The weather this weekend! It gives me good vibes š OK it was still a bit nippy, and very windy on Saturday but the dark days are behind us!
Friday morning I had one of those gym seshes that just felt AWESOME. I got in some pliĆ© squats, box jumps and scorpions amongst other things. If youāve never done scorpions they are killers ā THIS link is from Runners World and it gives a good demo and also a good list of strength moves.
Rocking the Helly Hansen leggings with my ankle weights ā hot stuff š
Iām still enjoying the gym and maybe itās all in my head but I do feel stronger in my running and in general. Iāll need to think carefully about how much gym I do when I get into higher marathon mileage though. But thatās ages away!
Waking up on Saturday morning and looking out the window to decide what to wear for parkrun made me smile. No jacket required! Long-sleeve top yes, but no double layers. Woohoo! Though I was wrapped up fairly warm for helping the guys set up the course.
Letās not get too optimistic yet. And weāre still on the winter course until the cricket pitch gets drier *sighs*.
8am and the sun is peeping through
My parkrun went well. I put in a good amount of effort but the wind made this feel so much tougher. We run alongside the waterfront for a bit and the wind was just awful. But I felt strong and though I wasnāt that much faster than two weeks ago (my last parkrun effort) Iām starting to feel more confident that Iām going in the right direction. I got 21:57 and first lady (but a many of the speedy girls werenāt there to be fair).
Mentally I feel really good about running at the moment. Iām loving it! Though, as ever, I do feel there is the Sword of Damocles hanging above my head for my next injury but so far Iāve not experience any niggles or issues during or after, bar the usual and normal aches of running. I think I just need to continue thinking positive and keep being sensible.
The rest of Saturday involved looking after (or at least, leaving be) my very hung-over husband who had gone out the night before with work. It was mildly amusing but I did feel bad for him. He remained on the sofa the majority of the day.
For lunch I whipped myself up a stir-fry style meal.
Basically itās a load of veggies (kale being a big contender here) stir-fried in coconut oil with fish from a frozen fish pie mix (random but gives a nice selection of different fish and something I always have in the freezer). I then added a dollop of cream cheese to give it a delicious creamy sauce. All on a bed of courgette noodles (or at least what I can attempt with a vegetable peelerā¦). I donāt think the picture does it justice to how huge this portion was! Got my 5 a day in one meal š
That evening we watched Nightcrawler which was a really uncomfortable watch.
It was really good, donāt get me wrong. Just very intense and I spent most of the movie cringing and shouting at the telly. I do recommend though. Jack Gyllenhallā¦I see you very differently now!
Sunday I got up feeing refreshed and ready to hit the road for a nine mile run. I decided to just run whatever the hell pace I wanted (within reason as I did need to finish the run in one peace and not destroyed). More like, I just wanted to run at a pace that felt comfortable and not pushing.
I didnāt feel totalled at the end of the run which was nice, but I was so thirsty. Quite funny considering my post about hydration last week! I think itās going to be a lot sooner that Iāll need to take water with me. On my last mile I was just visualising a cold glass of water. When I got home I quickly downed about 500ml. It wasnāt a pleasant experience as it hit my stomach quite badly and I felt quite sick (that sloshy full sicky feeling). Too much water too quickly ā lesson learnt!
On the subject of long runs, one of my running club friends, Michelle, pointed me to an article (HERE from the Guardian) regarding long run paces when training for a marathon which I found highly interesting. It made me wonder how much Iāll slow down for my longer runs. I will slow down, but not dramatically for the 10-15 mile runs as I know Iām confident in those distances. Itāll be the 16+ runs where I take it nice and gradualā¦but then Iām hoping by the time I get there Iāll be naturally faster anyway? Well, itās all a guessing game for me and whether I even do an 18 mile run is a bit of a question mark anyway!
The rest of the day involved the usual: lots of walks with Alfie, housework, seeing my mum and just general chilling! Lovely š
How was your weekend?
What pace do you run for your long runs relative to your shorter runs?
What movies have you seen lately?