Sprints and photo shoots

Hi, today I did 2x 400m at at least 5k pace and warmed up and walked in between etc!!!!

what a different feeling - going as fast as I could and consuming a caffiene packed gel at the same time - to try it for my upcoming race!!

I can understand how some people call it running only if you can run at 9 min mile pace - which is sooo elitist and crap - if you look on wiki or a dictionary definition running is when both feet come off the ground and walking is when one foot is always in contact with the ground

We don't have 'trot' or 'canter' like horses

ok i know a sprint feels different from a slow waddle but it's still both running - i refuse to call myself a jogger and won't accept anyone who tells me that is wrong.

I am now officially going to be part of a work of art...

my sister has been doing an ongoing project about my schizophrenia and is now turning it into her final project for her degree show as well as a book an art installation short film, a 3 minute wonder for television and a set of exhibition prints...

part of the work is my writing about my illness... which will be spoken for the film or written in the book...

I really feel nervous about this stage of it when it is all still happening... but the actual shooting - i just want to do her work justice - she is part of the 2009 - 10 Taylor Wessing exhibition at the Tate National Portrait Gallery and is being commissioned for some shots to go along side it.

Her previous short film has been shown in film festivals around the world and if anyone wants to see some of her work, click this link:

http://www.claresmartphotography.co.uk/

there has been some new stuff added btw

11 min miles!!!!!!!!!!!!

HI,I only just realized that I did my last race in 11 min miles... for a 7 mile race... finished in 1:17:01 so it's virtually exact.

I really really really cannot believe it... I did not know i could run so fast!!!

On one pace calculator I am projected 1:52:53 for my 10 miler, that is INCONCIEVABLE
to me at the moment - that means if i push i can do it 34 minutes faster than the only time i did this distance on the road and 29 minutes faster than on the treadmill the other day - that is just a projection but Hell that is a great thing to come under 2 hrs i hope!!!

10 miles on Treadmill

10 miles is actually a new distance for me - this is the second time i've run it... I was a bit worried about Ice in the morning and although it seemed to be getting above 0C in the middle of the day - I thought oh well make the most of my gym membership ... give knees a treat...

I really enjoyed it - i loved seeing the other runners come and go, I loved typing in 60 mins and then near the end of it typing in another 60... I loved all the calculations i had to make to work out my time (2:19:44) and my kcal (860)
I loved changing over my energy drink bottles (3 of them) - i am so used to eating chewy sweets and coffee beans -

Maybe i need to try out gels for races - I think that is a great idea for my next race on 3rd Jan which is also 10 miles

I know what its like to run in 25 -27F

ROFL it was fun!!! we dont get these temperatures often im on holiday in germany and that was a 3 mile run in - 3 or 4 C and they say it will get down to - 7 or 8 so 14 or 11 F

go on tell me im not tough enough!!!

I ran 10 miles!!

HI EVERYONE!!

YAYYYY!!! *raises arms above head*

It was RAINING! the whole time, very heavy drizzle or heavy rain... I was dry including my shoes for the first mile and was feeling very happy to be dry still, but a little while later i was just as happy to be wet!

I had a brand new Garmin on (delivered as a replacement) and it is scratch free and not broken!! It was impossible to figure out how to work it tho i had got used to my old one - so no time out for my pee break it all went on the time.

I also walked every mile - not trusting the funny thing on my wrist i counted my paces 90 - 240 depending on how tired i was i walked 9 or 10 times, trying to get a walk a little for each mile

The first 4 miles flew by, and i was really tired by the time i'd finished the first 5 miles because i stepped up training last week and did a 16 mile week, hopefully 17 this week and 18 the week after, or about that (I want to get an 11 miler or 12? pushing it? before the 10 mile race on 3rd Jan)

Miles 6 and 8 were quite hard because of the increase in training anyway but by 7.5 i started to speed up to beat 2.5 hrs and to finish strong - i still had loads of energy left, but was worried about pushing it. I had a little pain in my legs - but not in the usual places so i wasn't worried.

The last 2.5 miles were the best i think, running through massive streams in the road, (once twisting my ankle because the sky was reflected in the water and i missed a pothole) which was on the whole very fun.

I got very used to WET and noticed not much except my footfalls and some people and nature... my time was:

2:26:45

14:40 min miles and

150bpm

I think I could do a lot faster!

Half Year Total.........

271.7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is half a year total of 26 weeks...

I can't give you my year total because i deleted my Garmin... so I am going from my Richmond 5k, to Jurassic Coast 10k, to 6 Moor Miles, to Tavy 7 and up until the end of last week...

This is my first respectable ammount of miles in an ammount of time... I did want a full year total in Jan but kind of forgot that when i deleted everything!!!!

Garmin won't give me my totals anyway any more because I have started running on treadmill...

So... another year when i can promise myself to log all my miles instead of looking forward to a grand total... I was running A LOT less in the first half of the year tho, so i will really make an effort now to Pile On The Miles.

Feeling good

Hi,

feeling confident about 10 mile race - i have done 8 miles three times now, so it doesn't feel like an impossible fluke that i can run 8 miles...

I guess every new distance has challenges i have heard, and i think in my head i have gone from, 2,3,4,6,8, as markers (or maybe at the start 1.5)

NOW my next big jump is 8 to 10 and I am only planning one 9 mile and one 11 mile run before the next 'big race' ;-)

So, only 2 more long long runs to go then a 10 day taper, a taper should be for this race, 10 days for 10 miles, and cut distance by half - so, after Christmas and up untill Jan 10th (working it out) I will need to do 1, 2, 1, 2,2, 2, 1.5, 1 or something along those lines...

I have just read that you must decrease your intensity also during recovery weeks... I have only been decreasing distance and upping the intensity because i feel better...

So I have been doing that wrong all along... will be difficult to run 2 or 1 mile slowly and is it true that you don't decrease fitness? I know the point is to be rested and there is a possibility that I haven't been doing enough of that before races...

ps. i am absolutely going to hate tapering during the most boring longest week of the year!! Swimming pool might help...