Juneathon days 7,8 & 9 - no more marginal thinking

I've been on the treadmill the last three days, due primarily to the completely bonkers weather. I know lots of people (proper runners) really like running in the rain but it doesn't do anything for me. I was also a little disheartened by how hard my last outdoor run felt so was happy to spend a few days building up distance on the treadmill.

When I first ran on the treadmill early last week I was labouring under the misconception that it was measuring distance in miles, but I've realised now that this (sadly) can't be right, otherwise I'd be running the fastest miles of my life with pretty much no training (except sitting on the sofa and eating donuts). So, clearly it must be KPH which means I have a way to go until I am back up near my personal best.

10 years ago I used to be able to run 5k in 30 minutes relatively easily, and my 10k PB was just under an hour, so a standard pace of around 6 minutes per k. I'm quite a way off that now, averaging 7.5 mins per k. Yesterday I turned the treadmill up to a 6 minute per k pace just to see what would happen. I kept it up for about 4 minutes but it felt insanely fast and crazy to think that it was ever a comfortable pace for me. Still, I guess it's unrealistic to expect to do no training for months and then suddenly be match fit after a week of exercise.

On the plus side I am delighted to have stuck with Juneathon so far - this is literally the only time in my life that I have ever managed an exercise streak of more than three days. That we're 9 days in and I'm still with the programme feels amazing. I think it's actually easier to stick with something that requires action every day than it is to stick to a regime of three times a week or whatever. With every day there's no question about whether you're supposed to be doing something or not - you are! With three times a week it's far too easy to put off till tomorrow, and then tomorrow again, and then before you know it you're out of the habit. Interestingly, I've just read a piece in the Guardian magazine which makes pretty much exactly the same point - apparently it's all to do with marginal thinking. Check it out here if you are interested.

Juneathon day 6 - not wonder woman after all

After feeling pretty much invincible the last couple of days it was back down to earth with a bump today - just struggled round a fairly lumbering two miles in 22.22 minutes, including a minute's walking. Perhaps the fact I've done more exercise in the last week than in the last six months added together is starting to catch up with me because today's run felt really, really hard. I don't think I was quite in the right place mentally either as I hummed and hawed for ages over whether to go outside or stick on the treadmill. Then, having finally decided to bite the bullet and go outside, it started raining cats and dogs (at the furthest point from home, naturally!). On top of that I managed to pick one of those freakish routes which seems to be uphill both there and back. Still, I'm glad I did it and hopefully I'll be feeling a bit perkier tomorrow.

Juneathon days 4&5 - upping the anti

No blog yesterday - tut tut - so today's post covers yesterday too. After my triumphant 30 minutes continuous treadmill running on day 3 I decided on day 4 to try and repeat the feat outside. I ran (with boyfriend as moral support) the 3 mile loop previously run on day 2 in intervals of 5 minutes running / 1 minute walking and I fully expecting to have to stop and walk at least some of the way, however actually managed to do the whole thing without stopping at all (not even for crossing the road - it was one of those dream runs where all the traffic lights were in our favour, no need for jogging on the spot by the side of the road). It took just under 35 minutes.

I'm amazed by this - I thought that a six month gap between runs would have put me pretty much back to zero running ability but it seems that I have lost relatively little running power in my months of sitting on the sofa.  Once again it didn't feel too hard, I could converse all the way around and probably could've kept going at least another mile. Bearing in mind the endurance nature of Juneathon, I don't want to push myself too hard and knacker my knees early on (bad knees have scupper previous bouts running enthusiasm) but I must admit I'm curious to test the limits of my running powers a little.

Today it's been raining on and off pretty much all day and, whilst I've been caught in the rain showers when out running, I have never knowingly set off for a run in the rain so it's been back to the treadmill. For the sake of variety I decided to go for a shorter distance but faster speed, so have just run a fixed distance of 2 miles in 16.22 minutes. I plan to do this 2 mile time trial every so often just to see if I'm getting any faster. In my running days 10 years ago I could run 6 miles in under an hour so am keen to see if I can get back to this pace. Not far off it today but certainly couldn't have kept that pace up for very much longer! All in good time I guess...

I have also learnt that the audio book of Amanda Vickery's Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England is very interesting but not super motivating from a running point of view. Back to the Fratellis next time.

 

Juneathon day 3 - moving indoors

I was very doubtful about whether I would be able to muster up enough motivation for today's run, given that every muscle in my body aches from the last two days of exertion, combined with the foul weather. However the social aspect of Juneathon provided the mental arse kick needed to get my trainers on and I dealt with the weather issue by running indoors.

Last year, in the middle of my last spurt of running, I bought a treadmill in anticipation of winter weather and dark evenings when I might not feel like running outdoors. As it transpired I dealt with not wanting to run outdoors in the dark or winter weather by not running full stop, and the treadmill has sat in our conservatory since functioning as a very high spec clothes airer / plant pot stand. My boyfriend uses it for its intended purpose from time to time but I have only been on it once before today. 

Due to my sore legs I decided to take it gently and set a goal of 15 minutes continuous running, but once I got going I found it much easier than I expected and ended up covering 3 of the treadmill's mysterious measurement units in 28.56 minutes. I'm assuming it's miles since a 10 minute mile is my normal pace but nowhere on the machine does it actually tell you if it's miles or kilometres. Note to the treadmill people - this is important information!

I found it really interesting how much easier it was to run on the treadmill than to run outside. The last two days I've been running 5 minute intervals with 1 minute in between and, whilst that hasn't felt super-hard, it certainly hasn't felt easy or like I could do much longer intervals without rest. On the treadmill, on the other hand, I found running continuously for 30 minutes to be pretty easy and could certainly have carried on longer, had I not been in charge of ordering tonight's Chinese takeway.

So, I have found this super-motivating in a couple of ways - firstly, that I actually ran at all since I really didn't feel like it, and secondly that I can clearly do more than I thought I could. One further interesting thing I have learnt is that a 10 minute mile pace is exactly the beat of Chelsea Dagger by the Fratellis. Good to know.

Juneathon day 2 - still not dead!

Managed just over 5k in 40 mins today, in 5 minute bursts with 1 minute walking in between each one. Although I'm not very fast I'm still happy to be covering this distance. However as the month goes on I do hope to get faster - I used to be able to 5k in under 30 minutes so there's a way to go yet. The actual running itself didn't feel particularly hard today either - I could've gone for longer, or with fewer walking minutes - however a few hours after I ran I can really feel my legs and I have aches in bits of me I'm not aware that I actually use when I'm running, so I'm a bit nervous of how I'm going to feel about running tomorrow (particularly given a forecast of rain all day and the lure of a day-long street party). We shall see.

Juneathon

I'm an intermittent runner. I'd like to do it more regularly, I love the feeling of being able to run and the feeling of having been for a run. I just don't like the feeling of actually running. However, of all the things I've ever tried to do in order to be fitter / lose weight etc running has worked by far the best. About 10 years ago I ran pretty regularly and was able to cover around 10k distance fairly easily. Then I stopped, the habit was lost and I resumed a life of inactivity. Last summer I got a random spurt of motivation and started up again - got to about 7k and then stopped for no good reason. In January this year I set a goal of being about to run half marathon distance by August but have only been for one run since. Oh dear.

Desperate times call for desperate measures so with that in mind I've signed up for Juneathon. It's a public commitment to run every day during June and blog about it (by coincidence blogging regularly was another one of my new year's resolutions as yet unachieved... two birds, one stone...).

Day one - so far so good...

So...one day down, twenty nine to go. This is the first time I have run in about six months so I was expecting it to be much harder than it actually turned out to be. More of a trot than a run, and with a few 60 second walks thrown in, but I still managed to cover 4.7k in 35 minutes without too much trouble. The run also ended with an epic Rocky-style run up a really long bridge which I was sure would kill me but didn't. Verdict on day one - yay! Now let's see how I feel tomorrow...