Charity 5k has been done

And I wasn't dead last!!

I was pretty much last though. OH WELL.

3.12 miles in 45:12 which is a 9min/km pace. 24 seconds faster than my fastest training pace.

Even though I'm still mega slow, I'm happy about this (progress, progress...)

Since it was for charity and in a dog park, a few people ran with their dogs. We brought Merlin with us anyway so I took him on the first half. This was a terrible idea.

I always bring him when I train in the park but I never have him on the lead; I couldn't let him off the lead since he'd be a nightmare and would get in the way so he was pulling and dragging everywhere.  Bad, bad times.

It was one of those days where I couldn't get into the zone of where you're at a comfortable pace and don't feel like you're going to die.

Doesn't really matter though, since this is my best time so far.

7 sessions left of 5k training, although I'm thinking I might start week 6 over again. It'll only add another 2 sessions anyway.

Next race is exactly 2 months away. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to run the whole time for that. I think I should be able to.

I also gained 3lbs this week. Lolwhat? Granted, my diet wasn't perfect last week, but I'm pretty sure I didn't eat 10,500 calories of EXTRA FOOD. Meh, whatevs. I'll see what happens next week.

Rubbish

It's just slightly too dark to run right now (I'm not going into a creepy park in the dark on my own, it sounds like the start of your typical horror movie... maybe I'll get over this one day) and I need to get ready for the 2013 Business Show (or whatever the correct title is) so I guess I'm not training today, which I'm kinda bummed about. I keep looking out the window every minute to see if it's getting lighter. It's not.

The good thing is that I'll probably be on my feet for most of the day walking around a big exhibition centre.

I still feel like a lazy whale. True story.

It's still dark.

The charity 5k is on Sunday and if I don't get a session in before then, I'll still have 7 training sessions to go before I complete the programme. Yeahhhh I'm behind. Getting ill really screws up your plans. I've resigned myself to the fact that there's no way I'll be able to run the whole distance or even use it to get my base time, but that's okay (I'm trying to convince myself, but I'm pretty disappointed...)

I'm also supposed to go out drinking on Friday (bad for diet, probably bad for an attempt at running on Sunday) so I have this sneaky plan of ordering lime & soda water when I get drinks. I haven't quite thought about how I'm going to avoid friends buying me drinks, though... I mean, I COULD be straight and say "I've got a 5k on Sunday so I can't get ruined for that"; but I'm pretty I'd get "oh, it's okay, we'll just have one or two drinks" and then the one or two turns into sambuca shots and jagerbombs.

Don't pretend like this doesn't happen to you.

Anyway, I think by the time of the February 5k I'll be good to go. That's just over 2 months away so I've got a while to get better at this running thing (why did I decide to start running?). I plan to keep up training over the Christmas break too. Guilt free Christmas dinner, maybe? I hope so.

The one good thing is that I think I'm doing well on the training programme in comparison to others (and being severely fat, this is a wonderful thing). I stalked the My Fitness Pal forums a while ago and they have a Zombies, Run! 5k training thread. For a while I've been running for longer and further than a few people that have posted their times, so that gives me hope.

Yep, still dark.

I had a really lazy weekend

Pretty much didn't move from my bed, it was great. Didn't run at all, my bad.

Got out this morning even though I didn't want to. Laaaaaazy. It wasn't too bad, I'm finally getting back to improving my pace.

5 min walk warm up, 10 min free from run (jogged all of it), however long for squats & stretches, 5 min walk, 7 min free form run (jogged about 5 mins), 2 min stretch, 7 min free form run (jogged about 6 mins), 2 min stretch, 7 min free form run (jogged about 6 mins).

All in all, not too bad. Pretty good considering 2 months ago I couldn't jog longer than a minute.

Breakfast: latte (shhhh...)
Lunch: tuna & salad
Dinner: salmon & some kind of veg

Gonna attempt to go spinning tonight too. Let's see if that actually happens.

I am really grateful for the NHS

But my god do they take forever sometimes. I waited an hour an a quarter before my appointment this morning. I was veeeeeery bored.

I have my pre-op assessment tomorrow so I have a bunch of forms to fill in, fun times.

Run was achieved this morning. I'm still 36 seconds/km slower than my fastest time. Dunno what's wrong with me. It was good though, I ran for about 1 km without stopping which is the longest distance I've run so far. It's not very long, but still, progress!

The training today was a 5 min walk warm up, 10 minute free form run, squats, walking, squats, 7 min free form run, 2 min stretch, 7 min free form run, 2 min stretch and 7 min free form run. I didn't manage to run any of the full 7 minutes, but when I did run I really pushed myself in short spurts, in the hope that will make me better overall when I try and run for a longer. I dunno, this is all assumption!

Slow, slow, slow

Gaaaaahhhh.

I'm still 36 seconds/km slower than my fastest time. What is going onnnnnn?

Frustrating.

I have a theory. I think that maybe because I haven't been spinning/swimming/body pump-ing in a couple of weeks, it's affecting my running improvement. I dunno, it's just a theory.

Body pump is scheduled for Thursday, spinning for Monday. I'll try and get a swim in at the weekend.

Since I won't have even finished the 5k training by the time of the charity 5k, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna win at it. I have 4/9 sessions left before it... yeah. 5 missing sessions is a lot of practise...

Hopefully I can make it up at the next 5k in February. By then I should be a 5k pro, right? Right?!

I just had a 4 hour nap

Bet you're jealous.

Did 5k training this morning and it was slow. Really slow. As in 40 secs/km slower than my last session, slow.

Oh well, happens sometimes I guess. At least I got out there, right?

Breakfast and lunch was a banana and 2 bagels (traditional style, not the bread-with-a-hole type) with salmon, cream cheese and cucumber. Yeah, TWO, I was real hungry.

I'm making pizza for dinner (on focaccia instead of a pizza base, yummy!) and will probably have some ice cream.

Not the best diet day ever but not horrendous either. Homemade pizza is always going to be better than takeaway pizza (unless I dump the whole bag of cheese on it, then prob not).

Tomorrow is an omelette for lunch and my mum's making tomato & chilli chicken for dinner so that's not too bad. I am making sticky toffee pudding for dessert though, that IS pretty bad.

My diet isn't religiously strict on the no wheat/grains (obviously from the above) but it is during the week. I'm sure it balances. I've never really had an intolerance to bread, unless it's the white bread they make out of paste, so once a week bread probably won't hurt anything. If weight loss doesn't happen or stalls then I know what to look for.

I cleaned my room today too. Wooo, productive. We also took Merlin to the groomer. He smells beautiful so he's allowed on my clean sheets.

On another note, I think I have a small blister on my nipple?! It hurts like a bitch. I assume it's from the boob bouncing while running that happens. Ow, dude, ow.

Just realised that I used parentheses a lot. Oh well, it's my blog. Suck it.

Gonna chill with my dawg and have a lazy one.

Buh-bye!

My legs hurt

Can't quite decide if it's a good or sucky feeling. Maybe a bit of both?

5.57 km done this morning. Distances are creeping up slowly! Good stuff.

Eggs & bacon were had for breakfast. It was yummy. I'm still not the worlds biggest bacon fan, it's one of those foods that I can take or leave.

I'm on my 2nd green tea already, slightly addicted to the mango & lychee flavour. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

Feeling good, but I'm really sleepy today. What I'd do for a nap or some quality time with my bed...

5k training didn't happen today

Boo. I am slightly sad about this, but there's still tomorrow.

I was way too tired. I spent about 15 minutes trying to evaluate whether I was actually too tired or just being lazy. Internal arguments are great.

It was a perfect morning too, which sucks. Although, I'm sure there will be other lovely mornings in my lifetime, so there's that.

Exercise is important but sleep is more important, in my opinion. If you're genuinely tired and do a reasonably tough session, there's no benefit.

Looking forward to a long sleep tonight and training tomorrow.

Bring ittttttttttt.