Top five: things learnt in training #2

So, grasping the training bull firmly by the horns I headed out again yesterday for training session number two.
With my three-year-old taking on the training partner role we set out in the bright sunshine for what was supposed to be a walk of a 10km circuit. I thought this would set in my mind the distance I'm aiming for in July. Nothing like seeing the whole of the desert before trying to move it grain by grain.
Anyway, we managed 8km. These are the top five things I learnt from it.

1. Ten kilometres is a long way. A really long way. A really really long way.
2. Surprisingly good tunes to train to include Belle and Sebastian Sleepyheads and St Etienne Join Our Club.
3. Yesterday was a really beautiful cold, crisp, sunshine and blue sky of a day with a hint of Spring in the air. Even with the physical struggle of making it as far as I did it sure is good for the soul to get out and about.
   
4. So adept am I am moaning that with each mile that passes another made-up malady strikes. Yesterday I was mainly suffering from a popped lung (a dramatic spin on the not-made-up asthma) and the conviction that I have one leg shorter than the other and this is what makes my back hurt (right leg shorter if you're interested).
5. That however big a challenge I have given myself by deciding to do the 10km it is nothing compared to the challenge facing those with cancer or their friends and family. I was reminded why raising this money is so important after hearing about an associate's current battle. I'd gladly up my distance if it meant we were one step closer to finding a cure for cancer.

Today is a day off. All the girls in the team who are taking on the 10km are getting together to eat a hearty Sunday lunch and no doubt talk training. Next week sets me off on my schedule proper and I'm still feeling pretty positive about what I can personally achieve.

If you want to sponsor me you can do so online: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/sarahlay

S C-P x

Training session #1

I'm not sure if this is the way that serious athletes do it but I started my training session by drinking two pints and talking about the money to be made from selling virtual nipple tape in Second Life with a great bunch of geeks.
Something powered me on though as I headed out into the twilight with Lauren and Vena for our first official training session for Race for Life 2010.
We did a short 1.6 mile circuit round my way but was mightily impressed that we jogged most of it - even the hills! It was certainly easier on my lungs that the 5k was last July as the pig 'flu ravaged them.
It wasn't a full throttle start to the training but we feel it is sensible to start slow and short and build up so we feel we've achieved something each time.
In fact, rather than feeling knackered and overwhelmed by the task ahead, I feel motivated and incredibly positive about making it round the 10k come July.
I've now mapped a 10km walk from my door and back again and plan to load my three-year-old into the pushchair and walk this route tomorrow morning. I think this will give me a good idea of the final distance and what lies ahead.
And then onward with the 12 week training schedule I've been recommended by a friend. I think training together is a great giggle (although everything we do is laughs-a-go-go to be honest) but I'm also looking forward to getting my music on and tackling these routes alone sometimes.
I don't think I could have hoped for a better start. The next 6 months of training are going to be challenge - but I'm ready to face it head on as part of Team Run, Fat Girl, Run.
S C-P x

Todays exercise was brought to you by the emotion GUILT

I was planning to start my training campaign next week when I could say I was 100% recovered from the cold/cough/snot bug I've had. But today I have eaten a whole victoria sponge (which follows an evening of ultimate choc brownies and blueberry muffins). This may well have been in the name of charity but I am still fleeing work in a cloud of woe and self hatred to join my fellow team mates for a spot of afternoon jogging. Hopefully this early start to the training regime will boost my confidence and start me on the straight and narrow. I need to find a path paved in willpower and sucess rather than jam and cream. Darn that cakey goodness.

Curse my radical thinking

So yesterday I had the brain wave about doing the 10k run instead of the usual 5k. I even wrote a small blerb in this Blog and shared my insanity with a few of the Team. But then i talked training regimes with some gym-keen friends and I quickly saw the error of my ways! The kind of plan I'd need to get myself to where I could jog 10k at a respectable pace was colossal and so much harder than the one I failed to keep up for the 5k! The idea was dismissed. I was a little disappointed I'd not got the courage to challenge myself to that level but the commitment filled me with dread, the sheer size of the task and the totally dedication to not looking like an idiot... it just goes against every lazy bone in my body.

Then out of the blue the other Team members agreed with me, but a day too late, they agreed the 10k was a good idea! Oh how easily my mind is swayed, about 2 seconds later and I'm all fighting talk again! WE CAN DO IT!! If only my fitness was as strong as my will is weak! *urgh* now we're signed up for the 10k EEEK and there's no going back. I'm going to have to do my very best to kick my lazy bones into gear, because if I fail at training I'll fail on the day. I do not want to let the Team or Cancer Research down.

So all that training I baulked at before is now back on the table and being designed into a spreadsheet of woe as you read this. I'm going to be using and abusing all my kind friends and fellow TRFGR members who've pledged help, support and training companionship! The countdown is on: 18th July 2010!

This Fat Girl is getting her game on!! My sponsorship page is up and running already so it has officially begun. 6 months to train and raise a load of cash. I'm going to try and remember the reason behind it all when my legs are aching and my feet are bleeding, all the training pain and tears will be worth every penny of sponsorship.

What could be better motivation than helping find a cure for Cancer?

On your marks....

So, here we go again.

I am not sure what magic is at work but each January when the registration opens for Race For Life the unwavering belief I can run (yes, run) easily, happily and fast by July takes me over.

Consequently, having overcome the challenge of completing 5km at Holme Pierrepont in 2009 with swine 'flu and a chest infection raging through my system this year I've registered for the 10km.

Yes, 10km. Which I am convinced I am going to run with the carefree smile and graceful gait. The image in my head looks like a BodyForm advert - the sun is shining and I am laughing, barely noticing that I am running at speed. Sweat, wheezing and moaning doesn't come in to it. Neither does the inevitable crying when I finish slower than the rest of the team.

Right now I am uninterested in the reality of what 18 July 2010 will bring. I am signed up and ready to become S Champagne-Perspiration again. I fully intend to get further along my training plan than merely printing it off this year.

So, yeah, 10km. Bring it on.

And if you could sponsor me that would be awesome: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/sarahlay

The rest of the team are also ready to go again - I've already had news that superspeedy Fat Girls of 2009 Vena and Lauren will be taking on the 10km, as will self-confessed lazy arse Kelly Race while Sarah Hutchinson heads to Nottingham again to take on the 5km.

I am sure news of what the other Fat Girls are doing will feed through soon. So watch this space (and the roads of Derbyshire as I get training!)

S C-P xxx

TRFGR in 2010

It's 2010 and thoughts have started turning to what challenges lie in wait for TRFGR this year. Registration for Race For Life 2010 has opened so the wheels are being put into motion to gather the team together once more for the 5k walk/jog/run. I've decided to change venues to Kedleston Hall this year as I'm heading to wales on holiday again the weekend of the race at Holme Pierrepont. The only problem is they do a 5k and a 10k race. I'm not even sure why I'm contemplating the 10k, it's a crazy idea, or is it?? YES it is! I barely survived the 5k run last year. But it would be a challenge, and that's what it's all about in 2010! So I'll think about it a bit more, this shouldn't be rushed into after all, 10k is a serious distance and I'm not sure i could get that fit. I still want to enjoy it after all!

What else have TRFGR got lined up for 2010? Urm... nothing which involves fighting the flab as yet. The opposite in fact, oops!! Following the success of the annual Macmillan Coffee Morning I'm having a bake day at work for the British Heart Foundation. I dropped a few bags off to their charity shop the other day and found out that February is National Heart Month and they're running a 'Red For Heart' campaign. I'll be making cherry sponge cake, red iced cupcakes and rasberry cookies mmmmmmmmmm to sell at work on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th. Hopefully they'll be delicious and raise a few quid for BHF :)