
That’s the end of the first week of training, it went alright I think. The way my training is written out it seems Sundays should mark the end of the week but I like to think of Sundays as the start of a new week so I am doing it this way!
Monday saw me doing 30 minutes of “conditioning” work. I am not too sure what is meant by that, the internet throws up many different ideas – one of the things seems to be press ups and stuff like that, I am not so sure I can do them anymore so I am just going to do a really gentle run on conditioning days. At the moment I am doing most of my running on a treadmill because it is nice and warm in the Aquatec gym and there are no hills – I don’t like cold or hills but I know I will need to dry my eyes and deal with them at some point.
Tuesday was 40 minutes at “easy” pace. I did 7.5 km in 41 minutes, it felt easy enough so I figured I had done ok. I am not sure if this is normal but sometimes the start of a run, the first kilometre or so feel hardest – then I seem to settle down and it gets easier – who knows?
Wednesday I was to do a gym class or cross training for half an hour. I hate the cross trainer, I went on it for about 3 minutes but couldn’t get going well at all. So I just did a 30 minute run instead. Is the reason I am to mix it up with cross training and stuff so that I don’t over-run and hurt myself? I will need to get that sorted.
Thursday I had to do 10 minutes easy, 10 minutes steady then 10 minutes easy. This was not bad. I chose 10.5 km/h for easy and 11.5 km/h for steady. I think 12 km/h is my threshold pace for when I have to do that. Again, this was not bad.
Friday was a rest day – I celebrated by going to Dunoon and visiting Anselmos for the first time in years! It has been taken over by someone else and the sausages have changed. Anselmos always had different sausages but now they just have the ordinary battered ones you get everywhere else – progress! Apart from that the new menu and everything looked great – as always, a tasty dinner, my dad’s haggis looked amazing, I have never had haggis from a chip shop.
Onto Saturday, 30 minutes cross training or gym class, I went for a parkrun. I think I will always do this on a Saturday. Parkrun today was a lot quieter than usual today, probably due to the horrendous weather forecast and cold wind, hail, snow, freezing rain and rain.

153 people braved the elements though, plus the poor cold volunteers who did a great job. I was not feeling up for this at all this morning but I figured the most important runs are the ones you don’t want to do! Plus, if I start slacking off on the training I am in trouble, I need to get into the habit and make it an every day thing rather than an additional task I have.

The run went ok, for a few weeks now I have been meaning to have an easy parkrun to see if I could make it without feeling too tired and with the slippy conditions today it was as good a chance as any to try it out. I aimed to run it in 27 minute and 30 seconds and I did 27.44. I was quite pleased that I felt fairly fresh when I finished, it’s not always faster times that indicate progress I guess.

So then I went home and had 2 rolls and sausage, I felt I deserved it! Tomorrow is a 75 minute “easy” run so I will get a podcast downloaded and get on with it in the tropical surroundings of Aquatec rather than the icy environs of Mothewell.

10 points to anyone who can name what programme is on the telly…