The first steps (pun intended!)

Look how steep it is!

I began my training program last week, thanks to my personal trainer from afar, my brother Tom. So far, I'm really enjoying having a 'real' program written up - I even have a copy on my fridge where I can record my distances, times and heart rate. It is a really great motivational tool because I can see my progress- already, I have improved on my times from last week. Because I have a bit (alright, a huge!) competitive streak, it will keep me motivated to keep improving and running hard even when I don't feel like it.

Satellite picture of the fires.

An advantage of living in an apartment block (the only advantage I think!) is that there are plenty of stairs to train on. The Great Wall half marathon involves 9km on the actual wall, including over 1000 steps. As you can see from the picture, it is pretty damn steep too! So, last week I began with some steps training. I devised a little program for myself involving walking, jogging and sprinting up steps. For my first session, I managed to climb up a total of 70 flights of stairs! Not bad. I had a foot and calf massage following that session, thinking it would ward off any stiffness. I woke up the next morning feeling fine and perhaps a little cocky that I wasn't the slightest bit stiff. It was the following morning that I remembered what DOMS stood for - Delayed Onset of Muscular Soreness. I was so stiff that I couldn't walk up and down stairs without being in a lot of pain. The pain is only just going away now, nearly a week later, just in time for my next steps work out tomorrow!