What a week. Almost seems to have lasted more than a week for some reason. Maybe because I was away last weekend in Wales, then straight to London for 3 days and then the rest of the week is just a blur of hardly being at home. Out and about pretty much the entire time. Not complaining but it does mean life admin goes to pot, which in turn is one of the few things that stresses me out. Gah.
I did manage to kind of stick to the training plan and did 43km running and 40km cycling which isn’t too shabby. Running in London was pretty nice as I ran with my work buddy Alex twice along the water, and we felt smugger than smug that we ran while everyone was piling into the free drinks reception on the first night (let’s ignore the effects of the free bar we both piled into on the second).
On Friday I had a a fitness assessment by Dr Garry Palmer at Sportstest up in Staffordshire. I’ll write a full blog post about it shortly, but basically it measured my body fat, VO2 max, heart rate etc. and he helped create a tailored training plan based on my lifestyle, preferences, heart rate, fitness etc. I luckily got this through work – supporting running the Wadi Rum Ultra for charity. Well worth doing and now I’ve done it I’d probably spend the cash myself if doing a big event or had a specific goal (e.g. turn me into a proper athlete/make me run as fast as Usain Bolt).
It’s changed my training plan a bit by adding more longer runs at specific heart rates (will still look at splitting these as well as running all in one go) and also has added cycling in to keep the effort on the legs but to reduce the strain on my knees and hips. And keep in swimming and yoga. Garry quite quickly worked out that I do things for fun, not competing, and so was keen to keep stuff that wasn’t running for me (he also realised that I get bored quickly so need variety).
Friday and Saturday saw me and Sam go walking on Leckhampton Hill, biking in the Cotswolds, eating lollies and having a beer. Sam’s rehabbing after his hip op so it was win-win for both of us. Although I do need to be knocking the drinking on the head with my training. But beer gardens and hot weather and friends just call for a beer or two.
Sunday was a long run day, and started with a £2 training plan run with Jenna where we accidentally got caught up in the start of the Cheltenham Challenge – at one point we were leading. OK, albeit as a result of taking a slightly different route…but still. It was bloody hot and hard work, so we stopped after 10km and had a rest with the BMF guys after their session, then I did the last 9.5km on my own pootling around town. Even hotter as it had moved into the hottest part of the day, although some could argue it was good training. I spent a lot of it drinking water (and trying to figure out how much water I should be drinking) and wishing I could get out the heat, and wondering whether peeling your own skin off would mean you’d be cooler.
I’m moving house in a couple of weeks which is taking up a fair amount of my time with packing, sorting shit out and just taking up brain space. Once I’ve moved I’m hoping to be more on it with the £2 training plans and a bit more organised. It’s so ironic that an ex-Project Manager to be so scatty. Although maybe not that much of a surprise for my old boss.
The Paps Life 