I think my head has finally reduced to a normal size since Saturday's Park Run win. Although, the fact that I've mentioned it in the opening sentence of this blog entry is an obvious indication that I'm still feeling rather proud of myself. Since Saturday I've been taken things a little easier, with the exception of a pretty hard kettlebell session on Tuesday.
On Sunday I met up with four of the Sweaty Betty running club ladies for an 8 mile run. The start of the run was a mile and a half from home to make my total distance 11 miles (not that I'm counting!). I've never been for a Sunday run with any of the girls from the Sweaty Betty club before, so it made a nice change. It also meant that I had to slow my pace down. I hope this doesn't offend any of the ladies who joined me. From my perspective it was very useful to be made to go at a slower pace than normal, given that I don't want to be running Gloucester Marathon in a quick time. I met two of my usual running friends on the run (Andy & Andrea), who thought I'd found the perfect way to sneak away from the missus and spend some time with four other women without raising any suspicions back home. Of course, it wasn't like that at all.
Monday should have been a rest day. It started off with me giving two personal training sessions back-to-back in the pouring rain. The reality is that I rarely get wet when delivering personal training sessions outdoors. The weather in this part of Britain isn't as bad as many people perceive. However, Monday morning was pretty grim, and I did end up very wet, despite wearing a pretty good water proof jacket and supposedly water proof trousers. Later on I taught three kettlebell group classes, which meant I had a light workout over a three hour period. So not exactly much opportunity to rest. At least the weather had improved dramatically to turn into a lovely afternoon.
Tuesday was a fairly quiet day in terms of work, so I had plenty of time for a hard kettlebell workout at home. Once again I followed the killer programme that I'd put together for one of my clients the previous week. Even I noticed that it was marginally easier second time, so I'm hoping my client will also agree when he has his second crack at it tomorrow. In the evening I had a run with a client. Normally I'd run Tuesday morning, but for the last two weeks I've settled for running with my Tuesday evening client as the only run I do on that day. It's all part of the taper. We ended up running 4.5 miles whilst doing a hard interval session.
The weather today has been great, with lovely clear, blue skies. Although the temperature could only be described as rather bracing. However, a great day for exercising outdoors. I had a very busy morning, followed by some time to relax with a book in the afternoon. I finished the day by coaching the Sweaty Betty running club. We were joined by four new comers this evening. We're currently gearing up for the Sweaty Betty Great British Run on February 9th. At least three of the newcomers have been enticed along for the build up to that event. The aim is to try and get as many ladies as possible along to the store to do a run. Each store will be in competition to see who can run the most mileage in the evening. I'll be guiding the ladies on three loops through the city. Each loop is approximately 2.5 miles long, all starting and finishing at the shop. So on the night everyone can decide whether they run 2.5, 5 or 7.5 miles. We then total up the total distance run by all the ladies who turn up. Whichever store covers the greatest mileage will be declared the winner and each lady who turns up and runs will receive a £50 voucher to spend at a Sweaty Betty shop. So any ladies reading this, if you're interested in taking part (in Cambridge!), make a note of the date and I hope to see you there.
I'll be trying to take the next few days very easy. The first marathon of the year is just four day away. Tomorrow will be my busiest day, and I will have to run with one client in the afternoon. That will be my last run before Sunday.
I'm looking forward to getting the first marathon under my belt. This Sunday feels like it will be the start of the year for me. I have no anxiety about the marathon itself. I just need to be disciplined and not run it fast. I'm aiming to get round in something like 3 hours 30 minutes. That might sound fast to some, but when your personal best is under 3 hours it should be a reasonably gentle run. Not that it won't be a challenge. Running marathons is always a challenge. 26.2 miles is still a very long way to run, no matter how many marathons you might have run.
I dare say the next time I update this blog will be on Sunday evening. When I hope to be able to report successfully completing my first of twelve marathons. So spare a thought for me sometime between 10.30am and 2pm on Sunday, which is when I'll be running Gloucester Marathon. Try to send me some positive energy.
Gloucester, here I come!
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