The #KayGoesUltra Diary: Week Four

The #KayGoesUltra diary: week four

By some miracle I'm still riding the wave of feeling motivated, positive and strong! 

A rare day working from home on Tuesday meant me, Des and Stanley just about got the last light of the day for a spin around the river. Despite my positivity at the minute, I can't bloody wait to see the back of the dark nights!

Correcting last week's mistake, I made sure I got a 10km on the board by assembling a little squad on Wednesdays DOrunning session. A really lovely run chatting all the way.

Thursday I felt a bit ropey, so I wasn't massively excited for DOdaily coaching, but duly went about it and banked another 4 miles.

Despite Friday's rest, the 6am alarm on Saturday stung a bit. But I had a mission to complete, by 7.30 I was out of the door and on my way to parkrun...on foot. Bestwood is notorious in Nottingham for being a bit of a beast. Enjoying the lovely bright morning and oiled up by my (also very hilly) eight mile warm up, I was ready to tackle what's known as "heart break hill" plus a couple of other sharp inclines on the route. It was my third time at Bestwood and I was chuffed to manage a course PB despite the miles already in my legs. 

Finally, today was the classic long Sunday run. A big part of my plans for training is to double up on big weekend miles, so this was my first go. Broken into two parts, first with the coaching group and afterwards with the DOrunning lot. This was a real scrape, the last few miles took a lot of digging deep and perseverance but there's no way I'm giving up on the first attempt. Another 10 miles done to make 21 in total across the weekend. 

I'm entering the final week of the month feeling as strong as I've ever felt. Really excited to get January ticked off and move on to February!

Week four 

🏃‍♀️Runs done: 5

👟Miles ran: 36.21

✅Highlight: A course PB at parkrun despite a tough warm up route

🤔Biggest challenge: getting out on Thursday when I wasn't feeling 100%

🎯Target for next week: make sure to get two gym sessions in

The #KayGoesUltra Diary: Week Three

There's not a huge amount to write about this week. It's been almost a carbon copy of last week, just with the mileage upped a bit and a new location for parkrun.

However, showing up for myself for two weeks in a row and completing every planned session isn't to be overlooked or sniffed at. So I'm taking that as a massive win and planning more of the same again for training week four. I did forget last week's 10k target though, whoops!

Oh and I dropped in a half marathon this morning, I suppose that's worth a special mention! 

Week three
🏃‍♀️Runs done: 5
👟Miles ran: 32.3
✅Highlight: Getting half marathon distance on the board
🤔Biggest challenge: the 6am and 7am weekend alarms
🎯Plan for next week: (Remember to) include at least one 10k along with the long weekend runs

The #KayGoesUltra Diary: Week Two

The #KayGoesUltra Diary: Week Two

After last week's starting in earnest, this week the hard work really began! I'm a big lover of routine and order though, so despite the tough effort it's felt good to get into it properly after all the chaos of the last few weeks.

Monday is generally going to be rest day, but I'm always going to make sure I still get my 10k steps in, so I did a few walks throughout the day to get them in.

Tuesday was double day, making use of the daylight by going for a lunch time run, followed by an hour in the gym in the evening. It's been ages since I did any proper strength and conditioning training and I'm really enjoying that side of things too! The run was decent, despite facing all weathers over four and a half miles...rain, wind, glorious sunshine and even a hail and sleet storm 😱

It wouldn't be Wednesday without our Trent Bridge DOrunning session. This was the first absolutely bloody freezing session of this horrible arctic blast that's hung around all week. Wrapped up against the elements, a run with friends is always lovely ❤️

Thursday's run was definitely character building! Starting out at our DOdaily coaching session at -2°, we were actually given the option to call it quits due to the conditions. Everyone in the group is marathon training though, so we decided to take it very steady to get some miles in. In almost 10 years of running, I don't think I've ever seen the paths getting more frosty by the minute like that before! 

Onto Friday and a rest day from running. No rest for the wicked, though! Up and in the gym for 7am for another session, followed by a gorgeous bright but chilly two mile walk around the country park at lunchtime. 

As Friday wore on, it started to look like Saturday's parkrun was in real jeopardy. Across the city (and country) events were announcing cancellations. Luckily for us, Rushcliffe was good to go for the first of this year's DOrunning team parkrun roadshow. A whopping 850 participants and the brilliant volunteers braved the sub zero temperatures to take part under the bright winter sun. 

Today was the first proper 'long Sunday run' of the training block. Setting out with the rest the DOrunning group then branching off onto my own little adventure, I managed to plod out 10 and a half miles which I'm really pleased with! It wasn't my favourite run ever but I definitely didn't hate it either. The same as last Sunday, I just took my time, stopped and took a few photos and enjoyed a good podcast then playlist. I've never seen Holme Pierrepont flooded and frozen before, it looks like something from a film. 

I know I'm not always going to be as motivated as I feel this week, and ticking off every planned session isn't going to feel quite so straightforward. So for now, I'm making the most of it and pushing myself forward... some would say I'm #justDOingit! 

Week two

🏃‍♀️Runs done: 5

👟Miles ran: 25.74

✅Highlight: Being able to enjoy parkrun

🤔Biggest challenge: being bloody freezing on every single run 

🎯Plan for next week: Include at least one 10k along the long Sunday run

The #KayGoesUltra Diary: Week one

This is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, so I'm bloody well going to document it!!

This week's been a mixed bag thanks to the awful winter cold everyone seems to be suffering from. After completing the #DOrunning25days challenge on Christmas Day, I ended up taking a whole week off running, which is pretty unheard of these days. Bad weather meant our parkrun plans for New Year's Day were cancelled, so my first run of the year was the DOdaily coaching time trial on the second.

Worried I'd have lost all my fitness, and always a bit cautious about running around the river in the dark, I was nervous! Didn't need to be though, managed a good time (27:16) despite coughing all the way around.

The next run was Saturday, where we headed to Battlestead Croft parkrun in Burton. It was freezing cold, I couldn't feel my feet until the third lap of a fairly unscenic rugby club, but I didn't hate the run as much as I thought I would!

This morning saw the return of our DOrunning Sunday session following the Christmas break. Setting off somewhat gingerly thanks to the slippery paths following some overnight snowfall, by 5km I'd settled in so well that I decided to do another lap. Really pleased to get 6.5 miles under my belt, the first time I've ran more than 5km since November. Just another 27.5 miles to find 😬

Week one

🏃‍♀️Runs done: 3

👟Miles ran: 13.75

✅Highlight: Getting a good time trial result! 

🤔Biggest challenge: three cold and frosty laps at parkrun

🎯Plan for next week: Get the frequency and mileage back up