My First Pair of Socks

Tadahhhhhhh my first socks.

I’m very proud of them.  Made from Regia Design Line (cheap from Kemps).  I love the stripeyness.  They are a little big and the sole of my feet complain if I wear them walking too much but they are great house socks for lolling around.  I’ve nearly finished my next pair using an actual pattern, but they are top secret so no photos yet.

In other news, my first 10k race is this weekend.  I’m quite scared and very nervous, my training has gone very well and I’m sure I can run the whole way but I’m not fast and desperately don’t want to come last.  My next race after this one is a 5k Halloween night race, so I can relax a bit for that.  I’ll try to beat my last 5k time (31:30) but as it’s at night I’m not holding out much hope.

Been bitten by the bug ...

... the running bug.

I started training for Race for Life at the end of March, giving myself a healthy 16 weeks to go from zero to 5km in a decent time.  I think I gave myself too much time, I missed sessions and took weeks off for no reason.  I finally got my head down and took it seriously a few weeks before.

Race day came around and I managed to only walk once for about a minute and ran the rest of the course, completing it in 31 minutes 30 seconds.  I was really pleased and after talking to people who know what they're talking about (Pete and Lisa) I signed up for my first 10km.  Feeling slightly mad, I found a 9 week training plan on the internet and started it last week, making myself (and Pete) and promise that I would do all the sessions. 

The first week was building up my running from 30 minutes non-stop to 40 minutes non-stop ... TICK!  Something has clicked, after I run for about 10 minutes my breathing settles down and it all becomes really easy.  Then, very gently, my legs start aching and joints start complaining until after 40 minutes I'm already planning where the ice packs are going first, but I can cope with that.  Previously it was my breathing that let me down, there is nothing worse than feeling like you're going to die whilst coughing your lungs up.  I think the cycling has helped a lot with cardiovascular stuff.

Week two of The Plan contained my first speed session (known as fartlek, incorporating faster running or sprints into the workout).  Two mile run, then 4 x 400 metres fast with 400 metres recovery inbetween each, then a two mile run.  My first problem is, how the heck do I know when I've run two miles?  Answer a rather nifty training route website which allows you to map out the route you run and it will tell you how far it is.  Second problem, where do I find a 400 metre route that I can go round again and again?  Answer, the next village has a village green which is handily about 400 metres around. 

To avoid this problem again and I can see myself trying to find a 600 metre circle for next weeks session, I have bought myself a GPS watch which does all sorts of funky stuff.  This will also help me to run 5 miles half at 70% and half at 85% effort (how the heck do I judge that without a heart rate monitor?).

As you can see, I have been truelly bitten by the bug and as I've just spent a stupid amount of money on a fancy watch, I REALLY do need to do all my training and complete my 10km in a superb time :-)

Knitting in earnest

Knitting has begun in earnest, I'm 10 squares into a 30 square blanket.  Here are some pictures of my work so far...

I've become slightly obsessed with knitting (as is my way) and I've already got a list of stuff I want to try including circular knitting to make socks...







I also like the look of these wrist warmers...











and bag...






Watch out friends and family, guess what you're getting for Christmas!

In other news, I've signed up to do Race for Life in July.  I'm going to train for it properly unlike last time when I went for approx two runs and then died during the race getting the quite pathetic time of 39mins59secs (and that was with a sprint finish).  I've worked out a 16 week plan which should mean I can run all of it in about 30 minutes.  I'll let you know how that goes when I start it in March (when it's light enough in the evenings for me to run after work).