An end to the madness is in sight

It's been a little while since I've written a "weekly update" post what with all the events I've had going on. There's been race reviews coming out of my ears, which is cool because I love taking part in events but I won't lie, it's nice to have a breather... comparatively speaking anyway.

Although the mammoth five-events-in-two-weekends is over my race schedule still has a little way to go. My last biggie of the year is the Bournemouth Marathon on October 6th. Although I had a carefully crafted training plan that worked towards this and the previous triathlons, it's all gone a bit pear-shaped in the last month or so as I overestimated how much I'd be able to accomplish in between holidays and events. As it is, even though I've dropped swimming and cycling and I'm technically into my taper, Monday found me still not having managed to have run anything over 16 miles and having serious doubts about whether or not to even attempt the marathon.

I remember how much it hurt last time

Thankfully I found some welcome advice and motivation on twitter and from friends. I'd read that breaking your long run into two sections over the course of a day was just as effective as doing it all in one go and as that was realistically the only way I'd get one in I got up bright and early on Tuesday, cranked out 8 miles before breakfast and another 12 miles straight from the office after work. This had the benefit of tricking my mind and body into thinking I was actually doing less than I was, and getting a change of scenery, but even after a few hours my body was leaving me in no doubt as to whether it had been effective... oh my the DOMS! So with a 20 miler under my belt I feel much more prepared. I'd done a light PT workout and a pyramid intervals session on Monday so was able to have a couple of days break.

This weekend I have my first workshop for my Personal Training qualification - Gym Instructor! It starts with the exams for the Anatomy and Physiology module so it's been a fine balancing act between training and revision. I'd say I'm just about ready. I'm really looking forward to it (back to school!) and by a happy chance the course has been moved from Reading to my local gym in Wokingham, of which I am a member - huzzah! It runs Friday through to Sunday but as it's so close to home I'll have time to do a taper run as well as my homework.

Next week I'm on leave and planning to go to Norfolk for a few days. I'll have coursework to start and plan to do a couple of short taper runs before the big day. I've never felt the need for so much time off before, I've pushed myself quite hard this year. It's unfortunate in a way that everything's condensed into such a short space of time, it wasn't planned that way! 

After the marathon I'm looking forward to having a break from training and doing some things for fun. I'll be trying out land yachting (weather permitting), a Fitness Playground session and tackling The Major Series with Anita. I plan to get back to parkruns (let's start working towards that 100 t-shirt) and readdress my fitness/training goals with my PT. I think winter might be a good time to work on speed.

Doing parkrun back in the day when I was part of a club

The London Marathon ballot results are likely to be coming out soon and at the moment I think I'd be fine if I didn't get a place. The thought of starting training *again* and over the winter is just a bit miserable. Focusing on my study would be a good thing. My mum's suggested I cap the number of events I enter next year to around 8. I already have 2 booked and around 5 in mind, excluding the local summer series, so it'll be tough to choose but ultimately sensible. I love the atmosphere and sense of occasion at events but doing less will mean I stand a better chance of prepping properly and maybe busting out some new PBs. Maybe 2014 will be the year of the sub 25 minute 5k!

Treasure Hunting with Fitness Playground

A couple of weeks back, at the Lunges & Lycra social event, I took part in a Fitness Playground event. Fitness Playground already run a variety of sessions in the South Bank and Canary Wharf areas of London but this was a bit different to their usual group training sessions... this was a treasure hunt!

We were split into teams of 3-4 people with a nominated leader who was in charge of receiving the clues on their phone from a member of the FP team and sending answers/proof back. The aim of the game was to solve a number of clues to get to various locations in London, complete a challenge at each and get back to the start location within 45 minutes. This was a competition and the rules were thus:

• First team back gets a number of points, the second back gets less and so on.
• Any team back after the deadline is deducted points for each minute they are late
• Extra points are awarded for completing the challenges as each location
• Bonus points are awarded for completing bonus challenges that we were given a web link to

So you could still lose the competition, even if you're first back. This makes for a very interesting playing field! 

I think these girls made his day

It was a mad dash to exit the hotel we started from. Some of us may have gotten lost within the hotel... Once outside phones started beeping, announcing the arrival of the first clue and it was very much a race to the first location but as the first challenge could only be completed by one person at a time we were soon all travelling at different paces, balancing speed with completing other challenges en route. Our treasure hunt took us to Soho Square, Phoenix Garden, Seven Dials, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, The Mall and Piccadilly Circus before a mad dash back to the hotel.

I'm not sure he really understood what was going on, bless him.

We did prove to be quite a spectacle as we legged it round central London. 20-odd girls in vibrantly coloured lycra and multi-coloured war stripes... we were bound to draw some attention. It didn't take long for people to cotton on to what we were up to and my favourite moment of the whole event was probably a group of burly men in hi-viz jackets hollering "It's this way girls, the rest of them went that way!" at us as my team tried to find the next landmark.

Peace and tranquility on a busy pavement

On our travels we tried to cram in as many of the bonus challenges as possible. These broadly fall into "photo" and "collect" categories. We left many a bemused tourist and policeman in our wake, got told off my the Trafalgar Square Security Guards for assaulting the lions and busted out some yoga poses in the middle of busy pavements. And that only scratches the surface... do you know how hard it is to get business cards from people these days, or a copy of yesterday's paper?! Our site challenges included table tennis, races, climbing, deciphering roman numerals and finding out bits of local history. We were tested physically and mentally! 

You're not allowed to sit on the lions anymore, apparently...

Fitness Playground are hoping to start running these more often so do look out for them. It's fantastic fun, a great way to explore London and a real giggle. These sessions would be great to do with a group of friends as an alternative birthday or hen/stag event or perhaps as a corporate event, if there's an active culture. Connect with Fitness Playground on twitter or facebook to make sure you don't miss out, and check out their current set of group sessions if you haven't already... they're all fantastic.

This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own.