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Run and Bike October - Day 18-19

Yesterday all my training came together. Sort of.

My boyfriend decided to take me on a never ending bicycle ride around our local forest. The paths were thick with mud so I spent half the time slogging through the stuff and getting spattered head to toe by it. The other half the time I was negotiating the gravelly/sandy/muddy hills of the forest so either in agony as I powered my bike up the hill, or freewheeling down it crouched low to get the maximum amount of speed and taking great gasping breaths of air as I tried to stop myself having a heart attack. In the end it turned out we had only done 20km in the 1.5 hours of the ride.

After finishing it was straight out for a run. I did 5k, averaging about a 6.1 min/km and the whole time my body was in agony and I just wanted to stop. I ran through the posh golf course that is behind our estate and got the strangest looks from the shiny pink and argyle clad retirees that where arriving to do a round. Turns out this is because I looked like a mud monster; which I only realised when I got home. With my boyfriend setting a punishing pace and egging me to take the long route, I managed to run for over half an hour and do almost 5.5k. Score!

Of course now I am in pain... and I still don't know how I'm going to manage to do two 5k runs in two short weeks.

• Bike: 1hr 28 mins, 20k
• Run: 33 mins, 5.4k, 6.1 min/km

Run and Bike October - Day 16

I've been a bit lazy these last few days. Oopsy. But back on it today with a 45 min bike and 30 min run at lunchtime.

• The Bike - 17.6m in 44 min (25km/hr)
• The Run - 4km in 28 mins (7.1 min/km) - intervals with incline

I had another google session today after playing around with my running style. I mostly try to keep my stride rate quick and land on my toes. I do find this takes more effort than my natural style of hitting with my heel and then rolling forward, but it does seem to be very beneficial in reducing or even preventing the pain in my knee and ankle.

I did google it but the advice I found was bit annoying. apparently you should aim to land midsole, but not run loudly and flat footed. I can't figure out how that is possible unless you have very flexible shoes, Shall attempt this next time without sounding like a charging elephant.

Run and Bike October - Day 13

Today I did my least favourite type of workout... slogging it out on the gym machines for over an hour doing mind-numbing cardio i.e. duathlon training.

I had to do the long run and bike ride I'd planned to do at the weekend; 15m indoor bike (or a 15km bike ride over rough ground outside) and a 4km or 5km run. Unfortunately it was absolutely bucketing it down so even the 1.5hr gym slog was more attractive than getting soaked through for a couple of hours.

In the end I just programmed in 1 hour for the bike and 30 min for the run. In order to prevent myself from dying of boredom I used the interval training programmes, and also mainlined Ben Greenfield podcasts.

My knee and ankle were complaining a lot afterward. How on earth am I going to manage doing double that in a few weeks? Eek.

• The Bike - 15.6m in 1 hour (25km/hr)
• The Run - 4km in 30 mins (7.3 min/km) - intervals with incline

Everything felt better when I got home and discovered that my boyfriend had cooked me an amazing meal; quinoa pasta with a creamy sauce, chicken wrapped in bacon and a garlic stuffed mushroom. Nom nom.

I'm going to rest up tomorrow, and do a short recovery run on Wednesday. Thurs a.m. I've booked my first spin class at silly o'clock in the morning.

Run and Bike October - Day 10 - 12

On Friday I did my first proper bike ride (vs stationary bike in the gym). Boy, it was hard. I took a ride to our local mountain biking centre which is very hilly and off-roady (is that a word?). I was not fast (although I forgot my helmet and had to double back and do some faffing).

The Bike

• Distance: 10.37 km 
• Time: 42 min 
• Av Speed: 14.7 km/hr

The Run

• Distance: 3.2 km 
• Time: 19.3 min 
• Av Pace: 6.11 min/km

Saturday I did a body conditioning class; I'm keen to keep up the resistance training with my current focus on Cardio. 

Last night I went out in the evening for a posh meal and drank too much wine, which meant I spent most of the day today wrapped up in a duvet rather than doing the long bike and run I had planned. Oopsy. Now I'll have to try to squeeze in a 2 hour workout tomorrow!

Ideas for New Challenges

After a day of barely moving from my bed, I'm feeling a lot better and even caught up on my training with a nice, easy recovery session during lunch.

I'm obviously back on the keen streak because I'm already thinking of ideas for things I can do next month even though I'm only 1-and-a-bit weeks into my current challenge.

Ideas for challenges:

Fitness Challenges

• Crossfit Month. I have very mixed feelings about crossfit. On the pro side, it looks as though it is a good way to push through to a new level of fitness, and appears to have a good community feel. On the con side, my feel from reading articles of it online that it is a little culty and may be a bit over the top on the competitive side of things. Overall I'd like to try it before I make a judgement! There is a box 5 miles down the road from me.
• Kettlebell classes. I haven't really used kettlebells in workouts, but they intrigue me as a good way to keep fit. My boyfriend attended local classes that he thought were great. They are apparently a little pricey, but the quality of the classes are superb, and that is what counts. I'd be keen to learn the art of the kettlebell workout from the experts.
• 30 Days of Yoga. I've tried and failed this many times; it's difficult to make myself do yoga every day. Perhaps blogging about it will help me be consistent, and I could have a pose each week that I want to work on to keep focus.
• A mile a day. Now I'm getting into the running, I'm entertaining the idea of doing a running challenge. Maybe 2 in a row is a bit keen though. Maybe I'll save this one for December because running is one of those things you can do wherever you are.

Wellbeing Challenges

• Meditation Month. This is more a general wellbeing challenge. I'm rubbish at meditating, and I don't do it enough. Maybe having a challenge on it will inspire me to practice and make it part of my routine.

Diet Challenges

• Gluten Free Month. Gluten intolerance is something that runs in the family, I've flirted with a gluten free diet, but would be keen to go full out for a month to experiment with gluten free options, and see if gluten really is something I have a sensitivity to.

I'm excited to try some of these over the next few months!

Run and Bike October - Day 9

So I'm totally off track from my original training plan... it was just too complicated and hard to remember.... but that's cool!

My new thing is to try to do something every other day, with a hard (long distance) session, then a break, then an easy (short) recovery session, then a break, then a medium length session (maybe with some intervals), then a break, then back to the beginning.

My training today was another brick session, but a short, recovery session after the all out effort on Monday. I'll look to do another session tomorrow that is longer and containing some interval training. Perhaps I'll even get out on my bike!

The Bike

• Distance: 5.4 km 
• Time: 13 min 
• Av Speed: 25 km/hr or 2.4 min/mile 

The Run

• Distance: 1.6 km 
• Time: 10 min 
• Av Pace: 6.4 min/km or 9.3 km/hr

Under the weather

Today I feel pretty darn rubbish.

My whole body (and head) felt as though it was swelling throughout the day until everything just suddenly went blah and I had to drive home and get in bed.

I feel even worse now.

Guess my training tomorrow is not going to happen... did I overdo it?! Hmm.

Dieting whilst training for an event: Is it a good idea?

I'm only a week into my training for a marathon and I've noticed a bit of weight creep.

I think there's a few reasons for this; firstly it's around my birthday. I've had a few night out, and now I'm not on my 2WWB I've started having the odd drink so some of that tee-total weight loss has come racing back on. I've also done the odd bit of birthday baking. I do notice that carbs are my weakness in two ways; once I 'pop' I can stop, and it feels as though the whenever I indulge I notice an increase on the scales. This probably means I should ditch the flour and cupcake cases altogether.

But is having carb treats such a bad thing? I'm doing a lot of cardio so my muscle glycogen is probably pretty depleted. If I haven't kept it topped up then the carb scoffage most certainly has, and each gram of glycogen is bound to 3-4 gram of water. If it's water, then why am I so worked up?

I think the answer is balance. Although I ran and biked for an hour today, I only burned around 500 cals, which is the equivalent of one of those delicious butternut squash muffins (thanks Jamie Oliver), not three (oopsy). If I want to maintain my current weight I'll need to stop overcompensating or over-rewarding myself in the kitchen.

I've decided I'm going to allow myself those naughty treats, but only as much as I burned. That way I can learn the hidden cost of those treats I merrily snarf.

On the plus side, although my body weight is increasing, the scales are telling me it's my lean weight increasing, my body fat is actually decreasing very slightly. Not sure how much I trust the body fat calculator in my scales though...!

Run and Bike October - Day 6

Today I did the training session I had planned to do Sunday, but couldn't manage due to the general exhaustion caused by my run and over 2 hours of dancing like a mad woman on my birthday night out.

It was peeing down with rain, so I got myself down to my work gym at lunchtime for a brick session (which means doing 2 or more disciplines in the same workout).I did a bit of research and for your first brick session you shouldn't overdo it, so I reduced the distance I planned to run to only 2 km; just so I'd get a feel without injuring myself or experiencing an embarrassing treadmill incident.

Buuut it all went wrong when I got to the gym...