50k Training, Week 6, Day 1
Just as I'm back into my stride, so the cold weather comes again, but fear not! I was gifted a full pair of thermal undercrackers for Christmas so my leggies and arms are fine....fingers not so much so; I always start off with gloves on and then get too hot halfway into the run and have nowhere to stash them, but hey, First World problems!!
What's the title about then?
Out-and-back runs are used in training as a type of progression run whereby you put more effort into the second half of the run than in the first half. Basically, you set yourself a distance, run it at an easy enough pace then turn around and see if you can beat that pace back to where you started.
Well that all sounds like hard work and you may have gathered, that's not something I am terribly fond of (I'd have my runners do it but I would have the equally hard task of standing there with the whistle!!).
The out-and-back I am doing is whereby I have say 6 miles to run so I run for three miles, turn around and run back home - that way I don't have to keep looking at my watch and seeing how much further I have to run or try to work out where to run for the next three miles.
I do however find that the return portion of the run is in fact faster than the out portion. This is because it takes me about two miles just to get into my stride and stop breathing like a second-hand bicycle pump.
What an Achievement:
After not being able to run for about two weeks because of the lurgy and then only being able to do reduced mileage when I did get back on it, along with researching (and testing) what works well to fuel long-distance running......I can announce that I have successfully put on a stone since Christmas!!
That is no mean feat!!
Now I have to get rid of it.
However, it could be seen as a cunning plan to improve my running.
How So?
Firemen and people in the armed forces often run with weighted vests. This is to replicate the kind of loads they can be expected to carry to fight a fire or in combat. When you challenge your body and introduce a new stressor (in this case weight), you can expect to see changes, as change only occurs when the body is stressed. This means that I can potentially increase my strength and endurance whilst running at a low intensity instead of hitting the gym, because of my in-built weighted bodysuit!!
Who am I kidding??? Fatty is cutting back on the crisps and crumpets and doughnuts and getting back to food prepping.
Food Prepping?
Yes, basically preparing meals in advance so that you always have something to eat that just needs to be warmed up.
This will come as a surprise (not) but I am an idle bugger and I loathe cooking - eating is great; cooking is dull.
If I come in from work late, the last thing I fancy doing is cooking. Those people who find joy in cooking??? This means that I am hungry and what is the easiest thing? CRISPS obvs. "don't have them in the house Tina" I hear you cry. No problem, there is a shop two minutes walk from me and unless I get banned from it and can no longer shop there, I would rather take the time to walk over and buy more crisps than use that time to cook.
Examples?
Either cook whole meals like:
bean chilli with rice
a mahoosive pot of vegetable soup
mushroom risotto
roast veg lasagne
bean burgers (that just need chucking in a bun)
byriani
red lentil dahl
Quorn shepherds pie
or prep items that can go together and enable you to ring the changes, just in case you don't want to eat red lentil dahl for five days in a row (which actually, I can happily do)
brown rice
couscous
roast veg
steamed veg
baked sweet potatoes
mashed potato
gnocchi
wholewheat pasta
a tomato-based sauce
a tahini-based sauce
houmous
baked tofu
legumes (beans to you and me)
a bit more dahl
Now when you come in from work or are just feeling idle, you have the ingredients for a relatively healthy meal all in the fridge waiting for you - BOOM!
News Flash
Pewsey Plodders is now a Running Club in its own right.
We are no longer under the wing of RunTogether and UK Athletics but are affiliated with The Association of Running Clubs - how very grown up of us!
We even have our own logo ->
Right then, off to prep some quinoa, more soon xx
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