Why weather, why??

Have you looked out the window this week?? Or just had a nosy at your Facebook news feed for updates? Well, I have been looking outside and I can tell you now, it has been miserable!

I read a weather report at the start of the week that my friend found, saying "A complex area of low pressure over southern Britain over the next few days will pull in a bitterly cold easterly wind across northern Britain, bringing an increasing risk of significant snowfall over the next 36 to 48 hours...And as snow begins to fall to lower levels late today, we could see 1-5cm in places below 250m, particularly towards eastern Scotland."

I mean, REALLY? I swear the weather is totally ganging up on me. I've experienced running in the snow/rain and I know that it really isn't pleasant so, while it seems pretty pathetic, I opted out of my runs this week, although forgoing them also coincided with the two essays I had to write that were due at the end of the week!

Running when it's windy puts enough pressure on your body as it is, due to the increased resistance and such is my luck, I always seem to be running into it. Multiply that wind by 1 million like this week and it makes the run even more difficult than usual (may have slightly exaggerated with the figures).

I realise that I need to work at running in different weather conditions due to the fact that I have no idea what the weather will be like on 30th June but my worry is that if I'm not even reaching the 5k in my normal runs then I'll be doing even worse when running in the rain/snow/wind etc which will be disheartening and not the best motivation! My aim is to reach the full 5k on runs when the weather is a bit better so that I know my fitness level is at that point before adding in the extra obstacles.

Typically, today's weather hasn't been all that bad so I technically could have gone for a run but I've been getting myself organised for my holiday so that hasn't really worked out! I certainly hope the bad weather doesn't interfere with my flights!

I'll be back on track with my running plans once I get back but I'll be quiet on the blogging front for the next wee while.

Have a good week!

Current total: £75.00
Countdown: 14 weeks

One month down.

Well, after my last post, I had quite a bad weekend - food-wise. I pigged out a bit too much on junk food and while it was awesome at the time, by the time the start of the week came, I was feeling a bit 'bleh' because of it. This is of course, after I 'helped' out my flatmate by sharing the pizza she'd been craving after she finished off her essay. It's safe to say, that with the new week, I was feeling pretty guilty! Thankfully, this inspired me to get out there and do something about it, rather than wallow in self-patheticness!

I followed a similar pattern to last week, in that I tried again with going out for a run slightly later than usual. It worked out much better this time! Although I was feeling pretty tired around half way through the run, I managed to push myself to 2.11 miles which is my second best run so far! I'm quite proud of myself for doing it because at one point during my run, it started snowing! What's worse was, it was coming in sideways so I couldn't really protect myself from it which was pretty annoying :-/ I quickly came to the conclusion that I was better to keep running as it would get me home faster and out of the snow!! Thankfully it didn't last long so I could finish off my run "in peace" :-P

For the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that I start out really well, getting my run in at the start of the week but it seems to peter out by the end of the week. Sadly, this week hasn't been any different. A combination of university work and bad weather prevented me from getting out for my second run. I'm getting a bit disappointed in myself since I had aimed to go running twice a week and haven't managed that for a while! Weather permitting, I'm hoping to manage my two runs this coming week. The university Easter holidays start this coming Friday and then I'm going away on holiday for a week so I won't manage a run then (it'll be quiet on the blog front too :p).

I'll try my best to push myself and not slack off this week! Wish me luck.

P.S - Happy St Paddy's Day!!

Current total: £75.00
Countdown: 15 weeks

Bump in the road

I'm writing/publishing my blog a bit earlier than usual this week seeing as I know I'm not going out running this weekend. I'm away to visit family until Monday so I won't get the chance to complete a run over that period. Due to the fact that I have been slacking with my runs recently, I had great intentions to get myself back into a minimum of two runs per week and I was in the right mind-set to do so.

As I'm sure fellow students will know and understand; when you have the motivation to do some work, you do it there and then because you never know when it will come back! My motivation hit me on Monday so I had a productive day uni-wise but not so much with running, despite intending to go out that day. Instead, I managed to get out on Tuesday with a tentative plan of going out again later in the week.

When it comes to running, I've always been given the impression that it is best to leave at least a day of rest between runs so in my case, Thursday was the earliest day to go out again. Unfortunately, the weather has not been very kind to Aberdeen this week and from Wednesday, it turned to rain making it miserable to go outside for uni, let alone for a run! I'm quite disappointed about this blip since I was feeling optimistic about getting my two runs in this week but I suppose there's always next time.

Now a bit more on the run I did actually do this week! Usually when I go for a run in the morning, I get up, have a snack and head out about 45 minutes after waking up. I always wonder if this is one of the reasons I feel sick during my run so I decided to mix it up a bit this week. I got up around the same time as I usually would but instead of going straight out, I had my breakfast and went out running an hour or so later. I have to say, it didn't work out quite as I had hoped. Due to feeling even more sick than usual and much earlier on, I ended up only running 1.27 miles continuously. After the excitement of running 2.45 miles last week, I was pretty frustrated. I'm not sure whether this was related to the type of breakfast I had or if that sort of time scale doesn't work for me. It could just been the fact that it was a warm day! Whatever the reason, I decided that not all was lost and that I would see what difference there was for my next run.

Until next time, folks!

Current total: £75.00
Countdown: 16 weeks 2 days

Progress is in the eye of the beholder.

I was trying to think up a clever title for this new post and decided to type "progress is..." into Google for some inspiration. I'm not going to lie, I'm not really 100% sure what I was thinking because I ended up with suggestions such as "progress is a comfortable disease". Not exactly what I was going for but each to their own I suppose. I also found a link suggesting "progress is in the eye of the beholder" which I swear is a mix of a few different phrases, however, I feel it's quite appropriate so I'm sticking with it!

Moving on, I'm very pleased to say that my week was much more productive than the last one! Firstly, I actually went out for a run on Tuesday which automatically makes it infinitely better - progress! In one of my first posts, I said that I am trying to work on my running endurance. It's all very well saying that I can run 5k but if that includes massive walking breaks in between then it's not really what I set out to accomplish. As such, I have been working on running for longer distances to see how I get on. I mentioned before that I was managing 1 mile continuously and then tried for a slightly extended distance. Every time I try to run for a bit longer than I was previously used to, I end up feeling quite sick but it feels quite good, knowing that I've pushed myself.

When I went out for my run on Tuesday, I planned to tack on a bit more to the 1.24 miles I previously ran, to see how I got on. To my great surprise, I managed to completely surpass that target and continue until I almost reached home! At 2.45 miles, this is my longest continuous run to date!! Woop woop. I'm extremely pleased with this because it means that I only have 0.66 miles until I am running the full 5 kilometres in one go! Admittedly I was running pretty slowly by the end of those 2.45 miles but I still count that as major progress :)

Due to various reasons, I didn't manage to get out for a run for the rest of the week but I have more optimism now for the coming week! I can totally do this :D

Also, a massive thanks to my latest contributor for bumping my current total up so much! It's very exciting to see that I have 30% towards my target. It has been a few weeks so I'm going to be cheeky and plug my donate page again (I've also added it to my links along the right-hand side of the page). Truly appreciate all the support :)

Current total: £75.00
Countdown: 16 weeks 6 days