Another good month following the training plan although the last couple of days have seen a slight hiccup by way of a sore and achey knee.
Each weekend has seen me increase my 'long run' by 5 or 10 minutes and on Monday I finally reached the 6 mile mark with my longest run to date of 70 minutes. The run itself felt great on the whole apart from a sudden niggly pain in my right knee that started around the 4 mile point. This actually got a lot worse whilst running downhill so I decided to take it easy at this point and walk for a short spell. I managed to carry on running again after but my knee has not been too good since. I decided to give today's training run a miss which was a bit disappointing as I'm really enjoying the new club runs with Cobra on Wednesday nights, but I did go for a half hour dog walk instead which freed things up a little bit.
I think that perhaps my new hill work on Wednesday nights plus the increased distance is not agreeing with my joints so I guess I just need to take it steady for a while. I've entered the DK10K on the 2nd May so I have plenty of time yet. I'm pleased that my breathing and stamina seem so much better so that's a start a least. My aim is to be able to run a steady 8 miles by the time my race comes around, that way, 10K should feel at least comfortable.....I hope :-/
Here's this months results:
February 2012
Runs to date: 11
Walks to date: 11
Hikes to date: 0
Miles during Feb: 54.3 miles
Workout time during Feb: 12 hrs 30 mins
Calories burnt during Feb: 4892
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Sister Act......Simply Fabulous, baby!
Last night the ladies choir went on a super trip to The Grand theatre in Wolverhampton to see the musical 'Sister Act'. Being a massive fan of the films I couldn't wait to see what the live show would be like. Although, the musical possesses none of the songs from the original films (which I initially found a little disappointing) the new soundtrack written by Alan Menken more than makes up for this. There are some great show-stopping and emotive songs and very witty lyrics written by Glenn Slater.
The show follows much of the story of the original first film with just some slight alterations to the Las Vegas ending. I personally found that the show had even more humorous lines delivered with great timing not only by the lead characters but the entire cast. One of my favourites for this being Jacqueline Clarke who played Sister Mary Lazarus, the grouchy and cynical nun within the order.
All praise has to be given to Cynthia Erivo who played Deloris Van Cartier who, unlike her character in the film, has the majority of the musical performances within the show. She had a real mix of songs and seemed to be able to adapt her voice accordingly between the rich soul diva and the sweet angelic style. Along with Julie Atherton who plays Sister Mary Robert, these girls made my hairs stand on end.
The cast as a whole delivered the show with such energy and enthusiasm, my one regret is not taking 'A' with me as I think she would have loved it! Sister Act is such an upbeat, feel good, family show I defy anyone to leave the theatre without a smile on their face, I know I did :).
Thursday, 9 February 2012
And the running continues
Went for my first run last night with Cobra Running and Triathlon Club and had a great time. 'P' already runs with them 2 or 3 times a week but I'm not quite up to his level.......yet. So when I heard they were starting up their beginners group again on Wednesday evenings I thought this was my chance to give it a try.
Although a little nervous, I was made to feel very welcome when I arrived. The run started out from the local leisure centre where we headed out for about half a mile before doing some rather nasty hill sprints. Hill sprints were a new thing to me and get this.....I actually quite enjoyed them, although my legs were quite jellified after! (Yes I know that's not a word, but I know what it means). From here we continued our run, stopping every now and then for the slower ones, ie. me, to catch up. In total we did just over 4 miles which included a pretty horrific incline for about a mile. I was quite surprised how far we'd run and when I got back and checked my pace on Runkeeper I'd actually run quicker than normal too.
It makes such a difference running in a group environment. Everyone was so encouraging and friendly and the mix of stops and starts, hills and sprints made it all the more interesting. It felt so much better than my long Sunday plods that just seem to go on forever and never end.
Really disappointed that I won't be able to be there next week as I'm off to the theatre but can't wait to take part again the week after. I holding out high hopes that training with Cobra will bring my running on no end and help me to achieve better times for 5 and 10k along with increasing my stamina to allow me to run even greater distances.
The rest of my training is going well. Still running with Jane twice a week and my weekend run this Sunday will hopefully be up to 60 - 65 mins. My breathing and stamina seems to have improved a bit although due to a cough I've struggled a bit over the last week. Things should be back to normal though soon.
Although a little nervous, I was made to feel very welcome when I arrived. The run started out from the local leisure centre where we headed out for about half a mile before doing some rather nasty hill sprints. Hill sprints were a new thing to me and get this.....I actually quite enjoyed them, although my legs were quite jellified after! (Yes I know that's not a word, but I know what it means). From here we continued our run, stopping every now and then for the slower ones, ie. me, to catch up. In total we did just over 4 miles which included a pretty horrific incline for about a mile. I was quite surprised how far we'd run and when I got back and checked my pace on Runkeeper I'd actually run quicker than normal too.
It makes such a difference running in a group environment. Everyone was so encouraging and friendly and the mix of stops and starts, hills and sprints made it all the more interesting. It felt so much better than my long Sunday plods that just seem to go on forever and never end.
Really disappointed that I won't be able to be there next week as I'm off to the theatre but can't wait to take part again the week after. I holding out high hopes that training with Cobra will bring my running on no end and help me to achieve better times for 5 and 10k along with increasing my stamina to allow me to run even greater distances.
The rest of my training is going well. Still running with Jane twice a week and my weekend run this Sunday will hopefully be up to 60 - 65 mins. My breathing and stamina seems to have improved a bit although due to a cough I've struggled a bit over the last week. Things should be back to normal though soon.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
The Gallery - Me Right Now
The Gallery theme this week is 'Me Right Now' so here I am, erm........right now, courtesy of 'A' snapping away on my HTC. (Yes, she's off school with the lurgy along with lovely son). Sorry, picture quality's not good!
Just been for a run, a rather crap one at that and analysing the results online with Runkeeper. Now freezing cold, can't get warm and trying to absorb the last bit of heat from my mug of tea. (Also, trying to stay as far away from the kids as possible to avoid contagion, don't think I'll be able to hold out much longer though!)
Finally......Four Miles!
Have done great work with my training plan this month. All my hard work has been logged on Runkeeper and this month I've managed to accumulate 26 activities over 31 days. These includes walking, skating, hiking and most importantly, running.
I've continued with my short runs twice a week accompanied by my friend Jane and my long weekend run is now up to just over 4 miles which I'm quite chuffed about. Tomorrow night also see's the start of the new beginners class at our local Cobra Running Club. This will only be a couple miles but I thought it would be a great starting point for me to be able to work my way up to the clubs more advanced Tuesday and Thursday classes.
So far, I've managed to keep injuries at bay *touches wood* and just hoping with the gradual increase of 5 minutes per long run, I'll be able to keep things this way.
Here's my totals for the month:
January 2012
Runs to date: 10
Walks to date: 14
Hikes to date: 1
Skates to date: 1
Miles during Jan: 58.3 miles
Workout time during Jan: 16 hrs 15 mins
Calories burnt to date: 4907
I've continued with my short runs twice a week accompanied by my friend Jane and my long weekend run is now up to just over 4 miles which I'm quite chuffed about. Tomorrow night also see's the start of the new beginners class at our local Cobra Running Club. This will only be a couple miles but I thought it would be a great starting point for me to be able to work my way up to the clubs more advanced Tuesday and Thursday classes.
So far, I've managed to keep injuries at bay *touches wood* and just hoping with the gradual increase of 5 minutes per long run, I'll be able to keep things this way.
Here's my totals for the month:
January 2012
Runs to date: 10
Walks to date: 14
Hikes to date: 1
Skates to date: 1
Miles during Jan: 58.3 miles
Workout time during Jan: 16 hrs 15 mins
Calories burnt to date: 4907
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