Almost Lurgy, Running Errands, Mud and Sheep

January 27, 2018 Jess GuthLeave a comment

I was secretly quite smug about having completed 8 miles on Monday and even more smug when I woke up Tuesday and there was no aching, no pain, nothing. Result! Tuesday was a rest day and I was in London for work anyway and wouldn’t have had time to run anyway. Wednesday I felt pretty tired, went into the office for a bit and came Bolton Abbey selfie home early to try and get a run in while the weather was decent. The minute we set off I felt sluggish, tired and like I was running on empty. I had eaten sensibly and should have been well fuelled. I was possibly very slightly dehydrated – I’m rubbish at drinking enough at work – but not obviously so. I barely made it a mile before I nearly threw up and then we turned round and walked home. For the rest of the day I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I went to bed early. I slept and on Thursday I felt a bit better. Not great but better

It was gorgeously sunny outside and I needed to go to the post office and we needed (well no, wanted) some crusty white bread to go with lunch so I put my big girl pants on, found my trainers and set off. I didn’t feel too bad as I made my way down the hill. I had decided to just to a very short run, take the pressure off and walk if I needed to. As I headed into the estate towards the bottom of the hill I wondered whether I should walk. I 3D9E1B8C-5A16-4D49-94CB-BF270E80E69A 2 felt like I was going backwards. I looked at my watch wondering just how slow I was going and if maybe it would be more sensible to walk. I stared at my watch for so long that I nearly ran into the back of a parked car – I was running at 11.30 minutes per mile pace. That’s speedy for me. Well never mind walking, Could always just slow down a little. When I heard the 1 mile beep I glanced again and my first mile had been 11.31 minutes. I stopped at the post office, posted my stuff and walked to the co-op where I bought the bread, some reduced peanut butter and some reduced malteasers. Then I walked up the hill with my provisions.

Friday was rest which was good because I didn’t feel much like getting off the sofa although I did walk down the hill to see Mum and back up again. This morning we wanted to have another go at doing a little recce of the bit of the Bolton Abbey half marathon that we haven’t done before – the one where something always comes up and we end up not doing it. As we pulled in we saw a sign saying ‘orange route closed’. Sod’s law if the orange is that route, we thought. But it wasn’t. We set off on run/walk intervals of 1 minute/30 secs. I knew the first part of the loop from Cavendish Pavilion towards the Priory Church and Ruins but then instead of dropping down to the Stepping Stones and bridge, we turned up a slope to the left and followed the path until it opened up into fields. It’s a lovely route alongside the Wharfe.

The route was muddy. I don’t usually do mud. You know, mud is like icy – slip inducing. I don’t like slipping. I tend to walk through mud or possible mud. Today I ran more than I would normally have done. I was close to losing my sense of humour when we reached a flock of sheep and seeing them cheered me up and I suppose walking slowly past them helped too. I even ran a downhill on a vaguely muddy slope after seeing them. In spite of being mostly terrified I actually had a really good time. The mud was quite energy zapping but I felt pretty good at the end of the 3.67 miles. It was a good run. Just over 50 miles for the year so far and 8.27/100 Bolton Abbey Miles. And here are the sheep:

Bolton Abbey Sheep

Ice 1 – 0.5 Jess

January 7, 2018 Jess GuthLeave a comment

I hate slippery conditions. Doesn’t even have to be ice, just a bit greasy will do to freak me out completely. It’s getting worse too. I hate it. But I hate being defeated more. Today I really wanted to try the 8 mile ish loop at Bolton Abbey that forms part of the half marathon course on the 4th February. I was more than happy for it to be a slow run/walk to take in the bits of the route we’ve not run before and to just enjoy being out.

It was cold this morning with a thick frost on the car. The pavements looked icy. Hm. I figured the paths at Bolton Abbey would be fine though, ice doesn’t stick to the gravely paths… Well the car park defeated me. I was in tears with a heart rate well above where it should be before we even made it to the loos. But the paths would be better.

They were better. Much better so we set of running and then hit a couple of patches were it was a little slippery. Nothing at all to worry about really. I managed the first bit by committing and keeping moving but I was irrationally terrified, the sort of fear that you know makes no sense. I knew what to do logically, I could even see a clear path through the next little section but my legs and rational part of my brain couldn’t override the other bit. The bit that was making everything tense and was screaming STOP. Kath stopped us. She said I was just going to hurt myself and she was right so I sobbed my way back to the car and home. I felt like I had lost myself what would no doubt have been a gorgeous run. If only I could just have got my butt through those patches….

I was sulky. I hate being defeated like that. My weekly total was still in single figures, I hadn’t done a long run, it was still cold out, it was gorgeous out… Kath asked if she was ok to go for a run (obviously yes) and said she was tempted to go ‘up’. I was tempted. I thought that maybe she could simply pick me up on her way back down if I plodded along following her up the hill. I got changed and we set off.

We walked the first bit together and there were some icy patches which I whimpered my way through. It’s all about relentless forward motion. I know this. As the road levels a bit before the next climb, Kath set off running (there she is disappearing off into the distance) and I kept walking – the plan was to conserve energy and run the later hills which are more undulating though overall up. I stopped briefly to chat to our neighbour who was walking his dog. Then I crossed the road to set off on my running bit – but the road was slippery. Not icy as such but that sort of funny frosty. I took a few steps and realised that everything was tense and my feet were already starting to hurt. Not sensible.

I turned round, sent Kath a text to confirm I was turning back but she was fine to carry on and set off on a slow jog. I got back to the road and really didn’t want to go back down, it felt like giving up so instead I turned right and followed the road. It was mostly in the full sun so just a few wet patches. It’s a bugger of a pull, always seemed fairly flat

in the car – it’s not. Further along there were a couple of sheltered patches where I picked my way through on the grass verge – ‘look ahead, relax, keep moving’. A left turn took me back down into the village. I wasn’t looking forward to the down because I’m not great with down at the best of times and add slipperiness to that… well. But it was ok. I kept to the sunny side and in spite of a few patches of ice I only stopped a couple of times to stand in for cars and take a few pictures. I was about to stop once, running out of mental strength to keep going through an icy patch so I said out loud ‘Stupid girl, you’re fine!’ before realising that there was someone walking just in front (hadn’t seen her because of the bend in the road). I got a bit of an odd look as I went past. At the bottom of this slope I was back on part of our sheep loop and I felt more confident – more like I knew the road and which bits to avoid. I even ran most of the way up Ilkley Road.

Me Stopping for a deep breath and mind re-set before tackling the next section

So, not the 8 miles I wanted but still 3.12 miles. Slow miles but purposeful miles. I hate icy, it did win today but it didn’t defeat me completely. I feel much better for having gone out again! Tomorrow is another day, maybe with another run!

Week 1 of #Run1000Miles: 12.47 miles and Sunday Weigh in – I’m exactly the same as last week

Hello 2018

January 6, 2018 Jess GuthLeave a comment

Well hello 2018. I’m not sure what to expect from 2018. I don’t know if it will be different, better, worse than 2017. Nothing’s changed from one day to the next, it’s just a change in calendar, diary or filofax insert and if you’ve gone all electronic it’s not even that. But still I quite like the reflection that often comes with a new year. I like the looking back at the year that’s gone, cherishing the memories, laughing at some of the dramas and raising an eyebrow at some of the tantrums. I also like the promise that a new year brings, a whole range of what ifs, new challenges, new adventures or old adventures revisited. There’s something magical about that.

I hope I can continue my running adventure through 2018. I’ve made a good start. After having managed 500 miles in 2017, I would like to have a go at cracking 1000 this year. So I have again signed up to the Trail Running Magazine‘s #Run1000Miles Challenge, as has Kath.

We kicked off our 2018 running year with separate runs and I did just over 5km run/walk with quite niggly calves and sore feet following on from the New Year’s eve 7 miler. It was good to be out though and it was good to get started! After a rest day my legs felt much better. I was also getting anxious about a team building trip I was going

Thursday/Friday so I needed to get out and run off some crazy. I managed to run consistently for the first time in quite a while – the driving and cold rain was an incentive. Things started getting niggly just before 5km so I ran to 5km (slowly but lovely to see a time under 40 minutes for that for the first time since I’ve had to run/walk) and then I ran/walked the rest of the flat section and walked up the hill home to complete about 4.5 miles.

Thursday I set off to the Lake District for the outdoorsy team building days I had to go to for work. We weren’t told exactly what we were doing so anxiety levels were high. Day 1 was really just a little walk with some team building problem solving game type activities along the way (yay my favourite – not) and then an abseil. I didn’t relish the thought of the abseil but it was fine. Day 2 was completely not my thing. We went ghyll scrambling at a beck at Coniston. I don’t like

scrambling. I’m not really bothered about being in the water, even fast moving water but I just don’t like scrambling. My ankles are pretty weak (although getting stronger with running off road more) and my core strength is non-existent and I was in so much gear that I felt like I had no range of movement at all. I’m not confident in my footing and I hate slipping etc. So each step, little climb and scramble was just taking me further out of my comfort zone. I was actually relieved when we got to the first pool and I could do a trust fall backwards into a pool and again relieved when we got to the first jump and I could do that and take my mind off the actual scrambling. I quite liked the look of the final jump too but not of the scramble up to it so I didn’t do that one. I was pretty close to a sense of humour fail. But at some point I just disappeared into my own world, counted my steps, forced myself to keep moving forward as if it was mile 19 of a marathon and started to sort of enjoy the physical exertion. I actually started going for more physically demanding routes through the deeper water rather than the slippery exposed rocks. I used my running mantras when I was ready to pack it in and as I got more tired I started smiling more – fools my brain and everyone else.

Today I have been tired. I thought I might have a few achey muscles but nothing actually

aches, I’ve just been tired. When Kath went for her run I actually went up to get changed too, sat down on the bed and fell asleep. Then I’d sort of decided that I was just going to rest today but there was something niggling me and eventually I got my kit on and ran to Kath’s mum’s to drop something off. It’s only just under a mile and a half round trip. I had said that I would see how I was when I got there and would carry on if I felt fine but my legs are soooo tired. Still running a mile and a half is better than nothing at all!

Tomorrow we’re having a look at the Bolton Abbey half marathon route and are planning on running the 8 mile loop which is the first loop of the course. I’ll see how that goes and then make a decision as to whether I’ve missed too much distance running because of my feet or whether I’ll give it a go on the 4th Feb. I’ll probably come last by some way but that’s ok. So the running adventure continues and if I can get round the 8ish miles tomorrow my first January running week will give me a great start to the #Run1000miles challenge.

More presents, the sales, gait analysis and closing in on 500 miles

December 28, 2017 Jess GuthLeave a comment

I may have got a little over excited about my monorail highlighters on my birthday. So over excited in fact that I forgot to mention that Kath was also buying me a new running watch. We chose it together on my birthday for delivery the next day. I didn’t look at many because Kath has a Garmin Forerunner 235 and I like it. I borrowed it for a run/walk the other day just to be sure but basically I knew that that was the one I wanted.

It arrived the day after my birthday and I set it up that evening (so easy I didn’t even have to find a child to do it for me). It does everything I want it to and more. It also does some things I really don’t want it to. I will see how I go but I suspect the function that tells me to move if I am sitting still for too long will have to be turned off and I’m really not sure I’m made for smart notifications. I don’t think I need my watch to tell me when my phone’s ringing. Old school, I know. I’ll do a proper review when I’ve taken it out a few times but for now I absolutely love it. It’s nice and light so I forget it’s there and it works well as a watch as well as general activity/step tracker and then the running watch. In terms of the running watch, my favourite feature is the run/walk alert features that means I don’t have to programme or set intervals for a run. I can just set the alerts and programme the run time or distance or whatever or not programme it at all and just set it to go when I set off. The beeps are loud enough to hear without being intrusive but there is also a slight vibration which is great because I can imagine that there are situations where you don’t hear the beeps.

Also for my birthday I got a new yoga mat. I needed one. My old one was baby pink, full of holes where cats have stretched with their claws out, and it may have survived a lamb incident or two earlier this year. It was in a state. The new one is pretty. It’s much thinner that the one I had before so I wondered how my knees would do. It feels great though – supporting, non-slip but more stable and easier to balance on than the one I had before. Again, full review to follow when I’ve used it a bit more. It’s a Bionix Professional Support one. I can’t find a link to a site that isn’t just a selling site so no link for now.

Today we went into Leeds. It wasn’t as bad as that sounds. We went early enough for it to still feel relatively calm when we got there. After breakfast (Weatherspoons Bagel – yummy) and a close encounter with a former student (ribs still slightly sore from the unexpected hug) we headed for Up & Running. We were heading for a gait analysis. Yep, finally I had decided to be brave enough. I made Kath go first and she is completely neutral in her running. She just runs on her toes quite a bit. So that was her done and off looking at the gorgeous trainers all around us. My turn. It was fine. I ran maybe a little slower than I would usually but then I always do on a treadmill. Hate treadmill running. Hates it! The first neutral shoe showed a slight overpronation on my right. We tried a different neutral show that supposedly offered more support but that didn’t seem to work for me – it was worse. Then we tried some more supportive ones and went for a few pairs some of which made it worse, others worked but then were wrong for my foot shape. Eventually we tried a pair of men’s Brooks Adrenaline and they felt really nice as soon as I put them on and seemed to work for the running too. I quite like the idea that the shoes are expecting me to take them on adventures – I just hope they’re not expecting too much. I also like the idea of ‘Run Happy’. They were in the sale. Sold.

As we were there and I actually need to start thinking about new trail shoes as that’s really where I do most of my miles, (although a lot of the canal towpath would be fine with road shoes) we asked to see what trail shoes they had in our sizes in the sale. They had a pair of Hoka Speedgoat and something else I now can’t remember in my size. I tried them both but the Speedgoat felt comfy – a bit weird – but comfy. So at 30% off I thought ‘what the hell’. Kath bought some Hoka Vanquish 3s for the road which she is now wearing sitting on the sofa – not sure if it’s love or she just can’t be bothered to move. She also bought some trail shoes – they were definitely love at first wear: Saucony Peregrine. We’ve been for a little run and I think Kath thinks they’re magic go faster shoes because she left me plodding along at my run/walk to put down a fairly blistering (for us anyway) 9 minute something mile. I wore my new Hokas – see mud on them and everything – and I think they’ll be great. I didn’t tie them tight enough at the beginning and realised about a mile in that I was moving around in the shoe too much and it was making my feet hurt a bit. I re-tied them and did them too tight so then my feet were in agony. I did my first hill repeat and then stopped to re-do the laces again. I seemed to get it pretty much right then because the pain eased and I managed the remaining 4 hill repeats (the heart rate data is interesting!) and then run/walked the rest of the 4.8 mile loop with Kath who had just finished her hill sprints when I arrived at the hill – she did another 4 with me… There’s always one!

So, I have 12.66 miles left to hit 500 for the year. I have 3 days. The weather may of course have other ideas but let’s see!

Mixed Running with Grumpy Grouse

September 23, 2017 Jess GuthLeave a comment

I haven’t run all week. I was the queen of excuses. The last run was Sunday and it was miserable. In fact it was barely a run but I guess just getting the first post-holiday run out of the way is a good thing. Then I made excuses all week, partly based on just being a bit busy with a fair amount of travel and long days in the week and just feeling a bit broken. I was going to go to the gym on Tuesday but I felt tired and achey and like any muscle in my body might just snap if I ask anything at all of it. That’s also the reason I didn’t run. I actually took my gym kit to work on Thursday but I never made it across. Friday was, well Friday at the end of a long and busy week and once I got home I didn’t really move off the sofa again.

I get that sometimes you need rest and that a week really isn’t that dramatic even if it comes after 2 weeks holiday but when I don’t run regularly the tiny little bit of confidence I have with this disappears and I start at square 1. So in a week I have managed to convince myself that I cannot run, that a mile is too far, that I should start again with a complete beginners programme or just pack it in completely and that it would probably be a good idea to pull out of the Lakeland Trails challenges coming up in a few weeks. I’m persuasive like that.

I have also been mulling over the numbers on our training plan for this weekend with a mixture of bemusement and terror. 8 miles Saturday, 8 miles Sunday. Perfectly reasonable when you are training for back to back 15/14km runs but not perfectly reasonable when you have convinced yourself that you can’t run to the postbox at the end of your road. I knew I’d either have to do it or make excuses today. So I decided that Kath and I hadn’t really seen each other all week and a slow morning with coffee and breakfast in bed was just what we needed. There we are. Making decisions about running that utterly impossible distance put off!

At lunch time our decorator (he’s awesome, if you ever need one locally, give us a shout) was coming round to have a look at some work we need and once he left I didn’t have any credible excuses left. Now all we needed was a route. I don’t think either of us fancied the canal towpath with the potential for lots of people walking. Instead we decided to go up to Ilkley Moor. Now this might have added to the terror usually but actually, cynically, I just thought it was ok because it meant I could legitimately walk more! I think looking at the profile you can see my justification for walking!

Screenshot 2017-09-23 19.14.37

We walked up the hill with a couple of little jogs. Goodness that was hard. I felt fairly miserable and inadequate just walking up! But it’s hard to be too grumpy surrounded by the slightly moody beginnings of Ilkley Moor. There were birds around, all sorts of birds and a fair amount of very suspicious sheep. I couldn’t see any grouse but I could hear their grumbles in the distance and it made me laugh. Once on the path on the moor we set off running. The path is made up of big stone flags through the bog. I loved running that stretch. I had to concentrate on where I was putting my feet but it felt sort of methodical and purposeful and not too hard (I was running at a pace that was easy for me physically because I had to concentrate on placing my feet). Right up on the moor the grouse grumbles were louder and more plentiful and I couldn’t help but giggle to myself and try and look for the owners of those voices. I couldn’t take my eyes off the path for long though so I only saw one or two coming in to land. I really enjoyed miles 3 and 4 and the first bit of mile 5. Then we started going downhill. At just before 4 miles Kath had asked me whether we should do the loop or turn back and retrace our steps to do an out and back 8 miles. I should have said turn back!

The first bit of downhill was ok and I found my rhythm and kept moving. Then it got steep, very steep and there were steps of sorts but as regular readers will know, I am terrified of downhill. I had a couple of moments where I nearly froze and felt like I couldn’t move but move I did and eventually, somehow, we reached the bottom. I didn’t hear any grouse but maybe that’s because I was whimpering more loudly than they were grumbling. I’d tensed everything up and could feel niggles setting in everywhere: knees, ankles, feet, shoulders, hips… we walked a bit more and then tried a few little runs but I was struggling – more mentally than physically. We picked up the road back up from Ilkley for a very short stretch and then we could have kept going on that or take the footpath straight up the hill which is shorter but steeper. I suggested the footpath because I wanted to keep practising and keep being positive and pushing myself. About half way up I wished I hadn’t. I felt a bit sick and my hips were screaming at me to stop. The top came eventually after a few stops to admire the view and fight back the tears. There were grouse, I could hear them again.

We walked the rest of the track/road, came through the gate marking the start (or rather end, for us) of Ilkley Moor proper as two women were trying to retrieve their dog from somewhere it shouldn’t have been in the first place with very limited success. We started jogging down towards home grumbling about people not keeping their dogs under control. I was pleasantly surprised I could still run (although whether it was actually recognisable as ‘running’, I have no idea). Just as I thought I might have to ask for a walk in spite of actually being on a downhill section, we saw them: 2 grouse on the wall – male and female I think and they were more interested in each other than us so Kath managed to get a picture. They gave me a little boost to run a bit more.

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We had a little walk just over half way down to have a sip of water and then again to walk up the little hill. I was struggling to get going again. I didn’t want to run but I wanted to be home so I just kept counting to 8 over and over again and tried not to think at all, just count, just focus on the repetitive footfall and numbers. I got home. 9.2 miles of mixed emotions, of loving and hating running, of thinking I can do anything to allowing some self doubt back in.

I have had some food and a bath and I’ve stretched a little (more later) and on reflection, it was a good run. I can feel it, I worked hard, I may ache tomorrow but I am not as broken as I felt when we first got home. Lots to learn from, lots of positives and stunning views and most of all I remember the sound of the grouse who cheered us on in their grumbly sort of way all the way round. They sort of sound like they are enjoying grumpily and grudgingly telling a story to someone who is a bit short of time. I love that noise and I love that I can enjoy it minutes from our home.

really (not) a runner

rambling about my running journey

Tag: trail running