It's been a while...

Apologies for not writing for a while, I've been a bit of a busy bee recently and just haven't had the chance!

So anyway, the running is still going very well.

My running partner, Louise and I are both running round Southampton Common on a regular basis. And we're both quite enjoying it. Each time we add an extra bit onto our lap so that we're constantly going a little bit further each time.

Each of our laps of the common is 2.7 miles. And at the moment we're just managing one full lap. If you look at the map below of the common, the lap is pretty much the same as that, except now we run round the little lake on the straight bit on the right, and we finish where we start up by the paddling pools.

So if I can manage three laps before the Great South Run in October, that'll be about 8 miles. You shouldn't train to run the full lot anyway, as they say you can do the last few miles on adrenaline.

We did one lap last time in 27 minutes, so we're going further each time, but also faster. Although I was about to die - it was really hot on Tuesday as well, which really made it so much harder!

We're going to be training each Tuesday and Fridays in the common. I also need to start going back down the gym. Since I've taken up running outside I've more or less stopped going to the gym, which isn't really good. I need to be running outside about twice a week, and going to the gym twice too.

And that's that really. Nothing particuarly dramatic to report.. it's all going rather well at the moment!!

By the way - my blister is STILL here. It's never going to heal. Each time I run it comes back. But I'm used to it now..it's almost like my little jogging buddy!

32:32

Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll as to how quickly I would run the 5km in the Race for Life. I ran it yesterday so the final result is now in.... 32 minutes and 32 seconds. So thank you to everyone who said I'd get carted off in an ambulance!! How wrong were you?!

Myself and my darling little sister Anna ran the whole thing nonstop. And as many of you may know, our lucky number is 32, and by complete coincidence, our finishing time was 32:32. Very strange - I pressed start on my stopwatch when we started and didn't look at it again until I pressed stop as we went through the finish. I couldn't believe it when I saw it! Not only is it our lucky number, but it's a damn good finishing time too!! I honestly thought I'd do it in about 40 minutes, so I was really happy with 32 minutes.

And I don't feel too bad today either. I don't really ache. I think I'm coming down with Tom's cold (sorry, Man Flu) though. My throat is all sore and itchy.

So I'm going to have a day or two off from the training, then will get back to it on Wed probably.

Me and Tom's sister Louise will be running round the common every Sunday morning and Thursday evening. We managed just over 20 minutes last Thurs, so we'll move it up to 25 mins this week. Even though I know I can do 30 minutes now, it was really the crowd spurring me on. I'd rather increase my training slowly but surely.

So overall I really enjoyed running the race. There was a great atmosphere and it was good fun. 10,000 women were racing!! Obviously not all managed to sprint through as quick as me though!!

And thank you again to all that sponsored me. It was all for a very good cause.

xxx

I've quit the gym!

Well, I'm still technically a member, but I've taken my training outside!!

I figured that since I was doing so well on the treadmill, it was really time that I started to take my training outside. It's a well known fact that running outside on tarmac is a million, zillion times harder than doing it on a cushioned treadmill, in an air conditioned gym!

So this Saturday I donned my gym clothes, grabbed my iPod and hit the streets. I thought that since I was soooo brilliant at running now, I would run over the Itchen Bridge and back 3 time (yes, that is a 3 there - not a typo!). So off I went...however..even though the 'Debacle of the Itchen Bridge' has been well documented, I somehow forgot just how steep and horrific it is. So I got to the base of the bridge and it all came flooding back. I managed to get halfway, but then I turned around and ran all the way back. But it was also seriously windy on Sat morning, and I didn't want to risk being blown off and into the waters below (yeah right, because I'm such a waif!!!). So anyway.. I ran off of the bridge and trundled along around near where my flat is. I say trundled, because I can't honestly say it was running.

I came home 19 minutes after I left. And I was probably only running for 10 of those minutes. I was such a pathetic, wingy, whiny moose. I came back thinking 'I can't do this..it's too hard..I don't want to do it anymore'.. blah blah blah.

Seriously - when you're whining so much that you actually to annoy yourself, it's time to take serious action!

So, yesterday I went out and bought myself some new spanky jogging legging things (£34 reduced to £12 - bargain!), and so to celebrate (or justify the purchase, depending on your outlook on frivolous spending) I decided to hit the road again.

This time though I went far, far away from my front door, so that I couldn't give up and go home so easily. I went to Southampton Common. And told myself that I would run for at least 10 minutes without stopping. And since I can do 3 miles in 31 mins on the treadmill, I knew that I would have to be a mega wimp not to be able to do 10 little minutes in the park.

Off I went.. running away. It was hard. Very hard, but I didn't stop. I kept on thinking to myself 'you can stop when this song (on my iPod) finishes' or 'you can stop when you reach that dustbin' etc. But whenever I reached that point, I told myself I could go on for just a little bit more. And before I knew it I had run for 20 minutes 53 seconds!! I was shattered when I finished and my legs were really sore from running on tarmac, but I did it!! I was uber impressed with myself (I did actually give myself a pat on the back!! Loser!).

So it's now given me the confidence to know that I'm not rubbish at running, I'm just very good at giving up when the going gets tough!! I need to carry on running, even when it gets too hard.

The map to the right plots where I ran. A total of 2.24 miles.

I have the Race for Life on Sunday, so I'll fit in another couple of runs before then. I'm hoping to run it all non stop!

Retraction...

In my last entry I was very proud that I'd run 3 miles straight in 30 minutes.

Well I went to the gym last night and attempted to do the same as I did on Monday. So I did my 5 min walking warm up, then stopped the machine and restarted at 6mph ready to run for 30 minutes. But then I looked down and realised that it hadn't reset the time, so it already had 5 mins on the clock, which means when I ran for 30 minutes on Monday, I actually only ran for 25. If I had looked at the distance (which I didn't because I knew that 30 minutes at 6mph was dead of 3 miles), I would have seen that it would have been just over 2.5miles, and not 3!!

Oh disaster! When I realised this I was gutted! There was no way I could add another 5 minutes onto what I did on Monday (to take me up to 3 miles), I wasn't even sure that I'd be able to do the 25 minutes again!

So I started running, after 12 minutes I was having troubles, but I carried on to 19 minutes, wich was when I had to stop and walk for about 40 seconds, just to catch my breath back. Then I ran to 25 minutes. I was going to stop because technically I had pretty much done again what I did on Monday, but then I figured that I was only 0.5 miles away from getting up to 3 miles. So I started running again (but at about 7.7mph to make up for the walking that I had just done). Then after a minute or two of fast jogging, I brought it down to about 6.5mph and ran until I'd hit my 3 mile target.

So my final result was: 3 miles in 31 minutes exactly.

Admittidly it wasn't running non stop, but the short bursts of walking I did helped me to complete the 3 miles. I must have been running at an average of about 5.8mph which is pretty close to the 6mph I'm aiming for.

So I'm going to do another 3 miles on Saturday, then next week move it up to 3.5 miles. Each week I'll do 3 training sessions, then bump it up by another half mile for the next week. If I do that I'll be running 10 miles each time by the beginning of Oct. The race is at the end of Oct so it's quite good timing.

I'd also like to thank everyone who sponsored me. If you haven't sponsored me yet - why not!!!
Sponsorship needs to be in before the 12th July (even for the race in Oct) because I'm not being sponsored seperately for the half marathon. Everything is going to Breast Cancer Research.

Sponsor me here.

Thank you!

Sponsor Me!!!

I've now launched my Race For Life sponsor page.

Click here to view it and to donate to this very worthy cause.

I won't be getting sponsored seperately for the Great South Run so please give me a big lump sum to cover all the races I'm doing!

Thank you very much for your support.

Victoria, xxx

She's Back!!

Back from my holiday, back in the gym and back into my training!!

I spent a wonderful week away in the South of France. Click here to look at the photos! I did actually pack my trainers and jogging gear in good faith that I'd have a bit of a run around, but it was just sooooo hot, that it would have been an awfully traumatic experience, and since the nearest hospital must have been about 2 hours away, I didn't want to risk keeling over and dying! So instead of donning my jogging gear I donned my bikini and sat by the pool for the whole week. It was heaven!

But now I'm back and I've not been running since the Itchen Bridge debacle. I was actually a little bit worried that I would be rubbish (even more than normal) and would have to start my training from the beginning again.

So I went to the gym yesterday and thought that I'd just test myself to see where my fitness and stamina levels were. I've got the Race for Life coming up which is 3 miles, so I thought I'd just run that and see how quickly and easily I could do it. I'm hoping to run the half marathon at an average of 6mph which means I'd run a mile in 10 minutes. So for this 3 mile run, I thought that if I managed it in under 40 minutes then I'd have done a good job.

So I selected '3 Mile Run' on my treadmill and I was off. The first few minutes were pretty tough and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do any of it. But I carried on and after a while found that I was finding it all okay. So I ran and ran, not looking at how long I'd been running for. Then when I did look I saw that I'd been running for 23 minutes!! Non stop at 6mph!! I was very, very impressed and very happy that I hadn't found it that tough. So I carried on running - the last 5 minutes were hard (especially as my iPod decided to pack up and switch itself off - I rely on having upbeat, motivating songs keeping me going, so running in silence for the last bit was horrible). But none the less, I carried on running and managed to run all three miles in 30 minutes flat!!!!

YEAHY!!!! GO RIA, GO RIA, GO GO, GO RIA!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

I was really very happy indeed. I don't know if it was because I hadn't been running in a while so my body had had a good break, or if it was because I was on a treadmill and in an air conditioned room, but either way, it's the most I've ever run non-stop in my whole life! Maybe it's just because after about 5 weeks of training I'm starting to get okay at running. Who knows? Who really cares, as long as I can get back in the gym and do it all again but a little bit further on Tuesday.