Thursday 25 April 2013

Week 15


Blistering Pace

This week has been a bit of a pain, following a 6 mile run on the Saturday, I haven't ran since. I think I must have been running so fast that the running gods thought "what who is this boy thinking he is Hercules, better put a stop to that" and zap a nice blister covering 1/3 of my foot was my punishment.

Forgive me for sounding a bit dramatic, but as I have never had one anywhere near this size before it was an absolute killer and flared up after about 2 miles so I ran a further 4 miles on it. Yeah take that running gods bet you thought it would stop me. Since then I have been doing cardio work on the bike, completing 9 miles each time, so not too much of a bad substitute, all is well with the foot now though so back to the long run again on Saturday.

Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton

Pretty cool subtitle I think, some great names in the world of motor sport there and I am about to follow in their footsteps. This week I sent off my application to take part in race 1 of the East Midlands Grand Prix Series, this will be a 10k race on the Silverstone race track.

I chose to do this to get a feeling of a running event as part of my preparation to take part in the worlds biggest half marathon, I thought what a place to start in a world class venue, full of history, legend and speed, I don't think I will be the Vettel of the running world, but I will give it a good shot. My current PB at 10k is 1 hour 3 minutes, on the 8th May 2013 I would like to run sub 1 hour, which should be easily achievable I think. It will be time for runner 437 to shine.

Sponsorship

I am now currently just £48.00 short of my £400.00 target, the generosity so far has been astounding and I am truly appreciative for your support. I hope now that we will not stop short but all help to smash this target to pieces. Once again thank you.

Until next week adiĆ³s

Thursday 18 April 2013

Week 14


Good Times

When I set out starting this blog it was to record my thoughts and my progress of a journey started by the loss of my daughter, ending in triumph as I cross the finishing line after 13.2 grueling miles whilst raising money.

In the darkest of times light will always find a way to you, whether that takes a day, a week, a year or a decade at some point no matter what the light will shine so bright and along with the light it brings warmth, and warmth brings comfort. Comfort to me means being happy, in a place that feels right and your surroundings mold themselves around you. Well I can now say that the light is currently shining very bright and I am now expecting my second child, currently 17 weeks gone and is due to be with us about 2 days after I have finished the run.

Progression

This week I made yet another step up in progress as I achieved a 8.3 miles, the best thing about this run was I said to my mother "I am going to just do a 5 mile run today" but whilst I was out I must have caught Forrest Gump disease and I just wacked on my trainers and I just ran and ran and ran. So with 5 months left to go I am just 5 miles short of my target distance, looks like I am training for marathon distance instead.

It has struck me how quickly your body can adjust and carry you further and long distances can be overcome quickly once you have kick started all the engines, so anyone out there starting out and wanting to give up, DON'T it will soon come good.

And that is all folks, a 3 day course learning about IT Infrastructure Libraries followed by an official exam, has left the brain some what jaded.

Thursday 11 April 2013

Week 13



Ohhh We're half way there

Welcome back to my Great North Story. It has been a pretty awesome week in terms of progress made with positive results on all fronts. On the Saturday a rather strange thing happened this year, in the sky was this golden object that produced such light and something that I have not felt from the sky this year a bit of warmth, just that on its own gives you that happy feeling mix this with a run and you have got the best form of happy pills in the world fact.(on a side note is the suns main purpose to provide light or heat? seems like lately it has turned into a energy efficiency light bulb, reduces the heat energy escaping but then also sacrifices on the power of the light and you live in dimness, if NASA wouldn't mind they could revert back to the old less efficient sun thanks).

Sorry I digress, I tried out a new route this week starting at the Bradlaugh fields, running from the entrance near Morrison's all the way to Kingsthorpe Cemetery popping into see Jasmine on route so she can see her dad hard at work in her garden, ran back to the entrance of Bradlaugh fields, decided that was not enough so turned back around ran to the university and back again clocking in a 6.3 mile run in the process, half way there now can I get a whoop whoop.

The run took me 1 hour 6 minutes, which I am very happy with on a route that was hilly I couldn't help but get a great feeling of satisfaction, I think this might be my favourite route so far, as you are just in a world of your own feeding energy from the surrounding landscape, taking in fresh air from the tree's into your lungs with the sun keeping you warm, it really is a beautiful feeling.

Bye bye 14s

Another highlight of the week is that I weighed in under 14 stone for the first time in years so getting a lot closer to my goal weight, muscle mass has also increased this week by over 1% which is rather satisfying. I put this down in part to the nutritional benefits of the herbalife sports 24 range, I have been using the rebuild endurance this week, which offers runners the perfect recovery requirements to replenish your bodies stores of glycogen and proteins. Normally after my long runs I feel the aches for the next 2 days, this time however there were no aches or pains. I would recommend this product to any serious sportsmen for more info you can visit 4goodness-shakes.com

That is all from me this week until next time

Thursday 4 April 2013

Week 12


Hello Plateau

Another week gone, it is all going too quickly now it is hard to believe we are a third of the way through the year already! This week I have reviewed my bio and it seems I have reached a dreaded plateau in my weight loss. I am aiming to get to 13.5 stone, a few weeks ago I would have said that it was extremely achievable with no problems, however it appears my body is telling me different, perhaps I have gained a fair bit of muscle but my calculator machine shows no change perhaps I have had a bit too much chocolate but I am sure you will all forgive a man for indulging at Easter. It has frustrated me a bit as it hides the obvious signs of improvement. I can feel a lot of difference myself I can tell my body is definitely toning up in a good way so I am happy with that.

As I am talking about body changes last week I was asked to consider showcasing some of my progress in picture format, now I had toyed with this idea but decided that it may not be too every ones taste and I wanted to avoid office ridicule, so I have a compromise if you wish to look at the progress then you can do so HereWarning These are boxer weigh in type photos.

Other Higlights

This week I maintained my mileage completing 4 miles again. I also ran my fastest mile so far clocking in at 8:28 now if only I could maintain that pace for 13 miles that would make for a pretty impressive time.
Just a short blog for this week I will update you all again next week.