The run I love

I haven't run since October 08 and heck I miss it like crazy. Though whilst there's plenty of pregnant runners in the world, I don't think I could do it. Half the fun of a run is pushing myself...seeing how far and how fast I can go this time. However, that doesn't mix with being four months pregnant. Nor does running and a creaky back, all them hormones are doing strange things to me. So I wait, and do yoga in the warmth and comfort of my living room...waiting for the warmer weather when I can go walking without slipping on ice and the birth of my baby when I can dust off my running shoes again.

Huzzah!

I did the 10K...in the rain though. However, I much preferred the rain to the heat we had yesterday. And it wasn't heavy rain so my iPod stayed pretty dry and survived to log my run. I feel sorry for those that chose to go to London to the Wembley Stadium event because if it's pissing it down there anything like it currently is here they'll be soaked to the bone. According to the website, my time is ranked 12344 in the world lol. Though nice to see two brits currently placed silver and bronze in the rankings.

Just 10 minutes.

That's all I need. I ran for an hour last Sunday and that took me 5.3 miles (yeah, I don't do speed alright). Just 10 more minutes and I've done a 10K. The Nike+ Human Race 10K is this Sunday and adding an extra ten minutes is certainly do-able. Either way, I'm not stopping.

I'm noticing a weird thing lately though...5K's hurt, longer runs don't *touches wood* Each 5K I've done lately seems to hurt more than the longer runs, I think it maybe a speed thing...I run 5K's a little bit faster.

Bugger!

So, I ran yesterday...just a short, quick run (2K) because we'd had a carpet fitter round and I didn't have much time. Well I didn't walk after my run and as I'd had dinner before I ran, I only ate a bit of yoghurt ice cream afterwards and also skipped out on a protein shake. I think the combination of those factors and the speed (my aim was to run short but fast...or at least what counts as fast for me!) led to the achy muscles I had today.

Today though, I planned a slow 5K and figured the sore, stiff muscles would be fine given some stretching and slowly easing into the run. Erm...I was wrong. I ran about 1.5K before I found that every time a foot hit the ground my knees were buckling slightly. In the end I had to stop before I fell over and I began to walk the rest of my 5K route. I did walk it and get home ok though there were some rather hairy moments when I thought my legs were going to buckle underneath me and leave me in a pile on the floor unable to get home.

I'm a bit miffed about what happened...my legs just seemed so dead. They don't feel injured...the soreness was just normal day-after-exercise stuff. They were just dead. I can only hope it was just because I ran yesterday and didn't re-load afterwards...i.e. body with worn out muscles and nothing to repair them with. I hope it was just that...I've got a 10K in two weeks time and I need to run 20 minutes more than my longest run so far to complete it :S

Back on track

I felt soooo good today after my run. Until today, I hadn't run more than 5K straight since the hip flexor injury. Today, I not only ran 4.5miles (plus about a mile walk back from my end point to home) but I set a new PB for the mile. It was very hot out there today but it still felt like a pretty ok, comfortable-ish run. So I'm chuffed...the 10K at the end of August seems very do-able now and I feel a step closer to the half-marathon in October.

I also checked for photos of me at last weeks Race for Life. Since they had the marathon foto guys there, I thought I might as well see what shots they got of me. They got two and amazingly, whilst the pics are taken near the finish line, I don't look beetroot red! So I've ordered one print of each pic. I really need to get an album or something sorted out for storing this stuff nice...I've got one certificate, 5 medals and one race photo (soon to be three) now. I've thought about displaying them somehow rather than just having them stuck in a cupboard but I'd be happy with just putting together a little running album. Either way, they deserve more than a dusty box or cupboard.

New shoes are good shoes!

They fit like a glove and are so light, it's as if my feet are nekkid!

Race for Life and new shoes

Well the Race for Life 5K was yesterday. It was my fourth time running it and whilst it wasn't the sub-30min that I hoped for this year (which I was unable to even try to attain due to the hip-flexor injury) it was my fastest Race for Life yet at 33minutes and felt quite comfortable. Though the Nike+ doesn't register it as a 5K (it says it was 2.95miles not 3.1...it's not 100% accurate) so it won't count as my fastest 5K on my log but I know I did it.

I also bought some new running shoes on Saturday. An no, I didn't break the cardinal rule of not wearing new gear on race day. No...they're still in the box and waiting for my run tomorrow. Essentially, after the hip-flexor got better I went back to running in my New Balances rather than the Nike Air Pegasus I bought at the beginning of the year. I figured that since it's been pissing about since around the same time I got the shoes that it might have been them. Seems I was right because I've had no trouble with the New Balances (well I little post-run soreness when starting back after time out but that was expected and no where near as bad as it was before). However, the New Balances are over a year old, seen a good few miles now and whilst they're super stable they seem to be so at the expense of cushioning and hence they can give me sore knees from time to time. And so, with my new shoes I decided to go back to Asics and bought a pair of Asics Gel 1130's. I loved my first pair of Asics shoes (1100's) only reason I tried NB was because the Asics started giving me a blister on my left heel as they aged. Other than that, Asics were great. Hopefully, the 1130's will live up to expectations when I run in them tomorrow.