Judith's Marathon Journey

An easy day – just some weights at the gym…. made sure I stretched well, too.

That’s the second week on the journey completed… ran just over 11km today, around the bays – took about 1:13.  This was a much easier run than last Sunday – flat, and no gale-force winds – although today’s northerly wasn’t just a gentle breeze!  Certainly enough that I came back a couple of minutes faster than the outward journey.

I enjoyed the run today, and felt strong right through – a good sign!  And I enjoyed brunch afterwards: banana and blueberry pancakes with yoghurt, toast with apricot jam, and coffee….  In case anyone’s wondering – vegetables are on the menu for tonight – cooking as we speak!

It was a busy week – covered 33 km, had two gym circuits, two weight sesssions and a Pilates class.  Hope I can keep it up…

What a morning!  First cricket – I coach a team of 8-9-year-olds – a good effort, but not a win this week.

Then I ran 3k on the treadmill – tried to make it easy pace, but it felt hard! Next on the agenda was a weights session – trying to work at a level where 8 reps is the max I can do – still experimenting with the right weight for each exercise.

And then the shopping – more weight training???  Great to stagger in the door to the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting from the kitchen!

Rest day – no running today, just a Pilates class.  Challenging again – especially upper body – not enough strength or flexibility.  Plenty to work on!

Oops – forgot to write this yesterday!

Ran 5k on the treadmill, followed by ExpressFit.  5k on treadmill gets boring, so varied the pace – not too much, cos I knew what was coming with the gym class!

Actually managed that better than usual – had a few of my favourite exercises – squats and plank holds, for example.

Then work….phew!

Ran home from work – over 7.5 km – pretty slow, about 53 minutes.  It was into the southerly wind all the way, and I was carrying a back pack, so quite a tough workout, although obviously I wasn’t pushing the pace.

I’m feeling some soreness in the left sacroiliac joint again, but I think it’s just ‘early warning’ rather than anything too serious.  I might run on the treadmill tomorrow.

ExpressFit class this morning – a severe workout!  I can do squats, prone holds and the skipping station no problem – but really struggle with burpees (especially with a weight bag added to the drill!), jumping squats and jumping lunges just too hard!!

Tonight was the 5k series down at the waterfront – quite a big ask after this morning’s effort…. I managed 29:30 – pleased with that.

Now I’m not sure if I can continue witht he FitExpress on the same day as the 5k race…. but it’s hard to juggle the classes around my running schedule, and now part-time work as well. I hope I’ll have the sense to pick up on overtraining before I do some damage!

Just a gym workout today – strength training. I’m hoping to spend time each week on endurance, flexibility and strength.  While building these elements into my running schedule is essential, I need to strengthen complementary muscles and massively increase my flexibility if I want to start to regain some speed.

I’m looking forward to seeing some results to this strategy!

About 10k today – 69 minutes.  So that’s week 1 done and dusted, with a total of 30k…. the blog kept me honest!

Interesting run today…. one long hill (about a km) – up from Hataitai Shops to Roseneath for Wellingtonians – the best part about this route in windy weather is that I get some shelter from the hill. Then the wind hits at the top! Gale force winds are forecast for this afternoon – this morning they were only practising!  It was a bit helter-skelter going down to Oriental Bay – very blustery.  Then the journey home with the wind behind me – OMG!  At times I felt like I was losing control!  And the spray was coming up from the sea… so a slightly faster than usual 4k around the Bays….

I really enjoyed brunch later: first home-made muesli with home-made yoghurt, with strawberries.  (They weren’t home-grown – the lawn-mower man keeps mowing them down!)  Then a toasted multi-grain bagel with scrambled eggs and chilli sauce (to take away the eggy taste of the eggs) – and coffee!!

And I’m still hungry…

Day 5 was a much needed rest day!  My abs were so, so sore after the gym session on Thursday!  Must have been the wretched spidermans!

Today was an easy 3k, in under 20 minutes.  OK, not fast – but good enough.

Just as well for this blog – I really might not have gone out today!  Didn’t sleep much last night, and then had an early start to the day with the first day of junior cricket.  Standing around in the wind, umpiring, is almost a workout in itself!  But my boys had a win, so we’re all happy!