Total Running: 74.6k
This week: 34.1k
An update on my training during week 1. Had an amazing meeting last week with Virgin Money Lounge and the LGBT foundation and hopefully will have some good news for you. Running has been going well too, nice to be back running the routes in Manchester this weekend, and doing park-runs. Wow this one turned out long!
Injury Update
I am now in training for the London Marathon, to raise money for the LGBT foundation. It has been a tough few weeks before the new year as I had a foot injury which stopped me from running. I am glad to say this seems to have improved a lot now. I did parkrun yesterday and haven’t had any aches where the injury was, so things are looking good for training to begin in earnest. In the meantime last year I joined the gym and did a lot of crosstrainer exercise, spending an hour at a time and using that instead of running. This seems to have paid off, I don’t think I have lost a lot speed wise despite putting over 2kg on over christmas 🙂
Training Plan
So I have to admit, I don’t yet have a training plan…. Mainly because of the injury it is hard to tell how long I had until that was sorted out. So next week I hope to let you all know what the plan is! For my first marathon I chose a plan that did 2 quality long runs per week, this time I am going to tone that down a little and only have one quality long run per week. I was really pushing myself on the last plan and the most important thing this time is to get across the finish line in one piece. If I don’t get an injury and only work up distance I am guaranteed to beat my last time (4:11:11) depending on my transition. Leading me on to…
Transition Update
I have my first appointment with the Gender Identity Clinic coming up in the next few weeks, this is very exciting. I am unsure what will happen as everyone seems to have different experiences. Depending the hormones I go on, it could effect my running speed quite quickly but I think there’s not much point worrying now exactly what will happen at the GIC. I will just go and see. I think it’s insane that it takes almost 2 years before you even get to talk to a professional about this. The support from the LGBT foundation during this time has been invaluable. If you haven’t checked out my donation page yet please consider it and thank you very much to everyone who has donated 🙂
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SofieLewis
Also I now have my passport back and am officially Sofie Enyo Lewis, I also have an F as my gender which is good too and on top of that, I can travel abroad I guess. Although in a few countries I might be illegal, I will have to check that one out but that just makes me somewhat of a badass.
This week I also had my beard lasered again! I am paying to have my hair follicles burned out so I want it to be painful in a way and the pain is easier to handle. Saying all that, its really not so painfull. If you are looking I really suggest looking on groupon, you pay a fraction of the full price.
Weight after Christmas Update
I was at 70.2kg on Friday 04/01, that is about 3-4 kg more than I was last year, I didn’t put all of that on over Christmas though. But I will be losing weight over the next few months, changing my eating habits to something more healthy and getting a calorie deficit going. Nothing as crazy as 2 years ago. But I will keep you updated. I have already lost 1kg of that down to 69.3 on the 06/01, this was probably because I had a salty meal (eating out) and the salt leaves your body over the next 2 days along with a lot of water, I typically experience a 1-2kg up down shift due to this so don’t worry if you notice that yourself.
Parkrun Updates
This week I managed to do 3 parkruns, 2 of which were quite hilly on new years day Tuesday when I did the unthinkable, getting out of bed early and getting the train from Skipton to Bingley to do Myrtle parkrun at 9:00 and then from Bingley to Keighley to do Cliffe Castle at 10:30. It was my first time at either and they are quite new parkruns, last year I would’ve had to travel a lot further from Skipton to do a new years double.
From Bingley train station it isn’t far at all to Myrtle park so of course I almost got lost. Seeing someone in running gear and following them worked like a charm. Waited till close to the start and took my coat off and went. Myrtle park was nice, everyone was lovely. I think it is the shortest route I have done as it was a 4 lapper, I did say thanks to all the marshals every time! There was a policeman there with the marshals which was good to see. Even though it was a four lapper the undulations broke it up well. Afterwords I grabbed my coat and headed for the train station.
I got to Cliffe Castle with about 40 minutes to spare. The last time I ran in this place I was in secondary school someone was throwing rocks at me, one of the few times I ran in my early life. I have to say the park is very nice now I wondered around and looked at the birds and animals, they all looked at me and that carried on for a while… They did all appear to be very well looked after. Everything was well manicured in the park and there was a huge fountain that I don’t recall from before. A lot of the marshals were wearing fancy dress and when they asked if this was anyone’s second parkrun that day a lot of hands went up.
Cliffe Castle parkrun is a 2 and a bit lapper, with the steepest hill I have done in a parkrun. I am ashamed to say I was too tired to say thank you to all the marshals on this one. Finishing Myrtle in 22:12 and Cliffe Castle in 22:22 I was happy.
I also managed Lancaster Parkrun on 29/12/18 but it was a bit of a disaster. This was a also a very hilly one, along with getting there late and starting 600m into the run (which I tried to make up for at the end), I forgot my barcode so didn’t even get it as an official run 😦 Still counts to my training however 🙂 I will have to try it again sometime, I think it is a great course, similar amount of climb to Cliffe Castle but spread of more smaller hills.
That turned out longer than expected, I doubt anyone will make it this far but thankyou for reading and hope you have a lovely week 2! Or happy new year or something! :p Lots of love to you all!!!!!
Sans Shoelaces 