Lisa’s Journey Week 9: Be Stronger than your Excuses!

Wooohooo!!! The new week brought with it some new hope! I feel like my body has accepted this ‘thing’ I’ve forced upon it, and I’ve moved into a new phase. After ‘Week 8’, where everything felt all too hard, this week has given me a much needed moral boost!

Monday was a short run with the kids on their bikes.  Not easy, didn’t overly enjoy it too much, but I didn’t cry or want to give up either. So taking it as a win!

Fartlek…

Tuesday… Fartlek [Fartlek is a Swedish term meaning speed-play that is often used by runners – Coach Ray]. I remember the first time hearing this and thinking ‘fart what?’. I went down to the rugby grounds to do it as it was the flatest ‘park’ I could find. I did manage to fack up the fartlek, and did it too fast, which I laughed at because I didn’t think I could ever do anything too fast! The poor dog, doesn’t like fartlek.  She’d just catch up with me and it was time to turn around again. But, I really enjoyed it, and I’m sure it’s not just because I got regular walk breaks! I’d go as far to say it was almost fun…!!

Feeling happier with my efforts, I decided to run the half block where I started out weeks ago, to see where I was at. I plodded my way to 6km! I was a couple of minutes over the set time, but it didn’t matter.  It was about just getting there. Oh, and rounding it up. For those of you who know me, will laugh (again) because 5.87 doesn’t sit right in my head. It needs to be 6! It’s that mind game thing again, but by setting landmarks and pushing when I’d sooner stop, paid off. So, high fives all round!

My new tyres!

I finally got some new shoes! Shout out to Marc at Shoe Clinic, Riccarton. I have always had great service from these guys, which is why I keep going back. There’s nothing like stepping into a new pair of shoes. It’s like fresh sheets!! It’s the greatest feeling and I didn’t even have to break them in! Tried out the Drymax socks they have too.  I figured I’d spent that much on the shoes – why stop there!!! They definitely keep the moisture off your feet.

This week feels like I’ve actually gone to the next level – like I’ve got out of first gear! So now it’s about trying to stay ‘in zone’, to maximise gains (Ray’s wise words), and I’m all about maximising gains.  It sounds easy enough, right? This brings about it’s own new challenges. I find it quite hard to run at a constant pace. But my percentage ‘in zone’ was better yesterday. Three 6km runs in a week. I’m pretty happy with that!

– Lisa Harris

Lisa will be writing weekly as she continues her journey to achieving her goal of completing the 10km Kaikoura Whale Run. Check in next Tuesday for her next article.

Read Lisa’s article from last week here:

Lisa’s Journey Week 8: It’s the final meltdown…

And all her previous articles are stored here:

http://www.coachray.nz/category/client-stories/lisas-journey/

Lisa has worked hard over the last four weeks building her training sessions up from a walk with a bit of running…through to running with a bit of walk and now 4km of non-stop running following the programme below.

 

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