Tearing up the plan...

(alternative title - The day I learned how to use the snipping tool) 

You may have detected a sense of despondency in last week's blog, and you'd be right. Having a plan can be great in terms of obtaining some sort of idea of what you should be doing and how you should be progressing, but, for me at least, failing the plan would put me an instant downer. And failing the first or second running set would effectively ruin the rest of the run for me. And when it boils down to it - this is meant to be fun!

Look everyone - I can use the snipping tool! (thanks Scott)

So, not really being able to face a repeat of week 3, I dispensed with the plan and went free-styley. I'm not saying it wasn't still frustrating, but at least it wasn't quite so demoralising.

WEEK 4

Monday 29 July (evening)

16m 45s (not inc. chippy stop). 1.49 miles. Avg speed 5.33 mph. Avg pace 11:15 min/mile

120r / 90w / 100r / 90w / 150r / 60w / 80r / 60w / 40r / 165 rest / 50r / 124w / 40r

guaranteed to protect against lightning strikes*
*probably not

Having for once made it home from work by a whole two minutes before the threatened downpour started, it was probably the definition of insanity to immediately get changed and head back out into what was by now torrential rain, thunder and lightning. So as I adorned myself in my full wet weather kit I consoled myself with the decision to incorporate into the run a visit to the chip shop.

So, armed with a tenner and the hope that running through a wood I'd have to be really unlucky to actually be next to any tree that was struck by lightning, I headed out with the plan to just run for as long as I could and walk when necessary.

The first 2-minute set got me a fair way to Morris Wood. The run through the wood was surprisingly muddy and great fun, with a brief pit stop to move the tenner from my jacket to my leggings pocket (whether it's not really all that waterproof, or whether it just seals the sweat in, I don't know, but the tenner was looking a little damp by this point). By the time I emerged from the wood the thunder had stopped and the rain had eased off significantly, and by the time I'd run/walked my way to the chippy the sun was out and looking lovely.

Post-storm

After a brief respite whilst my chip butty was expertly served up by the lovely man who kindly put my change into a coin bag to save it getting wet (wish I'd thought of that), I set off running home, but quickly stopped once I got to the york-paved slope behind St Stephens church. In case you haven't tried it, rain-slicked york paving, particularly that overhung by trees, is on the same slipperiness level as black ice with a topping of WD40 to boot. So realising it would be difficult to eat my butty without my front teeth, I walked it.

Pre-run I had some ankle pain and felt a bit headachey but both of these went off fairly early into the run. I don't know if running further in the first set had an effect but I didn't feel as good running the subsequent sets.

Lessons learned - if you are short-sighted and are going for a run through a dimly-lit wood in the middle of a storm, wearing your contact lenses is probably a good idea.

Following day damage - just the usual sore calves.

Wednesday 31 July (evening)

20:08 mins. 1.63 miles. Avg speed 4.85 mph. Avg pace 12:23 min.mile

142r / 150w / 242r / 150w / 131r / 190w / 33r (up Norman Mount) / 115w / 16r (up Morris Mount) / 39w

I don't know if getting a soaking on the way home in order to dry off just to go out and get another soaking is more or less insane than Monday's scenario, but that's what I did anyway.

Living on the side of a hill that seems to slope in several directions at once means that whatever direction I go from home I'm running either up or downhill before I get to anywhere flat. I tell myself that I walk the first couple of streets as part of a warm up, but basically I'm just trying to avoid running the first hill. Unfortunately, once I get to the flat, it's only a matter of a minute before a slight uphill gradient starts again so although this time I made it running all the way to the wood I was knackered by the time I got there and spent most of my stint through the wood walking, but it was still muddy enough to be enjoyable and walking gave me the opportunity to recce a new path. Although the first running set felt hard, the second felt much better and I felt quite happy to manage four minutes. Still feels very much like my calves are doing all the work though...

I finished the run with sprints up Norman and Morris Mounts, which was fun, but slightly vomit-inducing. 

Friday 2 August (evening)

3.43 miles. Now I don't want to cast blame here, but you'd think the person with the fancy GPS watch would remember to turn it on...

Imagine my surprise that my favourite runner, Scott (I have to say that, he's the only person that reads this), required MY help with HIS running! As it turns out, now he's got a little gap between races he is transitioning into barefoot trainers, meaning he needs some very short, slow runs - making me the ideal pacer, hmmmm.

Despite my attempts to convince him I could really slow him down if he just pulled me along on roller skates, he was having none of it, so it was with a sense of trepidation on my behalf that we headed off to Otley Chevin for my first accompanied, and proper off-road run, and possibly Scott's slowest run ever.....

Our route round the Chevin
(I wouldn't dream of mentioning that there's no timing for this)

As it turned out it was Scott that was having to slow me down (my previous training appears to be more suitable for the 10 metre dash than any sort of distance running), with instructions to slow down, pick up my feet, remain bouncy, and try to find something that vaguely resembles a breathing rhythm, despite not having any measured times (ahem, Timekeeper), I'm pretty sure I did manage more running than I normally would, and miraculously we were about two-and-a-half miles in (I hasten to add that I hadn't run all that distance) before I realised I had no pain in my calves. Of course, approximately 10 metres after I realised this, I did start to experience some calf and achilles pain :/  But considering the distance I finished feeling better than a lot of my runs and it was great fun to have a running companion/coach, and I feel newly motivated and once again hopeful that I am going to get there eventually :)

New mantra - bouncy bouncy, horsey horsey, SLOW DOWN.

Following day damage - nothing! My calves feel better than they have since I started running again.

Sunday saw me finishing the week as race support as Scott grunted his way to the finish line of the Jane Tomlinson York 10k (in a very admirable to me 40:08 mins). And despite my phobia of crowds, early-morning starts, humiliation, and the lack of available toilet facilities, the idea of signing up to a 10k is starting to look slightly less horrific......

Scott determined to beat the rush to the free massage tables