Edinburgh Marathon Training - Week 11

Monday: Rest
I can’t believe that I am still stiff after Saturday’s activity of cutting down the tree.

At least I can breathe properly now.

Tuesday: 45 min run
I think things are starting to look up as I another great run with no pain in my knees

Also got my running pack for Great Manchester Run today. I am in the orange wave again. Going to try and get there a little earlier so I am at the front of the wave which will also help with me trying to get a better time than last year.

Wednesday: Rest
Wasn’t in the mood to run today after finding out that I am officially a thicko and have been rejected from two of the three universities that I applied to.

Thursday: Rest
After being a drama queen yesterday, I got the news that I have been accepted at MMU for a foundation degree. I am not going to repeat myself here as I have already done a blog about it.

So to celebrate my good news and also to see Steve who has come back from Gran Canaria after only three weeks, I decided to replace a run with the pub.

Friday: 45 min hill session

Taken into account that my recent runs have been really good and pain free, and that Edinburgh isn’t know for being flat, I decided that it was about time that I put some hill sessions into my training plan.

The session consisted of a three minute inclines with two minute jogs for 45 minutes. Overall the session was a lot better than I thought it would be. I only got a slight twinge at the end of the session. Taken into account that I struggled with 20 minute runes, I am really happy that I could run 45 minutes.

Saturday 70 min
As we were visiting my mum again so Chris could work on the garden, I made sure that I went for my run this time.

My intention was to run down the lines and back, so off I went and was pleased that I felt no pains in my knees by the time I got to the same spot as last time. As I carried on thinking there would be at least twice the distance to run, however within a couple of minutes the path stopped. I knew that this wasn’t the end of the track because I was no where near my old home, so I carried on running on the dirt track. As I carried on the track became more over grown and harder to run. So I ran down a steep hill and ran back up and decided to head back via the main roads.

Taken into account that I had been around Tottington since I was a kid I was kind of surprised at how I vaguely remembered where to go. As I was walking up the main road, noticing how a few things have changed since my last visit I decided to carry on up the road into Ramsbottom.

The run to Ramsbottom was mainly on an incline, and after about 20 minutes, my knee was starting to ache. I was slightly peeved, but I carried on in the hope that the pain would go which it has done occasionally. It did, although not always on a permanent matter. As I ran down Greenmount on the way home, I misjudged a pavement and the knee started to hurt again. I was about 10 minutes from mum’s so I wasn’t going to stop.

Within 5 minutes of getting home, from what has become a sunny day, the pain in my knee went and I was able to help Chris with the garden. This involved a lot of manual work where my duties involved moving a ton of rubbish from the garden to the skip.

Let’s just say, by the end of today I was absolutely knackered.

Sunday: Rest
Well at least I woke up on Sunday with no stiffness, taken into account the amount of work I did in the garden. Although the same couldn’t be said for the knee. There was a small pain, and I didn’t want to push it by going for a run.

Instead, Chris and I went out for a walk around Turton & Entwistle Reservoir near Bolton. Never been before, but as soon as I got there I was itching to go for a run. Typical eh?

The walk around the reservoir was nice, plus it had trails through the woods and stuff which made it more entertaining.

Thank You Karen

I received a phone call from my friend Karen asking if I was available tonight as she would like to pop up because she has something for me. I said I was, plus I had something for her. I just hadn’t got round to posting it yet.

As there had been a Bad Taste Bears event the previous weekend, I thought she had the event stuff from another collector and never really thought anything of it until she arrived and then I started to get suspicious. No BTB bags and the hands behind the back with a cheeky grin sort of gave it away that it wasn’t my BTB stuff.

As soon we got into the front room, Karen started to give this speech about me and how much of a wonderful friend I was and a list of other things that I do including running Edinburgh Marathon for charity. Felt kinda weird listening to the speech, because firstly it was embarrassing and secondly had no idea where this was going.

Karen then proceeded to tell me that she spent ages trying to get something organised for me, and was happy to pull it off. Karen continued that she had been in contact with Kylie’s agent in the UK and she had a long conversation with the company about me. Explaining everything that I have done, how much of a Kylie fan I am and whether there was anything that could be done as a thank you.

The next thing I knew, Karen had pulled out a photo frame from behind her back. My initial thought was that it was a lovely frame, until I saw what was within the frame. A personalised signed photo from the Goddess.

Let’s just say I was surprised. More so that it was personalised. I honestly can’t believe Karen went to all that trouble just for me. Thanks Karen. Sort of pissed on my present to you really.

I have also been told that Kylie also has my website address. Whether she has actually read the site is another thing. Well she is a busy lassie after all. But if she does – thank you ;o)

OMG - I'm Going To University!!!

Although I have never made a specific blog about this, just comments in my running blogs, I can now confirm that I shall hopefully be going to university in September.

When work announced that the head office was going to close, in effect making redundant, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew that I didn’t really want to stay within the same sector and the chances of finding a job, in the current climate, with a similar salary was slim to none. So my initial plan was to pay off all my debts and find a lower salaried job. As I would have no debts, I technically wouldn’t feel the pay cut.

Then my friend Claire planted a seed in my head about going to uni. This is something that I have thought about previously, but it never happened. However, this time round it just seemed like the right thing to do.

The whole application process was frustrating and stressful. I honestly felt like I had no support in what I needed to do. I phoned the university’s and they directed me to UCAS. I phoned UCAS and they told me to complete the online application. But I had, and still do, a load of questions on what I need to do.

My personal statement was probably one of the most organised essays I have done since school. It was planned out to the last minute detail and very positive about me as an individual, which is something that I am not comfortable about doing. I was proud of what I had written taken into account I haven’t done anything like that for over 13 years. However I got a couple of people at work to read it just to make sure it was okay. Michelle, who is fantastic at these things, ripped it apart and guided me into what I needed to write. Although the actual content hadn’t changed, just they way it was written I couldn’t help feel a little deflated. However I took her advise and did the changes and submitted the application.

Yesterday, I received two replies from the universities to confirm that I hadn’t got into the place. One was Manchester University and the other Salford University. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t get into Manchester University, but I was upset that they gave the acknowledgement and refusal within a couple of hours. Was I really that bad? At least Salford gave it a week before responding.

When I phoned Manchester University to find out what the reason was, they confirmed what I thought, I didn’t have the qualifications. However what pissed me off was the back handed snide comment that they gave ‘You need As and Bs in GCSEs Math and Science and you only got Cs and Ds’. Without thinking my response was ‘At least they are still passes!’. Plus my qualifications are probably equivalent to A*s in today’s GCSEs marking levels.

Salford University also confirmed that I was rejected due to qualifications. Again slightly rude in the way they told me, but also slightly helpful telling me what I could do to build up my points and guaranteed me a place if I passed the access course.

Let’s just say I was gutted, and absolutely deflated. I had my heart set on going to university and it just seemed like the rug was being pulled out from under my feet. Now, in a couple of months I would be out of a job and have no idea what I was going to do.

After a day of panicking, sulking and the little advice from Salford University, I had decided that the next step would be for me to go back to college for a year and do an access course with the intention of applying for uni again next year. However, today I received an email from UCAS to say that I have had another reply. Taken into account there was only one more university to respond (MMU) I knew it would be from them.

I signed onto UCAS and noticed a new reply box, but didn’t think anything of it. When I looked at the list of university’s my initial thought was that I was unsuccessful, as that was all I could see. However sandwiched between Manchester and Salford Uni’s responses was ‘unclassified’. I nearly fell off my seat, and read it about 15 times just to make sure. So that’s it. I have been officially successful in getting place into university.

The course I am going to do is Computer Science. However, unlike Manchester and Salford, I selected the foundation course which in effect has the access year included within the degree. I pass the foundation year and I am automatically accepted into MMU for the degree. I believe this must have been the deciding factor for me. Wise choice I must say.

I also feel extremely lucky, because the same day I was told that I was successful in getting into uni, it has also been announced that about 30,000 applicants would be rejected due to the number of available places being reduced by the government.

The next thing I need to do now is apply for a student loan….wish me luck!!!

Edinburgh Marathon Training - Week 10

Monday: Rest
I had all intentions of doing a long run today, but that failed drastically.
Firstly I was up at 6.40am to get the new sofa delivered and ideally that would have been an ideal time to go for a run. So had some porridge, got my gym kit on and went into the bedroom to start doing some exercises. What actually happened is I got on the bed and fell asleep for several hours!!! Not good.

If I carry on and don’t get any long runs in I shall be doing a Jade Goody at the marathon soon.

Tuesday: 2 hour run
My fear of running alone in the wilderness (aka Salford) seems to be having an effect on me so unintentionally I ended up doing my first long run…on a treadmill.

As it was relatively quiet in the gym, I was looking to do about 1 hour run, as I reached that original deadline, I decided to extended it the run for another 30 mins and then quickly changed this to 1 hour 45 which would be the time for a half marathon.

80 minutes into the run, I started to get a knee pain and thought that I would have to cut short the run to 90 mins. However the pain literally disappeared within minutes. Did I re-adjust my running to prevent the pain? I don’t know, but whatever happened it worked.

Coming up to the 1:45 target, I decided that I would try for the 2 hour target now. Well what was another 15 minutes?

Overall, taken into count the problems I have had with my knees, I am ecstatic to have run for 2 hours, which is the first time I have ran that long.

I only had a few twinges walking home with my knees, but that were quickly resolved with an ice pack on them.

Wednesday: Rest
Had to take an impromptu rest today as I absolutely shattered and there was no way I would able to run for 5 minutes, let along 30.

Over the last month I have struggled with sleeping and the late nights and early mornings have started to take it's toll. The whole situation, at this moment seems to just be getting on top of me, so I decided to seek help.

Surprisingly, I was able to see the Doctor straight away, and he has prescribed me two weeks sleeping tablets top try and get me back into a routine. If that doesn't help, then counselling is the next thing on the agenda. We shall see how w get on for the next couple of weeks.

Thursday: 40 min speed session
At last, I had a really good night sleep. Just seems to have brought a spring into my step for today. Although I digress.

The run session was also really good. I did a speed session where and had no problems with my knees. Hurray!!!

Friday: 31 min tempo session
It feels like the exercises provided by the sports therapist are really doing the job as I had another good run today.

I did experience the occasional twinge in my knee, but I was also doing faster tempo sessions than normal so that could have been expected.

Other news for the day, which kinda falls under the exercise banner; the Wii I ordered was delivered today so the evening was spent setting up and playing with that. Surprisingly my Wii fit age is not that far of my actual age...32. I was expecting it to be about 70 or something!!!

Saturday: Rest
Another day spent at my mum’s while Chris worked on the Garden. I had full intention of going for a run along The Lines again as it’s a really nice place to run, but alas Chris decided that this wasn’t going to happen. Instead I had to help take down the tree in the Garden. Although I have to say that, taking the tree down was exercise itself. I was absolutely knackered by the end of the day and my arms were killing me.

We are at my mum’s again next weekend to start doing some of the cleaning up. Chris has been told that I have to go for a run.

Sunday: Rest
Although I was planning to do a run today it was totally out of the question. When I woke up I honestly thought someone had nicked a lung I was finding it hard to breathe. And then when I tried to get up, the stiffness in my arms and back was unbelievable. Who would have thought gardening would be that hard on my body!!!

Edinburgh Marathon Training - Week 9

Monday: Rest
Lack of sleep makes Mike a dull and grumpy boy. I am glad this is a rest day, because I really don’t have any time for anything else.

I spent my evening doing umpteenth versions of my personal statement for my university application.

Tuesday: 30 min run
The exercises provided by the sports therapist seemed easier today. Maybe I wasn’t doing them properly. Although I should add, they were still hard work and brought me out in a sweat.

Run wise, I just wasn’t in the mood for a run so thought I did quite well to last for 30 minutes. My calves felt a little tight at times, and I thought if I carried on my knee would start to play up.

Wednesday: 40 min tempo run
Another sports therapist session, this time I came out with a planned training session to do until my next appointment next month. Overall the session went really well, I just hope I can remember what the new exercises are when I come to do them.

After the session, I went for a tempo run and for the first time in a long time, this is probably one of the best speed work sessions I have had in a long time.

After my second speed session, my knee did start to play up. It wasn’t unbearable so I carried on and the pain eased slightly for me to do another 3 speed runs making it the longest tempo session I have done since I can remember.

It honestly feels that the work I am doing with the sports therapist seems to be paying off.

Thursday: Rest
Another day where lack of sleep interrupts my training schedule.

I don’t think I could run for 2 minutes let alone two miles, so decided to take an impromptu rest day.

Friday: Rest
As I took yesterday as a rest day, I did have intention to make today a running day, but it was non-stop that I didn’t have time to fit one in.

As soon as I woke up I was getting ready and out of the door heading to Ikea, where we got our new sofa and also met some close friends, Karen & Dave. From there we went to meet Karen’s parents and had tea and scones with them.

Before we knew it, it was past 7pm and time to head home. Doesn’t time fly when you are having fun?

Saturday: Rest
Another non-stop day so didn’t have time to go for a run.

The day was spent with the in-laws, by the time we got home it was time for Dr Who and Britain’s Got Talent before heading out for the night.

Sunday: Rest
I knew a long session would be out of the question today as Chris and I had planned a night out with the boys. I intend to do the long run tomorrow instead

Fundraising Update
With less than two months left, just thought I would give a little update in relation to how the fundraising is going along. I have reached a third of the target. Thank you to everyone who has already sponsored me. It is very much appreciated.

For those who haven’t got their ass into gear yet, then click on the ‘Sponsor Me’ button below and get sponsoring.

Here is a lovely fact: if every one of my Facebook buddies sponsored me the minimum amount for the page (£2) I would raise over £800 which would help me pass my target. Just a subtle hint ;o)

Edinburgh Marathon Training - Week 8

Monday: Rest
After last weekends antics, I need a rest.

Tuesday: Sports Therapist Consultation
Having seen the sports therapist in the gym previously, I have seen a number of exercises he has done with other customers so kind of knew what to expect. What I didn’t know is how painful it would be. And this wasn’t a session, this was to suss out how much help I needed. And I need a lot.

A couple of tests were done to check my flexibility and core strength. In total it is marked our of 21. I got a disappointing 5½ in total.

In a nutshell, my core muscles are weak, so my other muscles are over compensating and tiring really quickly, hence the problems I am having. I have also been told that I should stay off the weights, as this affects my core. I’m not even allowed to do press ups (even though I don’t) at the moment. Although, if this is short term to help with my running, then so be it.

So over the next couple of weeks, I have a load of exercises to do to try and resolve the correct problem, and in return be able to help me with the marathon training.

Wednesday: Sports Therapist Session
All I can say, the sports therapist is a meanie!!! I honestly felt like I did a harder workout than I do with weights.

Plus, the pain. I honestly didn’t think it was that possible to hurt anymore than yesterday, but it did. I thought I was going to be ripped in half on occasions while he stretched me here, there and everywhere.

What was obvious, even after the little exercises that we did today, there was a vast improvement in my flexibility from yesterday.

After the session, I wasn’t in the mood to go for a run. My legs were in agony and I felt as if I was doing a John Wayne/Tina Turner impression as I walked to the changing rooms.

I just hope these exercises will start to help as I am conscious that I have less than two months now until race day!!! OMG

Thursday: Rest
My gym day was changed into a drinking day. Well the sun came out and it’s only fair that we celebrate it’s arrival. Although it was slightly cold and spent the time in the pub instead of outside in the ‘sun’.

Friday: 45 minute run (easy)
Using the exercises that I did in the sports therapist session on Wednesday, I got myself onto a mat and started to work away.

Some of the exercises I was unable to do as I needed someone there to support, although I was able to do the majority. And like Wednesday, they were still as painful as ever. Let’s hope they get easier as time goes on.

I also felt extremely self-conscious while doing the exercises. It was bad enough using the weight machines, but you don’t have feel like a tit when you are on one leg arse in air and trying to stretch in front of you.

After the exercises, I went for a 45 minute run. Just nice and easy, and no pain felt at all. I am really happy with the session today, lets hope it stays this way.

Saturday: 50 minute run
Saturday session was done around my mum’s place as we were up their to do some of the garden. Okay, Chris was here to do the garden while I went for a run and tried to complete my university application. Although, I should say I did help by sawing down some of the trees.

I was really looking forward to this run, as I was going to be running around where I was brought up.

I ran from my mums up to Greenmount, passing my old house, before heading to The Lines. They have definitely been working on this area as when I was a kid, the lines was all mud but now it has been concreted over. Understandable, but rather disappointing now.

I also ran passed my old school which has changed a lot as well. Unfortunately for the worse. All the ugly prefab buildings that have gone up cheapens the place now.

As I continued running down the lines, within 25 minutes I started to get excruciating pain in my knee. I decided that I would have a couple of minutes break to catch my breath and then head back.

Last 25 minutes of the run was not nice at all, but at least I got home in one piece.

Sunday: Rest
Just wasn’t in the mood today to attempt a long run, especially after my appalling run yesterday. I was still feeling a little pain in my knee aswell.

Plus, I was a little peeved as today I should have been running another half marathon, unfortunately when I went to enter it was fully booked. Lesson learnt, if I want to do a run, then to book earlier!!!