End of Week 2

I've completed week 2 and as the picture above illustrates, it's been a wet and windy one.  Deciding when to run has become a bit of an art, hovering by the window trying to predict how long until the next grey cloud of doom will arrive and unleash its misery upon those of us trying to train below.  My shell jacket and trendy cap have been invaluable, as have a pair of thin gloves which I've worn a few times to combat the wind chill.


It has to be said that the wind is worse than the rain. Aside from making your fingers cold it's quite challenging running into the wind near the end of your session when you're tired. It's also off-putting when you're nice and warm indoors and trying to weigh up whether to go out or not.

At the end of week 2 I still don't owe Nottingham Forest Community Trust any money, so maybe upping the stakes is proving a successful strategy so far? Let's see what happens as the weather steadily gets worse. The rain's not too bad but I may have to resort to training indoors if the wind doesn't let up.

Fitness wise, while I managed all of the running intervals this week (2 minutes running and 2 minutes walking x 7, 6, and 8), I was tired by the end of the sessions, so not noticing the benefit yet. I have been consistently meeting my intensity minutes goal of 150 minutes a week though according to my fitness tracker, which is a first since I bought it over a year ago. So that's good. I think.

The sun momentarily coming out was a really nice motivator, particularly after the downpour in the picture above. What was also very motivating was seeing my own shadow running in front of me. When you start running the predominant feedback you get from your body is one of suffering, and you don't really get to SEE yourself as a runner, so actually seeing the shadow of a runner on the ground ahead of me was really nice.  At this stage, clinging to anything that keeps me going is important. According to the website where I found the training plan, I should start noticing significant improvements in my fitness around week 4, so fingers crossed that's right.