2010 Progress Entrant - Iola Wilson

Contents:- -Intro- Report -1- -2- -3- -4- -5- -6- -7- -8- -9- -10- -11- -12- -13- -14- -15- -16- -17- -Final-

Report 11 - Week beginning 22/03/10

The X-ercise Files - Diary of a 'wannabe better' long distance runner

It's been a very busy week, both at work and home. I have felt that I don't actually have time to run, however I have managed to get my four runs in and have really felt the benefits. I've found running a great way to de-stress and it really helps me sleep well. Someone asked me this week how I fit in being a mum, working and running. I have to prioritise running, it comes after family and work but my house is quite messy, I'm often not very organised and I'm in a permanent state of exhaustion because I'm literally running from one thing to the next!

I went through to Thurso for the Harriers Endurance session on Tuesday evening. I increased my tempo time at the beginning and end of the session to 6 minutes. The middle section of 3x 3 mins tempo then 5x 1 min sprints felt very tough. I worked hard, especially when a fellow runner picked up the pace and pushed me to the limit on one of the sprints (you know who you are) - I thought I might vomit when the whistle for recovery time went! I really enjoy these sessions and the feeling of completely exhausted muscles after them. My speed has increased again and the overall distance of the session was about 6.2 miles.

On Wednesday afternoon I ran 5 miles around town. My legs felt a bit heavy after the endurance session but I managed to keep up a fairly steady pace of around 8:35/mile. The weather on Friday morning didn't look great for the hill session in the evening. However, it dried up and after rushing home from work and getting started on packing for our holiday I went round to the harbour. I did my usual warm-up and then really tried to attack the hill each time I went up. I had no Fiona to race against this week so I think I gave up a little earlier than if she had been pushing me.

We were travelling to our holiday on Saturday and my tired legs were very glad of the day off. We stopped at Run4it in Inverness where I spent over an hour in the shop and made very good use of my discount. I bought a lovely new jacket and various other pieces of kit, I'm confident I'll be the best dressed runner in Center Parcs this week!

Sunday was long run day and as we were on holiday Neil came with me. We were in Perth and ran through the North Insch (next to the river) and towards Almondbank. It was a 4.5 mile out and back route. It was lovely to have the company on such a long run. The weather was good, not too windy with some sunshine. I felt very comfortable during the run and enjoyed chatting to Neil a little during it. We kept a pretty steady pace throughout although I did pick it up a little in the last mile. We averaged 8.40min/mile and passed the 10k mark at almost exactly our time for the Mey 10k last year.

I have really enjoyed my running this week and am feeling far more confident about improving my time on the 10k. My pace is coming on and I feel stronger every week. My ability to keep running hard when I feel sore or tired has improved, which I am putting down to the endurance and hill sessions. I'm looking forward to doing a bit of running with Neil this week, he has even agreed to do a hill/endurance session with me!