I finished the Berlin Wall challenge at the end of May. I resorted to cycling much more than I wanted to because of the calf niggle. That now seems behind me. I think because the challenge didn’t quite go to plan and I was grumpy about not doing the miles just running or walking as I had planned, I sort of lost interest – coupled with the fact that I was irritated by the ‘postcards’ and place information given, I wasn’t all that inspired. Having said that, the medal is cool. And actually, the challenge did its thing. Without it, I doubt I would have got on the bike. Anyway, I wanted to finish itin May because in June I wanted to do the Virtual Spine Race Sprint. It’s 43 miles virtually on the Spine route starting in Edale and finishing in Hebden Bridge. I like the idea of watching my own dot moving along the route having watched so many dots move along the Pennine Way both in the winter and summer edition.

I have had a slow start but a controlled and planned start. I have been playing with new plans, new ways to do couch to 5k and then build from that for ages now, years literally. And it’s not really working. I don’t like them. I get so far and then lose interest. It seems silly to just keep doing that and think something will change. So I have gone back to what I know does work. This week I started the runDinsey Dopey Plan. The number of weeks left for the Great North Run actually works really well with the plan starting now and after that I’ll look at what’s next and work out where in the plan to drop back to to have a rest and then build again.

The first week has gone ok. I tried out some of the suggested drills on Tuesday’s run and then some quarter mile segments trying out different run/walk ratios. I was faster doing 15/15 seconds but felt a lot stronger doing 30/30. On Thursday I went after work. I was so tired – in fact I was too tired to do anything other than run. It may not have been the best idea to try a magic mile but I thought I might as well set a benchmark. I initially thought I would run the mile in quarter of a mile segments with a short walk break in the transition from one to the next. But it turns out that tired plus hay fever plus not having done much running at all, means that that was too ambitious. I walked more than I planned, then lost the battle in my head and nearly gave up, then rallied and finished. It ended up being a 13.58 mile on the flat. Oh well. The long ‘run’ today was a walk up to Keighley Gate and back down. It feels a bit like cheating in spite of the instructions being clear about it being perfectly acceptable to walk the full distance. Anyway, I am 13.5 miles into the virtual Spine so have navigated Kinder Scout and am slowly making progress towards Torside. Maybe one day I will actually go do bits of the pennine way and see these places for real. For now, I am looking at them on the OS map and they seem familiar just from previous dot watching experiences.

Finishing the Sprint distance is going to be a challenge, and I am not counting cycling this time, Everything is running or walking. I have a tendency to not get out when things get busy at work – that needs to stop and I am hoping that my slight dot watching obsession and cheering dots on a map onwards will translate into wanting to see my own dot move along and get this done. I am not currently last – which is a new experience lately!

I had 3 challenge codes for conqueror virtual challenges and was wondering what to do with them, what is next. Well, we have booked an adventure for this time next year. We are doing a tour in China so I used one code to sign up to a long distance challenge to try and complete over the next 50 weeks – running and walking for now but if it looks like I am going to be too far off, I may need to add some bike. I am doing the Pandas of China challenge and Kath signed up for the Great Wall challenge. It feels like a nice thing to do to celebrate and get ready for the adventure.

As the medal whore in me seems to be quite happy with these challenges and I am managing to be more consistent when I have a medal to work towards, I am now looking at what challenge to go for in July? Help me out. Lake District? Space Exploration? Great Barrier Reef? Niagara Falls? Help me decide. The distances vary so for some I would need to include cycling if I am going to do it in a month.

Next week looks like this: One run which includes race day practice and some drills; one run which includes some hill work and my long run – 4 miles on the plan. I also want to get on the bike at least once and do 2 strength sessions. One of them in the gym if I can’t manage both. I had got really good at stretching and yoga and that slipped a bit so far this month. I will try and start the week on the yoga mat and set the tone. I’ll let you know how I get on.