Tag: 5km

No rainbows, no unicorns but a run or two

Jess Guth7 Comments

I have been struggling with running lately. Maybe I’ve been struggling with running since the London Marathon, or even since Dopey. I’m not sure. I have had very few good runs – you know those where even the hard bits feel like they’re ok and you’ll get through them. Instead every step of every run recently has felt HARD. Even the Disneyland Paris 5k (I will blog about those races when we finally get our race photos!) which I really did enjoy and which was a lot of fun was HARD. I haven’t found that easy running rhythm for months. I’ve got slower, too.

I signed up to the Too Fat to Run Scream if you want to go faster programme – which is just as well because I need something to get me out the door at the moment. I know I have the next half marathon coming up really quite soon but to be honest I don’t want to think about it too much, I’ll freak out. So the Scream thingy – it requires a commitment of 3 runs a week and it required the running of a baseline 5k in the week ending today. Instructions for next week will arrive tomorrow. Hm. At the moment I’d be happy with just ‘going’; ‘going faster’ seems so very unlikely. I’ve told you about the first disastrous run post half marathon in the last post… I actually just wanted to pack it all in but of course I need some perspective – ideally not mine. I had run a half marathon just 2 days before; it was the first week of teaching, I repeat, the first week of teaching – it’s a wonder I was functioning sufficiently to put trainers on and really lots has been going on on planet Jess recently… As several people pointed out, I should really give myself a break. I did – until Friday.

So Friday was run 2 of week 1. It wasn’t straightforward. I was at work. I teach from 9-11 and from 3-5. It would be late by the time I got home and the chances of me finding excuses were through the roof – so we agreed we’d run separately. Me in the gym at work and Kath at home. Me-in-the-gym-at-work. What?! You mean like the sort of gym where other people go? Where gym bunnies live? Hm. I packed my bag and when I got to work thought about this some more. Me, in the gym? I thought I’d go a lunchtime and then realised that this would be a pretty popular time slot. Popular with people. So I took my stuff the the class I teach and then headed straight for the gym after the class. As it was the intro session I’d finished a little early and was in the gym (only 2 others there – yay), changed and ready to go at 10.58. I jumped on a bike for a couple of minutes just to warm up a little and then I found a treadmill that was as far away from anyone else using a treadmill as possible.

After a little bit of faffing with settings etc I found a rhythm. It was too hard going and I was really conscious of sweat pouring off me but I just kept plodding, I had to slow a bit and then a bit more but I never walked. I just kept watching the ‘kids’ outside the university building I could see out of the window. After what seemed like forever I got to 5k and stopped. 40.21. It felt like I’d run much faster but I hadn’t. The gym had also filled up rather alarmingly. I hadn’t noticed. I think if it had been that full when I arrived I would have run away! Anyway, run 2 was a hot and sweaty ploddy affair but I got it done and set a treadmill baseline in the process.

Run 3 week 1 – today. We needed to do a longer run today to keep the half marathon training going but we were also conscious of how tired we’ve been. So we planned to run the roughly 4 miles from our house to my friend’s house to feed her cats, have a little break there and then run back to the bottom of our hill taking us to around 7 miles. I thought I could also use the way there to set an outside running 5k baseline. Well it was another of those HARD runs. The first mile is almost all down hill and we set off quite speedy for us and clocked an 11minute mile. We should have set off slower! Anyway we got ourselves to 5k in what we think was 38.05  – that’s what the Garmin said at the time although the data on strava now shows it was 37.29. So as the aim is to go faster I will take the quicker baseline and work on beating that. We did have a couple of walk breaks. The way back was really tough and we walked a fair bit but still, done.

screenshot-2016-10-02-17-19-10

Walking up the hill to get home was horrible. My lower back kept sort of cramping but everything has settled down now I’ve had a bath and some food. More yoga as we go through the rest of the afternoon and evening and I think it’ll be fine. So here are my Scream if you want to go faster stats (I’ve rounded a bit!):

Outside baseline: 37.29         Outside target: 35 minutes

Treadmill baseline: 40.21     Treadmill target: 38 minutes

Getting Ready for Disney Paris

Jess Guth1 Comment

Right, 2 weeks today we will have trotted our way round the Disneyland Paris 5km run and will be chilling out somewhere getting ready for the half marathon. I haven’t written much about the trip. I’ve been pre-occupied with leaving my old job and starting my new job (it’s been good – see here) and generally getting better. So it’s about time!

We set off on Friday lunchtime. We fly from Leeds/Bradford airport and land at Paris CDG airport shortly after 4pm and then we’ll jump on the train out to Disney. We’ll check into our hotel which is the Disney’s Hotel New York.

new-york-hotel-outside
Photo from Disneylandparis.co.uk

After check-in we’ll head over to the Expo to pick up our race packs and have a little look at the merchandise. I don’t need anything so it’s just about getting a little souvenir to take home and mark the achievement. After the expo we have tickets to the Inaugural party. The website calls it a magical evening not to be missed and says it is a

‘unique, private party, on Friday, September 23rd, 2016, at the Walt Disney Studios® Park. Disney Characters will be there, and you will have exclusive access to the main attractions and different catering offers’

It should be fun and means that we don’t really have to think about where to eat or book a table or any of that. After the party it’ll be bed and then the 5km race starts at 7am on Saturday followed by breakfast. We’ve never been to Disneyland Paris so we’ll have a wonder around but also take it easy, maybe have some time at the hotel pool, just relax and rest and hydrate – lots of hydrating – for Sunday morning. In the evening we have tickets to Buffalo Bills Wild West Show – the 6.30pm show is exclusively for runners and their families and they are offering a runners’ menu. We have made our food choices but I can’t remember what we ordered – I’ll dig out the email and add it to our travel docs!

Sunday will be another early wake-up call. 7 am start for the 13.1 miles and apparently the hotels are extending breakfast time for runners so we will be able to go eat properly after the run which is great but they will also offer a light breakfast for anyone who wants to eat something before – we’ll be taking porridge pots but maybe a banana would also be good.

We have no further plans really and we have 3 day park hopper tickets so we can use them Saturday, Sunday and Monday and we fly home just before 5pm Monday so we’ll have the morning at least. I’m looking forward to it, all of it, the trip, the running, the escapism…

Anyway – 11 miles await tomorrow and then we taper – or in our case, we try really hard to get our butts out for the short runs!

 

 

Not 9 miles but…

Jess Guth1 Comment

I still haven’t done the 9 miles. I’d rather not do them on my own and Kath’s knee has been niggly  and somehow we’ve been busy. I’m not quite sure how but there’s always been something, probably an excuse, that means we haven’t run at all yet this week. So spurred on by my team mates in the Too Fat to Run Clubhouse I decided to go and get out this morning.

In my head, particularly when curled up on the sofa watching the Olympics, I am of course a running hero and I can get up in the morning, pull on my trainers and knock out a quick nine miles before breakfast. Of course I can. Even though I do quite often think along those rather over ambitious lines I am actually more realistic when it comes to what I can and can’t do. So I thought 5 miles was reasonable. I was going to just see if I could run it all without walking. I have been getting to 45 minutes without walking and covering well over 3 miles doing that and feeling fairly comfortable so I thought well why not. The plan was to  end at the dreaded golf course from sheep loop backwards fame and walk up that and feed the sheep so I don’t have to worry about doing that later.

I should perhaps also mention that this was my first solo run in absolutely ages. I don’t really do running on my own (for a start chances of me going are so slim!). My alarm went off, I had cuddly cats so inevitably it was another 40 minutes or so before I actually got up. I checked Facebook and wondered about wimping out and not going but lots of people were already back from their runs. I got into my gear and set off. I settled into a rhythm quite well I thought. The first part is all down hill so that was quite speedy but then I settled at just about 12 minutes per mile pace. I know this isn’t fast by most people’s standards but this is a pretty good pace for me and the nice thing was I didn’t feel like I was pushing or trying to go fast. I was looking around, watching the swans and their slightly grumpy ‘teenage’ cygnets, wondering why all the ducks were congregating in one area this morning and trying not to trip over ridiculously silly little yappy dogs.

I turned round once I’d done about 2 miles along the canal one way. I still felt pretty good, smiled at a very speedy runner coming the opposite way who gave me a big smile and a thumbs up which was lovely (he was really motoring – a proper runner but one who was still clearly having fun and wasn’t being all serious, lovely). At about 2.6 miles I started being aware of my hip. Nothing major, I just knew it was there and in my experience, when running you shouldn’t really be particularly aware of any one body part. If you are something is probably not quite right. I ignored it for a little bit but then there was a definite niggle. Not pain, just (as my osteopath would say) my hip saying ‘oy you, you’re not looking after me here’. For the next 100 metres or so I debated what to do. I had really wanted to push for the 5 miles. I thought I could do 4 instead maybe but that was still a little over a mile to go and if I was totally honest my hip had gone from politely asking if I may consider stopping to being rather assertive about that request. I was still debating when I got to the next canal bridge and had to stop for a car. As I pulled up to stop it was actually quite painful – just a sharp pain as I put the brakes on – so I walked across the road and then stopped the watch. Sense prevailed although I was really tempted to start running again because I felt fine otherwise.

I stretched a little and then decided to walk the rest of the route – hip was fine when walking (although it protested a little on the uphill sections later on) and the sheep needed to be fed anyway. I walked a more direct route than the one I had planned for the run but added a 2.22 mile walk to my 3.31 mile run so I achieved the mileage I set out to do and I have done some yoga and the hip feels ok now. I feel pretty good about the run and with my ability to deal with it not going quite to plan today – so often that sends me into a negative spiral making me think I can’t do it. Today it just felt like listening to my body and going with what felt right. It’s all good. Happy running!

Sheep Loop Backwards – Boom!

Jess Guth1 Comment

Got the bugger! I ran the sheep loop backwards (that’s the loop backwards not me running backwards). As you can see  if you’d like to look on strava – not pretty, not fast but DONE

https://www.strava.com/activities/665254135/embed/37956d63661b4819b2c9e81dea567cccda3eda5b

The run has been bothering me – I wanted to run it all apart from the golf course because I still don’t understand why I couldn’t do it on Monday. Well there you are – I can do it. It was really hard and by the end my legs were jelly but I feel much better about it now and I have more energy now than I did before I set off!

Happy Friday.

….but look at the bling

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I don’t quite now how this happened. I don’t quite know how to explain this. And I am sorry. Really I am but I seem to have been totally and utterly reeled in by this medal business. Running is not about the medals, of course it’s not, it’s about the exercise, the way it chases away my little head gremlins and kicks that silly black puppy into touch, it’s about being outside, moving, learning new ways that my wibbly wobbly body is awesome, learning to push through when it gets tough, breathing… Oh but it so so so so is about the medals.

For a good few weeks I have pretended not to care at all about what the medals for our next races might be like. I have told people in Facebook groups to chill out and just wait. I have suggested that it might actually be quite nice not to see the medal before we actually get it… And then runDisney released pictures of medals for races I am not doing. Oooh look at the shiny pretty things…Have I gone completely totally and utterly insane? I mean really? Since when is shiny pretty things even a thing. I have never done shiny pretty things. And then this happened: runDisney released the Inaugural Disneyland Paris Half Marathon Weekend medals.

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Photo from RunDisney

But just look, just look at this. I mean just look. It’s all pretty and shiny. And  and and , well, just look. Now I’ll run 13.1 miles for that. No, I really will because something in my brain has broken and I see the bling and think it’s pretty and shiny and I want it.

And it doesn’t stop there. Look at this

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Photo by RunDisney

Want want want want want. Yes, I have gone mad. It’s also making me want to watch the film again. Just look at the medal. Yep, I’ll run 5km for that. Who wouldn’t?! Oh wait, hang on, this isn’t normal is it. What is wrong with me.

As for this:

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Photo by RunDisney

I may have run round in circles making funny squeaky noises when I first saw this. Before telling myself to get a grip of course. I do not understand why I am even in the slightest excited about the medals. I mean, really?!? This is the sort of thing I roll my eyes at. But just look…

And I realise I’m about to hugely overdo it but just look at these:

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Photo by RunDisney

These are shiny and pretty too! And I am going for them in November. Until then I think I better go lock myself in a room and hope this obsession with pretty and shiny passes.