My Running Journal: Week 13 & 14
I cannot believe I am now HALFWAY into my Amsterdam marathon training… it has flown by! I am pleased that I am neither injured nor out of love with running (YET) so, so far so good! May it continue in this fashion for a further 15 weeks…!
Tuesday 19/06/18
Tonight was a significant and emotional evening for me, as it was the FIRST Run Talk Run to be hosted out of The Gym @ Waterloo. For me this symbolises putting mental health right into the heart of a “Big Boy Chain Gym” on the highstreet… just reinforcing that obvious (though not accepted) truth that mental health is just as important as our physical health.
We were joined by an employee of Rethink Mental Illness — Sam — who has done so much to help me with Run Talk Run.
I was actually really flipping ill with a chesty cough so had to whisper directions to another runner to shout out for the rest of the group, but somehow made my way around this new route of ours.
We headed from The Gym (SE1 8UX) up to Westminster Bridge, round Big Ben, along the river westbound then headed south again over Vauxhall Bridge. It ends with a quiet straight road back, and a little dip into the gardens at the Imperial War Museum. All in all, rather lovely if you ask me!
It was just short of 5km, so I’ll work on extending the route just a little!
Sunday 24/06/18
After a week of feeling like absolute CRUD (hello flu), I decided to test my legs (and my heavy lungs) with a 10 miler. To be honest, the hardest part was getting my trainers on… I really did not have the energy (or at least I didn’t feel like I did) before heading out this morning. Having said that, I really found my flow at about 3 miles in and the rest of the run felt just SO GOOD. Once I’d cleared my chest of the residue that was left behind from the flu, my breathing was easy and my legs felt strong. All in all a very productive run all the way from Barnes up to Green Park, then round Hyde Park to test the route for ‘The Big Summer Run’ — free tickets here.
Monday 25/06/18
Walking back to the office after what was a glorious 5–8km (ISH — who knows!) run with Women In Tech. This was an organised run by Run The World, and I was initially meant to be leading a 10km distance, but after the 10 miler yesterday my legs are very very pleased to have only been coerced into ¾ of that! It was super gentle, so am treating it as a recovery run. Learned many cool things on this run like there is such a thing as “Speed/Cycle Dating”. The dating scene in London has come a long way since I swiped right for my gorgeous G.
Tuesday 26/06/18
This was our second Run Talk Run from The Gym Group and I quickly realised that perhaps I ought to let more people know about it! It was a quicker RTR than usual, and just short of 5km (working to perfect that still).
Thursday 28/06/18
So this afternoon I reached 1pm and NEEDED to move. A few people had pissed me off this morning so I had to find some kinda outlet to let out my frustration. And let out my frustration I DID. That was probably the best sprint/speed session I’ve done on a treadmill in months. It reminded me that I’ve not been doing enough speedwork generally, and that I need to make sure I have enough tempo and fartlek to keep these legs and lungs guessing.
[caption id=”attachment_630" align=”aligncenter” width=”227"]
the sweaty foam roll after sprints hahaha. what a face of pain![/caption]
Tonight Run Talk Run was pretty damn sparse on the runner front AGAIN… but I’m putting that down to the England game being on. We had a gorgeous 5km run and chat, and then managed to grab a pretty sick view of a screen in a pub just in time to catch the second half. Winning!
Sunday 01/07/18
I am a very sleepy Jess writing this on my train back to London so will do a full review of this race very very soon. But oh my, what an INTENSE run! 15 miles of hills, varying terrain and just heaps of sweat. It was in excess of 30 degrees which was just a little bit ridiculous and there were numerous points where I wanted to just say “nah sod this”. But I am extraordinarily proud that I carried on. I found miles 8–12 the hardest, but something in me clicked after the 12 mile sign as I realised it was only 5km left… and I totally could do that. Definitely want to write more on this some other time and add lots of the photos that I took, but for now here is some evidence that I didn’t give up. Yay!