This is normal apparently. Some days I feel it's all going brilliantly and, even though I am a little behind on my plan and haven't managed further than five miles yet, I have plenty of time and commitment and will get there; other days it's all terrible, I am miles behind on my plan and haven't done further than five miles yet, everything hurts and I'm never going to get there…
Last Thursday was a good day - I did an hour of Fitball and worked really hard (for me) then went into the gym and did 45 minutes on the treadmill (bit of running, bit of power walking) and covered just over 3 1/2 miles. Not brilliant but I'd put in the effort and felt good. Afterwards I tried a bit of icing/heating therapy as had been advised on a running forum I have joined. I filled my new (beautifully knitted, woolly-covered) hot water bottle, got an ice pack and then, while sitting at lunch, I placed my sore foot on each in turn for 2 minutes. I am not sure if it did any good but it felt quite nice.
On Friday and Saturday, however, I was in a lot of pain! I think it was from all the squats and lunges at Fitball, but my goodness my quads were sore. And when we went into town hubby parked at the bottom of the car park and made me walk up 9 flights of stairs. Thanks for that…
For my Sunday long run my plan said 80-90 minutes, but as I have missed a few Sunday sessions due to having to cycle rather than run, I thought this was a bit much. I mapped out a route from home that was about five miles and set off - walk 5, run 5 as before. By 18 minutes I was out of puff, wheezing and panting and feeling so miserable, and this was only the second set of "run 5"! I am hopeless! I felt like I've lost so much fitness over Christmas (the weight I've put on probably doesn't help either, but that's a whole other kettle of fish), and the thought of doing this for another 3 months and completing 26.2 miles seems like so much pie in the sky.
However, I persisted, and things gradually improved. I kept on with my 5:5 regime roughly, although it depends very much on which way the slope is going - if it starts to go up too much I'll happily abandon a run section, but equally there were one or two decent downs where I was supposed to be walking but didn't. Overall I reckon I ran about 2/3 of the total 66 minutes, over a distance of 5.5 miles. For even the mathematically challenged that is easy to work out at 12 minute miles, or 5 mph. (Which is pretty much how it's going to be I think, so, given that hours 4, 5 and 6 will be quite a bit slower, it'll take me 6 hours plus I reckon.) By the time I got home my mood had improved somewhat and I felt ok - it's still not really good enough, I am behind my plan and the idea of the 26.2 miles is still scary as hell, but at least I'm not giving up!
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