you love to PB!

To PB or not to PB, isn't something I planned on doing twice this week but it happened! So this week was a busy busy week of exercising! I thought I was on fire with the amount I was planning to do and getting done! I think I might break it down into days. The running streak started on the Sunday with the really nice 3.56miles I did with the boyfriend in Gunnersbury Park. I really really like this park which is something I say quite a lot while we're running around which is probably very annoying. But that was the start of my running streak for the week.

Monday
I decided to sign up for the Battersea Park Self Transcendence 5k race (http://uk.srichinmoyraces.org/races/london) that started at 7pm. This was the first time I was doing an evening race and all I spent the day doing was thinking about running and how I could PB. This race was a very clubby race. There were club shirts of all different colours getting ready to run fast. I was slightly nervous about this but I got myself right into the middle of the pack ready for the 2 laps of Battersea. This was a really nice race and route. I got myself into a great metronome pace and along with the heavy panter behind I plodded onto PB with 26.10! I was delighted and so was my heavy panter. She used me as a pacer and came up to me after thanking me for getting her a PB. She was so happy which made the not getting a medal an okay thing. So not getting a medal meant, I needed one....sign up for another race, sure why not! Bring on Sunday.

Tuesday
Now for something new-yoga. 1hour of yoga at 6pm....was a bit boring and I think I'll be doing it from home in future. I need to make a promise to myself that I will set aside some time for yoga at least twice a week! After yoga I did a nice 2.5miles of intervals. I have tried this once before but this time I feel like I aced it. Maybe it was that yoga.....hmmm...

Wednesday
Up in the morning and 3.2miles at 8.28min/miles of a general run was tracked! I felt great running it and I had another metronome pace. Maybe this yoga thing isn't so bad after all.....So did about an hour of yoga and foam rolling later. I have decided to try and take care of my left leg and IT band that started to ache at the last couple of weeks of Prague training.

Thursday
Day 5 of the running streak and due to the race being on Sunday I decided to do my long run today. 4miles turned into 4.63miles at a 8.30min/miles. I felt great and like I could keep going but going to stick to my training and was conscious that I have done a fair bit of running this week. Note to self...more yoga.

Friday
Day 6. I finished the streak with a tempo run. Now these comfuse me a bit so decided to go on the treadmill to help me time it better. 5 mins warm up (I have finally come to the conclusion that I should warm up a lot more!) and then 20minutes of 7.5mph running followed by a cool down of 5 minutes brought my pace to 8.16min.miles of a 3.63mile run! I think this fast training is working.

Saturday
Rest Day (finally!)

Sunday
Race Day. http://www.breastcancercampaign.org/page.aspx?pid=767 Boys v Girls 5km race around Southwark Park. This was the first race my boyfriend was ever undertaking and I was so excited for it. It also happened to be his birthday which probably made me a very mean girlfriend buuuuut he was going to get a medal right? :) So we kept a great metronome pace of 8.26min/miles which meant I may PB again but wasn't hoping on it. Reis kept the pace which was great and even when he got a little tired at about 2.6miles he kept going. Enough that when I yelled sprint his long legs took him right across the finish line ahead of me! Well I had to let him win on his birthday right? Yeah that was it.... ;) But even with being beaten by a boy we  had got fantastic times! My Garmin recorded 25.36! PBing twice in one week, yay! For a first timer as well I thought this was a fantastic time! Well done Reis!

Reis and Me after the race!

Week 1 of sub 1hour 10k went fantastic! 20miles logged in. The second longest mileage week of the year!

Roll on week 2! Have the gear bag ready and may do a tempo run tonight. :)

....safety pins!

So training has begun for the 10km I'm running in July. I know I can run 10km's comfortably but would love to ace this with a really cool PB. I am trying a new training schedule that means I do lots of intervals and hill work so I will really improve my running. I hope anyway! My only ever 10km best was a 61minute time which was really annoying as I know I could've done better if I'd prepared myself for those hill sin Greenwich park but all that is behind me now and a nice flat route with a couple friends is what lies ahead.

Last week ended with a measly mileage of 6.8miles but it all goes up from here. Starting with the Battersea Park self-Transcendence 5km tonight at 7pm. I have never ran a race in the evening or around Battersea. It will be full of fast people but I don't mind. I know I'm not as fit as I was back for the Prague race but I'm not going to let that stop me! My PB for a 5km is 28.16 and this was at the first ever race I did! Roll on the horrible weather and travel to the place and show me the medal!

P.S. I have forgotten safety pins! One thing I've learnt in the UK is that due to health and safety reasons they don't give these out. hope my friend brings some or else I'll be carrying my race number with me! :)

Week 1 of sub 1hour 10km training begins!

....you finally encourage someone else to run!

I finally got a running partner! On Saturday it rained and rained and rained. There was no run planned today as my boyfriend and I were off to the shops to buy him some new running shoes as he has signed up to do a short race with me! Yay! Off we went to Sweatshop off Oxford Circus as I was recommend the place from a great German friend. Here they put him on a heated light step where they could see how his feet looked for potential insoles. Then it was onto the treadmill with different shoes to test them out. He has big feet so there weren't many shoes to choose from but he got a nice green pair of Brooks. Green for Ireland! It was late when we got back and still raining so we decided that Sunday would be test day for the new babies.

Sunday morning there was no lie in! I was asked if setting off before we realised we were running was best and I definitely think this is so. Off we went to Gunnersbury Park in the rain. It is such a gorgeous park, loads of different routes so you can get your mileage up really nicely! We had a nice steady pace of about 9min/miles for up to 2.5miles where we slowed to a 9.25min/mile pace. After 3.22miles the boyfriend was done but so happy! I turned around to double the mileage while he went back home to start on the breakfast. 6.4miles later I was back home too!

Really great run but I fear I've created a monster! I was asked on Monday had I run? No. Did you run Tuesday? No, it was wet and I got home from work late! So I gave in Wednesday and did a great 30minute run and decided today was the day I was going to do my first double run. I hit the gym later on and did 2.7miles worth of intervals on the dreadmill which was so much fun followed by core training!

Thursday morning text...so did you run today? Aaaah no! Rest day!

Maybe I should've stuck it out solo! ;)