Bupa Great Manchester Run

The Bupa Great Manchester Run is my 10k personal best course. I first did in 2009 pre cancer diagnosis in just under 59 mins I remember feeling very pleased with myself.

Since then I have completed the run in 2012 and 2013 both post cancer diagnosis in around 1:30 there are probably a few reasons for this. I have gained weight whilst on chemotherapy because of the steroids that are prescribed to prevent sickness, the combined effects of both major abdominal surgery and chemotherapy can actually take months to recover from and the cancer itself can also cause fatigue. 

I am not sure if I will ever completely recover my fitness now it seems unlikely given the progressive nature of this disease and is something that I have found very frustrating and sometimes makes me feel a little socially isolated.

The run in 2012 was my first run after finishing first line treatment. Once you have been through diagnosis and finished treatment for the first time you can feel a little bit lost and abandoned so I decided I needed something to focus on and I have always loved running. I also wanted to 'do something' for all those that had helped through diagnosis and for those that would come after me. 

I decided to raise money for a newish cancer charity called Target Ovarian Cancer and they were one of the few charities to show an interest in the North West by implementing a couple of pilot schemes and they also run their workshops all over the UK bringing women with ovarian cancer together.

Therefore after finishing my second lot of treatment at the beginning of this year I decided I would keep with the tradition and will be joining Team Target at this years Bupa Great Manchester Run on the 18 May 2014. This gives me about 8 weeks to train so that I can get round the course.

I have decided to follow a walk-run program as it will allow me to build gradually without too much risk of injury or overtraining and I aim to train 3 times a week. My training plan can be viewed here:

Week	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday
Week 1 Mar 11	Mar 11 Walk/Run 40 mins	Mar 12 Rest	Mar 13 Walk/Run 40 mins	Mar 14 Rest	Mar 15 Rest	Mar 16 Walk/Run 40 mins	Mar 17 Rest
Week 2 Mar 18	Mar 18 Walk/Run 40 mins	Mar 19 Rest	Mar 20 Walk/Run 40 mins	Mar 21 Rest	Mar 22 Rest	Mar 23 Walk/Run 45 mins	Mar 24 Rest
Week 3 Mar 25	Mar 25 Walk/Run 40 mins	Mar 26 Rest	Mar 27 Walk/Run 42 mins	Mar 28 Rest	Mar 29 Rest	Mar 30 Walk/Run 45 mins	Mar 31 Rest
Week 4 Apr 1	Apr 1 Walk/Run 42 mins	Apr 2 Rest	Apr 3 Walk/Run 42 mins	Apr 4 Rest	Apr 5 Rest	Apr 6 Walk/Run 50 mins	Apr 7 Rest
Week 5 Apr 8	Apr 8 Walk/Run 42 mins	Apr 9 Rest	Apr 10 Walk/Run 40 mins	Apr 11 Rest	Apr 12 Rest	Apr 13 Walk/Run 50 mins	Apr 14 Rest
Week 6 Apr 15	Apr 15 Walk/Run 42 mins	Apr 16 Rest	Apr 17 Walk/Run 40 mins	Apr 18 Rest	Apr 19 Rest	Apr 20 Walk/Run 60 mins	Apr 21 Rest
Week 7 Apr 22	Apr 22 Walk/Run 40 mins	Apr 23 Rest	Apr 24 Walk/Run 45 mins	Apr 25 Rest	Apr 26 Rest	Apr 27 Walk/Run 54 mins	Apr 28 Rest
Week 8 Apr 29	Apr 29 Walk/Run 40 mins	Apr 30 Rest	May 1 Walk/Run 45 mins	May 2 Rest	May 3 Rest	May 4 Walk/Run 70 mins	May 5 Rest
Week 9 May 6	May 6 Walk/Run 40 mins	May 7 Rest	May 8 Walk/Run 45 mins	May 9 Rest	May 10 Rest 30 mins	May 11 Walk/Run 62 mins	May 12 Rest
Week 10 May 13	May 13 Walk/Run 40 mins	May 14 Rest	May 15 Walk/Run 30 mins	May 16 Rest	May 17 Walk 20 mins	May 18 10K Race!	May 19

I started my training yesterday evening and it followed on nicely from the running I had done so far. The plan said to walk/run for 40 mins so I started with a 5 min warm up walk followed by 7 sets of run for 2 mins and walk for 3 mins and for those of you that are into running stats yesterday's training can be seen here:

Considering everything that has happened recently it felt pretty good I tried to keep the run bits fairly steady and walk at a brisk pace.

If you would like to sponsor me just click on the link below and don't forget to add me to your favourites so you can check on my progress and maybe even feel like you are training with me...Alternatively you could put on your running shoes and come keep me company.