Steps Challenge Week 14

Day 92:  Working from home today for the first time in 4 weeks :-) So I got a run in.  I wasn't going into it feeling too optimistic and thought that it may be a run walk. The reason for this is because I was in calls from 9am to 1pm so I wasn't really eating or hydrating as I would usually do.  Despite this and that it was a bit warm, I actually had a remarkably good run. I was very surprised that all my mile splits were below 10 minute miles even for the first one which is always above 10. Really positive run all round. 10,161 steps

Day 93: Another day working from home and I was feeling really optimistic about the run after yesterday.  I felt recovered and ready to go.  But this run was a lot tougher.  In fact the 4th mile I had to take walking breaks.  Think it was the humidity and maybe not fueled enough but I really did struggle.  If you took out that fourth mile and replaced it with a 9.20 minute mile it would actually look like yesterdays run on paper. So I will leave it like that :-) 10,147 steps

Day 94:  In the office today and hoping for some monster bank holiday weekend stepage. 12,983 steps.

Day 95: Parkrun day!  This time I was off to Tollcross. To be honest I didn't really have any targets or expectations going into this run. I did think I should be able to go round in under 29 minutes which would beat my course best. But I thought just take it as it comes.  At the start I thought I was quite far back but the pace early on up the first hill did feel pretty fast even where I was and I just let them go and enjoyed the space around me.  After a lap and up the hill again I was pulling people in quite quickly as they were either very slow jogging or walking up the hill.  It was good to have these targets. Some of them would catch me again on the downs but quite often I would do the damage on the next uphill. I love that feeling when you reach the top of the hill for the third time and you know its only a wee kicker hill to go, then all down hill and on to the grass for the finish. I really did pace this to perfection today and was again rewarded with a great time of 27.08.  Beating my previous best for the course which was set in May earlier this year, by almost 2 minutes.  When I got home I wanted to majorly boost my steps so went out for a 6 1/2 mile walk. 22,274 steps - a new steps PB!

Day 96:  Today is normally the day I do a recovery walk but usually I just do 4 1/2 miles to get the 10,000 steps in. But as I said in the last post I really want to average more the 13,000 steps for the challenge and its going to be a close one. So today I decided to go for it and went for a 10-11 mile walk, which I think is nearer 11 miles.  I don't think any form of exercise where you cover 10 miles plus can really be called "recovery". Anyway 3 hours and 10 minutes later I was done. And with it a new steps personal best of 24,407 steps!

Day 97: Had planned to do a long run of just over 10k today but woke up and my legs felt really achy from yesterday.  But after getting up and pottering about for a few hours I decided to give it a go and just see what happens.  I just took it really easy and after the first few miles I did actually feel really good. It was quite warm and I didn't realise till afterwards that I was covered in sweat.  I did actually stop at a shop after 3 and 1/2 miles to get some water. Only to find that every bottle they had was over a pound! ... and I only had a pound. Now there was plenty of shops for the rest of the way which probably sold water for under a pound but as I reached them I just thought - I'm fine I'll just go to the next one. etc etc.  Once up the hill to Clarkston toll, I knew it was only 2 miles left. I still felt good despite that I could have done with a bit of water.  I increased the pace a wee bit in what was a very satisfying run. In fact my mile splits showed that I actually ran each mile quicker than the last. It was also my longest training run since January. In terms of steps I was expecting to see 14-15 thousand.  Forgetting that running takes less steps than walking. So it was actually about 11 thousand.  So I went out for a walk later to boost the average a bit. 13,679 steps.

Day 98: And back in the office. 13,476 steps.

Here are the stats for the week:

My average steps for week 14: 13,343
My overall average: 15,304

My team's average steps overall: 13,642
My team's ranking in our department mini league after week 14: 4th out of 8 - same as last week
My team's ranking across all companies competing in GCC after week 14: 9,379 out of 48,444 -  Down 955 places on last week.

Well the last full week of the challenge and it really couldn't have gone any better! Thanks to the bank holiday weekend I managed some monster mileage meaning a record number of steps for the week. Of course you look back and think I could have done that every week. But I guess it shows how much my fitness has improved since the start of this.  

Only 2 days to go and as I write this, tomorrow is the last day!  Report on Day 99 and Day 100 along with short summary of the challenge to come later in the week.