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 5 - Week beginning 08/02/10

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

This week I've been on holiday with my family in West Yorkshire. It's been a fun week with lots of activity and plenty of running. On Monday I had a rest day, which involved a short walk, a visit to the play park and swimming with the kids.

On Tuesday I had a long run along the Huddersfield narrow canal. I ran out for 3.5 miles and back. It was very cold, with short snow showers. The way out was uphill, very gradual but definitely uphill, the headwind on the way home meant I didn't feel the benefit of the downhill though. I saw a few other runners and was chased by some enthusiastic dogs taking their owners for their morning walks! A local gentleman shouted some words of encouragement at me at around the 5 mile mark, at least I think they were encouraging words. I felt encouraged anyway, but I have to admit I found the Yorkshire dialect difficult to understand.

On Wednesday I used the steep hill out of the valley to do some hill reps. I ran 1 mile to warm up then did 7x 300m hill reps. During each rep I climbed at least 40m, so the reps were very slow and they hurt a lot! I cooled down with a slow mile afterwards.

I had a short, fast run of 3.5 miles on Thursday. Again I ran along the canal, although I was beginning to get a bit bored of running the same route out. It was late by the time I went out and the light was fading, but I saw some familiar faces from my runs the previous days. It felt good to lengthen my stride and run hard, I felt strong and really enjoyed it.

I had a day off on Friday as the kids had been up overnight with a sickness bug and I wasn't feeling great myself. On Saturday we travelled to Edinburgh for the night. Having caught the end of the very disappointing Scotland v Wales rugby international we left the kids with my sister and went for a long run. Neil came with me this time and I ran without my i-pod (my third most precious piece of kit, after my trainers and my forerunner!). It was one of those clear, crisp winter afternoons, very cold but with no wind. We ran from Gorgie to Colinton and back. There were some fairly long hills on the way but I felt very comfortable and was able to hold a conversation throughout (although I wasn't getting many answers!). When we got back we had run about 6 miles but I was feeling really good so suggested we continue in the other direction for a few minutes. We ran just over 7 miles in total. I was delighted that I found the hills pretty pain-free and felt as though I could have kept going. Neil and I really enjoyed running together, time seemed to go faster and we were able to motivate each other. We will try to do our long run together more often.

I only managed to fit in pilates twice this week, and the kids were trying to do it with me which was quite entertaining! I have been eating lots of cakes and treats whilst on holiday. I haven't stood on the scales yet as we only got home tonight but am pretty sure that I will not have lost any weight, so it's cold turkey from tomorrow as far as sweet things go.