The year 2012 and 12 marathons by Jenny1961

This year is really going to be the year when I do record every single run as I've got so many little challenges on the go

1 Marathon training- Week 3:  Looking at my spreadsheet I have covered 46.97 miles in total which consisted of my usual mix of running to and from work plus a LSR today of 14.4 miles. And boy weren't some of those runs windy. Never was there a tail wind to be found. Always headwind or gusts blasting me sideways into the hedgerows! What I am pleased about is that I did manage to vary my pace. For instance my short 3.1 recovery runs were definitely executed at slow, easy recovery pace but I wanted to push the pace a bit for part of the morning runs which ranged from 6 - 8 miles and this I succeeded in doing. No matter how knackered I am in the evening I always seem to be ok in the morning for the run!  Today's longer run was done more slowly than the tempo pace but faster than the recovery pace.

2.  2012 Miles in 2012 Challenge. - lots of us are attempting this on facebook with some people attempting 2012 KM instead of the miles depending on current level of running fitness. So far it has been great fun with everyone posting up their efforts on the group page.  I actually think it is an excellent way of getting some consistency into your training and the inner nerd has been released in me as I dutifully record all my runs in my shiny new spreadsheet and watch the formulas do their work!  .

3 Jantastic score 100% this week.   have set a target of 7 runs a week. This isn't a run every day as I generally only run on 5 days, but includes double days. I discovered I had 'rivals' which this year has added an element of 'healthy competition and camaraderie to the challenge. Anyone who has no idea what Jantastic is, take yourself along to the Marathon Talk website . An extremely useful service those guys provide wit their weekly podcasts and  challenges.

4 Spring into Action:100 Callisthenic Challenge ( don't ask me to pronounce that.... ). Well this started off as the 100 day Burpee Challenge but then we realised that we wanted to include other exercises as some of us ( me included-) discovered that the Burpee wasn't the right exercise for us yet! Actually I can't even do one at the moment as I have problems with pain in shoulders and upper arms. I found the pressure on the arms when jumping back into a squat too painful although I could manage a (feeble) press-up. So I am doing daily a number of press-ups, squats and planks. Each day I am adding one second onto the length of time I hold the plank ( first day was 30 secs, so as this is day 8 the planks will be held at 38 seconds each). I'm also increasing the number of press-ups by one each day...... Also now including lunges and tricep dips. But like the 2012 group we can log what we have done on facebook and its' good to see how other people are coping. I'm hoping by the end of this 100 days I will be stronger up top and may well be in the position of trying the 100 Burpee challenge!

So that's about it really. Went back to work for 3 days last week. Now my daughter has just returned to Uni and I'm busy polishing off the dregs of the Christmas fare- I don't know why there is still stuff around! Tomorrow it will be the first full week of work of the New Year so that's it- back to reality . Mind you, so many students were missing last week at the college- seems like the call of the bed was just too tempting....

My usual mix of double day runs and longer run on Sunday for the coming week. Have a good week everyone!