Category: cross training

Janathon Day 10. Hamstrings.

Feeling more and more disappointed about not running today.  Everything I pick up and read is about running (curse you Twitter,  and copy of Runner’s World in the toilet!) Tonight I have done a small amount of hamstring stretches whilst trying to feel if it’s stretching things too much or not.

Realised I need to do some form of cardiovascular exercise whilst I’m not running,  otherwise it will be sooooo hard to start running again. Really not keen on swimming,  so I guess it’ll have to be cycling.  Unfortunately my heavyy old ‘happy shopper’ bike is still buried in the garage under builder’s stuff and dust sheets.

The builders are due to go next week so hopefully then I can get back out on the road.  Unless any one has any ideas of any other forms of exercise I could be doing???

Janathon Day 7. A Decision and Yah Boo Sucks

Late last night I made a radical decision.  I would change my Janathon challenge from ‘getting out to run’ into a ‘not run’ challenge.  It’s a much bigger challenge,  and will hopefully help me to downgrade my ‘niggle’ back into a ‘twinge’,  and hopefully to nothing at all.

I was feeling quite sad as I love love love my running and hate cross training. However with my sensible head on, it might be just what I need to do to enable me to have a wonderful rest of the year for running rather than hobbling and grumbling.

With this in mind,  I did NOT need to open an email this morning and read “Jantastic has started. Let’s run! “ Yah boo sucks to them!

Instead I dug one of my trusty DVDs and started to do the 10 minute Abs section.  Then in a fit of enthusiasm I also did the never-before-attempted ‘buns’ 10 minutes. Let’s just hope I can sit down tomorrow!

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Janathon Day 6. Twinge, Niggle, Injury

A party game that doesn’t sound nearly as much fun as ‘Snog, Marry, Avoid’, I’ve been playing this one today. When does a twinge become a niggle, and when does that niggle become an injury? In some cases it’s obvious. Anyone who’s ever limped home from an abandoned run will know exactly what an injury is. After Devizes Half Marathon back in October last year, 13.2 miles in freezing rain ending with a steep, slippery scramble up a hill was enough to leave my backside sore with tight muscles. I laughed it off, because it’s funny to have a sore bottom after running, isn’t it? A month later l had to admit that my right butt cheek was still feeling a little sore after running. I think at this point it became a ‘Twinge’.

It’s now the new year, I’ve run a couple of times, and guess what – I can still feel it. I can feel it even when not running. It’s not desperately painful but I Googled my symptoms, and at this point I believe it officially became a ‘Niggle’. I’ve read up on some exercises I can do, and this made up my Janathon exercise for today. (Doing the exercises, not the reading). If at any point I decide to consult a Doctor or Physio about my bottom, then it will develop into an ‘Injury’.

Last time I had an injury it cost lots of money, I didn’t run for weeks and I ended up creating a stir wearing an enormous float in our local swimming pool (otherwise known as aqua running). Not keen on that happening again, so fingers crossed the exercises help.

Janathon Day 5. A step back

Yesterday I was all excited about ‘training like an elite’. Today I
appear to be limping like an elite. One of the exercises that felt strange obviously worked a muscle in a way it wasn’t meant to (or hadn’t been for a long time) and today it was feeling tight and a little sore.  I decided it was wise to forego my chance of a long run and to do something else for Janathon instead. It was too wet for a ‘dressing gown dash’ so it will be another plank for me for today.

As the builders are returning tomorrow for a week I guess I’ll be back to hiding under beds again.

December’s Excuses, Builders and Alien Invasions

Picture the scene. I’m lying on my bedroom floor trying to hide under the bed. All around me is noise – crashes, bangs, electrical equipment. Strange men are shouting and figures are going past my windows.

Was it an earthquake? Was my home being burgled? Was it an alien invasion?? Some of all of the above actually. We had builders. A small extension we’d been planning for 10 years was finally taking shape, but it meant my home had been invaded and over run.

Over the last few weeks I have made it out for just a few runs, sneaking off in my lycra when work was going well and I wasn’t going to be needed to answer any ‘technical’ questions for half an hour. I had days when I planned to run, but then the plumber turned up and the water was turned off. Or the electrician switched the power off. Or there were just too many people needing cups of tea and coffee to keep them happy and working. Determined to do something instead of running, I decided I would try an Advent ‘plank’ streak instead.

So throughout December I have tried my best to do a plank every day, building up my time from a pitiful 40 seconds to a slightly more respectable 2 minutes and 10 seconds. It hasn’t been a compete success, as I did miss a few days. I was often to be found planking in the early hours of the morning just before going to bed. On the day of the ‘hiding from the alien invasion’ I was spotted planking on my bedroom floor by one of the builders heading across the front of the house to the portaloo. It’s amazing quite how quickly I found I could ‘drop and roll’ and pretend to be looking under the bed for something.

As we come to the end of December, our builders are having a break, the first phase of our building work is very nearly finished and thoughts are turning to January and New Year’s resolutions. I have signed up to Janathon and Jantastic, both of which should encourage* me to get out and run as well as building my fitness and strength in other ways. Oh and Janathon will ensure I get back into the habit of blogging regularly. Brace yourselves!

* encourage / prod / shame

Juneathon – a Final Thought

So now that Juneathon 2013 is well and truly over, I’ve just a few final thoughts on the month. My aims for the month were to do some work on my abs, to help me write blog posts quicker, and to find some lovely running peeps to follow on my new running Twitter account, @BandTruns  .

It was a busy month, and as someone who spends hours crafting her blog posts (no. honestly!) the hardest part of Juneathon was the blogging every day. Mind you, I obviously found something to talk about, as I didn’t use two of the ‘Emergency’ blog posts I started just in case I ran out of things to say. I did my best to read lots of other people’s blogs and comment on as many as I could, but there were hundreds of blogs so I ended up just picking out a few that I’d enjoyed reading previously and tried to follow them. I have found some lovely runners to follow on Twitter and have enjoyed Tweeting with them. Funnily enough, most of the people whose blogs I now read, or that I follow on Twitter seem to have cats and / or enjoy wine and / or are vegetarian. Strange that!

So did I manage to exercise every day? Yes I did. Some days I did have to stretch the definition a little, whereby I counted ‘allotmenteering’ as my Juneathon exercise. Our village allotments are truly rural allotments which are squeezed in at the far end of the village cricket field meaning you have to carry everything  – water, compost, flask of tea – across the pitch. The two 5 litre water containers are quite heavy on the second trip across, and I often swing them around imagining I’m doing a kettle bell workout. Good job I’m usually on my own up there! I think that counts as exercise so Iogged it and therefore it counted!

One thing I did want to work on was my core muscles, particularly my abs. Partly because I have so many race photos of me running ‘crumpled’ by the end of a race, and also because hopefully summer is nearly here and I can no longer hide my mummy-tummy under large jumpers. I dug out my abs DVDs and did them a couple of times, although both have presenters with VERY irritating voices, so my abs might be tighter but sadly so are my jaw muscles.

I also made it out on my bike a few times, which was something else I wanted to get back into the routine of. Now that I’m organised and have tools and water bottles at the allotment it was as easy to pop up on the bike as it was to get the car out. As I swear my bike is made of lead its a good workout just getting it out of the garage!

And now for the stats:-

Running – made it out 16 times for a total of 71.8 Miles in 12.9 hours
Cycling – got on teh saddle 5 times for 21.9 Miles in 1.8 miles
Walked once for 1.4 miles in 0.4 hours
Cross training 13 times for a total of 5.8 hours (included, allotmenteering, abs DVDs and Planking)

So – Juneathon – job done! Thanks so much to Cathy at Jog Blog for running the whole she-bang,and for answering my Tweets such as “Does getting into, and then back out of, compression socks count as exercise for Juneathon?”

Roll on Janathon …

Juneathon Day 17. Just call me Barbara.

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I love it when a plan comes together. Finally managed to cycle to the allotment! Once there I weeded for 90 minutes (which did include a stop for tea from my thermos) and then cycled back home.
Must have ridden around 0.75 each way, so Juneathon DONE for today. Cycling to the allotment -just call me Barbara Good!*

* you may have to be over ‘a certain age’ to get this reference!