Tag: run/walk

There once was a hill…

Jess Guth2 Comments

…that Jess couldn’t run. More of that later. As you know running has been a bit crappy. I’ve struggled. It’s been hard and I have been mostly miserable about it. So when the alarm went off this morning I was less than impressed. Kath got me a cup of tea and then I very reluctantly went and made some porridge. Eventually I agreed to do a bit go yoga and then we set off and drove to Bolton Abbey for our run. I was worried. Last time I went out I could barely run a quarter of a mile without wanting to curl up and cry.

But today was different. Today running felt like poetry, a bit like slightly clumsy, schoolgirl sort of poetry but poetry nonetheless. Everything fit together as my breathing settled almost immidiately and my legs just moved me gently and steadily forwards. It was hard, really hard but it didn’t matter. I never wanted to stop, I never felt like I needed to stop even when my legs felt like jelly and my lungs were burning. We were running 2 minute/ 1 minute intervals. My Dopey Challenge intervals, my safe intervals.

We set off from the Cavendish Pavilion and wound our way up the first slope and then
down trying to keep pace with a couple of ducks paddling img_1912their way up the wharfe. For company we had a little wren, coal tits, blue tits, great tits and lots we could hear but not see. Somewhere in the background was a cow mooing away. I was still trying to take in the autumn colours, the greens turning into reds and yellows when we were at the Strid. I managed to run right up to the rocky sort of steps before walking – I don’t manage that hill very often but I felt strong, I was aware of the tightness in my thighs as I pushed up the slope. My legs wanted to stop but I didn’t. We made our way back down to the edge of the Wharfe and instead of crossing at the aqueduct we carried on to Barden bridge.

I loved running along at the edge of the river watching a dipper or two and a few ducks going about their business. We crossed the bridge and dropped down onto the river bank on the other side making our way back towards the Strid. I still felt good, I was enjoying every second. I don’t think the running was easier than it has been, I just think I was enjoying being out so it didn’t matter and because it didn’t matter I wasn’t worrying about running, I wasn’t thinking about running. I was just doing it. As we passed the aqueduct I began to feel a sense of foreboding. This next section is hilly, it’s constantly up and down. If I was going to unravel it would be here. And then there is THE HILL. I lost confidence for a second and was suddenly aware of my breathing and my feet falling heavily on the ground.

Then we turned a corner and an absolutely stunning view of the Wharfe spread out in front of me and I forgot that I was concerned about whether I would make it. We took the hills as they fell in our 2 minute runs. I felt good. Up and down and up and down and round the corners surrounded by little birds in the autumnal trees and then we turned to our left and there it was. THE HILL. I have never run up it. On several training runs it has had me in tears. On one Dopey training run I barely made it up the hill walking. Our 2 minute run started just before THE HILL begins with a few metres of gentle slope. I set off. I fixed my gaze on the first tree by the path on my right. That’s the furthest I have ever managed to run. I got there. Shortly after that Kath said ‘How about we walk from here?’ but I barely heard her. My eyes were fixed on the next tree. I might make that. And as I passed that tree I suddenly realised that I was going to run it all. The path levels off for just a few steps before rising for the last push. I took a deep breath, ignored my screaming lungs and jelly legs and pushed. I got to the top, I ran up THE HILL. And I didn’t just stop, I kept going until the 2 minutes were up. As the next running interval started my legs still felt a bit wobbly so I staggered my way down hill but I felt amazing. I ran up my bastard nemesis hill.

img_1914We carried on and instead of cutting across the bridge back to the cafe we carried on towards the priory ruins. The first stretch is along the river and for a brilliant 15 seconds or so we were caught up in a group of goldfinches playing. As we left them behind (or maybe they left us) we headed back up hill. My legs were tired and with every hill I could feel my muscles protesting but we kept going. There are more ups than downs on this section and I didn’t make it to the top of the last big pull. I got more than half way though and after a short little walk I ran to the top. Then we enjoyed the spectacular views across the ruins as we made our way down to the stepping stones and bridge, looped round the back of the church and then headed back down towards the car park across a field. As we left the field and started our slow jog along the car park a heron flew in and landed on a big stone in the river. I waved at him, acknowledging his presence. A heron – a sign of a good run!

So the loop was just under 6.5miles. We ran it in about 1 hour 37 minutes –  so if we want to talk times, this is quite slow, even for me. I have done the same distance with some hills quite a bit faster but the thing is, I don’t care. I had such a lovely time out there today and that’s what running is about. This is why I drag my butt out even when I don’t want to, it’s why I didn’t stop on the canal the other day, it’s why I am getting better at running through tantrums because every now and again I am lucky enough to have a run like the one I had today.

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

An expensive little run

Jess GuthLeave a comment

Today has been a funny day. We were both in funny moods and didn’t quite know what to do with ourselves. We lounged around in our PJs watching the replay of yesterday’s olympic action. As they were counting down to Mo Farrah’s 5km race we said we really should go and do something. We were supposed to do half mile repeats today according to the training plan- oh and we all know how I love those. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately maybe) Kath asked how far Saltaire is from here – maybe because I had suggested going for lunch a while earlier just to get out of the house. It’s not quite six miles from home and we figured we could do the half mile repeats going in that direction, have a little look around Salts Mills and then get some food.

So that’s what we did. I wore my new crop Nike running tights I reviewed yesterday and my new Salomon trainers I reviewed the other day. Hm. Ok the pants are fine – they stayed up which is always a bonus and they were comfy. However, there is a seam that runs round the inside which sits just under the draw string and that has chafed a little. I have had a bath and sat for a while but it is still red now – not sore though. I felt it most as we were walking home towards the end. The shoes are a different story. My feet were not happy, not happy at all. As I started running they felt uneven  and achey almost immediately so when we stopped I loosened the left one a little. The next interval was’t better – feet were really quite sore. After the third my feet were in agony, I think I cried a little. After the 4th I loosened both as much as I could but it didn’t really help. The shoes felt stiff rather than supportive and every step was painful.

Somehow I got to 6 and then 7 and then I thought I might as well finish. The last one actually wasn’t so bad – maybe because it was the last one or maybe because my feet were finally getting used to the trainers. There was no way I could push the pace though – it took all my focus to just keep running.

The distance was perfect for running 8 x half a mile with 3 minutes between each. We finished the last walk just a few steps away from the entrance to Salts Mill. We had a little look around and bought a few books and cards and then headed over to Don’t Tell Titus for some food and more importantly water. We sat and enjoyed their punjabi nachos, pita bread and hummus and some halloumi. Then we set off to walk back home but got drawn into a lovely little art gallery/shop and bought some more cards, earmarked some gorgeous prints for future purchases and then Kath bought me these gorgeous little earrings. I so rarely see any I like and I was drawn to these (they’re hard to photograph!).

So anyway, we spent a small fortune in Saltaire – I blame whoever designed running pants with credit card sized pockets for that one! It was too nice a day to bugger about with trains and/or buses running to a Sunday timetable so we decided to walk back home. It was a lovely walk along the canal. We saw mostly ducks and a swan or two but also a heron, a few wrens and other small birds and one very happy spaniel-type dog playing in the canal. There were other dogs too but this one stood out because it was so excited and happy to be playing in the water. We can learn a thing or two from that!

We went straight to our sheep rather than going home first because we thought we wouldn’t get going again if we stopped.We needed to move the girls to their bigger field as they have eaten the one they’re in now right down so we thought we might as well do that now. Luckily they were all in a good mood and were happy to follow me and the food bucket. Well when I say follow, once they realised where they were going they shot past me and I had to jog on behind! So in addition to our 5.2 mile run (well 4 miles of that were running), we also walked about 7 – probably a bit more- miles. My feet were fine once we’d had a little rest and on the walk home they felt very well supported and not at all achey. I’ll try the shoes running again but if my feet are painful again then they’ll be relegated to walking shoes and I’ll try and get a pair just like the previous ones which needed no real breaking in and were comfortable from the first run.

Right I’m off to do some yoga and get an early night. Happy running.

 

3 ish miles of running, walking and chatting

Jess Guth1 Comment

We set off for the sheep loop backwards again this morning. Just because it’s a sort of door to door loop without the need to really get to anywhere to start or to walk home from anywhere. I wore my new pants and new trainers – more on them later.

We plodded our way down to the canal. I felt pretty good but could definitely feel that my eating and drinking has been a bit all over the place for the last few days. That G&T I had last night seemed to still be sloshing around in my tummy. Kath was obviously the same because she got a nasty stitch as we were about half way along the canal. It was an evil one and wouldn’t shift at all so we walked a bit and when it eased tried running again  – we made it to the bottom of the golf course but that was it. We passed a border collie with her (?) human who remarked on the lovely day we were having and I thought to myself that she was absolutely right, it was a lovely morning.

We walked all the way up from the canal and had vague ideas about running again but then we met Libby the dog and one of her humans and stopped to say hello and had a little chat. Kath’s mum was in the sheep field pulling up thistles – we said hello to her too. Then we met another dog and his human and we stopped for lengthy chat about holidays. Then we walked on home, spotted a few goldfinches along the way arrived to a garden full of sparrows. We did decide to run all the way up Ilkley Road though just to get a sense of achievement and we made it – it’s noticeably easier when you come to it at the end of a walk rather than a run.

It was lovely to be out though and it was still early enough to have a sense of the world around us just waking up. I was hoping we might see a kingfisher again but that wasn’t to be. We did see a heron fly over and we did see lots of ducks and a few rabbits on the golf course and a baby bunny in our fields.

Not exactly a training run but a nice little outing.

9 Miles Done

Jess GuthLeave a comment

I think that is really all there is to say about that. It wasn’t pretty but it is done and it was done in just under two hours. I am very very happy that it is over.

Mile 1 – fine, out towards the sheep settling into the 3 minute run, 1 minute walk intervals.

Mile 2 – we saw a kingfisher!

Mile 3 – hip niggles

Mile 4 – hip niggles more. Mentally gone. Kath starts counting out loud for me – 1 -8, repeatedly

Mile 5 – Fucking hell

Mile 6 – Can’t do it – oh shut up. Kath still counting

Mile 7 – We’ve turned round, we’re heading home

Mile 8 – not funny, Kath still counting

Mile 9 – Kath still counting, longest mile ever.

1 hour 59 minutes and 8 seconds.