I am not a competitive sports person, so doing the race for a charity is helping to keep up momentum, especially when the donations keep coming in: http://www.justgiving.com/Holly-Wicks. I may up my target to £500 as there's still time to do some tin-rattling.
At the moment, I am feeling very confident and considering I ran 11.4 miles in an hour and a half last Sunday, I definitely can make the 13.1 miles on September 11th. The only thing I'm worried about is running in public. I know it sounds stupid, but I'm so used to running on my own, (as far from civilization as possible) that the mere thought of sharing a road with even a cluster of people rather scares me. That, and the fact that I go a deeper shade of beetroot when I exercise. Can't help it, think it's hereditary.
I know a whole load of race entrants will be eagerly awaiting race day so that they can show off their peak physical condition, latest running gadgets and bling sportswear but I'll be hiding or blending into the background as much as possible in baggy shorts and muddy trainers. Ah well, vanity is not my concern.
I am proud that my fitness level is the best its been since I learnt to snowboard, but I'm worried about what will happen after the race. I think I'll have to sign up to another race otherwise I'm likely to slip into bad habits.
Yesterday I had my first ever personal training session (and another this morning) with a French friend who's trying to get his business off the ground in Bristol (http://www.rainbowfitness.org/pages/circuit-class.php). He's amazingly confident and dedicated to making sure I get the best routine I can before the race. The first session was fun and not too strenuous. A mix of boxing, circuits, weights and stretching - so Neil could assess my fitness levels. It felt a bit weird doing exercises like this in public (Clifton Downs), while we were boxing, a cabbie came over to watch. He used to go to a boxing club himself, I tried to encourage him to get back into it (he was rather on the portly side) and Neil gave him a business card.
I woke up tired and achy today, especially from doing the lunges. I was a bit anxious about the session ahead of me. I met Neil at the same place on the Downs and we started running around the edge of the park. He made me attempt to do some pull-ups on the bars. I failed miserably and Neil had to get me down again.
Next, we practiced breathing. How hard could that be? I've been doing it every single second of every single day of my life. Pfft. It was hard, I'm used to breathing in and out through my mouth when I run and Neil insisted that I breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Actually bloody hard to do. Then - he wanted me to sprint and breath! It was so weird, the reverb of the air coming out my mouth at such high-speed made my whole mouth shake - god knows what I must have looked like in close-up. Uh oh, lots of people are going to see this delightful spectacle on race day - I think they capture photos as you cross the finish line too. Great.
I totally appreciate how important it is to breath correctly and to get into the proper rhythm when you're pacing yourself and then to alter it before you sprint, but really - am I actually going to be able to breath like this on race day? I might be too nervous.
Must practice. Try and control the mouth wobble.
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