Category: Training

Meltdown, 3 loops and 8 miles

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I had a running meltdown this morning. We were going to do a long run up on Ilkley Moor this morning. A loop of about 7 miles. That’s a fair bit further than I have been for quite a while but with some walk breaks and photo stops etc perfectly within reach. It is a gorgeous morning, the sun is out, it’s not too warm or cold for running and yesterday I was really looking forward to it. In fact when I woke up this morning I was looking forward to it. Kath brought me a cup of tea and breakfast (bagel and peanut butter) in bed and went to feed the lambs. I got up, put our slow roast dinner in the oven, went to the loo, drank some water, went to the loo again…

Then, quite suddenly I had the overwhelming urge to run away and hide, to not leave the house, crawl back into bed and forget the whole running thing. I couldn’t breathe. Once the little panic attack had passed, we changed plans and Kath suggested instead doing a route we know and do several runs today to start training for the Endure24 race where we will be doing several 5 mile loops in a 24 hour period. So below is a quick review of each of our loops today written pretty much immediately after the loop.

Loop one: Home – sheep – wood trail – Scott Lane – Kiln Bank – Home

This was horrible. With every step my mind was screaming at me that it was all totally pointless because I couldn’t do it anyway. Every step was a mental battle. I never settled but I did keep going. I ran to the wood without stopping, then walked a few steps to find the start of the trail and then slowly made my way through the trail with a few little panics and stops and then we walked up the slope, jogged along Scott Lane and walked up the hill. Once up the hill we jogged to the bottom of Ilkley Road and then run/walked lamp post to lamp post home. Roughly 16 minute mile pace. Awful, just awful!

Loop two: Home – sheep – wood trail – Scott Lane – Kiln Bank – Home

This was slightly less horrible for me. We had about 2 hours between finishing loop one and starting loop 2 and I just had a coffee and water and a bit of home made chewy bar crumbs in that gap. I sat with my feet up watching the London Marathon coverage on tv. I ran until just before the slope up to the hill, walked a little and then ran up to the wood, found the trail and ran most of it. Slowly but with fewer stops and starts. Enjoyed it more this time and my feet hurt less. At the end of the trail we walked up the slope, jogged the road to the bottom of the big hill, walked up, jogged down and went post to post again up Ilkley Road. Almost a minute a mile quicker than loop 1. Poor Kath learned that coffee and fruit doesn’t work so well for her in terms of fuelling. She’s recovered now but don’t think she had a very pleasant run on loop 2.

Lap three: Sheep loop backwards (Home, down Kiln Bank, along canal, up golf course…)

After lap two I watched more Marathon coverage, made and had lunch and faffed around on Facebook and Twitter and didn’t do much other than randomly burst into tears. Lunch wasn’t the best choice but it was planned as a post run lunch not as lunch to have with more running to come. We had slow roast lamb, carrots, potatoes and spring cabbage. We ate about 12.30 and were planning to go again about 4pm ish or when we felt like it would be ok to run. We both felt ok ish to go again just before 4pm so off we set. Well, ready my body was not, not at all. I felt about a stone heavier than I had in the morning. Still on I went. I ran all the way down to the canal and most of the canal with a two little short walks because I got a stitch. Then we walked up the golf course and ran down the slope past our sheep and pushed to Kath’s mum’s house. We stopped our watches there, she made us some milk for the lambs and we fed them and all the sheep and then set off to run home from there. My legs felt tight and I had a little walk break before the Western Avenue slope, then we ran to the bottom of Ilkley Road and went home from there run/walking post to post. Again the Garmin said about a minute a mile faster than the other loops but this is obviously a different loop.

I have now uploaded the runs to Strava and Strava adjusts for moving time rather than time overall so the first loop was actually 14.51 minute mile pace when I was moving – I just had a couple of stops on the trail where I was actually standing still – a couple of hugs after tricky sections and a short stop to admire the bluebells. I also stopped ‘to admire the view’ half way up Kiln Bank. Lap two was therefore not actually much faster when I was moving – at 14.30 mile pace – I just had fewer actual stops and lap 3 was 13.40 pace.  The first two laps were 2.5 miles and then final was 3.2 so I have run 8.2 miles today (or 8.4 according to Kath’s Garmin which seems to think we went further than mine does). We learned quite a lot about hydrating and fuelling today too and I learned that using my memories from running the London Marathon is not a good way to help me on my runs. I just remember the total emptiness. Better to think of all those other amazing people running it  – that kept me going today, thoughts about last year just made me want to stop. I’ll stick to visualising the Magic Kingdom run up to the castle or running around the World Showcase in Epcot to get me through I think.

First ever parkrun

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We registered for parkrun in October 2015 and we’ve never been. Until today. Finally we got our butts to parkrun. We live pretty much in the middle between Skipton and Bradford so we needed to choose. We chose Bradford on the basis that it is 3 laps rather than 4. Yes I know they are all the same distance but number of laps makes a difference!

We took the car this time, not being sure about timings and where exactly we needed to be or when for the start etc, factoring in the unreliable bus times seemed a step too far. I was unjustifiably nervous as it was! We were early but that gave us time to figure things out, look at the route map, be told how it all worked and then walk to the start. We couldn’t really hear the instructions etc given at the beginning but at pretty much bang on 9am we were off. The course is 3 laps and starts off in a flat straight line, then does a little squiggle round Cartwright Hall and then turns left downhill and left again to go flat/downhill along the length of the park. Then, after another left turn, comes what appears to be affectionately known as the teeny tiny hill. Yeah right. Then you’re back at the start.

I haven’t run with people since the abandoned half marathon in November. Running with people increases anxiety levels. Increased anxiety levels mean I worry about everything. So when I looked at my watch about 100 metres in and saw that we were running at 11 minute mile pace I panicked thinking we were going way to fast for me to be able to sustain it. I felt fine until that point and suspect I would have naturally slowed off a little and found my pace but in my little panic I then couldn’t breathe and threw everything out. I settled a bit on the downhill and flat and on lap one I ran teeny tiny hill – I just then couldn’t keep running so had a walk break at the top.

I’ve really noticed that I have got mentally tougher recently – running rather than run/walking the 3.1 and 4 miles earlier this week are examples of that but I am mentally much weaker when things are ‘different’. I suspect I didn’t really need to walk after the hill. I suspect I could have run the hill on laps 2 and 3 and I suspect I could run a bit faster but I didn’t have it in me mentally to push today. I’m not disappointed and I did enjoy it – I’m just making an observation about me and my running behaviour really. My goal was to finish in under 40 minutes. I had decided that under 40 minutes would be major success. I’d also decided that it might not be a bad idea to have a plan B and C in case plan A was, for whatever reason, not going to work today. So Plan B was to complete in under 45 minutes and Plan C was just to complete. So I am delighted, in fact a sort of happy dance warranting excited, to have come in at 39.44.

After the finish we got a coffee from the coffee van to share (I’m a coffee snob, the coffee wasn’t great but it was coffee I guess) and sat on a bench watching the remaining runners come in and a little wagtail be busy on the lawn in front of us. Then we drove back. I’m glad we went and I felt comfortable and confident enough that I think if we go again soon I’d be happy for Kath to run her own 5k and for me to plod and run mine. It was great to have her there with me today but I think it would still feel like doing parkrun together even if we didn’t actually run together! I’ll just have to try not to let her lap me!

More non-stop running

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Well something has clicked into place. After yesterday’s 5km non-stop run I was quite nervous about going out again today. I can’t remember the last time I had two really good back to back runs (maybe Dopey?) so the chances of this one being a good run seemed rather remote. In a fit of post run madness yesterday I’d also suggested/agreed that I should indeed practise running on uneven surfaces and get more sure-footed so that I can be less pathetically scared about some of the trails Kath has been trying out – oh and so I don’t break my ankles trying. So getting off the nicely maintained, even and familiar section of towpath and swapping it  for the grassy, muddy (actually not really at the moment) and uneven section going out towards Silsden seemed like a good idea when I first mentioned it.

But talking about it and actually doing it are different things! We fed the lambs, took the bottles back to the car and then set off from there. Wow. If yesterday felt easy and effortless today felt, well not easy and effortless. So a few differences – yesterday I started on the flat and downhill. Today we started undulating with uphill slopes that always get me and the golf course downhill which still terrifies me. Yesterday everything was road or even canal towpath. Today we were mostly on uneven surfaces. Yesterday I was on my own. Today Kath was with me. Yesterday I didn’t have tired legs. Today I probably did. I wanted to run consistently without walking again as well as focus on running the uneven bits confidently. A little ambitious maybe.

Kath was ok with me setting the pace. I really just had ‘slow’ in my mind. The run was good really. Hard but good. It played out like this:

Start: Oh we’re really doing this. Wonder if I’m too slow for Kath. No, she looks happy.

First slight slope: WTF

Back downhill past our sheep: Yay my wooly cheer squad!

Up the track to the wood: WTAF. Pace? 13. something. Ok all good but WTF

Down the cobbles in the wood: Hate downhill, hate hate hate

Onto the golf course: Ok, phew, no broken ankles.

Down the golf course: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Track down to the canal: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Bridge across the canal: Phew

Right turn and onwards on the (well maintained and even towpath): Ok, doing ok. Have we done a mile yet? No? Why not?

Further along the towpath: ONE MILE BEEP – wow, hard. 13minute something mile. All good. Ok now let’s see if I can keep the pace at this level and note slow down on the uneven bit

Bit further still: We’ve started going faster. No no no. Stop going faster. SLOW….

Stone bridge: Ok, here goes. Pace now 13.05

Further along: still no broken ankle. Probably slow, really slow. Nope, still 13.05

Further along hopping over some tree roots: Wow still 13.05

Swing bridge in view: OMG still 13.05 Kath mentioned lambs charging – don’t look, you might trip. Oh but lambs, there, glanced and didn’t fall, progress

Swing Bridge and TWO MILE BEEP: Yay, ok 2 miles, good, still feel ok, legs sort of tired now, hamstrings a bit tight, ok. Still 13.05

Back at those tree roots: Hm, ok, I’m doing ok. No broken ankles and how is the pace still at 13.05?

Stone bridge in view: Awesome, hard section nearly done. Watch must be broken, still 13.05. Can’t be. Watch is broken.

On towpath catching up to a canal boat: Oh we saw that earlier, we’re going to overtake it. Yay THREE MILE BEEP

Nearly at golf course bridge: Wow, hard now. Not sure I’ll make 4 miles. Oh shut up.

Random look at watch a bit further along: ARE YOU MAD. SLOW DOWN. YOU ARE GOING  MUCH FASTER THAN YOU WERE

At yesterday’s toilet incident point: Half a mile left. I can do half a mile. Just over 6 minutes of running left. Ok. Good. Wait – WHAT DO YOU MEAN SIX MINUTES

Endpoint comes into view: FOCUS

FOCUS

FOCUS

Nearly there, nearly there, nearly there. Kath’s watch beeps for 4 miles. Why is she ahead of me? Hm, Nearly there, nearly there, nearly there… How can I be nearly there for such a long time. Watch must be broken…

FOUR MILE BEEP

 

 

 

I ran and I loved it!

Jess GuthLeave a comment

IMG_4662All being well today was going to be the day I was going to go for a reboot run. My tummy has settled down and I’ve run out of excuses. The Too Fat to run Clubhouse session this week is to connect with the environment we run in and go for a run and take pictures and share them. That sort of sounded like fun and I thought that would work well for a reboot run because I could stop and take pictures and have a rest along the way.

I got changed and set off. My garmin is still being silly so when I try do an interval workout it resets itself. So I’d have to just not worry about intervals and walk when I want/need to or to take photos. I also put my phone in my running belt rather than pocked so I could get at it easily. By the time the watch had found the satellites I’d nearly caught up with a bloke walking two huge alsatians and I was too scared to run passed them so I turned off and walked down the steep hill instead. Then I started running.

And I kept on running. I felt great. I wouldn’t say it felt easy but it felt ok. I didn’t want to stop. I made my way through the little housing estate and was briefly stopped by a woman asking about venues/halls for hire in the area and then I got onto the canal towpath. My mind starting racing ahead, maybe I could run a full mile, maybe even two, or three, or 4. Yes I could try for 4. I kept having to pull myself back and remind myself to run the mile I was in. I plodded along  and the watch beeped for the first mile. On I went. I kept telling myself to slow down because I wanted to keep running and I was worried about going too fast. I did slow down but I don’t know by how much, haven’t checked the splits yet. But it all felt quite comfortable. I looked around. I noticed not only the ducklings but even counted them (11) and noted that one of them was bright yellow.

I saw more ducklings further along the canal, lambs in the fields on one side, people in their gardens on the other, people walking their dogs, chatting or checking phones, cyclists and one other runner and I wondered what their days had been like, what they were talking about or what the guy on his phone was watching as he walked along staring at the screen chuckling. Then the 2 mile beep brought me back from wherever my mind had wondered off to and decided to just keep running until the next bridge and turn round. I was beginning to think I might make it to 4 miles because I still felt amazing. I turned and kept going.

At about 2.6 miles there were some ominous and rather sudden rumbles in my tummy. I kept going. By 2.8 miles I knew there was going to be a toilet issues. 4 miles was out of the question but I was damn well going to try and get to 5k. I was seriously concerned as the IMG_46603 mile beep came but just gritted my teeth and kept running until I hit the 5k. Then I stopped dead and took a few deep breaths to assess any potential ‘damage’. It didn’t seem too bad and I figured I could walk home with dignity intact once everything had settled down.

So not the 4 miles I at some point decided I was going to try for but so much more than I planned when I set out and I loved it. I genuinely loved it. Pictures of my route will have to wait until another day!

Planning different running

Jess Guth1 Comment

I walked the 2 mile roundtrip to the sheep this evening without a toilet incident so we’re getting closer to being able to run again. Kath went out on a 5.5 mile reconnaissance run to try out a new route. It is lovely apparently but has a steep and uneven downhill which I won’t like. Well, if current form is anything to go by I can always stand at the top and cry until she comes and gets me! We’ve been catching up on various running magazines today and thinking about what sort of runs we’d both like to do. I think we’re getting to the point where we do want to and need to do our own thing a bit more. That’s no bad thing and we both still like running with each other but we also want to do our own thing.

Anyway, here’s a list of some of the things we like the look of as well as some ideas for joint but separate runs that we’ve talked about. I’ll report back as we try them.

  1. 20 Minute refresher by Jeff Galloway (from Runner’s World)

Walk for 1 minute, then run walk 30secs/30secs for 3 minutes, then 6 minutes at any ratio you like. At 10 minutes turn round and run/walk 9 minutes back but pick up the pace during the runs. Cool down for a minute.

2. 100 strides Fartlek (Runners World)

10 min warm up, 10 strides fast, then 10 strides slow, then 20 strides fast and 20 strides slow, keep increasing strides until you reach 100. Cool down for 5 minutes (or go back down in 10 stride increments and then cool down)

3. Surges

On longer runs build in a 1 minute surge every 10 minutes or so (careful with this – increase the speed a bit but don’t, as I once did, just try and go faster and faster and faster for a minute – I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened)

4. One on/One off (Runner’s World)

After a warm up, run 1 minute on (fast) and 1 minute off (slow) for 20 minutes. Try and increase the pace of each ‘on’ section. Increase the duration of the on/off intervals to increase the challenge

5. 30-20-10 (Runner’s World)

This made my head go weird when I read it the first time but I think I’ve got it now: 10 minute warm up; 30 second slow jog, 20 seconds steady, 10 seconds fast, repeat that 60 second sequence 5 times and then jog slowly for 2 minutes – then have another go – 3-4 times

6. Half mile repeats

Ok so I hate half mile repeats but the thing is they work, they really work. After a couple of sessions doing them I ran my fastest ever mile, so they are back on the list. Run half a mile, walk 3 minutes, repeat – start with 2 and celebrate, do 3, do 4, maybe one day not cry when I get to 5, some day I’ll do 6. Yes let’s aim for 6.

7. Hills

Not just any hills but bastarding West Yorkshire hills. There are several options here

a) Ilkley Road repeat – this sounds crazy even as I type it and it’s not your usual short sharp hill repeat but I think this might work – bottom of Ilkley Road, to our road and back down and then back up…

b) Up to Keighley Gate – One day I will run from our house to the top but let’s not get carried away. So for now let’s go with walking up to the ‘top road’ and then running from there. If feeling ambitious, we can walk to where the road levels out before that and start from there, if I ever get really fit, we can start from home and if I ever lo
se my mind completely we can start right at the bottom

Unity street
Unity Street

c) Proper hill repeats – it’s not like we don’t have options round here! Unity Street looks
like it might work for hill repeats for insane people! You can nicely mark out segments by gates or use the lamppost. I’ve actually never done hill repeats because whenever they appeared on my training plan I always pretended they weren’t really there and did something else instead.

Running together doing our own thing: Kath has got fitter and speedier and I have lost fitness and got slower so the difference in fitness levels and speed is now really quite marked. We’re also both really valuing the headspace time we get from running so we’re going to try doing our own thing a little more but without forgetting that we’re in this together. So options for joint but separate running:

a) Parkrun – yep. We’ve never yet been even though we signed up ages and ages ago. We’re going. This coming Saturday. Skipton or Bradford, not yet sure which but we’re going. We’ll stick together on the first one but after that we don’t need to. We can each go at our own pace and Kath can get me coffee while she waits for me (See being slow has perks!)

b) Bolton Abbey loop – I take the aqueduct to cross the river whereas Kath goes on to Barden Bridge, so she extends her loop . We’d run the first mile and a bit together and then part ways – she can then pick up the pace and try and catch me and I can try and pick up the pace and try not to get caught!

c) We set off together on a loop/route involving canal and I drop off and stop for coffee at Mum’s while Kath goes on (more perks).

d) We set off from home or anywhere and run the same loop but in opposite directions so we can say hi to each other on the route

e) Training for the Endure24 we might also go somewhere to run 5 mile loops while the other one waits – that should help us work out fuelling etc for the event.

I’m sure there are lots more options but that’s all I have for now. Do share your suggestions and I’ll try and try them and report back!