I’d say the original Week 6 and 7 were a complete dud. I ran a total of less than 15km in the past 2 weeks, and now have to start all over again with only 2 weeks to my qualifying test for the marathon. I am scared and nervous and mostly embarrassed coz I think I’m gonna flunk. I am nowhere near marathon-ready but never say die, right?
Updates:
- I have started running in earnest last night, but managing only 3.5km in 30mins. Bummer. The gym was full and people were waiting their turn at the treadmill so I hopped off after 30mins, then cycled for another 15mins to keep the heart rate up. I was hoping to put in 5km but I was unable to increase speed. Why? Because I had side stitches! So I ran no faster than 6.8km/hr. That’s what happens when you slack off your training, your internal organs (including your diaphragm) forget how to rearrange themselves. So for the rest of the week I will stick to 5.5-6.5km/hr until I am comfortable enough to go back to 7-8.5km/hr. Lots of lost speed but it’s no one’s fault but mine. I won’t even bother running at top race speed (for my category, ideally it’s 10-11km.hr) unless I want to faint right there on the treadmill. I am confident that I can still maintain my 5km below 40mins. As long as I run within the 6-7km/hr, I should be able to do so coz I run continuously without walk breaks. Silver lining: I am fitter today than I was 7 weeks ago. Hold on to that.
- No weight gain/loss this week, which I am very grateful for. Because of the (long-ish) break in training, I am experiencing carb and sweets craving all over again. I have been eating pancakes with maple and chocolate syrup since Saturday, and been having a Starbucks Frappucino every day too. I did not cheat. Well technically I didn’t. I made the pancakes myself, and the Frapps are the bottled version that I bought from Cold Storage. So technically I was not eating out and treating myself to rubbish food. I still have 4 more bottles of Frapps in my fridge but I have run out of pancake batter and maple syrup. That’s good news, right?
- One thing that I notice is that these days I hardly sweat when I run or bike. I used to be drenched. The only time I felt like I had a good workout in recent times was when I split the training into half hour each for biking, running and walking uphill. I think this is because my heart is quite used to the current workout plan so running alone doesn’t give the ticker a cardio exercise anymore. All the more reason to improve speed and distance and to add different kinds of exercise to my training. It still rains frequently so I refrain from running around town, traffic is scary here and the roads are slippery. But I believe running on natural terrain instead of the treadmill will allow me to regain my form faster. I’ll give it a few more days before trying this out. AND…. I am going to teach myself the Night of Fire Para Para Dance. Wuhooo!
What Night of Fire Para Para Dance, you ask? THIS Night of Fire Para Para Dance. If the fat, barely dressed, hairless man can do it, Ijah can too!
Like I said, this running thing is like two steps forward and one step back. The plateau in results really demotivates you. And then there are external reasons like work, the weather, socializing et cetera; it is a daily struggle to convince myself to put on the trainers and haul my ass to the gym. Some days, like today, it is an easy choice. Some days (or weeks, if we take the last couple of weeks as an example) I don’t even bother to fight the urge to curl on the couch and watch TV instead.
Anyway, pic for Week 6 Reboot:
Ganbattei! Ganbattei! Ganbattei!!
