It's been three weeks since I've posted as my motivation took a serious nosedive after completing W8R1. Yet again, I suffered a reaction in my knee, which did a lovely impression of a party balloon, and has only just settled back down (if you haven't heard of Devil's Claw, google it - it's helped me no end!).
However, today I bit the bullet and got back out there again - well, I say 'out there' but having struggled outdoors I took to the safety of the gym for W8R2. BORING!!! I did my 5 minute warm-up walk, and settled into a nice 8kmh rhythm, trying to ignore the really dreadful music on the podcast. Plod, plod, plod, staring at the same piece of wall, or trying to read the rather random subtitles of The One Show on the TV. It wasn't helped by the gym's own music system being turned up to 11...
Halfway and I'm feeling ok, but then around the 20 minute mark things start to go downhill. Legs got increasingly heavy, my left instep suddenly started to behave like a piece of Yuri Geller's cutlery, I was breathing like an asthmatic rhinoceros and had probably turned a rather vivid shade of scarlet (no mirrors, fortunately). Valiantly I soldiered on to the 28 minute mark, having slowed down to a paltry 7kmh (I can walk faster!), but I did get through it, and touch wood my knee, heavily strapped though it is, is behaving itself at the moment.
Hopefully I'll get back outside later this week to complete week 8. I much prefer running outside, I just hope I'll be able to complete the programme in the open air.
*If you recognise the quote, have a can of spam.