Moving on

I had such god intentions of keeping this page up to date with all my antics but somehow life seems to get in the way a bit!! I had my initial ECG which showed a regular heart beat at rest at that time, well I could've told them that!!! But, at least it means I've been given the go ahead for "gentle" exercise again, all the permission I need ;) they are in the process of setting up and extensive cardiology appointment to put me on the treadmill etc, but I CAN EXERCISE AGAIN!!!!! I sit and write this from sunny Spain after booking the tickets in March, my husband was also extremely poorly for the first 4 months of this year (2012 has been a bit crap so far) and we wanted a break, my parents in law live up in the mountains so here we are!! Both being "well" now we have done a 10 day bootcamp, I can honestly say I think this is the first holiday I've been on where I'll come home fitter and having lost weight!! I've run around the mountains, hiked up and down them, mountain biked them, lots of swimming as well as a daily workout of trx, free weights, abs, planks, squats and lunges etc oh and it's been between 33-37 degrees every day!! I'm now looking forward to getting home and seeing how my heat and altitude training has improved me, so..." I'll keep you posted!!!!

So, this week, I finally feel like I've recovered from my 2 in 3 weeks marathons, especially MK, MK marathon hurt, I never wanted to run again....... but........I'm back!!!! I'm not sure if cycling is helping running or running helping cycling so I'm settling for both. I've done a 40 mile cycle (only fell off once I'm not good with "clipped in") a 6miler with 8x hill sprints and a 7miler (in 71mins) remember I said I was slow and trying to improve that bit, it has previously taken me 79 mins to do same route!!  Sadly/annoyingly this was the blog I'd started to write last week before a 4 miler I was trying to do at between 9 to 9.30 mm, it was going well til a stabbing chest pain struck that gave my hands even into my legs, a much overdue visit to the docs has lead to the strict instruction of no exercise at least until an ECG and an urgent referral to the cardiologist, bugger, to say I'm devastated is an understatement, I'll keep u posted!!! 

A little more insight

Well here we have it, I've said for ages that I'd do a blog and now I have!!!  Here's a little bit of background up to today.  I've only been running properly for a few years, in 2009 I did my first ever 10k (for asthma UK) to see if I could run, and I didn't like it very much, the training or the race, do I didn't try again for a while!! Then one day I decided I was going to do what I'd always said I'd do "one day" I entered VLM!! I was lucky enough to get a gold bond place through Asthma. The training was hard and I was riddled with injury having 3 foot X-rays at A & E over the winter with suspected fractures!! At one point the physio said I probably would need to defer but from Feb I was on my way and put in pure pavement miles to ensure I got from start to finish, which I did although as I mentioned before, slowly!!!  That was it, I'd caught the bug!! Before I knew it I'd entered Brighton, London and MK for 2012 as well as MK and Silverstone halfs!!  Brighton was a pb by 29.55 mins, MK both the half and the marathon were pretty much swimming not running, horrendous weather for both!! In fact MK marathon was bad from start to finish for me and resulted in me losing all confidence in myself and running. It's taken 4 weeks for me to recover from that, granted 2 in 2 weeks was a push but even so.  I've recently got myself a road bike and I've been loving getting out on that it's kept me ticking over while I've not run, and probably improved my legs no end.  Just this week I had a fab few runs, today was probably my best ever, and included 4 miles under the 9.30mm, which for me is my best ever (remember I said I was slow) and I did 8 x 30sec hill sprints also.  All in all my confidence is sky high currently and I cant wait for my next session!!!  Ultra you are my'ne!!! 

So, as my profile says, I have a heart defect and was once laughed at for saying I wanted to be an athlete (as a child on the cardiac ward by the consultant) I decided there and then that I'd prove him wrong, one day!!! So here I am, I've done many silly things due to various reasons over the years but I'm now someone who's run 3 marathons and am training for an ultra in September, "the Toad Challenge" all of these are to raise money for Asthma UK in memory of my sister (a story for another time) but also to prove people wrong. I'm not the fastest, by a long shot (altho I'm improving) but that bit is hard with the heart "issue" but I train hard and don't give up!! This is my story as I go thru the trials and tribulations of training for my ultra!!!