I can't accept that I'm ill

It's been coming for a few days now, but this morning I woke up to find my body was trying to tell me that I'm ill.  I ignored it, and went for a run anyway, and actually got on pretty well.  I got up to a decent pace, stopped sneezing for the duration, although my nose was still streaming, but as I'm perfectly capable of breathing through my mouth I got on ok ;)

A couple of hours later though, I'm starting to feel really quite awful.  This is not good!

After a lazy Christmas, I just can not afford to have any more time off from training.  I'm sensible enough to know that if the virus or whatever it is i've got moves to my lungs then I have to have a break, but unless it gets to that, I have to just keep going and make sure every session counts in case I do get really ill. I had bronchitis a month before my last marathon attempt and sure that's partially to blame for my terrible time.  I do hope it doesn't happen again - the London marathon is in 100 days!

Need a treadmill?

I'm selling my Weslo Cadence M5 electric, fold-up treadmill on ebay. I haven't used it for a year because I'd rather run outside but it works well and would be a bargain if you like the comfort of running inside while you watch the TV.  It's collection only from Billericay, UK and the auction ends on 9th January at 17:20 GMT.

Click here to see my auction listing on ebay

Do the gadgets really make me a better runner?

Until this summer,  I didn't have a GPS watch and quite literally just ran a certain distance and then ran home again when I was training for my first two marathons.  It was all a bit haphazard, and although I did the tiniest bit of fartlek, 'cause I've always quite enjoyed that, the benefits of interval training, tempo runs, and making such my long run was at the right pace were all an absolute mystery to me.

However, this summer, I bought myself a Garmin 405 on the recommendation from a fellow runner from Twitter.  I fell in love.  I'm sure this little gadget improved my running pretty much overnight and in the races that I have done, I think I owe my improved times (in part) to having that constant reminder that I'm not going fast enough.  My problem, you see, is that I'm very lazy, and so easily slow down to a jog without really realising that my pace has evaporated - with my watch on, I keep an eye on my pace, and manage my runs much more effectively.  Added to that of course is the very convenient distance tracker, and being able to study your run when you get home again, but that, for me, is an incidental bonus.

On my first three runs of this year though, I have run without my watch.  I wanted to ease back into my running after I (almost accidentally) took a couple of weeks off over Christmas, and so thought I'd just get out there and run.  No iPod either which I pretty much always take out with me too. Just me...

But now I'm a bit confused.

My Garmin is frustrating as well as amazing.  I have to keep recharging the battery pretty much every evening.  I have to take my gloves off to operate the touch sensitive bezel.  I have to keep looking at my wrist every two minutes when I'm wearing it to check my pace and it keeps me, if not 100%, then 90% focussed on the task in hand.

This morning on my run something happened that I've not experienced before.  I was running up a pretty challenging hill, that usually causes me to take a rest at the top, in a dilapidated bus shelter that's very conveniently placed.  As I got near to the top and could see the shelter, I was thinking, as I usually do:
"....keep going, just a couple of hundred yards, and I'll be done...just a minute more...keep going, it's not that painful, just up to the top...keep going, and then I can stop.  Keep going, and then you can stop....."

And on I ran.  Then I started thinking of something else, and my mind wandered.  I was thinking about work and completely forgot what I was doing -  when I came to again...I was half way down the other side of the hill! I didn't need to stop after all, despite the fact that pretty much every time I run this route, I think I absolutely couldn't put another step further without a rest.

So, without the running aids, and the constant focus on the run itself, I actually became unaware of the pain and the effort - I think I should start running a bit more often without the gadgets.  That must just be what I need to keep going!

Back to proper training

Well we're four days into the new year, and I'm back on the wagon and in the right frame of mind for training, as well as back to work for the first time since 23rd December.

I'll admit the alarm going off at 5.30am this morning was a bit of a shock to the system, and getting out of bed was a mammoth effort...and going out in the cold and dark for my run wasn't that much fun....but I am pleased  to have completed my second run of the year, albeit not as quickly as I would have run before Christmas...and feel that the cobwebs have been blown away.  I have stiffened up a lot over the last couple of weeks though, and this morning I could barely touch my toes!

We recently got a yoga programme for our Wii and I think that it might be worth giving it ago - I've always been pretty sceptical about doing yoga or pilates, but think that if I'm really going to change my body shape (be able to touch the floor with the palms of my hands and protect myself from injury) it's worth giving it a try and think when I get home I'm going to do just that - before you know it, I'll be able to get my feet behind my head too! ;)

Anyhoo, after four weeks of carb, fat, sugar and alcohol overload, I'm looking forward to drinking lots of water today, having a salad for lunch, yoga this evening and running again tomorrow.  Just over 100 days until the marathon!

Must stop eating like I'm a waste disposal machine!

December is always a bad month for my diet and my figure but I think this year I've really outdone myself.

On 5th December, I weighed 161lbs - today I am 169.8lbs!  That's an absolutely obscene increase in a month, and I really am quite appalled with myself, but what did I expect?! Scoffing mince pies, chocolate and unheard of quantities of cheese every day throughout December has resulted in me putting on 8 pounds since the beginning of the month and now I feel (and look) in very bad shape!

Today is where I reign myself in, and start to eat like a runner - I'm determined not to go on a diet, but I am gonna to start fuelling my body, rather than using it like a waste disposal machine.  I'm running marathons in April and May, and without eating properly I'm not giving myself the best chance to achieve what I know I can.

I'm just about to head out for my first run of 2011 - I'd better make sure it's a hard one!