A week off running (more or less)

In my last post I stated that I was going to take a week off from running. Well last week I didn't do much, but I did have one teeny tiny run.

It's hard mentally to take time off from training, and I did feel guilty a lot, and worried all week that I might put on weight. However, with that concern in mind, I was quite careful with what I ate, and was actually a couple of pounds lighter than usual when I weighed myself midweek.

On Tuesday I did something that I haven't done ever in my life - I went for a swim by myself! I have gradually been overcoming my fear of going underwater (with help from Pete and the kids), and I'm learning to  swim lengths of breaststroke - very slowly and with a break inbetween each one! So on Tuesday I avoided the time when people were swimming lanes, and went instead to the open swim, as I wasn't sure I'd be fast enough in a lane. It was perfect, as there were a few old folks swimming sedately up and down (i.e. my speed), and a couple of parents with children who didn't really get in the way.

I was there for about half an hour before I had to leave for school pick up, and I swam 14 lengths in that time - which is 350 metres! So you can see I'm not preparing for a triathlon just yet, but who knows how fast I'll be in a year's time...

I had a lovely 11 mile cycle on Wednesday, which was mostly on cycle path and had the sun blazing through the red and orange trees. The scenery was lovely.

On the Cuckoo Trail

Then I tried a little run on Thursday. I went at 7am, before school, and just aimed to stretch out my legs and see how they felt. I averaged 8.48 min/miles, which is probably a bit slower than I would usually run a short distance before breakfast, and I kept it to a modest 3 miles. I felt ok fitness-wise, but I've had a pain in my left shin for a couple of weeks, and it was still bugging me.

So I decided not to run again, and as we were away at my parents-in-law all weekend, I didn't do any more exercise. Instead we drove to their house on Friday evening and met up with Pete's 3 siblings and their families. Then on Saturday we went swimming with all the children in the morning, had a quick lunch of sandwiches, then went to the cinema. Pete's Mum took the kids to see Madagascar 3, and the rest of us saw Skyfall - the James Bond film.

I'm not a huge fan of all the old Bond movies, but I really enjoyed this. It was just great to see a proper grown-up film at the cinema for a change, and the story was good, the actors were fantastic, there were some funny lines, the baddie was hilarious (Javier Bardem) and I just really enjoyed it.

That evening we went out for a curry, then to a local bar where I drank a few Jack Daniels and Coke - a very unusual weekend for me, but all this relaxing and no working out made a nice change!