Tag: run

I’m not getting flu – is that clear?!?

Jess GuthLeave a comment

Isn’t it always nice when you get a little reminder that actually you can’t run. Just something to bring you back down to earth and stop you being a cocky little shit. Yeah. Useful to keep you focused and on track with training. The thing is, I’d quite like a run that doesn’t include a little reminder like that. Helvellyn was as awesome as it was tricky and yes I did it but there were only about ten people slower and they were all walkers. I’m ok with that really but wouldn’t it be great to actually have run more than I walked on that.

Wednesday I did a Fartlek session and nearly threw in the towel several times. I did ok-ish in the end and I know I don’t have to go faster every time I do it etc etc but running for 3 minutes at a pace that actual runners use to warm up or cool down or go up really steep hills felt impossibly hard and I am grumpy about that (Previous 2 sessions in brackets).

  • 10 minute warm up: 12.27 (12.20, 12.43 pace);
  • 5 minutes: 10.37 (10.26, 10.27);
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 4 minutes: 10.30 (10.11, 10.18) pace;
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 3 minutes: 11.03 (9.56, 10.18) pace;
  • (then 5.5 minute rest);
  • 2 minutes: 10.17 (8.56, 9.52);
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 1 minute 30secs: 9.41 (9.09 ,9.47) pace;
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 1 minute: 8.41 (9.28, 9.29) pace;
  • 1minute 30 second rest
  • 30 seconds: 7.39 (9.17, 8.37)  pace;
  • 1 minute rest
  • 30 seconds: 7.38 (8.28, 7.39) pace.
  • 10 min cool down 14.23 (14.17,15.16) pace

Today I managed a mile. A whole fucking mile. It was a gorgeous gorgeous run. It was stupid o-clock but I wanted to get up and run. We’re in Scarborough, we left the hotel at about 5.45, it’s not really cold, it’s still dark. We set off gently jogging towards the sea and onto the seafront. I didn’t feel great. A bit sort of sluggish and vague. The first little stretch had streetlights but out to sea was pitch black and I love the rhythmic noise of the waves hitting shore which was amplified by the darkness. Running wasn’t feeling great at all but this run was meant to be stunning so onwards. The streetlights ended and we ran side by side in darkness. My ankles felt a bit stiff but they’d settle. I liked running in the dark with the sea to my left and imagined nothingness to my right, the lights of the North Bay behind me and limitless possibilities in front – for a while anyway until we’d round the headland and see the lights of the harbour and all that goes with it. But I am getting ahead of myself. I didn’t get that far. I felt dizzy, sick and had wobbly legs almost bang on mile 1. I also felt really cold all of a sudden. Not fucking happening. I kept going a bit. Just a bit and tried to convince both myself and Kath that I was ok. That didn’t really work so we stopped and I had a little cry and then, when the wave of dizziness was over I wondered if I was just being a wimp and was actually fine and just panicked about running. Maybe I was. Who knows.

We agreed I would walk back and Kath went on. I walked back quite slowly stopping every now and again to persuade my wobbly legs to keep working. I’m fine now that I’m back and sat down (although either too cold or too hot). Kath won’t be long and I can’t wait to hear about the run. I want to try again but I also want to curl up in a ball and cry and hide. I’d like a solid run, just a run where I leave point A, run a loop of whatever distance and arrive back at point A without anything happening, without any drama or event. Just a run.

I think I’ll try for those limitless possibilities of running on the seafront, and maybe even the beach, in the dark again tomorrow morning because, just to be clear, I am not getting flu, I do not have a bug and I can run!

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.

Holiday Running

Jess GuthLeave a comment

Right, cards on the table: I am half a stone (pretty much exactly) heavier than I was before my holiday. I can feel it. My pants are tight, I feel heavier and our run today was evidence that booze, Mickey waffles, puddings and Disney World sized portions for 10 days plus jet lag make running when you’re back home pretty miserable. Still, no regrets, not really. Just need to refocus on moving my butt more now.

August was a high mileage month. I clocked up 84.05 miles and the plan was always for the first half of September to be a bit of a rest. We wanted to run in Florida but shorter distances and not every day. Well, we did run. We managed 4 short runs. I was hoping for a few more miles but it was hard going. So, run 1 was on the 7th September, we got up early and headed out in the dark. We left the hotel and headed towards the Magic Kingdom. We were hoping to pick up the path towards the Grand Floridian Hotel but as we got level with the Magic Kingdom entrance we were turned back by some self-important Disney employee who insisted it wasn’t safe for us to be running there. It was annoying but we just headed back and went round the hotel running loop instead. The loop is only 0.9miles long but it’s not an unpleasant route. It was hot and humid – oh goodness the humidity. Running in that was hard, harder than I’d imagined. Anyway – here’s run number one on Relive – and me hot and sweaty at the end of it.

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The second run was another early morning run and the humidity was again intense. I did two loops of the running loop. Kath did a bit more. Then I was done. It was just too hard to breathe. How do people run in that? I was soaked in sweat before I even started running and basically just a giant puddle within a few steps. Still, going out for 1.8 miles was better than no miles! Here’s the loop.

Runs 3 and 4 were either side of hurricane Irma. We had watched the news coverage of the hurricane making its way towards Florida and into Southern Florida. It looked scary. We were being told that we were in the safest place around and the hotel were great at reassuring us and giving us information on what to do. We were under curfew from 7pm on Sunday to 6pm on Monday. So on Sunday afternoon we went for a little trot round the hotel loop before the curfew kicked in. It was already very windy and there had been a significant amount of rain already. It was raining a little while we ran but it wasn’t anything compared to what we saw later in the day, overnight and on Monday. It was still hot but not as humid so actually the 2.25 miles felt much easier than the previous 2 runs. Just at the end of this run I hit my 350 miles year to date milestone too so it felt pretty good and the towels at the door came in handy!

Once we were allowed out again on Monday we went for a walk round the hotel grounds and surveyed the damage. There was surprisingly little damage and the clear-up had already started.

Tuesday morning we set out again. We’d celebrated Irma passing the evening before with a bottle of wine and more pudding so we both felt sluggish and bleurgh and the humidity was back so I just managed 1.25 miles but I did run a little stretch of it with a squirrel who seemed to have forgotten that stepping off the path was an option for it.

Now we’re back home and today I went for my first run. I was actually supposed to run on Friday after landing but jet lag is a bitch and there was no way I was running anywhere, I was barely functioning. Kath ran yesterday but I was in London for work so today I just had to get it over with. It was fairly horrible. I managed to run the first mile, then I ran walked the second and then walked the third. My ankles tightened up really badly and my feet were achey. Still, it feels good to have the first one out of the way and I am sure the next run will be better. Here’s a reminder that actually, mostly, we do enjoy running!

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Hating it

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I hated running today. No reason at all really. I slept quite well. I was a little reluctant to get up but it was a gorgeous, sunny day and I wasn’t too concerned about 10 miles. We set off and unlike last time I attempted the 10 miles, I settled almost immediately. I found my ploddy pace and it all felt fine. Except that I hated it. From the first few steps I was really not enjoying myself. It felt like a colonoscopy, or as I put on Facebook, a colonoscopy while having my teeth pulled without anaesthetic, would be more enjoyable. Running, even though it didn’t feel particularly hard, was absolutely the last thing I wanted to be doing.

Eventually a mile was done. Hm, still hating it. At about one and 3/4 miles we got to the end of the footpath and walked a little to cross the road. Hating it. I tried not to show it. I didn’t want to let Kath down. I managed to run the slope (I walked most of it last time) and eventually we started the downhill. Easy running. Hated it. 2 miles done, 3 miles done. Hating it. I thought I’d try and run to 4 miles and then have a little walk break but for some reason – I can’t even remember why – we walked a little earlier at just over 3.5 miles. I’d been trying so hard to not let Kath know that I was hating it but somehow I blurted it out. We tried running a bit more but I couldn’t make myself go any further. Maybe if I hadn’t walked I would have slogged it out, hating every step but slogging –  but I couldn’t bring myself to start again and go back to each stupid f-ing step being so f-ing bloody awful (except it wasn’t really awful, running had been relatively easy actually, just not in any way enjoyable). I gave up, I stopped the watch at 4 miles and walked the additional mile home.

Sometimes running is just crap.

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.

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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.