Did a hill workout today, then went to the gym to do some other stuff. I went last night after work too, but as I was halfway through getting changed I realised I'd forgotten my trousers. So I couldn't do anything and was really pissed off. Decided to walk the longest, hilliest route home just so I could at least do half an hour of something.

Not sure exactly what I'm supposed to do on these hill workouts; must read up. I basically just ran up and down it for the equivalent of about two miles. It's about a third of a mile I think. It was bloody hard. I notice how much more I have to use my arms.

Friday:

2 mile walk

Saturday:

2 x miles hills
15 x mins crosstrainer
30 mins weights

No running/exercise Tuesday, felt like such a lumpen blob on Wednesday. I'm sure it's all in my head but seems if I miss one day I pay for it the next. Shit, anyone reading this is going to think I'm one of those weird gym freaks. I'm honestly not. I just like to try and do something active every day because I spend most days sitting on my arse in front of a screen. So I do get withdrawals if I don't get my fix.

Wednesday:

Due to a scatterbrained mix-up involving forgotten keys, lockers and running shoes, ended up having to go back to the gym tonight instead of my planned outside run. Never mind...

15 x mins crosstrainer
35 x mins run (25 mins @ 175 hr)
20 mins weights
20 mins powerplate

Thursday:

Wanted to do some weights so decided to run to the gym tonight which is not quite two miles from home. I mixed up the route to take in as many inclines as possible, so this was kind of a cross between a tempo run and a hill run. It took just under twenty minutes but I had to stop for what seemed like ages at one point to cross the road. I ran up Furze Hill and Clifton Hill, which I've never been up before, and which seemed pretty steep but probably aren't. I passed about a billiion other runners tonight; they must be popular hills.

This wasn't/isn't going to be my proper hill training location; I'm going to do that on the long steep slope at the marina. But it's not that appealing down there after dark, so will save those workouts for the weekends I think. But the route tonight was good for a taster. My hr was easily going over 180 as I reached the crest of each hill. I tried to speed up at the end, just to propel myself to the top. I really frightened a cat at one point. Its tail fluffed out in fear and its ears went back as it saw me approach, gasping for air.

This is the elevation graph. Nice long drop at the end.



20 x mins run
10 x mins fast on treadmill
15 x mins crosstrainer
20 x mins weights
20 x mins powerplate

Before the race yesterday I woke up with a pain in my left shin, worse when lifting my foot up, which I just ignored. After the race, G & J and I went for a walk in the country and it really started to hurt. I forgot to ice it last night and this morning it was pretty bad so I decided to skip a proper run today. I also felt so exhausted today. What a wimp. Hard to believe I ran more than five times that distance only three months ago.

Never mind.

20 x mins crosstrainer
10 x mins step machine
15 x mins treadmill
15 x mins powerplate

(Yes, I did succumb to a tiny little run and I felt a bit better afterwards too).

I got the official results online. The winner did it in 26:01. How is that humanly possible? 55:16 was my official time. Fourth from last. Told a few people about it today and they were in hysterics.

About two miles into today's race, I thought, how am I going to write this up on my blog? I thought, how am I going to explain or justify to myself that I pulled out due to embarrassment?

When I got down to the beach this morning, I immediately thought: what the fuck am I doing here? For some reason, probably because I'd done absolutely no research whatsoever, but for some reason I thought this 5 miler would just be some kind of fun-run and there'd be loads of all types of people there. But it wasn't like that at all. It was a group of about 150 lean, mean running machines, all wearing running club t-shirts, every single one. I literally did not spot one person, other than me, who wasn't affiliated to some athletics club or other. I felt totally mortified. I knew the whole thing was going to be a humiliating nightmare - and it was. Anyway, I did carry on, despite myself, and I'll get this over with now, and say that I came (I think) fifth or sixth from last. And I'm pretty sure everyone behind me was either a cripple or an octogenarian. As I was rounding the final bend all the marshalls were clapping and saying 'Well Done!' as though they were talking to a five year old. The whole thing was just awful and has really put me off ever doing a race again, unless it's specifically for people who are athletically challenged. Hideous.

I don't know what my official time is yet, apparently the results will be up on some website or other sometime this week, but I don't really want to see. By my watch, anyway, it was 55:10. But I think the official time will be a bit slower than that as there was no chip timing and I started right at the very back.

Absolutely dreading this bloody race in Texas now.