Trending faster

Somehow we are at the end of July so it is time for another instalment of my blog. My big news is that I have left my job and don't start my new job until November - with three months to play with I am hoping to make some significant progress towards my weight and parkrun PB goals.

July's stats:

Weight loss: 1.2kg (9.1kg to lose to get to parkrun PB weight)
Holidays: 2 (so weight loss is an amazing achievement!!)
10k races: 1
10k races with hills and no walking: 1
Minutes improvement in 10k time: 7
Minutes improvement in parkrun time: 5

This month I have been practising the art of moderation. I have no natural ability in this area so I have joined a Facebook group with like minded people to help keep me honest. It probably sounds a bit odd but we share details (and pictures!!) of what we are eating and this somehow helps us make more healthy choices. Of course, whilst on my holidays (Inverness and Copenhagen) it is true to say I was not an active member of the group. 😕  However, it did help me get back to a healthy lifestyle more quickly post holiday than would usually be the case.

We may have indulged a little in Copenhagen:

Yum - just yum.

The beer was as big as Rob's head!!

Drinking in Freetown Christiana - we resisted the herbal offerings!!

Both holidays involved a parkrun, and both were flat, which made a nice change from Guildford. This helped me to get out of my habit of walking when tired which now seems to be paying off as there was no walking in my last Guildford parkrun or the latest 10k (did I mention the 10k had hills?!). The parkrun was helped by an unspoken race between me and my friend Debbie - she beat me in the end but both of us had our best times for a while. Amazing what a bit of healthy competition can do!!

Inverness parkrun is a five lap course so lots of overtaking and being overtaken which kept it interesting - it also meant you had to keep count!!  Copenhagen (Faelledparken) was twice round a park so very straightforward. It was also a small field allowing me a top 100 finish!! Both parkruns were very friendly and are highly recommended.

A tiny finish funnel at Faelledparken parkrun!!

July's 10k was Run Richmond Park, which consists of two undulating laps. The weather forecast was dreadful and there was torrential rain on the drive there but we got lucky as it didn't rain during the race. This is lucky for me as Rob gets grumpy if I make him run in the rain. 😜

I saw a beautiful herd of deer on the run but I couldn't take a photo as I couldn't stop running!! This is a sign of progress as I would have totally used it as an excuse only a few weeks ago!!

So my challenge for August is to keep improving but not get so carried away that I break myself - more of that "moderation" thing. I would love to get a sub 32 minute parkrun by the end of August and sub 30 by the time I go back to work.

Progress at last!!

Here I am fresh from my 21 day blitz - 21 days of clean eating, drinking lots of water, getting lots of sleep and, most importantly, no alcohol!!  And the result of all of this??  I feel great, of course!!  So I should probably keep it up …

So what does this mean for June's stats??

Weight loss: 5.7kg!! 😃
10k races completed: 3
Minutes improvement in 10k race time: 0 😶

I won't lie, the first week of the blitz was not so great.  I cut my calories too much and practically eliminated carbs and the upshot was that running got really hard!!  OK, it's always hard for me, but it got even harder.  I increased the calories a bit in the second and third weeks but was probably still too low on carbs so I need to do some figuring out to find out what works for me.  But I am happy to take a few slow runs in the meantime as the best thing I can do for my running is to lose weight.  Hopefully the speed will come later, as if by magic!!

Here is this month's bling:

Bushy Summer 10k - this race series always has great medals making it a favourite of mine.

Weybridge 10k - this was a slog as I was really feeling the lack of carbs.

The ice cream at the end totally made up for the effort!!

Martian Race on Horsell Common.  This was the location of the first Martian landing in H.G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.  So of course I had to run whilst listening to Jeff Wayne's musical version.

It was a tough and slow run but I really enjoyed it.  I tried to imagine I was being chased by a Martian fighting machine to help me speed up but it didn't work.  Clearly, my imagination is not that good.


Being an extremely goal focused person, I have set myself the challenge of completing 250 parkruns before my fiftieth birthday.  This is achievable but doesn't allow me the luxury of a Saturday off the day before a 10k race, which means I am starting each race with tired legs.  Something else I need to figure out!!

I am pleased to say that I have a four week break before my next race.  The novelty of three races a month has worn thin and my dodgy hamstring is starting to grumble so I am planning for July to be a bit less intense.

This is my fourth blog, and finally I am making some progress.  I have 10.3kg to lose to reach my parkrun PB weight so am going to keep up the clean eating but allow a few more indulgences.  Those who know me will know that I am great at the extreme quick fix diet regimes but pretty rubbish at the ongoing moderation.  Let's hope that the desire to get faster will help me to make better choices and prove that a leopard (or tortoise in this case) can change its spots!!