Training Diary: 16-29 July

by Lolly

As seems to be typical for me, I don’t have any running goals at the moment. Well, technically, there are a couple of things I’d like to achieve, but they aren’t anything I’m specifically working towards. As Ben keeps telling me, the most important thing right now is to actually run. And I’m hoping that keeping a training diary will help motivate me to do that.

16 – 22 July

Wednesday – RFRC Club Run

I’m pretty sure that the last time I went on a normal club run it was 2015. I went with the combined groups 7 & 8 and hung out at the back in a sweeper-type role. There was a bit of stop/starting on the way out of town, and then some run/walking after one member of the group pulled a muscle, so not my fastest run. But it was nice to run and not need to remember a route. It was also the first time since the Easter Festival 10k that I’d run for an hour, so definite psychological boost.

Saturday – Longrun Meadow parkrun

The ‘getting out of bed’ part of running on a Saturday morning is rarely an issue for me, as I have two playful alarm clocks for that. Mostly it’s making sure that I’m motivated to go out that’s been my downfall of late. Still, I made it out in enough time to walk there, which always helps loosen my legs a bit. It was reasonably cool at the start, but quickly warmed up. Despite that, my gradual improvement in fitness gave me my fastest time on the new course, and a nerve-wracking wait for my result of 29:59.

Sunday – Junior parkrun & Quantocks

Probably the most regular running I do at the moment is the 2k of junior parkrun with my daughter. Often we also have my son in the buggy as well, but this week Ben was around to spectate. The main aim of this particular run is to make running as enjoyable as possible.

Afterwards, we drove up to Lydeard Hill car park. Ben took the kids for a walk and I went for a run to Wills Neck and back. I was really tired so it was tough going, but definitely nice to be running somewhere other than the middle of Taunton. On the way back to the car park I took a detour to try out some different paths, which was fun to be able to do. I always have to be wary of pushing myself too hard when I’m tired, but just under 3 miles turned out to be a pretty good compromise.

23 – 29 July

Oh, there isn’t a day sub-header. Yes, after a week of actually running, a week of no running followed. Illness is the nemesis of all runners. In my case, though, it’s generally other people getting ill that’s the issue, as it steals both my energy and motivation. The main thing is making sure I bounce back. Again.