Quarter of a Marathon, and before work!

Good Evening Blog Followers,

Well I still haven’t touched a single ciggie, and only wanted one once, so that’s all good, but I think maybe a little more hypnotherapy is in order just to make sure things are all spot on!

So how has the training been this week, well let me tell you… I have had allot more energy, and I have also been eating breakfast without feeling sick, I don’t know if the increase in energy is to do with the correct diet or even the regulation of that diet, or even the no ciggies, but the energy levels have been much higher than normal and I have felt more able to push myself further.

Sunday was my day off (and this was really needed) but I did head off to the O2 in London and totter around the Titanic Exhibition with a friend, seeing as I had done a 10K the night before my feet actually felt fine, although just to be safe I made sure I wore very comfy trainers.

Monday saw the training start up all over again, and I was in the gym for my resistance training, this went very well and I clocked up a 2K run as well, I still struggle with chin ups, but this will come with time I guess.

Tuesday was spin, and what a spin session, the instructors have mixed it up again as we are nearing the end of this set, well I am not sure if the instructor meant to but she had chosen some epic but hard tracks, there was little time anywhere through the workout to slow down and recover but it was good, and I felt great, I pushed it hard for an hour and then headed off to the Jacuzzi after the required cleaning of the bike ceremony.

Wednesday and it was back in the gym for some resistance training, and I had a pancake covered in sliced banana for breakfast, this seemed to sit VERY well in the gym, I seemed to have more energy and never once felt the food there… This, I liked allot! It allowed me to really concentrate on my training, I did a full set, and increased some weights, but that chin up is still to hard… grr, think I need someone standing under me with a cattle prod!

I had already decided this week that Thursday was back to long run day, mainly due to the fact I really had no choice as I am away this weekend, and thus running on Saturday isn’t really an option, so because of this I did pretty much total resistance and very little cardio, I had a short jog and a cool down, I doubt I even reached 1K but I wanted to keep my energy high for tomorrow, I wanted to crack this 10K again.

That brings us nicely to this morning, I was late to bed last night, and thus was late up this morning I overslept by nearly half hour but I didn’t let this put me off, I climbed out of bed, got my kit on and headed for the kitchen, I had a pancake again, smothered in slices of banana, I then sat in front of the news as I cut carefully around the bananas one by one and fed them into me gob… Yum. So I got to the gym late but I was determined today was going to be 10K like it or not, I jumped on a treadmill, then jumped straight off, it seemed to be a faulty one, and with every few foot falls the belt just stopped dead and I nearly fell off… so I moved down one and started again, warm up for 4 minutes and off I went, feet to the beet.

Today I kept the pace very well and energy seem to not be an issue, and breath wasn’t an issue, once I was in a rhythm and remembered to breathe that is, I got all the way up to 5K without stopping once, I was so excited and soo elated that I had achieved this I forgot to breathe properly, lost my stride and screwed it up, not to worry I slowed to a walk took on some water and plodded for about 40 seconds, and off I went again back up to speed, feet to the beet, 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. I pressed on running tall and strong, breathing rhythmically, loosing myself in the moment, well as much as I could anyway!

I was nearing the 6K mark, my arch nemesis! I took my sweat towel, mopped my brow, then folded it neatly over the display so I couldn’t see how far I had run, I pushed on, and actually sped up just a little, next time I needed my towel I couldn’t help taking a peek, and I was at 7K only 3K left, I had past that mark, my arch nemesis was defeated! My feet were agitated by now, I could feel my plasters I spent so long placing this morning had moved, but I couldn’t feel any blisters just soreness nothing to worry about I kept on pushing through.

I moved the towel and 8K just passed, I wanted to do this, so I pushed the speed up a little, and started to stride a little wider, still running with the beat of the music, I started watching the distance tick away, I soon reached 9K, that was it, I was already happy, but I wanted to do it and do it quick, so I upped the speed again 11.5KPH, pushing it a little but okay, I had already been running for 50 minutes… I got to 9.5K and I pushed the speed up again 12.5KPH compared to the steady 10.5 I had been doing for a while it felt like a sprint, but not long now I just had to push it…. 13KPH, I was gunning for it now… Then I was there, I ran over the 10K mark faster and stronger than I ever have 10K in just over 55 minutes and I only walked once for no longer than 45 seconds, maybe next time I won’t need to walk at all?

So again I had done it, I had run Quarter of a Marathon, and before work… and the time seems to be coming down, once I get to the stage where I don’t need to slow down at all I can look to bring that time down even more.

I then proceeded to spend my day at work, on my feet most of the day for a change running around a big warehouse sorting out various IT Issues, and I am still standing… Just :)

Well then what have we learnt from today? I think we have learnt that Banana Pancakes do well and can get me to 10K no problems!

Tomorrow is spin day, so I will be up and eating again at 5:30 and sat on a spin bike by 6:35 ready for Instructor Dan to kill a room full of people, but we know what Spin is don’t we? It’s Spin off the pain Friday… So by the time I fall off the bike and get in the Jacuzzi I will be refreshed and ready for a nice weekend resting the body :)

Now for the important bit, I was told by a friend who is raising some money for me, that her cousin died from Asthma, this just shows how close this can be to us all, Asthma UK are working tirelessly to prevent this, so that our friends and relatives and even ourselves can stay fit and healthy and live with asthma without it holding us back, or taking our lives. To see how Asthma UK do all this visit http://www.asthma.org.uk but remember they can’t do this without our help and support, so once you have seen what they do, pop along to my Virgin Money Giving page http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JohnClitherow and sponsor me to run the Virgin London Marathon.

See you all soon,
Jay (Red John).