Sleep
Yesterday I went down for a day trip to London to watch a rugby match. I didn't actually end up really going into London, other than going under it on the Tube. I didn't fancy bustle and shopping and crowds, so what I actually did was walking leg 6 of the Capital Ring. I got the tube to Wimbledon, wandered over to Richmond and then from there to Twickenham. I'd never been to Wimbledon Common or Richmond Park before and it surprised me how open they were. I guess I've been to London enough times now that I've done loads of the obvious touristy stuff, and fancied seeing a different bit of the city for a change. And I'm down in London again next Saturday, this time at Wembley, so that will be yet another early Saturday morning.
On the train on the way back I fell asleep. Proper, fast asleep sleepiness. I went to sleep at Newark, vaguely noticed Doncaster, went back to sleep again and woke up as we pulled out of Wakefield. I'm kind of glad that Leeds was the last stop. And then this morning I hit the holy grail, my body wanted to sleep, and for me to have a lie in. Sometimes it feels like I get up so early every morning, even at weekends, that my body wouldn't know what to do with the opportunity to sleep even if it had it. This morning it all came together nicely in a dozing few hours of bliss.
The only drawback is that I'd earmarked this morning to do a long run. I half dragged myself out of bed ready to do it, then had second thoughts. I know that I do need to do long runs for marathon training, but my body was finally telling me that it had had enough, that it wanted to sleep, and even though I wasn't injured or unwell, maybe the best thing to do was to just listen to it.
Targets and plans are all very well, but sometimes they make you focus on the wrong things. I shouldn't be going out for a run just because I'm meant to, I should wake up and do what I think will help my running most. A lot of the time that's running, as you can't train on rest alone, but this morning I felt like rest would be better for me in the long term than a run, so I'm not going to feel guilty about taking it.
mmm... duvet.
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In other news, this is a newspaper article about the people I'm doing the Great North run with. what it doesn't say there is who the other former pros are. I had a big smile on my face when I heard the names. Kris Radlinski and Terry O'Connor are two of my biggest rugby heroes, and the fact that I could ever be participating with them on an equal footing in a sporting event is just mindblowing. I used to sit there, vastly overweight and watch them, thinking they were superfit athletes and at a level of physical perfection I could never even imagine. I guess they were. But now a couple of years the wrong side of retirement and with dodgy knees, they're training to do something for the first time that I'm pretty comfortable with, and I'm not at all worried that I'll be shown up or exposed as a fake when I'm running alongside them. Although that's the first time I've seen the word pushing used - I thought he'd be in an electric wheelchair like Matt...
All donations gratefully accepted for this and/or New York (same charity) - go to this website and include a note to say you're sponsoring me (Helen Goldthorpe). Thank you!
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Yesterday's forray to London was yet another reminder that I'm just not a car person. I got the bus into town to get the train down, and the bus back. I have a car sitting outside my house. I have somewhere I can park the car near work which is not only free on a Saturday, but roughly as close to the station as the bus stop I get dropped off at. I didn't touch a drop of alcohol all day (I haven't since the rounders incident, strangely enough...), so was perfectly capable of driving the car at the beginning and end of the day. But driving just didn't even cross my mind. And I've got to take the bloody thing to the garage again on Thursday to get another creaking bit seen to, it's just a money pit and I'll be glad when I'm rid of it!
On the train on the way back I fell asleep. Proper, fast asleep sleepiness. I went to sleep at Newark, vaguely noticed Doncaster, went back to sleep again and woke up as we pulled out of Wakefield. I'm kind of glad that Leeds was the last stop. And then this morning I hit the holy grail, my body wanted to sleep, and for me to have a lie in. Sometimes it feels like I get up so early every morning, even at weekends, that my body wouldn't know what to do with the opportunity to sleep even if it had it. This morning it all came together nicely in a dozing few hours of bliss.
The only drawback is that I'd earmarked this morning to do a long run. I half dragged myself out of bed ready to do it, then had second thoughts. I know that I do need to do long runs for marathon training, but my body was finally telling me that it had had enough, that it wanted to sleep, and even though I wasn't injured or unwell, maybe the best thing to do was to just listen to it.
Targets and plans are all very well, but sometimes they make you focus on the wrong things. I shouldn't be going out for a run just because I'm meant to, I should wake up and do what I think will help my running most. A lot of the time that's running, as you can't train on rest alone, but this morning I felt like rest would be better for me in the long term than a run, so I'm not going to feel guilty about taking it.
mmm... duvet.
-------------
In other news, this is a newspaper article about the people I'm doing the Great North run with. what it doesn't say there is who the other former pros are. I had a big smile on my face when I heard the names. Kris Radlinski and Terry O'Connor are two of my biggest rugby heroes, and the fact that I could ever be participating with them on an equal footing in a sporting event is just mindblowing. I used to sit there, vastly overweight and watch them, thinking they were superfit athletes and at a level of physical perfection I could never even imagine. I guess they were. But now a couple of years the wrong side of retirement and with dodgy knees, they're training to do something for the first time that I'm pretty comfortable with, and I'm not at all worried that I'll be shown up or exposed as a fake when I'm running alongside them. Although that's the first time I've seen the word pushing used - I thought he'd be in an electric wheelchair like Matt...
All donations gratefully accepted for this and/or New York (same charity) - go to this website and include a note to say you're sponsoring me (Helen Goldthorpe). Thank you!
------------------------
Yesterday's forray to London was yet another reminder that I'm just not a car person. I got the bus into town to get the train down, and the bus back. I have a car sitting outside my house. I have somewhere I can park the car near work which is not only free on a Saturday, but roughly as close to the station as the bus stop I get dropped off at. I didn't touch a drop of alcohol all day (I haven't since the rounders incident, strangely enough...), so was perfectly capable of driving the car at the beginning and end of the day. But driving just didn't even cross my mind. And I've got to take the bloody thing to the garage again on Thursday to get another creaking bit seen to, it's just a money pit and I'll be glad when I'm rid of it!
posted by YP at 12:16 PM
1 Comments:
Helen, I can't tell you how much I love reading your blog. It keeps me inspired and moving (in the hopes of being nearer a marathon goal in the future).
Best of luck to you in New York. i'm going to try to sponser you here in a few days...
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