Saturday, January 17, 2009
Weekend Thoughts!
The weeks seem to fly by! It won't be long before a certain frolic in the desert is upon us...
I have had a productive week this week- after Tuesday's speedy 6 miler I followed it up with a gym session Wednesday and forced myself to do the most boring of my suggested sessions... the 3 mile run at 2% incline. This seems absolutely interminable, there's nothing worse than watching the tenth miles tick off slo-o-owly... I am supposed to do this at 5 mph but would quite frankly be there all sodding night, so tend to cheat a little and up the pace to 5.3 mph, 5.5 mph and some faster (short!) bursts at 6 mph and 6.3 mph. I did my usual core work and finished up with 10 hard minutes on the stepper.
I have my program review tomorrow at 6pm which should be interesting!
I had tea with mum and stepdad Thursday, and we watched the MdS documentary which had been on a few nights before. My mum couldn't watch the blister treatment bits (and there were lots!) and said "Did you know what it would be like when you entered?" (Yes!!)
She did ring me the next day to say she thinks I will be ok as I am determined!
I did the hill run Friday, with a bit of a twist in that when I reached the top of the last, and worst, hill, I walked down the other side and ran back up for another steep ascent.
I have decided to try two shortish back to back walks this weekend, with a heavyish (8 Kg) pack, as I haven't really done this... I put two walks together from my book of short walks; the first was an 8 miler from Lowdham to Epperstone, Woodborough and back to Lowdham. I'd done some of the route before, on a longer walk, but some of the tracks (bridleways) were glutinous mud so I was cursing rather loudly. The later part was good though, down good tracks; it was sunny and I was having a chat to my cousin's husband on the mobile, as my cousin has just undergone a back operation (she's recovering well). I had a few slow shambling jogs when it wasn't too muddy- mostly downhill!
I finished at 2pm so headed off to Caythorpe Village just down the road, for a 4 1/2 miler. I have been here before- for the Millenium 10k. It's quite a pretty village, and I jogged most of the way through fields and tracks to Gunthorpe, where I joined the River Trent. I had to find a footpath from the river through fields back to the road, and with sinking heart realised that the first field contained bulls with rather large horns and rings through their noses... I saw a runner coming up behind so mentally decided to sacrifive him if needed, but they didn't turn a bovine hair.
I reached the road and started walking back to the car, but decided to detour off on another footpath to make the distance up to 13 1/2 miles (plus I needed a wee and the footpath had been a little exposed!)
It was cloudy when I got back, and quite windy so I was glad of my flask of coffee. I am not sure where I will go tomorrow yet, but it will be a similar distance and no doubt just as muddy.
Oh, yeah- I have paid the final installment for the MdS- so no backing out now...
I have had a productive week this week- after Tuesday's speedy 6 miler I followed it up with a gym session Wednesday and forced myself to do the most boring of my suggested sessions... the 3 mile run at 2% incline. This seems absolutely interminable, there's nothing worse than watching the tenth miles tick off slo-o-owly... I am supposed to do this at 5 mph but would quite frankly be there all sodding night, so tend to cheat a little and up the pace to 5.3 mph, 5.5 mph and some faster (short!) bursts at 6 mph and 6.3 mph. I did my usual core work and finished up with 10 hard minutes on the stepper.
I have my program review tomorrow at 6pm which should be interesting!
I had tea with mum and stepdad Thursday, and we watched the MdS documentary which had been on a few nights before. My mum couldn't watch the blister treatment bits (and there were lots!) and said "Did you know what it would be like when you entered?" (Yes!!)
She did ring me the next day to say she thinks I will be ok as I am determined!
I did the hill run Friday, with a bit of a twist in that when I reached the top of the last, and worst, hill, I walked down the other side and ran back up for another steep ascent.
I have decided to try two shortish back to back walks this weekend, with a heavyish (8 Kg) pack, as I haven't really done this... I put two walks together from my book of short walks; the first was an 8 miler from Lowdham to Epperstone, Woodborough and back to Lowdham. I'd done some of the route before, on a longer walk, but some of the tracks (bridleways) were glutinous mud so I was cursing rather loudly. The later part was good though, down good tracks; it was sunny and I was having a chat to my cousin's husband on the mobile, as my cousin has just undergone a back operation (she's recovering well). I had a few slow shambling jogs when it wasn't too muddy- mostly downhill!
I finished at 2pm so headed off to Caythorpe Village just down the road, for a 4 1/2 miler. I have been here before- for the Millenium 10k. It's quite a pretty village, and I jogged most of the way through fields and tracks to Gunthorpe, where I joined the River Trent. I had to find a footpath from the river through fields back to the road, and with sinking heart realised that the first field contained bulls with rather large horns and rings through their noses... I saw a runner coming up behind so mentally decided to sacrifive him if needed, but they didn't turn a bovine hair.
I reached the road and started walking back to the car, but decided to detour off on another footpath to make the distance up to 13 1/2 miles (plus I needed a wee and the footpath had been a little exposed!)
It was cloudy when I got back, and quite windy so I was glad of my flask of coffee. I am not sure where I will go tomorrow yet, but it will be a similar distance and no doubt just as muddy.
Oh, yeah- I have paid the final installment for the MdS- so no backing out now...
Labels: gym, Marathon des Sables, MdS, walking
