Ooh, been 2 weeks again. I am going to blame all these holidays. Will get the Royal Wedding bit over first, didn't she look gorgeous? William also of course but I am a bit more partial to Harry myself, although he did look like he had been rumaging around in a (rather posh) dressing up box. Last word on the subject has to go to Pippa Middleton, I heard her bum now has it's own Facebook page. Quite right too!
Went camping over the Easter weekend (wasn't the weather glorious??!) and had a lovely time. I debated long and hard with myself as to whether I should take my running gear (I say long and hard, I mean 5 minutes). Decision was made by the look on Mr Lawson's face when he got in from work on the Friday and saw all the bags I had packed. He did the typical man face when confronted with a woman's packing. The ensuing conversation was conducted without words. The man face said 'Do we really need to take all this crap?' I arranged my features to reply: 'You don't like it? Do it yourself then.' Apparently the message was received and understood, as he then started Man's Job #1 of loading the car. When I realised that there really was not any room left in the Focus, I thought better of trying to sneak in an extra bag.
Now, I said the weather was glorious. To a point, it was. As in, it's April, it's Easter Weekend, we are in North Norfolk. Therefore it should have been cold and rainy. It wasn't, it was pleasantly warm and nicely sunny, so in typical Brit fashion, we donned our shorts and flip flops and took to the beach. At 8.45 in the morning! Kids had a lovely time chucking pebbles in to the sea while I regarded those out running along the seafront with envy. Had I actually taken my trainers, chances are it would have been guilt instead, but I was happy to kid myslef that I would have churned out several miles with lungs full of sea air. I have promised myself that on my next camping trip, I will definitely take my gear. Next camping trip is looking likely to be the Isle of Wight Festival.
6 weeks ago, the prospect of my planning to get up early at a music festival and go for a run would have been, at best, unrealistic. At worst it would be laughable. After Mr Lawson's recent illness though, it may now be a distinct possibility. We have all but given up alcohol for 8 weeks (doctors orders). 5 weeks in and I am really starting to feel that it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't have a drink again! Waking up with a clear head on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning (yes really) has been something of a revelation. I would imagine too that by the time mid June swings round training will have become a bit more intense and I won't be wanting to go 4 days without a run. Hmm. We will see. Will probably start first blog after festival with the words 'Did I go for a run? Did I heck.'
Anyway, on to training. In order to whip myself in to some kind of reasonable shape, I have been using a training plan from a website called Take To The Streets. You give it a bit of info and tell it the date and distance of your event and it will devise a training plan. Most of the plans are for about 12 weeks. First off, it is very surprising how much progress you can make in that short space of time. At present I am following a plan which will get me to 10k fitness by end of June. When that is completed, I will go from 10k to half marathon in good time before 9.10.11 arrives. The site kindly send you an email the night before your training day telling you what you should be doing the next day, so Tuesday night you might receive an email telling you that your training plan for Weds 4 May is a 20 minute steady run. It really is a godsend for a complete amateur such as myself. There is so much conflicting advice to be found - especially on t'internet so just to have a focus is great. And at this level, it is fairly easy to fit it in as runs are still around 15 - 20 mins so I can fit them in nice and early before the rugrats are even up, let alone demanding breakfast! That said, I tend to completely ignore what it tells me to do on a Sunday and go for a longer run of around 45 mins.
I run on my own. I do this for 2 reasons. #1 - I like it. #2 - I can't find anyone else bonkers enough to get up at stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning.
I am not entirely sure that, even if I could find a buddy, that I would want to run with anyone else anyway. Even more crucial piece of kit than my trainers and running bra is my nokia 'comes with music' phone. I have a really random selection of tunes on my running playlist. I started it off with some up-beat ditties that I thought had a decent beat to run to. Over the few months I have been doing this, it has evolved in to something completely different. It is hard to put in to words how absolutely crucial it is for me to have some good music to accompany me. Music has the power to either put a spring in your step or lead in your soles. Quite literally. The right song at the right time can give me wings. I have artists on my running playlist that I wouldn't consider listening to in my every day life - Taio Cruz, Beyonce, Tinie Tempah (Pass Out - GENIUS!), David Guetta and my current favorite - 'C'mon' by Tiesto vs Diplo featuring Busta Rhymes. Honest, it's brilliant!
I do like to 'mix it up' a bit though. I downloaded a 'Running Trax' album (do we still call then albums or am I sounding like somebody's mum? I did say 'downloaded' though, so that must count for something? incidentally, I was out for a walk yesterday and saw an ACTUAL RECORD on the floor. A 7". For some reason I didn't look to see what it was, might have to go back later.) Anyway, after a couple of runs I soon developed what I call a 'Ministry' headache. A bit like an icecream headache but bought on by too much dance music.
Now my playlist is a marvellous melting pot of different genres (I hate that word but it fits). It is particularly uplifting when you are starting to flag and you get the first few bars of a classic. It's all well and good having current music to listen to but it's great to have tunes that you don't hear every day. Not much puts a smile on my face like hearing 'Waterfall' or 'Love Spreads' by The Stone Roses, 'Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who or (and this one's a real blast from my past) 'Its Yer Money I'm After Baby' by The Wunder Stuff. It can turn your run around from being hard flippin work in to an absolute pleasure. You can't have just anything though, it really needs to fit in with my footfall. But I don't think I will ever be one of those super-organised folk that has their play list in the right order for various different parts of their run. I am a shuffler. I like surprises!
Happy yet another Bank Holiday, JLxx
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