1000km, mud and no alpacas

Week 3.  Less than 100 days to go !

9/01 spinning
10/01 speed work on the treadmill
11/01 5.22 miles 45.04min 8.38 m/m
12/01 6 miles 52 mins  8.40 m/m
14/01 4.69 miles 53 min 11.30 m/m - Very muddy around Wisborough Green
15/01 12.15 miles 1h47.59 min 8.53 m/m - Buriton - Ramsden - Stroud - Steep - Sheet

Highlights from this week include running 1000km since I got Runkeeper on my phone and started tracking how far I run.

Great but very muddy run around Wisborough Green on Saturday morning with my friend. It was more of an orienteering and agility challenge than run as there were so many stiles and obstacles to dodge.

For my long run it was freezing cold but a clear bright day. I always see loads of Alpacas when I go running around Petersfield and I was going to take a photo of them but forgot so here are some of the other animals! Alpacas next week!

Also, set up my fundraising page this week which is here - http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/annawemyss 

Next week I've got a massage for my legs to look forward to and I'm going away for the weekend so will have to do my long run in the dark on a Friday night.

Really need to start planning my drinking around running

So I have had a pretty rubbish week and actually glad I've had running to take my mind away from reality.

These are my times from this week:

03/01  -  4.73miles 41.16 mins 8:43m/m Loop of Pef
04/01 - Interval training with Liss Runners
05/01 - 5.01 miles 42.36 min 8:29 m/m Loop of Pef
07/01 - 3.59 miles  30.25 mins 8:29 m/m Heath - slightly hungover
08/01 - 11.09 miles 1:37:04 8:45 m/m - Ramsdean - Steep loop. Actually really nice route and I saw a field of Alpacas. BUT, OH MY GOD THIS WAS THE MOST HUNGOVER RUN EVER.

The main lesson I've learnt from this week is I need to start strategically planning my nights out and drinking so I don't go out and get WASTED and then do a long run because it is PAINFUL! I might have to start either changing my long run day to a Saturday as I think I'm more likely to have a quieter Friday night than Saturday night. Oh god who would have thought that so far my main challenge of marathon training has been planning when I can have a couple of wines.

Well here's to hopefully having a more sober week and cheers to not even trying to give up drinking in January.

Week 1 - Christmas and the BEAST

Christmas is over and training for the Brighton marathon has BEGUN. I've got my training plan from the Runner's World website and according to this if I do as it says I should be able to achieve a sub 4:00 hour marathon. I'm mostly writing this to make sure that blogging me keeps a check on running me so I don't slack off. So here goes.....

Boxing Day was day one, week one of sixteen weeks of marathon training. 3 miles around the Heath felt like a slog but that's probably because I hadn't run for a couple of weeks because of skiing and Christmas drinking and eating getting in the way. The first run of the week was definitely the hardest but thankfully the warm weather and running in the daylight made the rest of the week pretty easy. I was naughty and skipped one run but it was on NYE so I'm going to let myself off.

Week 1 - Total miles 23.46
 26/12/11 3.45 miles 30:41 Heath
27/12/11 3.25 miles 28:08 Penns Place
28/12/11 3.60 miles 32:18 Penns Place
30/12/11 4.48 miles 39:18 Diss -Heywood
01/12/11 8.68 miles 1.26:00 Thetford Forest

I did my long run on the way back home from Norfolk at Thetford Forest on New Year's Day. I broke all the rules given to me from this really miserable man at the forest centre by running on the 'slippery and narrow trails with very fast cylists' by doing the BLACK ROUTE - see extreme skull and cross bone warning sign below. Let's just say that although it was very muddy and I did fall over whilst tackling THE BEAST it was one of the easiest mountain bike trails ever with literally no hills, but I guess there aren't many hills in Norfolk so there you go.

Back to work tomorrow, so back to running around the industrial estate after dark. I do have a flashing pink light that I got for Christmas to try out though and I bet they'll be lots of New Year's Resolution Runners on the streets to keep me company.

First Cross Country!

I did my first ever cross country race on Sunday with the running club that I'm a member of. The race was at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park and it was a beauts day which made the experience a whole lot more enjoyable. I've never done a XC run or a 'club run' before so it was all new to me. Apart from slipping up WALKING up a little hill to the start line and having someone hold me to stop falling over and crushing everyone behind me it was really good. I came 35th out of all the women so that's not too bad considering I'd never done it before. Someone said I can gain at least 5 places if I buy a pair of trail shoes and another 5 places if I start nearer the front. So, I should be 25th for the next race I do?
The club featured in the local paper too - 'Newcomer Anna Wemyss!'

Marathon journey starts here

This is hopefully going to be a lovely story which finishes in me crossing the finishing line of my first marathon in Brighton on 15 April 2012 in under 4 hours. If this doesn't happen I am going to be DEVESTATED. So, it's just going to have to happen. Whatever it takes. Now I've written it down it's official and there is no going back, which is quite scary.

Before I can move forward, I need to reveal my running history:

First Half Marathon:
Race Your Pace March 2010 : 2hours 9mins

Royal Parks October 2010: 2hours 4 mins

Reading Half March 2011 : 1hour 55mins (Hooray for finally breaking 2 hours)

Great South Run October 2011 (10 miles):  1h16 mins

So those are my times to date. Hopefully they will keep getting faster or I stand no hope in HELL of finishing in under 4 hours.