19/2/2008

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Running up that hill

The iPod is a friend to many a road runner

Week two - otherwise known as breakthrough week/the week I realised I was not going to die.

The schedule included: Easy run - 30 minutes at Level 1; Hill session - run at Level 1 for 15 minutes and then do 8x200m hill repeats, jogging back down in between. Run at Level 1 for 15 minutes (total 45-50 minutes); Steady run - 40 minutes at Level 2; Long run - 80-90 minutes of off-road Level 1.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to fit in all four training sessions as I had evening meetings to go to, so I decided to get up at 5am one morning to try and complete one of them before work.

The idea worked well and I ran for 30 minutes at Level 3 without any of the difficulties I had before.

It was without a doubt my breakthrough run.

I am not sure whether it was because I knew I had a limited period of time, or the fact that getting up so early forced me mentally to come to terms with the commitment I needed - but whatever it was, it worked.

I managed to control my breathing and made it round two levels above the recommended pace. Check out my enthusiasm.

Tooms gave me an iPod nano for Christmas but I had to send it back after he broke it when we were on the way to a New Year’s Eve party.

But it finally came back, fixed and ready for (very sweaty) action. Amazing!

I downloaded like a ninja in time for an evening training session, being careful not to look at the iPod the wrong way in case it broke again.

I started out on a steady run for 40 minutes at Level 2, but around half-an-hour into the session I felt remarkably OK so I decided to keep running.

I ran 4.8miles in 60 minutes which is quite slow, but the furthest so far. I was really pleased I managed to push myself that little bit further. Yay for me!

As a congratulatory present I went out and bought some proper running trainers. They rock.

They link up to my iPod and give me a breakdown of my running sessions. I love them.

My bank account will not thank me for it but my feet most certainly will.

The trainers I had been running in gave me really bad blisters - a delicious thought for you there - but the new ones feel like I’m walking on a cloud so hopefully that won’t be a problem anymore.

I felt fairly confident about my next session although it was clearly the most challenging to date.

Tooms found a route that involved lots of hills and long country lanes and worked out at about 10 miles.

A lot of the roads did not have a pavement, but we went during the day and on a Sunday so we didn’t have to worry too much about getting mowed down by cars.

Everything was going incredibly well until about eight miles in when we met a really big hill.

Since I have started running, Tooms has taught me a few techniques to help me run long distances, like relaxing my arms (I used to run with them really tense and up to my sides - no idea why) and not looking too far ahead.

I find it helps to literally keep my eyes on the road directly ahead of me.

But I made the serious error of looking up and seeing this huge hill in front of me, which after about 70 minutes of running did not look terribly inviting.

I really battled to make it up. It also made me realise I run with my thumbs raised because when Tooms checked to see I was OK, I think he thought I returned his thumbs up - but in fact I could not have been further from OK.

The pain! Ridiculous. I almost cried - I know, how lame - but eventually made it.

Tooms is starting to scare me a little though. The man is a total machine. I swear he didn’t break a sweat through the whole thing.

After the dreaded hill, the remaining two miles seemed like a holiday and I made it through to the end without too many problems.

I couldn’t feel my legs at the end and sort of floated back into my house (a very odd sensation I notice I get after really long runs).

My feet hurt and the outsides of my knees absolutely kill. However, I feel totally triumphant at having run 10 miles. Pain is for winners.

Top five tunes keeping me running on the iPod: Akala - Bit By Bit; Ludacris - What’s Your Fantasy; Eve - Tambourine; Lovestation - Teardrops; Amerie - Take Control.

Read more of Melanie's blogs here.

First printed in: Surrey Advertiser Online