Back up to speed

I know I normally start my blog with an update on what I have been up to recently, but this time I am going to start by saying a massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far.

So, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am 13% of the way to my fund raising target, but there is still some way to go so if you were thinking of sponsoring me to destroy my body and drive myself insane with training then you can do so at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runningfatbloke.  Every penny really does count, so even if you can only spare the price of a beer, I am eternally grateful.

Right, onto the running and it has been going really well so far this week.  It is still too cold and dark to go running outside after work, so it was back into the gym after work on Monday. I only went with the intention of doing 5km and then some weights, pretty much as a warm down after Sunday’s 10.5km and the 7.5km I did on Saturday.  However, I was on the treadmill in front of the TV and the weekend’s football highlights were on.  Before I knew it I was up to 6.5km and still feeling good. At that stage I thought I might as well do 1/5 of a marathon, which is 8.44km (rounded up to 8.5km) and see how long it takes me.  The answer is 46 minutes exactly, at a pace of 5 mins 24 seconds per km. Not too bad. I also weighed myself, coming in a 99.1kg, which is decent progress in the right direction.

Tuesday is football and a slightly disappointing set of matches. We earned a hard earned draw in the first game but lost the second match 2-1 against a really filthy side. I might have got a little carried away in seeking retribution, going into tackles a little too hard and maybe not with quite as much care as I should. Ah well, I still had a good run around.

Wednesday was a different matter though. I am aiming to usually do my weekly long run on Thursday, but this week that is my Mum’s birthday, so rather than trying to motivate myself to go to the gym on a Friday night, I though Wednesday might be a better idea. The target was to run 13km, so I can then do 15 km next week, then 17km and then 19km as I build up to the half marathon on Feb 18.

As it turns out though I was feeling pretty good (despite a rubbish night’s sleep on Tuesday), and I didn’t need to slow to a walk until around 50 minutes in, at 9.3km.  I slowed down for a minute to take on some water and then picked the pace right back up. At this point I was thinking that if I am going as far as 13km then I might as well so 14km, which is a 1/3 marathon.

Now, I know I have done that distance before, just before Christmas but since then it has been Christmas, I have been to New Zealand on holiday and been through a couple of injuries, so I was not sure if my fitness was up to it.  When I did it before I did it in one hour 17 minutes, at a pace of 5.27.  This time I ran 14.2km in 1 hour, 18 minutes, with a marginally slower pace of 5.29, which is a little annoying!

Anyway, it feels good to get back up to speed and now hopefully I can do a 16 or 17km run next week. In between now and then is the weekend, where I am aiming to do a 13km run on the streets of the City of London, so I will let you know how that goes in due course.

And if you missed it at the top, you can sponsor me for this wanton destruction of my body at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runningfatbloke. 

If I don’t blog beforehand, have a great weekend!