Checking In...

Well, I thought I'd better check in and check up on where I'm at with the goals I set several blogs back at the beginning of the month...

And I'm pleased to report that it's been a pretty good month and goal setting really seems to be working for me.

I'm now happily enjoying bootcamp again every Wednesday and have now been to four sessions, and the kettlebells are not hurting quite as much now...

I've run with club every Monday and Friday throughout the month, which has been interesting as I have posted all of the training runs for Eccleshill Road Runners for August. I decided I might as well make use of some of the new training sessions I'd learnt during the various running schools I've done via Airedale Atheletics over the past 18 months.

Monday the week before last saw us doing a fartlek session in Peel Park, which was tough but really good fun. And last Monday we went down to the dreaded Gain Lane for a short tempo session, where you run out and back as fast as possible for 12.5 minutes each way, the idea being that you should run the distance for each half in the same time, and everyone should return to the starting point at the same time. I hope we can now incorporate these sessions into the normal training routine.

I've also had some really lovely Friday evening runs with club including my favourite six miler to Esholt and back along the canal.

Another goal was to lose seven pounds this month, and I'm slowly getting there having lost five pounds so far. Hooray! Just got to keep going now...

My next race is the Horsforth 10k at the end of September so here's hoping a lighter me will equal a speedier me! I haven't investigated the course yet, but here's hoping I can come in under 56 mins.

Will that do for this month??

On the Torture Rack

I'd promised myself several weeks ago that I would book a sports massage, so on a recommendation from a fellow Eccleshill Road Runner, I booked in with Penny Brook.

She cut to the chase from the start, "This is going to hurt, but I will stop if it becomes unbearable".

What?

No chance of a little sleep then while being gently pummelled?

One hour later, eyes watering I had been massaged within an inch of my life. I knew my calves were stiff and the soles of my feet had been sore since training for the marathon but this was pain on another level. And as for my hips...and did she actually put an elbow into me at some point??

Nevertheless, I'm hopeful the pain will be worth it and I'll be less stiff which should, in turn, improve my running.

Booked in again for six weeks time before I could change my mind....

parkrunning

After months of meaning to go but never quite getting round to it, Saturday morning at 9am saw me at the start line of the Bradford parkrun in Lister Park.

parkrun organise free, weekly, 5km timed runs around the world and the Bradford parkrun was set-up in April this year by one of our ERR club members. Several members, including Julie have volunteered at parkrun for sometime - it's such a great event to have for the community. Having run the Leeds Hyde Park parkrun several times, I was intrigued to try out the closer to home Bradford parkrun.

I arrived at Lister Park in Manningham at about 8.30am unsure where to go but soon spotted lots of runners milling about near the bandstand. A quick chat with several familiar faces and brief warm-up and we were lining up to start.

The course is three laps of a set route in the park which includes a bit of a hill at the end of each lap. Racing were children, older people and even a man running round with a pushchair and child. It has to be one of the most inclusive races in the world.

I'm not sure what it is about 5ks that make them so hard! I always think they're nothing, only three miles...well, I've run more than that but this was hard...and was certainly not helped by the three large glasses of wine I'd consumed the night before!

The equation is this:

3 x large glasses of wine + late night + 5k race = horrible race

Nevertheless, I managed a credible time of 27.49, which I was pleased with.

Now what does 0 x glasses of wine + early night + 5k race equal?

Guess, I'll have to go back shortly to find out...

Getting My House in Order

Well, following the 'undulating' Pudsey 10k last Sunday I decided that my running was getting worse not better.

It was time to do something about it.

So, Wednesday evening saw me back at Roundhay Park bootcamp swinging my first kettlebell since pre marathon training in March. We had a great session, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the sessions (despite not being able to sit down for a couple of days afterwards!). Phill and Jenny who run Creating Chaos http://www.creatingchaos.co.uk/ do a great job of making exercise seem like a lot of fun and messing about.

A trip back to WeightWatchers on Saturday confirmed the worst - I have put on a stone in the last year, and with a holiday booked for a month's time, something has clicked inside me.

My goals aren't going to happen on their own.

It's time to sort myself out!

And I'm now beginning the coming week with the ambitious aim to lose seven pounds over the coming month, and three pounds this week.

Running club Monday
Bootcamp Wednesday
Running club Sunday...

Here we go...