First blog

Hello,

This will be a bit of a strange blog for a first one because it will actually contain two blogs. Bear with me here... :)

I am a runner. I am a member of an online running community and thought it would be a good idea to blog my experience of training for the London Marathon and my attempts to raise money for a local charity. But then I thought, in the interest of raising more money I should widen my potential audience a little. :) This is why the first blog is strange - I started the one on the running website yesterday but I dont want you to miss out on the start of the adventure.

So here goes - blog entry for Tuesday 12th January -

Reunited with my old friend...

…the treadmill. Or should that be foe?

My love affair with running began at the back end of 2008 in a small gym based in a community centre in a fairly ‘rough’ area in Norwich. 2 nights a week and Saturday mornings I could be found huffing, puffing and going a shade of red reminiscent of a tomato trying to reach 7 minutes. Not 7 minute miles, 7 whole minutes of running. It was tough and my inhaler was a close companion in these dark days. My dream was to manage half an hour of continuous running but it seemed so far away.

As some of you know, 2009 was a mixed bag of injury and progress for me but fairly early on I ditched the treadie, hit the streets and in no time made my 30 minute target. Hoorah! I’ve never looked back. Until yesterday.

The icy streets and the impeding VLM meant I had to bite the bullet and go to the gym. Dum dum dum…. It was pretty awful in many ways. I downgraded my membership some months ago so I had to pay £4.20 for the dubious privilege of using the treadmill. That was before I even got into the gym and had to wait 15 mins to use one. Bah!

When I did get on though I noticed that they were some pretty flashy new treadmills to play with that included such high tech equipment as a ‘cool’ air fan (very little positive effect) and a HR monitor that you don’t need a strap for. I did like this feature as I’ve never had a HR reading before. I was up to 171 doing 10.5k per hour at one point. I don’t know what it means but Im glad I know Ill look into it in more detail when my Garmin eventually arrives!

The ability to regulate speed was pretty handy too but holy moly was I bored?! Last time I was on a treadie I’d struggle to get past 4k – last night I was on there for nearly an hour doing 9k! (it was gonna be 10 but I really needed a wee!) I could probably tell you how many ceiling tiles there are in my gym now!

Wednesday 13th January -

DOM DOM DOMS

Guess what? I have doms. This is 'Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness' or achey bits. My calves are in agony and my walking gait is more than a little peculiar. Stairs are… well put it this way, I make sure there is no one else around to see my ungainly descent or hear the “ooh's”, “ow's” and gentle weeping that accompanies it. (Ok, there is no real weeping. Just inside tears… ) That is ‘The Revenge of the Treadmill’ in action. My calves never hurt like this from running outside! I had to bail on the club speed session last night. I was trying to be sensible and not try to do too much, too soon. My shin splints seem to have cleared up but I thought a speed session on very sore calves might be a bit risky. Aggravating my shins is the last thing I wanna do… tetchy b*st*rds that they are!

Im gonna go along with K tonight to his boxing circuit training. Im just no good at motivating myself to do core and strength exercises. I need a) the shame and ridicule of my peers if I chicken out and b) someone to shout at me and make me go the extra bit when it hurts. Im pretty nervous. Not about doing it, but about how much pain Im going to be in tomorrow and whether it will make Thursday’s 6mile run the most painful run since…. Well…. The last most painful run I guess

I'll let you know how it goes.