Lou Aimes-Hill

After a slightly fitful night’s sleep thanks to the excessive temperature in my bedroom, rising to run this morning was both a mental and physical battle. Today was the final run of three in week four of the programme and I couldn’t find running socks for love nor money!

Way back in week one I said something along the lines of ‘I couldn’t imagine ever running without support socks because of my stupid leg’ (well… something like that anyway!). But this morning I did, and this may have been a massively foolish decision. After finding the first run this week surprisingly easy and even the second one – whilst running with the dog proved less problematic and painful than I had expected. But this morning – my legs felt like lead weights and the only think I could possibly attribute it to, was the lack of support socks.

If anyone has advice on this leg pain phenomenon it would be gratefully received. The muscles down the outer side of my shin bones were burning and causing my legs to feel so heavy that I almost stopped a couple of times. I stretched before and after the run and did a five minute warm up and cool down walk as with every podcast in the programme. The pain always comes in the same muscles. Like a stich sort of pain, but in the muscles on the outside of my shins – this all seems so very odd. Could it be my shoes?  I was ‘checked’ for the particular style in a Sweaty Betty store so they should do the trick and I certainly can’t afford a new pair, this is one thing I am sure of!

Pain aside though – I am really bloody proud of myself for getting this far. Running that far is genuinely something I never thought I would or could ever do. But I have, and with each week, I feel less daunted by the one that’s waiting for me. If there’s anyone reading this that’s wondering whether or not to bother with starting the plan – or thinking that maybe they won’t be able to do it – so they won’t bother. You should put those thoughts to bed. Give it a go. Give it six weeks and you will find you are so used to it that the fear subsides. Get to week four like me – and you will find you already feel that. Four to six weeks is nothing really is it. It’s no longer than you had to wait to remove your first earrings when you had your ears pierced. No longer than the summer holidays, it’s got to be worth a punt, right?

Week five beckons for me and although I know it’s going to be a difficult one, with three different, ever progressing runs, rather than one repeated run, I am genuinely looking forward to it.

I have not yet seem much progress with weight loss or body shrinkage, but I am sure it will come when the running time starts to increase more. The infamous shorts are still sitting in my drawer, taunting me. But I will win. I will shake my bootie in those Calvin Klein’s. Just you wait and see!

... One giant leap for Loukind!

I know, I know - it's been a couple of weeks since I last updated you all on my Couch to 5k progress. It's been a bit crazy at Lou towers in the past couple of weeks - funerals, hen weekends, masters’ music recitals, cake baking and general running around means that I have basically only managed to fit in another couple of half-hearted repeats of week two's programme.
Feeling a little disappointed in myself this morning - with the knowledge of only seven weeks until I have to don my slightly too clingy bridesmaid dress, I was spurred on by the beautiful sunshine that was streaming through my blinds to go out and get back on the couch to 5k wagon.

I've been a bit disconnected and stressed out recently; the recurring cold-sores are making that patently obvious to everyone no matter how hard I try to hide it. It's been a difficult and hectic couple of weeks in so many ways and after attempting to leave the house three times before actually closing the front door and running through the mental checklist of door locking, key in sock storage and earphones for podcast, it took me a few seconds to notice that I was listening to the instructions for week three, not week two.
Whilst this technically should not have been a problem, my intention for the morning had been to get back on week two again, as I had been off the programme briefly - but as the phrase "run for three minutes, walk for three minutes" finally entered my consciousness, I thought - 'sod it, what's the worst that can happen, I’ll do week three!' And off I went.

Week three begins as usual with the 5 min warm up and then you run for 90 secs, walk for 90 secs, run for 3 mins, walk for 3 mins and repeat this pattern one more time, leaving you running for a total of 9 mins all in all.
After the initial fear of hitting the 3 minute milestone, I found it went surprisingly well. Granted, there were times when I was basically running slower than some of the people that were walking around me (well, at least it felt that way) but at least I know that I achieved that three minute goal, no matter how slowly I was doing it, and I feel pretty proud of myself for doing it too. The guiding voice of 'Laura' advises you to keep the bounce in your run to a minimum to conserve energy - and presumably to make sure you don't go too fast. This was a good tip and thinking about it whilst running is one of the things that I think helped me achieve a steady consistent 3 mins run.

Although it might be peanuts to many, running solidly for three minutes really is a big achievement for me, something I wasn't sure I would actually be able to do. Previous running attempts had me flagging before even reaching 60 seconds - now I am starting to feel like five, even ten minutes is within reach and that really is very exciting!

I felt so energised when I got back home that I went straight into the garden, mowed the lawn and de-weeded as far as I could. How's about that for an hours work?! I am actually looking forward to the next one, but in the meantime - I am off to create some cakes!

Second run, Friday 10th June. Third run, Tuesday 14th June.

So week two is now over - if you have been reading the other posts, you will know that I have been running for 3 weeks, but repeated week one's plan so now am just completing week two. Still awake? Good!

My third run of week two was scheduled for yesterday, but when I woke up with stomach cramps and for want of a nicer phrase, a 'dicky tummy' at about 6am, I had a feeling it might not happen. I managed to sleep off the cramps, but spent the whole day feeling completely weak and lifeless - I can only attribute it to a mild bout of food poisoning. Which might well explain why today’s run was so completely horrific? I mean, I know there was an unintentional three day gap between runs, but this has happened before. Every step of today's ninety second runs felt like a mile. I found myself enormously out of breath and completely flagging after every run - which was not my experience during the second run of this week.
Run number two was difficult, but the hardest thing I found again was the heavy tired legs. It wasn't even that I felt massively out of breath with each run during the second 'sitting' it was the heavy legs that felt like they were holding me down - literally. The semi-success I felt after run two was completely crushed by today's efforts, I guess I thought I felt better because my stomach felt better - but it seems that the weakness and lack of stamina was still there. And now I am left feeling like there is no way that I can progress on to the heavier requirements of week three - which is a much bigger leap than weeks one to two. I made the (perhaps) mistake of letting the podcast play out a little longer on my walk home during my second run, and I now know that week two requires me to run for 90 secs, walk for 90 secs, run for THREE MINUTES and walk for three minutes. THREE MINUTES - WHAT? After today’s poor effort of feeling like I could gladly sit in a heap and cry after ninety seconds, I don't know if I will ever get to running for three minutes. It's twice as long for goodness sake (I realise that this is obvious!). So currently , I am toying with the idea of doing week two again, at least, maybe repeating a couple of the runs in week two to make me feel more ready for the metaphorical mountain that is week three. But is this a bad idea, should I just get on with it and make the next leap. It's so difficult to know whether pushing myself, or listening to my instincts is the right thing to do at this stage.

This brings me again to the question of running style. Am I to just follow what feels natural for me. As I have previously said, the podcast suggests running with heel down first - but this felt completely un-natural to me and I think that it was also causing more leg pain than my natural style. I have been so puzzled with this that I decided to as Google. Google and YouTube tell me that I should run on the outside of the balls of my feet, and that they will naturally roll in and my heels should always touch the floor. This definitely sounds a bit more like my natural style. I found the video below online and thought it was quite informative (if you can get over the un-inspiring voice over!)
At 04.52 there is a specific section about the placing of the foot that I found quite helpful. It seems to massively contradict what my podcast tells me. Whilst I understand that I walk from my heel  - any other way would look simply bizarre surely - for I am not a ballet dancer by nature or physique! Running that way just feels heavy and clumsy. There MUST be a better way - and I think my body knows what the better way for me is, so at the moment, I am going to stick with that as my best option.
So - a decision on week three? You'd better watch this space. I think I need to sleep on it!

9am, 8th June.

I knew this morning was going to be difficult. But, there's no point pretending; making the graduation from running for 60 seconds to ninety seconds was bloody hard. Today's run was made up of really LONG ninety second runs and really SHORT two minute recovery walks. I mean, really short, I swear the pod-cast is tricking me.
Week two is made up of five ninety second runs and two minute walks (I think - though to be honest it felt like fifty!)  with the standard five minute warm up and cool down walks either side.
Getting over this extra hurdle of adding another thirty seconds onto the run each time is going to be really hard and I can hardly believe that I only have another two runs to do it in! I haven't stumped up the courage to listen to week three to find out what the next level entails. I am inclined not to - and to leave that special treat for this time next week!
Laura, the little voice of the podcast tells me this week that I should be running with heel down first, avoiding placing either my heel or side of foot down first to stave off injury. This was rather strange for me, people don't look like they run like that. I has always tended to err on the side of trying to be a little bit more delicate and using the balls of my feet more - was I completely wrong?
I worked with her suggestion and felt like I was running in lead boots, but is this just a matter of getting used to it?
The legs don't feel quite so evil today, though they are a little achy and pretty heavy now, they didn't give me so much trouble en route which can only be a good thing.

There's one thing I would like to know though. When's the fat going to start melting away? I guess, if I had been weighing myself I might have seen a difference in weight - possibly even an increase due to muscle weight (this is why I DO NOT weigh myself). So far I have not really noticed much difference in inchage. If anything at all. Surely by now, into my third week of running, I should start to notice something?
 Answers on a blog post please!
I'm off to buy some Epsom salts!

 So, I made it - it was touch and go this morning, the grey, wet pavements didn't help to pull me out of bed, but I did it and I am  really chuffing proud of myself!

Today, I ran the whole way on pavement. My previous runs have all seen me running the latter portion of the podcast on grass, and I certainly felt a difference at the end of the programme today. My legs felt pretty tired and I felt like I could tell a difference, though it could be the delayed effect of all the fizz I drank on Saturday night (I had scheduled myself to run yesterday, but was suffering the effects of Saturday night - not even a hangover either really, I just felt exhausted, must be how booze affects you when you're over thirty!).

Having done the final run of week one (eventually) this must mean my time has come to progress to week two of the plan. I have to admit to still being apprehensive about this. Running for 90 secs and walking for 2 mins for a total of twenty minutes with a five minute warm up and cool down either side. I am not sure yet if I am up to running for an extra thirty seconds each time but I guess it's like learning to swim, you have to take that scary little extra step, and move slightly towards the deep end to learn what it feels like to tread water (someone remind me of this analogy when I feel like I am dying after seventy five second on Wednesday!)

As I rounded my final corner in the cool down walk to the front door, feeling pretty pleased with myself, I was bought swiftly back down to earth with the sight of a heavily pregnant woman of indeterminate age with smoke billowing from her mouth and a fag in her hands. I don't want to get all soap box here but... Grrrrr! I wanted my post run high to give me the guts to express my feelings of anger on behalf of her unborn child, but I quickly realised that I really do value the fact that all my bones are in the places they should be, she had a pretty scary middle-aged bloke with her and my running skills have not yet progressed to sprinting away from angry chavs. So to that unborn baby, I would like to apologise here and now that I was too cowardly to stand up for it. I am sorry baby!

 What a busy morning it's been here at Lou HQ! Wowzers! And I still managed to fit a run in this morning too, just call me Wonder Woman!

As today's title suggests - THE LEGS are my big issue today.
I really, really detest my legs, I mean - don't get me wrong, I am so grateful that I can walk and run (sort of) and all the things that a fortunate able bodied person can, but when they were handing out slender pins of glory, I was right at the back of the queue. I suffer from what is commonly known as 'tree-trunk' legs. It's true, they are bigger and musclier than any other female legs I have seen, and to top it all they are covered in eczema.

In 2005 I suffered a DVT in my right leg and was terribly ill for some time with it. Spending hours in doctors’ surgery's getting blood test after blood test, taking blood thinner-after blood thinner and lolloping around on crutches, and it's never quite worked right since.
Standing or sitting for too long will make it swell, too much heat and humidity will make it swell, sitting at a funny angle will make it swell - running can make it swell. In short -it's unpredictable - and it's the inevitable unpredictability of it that causes the eczema too. Un-avoidable so I am told by doctors, great!
So I spend my Summer months hiding them away as much as possible, not only are they just ugly, they are veiny, scabby and swollen, you getting the picture?! I envy women with lovely slender. Toned, tanned legs. The women that can just whack on a skirt (or a pair of size twelve Calvin Klein short shorts!?) and look amazing, only having to address the odd hair here or there. One day, it shall be me!

Due to the DVT, I always run in support socks, you know those really sexy, super grippy, ridiculously expensive-knee high beauties. I can't face the thought of what might happen if I didn't use them, especially on my bad leg and usually they help with the fatigue and pains - but today, even after lots of stretching and now, two hours after the run - they are aching and the pains I was experiencing whilst running were along the outsides of each shin bone - in the muscles either side. Ouch ouch ouch. The stamina for keeping going through eight runs today was pleasingly not a problem, though this could have just been the distraction of the pain. Looking at my trainers (Asics, for which I was measured in Sweaty Betty a while ago) I seem to heavily place emphasis on the outside of my feet when running. Could this be the problem? Any advice?

 

Third run, Wednesday morning bang on 8.30am.

If you have read yesterday's post, you will know my reasons for deciding to repeat week one of the programme, and at 8.30 this morning when I somewhat reluctantly stepped outside into the lovely sunshine I came to the conclusion that it was definitely a good idea to be repeating week one.
The start of today's run was pretty hard, which was mainly due to the tight feeling in all my lower leg muscles, despite pre-run stretches and donning an extremely attractive pair of running support socks, I was still suffering, and had to stop the five minute warm up walk a couple of times to stretch further, but to my utter surprise, given that my last run was almost a week ago, the first run went by before I could even notice it and the story was much the same with the second and third. In fact, it was run number six that was the killer today. The thought of having another two to do was slightly distracting during the sixth run and the heavy 'lead legs' feeling was back with a vengeance. But I carried on - valiantly ploughing through the negative voice that was telling me to stop, and got to the end of the seventh and eighth runs without too much trouble at all - straight through to the Gary Barlow/Take That sound-a-like track that comes mid-way through the cool down walk. A blatant rip off of their Greatest Day tune, ’I wonder if they know' - I thought to myself. Probably not, but you know what - the association was enough to pop the image of an ever delectable (in my humble opinion) Howard Donald - teenage crush - into my head and that was enough to carry me home with a spring in my step. Sadly, he wasn't there to greet me and congratulate my efforts, so I gave myself a well-deserved pat on the back instead!

Today was meant to be the start of week two of the Couch to 5k plan. But irritatingly life got in the way of an effective completion of week one. As easy as it should have been to find three days in which to run, it wasn't. After taking many people's advice about not running on consecutive days at this stage, I postponed my planned Friday run, intending to do it on Saturday morning. I woke up horrendously late on Saturday morning, with an absolute mountain of baking to get through for the impending vintage fair on Sunday (over 140 cakes were baked, decorated and sold), started the baking and decorating process, which took me into the night to complete and woke up at 6.30 on Sunday for a full day of selling them. When I finally returned home at almost 8pm on Sunday, after leavng at 7.45am and standing up all day - a run was the last thing on my mind.
I love baking, don't get me wrong, but the sheer act of making and icing that many cakes becomes a labour of love. All in all I spend twelve to thirteen hours standing, baking and decorating cakes and then a further twelve setting up tea-shops and selling my wares, and it wipes me out, completely and utterly. So BANG, there was my bank holiday Monday shot too.
After contemplating the anti-merits of forcing myself - to 'sort of' do the three runs in a week, I thought how stupid that would be, and how I could actually probably benefit from another three attempts at week one. I am actually not sure these legs can cope with the increased sixty to ninety second running time just yet anyway. So here I am about to embark on week one mark 2 with runs scheduled for Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings and the safe knowledge that there are no vintage fairs or other distracting antics to get in th way.

Last week, I purchased a second hand pair of Calvin Klein 'short' shorts from a charity sale for fifty-pence. Yes, you read correctly, fifty pence. I spied them in a pile of jumble, perfect condition, clean - almost new, size twelve.
'Bargain' I thought, 'They're going on EBay - I could make a couple of quid and give someone a holiday bargain' and I handed over the cash.

Well, I don't know what came over me last night, I have always has a hate-hate relationship with shorts. I can't help but think that they should only be seen on people who play with balls - and certainly not handed out to anyone over a size ten. My father always used to try to make me wear them as a teenager (weirdly he seems to live in them all year round!) apparently forgetting that I was actually female and extremely body conscious. But for some reason, knowing full well I would not fit in them, I tried them on. Sure enough I managed to get them about half way up my thighs. Standing in my bedroom, knock-kneed like a small child waiting for the loo, I felt a complete tit. But then I thought - 'hang on, how about I make it my mission to fit into these bargainous delights?' I might not ever wear them in public, but at least it gives me an aim. I am currently avoiding the temptation to weight myself, because I know I am heavier than I look, I always have been - and as soon as that figure of X stones and Y pounds registers in my brain - that's it. Obsession time. I would rather know I am fitting into smaller clothes and feeling fitter and healthier than weigh myself obsessively every day, wondering if I am up or down half a pound.

So here they are, pictured below. A bargain I am sure you will agree! If you look closely at the second image you will see the size 12 label.
So there's the aim, maybe I’m crazy, only time and twenty five more runs will tell!
And if they never go over my bum, there's always EBay.
Like 'em? A tenner to you mate!

Thanks so much Em., glad you are enjoying it - and you have truly been my inspiration! xxx