Before the London Marathon I was really looking forward to not running to a plan, just going out and running by feel and not worrying about time, speed, distance… well I was wrong about that. If I don’t have a plan I don’t quite know what to do with myself and I end up not going out at all. If I have to think about what I want to do, I really struggle to decide that I want to run at all. A plan was needed. When we signed up for the Disneyland Super Heroes Marathon weekend in November I looked for the training plan for that and then checked whether there was one for the Disneyland Paris half, too.

We decided that the Jeff Galloway plans had got us to Dopey and through London so we weren’t about to go fix something that wasn’t broken. The plans have worked well for us and I am still convinced that the run/walk intervals are what keeps my motivation up because it means I can actually do a pretty decent distance and don’t feel like a failure all the time. Anyway, I couldn’t find a plan for the Disneyland Paris Half so we used the November  run one and adapted the timings.

The plan we have finally come up with is an amalgamation of the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge plan, the improvers half marathon plan and a Runners World 10km training plan which we both liked the look of. Then we added in some specific yoga sessions – we usually do a little bit every day but I am certainly good at avoiding the strength yoga so that is now timetabled and on our non running weekend day we’ll try and do at least an hour, although not necessarily in one go.

So May looks like this:

As you can see we are at the end of week 1 of the plan. You’ll also see that the weekend runs are listed on Saturdays but that’s not set – it just means a weekend run for now. For example today we are not running but are instead planning to go to Bolton Abbey to run our RunDisney Shorts first virtual run there. Later on in the programme we add some back to back days so that’s when it all becomes a little less flexible.

June looks like this:

There are different types of sessions – hills every two weeks (although many of our routes include a good number of hills/slopes anyway so the hill sessions are the serious hills), 45 minutes with Magic Mile and/or with a section at race pace, form strides, longer runs with 1 minute surges and 800 metre interval speed training. I’m quite excited to see how this pans out and how much of a difference this will make to our half marathon time in autumn. I do want to go a bit faster (we set a new PB at the London Marathon of 2.48 ish I think although I’d have to check the exact time) and ultimately I’d like to get close to 2.30 but I’m also really interested to see how I feel and whether I can get through a half marathon without having to walk loads towards the end.

I’ll share the rest of the plan as we progress through it and keep you posted on how we are doing.

Anyway, happy running and just a warning – virtual Disney run tomorrow so the next blog is likely to be full of silliness!

So, run number 2 of the new training programme. The programme says: 45 mins with MM + 4 form strides. After staring at it for a minute or two I remembered that MM was Magic Mile so the plan was to do a 45 min run and within in that time a one mile stretch which we’d run at just above easy pace for this first one. This makes me chuckle – I don’t have an easy pace. If I’m running it aint’ easy! That aside though,it means running a full mile without stopping for a walk break and is apparently a pretty good indicator of what your half marathon race pace can be at this point  – just multiply by 1.2. So, I was thinking, roughly 12 minutes of running. After the MM the rest of the 45 mins should be back at easy pace. After that there were the form strides which Kath had sort of explained to me but I decided I just wouldn’t worry about that until we got there.

So we set off down to the canal running intervals and then start our magic mile as we crossed the bridge. Geoff Galloway suggest taking a 15 second walk break in the middle of the magic mile so we did. I did find it quite tough but I also think we ran it relatively conservatively and possibly could have pushed a little harder. I’m always better when I know the start and finish point so if we do it again I know where I have to get to, whereas today I was just waiting for Kath to tell me when our mile was up. We completed in in 11 mins 24 seconds and then settled into a couple of easy intervals. I’m happy about that. For me running a mile in under 12 minutes is always good and this is a great benchmark. The plan is to improve the MM every time we do it which is roughly every two weeks.

I’ve blogged about toilet issues before – but thankfully not for quite some time so I am sorry to have to go there again. I’d been to the loo before we went to run but I still felt a bit bunged up. Well that was clearly resolving itself as I was running. I no longer felt in any way at all constipated – in fact it all felt rather precariously jiggled. I kept going a little bit but with only 2 intervals left my tummy was really sore and I was getting quite concerned and when running was in serious danger of having to abandon all dignity (again). I decided I needed to walk the rest and nip to Kath’s mum’s for the loo – we were nearly there anyway so while Kath went and fed our sheep I went to the loo. Then I left Anne’s house and jogged to catch up with Kath. My tummy was settling nicely and running felt so much more comfortable.

So only the form strides to do. We picked a short stretch adjacent to our field and did one set of fast knee raises and one set of bum flicks. I’m glad it was just a very short stretch – particularly for the knee raises which are stupidly hard work. Now I know what to expect a bit more we can extend the distance and I can push myself a bit more. Then we did 2 sets of running roughly 30 metres at hard pace but concentrating on good running form. Next time I think I’ll ask Kath to watch those 30 metres as she did with the first two drills just to check that I am actually keeping my form.

So while not perfect – and towards the end really rather uncomfortable – it was a good session overall. Next run is our first Disney Running Shorts virtual 5km at the weekend – yay.

Happy Friday.

Here’s what I would have expected myself to be like about running races: Nervous each time, not fussed about doing them often but keen to see if I have made progress in terms of distance or time every now and again, totally indifferent about medals, t-shirts and other goodies you might get and totally non-competitive.

Well, I got myself wrong – on all of those issues. I am not nervous with each race  – nervous is not a strong enough word or emotion to describe what I go through before a race. Excited and absolutely, totally petrified comes closer to capturing it. There isn’t anything (apart from maybe spiders) as terrifying as lining up for a race. At the same time though I do want to do them – every now and again is fine but I’m not doing them to see my progress, I’m doing them because I actually want to race. Me, little ploddy fat slow me wants to race. Yep, weird. Freaky in fact. I am not competitive. I’m really not. I like it when other people are successful at whatever, I am genuinely happy when people beat me at stuff (as long as they are genuinely better than I am) and I just never thought I could possibly ever be competitive at sports of any kind. I just don’t have it in me!  Oh but I do!

In my first ever half marathon I refused, just refused to be overtaken by a woman in a tinker bell costume swearing “I won’t be beaten by an f-ing fairy’ as I hurled myself towards the finish line. In a 10k run there was a couple behind us and they were gaining all the time and I was desperate for them not to come past but they did and I was peed off to say the least, in another 10k I set my sights on a girl a little way in front and I was so going to get her and get past her… At the London Marathon we were just behind a lovely lady from the Clubhouse and her husband and I wanted to finish before them (Sorry Sarah!) which didn’t look likely until they veered off to see friends/family just before the finish. The Dopey Challenge races were the least competitive and most collaborative races I’ve ever done and even there being overtaken once the finish line was in sight just wasn’t an option. It turns out I am competitive – I need to win my little races within races. Who knew.

So what does this all have to do with me going a bit Disney Crazy. Well, medals, t-shirts, the usual stuff you get for doing a race. I really didn’t think I was bothered and for a long time I wasn’t really. I didn’t keep the medals from the early runs I did and even the 2013 half marathon medal doesn’t really mean much to me – my cap from that race means more. Something changed. Not only do I love my Dopey medals and the Challenge one in particular (I pick it up and look at it several times a week) and the London Marathon medal, I want more. I like medals. Maybe I’m making up for never winning anything other than the odd horse-riding rosette when I was younger. So the wanting to run and race together with my slightly (ok very) bizarre obsession with collecting bling has led to this:

1. Disneyland Paris half marathon (and 5 km) in September which also gives us the Castle to Chateau medal for a US and Paris Disney run
2. The crazy idea that we could also get our Coast to Coast Disney medal… and booking a trip to California for November and the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge (10km and half marathon) at the Super Heroes Half Marathon weekend.
3. And just to keep us going over the summer the RunDisney virtual runs (the first one of which is coming up at the weekend).

So I have gone Disney mad and I can’t really explain what is going on there. I have decided not to over think it and just go with it. While I really hope that running will stay with me, I suspect that the medal obsession and the runDisney obsession will come to an end eventually. For now though I really want the coast to coast and castle to chateau double whammy! Best stop falling over and start training!

Those of you who have been following the blog for a while will know I run in complete fear of falling over. I have no real idea why – I never have fallen over while running – well until our last run that is…

It was just a run like any other. Not a new route, no extreme off-roading, not a tree root in sight. I was probably at about 2.8 miles of what ended up a 3.5 mile run (in 45 mins). It’s really the first proper run since the marathon and since faffing about making excuses. It was the first run of our new training programme. I was finding it quite tough but manageable. As we approached one of the canal bridges there was a group of women runners gathering at the bridge. It was obviously a meeting point/waiting point for a running club. Well for someone who doesn’t really care what other people think I found them stupidly intimidating. They all looked like proper runners to me. They were all in lycra and pink fluorescent jackets and I really wasn’t looking forward to running past them.

Well I needn’t have worried – I didn’t run past them so much as flung myself past them. I have no idea what happened but all of a sudden I saw the ground coming at me and my little legs were trying to move fast enough to stop the inevitable happening and then it happened. My left knee, hands and right shin hit the floor. It’s safe to say I don’t bounce like I used to! If I’d fallen on the other side of the canal tow path I may have been tempted to roll into the canal to hide my embarrassment but that wasn’t an option, there was nothing for it, I hauled my arse back up and just kept running. In my head the women were all falling about laughing at me, none of the were of course, they showed concern and several asked if I was ok – only making the embarrassment worse.

I just kept running for that interval- everything was stinging – my hands, my knee, my shin, my ankle, the tears in my eyes… The walk break came and I assessed the damage to my hands – not too bad, little scrape. I also tried really hard not to cry. Yep, I’m a wimp. Then the next running interval came and and we were off again. Kath kept talking to me, reassuring me that all was fine and nobody had laughed at me. I completed the run, walked home and then we went out. My knee is grazed and bruised, my shin is too although there is less evidence of that and I have a bruise on my ankle too.

It’s now two days after the ‘event’ and I still feel like a bit of an idiot. My knee, shin and ankle are sore, worse than yesterday, and much worse than they should be. What happened to the days when you got a brightly coloured bruise that was a bit tender for a few days but nothing more? It feels achey and generally rubbish and I think I am walking funny because my hip has been niggling, too. I’d like those bouncy days back please.

Anyway, I’ll live but going arse over tit in front of a whole bunch of people is not an experience I want to repeat. Haven’t run since, likely to go tomorrow and I just hope this hasn’t turned me into even more of a wimp and if I’m honest I’m not sure if I am more worried about falling or people seeing me fall!

Hope your running has been more successful this week!