I got up early enough to hit traffic jams in the Royal Parks – hordes of runners and dog walkers trying to enjoy the beautiful winter sun on the frosty ground.
My original plan was for a short loop of Wimbledon Common followed by a full lap of Richmond Park but I was at the back of a very long queue of Range Rovers so decided to start at RP instead and mix up the route.
My 15k plan required a lap and a bit. I was well aware that the “bit” would require monumental mental strength to complete when my very sole would be pleading with the body to veer off and take the car back home, so I opted to complete this first. I started with the 5k Richmond Park Run route and then repeated last weeks 10k bridle way loop.
It felt so much better than last week, although I’ve just checked the average pace and it was exactly the same pitiful result as last Saturday. Still, I went 5k further and it doesn’t detract from the joy I felt to be out there in the cold, sunny park, surrounded by runners and walkers -athletes every one.
I’m approaching marathon training with all new vigour this week. After a slow and somewhat glum start to the program, which saw me achieving only 20km of a 20 mile weekly target, I have decided to show a little more gumption this week and commit.
Today was scheduled for my mid-week longish run which means a resurrection of the running commute. I wasted a good portion of the day playing with google maps, trying to determine the best tube station to start my run from. Shame I didn’t spend more time examining the details of the route.
It didn’t seem that tricky, just Tooting Bec to X marks the spot but less than a mile from home I managed to get myself horrendously lost, turning right when I should turn left and then again. Looking at the map it seems like such a sharp bend that I can’t understand why I didn’t notice that I’d just doubled back on myself and come back down a parallel street. 
After specialist advice from Carrie, my mates retriever, I broke a new #plankaday record at 74 secs. I even managed to hold off the wailing until after the minute marker so something structural must be happening to my core, either that or the Thai beer with dinner played its part in numbing my core.
Finished off with an uncomfortable rowing set of 3 x1000m.
I haven’t broken any speed records or even come close but I have just completed a torturous 5k on the treadmill, completed my #plankaday and there is still time left in the day to watch 2 episodes of The Biggest Loser. That is surely cause for celebration and the perfect excuse to crack open one of the left over bottles of Xmas fizz.
The cat, pictured, is not in a celebratory mood.
All mouth and no trouser….
Despite wailing, breath holding and more wailing, the all-over body shudder had me collapse in a vainglorious heap after today’s #plankaday attempt. A mere 48 secs to Jogblog’s 62.
Pants!
I headed to the rower with the bitter taste of defeat in my mouth.
Life didn’t get an awful lot better here. I felt like I had a tight band around my chest, crushing me while I rowed. I stopped to stretch and then decided to ignore my impending coronary in order to crack on with the task at hand.
6500 metres later I disembarked or whatever you do with rowers, and discovered that the tight band was actually my heart rate strap that I’d tightened for one of the skinny teenagers we have knocking around the house.
I’m in search of habits – little habits.
I’ve signed up to something called 3 Tiny Habits. I don’t know much about yet as it hasn’t started but I’m guessing that it requires me to develop 3 small habits.
But what to choose?
Daily running aka Janathon, sounds like a major habit. Nail biting sounds simple enough but really what is the point?
I’ve plumped for one sun salutation per morning and then Jogblog came to the rescue by introducing to me to a perfect option: #plankaday. The hash indicating that this is a twitter incarnation, the plank bit suggests there will be pain, but not for very long and the aday part makes it perfect habit material.
Sorted, only one more to find.
I’ve also inadvertently entered into a competition with the said Jogblog and possibly FitArtist if she doesn’t eat too much pizza.
This isn’t my entire Janathon offering though as I actually ran today. I took a trip out to my favourite running haunt and followed the bridle way around Richmond Park to complete a very sedate but satisfactory 10k. I was actually scheduled for a ten-miler but this marathon plan is progressing way faster than my ability to keep up with it.
I also read about running today, which has got to count for something. I’ve started a new book called, rather aptly Run Fat Bitch Run
. I shall quote liberally from the second chapter as I believe it rather succinctly explains my current frustration with running.
You will reach a stage in some runs when everything feels so right that you almost forget you are running. You are running ‘in the zone’ and that is a real pleasure. You will hate some runs from start to finish. What you ENJOY is less the run itself and more what the practice of running is enabling you to do with the rest of your life. The pleasure you really get from running is FROM THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE RUN; that you put your trainers on, braved the outdoors and actually did it, in spite of all the excuses you could think of not to.
So with that accepted, I am happy with a plank and a 10k for today.
