Category: Training

Post-Christmas running

Jess Guth4 Comments

Those of you who have been following the weight loss bit of this journey may have noticed that I’ve been silent on that and have stubbornly ignored my Sunday weigh-ins. Two reasons for this, one I forgot to get on the scales first thing on the Sundays and it just didn’t seem important enough to do it later. Can you see th headline ‘woman doesn’t care about her weight – the end of the world as we know it’… Anyway, then just lately I did start caring because with lower mileage and festive food I felt like I might be piling on pounds which is tthe last thing I should be doing just before a marathon. So I just didn’t get on the scales to avoid that disappointment.But today I hopped on the scales for the first time since the beginning of the month: I am actually half a pound lighter than I was last time I weighed myself. Next weigh in 1st Jan to get the baseline for 2016.

We have been struggling to get our runs in but today we went out together. It felt like ages since we actually went for a run together. The sun was shining, it was ridiculously warm and it was such hard work. I felt heavy, sluggish, unfit and like all the mince pies, sausage rolls and prosecco in the world were congregating in the pit of my stomach. I felt decidedly like I was plodding along slower than ever, but, I kept telling myself, I was plodding not sitting on the sofa stuffing my face.

At about two miles the towpath was blocked by a fallen tree so we had to turn round and go the other way. We’d run roughly the first mile and had then dropped into our run/walk intervals (as planned for marathon, 2 min run,1 min walk) and I needed the walk breaks. We checked our time at 5 km so that we could count that as our December One Big Fat Run and I thought 37 mins, 35 seconds was pretty good going for a post Christmas 5km that’s part of a longer run.

At about 4 miles I started feeling better. The sluggishness was giving way to just enjoying being out. At just under 5 miles we turned again and ran the last mile and a bit back to the ‘home’ bridge. The 6 miles took us an hour, 12 minutes and a few seconds and it was a nice run. We chatted for all but the last few minutes and the sun was lovely.

Walking up the hill to get home I felt a bit dizzy but I think I was dehydrated. I haven’t really been paying attention to drinking enough water. We’ve had some food and I’ve drank about three pints of water and feel great now.

One more 45 minute run and one more 6 mile run left. 6 more sleeps before we travel, 7 more before we fly to Florida. Today I am more excited than terrified. Bring on the marathon!

 

Christmas Running

Jess Guth3 Comments

I’ve just got back from a quick 2 mile run. My goodness that was awful. I hadn’t run since the 23rd. Yesterday was supposed to be a 6 miler and I was looking forward to it but the weather here was just too horrendous – most roads not passable – we couldn’t even get to our sheep. It was awful but of course we were extremely lucky. While our backgarden was under 6 inches of water at one point, we weren’t flooded and we only had to deal with water running off the hillside and aren’t at risk of river flooding or anything. My thoughts go out to all those dealing with the flooding.

Anyway, I spent Christmas eve, Christmas day and my birthday yesterday eating too much of the wrong the stuff. Lovely as it was, that coupled with a few glasses of prosecco for Christmas and champagne for my birthday I felt like I couldn’t run a mile today. I felt full and sluggish and just bleurgh. I did and didn’t want to go run in equal measures. I decided I would at least get out for a short loop and break the cycle of not moving and eating too much. I packed some birthday cake in a lunchbox, packed it and a running jacket in my backpack and ran a just about 2 mile loop to Mum’s.

If every run felt like that nobody would ever stick at it! I’d barely got to the end of the road when I felt like I couldn’t breathe. By the time I go half way down the hill I realised I wasn’t wearing a running a belt and my pants were slipping down. That gave me something to focus on for a bit but didn’t keep my mind of the hideousness of the running for long – it was just so hard work. 5 minutes in I was ready to give up.

I kept going though and eventually, after 2 miles at a pretty good pace I arrived at Mum’s, dropped off the stuff and then walked home up the hill. I’m glad I went, we will try for another run tomorrow morning and that one had better be better!

Tapering….

Jess Guth3 Comments

13 days to go to the big Walt Dinsey World Marathon Weekend kicks off with the expo, 17 to go to the marathon. I sort of feel ready and sort of totally not.

In case you haven’t sponsored us yet – you can do so here and help us support the brilliant conservation work Panthera do.

For the first 3 days of tapering we might have taken the ‘take it easy and rest’ theme a bit too seriously on the running front. We did bugger all. Having said that though the weather was nasty and we were pre-occupied with a dog attack on one of our sheep and nursing the poor little thing back to health (more on that over on the sheep blog).

Yesterday we finally got out for a 45 minute run and it felt great to be out. It was a sunny day  – far too warm for December – about 12 degrees C. We set off down our road to the canal and turned left towards Bingley. We turned round after roughly 25 minutes and headed back. We ran all the way, no walk breaks. Didn’t feel like I needed any. When we finished I was surpirsed to see we’d run exactly  4 miles. I think we’ve only ever managed that pace on a 45 minute run once before. Now I did feel like I was pushing a little bit but I honestly thought it was just one too many mince pies and not nearly enough water that were making it all feel like hard work. It didn’t feel that fast.

I had a good dy yesterday. I felt almost well. My brain felt like it might just work normally. I felt good after the run. It felt like a normal day. I struggled later in the day when I got really tired after we’d walked round the neighbourhood dropping off mince pies at our mothers’ and the last of the Christmas presents but yesterday was a good day!

Taper here we come

Jess Guth3 Comments

So today marks the last day of the hardcore marathon training. Three weeks today we will line up at the marathon startline, well actually way back and eventually we will get there… And then roughly 6-6.5 hours later we will, with a bit of luck and lots of pixie dust, cross the finish line. We started the marathon training plan 25 weeks ago, so before I hit the last gentle weeks of tapering and getting rested for the big event, what have I learned?

  1. It is possible to see anything below half marathon distance as a short run.
  2. short runs don’t get easier just because you are physically capable of going much much further.
  3. 3 miles is just as yucky as 5 miles or 8 or whatever if your heart’s not in it
  4. half marathon distance is no harder than 2 miles if your heart is in it.
  5. once you get above 15 miles it really doesn’t matter anymore, it is all a f-ing long way.
  6. I can run for as long as I have decided to run – so if I decide my run interval is 2 minutes there is absolutely no way I can run for longer. If I decide that I will run 6 miles slowly without walking, I can.
  7. chafing is a thing, a painful one.
  8. underwear matters – see above
  9. witout running I would have gone properly loony tunes loopy over the last few months
  10. foam rollers hurt like hell
  11. I have a weak core, particularly arse but squats and yoga are changing that.
  12. hills are the hardest bloody workout you will find anywhere, ever.
  13. I still don’t see myself as a runner.
  14. other runners see me as a runner – the running community is so much more welcoming than expected
  15. Broccoli is amazing
  16.  I cannot be trusted to be left alone with a jar of peanut butter
  17. the best running fuel to date is lasagna made by my friend Bex but spaghetti bolognese or butternut squash and spinach lasagna work too
  18. I absolutely cannot run on a full tummy. I need 90 mins between bagel/porridge and run
  19. I sometimes enjoy running
  20. Mmm peanut butter

Inadvertent speed session

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I haven’t felt like blogging about running because, well just because. I’ve been plodding along doing my 45 minute maintenance runs and just getting on with it but it feels like a huge effort. I just want to go and do the bloody marathon now. Someone put me at the start line and I promise I won’t stop moving forward until someone hands me a medal, a beer and food – not necessarily in that order. Cheer me up by sponsoring me?

JustGiving Page – click here

This morning was a bit of a fail. I got up and fell into my running gear. I read a silly mantra somewhere about running first thing before your body knows what’s happening – well that was me this morning. The plan was to run to the sheep, feed them etc and then continue and do 45 minutes. We got to the sheep and then I had a little panic attack over nothing at all. We walked home and I sulked, had pan au chocolat for breakfast and sulked some more. Then I thought about the run. We had got to the sheep in under 10 minutes per mile pace. That is insanely fast for us. It didn’t feel that fast though. So I decided to be positive and put this morning’s run down to an inadvertent speed session.

But it played on my mind. I can’t mentally cope with any run fails this close to the marathon. I need to keep positive and I need to keep convincing myself that I can do it. I knew I needed to go out again to take some stuff to mum’s…an idea formed and after a bit more sulking and reading loads of posts in a Facebook Group I joined I snapped out of it. I hadn’t got changed from the morning so I grabbed the backpack, filled it with empty tupperware boxes, a christmas card, some cash, my bus pass and some stuff I’d printed for mum and set off. It was hard. Really hard. I felt puffed from the start. I looked at the Garmin and saw that I was running at a silly pace ‘Slow down you maniac!’. The conversation in my head went something like this over the next 16 minutes:

‘You need to slow down, you can’t run 5 miles at this pace’

‘Haha -you can’t run 5 miles’

‘Yes I can’

‘But NOT AT THIS PACE’

‘Slow down you idiot’

‘What bit of slow down is too complicated for you, just go slower’

‘SLOW DOWN’

‘Oh shit I’m dying here’

‘I told you to slow down’

I hit 18 minutes and walked for a minute, then ran the next 2, then walked 1, then ran 3, then walked 1 and was then going to run 4 but a minute into that run just decided to keep going until the 3 miles beep came. Every time I set off running again I told myself to go slow. I walked for a minute when I hit three miles and then set off again ‘Go SLOW you stupid cow’. I walked for 90 seconds when I hit 4miles and set off again ‘Go Slow, just go… oh F-it just go at whatever idiotic pace you want’. I got to 5 miles. I had done it in just over 58 minutes – a faster pace than the pace I did all running the other day.

I was absolutely shattered, even more of a sweaty mess than usual and it took much longer for my heartrate to come down again. The walks had been slower than normal and the runs faster. But I just couldn’t make myself run slower. I walked the half mile to mum’s and had just about recovered enough to speak when I got there.

Now if only I was preparing for a 10km run – I reckon I could have done another 1.2 miles at the pace I was at and that would mean a new personal best by more than a minute. As for a marathon, having speedy legs really isn’t going to help.