Another Short One, 10 minutes of my DVD, focussing on ‘Buns’. Am I the only person who, on hearing this Americanism, instantly thinks of food?
Janathon Day 8. The Short One
Plank-2 minutes 5 seconds. Done. Just.
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!
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.
Janathon Day 4. Training like an Elite
Well that’s what it said at the top of the article, anyway.
The Elite Core Workout, in the latest edition of Runner’s World. Some of the exercises felt very strange, so hopefully that means they were working areas that need working.
Sometimes I do think it would just be easier to go for a run.
Janathon Day 3. Finally a Good Day
Yay – finally a good day, with a good run. I’m dithering about entering a really tough trail race, so thought I’d run part of the route and see how I felt. It’s one of the muddiest sections, slithering downhill through the woods, followed by a steep hill back up to get home again.
I felt proud of myself for heading off on this run as although it’s not a long route it’s really hard.
The mile down a track to get to the woods was windy, blustery and cold. The path then drops down towards the river and the mud starts.
The path leads down into the woods and here it is sheltered and quiet. The route is steeper, the mud becomes slippier, and the hard work starts. Even my arms felt tired from windmilling around to keep me upright.
After the stickiest point the path then starts to head back up and finally joins a lane. A sharp right turn leads to the steepest part of the hill which is the route home.
Turning into my drive, I took a final photo, an ‘after’ shot of my legs and feet.
3.73 miles in 42:28, which included lots of photo stops, plenty of slips and many smiles. And just for good measure, a 1 minute 40s plank, *not* in pyjamas this time.
Janathon Day 2. Getting Worse.
After yesterday’s dreadful weather, January 2nd dawned dry and sunny. Of course that’s why I didn’t run today. Sigh.
To save my legs, and to get my children out into the fresh air, I challenged my daughter to choose a route for us to have a walk round the village. She agreed, told us we’d need wellies, and off we set. 0.73 miles and 29 minutes later, we were back home again. Double sigh.
In an attempt to get my Janathon back on track, I took up the challenge of ‘planking in my pyjamas’, with photographic evidence courtesy of my son. 1 minute 30 seconds- done.
Janathon Day 1. A bad start
January 1st. Start of a New Year. A time for new year’s resolutions, new plans, new starts. It’s also the start of Janathon, a month that has been described as a month to ‘Jog, Log, Blog’, or alternatively ‘a month of activities and excuses’. Having signed up to Juneathon a day late last year, I signed up to Janathon nice and early in a fit of enthusiasm, keen to complete the entire month this time.
On New Year’s Eve I had tentative plans to maybe go to a Parkrun in the morning, as a great way to kick off the year. At 8.30am I was awake and up, but rather than heading out, instead I fed the moaning black and tabby cats and slunk back to bed. Not a good start.
Out of bed for the second time several hours later, the weather was foul with wind and rain battering down on the window. Not encouraging, but I had a cup of tea, put my running gear on and prepared to face the weather. Remembering that for Janathon I have to record my activities, I grabbed my Garmin, and saw it had a completely flat battery. The signs and omens for getting out for my run were not good.
15 minutes of charging time later I was finally out of the door. What can I say about this run? It was wet, it was incredibly windy and very muddy. It was 3 miles to log at the start of Janathon, I just hope the rest of the month will be better.
2013 – A review
So 2013 is nearly up. At the end of a year, before starting to think up new goals and resolutions for the year ahead, it’s always good to look back on how far you’ve come this year. Personally 2013 has been great for my running and had turned out to be the year of the PB, which feels fantastic. I have set new PBs at 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon distance, and I have the data from my Garmin to prove it.
I’m also delighted to see that I’ve doing more running this year than any other. 747.93 miles run over 137 hours 37 minutes 17 seconds. Phew -I feel the need for a sit down and a restorative glad* of wine just thinking about it.
Now whilst I’m comfortable, let me think about new goals for 2014…
*this of course should be glass of wine. Although I was very glad of it as well