The Week December Arrived

December has arrived, and as we enter the final month of 2016 my aim is to keep in a good shape ready to start my formal London Marathon training as soon as January hits (I am running in aid of Project Africa Athletics; if you would like to support me please visit here). I am also currently resisting the urge to calculate my total mileage for the year; my Garmin is very close to hitting 1000 miles, however I started wearing this watch in April, so virtually all my Manchester Marathon training is not included in this tally... I am very interested to see what the final year total will be!

MONDAY: Body Pump and Spinning

TUESDAY: five chilly miles spent carefully avoiding the already glistening, icy paths. I finished at the gym for Kettlebells and an abs class, and since I have started doing these classes these were hands down the hardest combination of both. My abs were burning and my ambitious optimism with kettlebell weights meant the rest of my muscles were screaming too.

WEDNESDAY: another five miles before my Body Pump class. I averaged eight minute mile pace for tonight’s’ run, including a final 7.17 minute mile. It seemed that after I had warmed up, my legs just got into a really easy, quick rhythm, and even the continued cold conditions didn’t seem to bother me.
 
THURSDAY: Body Attack class for the first time in two weeks – it hurt.

FRIDAY: Rest Day
 
SATURDAY: parkrun day (see image). It was a beautiful Saturday morning, the harsh frost of last week was long forgotten, and I was really looking forward to running. I flew off at the start (I actually recorded a sub seven minute first mile) and then feared I may collapse. However I was spurred to keep going by the female company around me. parkrun is not a race, but I was in a mini battle with another female, as we seemed to each take it in turns to lead for a little before letting the other sit in front. My new found pacer left me for dead on the third and final lap, but the enthusiastic cheering by a number of volunteers on the course made me smile and also kept my legs ticking over. I crossed the line in 21:35 – so close to beating my current PB of 21:34. I was shocked, I had not even glanced at my Garmin throughout the run and had no idea how close I was to this marker, and also pleased it seemed my PB a few weeks back had not been a complete fluke! The friendliness of parkrun meant that as I stood hands on knees recovering the female runner I was trying to keep up with came and chatted to me. We congratulated each other on a great run in true parkrun spirit.
 
SUNDAY: the more pleasant weekend weather continued today and I enjoyed a beautiful early morning 10 miler with my friend. The winter sun was only just rising above the rooftops and it felt wonderfully tranquil and peaceful. This was easily my favourite long run in an equally long time - I didn’t even feel like I was running as we chatted away and completed one of our favourite routes; sometimes that’s what its all about.