Day 31 - WOOHOO

Well, its been done. 31 days of running/gyming/cycling and I am still standing!! I am a little bit amazed that I made it through. The will power has been challenged big time and there have definitly been evenings where the last thing I wanted to do was put my trainers on and run in the cold darkness. But I overcame and went forth.

I am having a day off tomorrow and going to the pub with friends like a normal person...but this break will be a short one as I have realised that I have a marathon training programme to start. It will be a 16 week one as I have a 2 week break inbetween it to go and do the Inca Trail in Peru. I will be doing a bit of trekking but no running. I think this will affect my performance so am starting the training early to get myself a wee bit ahead.

Janathon has been a great motivator and really think it has kick started my training and has given me a good mindset with which to go forward.

Today's run was 3.16 miles in 29mins and (drum-roll please...)here are my grand totals:

◦Total - 114.7 mi - 20.1 hrs

and this breaks down into

◦Run  - 83.5 mi - 14.7 hrs
◦Bike - 8.7 mi - 1.2 hrs
◦Walk  - 2.0 mi - 0.8 hrs
◦Cross Trainer - 20.5 mi - 3.4 hrs

Day 30 - the penultimate run

Can't believe this is the 2nd last day of Janathon. Very pleased to have made it through without injury! It was a very grey and very cold day so I went to the gym instead.

It was nice and quiet so I thought I would aim for a 10k today, which I managed while looking sadly at Andy Murray lose the Aussie Open final, although there was some amazing tennis by Djokovic. It is alway inspiring watching proper athletes while struggling at the treadmill!!

Have passed the 100mile mark so am rather pleased and any extra over that is a bonus. I do have I much scarier challenge with the marathon in May but I feel that I have made a good start to my training.

distance: 6.2miles
time: 1hour 5mins
cals: 710

day29- hangover jog

You really shouldn't do exercise with a hangover, just as it is janathon, I had no choice...a lay in and a couple of painkillers and I managed to get out by lunchtime.

At first I thought....mmm seem to be managing ok, maybe I can do a longer run after all. Then, about 3 mins in I started to think again. It was slow and a bit of an effort. Not even my music could get my legs moving any faster - it felt like my trainers were made of heavy stuff.

Still, managed to go for 2 miles which isn't bad for a hungover 31 year old who would much rather be in bed.

Time: 20mins 17 secs
Cals: 264

Day28 - magical blogging

Now, when I am out running I usually use the time to think what I am going to write. However, by the time I've got back and done all the after-run stuff and I get round to logging and blogging, I find that I have forgotten what I was going to write.

I was actually thinking about this as I ran my route round Holyrood and thought, wouldn't it be good if you could write it with your mind...like sending my thoughts so some computer which would magically record them (although not all of them as my thoughts do tend to wander in weird ways). It would mean saving a lot of typing time...sigh...

Well, that's all I have time for as am off out in a while and I haven't even had lunch and its 16:22 already!!

distance: 3.36miles
time: 32mins 34secs
highest elevation: 409 feet (some lovely views but a tough hill!)

Day 27 - indoor skiing

A gym evening...although I felt like I had already done a workout trying on my shiny new shockabsorber running sports bra. I got the size that the rest of my bras (sports and otherwise) are but this one was particularly 'snug'. Also, because of the two fasener thing I almost dislocated my shoulder trying to do it up. Anyway after much struggling I was all done and feeling very strapped up - these babies will not be doing much bouncing now!

Not really much to report gym-wise, just a solo bout on the cross-trainer so instead will write a little about my musical choices of last night which I forgot to mention.

Now I am pretty particular about my music and am a bit of a rock chick (with a bit of goth/hippy thrown in) so I don't really go in much for the pumping dance tracks that you get with the running compilations you get....however, I heard about audiofuel and saw you could download a sample which I did...a while ago. I have never got round to listening to it - until last night. And I have to say I was rather happily surprised and I would also say that it did make me run a little bit harder. I am actually thinking about buying a proper compilation...although it will have to be on rotation with my hard-rock running playlist :)

distance: 7.5kms
time: 1 hour
cals: about a curry's worth! (560cals)

Day 26 - where everyone else is too fucking fast!!

Outside again! looking like rain but decided to chance it. Done a route I haven't done in a while as quite frankly it always seemed to far to get to the meadows where you can do laps and it ends up being a long run...and there are proper runners there. One of the reasons I haven't joined a running club or indeed partake in any kind of group running or sporting (at least since tennis as a kid) is that it reminds me how much better others are at it than me.

Now I'm not really built for running (I'm what you would call curvy with a need to spend alot on sports bras) so I really should just be glad a get by. However when I'm happily jogging along at my own pace thinking I'm actually doing ok some athletic sleek looking girl shoots past me with such ease it shouldn't be allowed! Now usually I don't really take much notice but today there were so damn many of them I was starting to feel the creeping feeling of inadequacy. I really did think I was making progress. This thought was quickly squashed by a short skinny girl (she looked about 14!) shot by me, looking like she was taking a leisurely stroll...I did try to speed up but it nearly killed me so I slowed to a slow jog.

Anyway...moral to this story is ignore the running-wizard bastards and enjoy your own pace whatever it may be.

Distance: 4.6 miles
Time: 44mins 48secs
people who shot past me: ooohh about 8 (grrrr)

Day 25 - treadmill intervals

Oh...its going to be a long week...it feels like it should be Friday.  Needless to say am not in the best frame of mind today for various reasons.  After a long day at work all I felt like was alcohol or failing that making a beeline for my bed. So once again I had to enforce my willpower and remind myself that I'm only a week away from finishing my goal.

For comfort I went to the gym as really couldn't face running in the dark and cold evening. I also decided to have a good session today but the treadmill is so boring I took the opportunity to do some interval training. so after a 10min warm-up I did 30mins of 2mins at speed 11 (getting to 12 for the last couple) and fast walking at a incline of 5 and finished off with a 5min cool down.

Amazed I made it through 48mins as there was a VERY annoying squeeky bike machine behind me and had to stop myself having an incredible-hulk style episode...I wonder if there are many cases of gym-rage?