Being Kind and Giving Myself Space

This week's training:
Saturday: Rest day / walking around Copenhagen
Sunday: Rest day / walking around Copenhagen
Monday: 9.5 mile run
Tuesday: Body Balance
Wednesday: 5 mile run
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: 5 mile run

Although I've marked the weekend as rest days, we did a lot of walking around Copenhagen (separate post on it next week) and I was very glad of every opportunity to duck into a coffee shop for refreshment. I had a wonderful time out there and felt rather blue on Monday as I got back to the grind. Blue and tired. My training plan had me down for a 10 mile run and it was so tempting just to sack it off and curl up on the sofa. Fortunately the arrival of a new running top and being home from work at a decent time just tipped the balance. New RockMyRun tracks also helped. It was no small surprise to find my legs feeling unusually strong; it was one of those rare occasions where I feel I could have run on and on. I didn't, obviously, but I enjoyed my dinner all the more afterwards.

Although there are only three runs listed above they've all been quality (especially tonight's sub 9-minute mile average 5 miler), and the Body Balance was bliss - having a session dedicated to stretching my muscles does me the world of good. I'm fully aware what I'm managing isn't perfect but I'm doing the best I can. I've been trying to eat more healthily this week and largely succeeded I think aside from Wednesday night when I decided to be kind to myself with an evening of Harry Potter and a whole chocolate frog after my run. That frog is solid. Bashing it with a saucepan in the hope of shattering it only dented the frog (thankfully not the pan) but, challenge as it was, I did manage to eat the entire thing!

Quality sessions, eating well, stretching and being kind to myself occasionally. Those are my goals for the rest of the year. Under my current training plan I'm meant to be running five times a week which I've realised is a real struggle for me. When I trained for my first marathon I did it on three runs a week (plus cross training), which worked really well and I'm going to go back to that for my next bout of training. The races and plans for next year are coming in thick and fast now which means one thing... new diary!

I love a new diary. I've already marked in all the important things: birthdays, holidays, study workshops and races. I'd been keeping track of all the races I would like to do and worked out which ones might be feasible so they're nicely spread out for a change. I love planning and can get a bit carried away with it, cramming too much in. It's a constant battle. The next step is to fill in the training sessions. My current diary tells me it's exactly one month until Gatliff! That's come around rather quickly.

This weekend I'm off to the European Outdoor Film Tour in London and I'm looking forward to a lovely long run on Sunday. Next week I have a bike maintenance class and I need to test out my camelback on a short run. I've not fared well with them before but this is a new one and I'm hoping I can adjust it so as to avoid chafing. It will be mighty useful for Gatliff if I can.

What are you up to this weekend? Will you be doing anything for Halloween or making the most of the warm weather?