Out Of It

I've been really ill since Saturday and have barely ate anything since then. Went to bed at 2am hoping to sleep off a bit of tension that had set in my forehead but woke to an awful headache which made me feel sick everything I moved. I was feeling a bit better last night but after a nice of extreme dreaming and crazy sleep, I now feel quite peculiar. Part of me feels like how I did when I was on the co-codemol during my hospital stay. Drowsy is probably the best word for it. I'm physically & mentally drowsy.

Despite feeling awful on Saturday I still had one more show to do and I managed to pull myself together for that with the help of a toasted muffin and cup of tea at the venue. However as soon as I spoke my first line my voice began to go. As the play progressed I got hoarser and hoarser and I spent the aftershow party asleep on the sofa. Sunday and Monday was split between lying down and/or sleeping and not much else.

Hopefully tonight I'll have enough energy to give the flat a tidy, wash some clothes ( and myself) and begin to pack. I'm going back home (via bus) this weekend to spend Xmas with the family. Haven't decided on a date yet but it'll probably be a Saturday. Hopefully the lunatics back home will control themselves for a little while so I can get a proper rest. Will be good to see my neice again. I saw her last when she was two months old, she's five months old now and is probably completely different!

PS: Got word back from the woman about the Marathon places. I wasn't elligible for one as the places were only allocated for people at her company. Probably for the best, to ill to begin training now. Might go for the half-marathon in March instead.

London Marathon 2009?

Oh... there may be an opportunity for me to run in the London Marathon in April 2009. Waiting to find out if I am eligible for a place. Then I have to decide if I want to commit to it. I have to give this a lot of thought. I've got all that training to fit into my life somehow, plus I haven't ran or exercised much in recent months due to all my health/eye issues so would need to start from scratch again. So lots to take into consideration.

Time will tell....

12 Down, 16 To Go (Then 26)

Waking up yesterday morning and feeling completely uninspired by the wind/rain/snow/dullness outside I decided to go back to sleep and run today instead. I made myself go to Bikram yoga last night though so it wouldn't be a completely inactive day. Today's weather wasn't great but it was easier to make myself run today and run I did. Twelves miles in 2 hours 10 minutes. Thirteen miles would have been ideal but going by the training schedule I was only supposed to run/walk for 2 hours only and my wee tired legs were almost giving up near the end. I do wonder if my tiredness when approaching the end of a run could be something mental. I do notice the tiredness more as soon as I've past the half-way point and drinking the right fluids and eating the right gels today didn't seem to so much good. Is a little part of me allowing myself wind down too early because the end is near?

This Sunday coming I will be participating in a 16 mile run along with a thousand other people so it will be great to experience taking part in an actual race with others and I can also see how well I'll cope with the length and duration of it. The cut-off point for completing the race is 3.5 hours but I hope to complete it in 3 hours. As it starts early in the morning, I'm just going to focus on the huge lunch I plan to have once I reach the finish line. Yum.

Continuing with running news, following a conversation with a friend last week I've now decided to enter the Dublin marathon in October. Part of me thinks I should wait to see how horrible the first marathon is before I sign up and pay the registration fee, part of me is so excited to do it that I wan't to register straight away (or as soon as I get paid). I must be crazy!

Eat, Sleep, Run

I'm feeling quite bright and perky this morning, probably helped by the fact that it's a Friday and Fridays are always good. I have spent this week working, training and sleeping and not much else. I had no social engagements and even decided not to go to the audition for the play I'm interested in (I can still audition on Sunday) in favour of getting home nad relaxing in front of the TV with a nice bowl of Red Thai beef curry. My body was crying out for that all week (subcousciously telling me I need more iron in my diet maybe?) so I listened and had a very tasty Thursday evening in.

I've been feeling very sleepy all week despite getting a reasonable amount of sleep. My trianing must now be taking it's toll on me so all I can do now is eat well and sleep well. How did I ever manage to work full-time, training and perform in 6 shows only 4 weeks ago. I was tired then but I wasn't as sleepy as I feel at the moment. I guess that's just the way my body responds to a lot of exercise.

I've signed up for a 16 mile run at the end of the month so how I cope with that will be very interesting and will gve me and idea of how I'll cope with the marathon itself. I'm going to look after myself and train well in the meantime and hopefully that run will go well and build up my confidence for running the actual marathon 2 weeks later. Fingers crossed. I've been talking all about this non-stop to everyone and I'm sure they must be bored. I bought my running shoes and heart rate monitor on Monday and when I got home my official London Marathon magazine was waiting for me full of information on the race day. So now I'm packed full of information and it's all I ever talk about now. It's probably for the best - a feat this big, I NEED to get obsessed about it.

Marathon Training Stuff

I've got about 10/15 minutes to kill here before I head off to the gym for my daily-ish run. I guess I can now say that training for the marathon is well underway and with less than 10 weeks to do I should hope so!

Training by myself was getting me nowhere fast so I'm paying precious pounds for a personal trainer and as expensive as he is/will be I feel much more confident about running the marathon now for doing it. I've always given up running and turned into a wheezing mess after a couple of minutes but on Friday I was astonished to complete a 30 minute run without stopping. The difference here was that my trainer never left the treadmill while I was on it and was noting down my heartrate at various times to gain an accurate reading of my fitness so I felt that I had no choice but to keep on running. I have learned that as tired as I may feel initially, not to give up straight away. If I do that I may just surprise myself.

So now I have a training plan and a weekly workout session with the trainer which I must rigidly stick to if I'm to have any hope of crossing that finishing line at 26.2 miles with my limbs and health still intact. I need to do a walk-run Monday to Thursday, have Friday off, do a non-stop 30 min un on Saturdays and then a long (1-2 hours) walk-run on Sundays. God knows how I'm going to stick to this next week with my show taking place Tuesday - Saturday on top of my full-time job. I'll also have to find time to rest and sleep on top of all this so I'm in good form the running and shows. I'll find a way.

After next weekend finding time to train should be a lot easier as for the first time in 8 months I will not be rehearsing and/or performing in a show. I'm slightly agitated about this but I need to realise that it's for the best and I CAN have a little break from doing shows at times. I just need to abstain for 2 months then after April 13th I can sing, dance and act until my wee heart's content!

Final Night

Just leaving in a couple of minutes to make my way to the theatre. Our final show it tonight but we're running it this afternoon as it will be recorded, then spliced with the taping of tonight's show to make a showreel for us all. That will be umm... interesting.

I'm considering get up as early as I'll allow myself and go back to yoga classes. I feel bloated and barrel-like from all the comfort-eating this week and need a little detox. I've got my next play to prepare for so shouldn't let my Healthy Eating & Exercise kick lose steam. I also have a much bigger reason to stay in shape. I got confirmation yesterday that I have received a charity place in the 2008 London Marathon. This is huge. I can probably run half a mile if I push myself hard so I'll need to start a training programme straight away to prepare me for it in April. I also need to somehow raise the minimum sponsorship (£1000) for the charity too. I know someone who run it this year so she's been giving me advice on training and sponsorship and we'll talk more about it at out show's "after party".

Must leave now if I'm going to get to the theatre in time. Post-show musings and more marathon talk to come in due course.