Sunday, 3 February 2013

One month until Paris!


This week’s training: 25 miles, Body Pump, Spin, Circuits

This week I’m starting to feel stronger. I’m enjoying running club more and more, meeting new people, sharing stories and pushing harder. I’ve ordered some iron on letters to personalise my running vest and I’ve been getting emotional thinking about the marathon, particularly the realisation that no matter what time I finish in, it will be a personal best. I’m starting to think I could set a new half marathon PB in Paris too!

No long-term aches or niggles after the Iceman event on Saturday however the lack of aches is likely due to my non-existent glute strength which is probably leading to an imbalance elsewhere. It’s not causing me any noticeable problems at the moment (unless you count my inability to run hills) but it probably will soon so I need address this. Even after my Body Pump class on Monday, which was followed by a 1-2-1 weights session in the gym, I didn’t have any aches in my glutes!

On Tuesday this week I had an appointment at Woking Running School for a free half hour technique analysis session. I’d registered my interest at the running show and promptly forgot about the whole thing but eventually got a date in the diary. After a short chat about my running and injury history I was filmed running on a treadmill from the side and behind. The clips were then reviewed with me and some basic advice given. I learnt that my arm movement is pretty good but that my pelvis tilts from side to side when I run due to those pesky glutes so my feet cross over. If I were to bring my heels up into a more circular motion (rather than the current elliptical one) and strike the ground with my landing foot more underneath me then it’s likely I could run for longer without getting tired as I’d be working more efficiently. So it’s clear I need to work on that glute strength and perhaps think about my heels more. The school offers 6 and 8 week courses from £260 but I just don’t see it making a difference in the time available to me so although it would suit others it’s not for me right now.

My miles this week were made up of 9 tempo miles with the club on Wednesday including running to the clubhouse (which is further away than I thought. Thank you to the lovely lady who gave me a lift home!), 3 miles running to and from my circuits class and a long run of 13 miles near my parents. I tried a different route as the last time I ran there it was all a bit grey and urban so I mapped out a smaller loop going South instead of North and included more laps of the park. More repetitive but more pleasant in terms of scenery, my trainers seemed good and it was one of the strongest, most enjoyable runs yet!
Thursday’s spin class was an experience! I’ve not done one of these in a long time so I didn’t push very hard, I was just getting a feel for it and oddly I’d no idea how long the class was meant to be. Turns out just half an hour but that’s a continuous half an hour of pedalling. Those bike seats HURT! I felt bruised for two days! I’d almost run to class but I’m glad I didn’t. The instructor was a real dish though so I guess that’s some compensation, although I’m keen to get my real bike fixed now. Circuits was just as evil.

I skipped the VLM experts session in London I’d had in the diary for Saturday in favour of tickets to a matinee of Cirque Du Soleil. When the schedule arrived for the experts session I didn’t see anything on there that I thought would be of huge benefit to me during the time I had available although I’m sure it could have been lots of fun had I had the whole day at my disposal.

It’s been a pretty full on week with less rest days than I’ve been used to but I’m feeling really good for it. 

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