12 Week 10k Plan

I've decided to do the Reepham Summer 10k on August 19th, this gives me 12 weeks to prepare myself for a much better time than the Race for Life 10k. I found a really good looking training plan which I have transferred to a Word document to make it easy to modify. I've only moved a few of the runs around but this should help the plan to fit into my week a bit better - send me an email or leave a comment if you'd like the doc sent over to modify yourself.

Flexibility

This week I'm going to be trying to improve my flexibility. After my 10k race at the weekend I felt so stiff, all I wanted to do was stretch and massage every muscle in my body. So my mission this week is to improve my flexibility. I'll be concentrating on a few muscle groups and combining exercise, yoga, static stretching, massage and diet to see what results I can get.

I need a start point, so I've chosen a few stretches which I'm going to use as a test and some exercises to see how effective my increased flexibility is. I've done them today and will do again at the end of the week to see if there's been a significant change.

So, starting with the flexibility testing then. I used the following video as a guide and scored myself out of 5 each side for each of the leg tests and out of 10 for the last two. There's a maximum of 25 for each leg and 70 overall.
 

	Left	Right	Total
Knees to chest	4	4	8
Leg in air	3	4	7
Leg out to side	3	3.5	6.5
Leg over to side	1	1	2
Leg bent and over	2	3	5
Down dog	4		4
Kneeling back	9		9
Totals	13	15.5	41.5

Before the stretches I also did some plyometrics. If you're not sure what it is, don't worry - I didn't either until recently! Basically, it's jumping, but hardcore jumping. I did two sets of eight for each jump and scored out of five for how easy I found the exercise (with one being hard and 5 being easy) and five for form, a total of 10 points possible for each jump, 40 overall.

	Ease	Form	Total
Squat Jump	3	1	4
Standing Long Jump	2	2	4
Diagonal Jumps	1	1	2
Lateral Jumps	1	1	2
			12

So why not give these a go yourself, see how you score, then join me back here to analyse my results.

Night night. x

Now that it's over...

Well, yesterday was the big race, I finally did my 10k. It was a little slower than I would have liked but still inside my target time of 1:10:00 - read my little race report over at Running Bunn. Now that it's over I'm a little lost for what to do. My medal is hanging on the wall next to my Apollo Creed picture and I know he'd be so disappointed if I didn't keep up with the fitness. I'm a winner, I'm the champ!

Anyway, I'm thinking I'll concentrate now on improving my overall fitness and go to running club every week, then attempt another 10k later this year. I'd be well up for a weekly fitness challenge if anyone would like to join in? If not, I'll just have to set my own ones. This week it's going to be about improving my flexibility, more about that tomorrow though.

For now I'm going to go downstairs and have a cup of tea. And four digestives. Because I can.

Peace out. x

Race Report: RFL 10k Norwich

Yesterday was what it had all been building up to, the Race For Life 10k (although, as we were reminded just before the start, it is not a race). We were told to turn up an hour before the start time of 10am to "soak up the atmosphere" but I got there at about 9.30am - still too early in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of the tutu's and fairy wings and face painting. I have relatives who've died of cancer so there's no need to show me the teary film of sadness. And I certainly do not want to join in with a zumbathon warm-up. So yeah, I really soaked up the atmosphere there...

Ali Bunn - number 1 before the race even started...
(pic from Heart)

At 10am I made my way to the start and settled at the back of the runners pack whilst waiting for the joggers and walkers to take their places behind. By 10.15 we were off. It was really slow going at first. I got stuck behind some really slow people for a while but by 1km I was getting into my stride.

We headed around the showground, out onto the road and along an uppy-downy bit for a few km and back into the showground for the last k and a half. I was starting to flag a bit here but seeing my husband and (face-painted) kid spurred me through to a 32min first half. This was certainly a bit behind schedule and I was really not looking forward to the next 5k.

I enjoyed getting out on the road again and the challenging ups were definitely rewarded for by the little down-hill sections. At 8½ k I was walking, my chest was tight and the finish line felt a million miles away. My shoulders were heavy, I'd lost all form and had no idea how I could possibly finish. My schedule was out the window too.

Then came my angel. A lady wearing all black with a white tutu came running up behind me, took out her earphones and shouted "Come on girlie, you can do it!" - "OK..." I replied tentatively and suddenly had a burst of energy. The 9th km flew past and passing the 500m to go was a great feeling.

Rounding the last corner, with about 200m left I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me to pass the finish at 1:06:30. Passing the finish is such a strange feeling, I was almost in tears as I collected my water and orange, the relief was overwhelming. I sat on the grass for a couple of minutes to catch my breath before heading home for a bath.

Looking back I wish I'd done some more stretching because man, am I sore today!

Race Prep

So, tomorrow is the big day. After months of training and anticipation I'm finally going to be doing a 10k race! This past week I've been doing a few things to get me ready physically and, tonight, I'll be starting the mental preparation. So, here's how to prepare for race day.

Choosing A School

It's a fact of modern life - kids need to go to school. It used to be easy in the 'good old days' when they just went to the closest one. Now with catchment areas, different types of schools and learning systems and OFSTED reports to worry about, choosing the right school for your little one can be pretty daunting.

Apollo Creed Saved My Life

How, you may ask, does anyone get to age 28 without having watched a single Rocky film?! As baffling as it may be, until a few weeks ago I had never seen Balboa's journey from wiseguy to legend. By the end of the fourth film one person really stands out for me as star of the show. Apollo Creed.

Review: Jabra Rhythm

I've become a bit of an audio-book junkie recently - on the bus, out running, at work... when the boss isn't looking. Up until now i only had the headphones which came with my HTC and they're really uncomfortable.

Linky Saturday: Nora Daisy

I did a guest bog over at beauty, fashion and life blog Nora Daisy recently so go on, have a read and give her blog a follow.

Review: Timex Ironman Sleek

So, I've wanted a running watch for ages. As much as Map My Run is brilliant, it's also a bit rubbish. For some reason the GPS tends to cut out quite regularly so I'm never sure what sort of pace I'm doing. Now I have a few regular routes I know roughly where the mile markers are and having a watch with a lap timer is just awesome for that.