I need to get back in training!
I dabbled in running throughout my twenties, and ran the Cancer Research UK 5K Race for Life every year for six years. I then got a promotion at work and unfortunately healthy living took a back seat to work-related stress. Several years, a couple of stone and another promotion later I made the decision to step down from my management role and to go back to doing the job I loved. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and soon after starting my new job I lost over two stone with Weight Watchers. I started running again in October 2012 and my first recorded "run" on Map my Run was a mixture of walking and running, was 1.84 miles long and took me 28mins 55secs at an average pace of 15:43 min/mi. That was it, I was hooked!
In July 2013 I ran one of the Women's Running 10k events in Nottingham, with a time of 1:00:53.
I immediately started training to run 13.1 miles using a modified Women's Running training plan which I really liked and which really worked for me - unfortunately it's no longer on their website so I can't link to it. I ran 13.1 miles for the first time in January 2014, in 2:13:08, at an average pace of 10:09 min/mi. I combined my running training with cycling to work most days, doing Cross Fit once a week for strength training (side note: I LOVE Cross Fit!) and walking with my husband most weekends.
I then did what many novice runners do - did too much! I've got bad knees, thanks to the fact that I supinate. I also have very high arches and inflexible ankles; really I don't think I'm built for running! As I got fitter and fitter I did more and more, including building hill sprints into my weekly training routine, and like an idiot I tried to do it without replacing my old orthotics when they wore out. At the end of April 2014 my knees finally told me in no uncertain terms that things had to change when I subjected them to a squat-heavy Cross Fit session where the warm-up alone included 50 squats, two power yoga sessions and a sprint training session in one weekend, followed by a hilly 10k for speed and a long walk over Great Shunner Fell from Swaledale to Wensleydale the next day. Ouch is all I will say to that.
I had to stop running altogether for a few weeks, and I finally got round to doing what I should have done long ago and organised new orthotics. I also saw my physiotherapist and was prescribed a number of corrective stretches which I've been doing religiously ever since. Once I could walk without pain I started speed-walking, then combined speed-walking and slow running, and finally built up to running again.
Progress has been very slow and frustrating ever since. I managed to run the 2014 Women's Running 10k in Nottingham in 59:37 at an average pace of 9:33 min/mi which I was quite pleased with on very little training (I am a very slow runner natuarlly). I ran with Jen, who ran a fantastic race and kept my pace up!
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I managed a couple of long runs after the WR10k, but a combination of heat and under-training due to bad knees kept my average pace at around 10:30 min/mi and made it really, really hard. And, I have to admit, exercise has taken a back seat to other things, namely eating, drinking and being merry, and being on holiday. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to try to start training seriously the week my closest colleague and friend at work retired, and the week before I broke up for two weeks' holiday
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Ahem! While I was on holiday I only managed one run, which I had to cut short half-way through because of the heat. It wasn't pretty.
Then I spent the second week of my holiday helping my husband to re-lay the paving slabs at the side of our house. It was hard physical work and it made my knees really sore. Still, I really do need to get back into training, and decided to do as much as I could - without upsetting my knees - on my return to work.
There will be an update on Sunday!
