Sunday 13 February 2011

Consistency, Control & Confidence

Hello Fudgey Friends,

Sorry I've been awol a while it occurred to me I hadn't posted since last Thursday (3rd Feb) & the reason being that there was no training whatsoever between Thursday 3 rd & Monday 7th - I was still feeling pretty yuck with the sinus infection & there was no running at all all of that week :-( I'm pleased to say I'm back into the swing of things now though & though not 100% I'd say I'm 99% better.

Catch Up
Last Sunday I made really yummy toffee blueberry pancakes - they were meant to be post run but the run never happened but I made them anyway. , just the kind of comfort food you need when you feel poorly.

Monday saw me feeling quite a bit better though Mr Fudgey felt worse than ever & ended up at home and with a doctor's appointment too. Thankfully he's much better now too. I decided on Monday after over a week's decline in training that I'd try to get back into it & see if I could sweat out the last of my illness - kill or cure! Well it certainly worked for me. I managed to do my assisted chin ups (not as good as usual - but better than not at all) superset with hammer curls, lat pull downs superset with upright rows & 50 compound crunches. I also squeezed in a 10.62km run - it certainly did the trick as by Tuesday I felt great - better than I have in weeks.

Tuesday I managed to fit in the other half of my resistance work, squats with calf raises, leg press with medicine ball lunges & jack knifes & hanging leg raises and then later on a cheeky 9.38km run.

Wednesday was a well earned rest day & a long day at the office.

Thursday - back to PT & really starting to feel myself again. Tough tough session....
4 supersets of 10 assisted pull ups with 12 standing press
4 supersets of 10 lat pull downs 35kg with 12 alternate bicep curls 8kg
3 supersets of heavy squats (about 70lb I think) with 10 weighted step ups each leg.
3 supersets of 15 leg press (65kg, 75kg & 85kg) with 10 single legged dead lifts each leg with 25lb weight.

Friday I had planned to run, but work kind of got in the way which was probably no bad thing.

Saturday my Gran came to see our new house & I made afternoon tea. It was great to catch up.

Today - the long run returned. A cold, windy & hilly 16.26km (10.1) miles which saw me lose my Asda £1 pink cap in the wind - but I had a fab run.
It wasn't fast, but it was consistently paced and I felt at the end I could have pushed on a little further. I feel a little less worried now about the half marathon in 3 weeks.
After the run I 'enjoyed' my now routine ice bath! I can't believe those are my legs by the way!!


Consistency, Control & Confidence
So finally I reveal the reason for the title of this post - I received on Friday a weekly marathon newsletter from my charity Bliss which had an article from LGN about the 3 c's philosophy - I found a link to this on the anthony nolan site. Anyway as I was running today and seeing the times for each km I realised that though my pace wasn't fast it was consistent which made me think of the article & about those 3 words which I've decided to adopt not just for my running but for work too. Over the next 3 - 4 months I want to be consistent & in control of my training, my nutrition, my work & my stress levels & I want to be more confident in my ability. There are different kinds of confidence & I'm not talking about becoming cocky, boastful & over confident but a little self belief goes a long way - if I set out with the attitude of 'I'll never manage the whole 26.2 miles of the marathon' then it's not a good place to start really & how will anyone else believe in me or want to sponsor me if I start out with a defeatist attitude? Likewise if I don't get more confident in my role at work - how can I can gain trust & confidence from others? see you can tell I'm feeling better as the determined positive me is bursting back out :-)

Lucozade Sport - Product reviews
I've been using my Lucozade products this week & some I totally love & others I'm not so fussed for - I hope to write a post on this specifically during the week, but on the whole I'd highly recommend you get on over to their online shop & see what they have to offer. It's not just the shop though, they have loads of really good articles, advice, training tools & much more on their website, and not just for runners. So go & take a look. I don't get anything in return for promoting their products - I'm doing this because I like them - however if you are interested in ordering from them let me know & send me your email address & I can refer you as a friend & you'll get 20% of your first order.

Well I better go & get my kit ready for tomorrow I'm hoping for a run & body pump after work :-)
I've also made some courgette, feta & mint soup that I need to go blend - will let you know how that turns out.

Take care all
lots of love
Fudgey xxx

1 comment: