R.I.P. Bones and my Janathon

On Sunday, Bones – my big boy Basset came to a sudden and untimely end, and so did the spring in my step. He was such a massive part of everything its going to take a while to readjust. All the best to everyone still going, and thanks to all of you for your entertaining blogs and encouraging comments. I am sure Rosie and I will be back for Juneathon, but for now I am going to indulge my immediate need to wallow in self pity.
Good luck to all x

Janathon day 13 – Limb control and joint destruction!!

Not mine I am pleased to report. It was the focus of last night’s Karate class. So after a quick warm up our Sensei took us through some Kata based drills, showing us some of the traditional applications of the Katas which focus on limb control and joint destruction (of an assailant). Really interesting – a bit of exercise for the mind and for the body! I am still hoping to squeeze in a Janathon today, but I am working until 7 and have just been invited out for a drink with the girls. I know I should decline… my body being a temple and all… but ooooohhhhhhh!!

Janathon Day 12 – Back on the wagon

yesterday it all went pear shaped and I can honestly say that there was not a gap anywhere to fit in a Janathon.
However today was a different matter and another Karate lesson this evening. Some of the younger members have an important inter club competition on Saturday, so our lesson was geared around that. Fighting drills, blitzing techniques and counter attacks. Brilliant! No miles but 1 hour of sweaty adrenalin fuelled controlled aggression… Superb!

Janathon Day 10 – Surrounded by glamorous young things!

The last thing that crosses my mind when I go to the gym is how I look. Actually that is not entirely true. I like to wear stuff that doesn’t show sweat marks, and I prefer it if my gym gear which is usually black is not covered in dog hair or slobber (and even the slightest encounter with the bassets can leave you covered in both). But other than that, glamour is not high on the agenda.
So tonight I dropped S off at Brownies and popped off to the gym for my Janathon run. I didn’t want to go mad, having acheived a personal Janathon record yesterday I’d decided to do a recovery run today. (I read that term on the Janathon wall and think its fab because it sounds like I’m a proper runner and not a plastic plodder like I really am!)
Anyway – after a surprisingly enjoyable 3.5km in a fairly respectable 24 ish minutes I was dog hair and slobber free, but an interesting shade of cerise/magenta and my hair was a wet/frizzy combo and stuck to my face. I was about as far from glamorous as it is possible to get. So when I was stretching and looking around I noticed a number of women in full makeup (essex orange of course) and I mean false eyelashes the lot, hair done, and I wondered why you would do that? Why would you apply a full face of slap and do your hair just to go to they gym… and how on earth do they still look like that after they have trained?
I have no answers… I just didn’t have anything else to blog about and wanted to share.

5K – Woo Hoo!!

I wanted to get my Janathon done early today so I got up at about 8ish and went downstairs for some banana fuel, and a nice strong coffee. The Bassets did not move, though Bones did open one eye. I let the chickens out, folded the washing, put my really muddy trail shoes in the washing machine… still no sign of the dogs. So I decided as it was going to be a houndless Janathon, I might as well go to the gym.
I have had a little goal in my head since I started Janathon, and that is to do a 5k run without stopping. So, with this in mind I set off for the gym. Ipod on shuffle speed set to 8kph I started my plod. The plan being as I got comfortable with my speed to increase by .1 each time up to my happy cruising speed of about 8.5kph. Chugged along quite nicely until I got to about 3.8k – and then I started to struggle a bit. So I swallowed my pride and dropped my speed down a bit and carried on. At 4.4k a few negative thoughts came creeping in and then, as if by magic, the ipod threw me some Audiofuel… which carried me through to my 5k. Now I know there are people who do 5k for a warm up, but running has always been my nemesis and 5k is the longest distance I’ve ever managed and the last time I did it was 2 years ago on a charity run with my Karate club. So for me this is a real acheivement. Time was just under 36 minutes, so obviously no land speed records broken but something to build on. Next decision is whether to work on improving my speed or increasing my distance.
Btw – when I got home the Bassets still hadn’t moved! The ditch jumping must have been more traumatic than I’d realised!

Janathon Day 8 – Ditch jumping with Bassets

The sun was shining, the kids were coughing so I decided to take the delinquent hounds out for a run. The forest is great if I can get parked in between the trees because then I can get their leads of and get cracking straight away. There were a lot of cars in the car park but surprisingly few people out that I could see. Even so I decided on a sort of ‘off road’ route to minimize doggy distractions. As soon as I started It was obvious that this was not going to be a fast one as the mud made it really slippery, however on the up side it meant a bit of extra work for my core so slow but effective – all good! It was all going rather well when my runkeeper app thingy informed me that I had gone 0.12 km… hmmm – so I stopped to check and it wasn’t picking me up in the forest – grrr! Never mind, I carried on – bassets trailing behind til I came to the bit where I cross the stream but it was completely flooded so I carried on along the path hoping there would be another place to cross. I soon realised that I was heading for a main road so I had to get the dogs leads on on account of them having no road sense at all. Just before we got to the road there was a bit of stream narrow enough to jump over, though very muddy – one slip and I’d be up to my backside in cold muddy water – ugh. Anyway I got across ok and Rosie just followed like she always does but Bones was having none of it – the water being at least Basset chest depth and cold. So i’m trying to get him to come across and he’s pulling me back and I am trying not to get dragged into the stream. It was a dog/owner stand off. Then with one big tug I dragged the poor hound into the water and it must have been freezing because he scrambled out the other side really quickly! (Please don’t call the RSPCA!)
Water obstacle successfully navigated I waited until we were a safe distance from the road, got their leads off and carried on with my Janathon. As I was passing the lake I thought how lucky I am to have somewhere like this to Janathon. The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. I am going to have to guestimate my distance at about 2.8km and that took about 25 minutes.

Janathon day 7 – Multi-tasking

Madly pushed for time today. School run, took N to the orthodontist, picked up the shopping, couple of hours work by which time it was just after 2 and had to pick S up from school at 3 then back to work for 4. I knew G wouldn’t be home in time for me to get to the gym so a bit of multi tasking was called for.
Luckily behind S’s school there are a load of public footpaths, so I decided to head up there nice and early with the Bassets in tow to get my janathon in for the day. The first hundred or so metres were a struggle as I had to keep them on their leads while in sight of the school car park as they have absolutely no car sense whatsoever. Of course having them on the leads means getting your shoulder dislocated every time they stop for a sniff, so it was a slow start!
Once past the first field though, I set them free and headed off down the footpath, down a very steep hill and feeling gooooood! As the route levelled out it was all good and even as I began the gentle climb at about 700m I was doing ok then as I rounded the corner into the next field… I saw it… Everest has relocated! Well obviously that is a bit of an exaggeration but it was quite a long steep climb. I gritted my teeth and went for it… for about 100m before my total inability to breathe slowed me to a walk. Even the bassets caught up and ran past me!! Ran/ walked the rest of the 2.2km in 17.46… Then there was the usual saga of trying to get Bones to get near enough for me to get his lead back on. But I got to the school gates with dogs on leads in time for the bell. A fair janathon effort for my time challenged self!

Janathon day 6 – Return of Ninjamum

The Dojo has reopened after the Christmas break and I was keen to get back to training, if a little aprehensive. Aprehensive because our Sensei, left to her own devices for two weeks can cook up some very torturous training routines. We started with some plyometrics up and down the dojo, then moved on to some Kata work, and visualisation work, and then worked on some fighting drills.
So no miles clocked up today, but a welcome return to the dojo and a thoroughly enjoyable hour’s exercise!

Janathon Day 5 – Playing the long game

Still chuffed after yesterdays efforts albeit a bit sore I ran out of daylight before I’d Janathonned again, so I decided to hit the gym once more. This is where playing the long game comes in. I wanted to go for the 5k – to improve on yesterdays acheivement… but:
1. I really am very achey
2. My dodgy hip is a bit twingy and
3. It is only the 5th
So in the spirit of not peaking too soon, I did a little 2.5K in 16 ish mins with Dreadzone’s Second Light on the ipod – and according to my running free stats managed my fastest pace so far.

 Todays cocktail… A large splash of common sense, with a dash of extra speed… Chin Chin

Janathon day 4 More sabbotage

And once again the sabboteurs were my long eared droopy eyed four legged friends! So my ‘run’ around the forest was logged in my iphone as 1.35km in 14 .something silly minutes. They are so funny though – I can’t be cross with them. Anyway it still left a Janathon shaped hole in the day. It was dark and cold by the time I got home so I decided to hit the gym. Put on my shiny new indoor running shoes (yes I got two pairs for Christmas!!). Loaded some Audiofuel onto the iphone (Thanks Cathy) Banana’d up (Thanks Susan) and headed for the gym.
Now, I’m under no illusions about my running prowess. I have had a very slack 2010, partly due to injury but mostly because of sheer bone idleness. But I have been rather shocked at just how far I have sunk into total unfitness. Anyway I got to the gym, which was packed – and it took me a minute to realise thats because its January 4th. There were lots of others there in lovely shiny new trainers just like mine… (note to self – get new trainers muddy so I don’t look like a new years resolutionner)
So on with the Audiofuel, up with the pace and I was away. I have to confess that the 170 BPM was a little challenging and I was very glad to slow to a more sedate 165… But in all a very satisfying run… 4.2 KM in 28.16mins… That is progress!!
And it is precisely these little smidgins of acheivement and the satisfaction that goes with them that makes Janathon and Juneathon soooo great!
I raise a large glass of self accomplishment to all my fellow Janathonners! Hoorah for us!