Survival of the fittest

So I survived the ultimate fitness weekend! And what a fab weekend it was! Managed an 11 mile run on the Friday morning before we headed off to Sherwood Forest, of which the first 9 miles went great - sub-8 minute pace, but then the headwind for the last two miles back on the beach was too much for my lungs and legs to take and my pace dropped off dramatically! Was good to get the miles in but possibly wasn't the best preparation for the weekend ahead!!!

Friday night we went to the welcome class - an hour of zumba and bookia to get the blood pumping! Saturday we were up and out early to do bootcamp - a real beasting involving running through the woods stopping off periodically to do triceps dips and press ups, followed by a series of torturous squats, jumps, runs, planks and other painful exercises to burn those calories! Favourites included wheelbarrow races with your partner (although my partner was too wriggly and I couldn't keep hold!) and resistance running where we had to run away from our partner whilst they pulled back on a resistance band around our waists! By the time that was over I was exhausted but it was straight off to running club for some hill work and sprints! We then got a short break to devour some lunch before hammering the hilarious Kardy's dance party (check it out here - absolutely brilliant fun), an adrenaline pumping Body Combat session by 'grand master' Justin Riley, and a choon-filled zumba old-school class! No rest for the wicked though as we then had to quickly get home and get reem-ed up for the TOWIE party! It took a few glasses of wine and shots of jaegermeiser to be brave enough to leave the villa in my outfit so we were quite merry by the time we arrived at the party! It doesn't take much to get you tipsy when you've been exercising all day believe me!

Fortunately I didn't go too wild and managed to get up the next morning without too much trouble to fill up on bacon and sausage sandwiches ready to take on the days classes! Managed to fit in zumba, body attack (yes it is as bad as it sounds!), zumba toning and zumba party with a quick swim in-between whilst I skived off hula fitness (decided I didn't quite have the coordination for it!). By the end of Sunday we were starving and aching from head to toe but smiling from ear to ear! I've honestly not laughed so much for a long time, and the atmosphere was just fab - totally addictive! Was relieved to not come away with any injuries and still being able to actually walk as I need to keep on running this week! The weather is lush too so that will make it abit easier to get out there this week (I hope!). Need to do a 15-16 miler at the weekend.... hoping the increased fitness from this weekend will help me through it and all the long runs that are to come!

Change of tactics!

Well this is turning into somewhat of a roller coaster ride! There's more highs and lows in this marathon training than in Jack Bauer's typical day! The plan seemed to be going OK last week and I decided to mix it up abit with an off-road almost trail-type run last week along the cliff tops, dragging the lads along for company. There were some pretty scary points where the path got too close to sheer drops to the sea and the rocks below for my liking but on the plus side it made you not dare stop and also kept the pace up!!!!

Sadly, from the next day onwards I felt horrendous. Two nights missed sleep due to coughing my head off didn't help me to feel any better when I was already feeling pretty lousy. So the 15 mile run didn't happen - bad times! I was still up for giving it a go the night before until my better half pointed out that I looked and sounded terrible and that I must be pretty stupid for even thinking about it. When I woke up on the saturday morning I could barely get out of bed and walk downstairs, never mind run for 2-3 hours so I gratefully wimped out and laid on the sofa instead. It's thoroughly annoying, not to mention anxiety provoking, that my immune system keep rebelling against everything I'm throwing at my body at the moment. I know I'm doing too much but there's nothing I can give up and so I'll just have to keep going! So - I'm changing tactics! Going to try and be nice to my immune system and I've been out and invested in some multi-vitamins and a whole load of fruit to try and refuel my body! I know that I'm not alone in my trials and tribulations though as my friend's bodies are also rebelling in the same way - poor Emma is struggling with her rebellious leg again and is starting to worry she might not be able to do the marathon. I really hope she can because I know how badly she wants to and I have every confidence she can do, as long as her leg starts to comply!!!!

Went for my first run for a WEEK (yikes) last night and it wasn't too bad although the cough immediately returned (booo). Going to try and get a longish run in tomorrow before heading off to Centre Parcs for 'The Ultimate Fitness Weekend' where basically I'm going to torture my body into submission with zumba, body combat, boot camp, running, cx works and god knows what else!!! Hmmm - Better pass the vitamins - I don't think my body is going to be friends with me come Monday morning!!!

Lesson learnt!!

So I've learnt some important lessons today: firstly, to not put off doing my washing as this will end up in me having to go for a 13 mile run in socks that give me a blister at 4 miles (ouch!) and secondly, don't go on said run without a drink as this would just be stupid. Needless to say today's long run was hard work and my feet are not happy with me (the left one seems particularly furious!) and I've got a banging headache from the dehydration. Ooops! I guess it's better to make these mistakes now than in 11 weeks time though! The pain was slightly eased by the final leg of my run being on the pier (cue an interesting GPS map of the run which makes me look like I can walk on water!)....

... the reason the pier cheered me up so much was because of the latest addition to it! Incase you didn't know, Saltburn has its very own "guerrilla knitter"who goes around "yarn bombing" various places / objects in the town. I often go past the teddy bears having a picnic on the promenade and it always makes me smile! The latest addition to the pier is nothing short of epic... if you haven't seen it already you NEED to go and see if for yourself, no photo can do it justice! Just make sure you wear sensible socks and take a drink :)

This week I've got two 4 mile runs and a 7 mile run to fit in mid-week, and a 15 mile run to do at the weekend - the furthest I've ran so far - yikes! Hope my feet forgive me by then! Better go and fill up on vast quantities of chocolate to help build up my energy stores for the week ahead :)