How was your Easter weekend? Mine was fantastic, but it meant that I forgot to blog yesterday- sorry about that! I thought I’d post tonight instead, with a round up of my training from last week.
Monday was WAR. This is such a good way to start my week, I’m really feeling the benefit of the HIIT style tracks and the strength training: my arms and shoulders are stronger than they have ever been and I know the squats and lunges are paying off. I’m pushing hard, and leaving each section shaking and sweating, but I still have work to do, especially with the tricep work. I’m determined to keep building on what we are achieving so far in this session. It’s ace!
On Tuesday I ran a strong four miles in 38:55, which was better than I expected. I was running comfortably and didn’t push too hard, but want to keep the intensity on track which I think I did.
Wednesday was a 5k run to West Loch Tarbert with Jog Scotland. This was at a comfortable talking pace which was perfect after the stronger run the evening before. The run was over before I knew it: I really look forward to my Wednesday night social runs with JogScotland.
PiYo and VeraFlow was off on Thursday due to the Easter break and so I headed out around the village for a walk which was good. I needed the break and so I listened to my body and focussed on active recovery.
Friday was a day of getting organised, but I thought I’d get in some cross training so did 30 minutes on the indoor bike. It will never be my favourite type of exercise, but I understand the benefits and so I have been just getting on with it!
On Saturday we were able to get to Victoria Park ParkRun and I was in two minds about how I’d run with a week to go before the Great Edinburgh Run. I decided to see how I coped with a sub 30 minute 5k and it turned out that it was very comfortable indeed! I was able to chat easily, and I could have easily pushed harder but to know that I can now run sub 30 minutes again shows me how far I’ve come in the past four months, I’ve knocked at least 5 or 6 minutes off my 5k time. I still have a way to go to reach my 5k PB time of 26:11 but I think I *could* have run around 28 minutes 😉 Big thanks to the 30 min pacer- she was absolutely ace!
Easter Sunday was all about family time, but I squeezed in a walk around Glasgow’s West End, in the pouring rain. And then I ate. A lot. We had Mexican food which made a change for our family: for starters I had chicken rice balls, which were like arincini followed by a spicy cod dish served with rice and finished lunch with creme egg cheesecake! Wow, it was awesome! I also had a few margaritas and a few of us had tequila shots…… as you do! Eek! 
Just immediate family for dinner 🙂
After an after party at LADs house (and a couple of gins) we headed off to Ryan’s gig in Merchant City: it was amazing! They were awesome!
On Monday @TheWelshWookie and I had some shopping to do, but when we arrived back in Tarbert we headed out for a lovely walk, soaking up the last of the bank holiday sunshine. We had stopped off at the George Hotel in Inveraray for lunch, which was ace! We definitely over indulged this weekend.
Tonight, I headed out for an easy 5k but ended up with another four miles in the bag, at a pace of 9:22. I didn’t plan that pace, my legs just wanted to run so I went with it 🙂
I know that balance is everything- and I’ve rounded up tonight by eating half of a Lindt teddy. I don’t mind admitting it- it’s the first major chocolate fest since Christmas and I feel a bit sick after it….. not my best idea, but It is all about balance, isn’t it? At least that’s the choccie overload out of the way 🙂
I’m looking forward to getting back on track for the rest of this week, before the Great Edinburgh Run on Sunday.
Here’s a little motivation if you’re struggling after the weekend:
Have a great week!
I cannot believe another week has passed, we’re only a week away from Easter and two weeks away from the Great Edinburgh Run!
I’m feeling inspired today, inspired by those who achieved so much yesterday: my feed was full of smiling faces and bling: with people achieving in Brighton, Paris and elsewhere. Big congratulations to Allison (The Running Princess) and Steve (Running on Espresso) for doing so well in the tough heat of Paris- I’m jealous of both your bling and your post- run refuelling!
I hate to say this out loud, but my training is still on track and going well, which is just brilliant. Here’s my roundup for last week:
Monday: I love WAR and I can really feel the benefit of the strength and endurance training we are doing. I’m pushing hard each week and, I think, reaping the benefits.
Tuesday: Get better soon, Sam, but in the meantime Pound and Zumba is off. But what it meant was I managed to get an extra run in. I did a nice, solid 10k and I was comfortable with my time. I didn’t push myself too hard, and I now feel that my 5k race time would be under 30 minutes and my 10k race time under the hour, the Jog Scotland speedwork is definitely paying off.
Wednesday: we had week two of the new training block at Jog Scotland tonight which was 2×20 minutes. I didn’t stop in between, and we managed to run four miles in total, which was great after my 10k the day before. I still felt strong and comfortable even though I try not to run two days in a row.
Thursday: I had my Thursday Doubler which I love. In PiYo we did the whole round without stopping between tracks too much. We also put together both Flow sections and did the whole Flow on each side, which was tough and challenging. I really love the Power session in this round, which I will miss! We also did an alternative Total Body Fusion which kept the body challenged. We had a new floor track in VeraFlow which was really good: it involved some variations on pigeon and the various deep stretches felt good!
Friday: we had no salsa as it’s off for the Easter break, so I squeezed in some steps in between baking for the Fèis coffee morning.
Saturday: I ran the glen loop and out along the Kilberry road, totalling nine miles. I felt good: I was running comfortably and my pace was fine for a LSR. I had to slow myself down a couple of times, but my pace increased as the run progressed. I also tackled some hills along the way, which were tough but gave me confidence for the Great Edinburgh Run, as I know it is hilly! I felt great, all in all. At one point I was running down a hill, arms outstretched, singing along to my music: I must have looked a sight to the drivers who passed me! 😮
Sunday: I didn’t want to do too much today, as I know I could do with some RnR, so I did a gentle 30 minutes on the indoor bike to get my daily target done for my 5×50 Challenge. I usually find the bike really tough, but today it was ok- probably down to my gentle pace 😉
Classes are winding down a little this week for Easter, but that just means I can focus on the GSR, and making sure I’m ready for it.
Hope this helps if you need a kick start to your week:
This really resonates with me: I hope you like it too. Have a good week.
Hello, did you miss me last week?
I don’t know how I managed it, but I simply forgot to blog last Monday, oops! It completely slipped my mind! It’s not as if I had drifted off track, I’d had a really good week, keeping my activity and targets for my 5×50 Challenge on track, eating well, and keeping busy.
Last week was great, too: I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment.
As the weather was fantastic last Monday, I thought I’d squeeze in a 5k run before WAR. It seemed like a good idea at the time! I ran along the Crinan Canal, past cyclists, walkers and horse riders, it was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then, it was time for WAR, and it was hot, hot, hot! Ten minutes into the class and my run no longer seemed like such a great idea! Anyway, I stuck with it, and worked hard. I’m finding that my upper body strength is increasing, and my shoulders and arms are looking more toned, which is great.
On Tuesday, Pound and Zumba were cancelled, so I decided to dig out the Wii Fit for a change, and got active for an hour or so tackling some fun Wii activities. I was done in no time, and had built up a sweat, too.
Wednesday was the start of a new block of Jog Scotland sessions, and ours was hill repeats. We did a 20 minute run, followed by five repeats of the hill at Big Brae. It was tough, but great, and we ran 5K, including those pesky hills.
I was pack to a double class on Thursday, with PiYo and VeraFlow. I noticed that my flexibility has improved without me realising it: usually, I have to use my hands to lift my leg forward far enough when we ‘step through’ and return to sun salutation, and my feet would get ‘lazy’ the more lunges we’d do by creeping closer to my waist. Not on Thursday, though. Without even trying, I was going these moves correctly, Yay! I still can’t do a half moon well, but that’s next on my list to work on. VeraFlow was, as ever, a lovely wind down for the end of my working week, as I was off on Friday.
We had Salsa on Friday night, which really is as much fun as you’d imagine: it’s a great stress buster, and we’re really beginning to put some moves together, as we learned four new moves this week.
The weather took me by surprise on Saturday: the forecast was for rain, but the sun was splitting the sky, so I headed out for eight miles. I ran well, and felt strong. @TheWelshWookie ran with me for the first 5k, which is the longest he’s done in a while due to injury. I was pleased to see that each mile was faster than the previous one, which shows me that my training really is going to plan. With three weeks until the Great Edinburgh Run, I’m feeling really good about it.
How has your week been? Is your training still on track?
Have a great week!
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