Tag: run

First ever parkrun

Jess GuthLeave a comment

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

Jess GuthLeave a comment

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!

Poorly tummies

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As usual after a conference I spent quite a lot of time on Wednesday asleep. On Thursday I felt ready to have a go at a decent run. We thought an extended Bolton Abbey loop would be nice. It would be about 4.5 ish miles probably which is the furthest I’ve been for a while but it didn’t seem scary. We got there just after 9am when it opens and set off to walk up the first slope. As we were nearly at the top I suddenly really needed the loo. We walked back down, used the facilities and walked up again.

Then we started running and the first couple of intervals seemed fine. We were doing 2 minute runs with 30 second walks. I haven’t done 30s walks for a while but actually it felt fine. Then the pressure in my tummy started building, and building, and building. I had to stop. I persuaded Kath to go on and finish the loop and I turned round to head back to the toilet. I realised I wasn’t going to make it if I just walked so I ran, slowly but determinedly back towards the little outbuildings that would save my dignity – if I got there in time.

I did. Just. I was a bit grumpy about having a particularly bad episode of the runners trots but it seems not actually to have been that because I was out for the rest of Thursday and yesterday with a very poorly tummy. It’s still not right now so I am sipping peppermint tea and every now and again daring to nibble a bit of a cracker.

Anyway, the positive from all of that is that I can indeed run a mile without stopping when I have to!

To cheer me up Kath has signed us up to the RunDisney Virtual running series. We did this last year too but were grumpy about most if it (well I was). The series consists of 3 virtual 5k runs throughout June, July and August with a medal for each and then an additional medal for doing all three. So now we’ll think of 4 little challenges to run over the summer months to earn those medals

Conference running

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I was at the fantastic Association of Law Teachers annual conference from Sunday to yesterday. It was held in Portsmouth this year and I packed my running gear. I enjoyed running along the seafront last year when I went on the site visit for the conference. This time though I didn’t have to run on my own.

Thinking about running with people is a tricky thing. In fact it is quite anxiety inducing. What if they’re loads faster? What if they’re one of those effortless superhuman proper runners? What if they’re really competitive? What if they take it all really seriously? So mostly I just don’t entertain the idea of actually running with anyone other than Kath. However, in a moment of total madness I mentioned to the colleagues coming with me to the conference that I was going to run and they were welcome to join me. Thankfully only one of them said she would and Kat’s running history isn’t that dissimilar to mine and from the conversations we’ve had about running I sort of thought (and hoped) that our comfortable pace would be relatively similar. So actually I wasn’t too worried.

There was also an official conference run scheduled and I briefly wondered if Kat and I should join that but just thinking about it made me feel crappy about running. I was asked several times if I was doing it – I just smiled lots and explained that I didn’t want to hold anyone back or wave as everyone ran off. It was also that bit later which wouldn’t really have left enough time for breakfast and a shower etc afterwards so going earlier with Kat seemed like a far better option.

The first morning we met at 6am. I would have stayed in bed if we hadn’t agreed to meet so that’s the first win of running with someone else. We walked from the hotel to the seafront and then we set off. We settled into a nice run/walk rhythm and jogged and chatted our way to 1.5 miles. The second morning we went slightly later and run/walked 2 miles. I felt comfortable and actually really enjoyed it. Run 2 in particular wasn’t exactly easy – slightly too much white wine at the conference dinner, very little sleep and not exactly great running fuel food the day before was definitely noticeable but it was great to be out and I felt loads better having done it. It was also lovely to have someone to run with who wasn’t faster than me. Sometimes I feel like I hold Kath back even though she always says she enjoys running with me. Running with Kath is great for pushing myself because she can push the pace and pull me along with her. But running with Kat was a different sort of run altogether. Hard to explain really. It wasn’t that it was easy because I was definitely sweaty and puffed at the end but we were probably running closer to my ‘forever pace’ and particularly given recent running form it was lovely to not feel like it was really all just impossible. It was good! Thanks Kat!

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