Longish slow run today. Need to get back into the swing of them if they're going to become a regular weekend fixture again.
Felt fine. Took it nice and easy, sped up a bit at the end. HR was steady throughout at around 165 - 170. Hit 183 in the last five minutes.

1 x 10k run.

Feeling a bit guilty about not doing much outside running lately. It's windy, rainy, slimy and leafy, and cold. I have no problems running in the rain, if it's nice summery rain. But miserable, hard, relentless, cold November rain is not much fun. I know that if I say I will go, I will go. But I will procrastinate for hours and not get out of the house till really late. And the time I spend procrastinating won't be in the least bit productive so the whole thing'll end up taking over the entire evening. Plus, I know that when I start a proper half-marathon training programme either next week or the week after, I will definitely need to do most of it outside. So I'm kind of looking at these couple of weeks as a bit of a lull. And the gym is cosy. And warm. And 30 seconds from the station. My feet carry me there without me even thinking about it.

The Brooks Brighton 10k is on Sunday, and it's quite a big deal 'round these parts. It's also the South of England championships for the distance. I'm so pissed off with myself for, yes - procrastinating - so long about getting my entry in that it was completely full by the time I applied a few weeks ago. 3,000 places all gone. I might do some investigations on Saturday and see if there is any way of getting a late entry through a cancellation or something. I'm not trained up for a 10k at all but I could do it, I reckon.

15 x mins crosstrainer
15 x mins treadmill
15 x mins bike (yawn)
15 x mins cardiowave
15 x mins weights

Hard workout tonight. The sweat was pouring off me, nice. Oh. I wonder if it was because I wasn't on my favourite treadmill directly underneath the air-con...

After my run I tried to replicate the class from the other night on my own. If I want to sort my back out and get those neglected muscles stronger I don't think one half hour class a week will do much good. So another thing to add to the routine I suppose. I also did that swiss ball exercise again that I did at K's personal training session in Austin. It kills the back of my thighs. Is it supposed to do that? Bloody hell. I did it ten times and afterwards my hamstrings were throbbing away on their own like billy-o.

Polish supermodels in the gym again tonight. They are funny. They spend the whole time in front of the mirror, full make-up, dangly earrings, co-ordinated tops, bottoms, shoes, socks and hairbands, and they lift about one miniscule weight every fifteen minutes.

10 x mins crosstrainer
30 x mins treadmill... one day I will run 5k in under 30 mins. I actually can't believe I still can't do this. It's depressing.
10 x mins powerplate
45 x mins weights and things

I finally managed to emotionally blackmail Spock into accompanying me to the Abs/Core training class tonight, eleven weeks after she first said she'd come. I know I could go on my own... but I really am so shit at that kind of thing. I needed her to come with me so we could be shit together. The first five minutes were insane; Reni the mad Australian trainer is a pyschopath. But then it calmed down a little. Only 100 situps per minute instead of 500. We were both so rubbish, moaning and giggling. But it was good fun. Except for the balancing exercises... fuck me. I am so feeble.

Krzys ran a half-marathon yesterday. I don't think he did any specific training for it yet he still managed to run it in 1hr 35. I just can't get my head round that. To just be able to go out and do it. That's like a 7.15 min pace. I don't think I could run that fast for even thirty seconds. Tonight I ran 4k at a ten minute mile pace, which is fast for me. I felt sick. I only had three hours sleep last night (what is with this Sunday night sleeplessness thing?) and I hardly drank anything today because the water machine wasn't working. So that may have something to do with it. Maybe. But it's still frustrating. I feel like I've only really made the minimum amount of progress over the last year where the speed thing is concerned. I don't know why it matters to me that much, but I would just like to be able to run a little bit faster. Even just to be able to run steadily, for at least a 5 or 10k distance at around - what - a 9:30 pace would be more than enough for me. But it seems a long, long way off. Never mind, I'll keep on at it. It is frustrating though, especially when Spock, who has only recently started exercising after literally years of not doing a thing, can already run much faster than me. I just look at her and think... bloody hell. It's not fair!

10 x mins crosstrainer
4k run (25 mins?)
10 x mins powerplate
30 x mins core class

Been trying to find an accessible running track in my local vicinity. Turns out, as I had suspected, there's no such thing. It's amazing really. There are only two running tracks in the whole of Brighton and Hove. One is at Withdean Stadium, which is where all the local athletics clubs meet, and also the temporary home of Brighton & Hove Albion football club, and the other is at a private school. Withdean, I think, may possibly be open to the public at certain times of the week. But it's a pain to get to. Two infrequent buses. The other option is Lewes, a local town a ten minute train ride away. There's a track attached to the leisure centre there, and it's open to the public on Sundays for a small fee. So I might head on down there next weekend. Got a few things I want to try out. But god... I can't believe there isn't just one in a park or something. It seems crazy.

Saturday:

20 x mins crosstrainer
5k run - started at 11.20 min pace, finished at 8:02 min pace (which nearly killed me)
plus ten minutes of short sprints
15 x mins powerplate