Fresh start

By the title, and the long period of time it has been since I last posted, you may well be thinking that I had given up. Well you're wrong. The fact is, that I have just left home to go to university and things have been pretty hectic. By "fresh start" I actually mean a change to the reasons why I'm running. Previously, I was running solely to lose weight and get fit (along with the fun and stress relieving side), but upon arrival at university I joined the rowing team. Those of you who know anything about rowing will be aware that it is a very demanding sport which requires a fair bit of training each week. Last week I spent a total of 5 and a half hours at the sports village, plus about 45 minutes on the water, quite a jump from the couch potato that I was just a few months ago. Its safe to say that I am totally addicted to rowing and can't wait to get better and better and enter some races.

I hate dogs!!

Having grown up around dogs and spent my entire childhood dreaming of becoming a vet, I have finally decided that I hate dogs. It seems that I can't go out on a single jog without being chased or barked at,usually by the less scary collie type, but today it was a German Shepherd which scaled a fence and bounded towards me barking and growling. To make matters worse, the dogs owner was there, but chose to ignore his pet, and instead went inside leaving me to fend for myself. Luckily the noise of him closing the front door of his home was enough to distract the dog for sufficient time for me to get away. I am an owner of a German shepherd. One which barks when people pass my house and looks scary. But the difference is that mine is either on his chain, or if loose in the garden, the gates are closed (...and may I add the garden fence is big enough to keep him in). Moving away from the subject of dogs, I ran (and walked) 4.6 miles today according to google maps. I ran the first 2 miles then walked and ran from there (although I must add that I ran much more than I walked). Overall it works out at about 13 minutes a mile. Which to be honest sounds terrible, but factoring in having to stop for dogs, cars and many many tractors (its mid-harvest here) its not too bad. Not quite Mo Farah yet, but in time...

Rain and interval training

So yesterday I went to the swimming pool for the first time in many years. I never particularly liked swimming. Most of my swimming experience involves my old PE class of about 20 people, mixed sex, all swimming widths. Not a particularly pleasant experience when your not a strong swimmer. Surprisingly I rather enjoyed my swim yesterday. There was only 4 people there, including me, and no pressure. Much better than school. I had planned to go on a run last night too, but when it started pouring rain I began to have doubts. When the thunder and lightning then came on, it was a definite no no. So instead I went out this morning. Having done a bit of research on the web, I decided to try interval training, so off I went sprinting for 30 seconds then walking for 2 minutes. To anyone who seen me I must have looked mad, but I quite enjoyed it. Apparently its supposed to improve stamina and speed, so we'll see how it goes. Off to the pool again :) xx

Chinese catastrophe

I have heard on so many tv programmes that diet has a huge effect on sports performance, but I never really thought much about it. Last night I felt the effects myself. It started on Sunday when my brother took our family for a meal at a chinese all you can eat buffet. I must say that I wasn't as good as I had planned to be, but to a certain extent I thought that after a month of watching what I was eating one day wouldn't make a huge deal of difference. Basically I had a bowl of soup, followed by a plate of ribs and chicken wings, then a beef dish with egg fried rice. In my defence I did skip the pudding. Felt a bit sluggish afterwards, but did spend a fair bit of the evening on the wii fit and just dance- I guess I was feeling a bit guilty. Anyway, yesterday I went for a run and suddenly I was back to the huffing and puffing fatty I was a month ago, but worse than that, I had to slow to a walk several times after suffering from agonising stitches. The only thing that had changed between saturday when I had a really good run and monday when it was terrible was diet. Lesson learned!

Its been a while

Its been a little while since I last posted. I had a few days off last week as it was the run up to my driving test and I didn't want to end up injured and unable to do it (silly I know). Anyway I passed! :D So I got back to it that night (wednesday). Not much to tell about that really. Anyway, last time I was out (tuesday) I changed routes. Its about half a mile longer and has a good mix of hills. It went well and its great to have a new challenge. I'll be running that route again tonight. More good news is that I've lost about half a stone- nothing better than a bit of weight loss for motivation!

Injuries!

I planned to go running on Wednesday night, but the rain came on. I therefore made the decision to stay in and do a bit of a muscle workout instead. I did a large mix of jackknives, sit ups, push ups, lunges etc and have subsequently strained all my muscles. Silly me. Basically my groin and lower abdomen are sore, so much so that I could barely walk yesterday. Then, to add insult to injury, I twisted my ankle which is now wrapped up in a bandage. So at the moment, running is a no no. I'm hoping to get back to a walk tomorrow then a run on sunday, but that may be over ambitious. Just shows how much over doing it can set you back. Safe to say I'm gutted.

Its been a while

So it has been a while since I last posted, but it has been a good week. I am now walking the first mile and running the last two. I will need to change route before I can run the full 5K as the first mile is a rough road which I don't want to run along as my ankles are a little weak. I should be out running today, but I'm feeling really off colour so I may leave it today and go tomorrow instead, I'll see how I feel later.