Tag: runDisney

3.2 ish miles at Bolton Abbey Estate

Jess Guth5 Comments

We were going to head out to the coast today and drive to RSPB Bempton Cliffs to see if the puffins had all already gone or if we could spot one or two before they do. However, we’ve had Kath’s mum staying with us because she hurt her back and couldn’t anything much, least of all stairs (we have a downstairs bathroom making life much easier for her). She went back home yesterday. My Dad arrives for a 2 week visit tomorrow. The house is a tip and we are exhausted. We decided therefore that we would have a potter sort of day at home, get the house organised and just spend some time together, too. The spending time together bit came in the form of a run at Bolton Abbey. If you are every around this part of the world, it really is worth a visit. We set off from the Cavendish Pavillion, through the Strid Wood, past the Bodger’s Camp towards the Strid. I didn’t really notice whether the Strid was in full flow looking spectacular as it often can or whether it was more of a trickle – I was too concerned about the upcoming hill. If I can run the Bolton Abbey Estate hills I can run at Disney World. RunDisney has no hills! Once I’d puffed my way up the hill, we kept going north following the path’s ups and downs – mostly slopes rather than hills at this point. My next concern was the Bridge – the Aquaeduct. I’m rubbish at running up steps. We walked. Once on the bridge I took a deep breath in, remembered to take a look at the stunning views and set off again.

I knew that on this side of the river (the Wharfe in you were wondering) the hills were a little more taxing than they had been – just slopes to start off with though. My legs were burning though, as were my lungs and that voice inside my head was screaming at me letting me know in no uncertain terms that I must be totally deluded to think I could get my fat butt round something like this. I had no idea how far we’d come and was absolutely sure that there was still far too much left to run.I absolutely, totally couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t. Except I did. The hills felt brutal but there was always a view, always something to focus on, always something to run to and always a sort of excitement at having made it round the next bend, up the next slope or safely down the next hill. I didn’t quite make the steepest of the hills. We added in an extra 30 second walk. Then, actually quite suddenly, there were only 4 more running intervals left. 4 more was possible, only just but possible. Then 3. Then 2. Ok I can do two, in fact I can do two without taking a walk break. I can do two at a pretty decent pace. Yes. Maybe. No? YES.

It was one of the hardest runs I’ve done and also one of the most stunning. I’ve forgotten the exact miles – It was 3.2 something at a pace of 13.47 minutes per mile. It was hot, it was hilly, it was – in some places- bloody awful but it was always stunning, I was always going to finish and it was fun having done it.

Happy.

Food plans, 3 miles and neglected feet

Jess GuthLeave a comment

Sunday weigh-in. I wasn’t looking forward to this one. Last week was not a good healthy eating week. I was therefore surprised to have lost a pound and a bit. Still going in the right direction!

I could not wake up this morning, just couldn’t. I actually wanted to go for the scheduled run but I kept falling back alseep and when I did eventually get up we decided that we’d better brave our trip to Ikea before it got too hideously busy and postpone the run until this afternoon. We were going to do 5 miles. The programme actually stipulates 3 miles for this weekend but we thought it was important to get really comfortable at the 5/6 mile distance so we were planning on doing 5 instead of 3. However, once we got back from Ikea, we still had loads to do this afternoon and Kath wanted to try out a camelback water bottle belt thingy she got free so we thought we’d just do the 3 miles. That way we’d stick to the programme but could also get on with other stuff (haha – I’ve been curled up on our spare bed since we got back!).

The water bottle holder thingy was utter rubbish. It doesn’t sit tight enough and is obviously made for blokes and not for hips at all. Luckily we were going past Kath’s mum’s  on our run so she could discard it there. Taking water etc with us is going to need a re-think. Kath was obviously on a bit of a mission today and kept pushing so we got round with a pace of 11.41 minutes per mile. I was rather puffed but happy with that.

I mentioned that we had a better plan for food for the coming week (if we stick to it). We are going to have (no particular order) salmon steaks with sweet potato oven chips and a yoghurt dip, a veggie home made curry, quorn chilli, chicken and avocado salad, beef stirfry and if we really can’t be bothered a baked spud. Breakfast – the usual really: Scrambled eggs, mushrooms on toast, porridge, peanut butter on toast, fruit and yoghurt… Lunches will be mainly left overs and salads. We don’t yet have any naughty nibbles. I was going to make a banana loaf but our bananas were too far gone even for that. We’ve got some chocolate biscuits but that’s not really quite the ‘having a relatively healthy treat’ thing that we had in mind with our usual weekend baking. They might have to do though.

We stopped at mum’s after our run and as I stretched my leg out towards her she pointed out that I had blood on my sock. My feet have gone a bit weird recently. I have always had pretty solid feet. I don’t tend to get blisters easily but I’ve had a couple lately. Interestingly I didn’t get them on the longer runs – maybe I just take more care when setting out on them. The blood was however not from a blister but from a little cut on the inside of one of my toes. The nail from the toe next to it must have caught it. I have now cut my nails and cleaned it all up. It seems fine but I do think it is probably time to give my feet some tlc and pay a bit more attention to them, I probably have been neglecting them a bit!

5 months to go to the runDisney marathon – I really am insane.

Leeds 10km Run for All

Jess Guth4 Comments

Today was the day. Our first race. I use the term loosely – I don’t race. I plod along. Be that as it may, today we were tackling our first running event since the half marathon 2.5 years ago. I was excited and scared in equal measure. We had a cup of tea in bed and then got up, got our running gear on and had a bowl of porridge. We set off about 7.30am for the 40 minute drive into Leeds. We couldn’t find the way into the car park we had planned on using and Leeds is an absolute pain at the best of times, with road closures it was impossible. So we had a rather stressful 20 minutes getting on and off loops and eventually finding a car park that had an entrace we could get to. Once parked, we walked over to the Headrow amd I munched my banana on the way.

We joined a queue for the loo (I’ve used worse) and then we just waited around for a bit – actually our delayed arrival meant that we didn’t really have to wait that long once we had found our assembly area. It wasn’t that clear where we needed to be or how to get into it – it all seemed blocked off so we just ducked under a tape to get into the ‘green’ area. The blue and red runners went first and then the greens followed. The mass warm up was just stupid – mostly because they had told us all to move to the front and fill any gaps so there was no room to actually do the warm up. They sent the blues and reds on their way and then walked us up to the start. We set off towards the front of the greens and off we went:

First km – well it went quite quick but didn’t help me settle. Given our run/walk intervals we knew we’d get in people’s way if we weren’t careful and at the start everything is so bunched up that walking didn’t make sense so we kept going and took a walk out. That’s not something I have practiced though so it unsettled me a bit. We did eventually settle into quite a nice run/walk routine and the markers for 2 and 3 km came and went. It was hot. It was getting harder. I was coping with people though. 4km and a water station later (I didn’t get any) it was all still ok but I was beginning to really wish we could turn back and head for home. It was hot.

I missed the 5km marker completely. As we executed our 180 degree turn, one of the marshalls said 5.5 km and I presumed she meant that’s what was left. I could see the next marker ahead and kept thinking, right nearly half way, nearly half way… and then the marker said 6km. More than half way! Yay! I did take a couple of walks out, not quite sure where actually. Aorund what I now know was between 5 and 7km. I also ignored the 2nd water station but didn’t have the energy to avoid the water spray eventhough I didn’t really want to be sprayed. Poor Kath was to my left and closer to the spay so she got a proper soaking.

At 8km I was struggling, really struggling and just about hanging on until each walk break. Have I mentioned it was quite hot? But 9km came. My calf muscle felt horribly tight and it took me a little while to decide if it was pain that required me to do something or whether it could just be ignored. I added in a short walk (much to Kath’s dismay who of course knew what our pace was). She urged me on to start running again and I now know why. We passed the 400m to go flag. Just keep running Jess! All I remember is Kath telling me repeatedly that we could do this. Then I could see the finish line and I saw the clock. It said 1.24.something… I hadn’ t seen the clock when we started but the race pack had said that the green runners would start 10 minutes after the blues and reds. I didn’t really think it was possible but just in case I pushed hard. My (not so) little legs somehow still had something left and could go faster – and there it was: Kath’s watch confirmed it – 10km in under 1 hour and 15 minutes, a pace of under 12 minutes per mile. Wowsers. Our official time was 1 hour 14 minutes and 18 seconds.

As far as I can see, looking back at what we managed in our previous running life, that’s about 3 minutes faster than our previous best at the distance. Not that we are measuring against what we did before because we started from nothing this time round. I looked because it gives me confidence that the training is working, that the run/walk method is working, that Jeff Galloway’s plan with our slight adaptation is working and that means that if we stick to the training plan we will be able to do the RunDisney Walt Disney World marathon in January. The idea of me running a marathon is obviously totally ridiculous but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

I do need to remember to eat something after running though. I didn’t want anything when we got back to the car and then we decided we would just have a quick shower and go out for food so I didn’t have anything when we got back home either. By the time we were sat waiting for a food to come I felt decidedly dodgy and lightheaded – this will have been about 3 hours after finishing the run. As soon as I had some food (a trio of mini Yorkshire burgers at the new Keelham Farm Shop in Skipton if you must know) I felt better. Won’t leave it so long next time!

Well even running a 10km event doesn’t get me out of the Sunday Weigh In – I lost nearly 2 pounds which drops me nicely into the next stone and keeps me going in the right direction. Talking of right directions – thanks for all the donations to Panthera! Keep them coming in on our JustGiving Page

Shhh….I might have enjoyed that

Jess Guth1 Comment

I’m a little confused this evening. It seems I actually enjoyed a run. And I mean actually enjoyed the running part of the run, not the having done a run bit of the run. And not enjoyed the surroundings, the moorhen running alongside us almost, the lambs in the field, it wasn’t about all that. I think I might have enjoyed running. I’m not quite sure what to make of that. 45 minute run from home, including hills and it was sort of fun. I got a silly pain in my side again going downhill. I don’t like going downhill on uneven ground so I think I tense and breathe funny resulting in a stitch quite high up my side. It disappeared almost as soon as we were back on the flat. I liked running, no that’s not quite it, I liked being able to run. I think I enjoyed the being able to do it. Rather than struggling with trying to get to then end, for the first time I was conscious of doing something I couldn’t do not that long ago and that felt really positive.

So 45 minutes – running 2 mins, walking 30 secs, 18 times – Pace 12.15 minutes per mile giving us a distance of 3.67miles

Kath might also have solved the underwear problem for me (see here). She ordered some pants from Under Armour. I have to say I was sceptical, even more so when she told me that they were one size fits all. In my experience one size fits all usually means ‘one size fits all unless we think you’re too large to wear this’ and too large to wear this is then about size 12.  The pants arrived today so I thought I might as well get it over with and try them. I stand corrected.  They were comfy and they stayed comfy even when sweaty. In fact, I don’t think I really felt sweaty. I was, and the pants still needed careful peeling off after the run but they didn’t feel sweaty during or straight after the run. No chance of chafing either and it means I don’t have to get my head round the no underwear thing which was the most popular suggestion following my original post on the issue. I am not ready for no knickers when running, just no.

Heatwave

Jess Guth7 Comments

So how many of you are braving a run in this heat? Well, for England this is hot hot hot – for northern England this is insane. How do those of you who live in hot countries ever do any running? I’m not complaining about the weather, don’t get me wrong, I like hot but I do prefer it when I don’t actually have to do anything much!

Yesterday was the 30th June and that meant the start of our marathon training programme. That means it is 28 weeks to the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. Oh my goodness – 28 weeks! Given the heat the sensible thing would have been to give running a miss and perhaps walk instead or to at least postpone the run until later on in the evening when it got a bit cooler (although I don’t remember it getting cooler!). But no, we went at about 5pm. The first run of the programme is a 45 minute run. In fact all the runs during the week are 45 minutes.There is then a distance run at the weekend, 3-5 mile one weekend and a long run the next – the mileage for the long runs builds up by 2 miles every other weekend.

We are continuing to follow the run/walk approach to running  – sort of adapted a bit from Jeff Galloway who has also created the training programmes for runDisney.Our run/walk intervals are still at 2 minutes running and 30 seconds walking but we did talk about increasing the running bit soon. Not in this heat though. So off we toddled in the heat. We probably started at fairly strong pace for us but that didn’t last long, even in the shade it was a struggle. In the sun I just couldn’t breathe. We kept going though and on a few runs started walking up to 15 seconds earlier. We got to the end. The pace was 13.23 minutes per mile so actually not that bad given that it was so hot and we went for 10 minutes longer than we have done on our weekly runs before.

I didn’t hate that run, I quite enjoyed it, I just found it very very very hard. I am excited to have ticked off the first run of the training programme. It feels like we’re in the game now. Next one is tomorrow, the forecast suggests a slightly cooler day. I’d like that!