I went out on Friday night and had a fabulous time, but just a tad too much to drink!
I woke up on Saturday morning with the good intentions of hitting the trails and going for a run!
My head totally disagreed!
I am usually up for a good old run to to run out the toxins in my body but I decided that my body needed a little longer to recover!
However, by Saturday afternoon I decided that getting a little fresh air in the form of a walk might be a good idea.
We headed off to Bowness on Windermere and had a lovely slow 5 mile walk and were rewarded with fabulous views of the lake as well as a sighting of the world’s last flying Vulcan bomber!
It was an amazing sight and extremely low! After getting over the excitement of seeing this we went on to see a view that shows exactly where I swim on a Thursday night!
We swim from the jetty marked in the left of the picture then around that tiny little island that doesn't seem as tiny whilst swimming around it and back again! It is approximately 1.25 miles.
Today I woke up determined to get a run in but my body was still saying "No you abused me and now I'm not playing!"
However, I was having none of it! I put on my trainers and headed out to Scout Scar! After the first mile or so my body decided it would play ball after all and I really enjoyed it despite it being hard work! The wind blew the cobwebs away and I returned feeling 100% better! I amazingly did 7.1 miles! My parting words were "I won't be long I will only manage a couple of miles!". Luckily my Garmin has a tracking device on it so my husband could locate me and know I was still alive!
Tonight I had a fabulous swim in Lake Windermere with my swimming friend David.
I was feeling chilly even before I left the house so I wasn't much looking forward to plunging into the icy waters of the lake!
However, by the time I got there I felt a little better (probably due to the fact I had the car heater blasting away for 20 minutes!).
I had attached my new adventure light to my goggles and was using it tonight for the first time! It was a bit of a trauma attaching it to my goggles but apparently being a woman I made hard work of it and there was a simple way to do it! I now know for the future!
When I first got in the cold water was a bit of a shock to the system but once I got swimming I soon warmed up!
It started to get dark fairly quickly but it was a perfectly calm and clear night so the mountains silhouetted in the distance looked beautiful. We even stopped and just bobbed around in the middle of the lake at the half way point to marvel in our surroundings! There wasn't a boat or any other swimmers anywhere in sight, just the occasional car lights travelling past on the other side of the lake!
It was probably my most relaxing and enjoyable swim ever!
My light worked well, in so much as David could spot me and I could spot his in the dark which means any boats would also spot us!
I had white hands and feet from the cold when I got out but who cares when you get to swim in such an amazing place!
We did a shorter swim than usual but that was due to the fact we were awestruck in the middle of the lake so spent time not swimming and it was dark!
We did 0.71 mile. You can view my swim here!
Tonight I needed to run ... desperately!
After an extremely busy day at work followed by an extremely stressful meeting afterwards I needed to get some release even though I felt absolutely exhausted!
I didn't even think about sitting down, I just got changed into my running gear and was out the door before I could reach for the bottle of wine to drown my sorrows!
I was so het up it felt good to be out, free to run and to clear the negative thoughts from my mind!
I managed just under 6 miles and felt a whole lot better for it!
Ready to fight another day!
After last week's madness of swimming in Lake Windermere without a wetsuit tonight I donned it again!
The lake didn't feel too cold this evening and I can't decide whether its after braving it last week in just my Tri suit it made it feel warmer tonight just by wearing a wetsuit or whether with it being a nice day the lake had warmed up!
Whatever the reason it felt a fairly pleasant temperature, the only issue was the dark!
By the time we were returning to the shore it was dark! Thankfully I wasn't the lead swimmer as I couldn't work out where the jetty was and just followed the swimmer in front! As well as our usual tow floats we also wore glow sticks so we could be seen and see each other!
We didn't do our usual mile tonight, we managed just 0.65 mile - mainly due to the dark!
Not sure if I will get used to night swimming, felt slightly strange and unnerving!
I'm going again on Thursday evening so I will give it another chance!
Tonight I did my second Women On The Run Club run and we had 16 runners turn up!
They were all very keen and put in a lot of effort. We did 2.5 miles doing a run/walk session, with 3 minutes running followed by 1 minute walking.
It won't be long before they will be running Marathons!
Feeling immensely proud of them all!
Here's hoping that the enthusiasm lasts!
Yesterday I did my first race since my calf injury!
The Coniston 15K Lakeland Trails run!
I knew I wasn't 100% ready for it but I hadn't truly appreciated just how unfit I currently am!
My aim was just to enjoy the race and finish it - no goals in mind!
I did the latter and finished it but I can't say I enjoyed it!
I think this was probably the hardest 15K I have ever run in my life! Despite the glorious views and Autumn sunshine I hated every second!
I really must start to look at race elevations before booking them willy nilly and happily turning up oblivious to the pain ahead!
I struggled from the outset and never got into my pace! The hills were humongous - I don't think anybody, however fit there are, could possibility keep running up to the top!
I certainly had to do a lot of walking!
More walking than I have ever done whilst I'm supposed to be running! The main problem I had was trying to persuade my body that it was time to run again once the steep bits were over!
Not an enjoyable experience and not a race I would rush to do again!
Surprisingly my body seems to have forgiven me and I am fairly ache free today, just feeling extremely tired and old!
I now have 4 weeks to get race ready for my next race - Helvellyn Lakeland Trail, thankfully I had the sense to book the 10K!
Today, I have had a number of friends running in the Chester Marathon and Metric Marathon! I have been tracking their progress and hearing their motivational stories which has got me inspired to perhaps run it again next year, despite saying never again!
On Friday I got rejected yet again from the London Marathon and I must admit I didn't feel too distressed about it but now I have the urge to do it all again!
Chester was my first marathon and has been my favourite so if London is not meant to be, it might as well be Chester ... or New York!
Watch this space!
What a week! Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong!
I haven't even been able to "run-off" my frustrations as I have been taking it easy this week as I have a 15K trail race tomorrow!
The only exercise I have done is a recce of the run route I will be doing on Monday with my Ladies in my new running club called Women on the run!
This consisted of 3 minutes run and 1 minute walk intervals repeated 10 times and I covered 3.43 miles. However, I think I possibly ran too fast and I will be interested to see what my ladies do on Monday!
So tomorrow I have my first race since my calf injury and my first race for several months!
Its a Trail Run starting at Coniston, other than that I don't know much else about the route!
I do know that it will be hard as it's a trail race and I am not at my fittest but I am hoping just to finish it and to enjoy the views!
On a positive note the weather forecast is looking good - lots of sun and no rain - at the moment!!!
I am going to be wearing my "Women On The Run" vest for the first time during a race - might as well advertise whenever I can!
Although if I collapse unconscious it won't be a very good advert!
The best thing about tomorrows race is it doesn't start until 1pm so no silly early get-up which means I have risked a sneaky Gin and Tonic this evening to help relax my stressed nerves!
We headed off to Bowness on Windermere and had a lovely slow 5 mile walk and were rewarded with fabulous views of the lake as well as a sighting of the world’s last flying Vulcan bomber! 
