Category: Races

Running in the Shadows

Jess Guth4 Comments

Putting this weekend of running into words is quite hard. We ran in the shadows of Helvellyn, we ran in the shadows – full stop – there was almost no sun to be seen, we ran in our own personal shadows, fighting our own personal demons…

Let’s start at the beginning. We drove up to Glenridding on Friday afternoon. We stayed at the Glenridding Hotel which is a little odd but absolutely fine. We had our tea in the hotel bar and both opted for Cumberland sausage and mash – I wasn’t entirely sure about that for running fuel but we weren’t running until 1pm so it was going to be fine. We got an early night and I slept quite well. After breakfast (full veggie version) we walked IMG_7812across to the field where the Lakeland Trails marquee was. It was actually just next to the hotel. We couldn’t yet register for our race as they’re busy giving out numbers for the 5km and 10km runs that went earlier. We walked round the little village (didn’t take long) and along the first few hundred metres of the race route. I was beginning to really feel like I shouldn’t be there.

Everyone I’d seen so far was skinnier, looked stronger, looked like runners. It seemed ridiculous for me to be there. We went back to the hotel and just rested and watched the 10k race and 5k race leave and then, after not very long at all, we watched them come back in. That didn’t settle my doubts. I knew that this run was likely to be the hardest I’ve ever done. I’m not confident on tricky terrain and the terrain was going to be tricky. I got changed into my running gear and at about 12.40 we headed over for our 1pm start. We joined the queue for the loos, had a pee and then it was only another minute or two before we were on our way. We jogged slowly along at the back of the pack and for a short period of time it was all ok. It was going to be awesome and I was going to love it. We turned left towards the hills and quite quickly hot a bottleneck as everyone slowed to make our way down a narrow path alongside a little river. Then things opened up and started sloping upwards.

Screenshot 2017-10-15 20.35.17

I started finding it so hard so quickly and had to walk much sooner than I wanted to. I’d only done a mile and I was struggling. My head spiralled and I started to wonder what on earth I’d been thinking – I didn’t belong there. But I kept putting one foot in front of the other and eventually the second mile was done. I don’t really remember what came where on the run but I remember the relentlessness of the early ‘up’ and then the section that I disliked most which was a muddy slippy path where a woman behind me fell (not seriously hurt) and I may have whimpered a few times as I lost my footing and just about stayed on my feet. Once through the muddy bit the paths turned to streams for much of the way and it was actually nice to run in the water. We settled into a little running rhythm and eventually passed half way.

The scenery was stunning. I kept reminding myself to look and try and take it in. There was a huge amount of water around with waterfalls coming off the fells all over the place. You could tell when you were running through a stream coming down from up high – it got marginally deeper and significantly colder. I didn’t take any pictures on the run so these are from the day before of the first bit of the route.

Not long after half way we were passed by the first runners doing the race rather than the challenge – they were doing the same route but had set off an hour later. The next bit was horrendous. We kept having to stand in to let people past so it was stop start and I IMG_7784was struggling. I was also a little upset. Kath had been talking me through all the sections, pointing out the easiest path and encouraging me on. At around 3 miles (I think) we’d come down a steep set of stones which basically formed steps and I was doing my best but going quite slow and at that point it sort of felt like Kath was just fed up of me and really annoyed at me. I snapped at her and we continued in silence from there. We said almost nothing to each other until we were back at the hotel. As it turns out, Kath was struggling with anxiety and I just made it worse by not realising, snapping at her and not being able to go faster. If we had been a little faster we would have been off the narrow stretch by the time people started coming passed and that would have helped loads. Kath just withdrew into her own little bubble to get herself through it and I didn’t know that so felt a little abandoned – because, you know, obviously everything is always about me.

At about 6 miles we crossed a little bridge and had a really boggy bit to navigate. As my right leg disappeared thigh deep into the bog and I vaguely wondered if my trainer was going to stay on my foot I sort of giggled. This whole thing was totally ridiculous. I pulled myself out, pushed on, got stuck with my left leg, pushed off again and felt my left calf muscle protest – protest but hold, then I was through. From there the rest of the run was along a wider path and it was easier for people to pass. I managed more running, not enough really but more. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and just over 2 and half hours after we’d set off, we crossed the finish.

We went straight back to the hotel rooms, stretched, and had a bath (I had a proper mud tan). IMG_7814We were both a bit upset and started to talk things through. We went for some food and were grateful when the brilliant little cafe/restaurant Fellbites agreed to serve us from their cafe menu when they’d normally have a break while they set up for dinner. Over food and a little walk we agreed that we would pull out of the Ullswater Challenge we were due to run today. If either of us had picked up a hamstring niggle we wouldn’t even be having the conversation about whether to run and really, an anxiety niggle is no different. Once the decision had been made we stopped at the bar, had a couple of pints and reflected on the run.

Today we went to Ambleside before heading home, had a lovely couple of hours spending money on running gear, books, cards… and then we came home and went for a run. I thought it was important for Kath to have a proper run so we agreed the route and I sent her on her way and followed more slowly. My legs were a little heavy and I could feel my knees and ankles questioning my sanity. Nothing actually hurt though so I toddled on. For some idiotic reason I had agreed to do our trail route through the wood –  who needs comfort zones anyway?! I hesitated briefly as I got to the top of the wood and had to navigate down the hill. I was tentative but I never kept moving. There were a few more sections along that path that defeated me – mainly because the path was covered in fallen leaves and I kept tripping because I hadn’t seen tree roots and stones and of course I wasn’t actually picking my feet up enough. I finished that section and went on to make my way onto the canal – I was determined to keep running which I managed until I saw Kath at just under 3 miles. I stopped as she was talking to someone we know so I had a little breather and then we went on and completed our loop together. With that run I have hit 405.5 miles for the year.

So what I have learned?

  1. I am a really selfish runner. It’s all about me and it never occurs to me that Kath might actually be struggling. It just didn’t enter my head. She likes running, she’s good at running, why would she struggle
  2. I am not fit enough to deal with the uphill and too much of a wimp to go downhill – bit of an issue on the Lakeland Trails
  3. I may have looked totally miserable but I actually really enjoyed much of it and certainly loved the experience overall
  4. In spite of 2 above – I am so much fitter and so much bolder than I was. Not that long ago I would really have struggled to walk that route very steadily in the dry and would simply not have done it in the wet!
  5. Even when we get things wrong and our wires crossed, we’re a solid team. We needed different things from this run so neither of us really got the best out of it but we finished and we learned a lot.
  6. Helvellyn and Ullswater are stunning and I want to go back
  7. Lakeland Trails events are great events and I want to do more
  8. Walt Disney was right, it is kind of fun to do the impossible
  9.  Champagne bought by a wonderful friend to celebrate another achievement is really rather yummy after a weekend of running (thanks Chris!). Cheers!

IMG_7818

We have to talk about pace – again.

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I have been quietly seething about 2 running related things. Sometimes it takes me a while to realise just how pissed off I am with something but today I realised that I have been seething for a little while.

I think I probably realised because I was quite happy with my pace today. We went for a run at Bolton Abbey. My watch didn’t play. It wouldn’t lock onto satellites and wouldn’t let me start the timer. So the stats from the run are from Kath’s watch – but we ran the same course, started at the same time and finished at the same time which means I ran 4.5 miles in 59.38 on a hilly course. That’s elapsed time not some funny strava hocus pocus which measures the moving time. The previous best elapsed time on that route is 1.03.33 (and spookily a moving time of 59.38). So yeah, I was pleased that the watch confirmed that the route had taken just under an hour. Very pleased indeed. The average pace was 13.20 minutes per mile. Most people would call that slow. I have called that slow, but for this route, on this day, I was bloody happy with that.

This afternoon our new wall planner for training plans and races came so we were putting on the runs we’ve booked in pen and ones we’re thinking about in pencil. A couple of weeks or so ago we had looked at the Haspa Hamburg Half Marathon which would be at the end of April 2018. It’s a nice route, we could stay at my Dad’s and combine the run with a family visit. It’s been ages since we’ve been to Hamburg. It would be fun. Well I thought it would be fun until I saw that the time limit is two and a half hours. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Two and a half hours from gun time, too – not from when you cross the start line. That’s 11.27 minute miles – not just once but for 13.1 miles consistently and if you can sustain that you’ll still come last(ish). So to make sure of finishing within the time I’d basically have to run 2 minutes per mile faster than I did today. Maybe this shouldn’t piss me off. Maybe that’s fine. Half marathons are for people who can, you know, actually run. But it does piss me off. Half marathons shouldn’t be so bloody elitist. There is no reason to have that cut off time as far as I can see. The marathon runners use some of the same route so it needs to stay open anyway. The marathon starts later so the finish etc all needs to still be open – and if it’s a different finish, well then maybe the route needs to be different so that it is the same finish. Would it really be such a big deal to stay open for longer? I mean really? And how much longer? Well, until the last person has finished might be an idea. Or at the very least let people complete the course on the pavement – here the info actually says you will be asked to move off the course and remove your running number and can’t complete. Gee thanks.

Anyway, that made me think of something I saw the other day on my run. The one where I ran to Bingley 5 Rise Locks and Kath went a bit further – actually I don’t think I blogged about it in any detail. While I was waiting for her to come back a group of school kids arrived on the canal. I paid no attention for some time, trying to block out the constant noise from the little voices. However, it went quiet which made me look up and they’d all disappeared for a little run down the canal. Fine. Then they obviously came back because the volume went up again. I was getting a little cold so I was pacing up and down. One of the teachers said, ‘right, last interval’ and then looked at the last 3 or 4 kids who had only just made it back and said ‘Well you just run as far as you can and we’ll collect you on the way back’. It was so dismissive. He then set off with the front runners, another teacher went with a middle lot and the teacher who was obviously meant to be the back marker couldn’t even be bothered to run with the slow kids. He just sent them on their way and then played on his phone. They didn’t go far before the first of the fast kids were coming back at them and the teacher turned them around and said something – no idea what but the body language of the slow kids changed as they plodded their way back to us and were overtaken by the kids who had run further than them. They hated it. I could see how much they hated it. I felt like giving the teachers a mouthful. I really did. Everything they said and did must just have been so demotivating for those slow kids. They were ignored and  dismissed, nobody said ‘well done’ when they got back to the group, nobody asked how far they’d got, nobody acknowledged their effort (and they had put in some considerable effort judging by their colour and huffing and puffing). The teachers were all engaging with the faster runners and as I decided not to wait any longer but let Kath catch up with me and therefore started my little jog past the group, two of the teachers gave me the same look they’d given the slow kids. I smiled at them, because of course, I am a slow kid and in my own small way I wanted them to know that slow kids have just as much of a right to be doing their thing. Over the last few days though I keep coming back to that dismissive tone of ‘just run as far as you can and we’ll collect you on our way back’. Kath was collecting me on the way back but our conversation had been entirely different in tone. It made me feel good about running my distance and allowing her to run hers. It acknowledged that we could both push ourselves a little that way and as soon as she caught up with me we had a conversation about our respective runs.

The teachers and the other kids just didn’t seem to think that those 3 or 4 slower kids were worth their time or acknowledgement. How dare they be so dismissive.

How dare they.

London Marathon and being sensible

Jess Guth7 Comments

So, Sod has been at work implementing her laws again. Yep, I got a place in the London Marathon. Back in May I entered the ballot having got caught up in the excitement and just wanting to be part of the whole London Marathon cycle. Goodness knows why. I am actually far from convinced that I want to run another marathon. So of course I got a place. Sod’s law. If I actually really really wanted a place I’d never get one! We’re still waiting for Kath to get her notification.

I giggled and swore at the same time when I opened my magazine. A wave of excitement washed over me quickly followed by the terror inducing realisation of what ‘You’re in’ actually means. I wanted to do it. Or rather I wanted to be able to do it. I really did. Kath’s immediate reaction was: Defer. I think I shot her a look. ‘Don’t wanna!’ was my (silent) reaction to that. I have a place, I bloody well want to run in 2018. It would just be awesome… ….. …. …. …. (no it wouldn’t)

Through the rest of the afternoon little doubts crept in:

  •  April 2018 isn’t that far off. 7 months to get from where I am to marathon level. Hm, tough.
  • Winter  marathon training – urgh. I’ve already committed to doing this 2018/19, do I really want to add another winter of long miles?
  • I have a plan, one that challenges me but one that I am comfortable with, one that’s doable. I’d have to re-think all of that and add a considerable amount of training
  • I don’t want to just drag my butt round. I’ve done that. I want to give it a really positive go. I know a marathon for me is always going to be on the limit and there will be pain and it will be awful and almost impossible in places but I’d like fewer of those places and for the pain to set in a little later
  • I struggle with the pressure of training and having to do something. I can do this but I think I need a more gentle run in and more time to get my head into this – this is mental more than it is physical
  • I have a few little niggles that pop up when I increase distance or intensity and they need sorting (it’s a fairly easy case of doing the strength exercises – easy but also easy to ‘forget’ or not bother) – working on that would massively help
  • If I can get fitter and a little faster over the next year marathon training won’t be quite as hard because I won’t be out for quite as long on long run days
  • I run because I want to and because I want to enjoy it – getting ready for London 2018 doesn’t sound like fun, it sounds like pressure. Getting ready for 2019 sounds like fun (and not just because it is a long way away but because I can see a training schedule that starts now, with my current plan, and builds, with plenty of downtime, recovery and rest to a positive 26.2).
  • And here’s the clincher. I honestly honestly do not know if I have another 2 marathons in me. It’s hard to explain what they take out of me. It’s an emotional roller coaster, it’s lost weekends, it’s discipline and digging deep and facing every bloody fear over and over again and dealing with every emotion. It’s battling being the fat kid always picked last in PE, always coming last on the school track, never making it to the end of the cross country run… every single run becomes that battle, the battle to prove that I can do it while not really believing that I can. I have crossed two marathon finish lines but I don’t believe I can do it. Asking myself to do this two more times is a lot to ask of myself. I really want to do Dopey 2019. That’s the goal, the main aim, my ‘must do’ event. I don’t really see that as ‘a marathon’, I see it as the whole thing and somehow that’s different but it does of course mean doing a marathon. I am scared that doing London 2018 would break me (mentally more than physically) and that I wouldn’t be able to get back in the game for Dopey. If I can do Dopey in January 2019, I can recover fully and then build again for London. I can see how that would work and if it turns out that Dopey is the last marathon I have in me, then so be it. That one means more to me than London.

So, there you are. I’ll withdraw from London 2018 and take my place at the start line in 2019. I’m quite settled in that decision now and I’ve had a couple of little run outs to think about it. In fact I’ve run/walked a total of 17.68 miles in the first 3 days of October – that’s more than in all of February. I’m sure come  next April I will feel a few pangs of disappointment that I’m not there. A few ‘what ifs’ will go through my head, particularly if my training has gone to plan but I know it’s the right call. Just waiting for Kath’s Yes or more likely No now!

Planning September and October

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I’m having a rest day today. Kath’s been out for just over 3 miles but I do think I need a bit of a rest. It’s a bank holiday here so I have done bank holiday things – taking time over breakfast, sipping coffee, contemplating life, getting excited about our holiday… that sort of thing.

The other day Kath was planning the next few months of running keeping in mind our IMG_6954goals and planned races etc. Here I’ll share the next couple of months with you (any further out than that and it’s too liable to change). So for August I have two runs left really – they are the usual 45 minute ‘maintenance’ runs (to use Galloway speak). Hm. They may have to be a bit longer because if I can cover 10.35 miles before Friday I will have covered 90 miles this month. I’d also like to get to 350 year to date miles before we go to Disney which, with another 10 miler planned on Saturday should be in the bag.

Then we go to Disney World for 10 nights and don’t have a plan as such. We’re taking running gear and we want to get out for a few little runs, just a couple of miles round the resort maybe. We’ll see how it goes. The whole point is to have a couple of low mileage weeks seeing as both of us have recorded higher mileage than, possibly, ever before in August. So the plan really kicks off on the day we land: 15th September: 10k easy (it won’t be easy but it will help kick the jetlag into touch). So here’s the plan starting this week. I’ve used the 12 week Too Fat to Run? Clubhouse template.

IMG_6999
Sept/October training plan

So Mondays are generally complete rest days and Wednesday is generally strength yoga day and Friday is a general yoga day – plenty to chose from on the Yoga Studio app we have. We do try and do some stretches/yoga after every run as well as some strength exercises most days. Our next races are mid October – the Lakeland Trails Dirty Double (Helvellyn and Ullswater challenges). I was really nervous about these but the last couple of weeks of running have shown that I should be fine. The time is generous and I’m not running them for a PB – just to have fun and hopefully enjoy some spectacular views and/or bracing Lake District weather.

There isn’t anything on this plan I’m worried about. I think the hardest bit might be getting ourselves out for a 10k on the day we get back from Florida. I think we land about 7.30 in the morning so if all goes to plan should be home by 10.30-11am ish depending on how long luggage takes and what the traffic is like. I’m not sure what’s best, short cat nap and then run?

I like that the plan takes into account real life. That we have weekends away which don’t involve running and that that’s fine. I read something the other day (can’t remember where – some online thing) about running completely dominating and everything else having to be organised around that and I don’t think I’d like that. But then I suppose I am more flexible than many in terms of when I can run during the week. Anyway – that’s the plan. As the sayings go, if you don’t plan, you plan to fail and rules are there to be broken so these are our running rules for the next couple of months and they can (and probably will) be broken, moved, stretched and re-written.

Running with (a) purpose

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I’ve had a few good runs but haven’t blogged about them yet. I’ve been busy working on my book, clearing out the study, moving furniture and organising the sale of remaining sheep equipment. I feel like running has been good really. After the Simon’s Seat adventure last weekend, the next run was awesome. It was meant to be our long slow run. Initially we were meant to do back to back runs but I needed a rest day so we went out on Tuesday. I quickly settled into a really nice steady paced rhythm and just kept plodding. We saw 6 herons along the way and a kingfisher at the end. When we saw the first two herons I thought ‘I’ll run a non-stop mile for each heron I see’ and then I kept bloody seeing them! I didn’t stop plodding though until I had reached the bridge to come off the canal and walk up the hill. I even managed to speed up a little in the last half mile and I never felt like I wanted to or needed to stop. We did a total of about 7.3 miles and I ran 6.6 miles of that without stopping. I was (still am) excited about that.

We then had another couple of rest days (well I did, I think Kath went out) and on Friday went out for a little potter round after work. We ran down to the canal, along the canal bank and then up the golf course and home. 3.6 miles I think. Saturday got busy with IMG_6910sorting furniture and books so I didn’t run. We’d got all geared up to do parkrun with our new bar code thingies (technical term that!)  but in the end we didn’t go to parkrun because the fair was in town in the park making the course narrower in places and just not very nice. So today the plan had the fartlek session on it. I don’t really like any sort of pressure of having to try and go fast but I was also sort of intrigued to see if I’d improved at all. We took some furniture on to a friend’s in Bingley yesterday and forgot the screws, nuts and bolts so I suggested we could run on this morning and drop them off. So the plan was to do the Fartlek session going towards Bingley, drop the stuff off and then run/walk back.

So here are the Fartlek stats from this morning – 4.08 miles at 12.37 minutes per mile average. Last time’s pace in brackets. I’m pretty pleased with that and as an added bonus I have earned myself the 3rd of the RunDisney virtual run series medal with that

  • 10 minute warm up:  12.20 pace (12.43 pace);
  • 5 minutes: 10.26 (10.27);
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 4 minutes: 10.11 (10.18) pace;
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 3 minutes: 9.56 (10.18) pace;
  • (then 5.5 minute rest);
  • 2 minutes: 8.56 (9.52 – I think, deleted it by mistake and can’t be bothered to check);
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 1.5 minutes: 9.09 (9.47) pace;IMG_6943
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 1 minute:  9.28 (9.29) pace;
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 30 seconds: 9.17 (8.37)  pace;
  • 1 minute rest
  • 30 seconds: 8.28 (7.39) pace.
  • 10 min cool down 14.17 (15.16) pace

The first 5 minute faster run felt good, the 4 minutes was hell, the 3 minutes was doable, I needed the rest but recovered well, I liked the 2 minutes, I really struggled for the 90 second run, the 1 minute was ok and then I realised with complete terror that some of the next 30 sec run would be down the steep hill at 5 Rise Locks. Absolutely terrified I sort of flung myself down the hill for the last 15 seconds of the run. The next and final 30 seconds I felt like I was going really really fast so I’m bemused (and a little disappointed) to see that it was a fair bit slower than last time on that one. Oh well. The cool down took us right to where we needed to be and then we set off back.

The way back was 3.78 miles in 1 hour 6 minutes and 5 seconds. We walked lots -watching ducks, fieldfares, swifts, gold finches, sparrows and a blue tit. We also tried out a new footpath so came up off the canal earlier than we would and made our way along the path which is perfectly runnable with just a few tricky bits which might need a few walk steps.

I’m running purposefully and happy at the minute. Hope you are too!

Oh Sunday Weigh-In: I have lost just a smidge under 2 pounds.