while I was trawling through blogs and more blogs and many more blogs of people who's blogs I read -  I thought it was very funny and contacted Cory to see if It was ok for me to steal his picture - and then it occurred to me that as I'd stolen it I really should run like I'd stolen something!  I almost managed to run a mile in under 10 minutes this morning (I think I did it in 10 minutes 7 seconds)  Now, dear reader, let me point out that my short fat hairy legs are a mere 29 inches long - not exactly gazelle like - so this is quite a feat for ancient old me!

 Picture stolen from Fast Cory's Blog

 

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