10 miles (Easy pace)

Today's run was a lot better. I knew I needed to run a lot longer than usual. Not having run since Thursday. I had planned to run yesterday but time had got away and it was also Isaacs (my son) 12th birthday.
My last run had made me quite miserable. I felt that I was not running for pleasure. I was just putting up the numbers, running the miles for the sake of it. This is not what I am about. I have never followed a training plan before. Now, three weeks into it, I can comfortably say that training plans are not for me. Not strict ones anyway. I think I need to allow myself the flexibility to move sessions around. For instance today should have been interval, but I really could not be dealing with that today. I just wanted to run. So, the 10 mile easy run which I should be doing later in the week, I moved to today..... and it was awesome.

Headed up Valley road and called in at Northgate Sports centre for some water. It was hot today, but I had chosen not to take water with me. My plan was to stop at Sports centres or even then Hospital if I needed to drink.
I continued down heath road to St Augustines, through Kings Way, Rands Way and along Nacton road. Then making my way back along the waterfront and home. 10.6 miles done.

My pacing felt fine. I could have gone on for another 5 miles. I feel that the 4 days away from running did me a lot of good. mentally and physically. I'm not sure which session I'll do tomorrow if any. My first though is to ride my bike. It's been too long.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/546233074# 

Day 8 and 9 of training plan

Day 8: was supposed to be 12x400 intervals but I had to go to a physio appointment and school sports day. Eventually time just ran out. So I turned it into a rest day and moved the session to day 9.

Going back to the physio session. It went well. I have been give some more stretches to do. It would seem that my quadriceps are very tight and are pulling at the tendons around my knee. Which is creating the pain.

I really NEED to commit to these stretches. I NEED this knee pain gone....

Day 9: Intervals 12 x 400 

Well that was a killer. I headed to the park at the end of Bramford Lane. Initially, I was not sure how I was going to get through it. By the 5th interval I was feeling pretty battered. Got the extra adrenaline I needed from the series of dogs running of their leashes and toward me. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/537252782 It was quite muggy out too. But I did it. It was very hard and I also remembered to do my stretches. Good times.

Day 7 of training plan.

I'll just start of by saying that I have deliberately moved my training updates to this blog. So by clicking on the link you have chosen to pay an interest in how my training is going. I like to post on Facebook/Twitter. I am not showing off or massaging my ego. This acts as a training diary for me to record where I am at right now. I've chosen to share it.

 I like running, cycling and triathlon.

You can read it or ignore it. If you rather I just reshared stuff from Buzzfeed or viral videos from youtube etc then i'm the wrong friend. I have a lot of friends who have a common interest in my chosen sport. Also I know some people have been inspired by some of the stuff I've posted about. Anyway, you get my point.... Thank you, Love ya! xxxx BJP

For the first time EVER! I have started and maintained a training plan. I have been running and cycling for around 5 years now, but have never committed to a plan. I have decided that I would give the Jaffa 12 week plan a go, in the build up to Ipswich half marathon. So far so good.

Today I was scheduled for 5 mile easy running. I still struggle to know what my paces are. My slow pace is ridiculously slow when compared to my race pace. I knew I wanted to be around the 10 minute miling. I also made sure the route I was running was quite flat. Yesterday, my 7 mile "Easy" run included park run and the run up to the park was a steady incline. Then the run afterward up to my work includes quite steep sections. All in all, I was struggling with my knees at work. I was not sure how they would feel today. But they were fine. A little sore at the start thats all. Garmin Data here.

Tomorrow is 12 x 400 meter intervals. But I have an appointment with the Physio in the morning to assess my knee pain. See what happens tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Day 2 of training plan.

Day2: Ipswich Jaffa Training plan says "rest day". So I'll take the opportunity to do some core and upper body work. Nothing too hard, just conditioning. Also, food shopping. Need to make sure we have the RIGHT food in the house. Currently tipping the scales at 191lb! No beer today.

I am also making more of a conscious effort to drink more water. I downloaded an app which reminds me to drink and tracks how much I'm drinking. It is suggesting 3000ml a day! We'll have to see how that works out.

Today's workout will be powered by Paul Weller's Stanley Road album.

Update: session went well and I incorporated some sit ups too via the 200 sit ups app. (I do like an app) lol.