..it could have been better !
Last month I ran my first 10k and surprised myself by managing to do it in just under 1 hour 9 minutes - not a brilliant time but it was the first time I'd covered that distance so I was delighted. Since then, I've not been feeling my best at all - Men should maybe ignore the next paragraph.
A couple of months ago I had the contraceptive injection in an attempt to control heavy periods that were making me anaemic and exhausted. All went well for the first month but since then I've had a continuous period for getting on for five weeks now and at times I've been afraid to leave the house - I've been taking vitamins and iron supplements but it's still leaving me feeling drained so I suspect I'm at least bordering on anaemic again. I'm also stuck with it for another month while I wait for the injection to wear off 
It got so bad last week that I insisted the doctor refer me to the hospital with a view to having a surgical alternative - so at least I have a specialist appointment booked for 20 September, I'm not without hope ! 
Anyway, flushed with the success of my first race, I've committed to the Birmingham half marathon in October and a local-ish 10k next month, so I've been conscious that I really need to up my training a bit. I've had to miss a couple of weekend runs due to being so drained and being scared to leave the house but I've managed to get to most of the running club meetings on a Tuesday and Wednesday evening and decided to choose the option of hill sessions, step sessions etc rather than the comfortable runs. Gosh, those sessions are tough ! I enjoy them but they really are challenging - just as well there's lots of encouragement from everyone.
Today I decided I really should get out there and try a longer run. I didn't feel great but I had a route in mind and thought that if I paced myself carefully I should manage the first 5k without pausing - I managed that last time I followed a similar route, a few weeks ago. I started off with a 5 minute walk then broke into a gentle run - I managed to cover 2.5km before having to pause for a walk break. Oh well, I thought, I'm clearly still fairly worn out with everything, so I'll try following some of Jeff Galloway's ideas - the important thing is to cover some distance, whether I walk or run. So I started alternating a few minutes running with a few minutes walking, varying the intervals and with a very occasional 30 sec sprint. I still found it difficult and I'm afraid my walking intervals started getting longer than my running intervals. I altered my planned route so I could go back through woodland rather than on pavement - I thought less people would see me struggling then, so I would probably be kinder to myself !
To get to the woodland route, first I had to cross the Jackfield footbridge over the River Severn. The bridge has lots of steps as it has to be high for when the Severn gets particularly deep and floods so I decided that, following the step training session at running club on Thursday, I should really try and run up them. I think I managed those quite quickly, then ran across the bridge - stomp, stomp, stomp (it's wooden!) - and down the other side then a nice run in the shade at the side of the river.
Then the woodland - a nice gentle, grassy track leads into the woodland. Then you get round the corner and see the hills. Lots of walking and a bit of running. Then the steps ! They're really quite steep and the first set looked wonky and made me feel drunk and off balance as I huffed my way up them. Then a short, gentle slope before the next set. Oh, there's even more steps this time - surely they reach to the sky ? Nope, there's another set. And another set. I lost count of how many there were.....this hurt, it must be good for me. I must be burning fat still and it's the distance that counts.
Then a signpost pointing the the Ridge Path. That sounds like it might be at the top of the hill ! I followed the path up a gentle slope and sure enough, it evened out and I started back on the run/walk intervals. I was really quite tired by now but another signpost told me I was on my way to Madeley. That's not far from home so I was happy with that.
Eventually, the footpath brought me out on a housing estate. A housing estate in a part of Madeley that I didn't recognise at all......and had no sense of which way to turn. No-one in sight to ask. Hmmm, I stopped and scratched my head. Aha ! Perhaps MapMyRun can find where I am. Several attempts later, MapMyRun clearly didn't want to help me. I started to walk up the hill, thinking that felt like the right direction - the further I got the less likely it looked. I stopped again and scratched my head again. I tried MapMyRun again. MapMyRun still didn't want to help me. I scratched my head again then had a brainwave. I have an App called Waze on my Android phone - it's a SatNav that I use in the car sometimes. Perhaps Waze would help me. Sure enough, Waze found my location and the route home. 2.3 miles to go ! Oh joy ! I set off jogging down the hill and realised that I wasn't far from the gym where BH would be doing his stuff. I could just go and sit in the car park and wait for a lift home .............
I checked the Garmin - only done 8km. That's not good enough, I'll have to make my own way back. Luckily, now I knew where I was, I knew a much shorter route than the roads Waze was directing me along. I was feeling up to a bit of a run so set off again with a gentle jog, I needed a couple more short walk breaks on the way back, and there was another steep hill yet to contend with but I finally made it back having covered 10.88km. Trouble is, it took me an hour and 44 minutes !! Pretty poor, compared with my 10k race time
But I'm not despairing:
- I know my energy levels are low, and with good reason. Hopefully they'll pick up when the injection has worn off (about 20 August, around the time of my next 10k race) and that still gives me a couple of months before the half-marathon.
- I did an hour and a half at the gym yesterday, including over 10km on the cycling machines, on the Pike's Peak setting
- Today's route was incredibly hilly - those steps, steps and more steps were something else. Very scenic though, so I'll be doing it again.
- I haven't yet checked how long I stopped for, trying to find where I was.
- I also stopped earlier on to take a couple of photos.
- I did more than I would have done sat on the sofa. I wanted to do the distance, whatever it took and even the non-running bits were pretty intensive most of the time.
I could sleep now - I'm SOOOOO tired 
Naked and hot used to be a happy phase but not any more 😡😂
Just one run away ... but I don't want it to end
Confused my brain so my body did what I wanted it to do!!
Mapmyrun gone rogue! 
Consolidation Run 6-- A practise 5K on the hill
