So this blog is a little late and to be honest I won't write much about my training as I only did one run last week and a little bit of exercise on the wii and the wobble board but I will write a bit about how I am trying to manage the Run Work Life balance.
So I got a wobble board from my wife for christmas to help me strengthening my core muscles and my ankles which will improve my balance. All of those measures should help to prevent injuries from off road running and should boost my stamina and performance, well that is the theory anyway.
I ran only once last week due to my work commitments and because I was busy due to the nature of the festive season. The run was awful, painful, slow but I still enjoyed it as I learned a lot about my body, my residual strength and my mental strength. The first 2 km were ok but after that I started to have bad stomach cramps for nearly 1.5 hours which seriously slowed me down and made my run on this fairly hilly terrain even harder work. After a quick pause my stomach cramps subsided and I felt better so the last hour of running felt ok. On this run I learnt how to cope with pains, low motivation, a "limping" brain, slow reaction times and generally to turn a feeling of defeat around to somethinig positive. This run has shown me that I can run through pain, that my mind is stronger than my body and that I can eat proper food whilst running which helped me to recover quicker after the run and stopped me from feeling awful when I finished my run.
So the summary of my run is as follows: Distance 25.38km Actual running duration (without breaks) 2:33:02 hours Avg. pace 6.02 min/km Climb (according to runkeeper)
427m calories burned 2616.....
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| View from my turning point near the White Horse Uffington |
Its time to address the Run Work Life balance issue and it is a big issue as all sport obsessed of you out there know. I am very lucky as I have a very supportive family but at busy times like Christmas or when work schedules are difficult comes the big question about what to do? How to prioritise? I love my wife and kids and love spending time with them but I feel that I am abetter, happier, more energetic person after I have exercised so for me going for a run seems important. However when I go for a run I need time to get ready, time to run and time to cool down and stretch afterwards that could be around 8.5 hours in a week if I get my 4 runs at the moment. That is a lot of time and I appreciate that I need to train hard for my epic challenge but I also realised that I do this to help people who might not be able to spend time with their family for much longer as one of them might die soon or has to be in a specalised hospital far away. Yes this is a worthwhile cause! This realisation made me appreciate my good fortunes, of having a healthy, loving and caring family more and I know consider the impact my runs have on the whole family more which helps us to stay a happy family unit. I feel that is the best solution to this huge unsolveable problem. If you face the same problem or have other solutions please feel free to leave a comment or tweet me @stoerminator.
Thank you Catherine, Evie and Fabian for your ongoing support I could not do this without the support of you. You three are the strength and the love that keeps me going when life (or runs) gets tough.
If you would like to raise money for the Amber Phillpott Trust and other charities supported by Yeah Baby and to see me finish my Ultramarathon, then please come to the YeahBaby event in Abingdon Oxfordshire on the 14.07.2012 for a free day of music, stalls, face painting etc...
It's quality counts and that sounds like a quality run, I never had stomach cramps for more than about 5 mins, so can't imagine going for 1.5 hours! But. Do get the limping brain and balance! Love the blog! :-)
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