9:59pm Monday 9th February 2009
By James Morley-Smith
It’s been one of those weeks. How much chaos can a bit of snow cause?
For many of us last week was full of problems getting to work, school closures and road nightmares; myself included.
On top of this however, for me it was a week of running in the Gym. The snow and ice on the pavements and roads made running outside way too dangerous and very likely to end up in an injury.
Monday is a rest day in my training plan, so I got to spend my lunchtime sledding, snowballing and building snowmen in Hughenden Park with my kids (see picture).
Boys off school again on Tuesday, but I had to run so it was off to the Gym for 30 minutes interval training. I find interval training easier to control using the treadmill computer than trying to push myself on a road circuit.
School open on Wednesday, which was odd as it was probably the most dangerous day for walking as the pavements had iced up nicely over night. For me it was an early start into Basingstoke. I decided to drive my running route into the office to check to see how it looked. Unfortunately it did not look good and I had to skip my training for the day. I was not happy about this!
Unexpected snow fall Thursday night and another call from the school….closed! Still far too dangerous to run outside so back down the Gym at lunch for 60 minutes staring at the wall running – Yawn! I know the gym has those TVs attached to the treadmill so you can “watch and run” or whatever catchy slogan they use to promote them, but let me tell you that pretty much all that is on at that time of day is “Loose Women”, I’d sooner hit my head against the wall for an hour!
Friday: more snow, no school and more gym. Four miles this time in 35 minutes, fairly dissatisfied by this and really fed up by the whole week, starting to really miss running outside. The snow was starting to go that horrible grey/brown colour and lampposts seemed to have a yellow taint at each base!
Saturday…rest day….phew!
Sunday, still too dangerous to run and I needed to complete 10K in less than 50 minutes. I was not too concerned about this, especially how after week 2 I was able to complete this in 52 minutes. I dragged myself down the Gym. I was first through the door and first on the treadmills. I completed a warm up of 1.6 KM (1 mile) and then set the treadmill to 12 kmph and off I went. My moral was really low. I was totally fed up and could not get into the run. I really wanted to be outside. To make matters worse I had a bruise on the top of my left foot which was really getting to me. After 25 minutes I couldn’t take it any more and I hit the red stop button!!
Disaster!
I felt terrible! Not because I was exhausted, I wasn’t. Not because my foot was too painful, it wasn’t. No, I just simply couldn’t bare it any more and I felt terrible because I had given up.
What a week. Please stop snowing. The gym is a really useful facility and great for sessions like the interval training and tempo runs. But for me, a week confined to the treadmill is not good at all.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fitness First in High Wycombe. They have provided me with access to their facilities up until the London Marathon in April. Despite my despair at using the treadmill this week, they offer a wonderful service and without it I would have been stuffed. If you are looking for a gym, I would thoroughly recommend them.
Stats for this week:
Target - 45 km (28 miles)
Actual - 36.67 km (22 miles)
Running time - 03:24
At just four months old, my youngest son was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer called retinoblastoma.
I am running the 2009 Flora London Marathon in order to increase awareness of the disease and raise money for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust.
Please sponsor me at www.justgiving.com/jamesmorleysmith
For more information on retinoblastoma, go to www.chect.org.uk, email info@chect.org.uk, or call 020 7377 5578.
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