Last session at the gym before going on holiday tomorrow.

I hope it won't be too hot to run in France as I really don't fancy getting up at 5am every morning but I will if I have to.

I really enjoyed my run tonight. I really, really did! Don't say that very often. But it felt comfortable. Not easy, just... manageably challenging. Obviously I know it's still really slow, but actually I think it's the fastest time I've done for a 5k so far.

20 x mins crosstrainer
30 x mins weights
5k run - 32 mins 58 secs (10:36 pace)
20 mins power plate

Not really sure what I should do while I'm away. Do a few moderately paced miles every day, or some speedier stuff or run up hills or whatnot. God knows. Maybe there'll even be some nice fields to run across. We're going to be in the middle of nowhere I think.

As usual it's the night before and I've not even begun to even think about packing yet.

Had a session with one of the new personal trainers tonight, Reni. Well not really a session, more like a review. She's Australian and completely insane. She is also an ex-national long distance runner, which unfortunately I didn't really get time to talk her about in depth. She's small and wiry and looks like she could run 100 miles with a 150lb rucksack on her back without breaking a sweat - and one of those people who are so incredibly hyper that they would burn 1000 calories simply by sitting in a chair all day. She's really nice too.

15 x mins crosstrainer
30 x mins weights
2 x mile run (19 mins 50 seconds - wooohooo!)
But I have to confess that at one point I had to hold on to the treadmill as I felt sick and had a stitch. Honestly, pathetic really. It's only a ten min mile pace for twenty minutes for god's sake. But it nearly kills me.

Plus:
10 x mins run (with Reni, to talk about breathing)

I am soooo knackered. Didn't go to bed till 3.30am last night. Felt delirious in the gym.

15 x mins crosstrainer
2 x mile run (20 mins 13 secs)
30 x mins weights
20 x powerplate.

This run felt very tough. Thought my heart was going to burst out my ribs and splatter all over the display in the last 60 seconds. I was trying to do it in under twenty minutes but it was not to be. Not today, anyway.

I guess I need to start doing some hill training - mmm, my favourite. Let's chuck in a few rocks and tree roots and hairpin bends as well for a laugh. Apparently I will be doing this race (below) in October, which is kind of terrifying as I have absolutely no co-ordination whatsoever. Absolutely NONE. So running on anything other than the smoothest of surfaces fills me with terror. Even running across the fields to Ditchling turns me into a wimpering old wuss with flailing octupus arms, as I gingerly negotiate the odd stone and clump of grass with all the spindly confidence of a newborn deer fleeing a pride of lions. So this description of last year's race was almost enough to induce spontaneous sobbing.

"Quick turns, narrow paths, steep limestone slopes (and the occasional scurrying armadillo). The Toughest Race in Texas is a race you have to love. Tough love though. The hills and rocky, single-track trails that surround the St. Stephen’s School in northwest Austin, make for tricky footing, beautiful vistas and very slow times—but a thoroughly satisfying running experience.

Especially on such a beautiful Saturday morning. Which only seemed fitting. Last year, the inaugural year of this race, the skies opened up and the race was cursed with an old-fashioned, gully washer of a storm. It limited the field and made the racing even more hazardous and tricky.

This year, the weather was perfect and more than 500 runners and walkers showed up at St. Stephen’s for a dose of tough love on the rugged terrain.

With a 5-K and a 10-K (not to mention a one-miler), the trails got awfully congested very quickly. Unless you were on the front row and rocketed off the starting line, most were forced to walk or jog single file for much of the race course. Within the first half mile, the 5-K runners converged with the 10-K field, forcing nearly everyone to a walk.

“It was a little frustrating,” said Joseph Kozusko, who finished seventh in the 10-K in 41:24, “because at times it was very difficult to run.”

Making it even more difficult, were the rocky trails and if you swung wide to barrel around the slower runners, you risked a close encounter with a cactus".

Oooh. Can't wait.