A great run today. I did 5k on the treadmill in 18:17. I started at 16.1kph and then gradually increased speed to 17.5kph at the end. The treadmill started from still so it took about 20s to get up to speed. It works out an average of 16.4kph. If I chop off 10s for the start, that’s about 16.6kph.
I would love to be able to go sub-18. I think that’s realistic but it would mean averaging a little more.
Food on the other hand has been disasterous over the last 24 hours. I have eaten everything under the sun. Plus a little more. Not good.
On Sunday I decided to do a long run. I planned a 27k hilly off road run. I left as the sun was coming up. It was cold and there was a light smattering of snow on the ground.
After a while it started to snow. Every now and then I had to stop and check my map but the footpaths were easy to find. Some of the paths were quite muddy and so I was only averaging 6min per km. Did I tell you it was quite hilly?
After two hours the snow became a blizzard for ten minutes or so. I also needed to be home on time so I decided to take a road way back rather than run through more mud. This was more boring but much quicker, especially as I increased the effort a little.
I got home in 2:27 having done 25.5km. Not fast but it was always supposed to be an easy fun run. Also, the mud meant I ran a little slower uphill but a lot slower than normal downhill.
I very much enjoyed the run. It felt good being outside.
A good week. I did just over ten hours and most of them were proper sessions rather than just 30 minute fillers.
Highlights:
- My swimming is very poor. I’ve decided that I go to the pool and just get disappointed with my times. So for the next couple of weeks I am going to mainly concentrate on form. Swimming smoothly and quietly. Breathing smoothly every three strokes. Streamlined and long. I tried that on Saturday but only had 20 minutes before the pool closed.
- I did my “Chrissie Wellington” run. No idea if she does this but I call it this as I try to smile and grin at the end of the intervals. Basically, it’s 12x 1 min at 20kph (the treadmill won’t go any quicker) with 1 min intervals.
- I also went out on my bike for the first time since October! Only 43 minutes but I went out. I didn’t go far but it did snow.
Eating went well and I lost 0.6kg (1.6 pounds). That’s 3.7kg (8.2 pounds) in four weeks.
Not a good week. Very busy. Very little sleep. Too many unexpected meetings. Too little training.
Most days, I just did a single 30 minutes section. Normally late in the evening because I was too tired or had a short-notice lunch meeting. The only “good” session was an 1hr45 min run.
Eating has been the worst of the three weeks. I thought I had a calorie deficit of 5,000 or so calories but only lost 0.1kg (0.2 pounds) over the week (but when I weighed myself on Saturday morning, I thought I had lost 1.2 pounds). I guess the body works in strange ways over the short-term.
So, that’s 3.1kgs (6.8 pounds) over the last three weeks.
Today (Day 22) has been good – except we went to the Harvester and, despite eating a healthy-ish meal, I over ate big time.
As well as a swim and a short bike session, I did a short barefoot run on the treadmill. I put some shoes on after 22 mins as I was feeling the heat of friction on the sole of my feet.
What a week. Lots of things to do. Lots of short notice meetings and conference calls at lunch times. Late nights. Not a good week in terms of getting time to do exercise.
Other than on Wednesday, I’ve just been doing the minimum. Wednesday I did 1:45 on the treadmill. Friday I did two runs, but only 34 mins and 32 mins.
So I need to do three things on Saturday to get the 10 sessions in.
Eating has been a mixed bag. Some days I ate loads. Wednesday I lost my mojo and bought some chocolate before heading for the gym and doing a long run. It might as well be a long session so I took a couple of drinks and gels with me and a towel and spare t-shirt. I put the t-shirt over the display so I couldn’t see the display. After a while the bloke next to me asked how long I’d been going for so I took the t-shirt of the display, which knocked my water bottle on the the treadmill controls, before falling on to the belt and spinning off the back of the machine – along with a gel. The machine also stopped too. I though I’d got water on the controls and had broken it. I saw 1 hr 26 mins before the display disappeared. It did work again but all the numbers were reset. My mojo was gone again. I did another 19 minutes and called it a day.