Okay, I confess that things have gotten a little quiet around here lately, so my apologies! I have a lot going on at the moment (it’s scary to say that I actually get married next month!) and am just trying to keep my head above the water. My last few running events have been disappointing performance wise and getting hit by a car also hasn’t helped matters. Still, I’m keeping a positive outlook and have actually been enjoying my strength training for the last 2 weeks or so.
I’m also making progress on my Level 2 Gym Instructor course, which I have kept quiet about as it has been on the back-burner for a little while. My fitness journey has really changed my outlook on life and has become something which I am passionate about so I would love to be able to give that back to other people. My course is via distance learning and then I have to book on to some assessment days (I have a year to get these booked and passed). I can then start the Level 3 Personal Training course which I have enrolled in, however I may upgrade this to the part-time study method. Right now I’m just struggling to find the balance between my own training, work, family time, wedding planning, studying, blogging, meal prepping, etc. It’s a tough juggling act, especially as I tend to be an “all or nothing” person, but hopefully things will settle down after the wedding.
Recent Events:
I was originally disappointed with my Ironbridge Half Marathon performance, but in the grand scheme of things it actually wasn’t that bad. Especially given the fact that I was still suffering with my right knee. Then came the Chasewater 10k where I was hoping to run a 10k personal best but really struggled in the heat and ran no-where near my best. I was actually tempted to drop out at the 5k mark, so this wasn’t the best confidence booster for the Blackpool Marathon. Roll on to the following week and my second marathon was underway. As long as I made it to the end then I would be on for a personal best after my deserved disappointment in London the year before (you really need to train for a marathon!). I wanted a sub-5 time and this should have been more than an achievable goal, but it wasn’t to be on the day. I made some silly mistakes and they ended up costing me, which was very frustrating. It was a tough result to take, especially given the training that I had put in. To try and “bounce back” I signed up for the Birmingham 10k 4 weeks later (I’ll be posting about my performance and reviewing this and the Blackpool Marathon soon). This turned out to be another bad race for me, but it felt doomed from the start. On the Wednesday before the race I headed outdoors for a solo after work run. Unfortunately, whilst crossing a road I was hit by a driver who failed to indicate. I wasn’t badly hurt but my hip and knee were swollen and sore. I had discomfort and pain when putting pressure on my right side. I was not deterred though as the 2017 Birmingham 10k was one of my favourite events to date. To my disappointment, the course had been changed since 2017 when I last ran it. It was a tough course and hard to gain momentum as there was a lot of elevation changes. My 10k personal best was no-where to be found, and I just about scraped a sub-60 time.
All in all, it’s been pretty disappointing in terms of race performances and results. I’m looking at entering the Birmingham Black Country Half Marathon on July 6th, but I’m not 100% sure yet. I have booked my third marathon though – the Liverpool Rock’n’Roll marathon in May next year. Hopefully soon I’ll get a decent performance which will help pick things back up, but right now I’m focussed on my training and diet. Speaking of diet, I have recently discovered overnight oats and have no clue how I have lived without them for 27 years!
Plans For 2019:
It’s crazy that it’s June already! Have I mentioned that I get married next month yet?! Okay, wedding aside, our honeymoon isn’t until September, so we have that to look forward to. I’m hoping to have passed my Level 2 Gym Instructor course by the end of the year and be working towards my Level 3 Personal Training certificate.
At the moment, I don’t have any events booked for the remainder of 2019. One of my goals for this year was to run 10 events (excluding Parkrun), so I need to register for a few more in order to reach this. I’m looking at the Birmingham Black Country Half Marathon in July, the Lichfield 10k in September, the Birmingham Half Marathon in October, and then the Chasewater 10k Pudding Dash and the Sneyd 10 Mile Pudding Run in December.
I certainly haven’t lost the motivation to train, in fact, my training has been great for the last few weeks as I have implemented a new strength training regime. I have been running 4 to 5 times per week and strength training 3 times a week. I made the decision to stop posting my weekly training review as I am no longer specifically training for a particular event. Don’t get me wrong, I would love a sub-2:10 for the Birmingham Half in October, but I’m not sure how realistic this will turn out to be with my honeymoon a few weeks before. The Liverpool Marathon will be my main focus for next year, so I may do another training progress review style series for that.
I’m still getting over my run in with a car but I seem to be almost fully recovered now. Fitness wise I feel good and my strength training is progressing well despite still being on a slight calorie deficit. I’m trying to drink more water to help lose the last few pounds and I can see slight changes in my physique. Despite all of this, I’m just not feeling “race ready”. I’ve been doing some speed work in the form of tempo runs and intervals. My last Parkrun was on May 11th with a time of 26:51, which is just under a minute off of my personal best (25:58). My last two 10k events have left me quite far off my sub-55 goal and 56:28 personal best. It’s definitely getting tougher now and I’m having to put in a lot of work and effort to see small improvements. I know that I just need to keep my head down, push on with my training and the results will follow.
