Round and round we go, back to the beginning. Well, not quite; tonight's run wasn't as bad as say, the first week I did C25K, where I could barely manage a minute, but it was pretty pitiful for someone who ran (most of) a 5k just last week. Started out ok but it turned out to be one of those fidgety runs where your mind just isn't on board, fussing and flapping, and your knees turn into hot lumps of custard atop a pair of burning twigs. All told I managed about 1km sustained of an easy 2.5km route. So: rubbish. But: 1km is 1km and next it'll be 2km and I'll just have to grit my teeth and build it back up again.
I am tired, probably a bit left over from Iron Fish and since it's the beginning of the school term, we've all had a shiny new cold to deal with - I've mostly got over it quite quickly other than the headaches, but little D is really suffering, poor thing. My Fitness Pal tells me I didn't eat anywhere near enough today before I went out, which can't have helped. Guess I can scoff that left-over rhubarb crumble now, eh?
I picked up my Winter running kit yesterday - long-sleeved top (bright blue) and wind jacket (fluorescent yellow), both Ron Hill, both in the sale. And they're great, the jacket in particular - it poured down for the last 0.5km and I was bone dry underneath; it really cut the wind out too. It'll take a while to get used to long sleeves and the rustle of the fabric, I think. My kit is entirely mismatched now, but what the hell. I run in the dark for many reasons ;-)
My head's settled down a bit now (so it was worth it despite the pain and weather) but beforehand I was winding myself up something chronic about getting faster. I really want to improve over Winter - bring my running back up to scratch for distance and cut my mile times for both running and swimming, but so far I haven't managed to put anything coherent together. I know I probably need to be doing drills but I don't know where to start. What I want is an MOT - someone to take a look at where I am, and all the clunky bits of my body (like, why do I always feel more pain in my right shoulder/hip/knee?), and work out a programme I can stick to whilst still having a life.
I suppose that's called a personal trainer, isn't it.
