Walking away

Yesterdays training went well. I did my run for an hour and if I hadn't gone off so fast I may not have faded so much in the last 10 or 15 minutes. Despite that, I still managed a sub 10mm overall... not bad considering I haven't been back running for long and the weather was quite hot! Yoga was also very good and stretched all the parts that needed stretching. It's good to be back doing that, although this class is a bit more chilled out than the last one and has more breathing techniques and relaxation time. I enjoyed it though, so we have signed up for 6 weeks!

Today I felt very "skinny" and wore a pair of trousers that I had bought and were shoved to the back of the cupboard as they felt a bit too tight. I can now wear them and pull a big gap in the front of the waistband. I noticed my receptionist Helen looking at my arms a few times before commenting that I looked really toned all of a sudden... so something must be going right, despite having the odd naughty bit of food now and again.

Tonights intervals were met with trepidation as I was feeling rather tired. I went up to the gym and did 10 minutes step warm up with a fairly fast cadence on a 10 inch step, and then did a 10 minute warm up on the treadmill. By the end of those two exercises the sweat was pouring off me to an extent I have never experienced before. It was even dripping down my arms. The heat in the gym was around 23 degrees and the thought of doing intervals in it literally filled me with dread.
So, the first interval was done at 8.35mm pace and towards the end of the 10 minutes I felt like I was dying. Five minute walking recoveries did nothing to help me recover and so the next two intervals were done at a 9.53mm pace... I thought doing that was better than stopping totally. The sweat was dripping in my eyes and all over the treadmill and the last one was done with 2 parts where I stepped onto the side rails to try and catch my breath. When there was only 6 minutes of the interval to go, I gave myself a good talking to and ran the rest. The 10 minute cool down after was a joke, and I even walked half of that! However... there was a time when feeling so tired and hot and sweaty would have had me switching off the treadmill and walking away. At least I didn't do that today!
I even managed to sweat further by going inside the sauna for 10 minutes straight afterwards. As you can see, I have a new determination! And let's put it this way, I think I have sweat so much today that I won't need a wee for a week! :-)

Funniest moment today had to be Graeme going out for a 2 mile run. He got dressed up like he was off for a run in the North Pole and I told him he was insane for wearing so many clothes. He literally opened the door and put one foot outside and the heavens opened. It was the heaviest downpour I'd seem in a while. I sat laughing by the window as I saw his miserable face waiting to get a signal on his Garmin. I think this is only his second run outside this year, so he'll be not best pleased... but I found it hilarious! Here's hoping I don't get my just deserts tomorrow... or even worse, on Saturday for my long run! :-)