« December 2006 | Main | February 2007 »

January 29, 2007

A Long Run to Remember

Yesterday I did a long run with Andy. This in itself was something to enjoy as he doesn't like doing anything longer than 45 minutes and he managed to go the full hour and a half with me yesterday! We ran out the door in the cold cold weather, feeling my hands freeze (I have to find my gloves!) and feeling sorry for Andy because, even though he said he wasn't cold, he was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and this made me feel even colder.

The roads were unusually busy for that time of day. Normally the roads are dead quiet on Sunday afternoons, but for some reason everyone and his brother was out. It almost felt like we were running in the middle of the week on a day when everyone else was at work and we were witnessing all the school runs taking place.

After about 45 minutes my legs were starting to complain that they were tired, but I kept running, taking a minute walking break every 15 minutes and having some water, honey and chatting to Andy about the coming year. Around the end of the run he mentioned that he might want to do a half marathon this year. A half marathon! Andy! Its made me really excited, as he'll be training with me from now until whenever his chosen marathon takes place :)

Now I'm all excited!

Posted by karinm at 9:04 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2007

Club Time

Last night I headed over to the track to see what the Triathlon club that I wanted to join was like. I got there and the first thing I noticed was that everyone was looking extremely fit. I spoke to the coach and he told me to join the session. Considering my legs were like jelly because I was scared of these people, I wasn't too keen, but I got on the track in any case.

The track was completely iced over. You could plotter along at a slow-ish pace, but the moment you wanted more grip to propel you forward, it was very obviously not there. So we ended up running on the grass on the inside of the track, leaving our footmarks from point A to point B.

It was the first speed workout that I've had since I've started running. No, seriously. My first speed workout in 2 years that was a proper one. My legs felt confused. My arms felt confused. I was freezing to death without my long top and dying of heat with it.

The workout itself was a lot of fun and afterwards I felt good about it all - so good in fact that I joined the club! They weren't extremely social, but they did seem serious about training and everyone did at least smile :)

So, I'm a member of a triathlon club now - and there's at least one other member tackling the same Ironman as me :)

Posted by karinm at 1:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2007

I don't know What to Put as the Title

Last night I did 40 minutes worth of cycling before heading off to the gym to get some strength in these arms of mine. The cycling felt harder than it did for a while, but it might be because I had flu. I watched 2 episodes of Friends while cycling and Andy played Tiger Woods Golf, listening to the sound of my turbo trainer going mad as I tried to keep up a cadence of 90 - 100.

We got to the gym just before 8 - the first thing I had to do was to venture into the free weights area. Urgh. First there were the looks from the many men showing off their strength wondering if I maybe got lost and came into the wrong room. I checked - there were no signs saying Men Only. I grabbed some weights and started my workout, bodyguard Andy next to me with his set of weights and did my few exercises. With my arms feeling like they were about to fall off, we went upstairs to the machine and stretching area and did a few ab workouts before we came home.

This morning I can feel that I cycled and that I did weights and all of it is good.

I'm looking forward to my trip to Scotland! Its only a few days away (we leave on Saturday) and I'm looking forward to exploring the grounds at Dunvegan castle and going for long walks on the Isle of Skye. And to take pictures!

Posted by karinm at 9:43 AM | Comments (2)

January 9, 2007

Do You Know Where your Child Is?

Running in the dark was never my favourite, but running during peak hour traffic seems to be even less fun. Apart from the fumes that you inhale and the people resenting the fact that you obviously already got home and they're stuck in a queue there's the fact that you actually have to stop at every single street crossing.

But when you look past that, the run itself is still fun :)

Last night I went running 10 minutes after I got home and for the fun of it, I dragged Andy along. He didn't complain too much, just settled into an easy pace with me and after we got past the queue of cars and onto a much busier road which didn't stand still, we started kidding around and did hops and skips and jumps inbetween steps. This is when I realised I have no coordination - and that I favour my left leg over my right leg.

We ran for an hour, passing one of the modern dangers of our time - 8 & 9 year old kids walking around and kicking random objects. As we passed one of these packs of dangerous beings, the one closest to the outside of the herd kicked at a stone on the ground, lost his balance and would probably have stormed off crying or swearing or whatever it is they do when they get hurt after falling flat on his nose. I caught him though, pushed him back towards his pack and carried on. Whether this was a kind deed or a method of self-preservation I'll never know, but no tears were shed.

I got home and realised that my cough was gone - I think the cold weather finally killed it. Immediately I felt better about the whole day and a nice shower later I was in bed and fast asleep. Lack of sleep finally caught up with me and demanded that I sleep for 14 hours.

This morning I felt great :) So great that I wish today was a running instead of cycling day!

Posted by karinm at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)