At last...

...I've started to run a little more like I used to...

Blog done :0-)

After 8 weeks of quite a few miles, quite a few lost voices and quite a few sore throats I was beginning to wonder if I was doomed to run Oompa Lumpa style for the rest of my days. For the last four weeks I've had a really good block of consistent training. Yet still my speed has been (for me) consistently slow. It's like my legs have had amnesia for the last two months and have mistaken themselves for legs of a cart horse. I've checked... and they're not THAT hairy! Anyway, I resigned myself to the fact that having jumped out of the Ironman loop I wouldn't have the fitness benefits from riding and swimming long and now I'm working a lot more fitting the miles in is a challenge.

Until... Thursday evening this week when as usual Russ and I were off out for our long run. We've worked up every week going 16 miles, 18, 20 and 22 and so this week it was back to 16 miles but with a little bit of pace added. Off we went wondering how on earth we were going to fool our legs into injecting some pace. Surprised by our first faster few miles and how easy we were finding keeping the pace we chatted enjoying the late evening sunshine. Where does it come from? I mean how does that work? Is it just like a little switch when you're body has soaked up the time on your feet and the speed sessions and then like a microwave do you reckon it just pings to say... "Ting, you're now fitter than you were so I'll allow you to push those cart horse legs a little faster"?!

So a confidence boosting run which is just what my cart horse legs needed and now I need to just maintain that for the next seven weeks and we'll see what happens come London Marathon day. Giddy-up legs :-)

Last Cross Country race of the season today and a great result for our Virgin Active Road Runners coming first in the girls team AND in the boys!! Well done VARR :-)

Work this week is manic (again) all is good and I'm loving it but thank goodness I'm not Ironman training because lord knows I'd struggle to fit the hours in. I'm absolutely loving hearing everyone else in the IM world's progress and now race season is upon us I'm excited to come and support you all and of course Tom. I love it, it's such a wonderful sport with such a wonderful community. So you lot, get out on those bikes (wuhoo to the sunshine!) get in that pool and run those little legs ragged. I'll see you on the road (I'll be the cart horse you pass while you're all on your bikes!)

Happy week.

H x

Pic above is time out I had with my brother on Friday and Saturday, sitting next to an open fire and catching up... wonderful.