On Friday night I decided to go for a run, after having had a stressful day in the office. I decided to take it slow, as I am now officially in training for the 2008 Great Baddow 10 mile charity run. I decided to take my longest route, which usually takes about 30-35 minutes. The cooler weather certainly seems to be more to my liking, as I felt comfortable running with my old sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms on. As I was approaching the last stretch of road before my house, I decided to go a little further, and I carried on for another half lap of the village. No idea how far I ran, but it was certainly the longest run I have ever done time wise, and probably distance too. It felt good. I worked up a huge sweat, even though it was a chilly evening.

Today I woke up late, and staggered downstairs slightly dazed and turned the tele on. On the tele were 50,000 runners preparing to start the Great North Run, which is possibly the world's most popular half marathon. This gave me the motivation to go running again. However, not until after I had installed Webmin onto my home server, gone to town, walked along the river with my wife and son, searched the town for a child friendly place to drink that is not Costa (we ended up in Costa as usual), coming home, preparing dinner, eating dinner, putting my son to bed, falling asleep, and then waking again at 8.40pm. I then went for my first run since the 13th of September.

As I managed to injure my wrist on Tuesday, I have been unable to do my weight training or attend my martial arts classes. So tonight I dragged myself out for a quick run. I didn't leave the house until about 9.45pm. I decided to take my shortest route, and I headed off at a good pace. I managed to keep the pace up almost all the way around, and I felt that I had a really good run. This was my first run since 28th August - that is over two weeks ago. It is amazing how the time flies. Tonight I remembered to time myself, and I ran for just over 14 minutes. This was the same route that I took on my second run which was on the 11th August. So I have at least knocked over 3 minutes off that time.

I had another couple of days off on Sunday and Monday, and headed of for a run this morning. I am trying to make the most of a week off work. The run was pretty hard again, and I forget to set the time yet again. I did the second longest route that I run, which is about 2 miles. As usual my calf muscles got tight quick, but I managed to keep on moving. I did not have the problems with the heat that I had on Saturday which was good. However, by legs have really been aching all day today. My left leg especially, my left ankle and knee are under a lot of strain and seem to aching much more than usual. Hopefully they will strengthen soon, as it still seems to be getting harder, rather than easier, to complete my daily run.

I failed to log my training properly this week, but I was out there exercising. On Wednesday I attended my kick-boxing and kung-fu classes, and I am pleased to say that I got on much better. Having a rest day really helped. Kick-boxing was quite intensive, with a lot of leg exercises, such as squats, star jumps and lots of crescent kicks, which soon got tiring.

The kung-fu was the same as usual, nothing much to report on. Still learning the two person fighting form and the second stage first form, aka Yee Kup Sarm Bo Jin. We did some basic training exercises too as there was a new person. Always good to go over the basic footwork every now and then.

I have really struggled the last couple of days. Last night I went for a run, but very soon my legs just died on me. I must have walked about half of the route I was supposed to be running. I tried to dig deep, and use those last reserves of energy, but it just was not working. I still had a good workout, but it felt like a very frustrating run. Possibly the worse run since my first. I can only assume that I am a little burnt out.

I just read the following which defines runners and joggers:

"To distinguish runners from joggers, authorities on the subject say that runners run a mile in seven minutes or less, train and look for competitive events to race in, or run solely for the sheer enjoyment of running; whereas joggers, who on average run 10 to 15 minutes a mile, are not as interested in competing against others as they are in improving their health and fitness." Source: Jogging And Running.

I just went for run number four. This is the final run of my first week (I started last Friday). Tonight I headed off at a slightly faster pace than I had previously run. It felt good to start with, once again I started to feel that I was actually running and not just plodding. The route I took is just over 2 miles and it took me 26:21 minutes, which I know is still rather slow. I realised tonight that my legs tire sooner than my lungs. This evening both my ankles started to ache, and then my achilles tendons. But I forced myself onwards, and after slowing a little halfway around I push on and increased my pace again for the final stretch.

Well, I am back from my third run, and finally dry. When I left the house it was only spitting slightly, and I thought that I had missed the worse of the rain. I set off at slow and stead pace, as I was feeling a little tired. My legs were no longer aching from my Friday and Saturday runs, but the two hour martial arts session last night had taken its toll. Fortunately it was only my upper body that was damaged - bruised arms, aching shoulders, ribs and stomach, and sore hands - my legs were relatively fresh. I was planning a short run, but as I jogged onwards, I decided to go for a longer run than usual.