Tag: run

Couch to 5km-ing

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Week One of a Couch to 5Km programme done. A day late but done and done in a way that felt like happy running. I posted about the first 2 runs last time. It took a while longer to get out for run 3. Yes I probably could have made the time during the week but it was a busy one and I am very very tired at the moment and I felt pretty on the edge in terms of keeping it all together, so this feels right.

Run 3 was uneventful. There was no attempt at excuses or elaborate planning on when to go just to change my mind and do something else; no indecision about where to go… All of this was probably helped by the fact that we are at Kielder Water for a long weekend and for Kath to run the Dark Skies 11 miler this evening. We had breakfast with the chaffinches (and a few sparrows), sat for a bit chatting and just being, watching the cloud and fog roll out and back in and then we headed out. Kath came with me for a little shake out run and to have a look at the start area and the route arrows to be prepared for this evening. So that added purposes took care of whether to go clockwise or anti-clockwise round Kielder Water (we went clockwise).

It was a stunning morning, the reservoir was like a millpond and the light was doing interesting things with reflections and seemed to make everything look sort of silver. I quickly noticed that runs 1 and 2 had been basically completely on the flat. The path here is not flat. It’s undulating and my lungs quickly told me what they thought of that. Still, the 8 runs of 1 minute each with 90 seconds walking in-between were fine really. We did 7 in one directions and then turned round and came back.

I was pleased with how quickly I recovered to normal heart rate and breathing – even if not entirely happy with how quickly both had shot up during the run. But baby steps, patience and trusting the plan will get me to where I want to be so I am doing just that. I wasn’t really sure about Couch to 5km. I have tried it before and I didn’t get on with it. I have always preferred the more permanent run/walk/run of the Jeff Galloway method. But over the last year I have also sort of feel that it is no longer doing it for me. Or at least it isn’t helping me get back into running properly. So let’s see how this goes. I am not saying I want to go and run a marathon or even a half without walk breaks. I think I am likely to always use run/walk/run for longer distances. However, I also think I need to build some baseline running fitness and a Couch to 5km which builds to running 30 minutes without walking seems like a good place to start.

Week 1 has been good. Roll on week 2 which consists of 3 runs that are all the same – Five 90 second runs with 2 minute walks breaks in-between. It has probably been quite a long time since I did 90 second running intervals but I am actually looking forward to it and 2 minutes feels like a very generous recovery period. So, now for hot tub, afternoon nap, stretches and then being Kath’s support crew for this evening.

Happy Weekend all.

Am I back running?

Jess Guth1 Comment

It’s now nearly 2 months since our 3rd Dopey attempt. I should probably update. The short version is, we didn’t complete our 3rd Dopey. We didn’t start the marathon. Not an easy decision but the right one all things considered. Maybe I’ll do a more detailed blog about all of that at some point. For now what you need to know is that after our utterly lush massage on the Monday after the Dopey Challenge and 2 days after the half marathon, my knee felt weird and then went really painful. It stayed that way – particularly on stairs or when sitting down/standing up.

I went to the osteopath when we got home and he confirmed that I had a partial tear in my cartilage. So that’s annoying. I have therefore not run at all and actually if we are perfectly honest, I have done absolutely fuck all since we got back from Florida. I’ve made lots of plans for running, I’ve talked about running, I’ve made plans for other exercise and renewed my various apps etc and I have even signed up to join the new gym down the road when it opens on 21st March. But have I actually done anything? Nope! Nada. Nothing at all.

So when I went to a work thing Thurs/Fri I took running gear because sometimes starting again is easier outside of whatever silly routine I have fallen into. And I did it. I slept terribly, was awake from 3am and around 5ish started to seriously consider going out to run. It took me another half an hour to persuade myself to actually get out of bed and then I got sorted. I quickly looked for a Couch to 5km Programme and went for the first one I saw just to stop overthinking it. Week 1 is 3 sessions of walking 5 minutes to warm up, then running 1 minute and walking 90 seconds 8 times and then walking 5 minutes to cool down. I couldn’t be bothered with the warm up (I know) so I just marched across the car park and then set off. It was all fine. Around run 5 I got confused because I got to a big main road and was wondering whether to keep going along but it was already quite busy so I turned round and then I got a low battery warning. I assumed that was my run so set off and then got another beep which was actually the run but which I thought was a walk and then it was chaos. I think in the end I actually did 9 runs and 2 of them were 90 second ones… Close enough.

Today I went for run 2. Yes I actually went. I went through lots of excuses, including the fact that I helped Kath move our apple tree in its huge pot earlier and tweaked my back slightly. But I went and it was all fine. I tried to run rather than plod during the 1 minute intervals. I have got so used to just plodding very slowly because I have always been training for distance and was worried about keeping going for the distance. So I needed to remind myself that this is not about going far, just about going, building consistency and getting back into running. Let’s get this Couch to 5km programme done and then see where we are. 2 runs done. The next one is the same intervals and then we move on to week 2.

Say it quietly: It felt good to be out

Long Run Day and a Stupid Brain

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So it was 17 miles day today. Well actually 17 mile day was yesterday but yesterday things felt all wonky and weird for both of us so we went for a walk instead and moved 17 mile day to today. The plan was to get the train to Leeds and run back to Crossflatts. It started off with me at some point having turned off the alarm so we didn’t wake up in time for the train we were going to get out to Leeds. That nearly de-railed us but we eventually decided to just go for a later train which is fine on a Saturday as the car park as Crossflatts doesn’t fill up.

We got into Leeds and set off along the canal towards home. It was a gorgeous morning and the first couple of miles felt absolutely fine. My new running vest fits well and I easily sipped both water and fuel as we made our way through the first 5km and towards 4 miles. I was slightly disappointed with my pace but it was all fine and there were loads of herons which always make me smile. Throughout mile 5 my right calf tightened a bit and my right foot got pins and needles which took another mile-ish to sort itself out. Then my right hip flexor started niggling. All of this before we had even hit 6 miles. And of course that thought went through my head and bang – brain malfunction.

I managed another mile of run/walk but just after 7 miles I lost the mental battle. I am pretty sure that I was probably physically ok but I just couldn’t get there. It is so hard to explain and looking back just feels silly. I went from thinking all was fine and the run was actually pretty positive to allowing a tiny twinge to derail me completely – and I am cross and disappointed at myself for that. Immediately the importer syndrome kicked in. I had only got to 7 miles, there was no way I would be able to do Dopey – I wasn’t even worthy of trying. That spiralled into thoughts about just not being good enough, being too fat and too old to be out there running and that I was just foolish for even trying. For my stupid uncooperative brain, I had the evidence that I should just pack up and go home and bin all my running shoes right there.

We kept walking. Not that we had a choice in that anyway as there was nowhere to come off the canal to get a train. We just walked. I tried to walk relatively fast but I couldn’t get within Disney Pace. We shared a banana and just kept walking and walking and walking… Eventually I started to feel slightly more positive. I was still walking and while hips and feet weren’t exactly happy, there was also no real pain or anything signifying injury. I kept an eye on how long each mile was taking and did the maths – I was still within overall Disney Pace so the goal became to finish half marathon distance within that pace. According to Strava I did and according to Garmin I just missed it.

We had agreed to stop in Saltaire and have food and try and turn the day into a positive one. We got pizza and it was great and then we got the train back to Crossflatts. I have stopped spiralling and have got my brain back into a more positive space. We have agreed that as things stand we will give the first 3 runs of the Dopey Challenge a good go and then we’ll decide on strategy for the marathon. It may be that Kath just goes for it to get Dopey, it may be that we do it together and she tries to help me get round. We don’t have to decide right now and there is still a month of training left to go. Stretching and strength could make all the difference. I do still feel like a running imposter. I still feel like everyone we saw out there was judging me (they weren’t) and that I shouldn’t be taking up space in the running world. But I am back believing that those feelings are nonsense. I know I have as much right to be a runner as everyone else and I will eventually get back to believing it, too.

So 13.5 miles instead of 17, lots of nonsense in my brain but overall a good day and we go again tomorrow.

Some runs just need to be over

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Today’s run was not fun. None of it. But it’s done. The original plan was to do two 7 mile-ish loops at Bolton Abbey. However, we managed to not pick up Kath’s running vest when we set off so she had no phone and no water and no fuel. So rather than risking anything silly we agreed on one loop and I gave her one of my bottles of Tailwind. We set off and for the first while I could see Kath ahead of me – the distance between us getting further with every walk break I took. I felt pretty good. I dropped down past the Abbey and jogged across the bridge and started walking up the slope. Not a slope I had ever planned to run anyway. When I started running again nothing felt right. And that was the story of the run.

I didn’t settle in at all, not to the rhythm of the run walk, not to the running and not even to the walking. I walked more than I ran. My brain was noisy and random and even though I tried to consciously find joy – there just wasn’t any. I briefly glimpsed some as I hopped through golden crunchy leaves just before mile 5 and then when I saw a heron at 6.5 miles but otherwise it was just meh. My breathing was wrong, something always hurt and every time I won the argument about it not being real and whatever had been hurting went ‘oh ok then, yes I am fine’, something else would pop up and hurt. In fact it was so predictable by about mile 4 that it became funny. At about the same time I was also suddenly really hungry. I had some Tailwind and walked a bit drafting a rant blog about the awfulness of running in my head.

At every opportunity where I could cut the run short by doing a smaller loop, I had a real battle and every time I carried on along the planned route. I couldn’t quite decide whether to tell myself I was an idiot and should just stop or whether to be proud of myself. When I passed the aqueduct, the last point at which a shorter loop was possible, I thought I might settle in. Nope. I kept coming across people. I mean, obviously there were going to be people, and everyone was friendly but I didn’t want people in my space and I was always a bit surprised that I sounded both strong and cheerful as I said ‘Good Morning’. Anyway, with a million imaginary niggles and thoughts bouncing around everywhere I eventually finished with only the last 2 miles actually being within Disney allowed pace. I consigned the run to the ‘done’ category and joined Kath for food and coffee at the Tea on the Green cafe.

The mileage is ramping up but so far my body seems to be coping well. There are no actual niggles following Tuesday’s 9 miles and today’s 7. In fact Tuesday’s 9 miles were so delightfully uneventful I should have dedicated a post to them. I ran/walked the first 7 of them at remarkably consistent pace and then I ran out of daylight and decided the safest thing to do would be to walk the rest of the stretch along the canal until I could see properly again on the roads and when I got back onto roads with street lamps I basically just had the hill to walk up. Today’s run might have been pretty awful but like all runs, it ended and the memory bank of running the loop previously and of getting through previous awful runs was helpful. It didn’t have to be pretty, it just had to be done.

Double figures, doughnuts and a possible curse

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We are entering what I call the pixie dust pre- Dopey Challenge phase. I have been scrolling through Dopey running groups and rolling my eyes at the ‘I can’t currently run/walk a mile, I still have time, right?’ or ‘My current pace is 24 minutes per mile over 5km, can anyone help me get faster so I can maintain the 16 minute mile required for the marathon’ type comments. You can’t tackle to Dopey Challenge on pixie dust. As Allie Bailey says on her website ‘Whoever invented “Believe – Achieve” was lying. You need to believe, do a fuck tonne of work on yourself, then achieve‘. So as I was scrolling rolling my eyes I realised that I am also in pixie dust territory. I have neither been consistent nor have I got anywhere near the distances I should be running now to get ready for Dopey. It’s time to recommit to doing the fuck tonne of work.

On Wednesday I had a random day off and it was Kath’s non working day so we set off to Bolton Abbey to run the 7 mile loop from the top car park to Barden Bridge and back. 7 hilly miles was always going to be tough so it was actually really nice to have nothing at all really to report from that run. It was uneventful and I loved it. I completely died on the last hilly bit and walked from there which was most of the last mile. We had some food at the Tea on the Green cafe and a nice afternoon. The next run was then meant to be Friday but after waking up early I then fell asleep again and somehow the day was all out of sync and I never really got going with anything.

Saturday I was at an Open Day at work and when I got back I was dehydrated and tired. But I really wanted to try and get out and try and build some consistency. The only thing I had eaten since breakfast was a doughnut that were available for us at the open day. It was yummy but it isn’t exactly prime running fuel. I had however grabbed some for Kath and her mum so I thought I could drop off a doughnut on a run. But running with a doughnut in hand wasn’t really an option so I thought I would try my running pack for an actual run. I had only ever used it for walking really which is what I bought it for. I packed the doughnut in the bag alongside the rain jacket I knew I didn’t need just to see what it was like with something in it. So I went on my 2 mile doughnut delivery run which was kind of fun and the pack worked well.

Then today was long run day. And I had a wobble about whether Dopey was really doable. So we mapped it out and then I got my sorry arse out for 10 miles. I ran the first 2 and bit miles really happy and positive. Then I watched a stupid little dog bark at ducks and as I approached it ran towards me barking. The owners were what I presume was a couple and the bloke turned to look back but made no attempt at calling the dog. I just raid ‘really? Not really on is it’ and he stepped in my path so I had to stop. He had a really creepy smirk on his face and didn’t say anything. I was seriously ready to push him in the canal. I had my bodyweight all set but there were people within sight and his wife/ girlfriend was there and then he stepped out of my way so I just kept going. The next half mile or so I was a bit freaked out by the whole thing because he was just weird. Then I settled into a happy run again. At 4 miles I could see another bloke walking a dog that was bouncy and running ahead and I just couldn’t face the idea of going past and potentially getting caught up in another bloke with dog incident. So I turned round.

Inevitably I came across the weird couple again and this time there weren’t any people within sight. I felt myself tense as I approached and the bloke said something along the lines of ‘the fat bitch again’. It wasn’t meant for me to hear and when I actually got close enough the couple made the dog sit between them at the edge of the canal. I said a pointed ‘thank you’ as I went past and decided that he’d really called me a fat witch and that I could therefore curse him. I spent another half mile or so wishing him fun things like really itchy flea bites in places he can’t reach. I’m nice like that. Then I settled in again and started to think about making the distance given that I had turned round a mile early. I decided to just keep going along the canal for an additional mile, turn round and then head up the hill as planned. I did briefly consider not doing the full ten but I really wanted the double figures. It felt like getting into double figures today was the test for whether Dopey is on or not. So I got my earphones out of my pocket, plugged them into my phone and hoped that some music would carry me through. It helped.

As I headed along and hit 8 miles and the turnaround point, I was in quite a busy stretch with lots of people walking. I decided to keep going on and do a loop instead of staying on the flat of the canal for an out and back because I didn’t want to get tangled in all of the people I had just passed going one way. I continued my run/walk until about 8.5 miles and then walked up the hill into Morton and then picked up the run/walk again for the last mile, although I had to add some walks on the uphill bits. Nothing hurt majorly but my right hip flexor is the weak point. All in all it was a good run and I am really happy to have got into double figures and for the Dopey dream to be alive. I did my stretches outside while Storm Cat watched and everything seems fine. In fact I feel pretty good about things. I have a plan and I feel like I have re-committed. Hopefully some pixie dust will help me get out and keep doing the work and if I do that, Dopey is on.