Waterlily's Wiggle

[waterlily]

I'm training for VLM 2013 pretty much from scratch - eek!

I'm doing most of my runs early in the mornings, in the dark, cold, and perpetual Welsh rain as it makes me feel more earnest.

Today my plans went awry as having hauled myself out of bed at 5.45, I discovered one head torch had a dead battery, and the other faded as I set off up the road.

Second attempt successfully occurred at 9.30. 3 muddy miles - no rain! Now I can relax (well, try and write some comedy before 1.45, when weight-lifting at the gym calls - I'm a double sportist these days!)

[lunarlucy]

Yours will probably be the most insteresting journal on here, and we'll all watch out for your on the telly

[daffodil]

Good luck ! :-)

[waterlily]

Aw, you guys! I'll try not to disappoint, even if that means I have to make shit up

[Jelly]

Keep up the amazing work you have been doing WL and you'll be brillo pads on the day, I am gonna try and dump the dogs on my Mum and Dad so I can support you on the day!

[waterlily]

Today was the final day of a six week, self-imposed, intensive comedy writing exercise, and whilst I've enjoyed it massively, I'm drained and exhausted. My computer played me up all morning but I finally got my last lot of stuff emailed off to the lovely Newsjack bods (please use my material again, pleeeease!).

Anyway, the upshot was that I decided to shift today's run to tomorrow, so I wouldn't have to rush to be ready for school pick up. That meant I got to wind down with a good book instead. Don't worry, I did do some sportism, I swam a whole goddam mile this evening - Woohoo! Weirdly, in the last two sessions I felt like a hessian sack full of bricks but tonight it clicked and my inner woman from Atlantis was re-awakened.

All was well until the aquaguards put a marshmallow rope across the shallow end of the pool so I had to do maths after 50 lengths. It took a while, I was confoosed, but it could catch on as a different type of triathlon: swim, do IQ test, run.

Anyway, tonight's mile = 55 minutes.

[I am Leg End]

Thats @wesome! By the way, remember this for VLM:

On Tower Bridge, the right hand side, almost as you come off the bridge is the boom arm for the TV Broadcasting - that's where i will be again this April, with camera

[waterlily]

Aw, ta IALE! I will look out for you and come and give you a big sweaty hug!

I had an awesome muddy run today.

The good thing about non-early runs is that I can risk my ankles on the moor as it's definitely out of bounds in the dark. I'm like Gollum picking my way across the mire but today the swamp won. I missed my footing and ended up in the shizzle. My whole foot, ankle and half a calf was chocolate coated, and that beats road running any day of the week!
2.5 miles = 29 minutes

More sportism to come later - it's Ninja Night!

[twinnies]

I'm really hoping to meet you on Tower Bridge for sweat hugs Lilyloo

[waterlily]

*****news just in*****

I am back ON IT!

Like many people, I can easily slump and withdraw into my shell at the very thought of the coming winter. This year I've noticed it, and what with half term throwing a spanner into the stability of my sportist routine, the whole lot came crashing down. It's been hard to get back out there even though I know running really helps to keep me feeling positive.

Anyway, last week I needed to drop my car off for it's MOT and I thought that running the 5.5 miles home would be a good challenge. I was anxious about it as I'd been running half that distance before and I'd had a week off, but if I took walk breaks I thought I'd be ok. I did manage (except for a really annoying blister that made the last 2 miles a bugger), and I managed to make a new friend - a lovely collie who followed me all the way home and had to be collected by his owner. However, I really hurt the next day and instead of inspiring me back I think it sent me further into the gloom.

I'm obviously bricking it - I have to run 26.2 miles next year and I can't manage 5! Not good. A bad cold kept me out of action again and I wasn't looking forward to my next run. However, after a moan to my fb sportist friends, they gave me the gentle push I needed and I went out yesterday. The result was 4 miles of blissfully comfortable running. That longer run has obviously done some good - and that 4 miles (including hills I tell you!) has really boosted my confidence. Phew! There is hope after all.

I'm still snotty today, but I'll try and fit in a run tomorrow or definitely Friday, then I'll try a 5 miler on Sunday, and this time I'll take my own dog . Bring it on!

[rottenrhon]

SPORTIST!! You kick all the asses. It's all about sporting when you dont feel like it and its tough.

[twinnies]

I have always said that running in 90% mental and once my head is not there then my legs soon follow and feel like lead so well done on pushing yourself to get out Waterlily. You are doing great and will be match fit come April.

[waterlily]

Aw thanks twinnies and Rhon

I ran a new loop today - oooh, 'citing! The downside was that I had to drop Mrs Tiggywinkle off at school dressed up like a neon lollypop (some main road running with no pavement means I had to weigh up not wanting to look like a twonk over not wanting to die).

Anyway, it's a nice little 2.5 miler, plenty of hilly bits - one long haul at the end is a bit of a killer. Mind you, the main road bits are at the beginning and end and are both up hill slogs. I found that trying not to get run over by speeding nutcase drivers was a convenient distraction from imminent lung explosion, so that's good.

Things I learnt today :

1. Never run straight after drinking fizzy vitamin C. Bubble deja vu is not pleasant even when orange flavoured.

2. The arse/pride ratio. If I'm too proud to engage in sportist activities in public (and look like a twonk by default) then my arse will remain unfeasibly large. Therefore, pride must first be sacrificed and then, as if by magic, arse shrinkage will surley follow!

[waterlily]

5 hilly miles yesterday.

After a stressful day involving hours of driving across pembrokeshire and carmarthenshire carting children to the emergency dentist, and to and from orchestra practice, I was drained and had pretty much written off getting a run in as it would get dark about halfway round.

Anyway, I had a blazing row with my 15 year old - apparently my refusal to help him find the sugar in the supermarket constituted an act of neglect (my stance on it was that at his age, and with Duke of Edinburgh training, he should be able to dig deep and find inner resources to remedy the problem - ie, use his eyes or ask a member of staff. Moreover, my 'helping him' at this juncture would in fact be the act of negligence, as I would be robbing him of the opportunity to develop self-sufficiency. Wow, did that go down well!

By the time I got home, I wanted more than anything to get as far away as possible from the little shrew, and suddenly five miles of barstido hills was a dream option I could not refuse. On a route that has no flatness whatsoever, I'm really chuffed that I managed all the hills (bar the one up from the slate workshop which is a bugger and would bring even the most seasoned runner to their knees), especially as the 5 miles I did last week nearly killed me and that was flat.

Progress - yeeeessssss!

[twinnies]

Progress indeed, your going to smash London!