Sedate lady running 04-10 Nov 2019 #amrunning #running

A good week though I did too many days of cardio on the trot (oops)

First of all I need to share my thoughts on Corinna Korrubel’s Wellness Journal. She very kindly provided a review copy in return for an honest review. You get a page at the front for your main goals, and then a weekly planner for your fitness, followed by a page each day for a week where you can record whatever you want to record. I chose to note down my sleep, fruit and veg portions, exercise and steps, and sometimes made a note of my positives and challenges. I found it really useful and non-judgemental – it didn’t feel “wrong” to be not noting everything down and I felt I could use it as I wanted to. Also, importantly for me, the quality of the paper was good so I could write in the journal in fountain pen!

There’s a weekly journal recap page and pages to record stats at the end, so it would be useful for all kinds of wellness challenges. I recommend it, my only additions would be having a place for a weekly goal and having space to write down the name of the day at the top of the page, as well as the date.  Find out more with more sample pages on Corinna’s blog here and that page also has a link where you can go through to Amazon to order.

Monday – A lovely run with Claire as I’d run on Saturday so was up for a longer one. We worked out a 5.5 mile canal route we hadn’t done before, however there was an obstacle on the way back up from the canal in the form of a very large fallen tree!

Claire + tree

Of course I made Claire stand in the middle of the tree while I took my photo of the day! She’s just to the side of the actual path, and it was very muddy having got under the branch behind her.

5.5 miles, 12:54 mins per mile. 13,015 steps

Tuesday – I had to go to club run as I had two hi-viz volunteer tabards from the week before. I ran them up then ran around club run with a whole massive pack of sedate ladies – lovely fun. Jenny gave me a lift home as it was cold and dark. Tara had some lovely laces on her trainers!

Tara’s snazzy new laces

0.7 miles, 11:30 mins per mile / 4.00 miles, 12:52 mins per mile. 11,535 steps

Wednesday – I didn’t go to yoga as was waiting for a delivery. Managed to overlap with Matthew for 5 mins before I headed out to Spin for the first time in months. Spin was great, with OK music (soul and some pop with some Brazilian zumba-style music and arm movements. There was plenty of upper body work thrown in and it was a buzz like I don’t get from running. I will be back to this class.

5,499 steps (plus 45 mins of spin is apparently equivalent to around 9,000 steps – I think my watch counted some during the class)

Thursday – An early morning run with Jenny running through the dawn. I wore my new chest light which is lovely and bright, however I don’t seem to have taken a photo of it. But this was my fourth consecutive day of cardio and that was too much, so I peeled off and ran home the slightly long way to round things up. I had to wait in all day for a delivery that came at 6.30 (this was the one I waited in for yesterday, too, grr) so it was nice to have got out first thing.

4.3 miles, 12:14 mins per mile. 10,541 steps

Friday – I walked up to the post office to post some presents, then went on the treadmill in the gym for 15 minutes gathering steps, but my Kindle went wrong (seems OK now) so had to watch awful videos on the rubbish TVs. Made it to Claire yoga which was a lovely although quite hard class (deep squats and standing up slowly from them, yay. Goddess pose, not so yay). I had a lovely mail delivery when I got home – a couple of books (see my next book post for pics) and my kit for RED January. This is a month in aid of Mind, the mental health charity, RED stands for Run Every Day but I don’t like to do that or to encourage others to do so recklessly (readers with a streak: I know you know what you’re doing!) so I will aim again to do some activity every day, and days I don’t do something else, walk 10,000 steps. I was pleased with the buff which I ordered as well as the tshirt this year.

RED January in aid of Mind

5,293 steps

Saturday – I had a trip out to be a Contributed Official for running club at the men’s cross country league in the Warwickshire country park of Burton Dassett Hills. This is a very high area, with great potential for cross country – but it was FREEZING. It was about 2 degrees (35 F) with a biting wind and heavy rain and even though I wore my hi-viz coat, I was so cold on my hands and feet. My job, which saved club from being docked 200 league points, was to give out round metal tokens with the finish position on to the runners at the end of the funnel. A colleague got batches off a spike and handed them to me but they were so cold and all stuck together. The poor runners were freezing, too. I normally have a jolly word for everyone at these events but I lost my sense of humour a bit (I was also annoyed as I have cold weather gear but wasn’t wearing enough of it!). Got back in the club tent after and someone had to open my flask and pour out my cup of tea for me!!

And they’re off! This gives some idea of the cold, wet misery of it all.

Some of the men’s cross-country team plus me in the middle in hi-viz. Photo by Tim Livesley, shared with permission.

It took me ages to thaw out when I got home!

3,013 steps (a million shivers)

Sunday – Long run Sunday and it was so sunny, although very chilly again. I met Caroline, Trudie and Mary Ellen at the end of my road and we headed up to Stirchley to get on the canal at the Cadbury Factory. We were pleased to see the Gorilla of Stirchley looking suitably festive.

The Santa Gorilla of Old Stirchley Town

Once on the canals we did the usual route heading back to the boatyard. Trudie’s husband Dave appeared running in the opposite direction (and less cold and wet than yesterday) so we got him to take a photo of us on this lovely part of the canal network.

Mary Ellen, Liz, Caroline, Trudie. Taken by Dave, posted with permission.

Caroline peeled off but had managed her first 10k for ages, we carried on through the woods and the fallen tree was still fallen (sorry to Trudie’s lovely new trainers, not so white after all that mud) then when we got back near home, Mary Ellen went off home. Trudie and I decided to go and visit a local war memorial, but disaster struck when she tripped on a loose paving stone and fell. Oh no! Sore hands and a bashed and scraped knee and hip so once she’d gathered herself I walked her home and then continued my run, rounding it up to 10 miles, and even with the walking, on 6-hour marathon pace so I left it as a run rather than trying to muck around with my Strava stats. Recover well, Trudie! (please wish her well in the comments if you get a moment and have read this far!).

10 miles, 13:43 mins per mile. 22,940 steps as of 17.30.

Weekly total 24.5 miles. Total this year 868.2 892.7 (I need 916.66 at the end of this month to be on track for my 1,000 miles in a year total; I am still 19 miles down on last year). Total weekly steps 71,836 (I have decided that I’m OK if my weekly total is over 70,000 though will make an effort each day: I just don’t have time to march around every day!).

The Weekly Run Down is run by two wonderful running women and joined by lots of other inspirational women. Kim’s weekly wrap is here and Deborah’s is here.