Not 8 miles but not all bad either

January 14, 2018 Jess GuthLeave a comment

Well that 8 mile loop isn’t meant to be is it. First there was the ice, then Kath was going to recce it after an appointment in Skipton but forgot her trainers and today my right quad didn’t want to play. It was a bit tight yesterday but I gently introduced it to the foam roller and stretched and it seemed on again then.

We set off at Bolton Abbey on a run/walk. I could feel my quad from the start but it wasn’t really painful. We just kept plodding along, still really nursing my legs generally and walking the steepest bits and taking it easy. Barden Bridge came easily and we crossed and headed back along the Wharfe. I enjoyed running that stretch. We ran a few more of the hills once back in the wood and that was probably a mistake. Once we’d walked my nemesis hill and run down the other side my quad niggle had developed into a deep achey pain and I had to admit defeat. We ran/walked the rest of the way to the Pavilion and I knew it was the right call because my quad no longer recovered in-between run segments. Still frustrating though.

I am trying not to be too annoyed and upset. I have still clocked up a total of just over 19 miles this week (I only ran a total of 22 ish in all of January last year) and there are lots of positives to take from today:

Bolton Abbey was gorgeous this morning. It was still and calm. The Wharfe was moving slowly like it was recovering from the franticness that was Christmas and New Year. It was meandering leisurely like it didn’t have a care in the world.
The ducks seemed to have adjusted their pace to that of the Wharfe, they seemed content in the slow moving water and happy to just be.
There were nuthatches, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, robins, woodpeckers and herons
There were excitable but friendly dogs taking their humans for a walk
The Barden Bridge loop now feels normal – it no longer feels like the longer route or the extension to the normal loop. The 4.6 miles really was quite easy. I know I was walking some but then I used to do that on the Aqueduct loop too and there was a time I couldn’t have contemplated going further
4.6 miles is 4.6 miles. It’s not nothing
Sunday Weigh-In. I’m down a pound. Again better than nothing. Also not actually a positive from the run today, I got on the scales before we went but it seems to fit here anyway

So another week of running. I have now run nearly 32 miles this year. A little behind the #run1000miles challenge schedule but close enough and roughly where I wanted to be at this point. Some of you may also know that the Bolton Abbey Estate challenged me to run 100 of my 1000 miles on the Estate and I, of course, accepted that challenge.

So my Bolton Abbey miles are 4.6/100. 95.4 to go. That’s doable, right? Well as long as I can get coffee and a bacon sarnie or cake at the end of my Bolton Abbey runs I’m there.

Happy Sunday

Hills and speed and some continuous running

January 13, 2018 Jess Guth2 Comments

So I managed to get out in spite of the ice the other day but then Monday and Tuesday there were the usual excuses – to dark, too tired, too late now, too full from food.

Wednesday I got home earlier so we went for a run. We went uphill. Up up up towards Ilkley Moor. I forget how relentless it is but Kath took us from landmark to landmark run/walking. My calves held up ok but were tight by the time we got to the top. We turned round and ran all the way back down. It’s a lovely run down. It’s undulating but down all the way if that makes sense. It means that I can run faster than I usually do and sustain it for longer which helps me get used to what a higher pace actually feels like. It was a good session.

Thursday we did our speed work for the week. I don’t like speed work. I find it mentally really hard. I’m actually sure I could physically run faster but somehow I can’t make myself sustain it. Most types of speed work make me really miserable and grumpy. However, the runners world fartlek session which I have blogged about before is sort of ok. This was the 4th time I’ve done it. I could feel the hills in my legs from the day before and I was quite tired. I was fairly sure my pace would be awful. I was therefore pleasantly surprised that I was actually in line with previous attempts. With some more consistent running, hill, speed and strength work I may even improve a bit! (previous attempts in brackets)

10 minute warm up: 12.46 (12.27,12.20, 12.43 pace);
5 minutes: 10.35 (10.37,10.26, 10.27);
1minute 30 second rest
4 minutes: 10.09 (10.30, 10.11, 10.18) pace;
1minute 30 second rest
3 minutes: 10.23 (11.03, 9.56, 10.18) pace;
(then 5.5 minute rest);
2 minutes: 9.37 (10.17, 8.56, 9.52);
1minute 30 second rest
1 minute 30 secs: 9.05 (9.41, 9.09 ,9.47) pace;
1minute 30 second rest
1 minute: 8.50 (8.41, 9.28, 9.29) pace;
1minute 30 second rest
30 seconds: 7.54 (7.39, 9.17, 8.37) pace;
1 minute rest
30 seconds: 7.36 (7.38, 8.28, 7.39) pace.
10 min cool down 18.38 (14.23, 14.17,15.16) pace

The worst section of this is always the 3 minute run, always. It’s when I nearly give up every time. 3 silly little minutes. Well, I’ll have another go in a couple of weeks or so.

My legs welcomed rest day Friday!

Today we were originally going to do 8 miles at Bolton Abbey but we had a lazy morning instead. We switched our days around and did our 1 hour run today. We set off at the same time but went in different directions – Kath turned back because she wasn’t feeling great – I think I must have passed on my non-distinct crappy feeling from yesterday. I had been running for about 15 minutes when my ankles seemed to just set and my calves went tight. I kept going a little bit but then stopped to walk a little bit. It didn’t ease so I stopped at a bridge and stretched my legs out a bit. Running continuously obviously wasn’t a good plan. I re-set my watch to run/walk and to 5k. That went fine, in fact I was pleased with the relative ease of that run/walk. At the end of the 5k I reset the watch again and walked the 3/4 mile home. 5.6 in total and I have now done more miles than I did in all of January last year.

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.

The one where we see dippers and Johnny Brownlee says hiya

December 26, 2017 Jess GuthLeave a comment

It’s my birthday! I like having my birthday on Boxing Day. People often say things like ‘Aww it must be awful having your birthday the day after Christmas’…or ‘Wow you poor thing, never mind’. Well a) I don’t know any different and b) I quite like it. I’m not sure I always did. Kid’s parties are a little awkward on Boxing Day if you actually want your friends to come (I’m not sure I did though, I’m not sure I really liked enough people enough to warrant a party – hasn’t changed that) and I did used to have a party in summer which I’m not sure I actually ever enjoyed that much. So you can see why a Boxing Day birthday is attractive! In fact it’s the perfect day to have a birthday if you’re an introvert who is really quite happy in her own company and can’t really think of anything worse than hosting a party. I mean, just imagine all these people making a fuss, no ta. I don’t have to pretend to be sociable on my birthday because everyone is too busy falling out with their outlaws or too full of mince pies and cheese to even contemplate the possibility that it might be somebody’s birthday, never mind actually come round to say happy birthday. I am particularly happy this year because I don’t think anyone wrote happy birthday in my Christmas card – just don’t do it people, just don’t.

I am also totally self-centred of course so keep those Happy Birthdays coming on Facebook and Twitter. Today is all about me after all – all – about – me. From a distance though. Make it all about me from a distance.

Anyway, this is a running blog so maybe I should write about running. Yesterday I said that I used to think people who run on Christmas Day are weird – well you can imagine what I thought about people who run on their birthdays. Idiots. I mean really? Running on your birthday? Well yes actually! I woke up at 6.15. No, I wasn’t excited about my birthday and opening presents, I’d just drunk a stupid amount of water before going bed last night so 6.15 was all my bladder could manage. I crawled back into bed and Kath brought me a cuppa and my presents from her. Oh goodness I got monorail highlighters. Life doesn’t get better than getting monorail highlighters for your birthday. Seriously, that was it, day made. Kath brought them back from Disney World in September and somehow managed to keep them secret and hidden all this time. MONORAIL HIGHLIGHTERS!

After a cuddle with the Shackleton ( who was moderately interested in my presents) I moved downstairs to open more presents and had a croissant and hot water and then we slowly got organised and headed out to Bolton Abbey. It was cold, raining and miserable but I was still looking forward to getting out. I was also a little apprehensive because I haven’t really managed any sort of slope, never mind hills, since this calf/foot pain started. We got there just before 9am having seen a majestic heron on the edge of a roundabout just before you get there and it was warmer and stiller at Bolton Abbey than it had been at home. We took a silly selfie and walked up the first slope. We set off without a clear plan – the loop could be 3 ish miles, 4.5 or 6.5 ish and we had agreed we’d just see how my feet and legs were.

I am still working on 30/30 run/walk intervals – any longer running and it seems my calves don’t want to play. We were just getting going when we saw the first dipper of the day – there were several more out on the loop and they were lovely to see and watch – and we were going slow enough to watch! Then on the next run interval after that we saw a very efficient looking runner coming towards us up the hill at what appeared to me to be an impossible pace and yet he looked more comfortable at his pace than I do taking a leisurely walk to the end of the road. I was admiring the effortlessness and thinking that he looked vaguely familiar when it hit me that he looked familiar because watching him run is familiar – I’ve done it countless times on tv. It was Johnny Brownlee. Kath said ‘Morning’, I smiled and said ‘hi’ and he said ‘hiya’ as he flashed passed us quicker than a kingfisher on the canal. There was something about the friendly, cheerful greeting by an elite athlete to us two plodders that really cheered me up. It was from one runner out on Boxing Day morning to another and it felt genuine and it made me feel like I belonged there just as much as he did and that was priceless. Any doubts I had about being able to run our loop, any thoughts about not running and just giving it all up disappeared. I run the same routes Johnny Brownlee does and he didn’t think it was ridiculous that I was there. (Of course I know that he wouldn’t have given us a second thought, I suspect he barely noticed us at all but that’s not the point. Attitude towards others, the little things like saying ‘hiya’ and acknowledging others is so important, it can change that other person’s day and maybe life).

So on we went to more dippers and plenty of ducks. The sun was coming out and the light was glorious. We walked up the path by the Strid and carried on. We didn’t cross the aqueduct so 4.5 miles minimum it was then. We stopped briefly at Barden bridge to take some photos and admire the views and then we toddled on. At almost bang on 3 miles I got the first painful niggels in my feet. I had a couple of tight calf twinges a little earlier but they had settled down as soon as we were on the flat. My feet were painful for maybe a quarter of a mile and then settled into a slight pins and needles and an ache which stayed with me until we finished but didn’t get worse and the pain didn’t come back either. We finished at the Pavilion rather that pushing on for the longer loop. I don’t want to break and 4.5 miles on hills is the most I’ve asked of my feet and calves recently. It also felt like such a gorgeous positive run that I didn’t want to spoil it by pushing my feet too far.

For the first time in what feels like months I not only enjoyed having run, I also enjoyed every minute of the run. I loved being out, I loved seeing the birds, I loved watching the Wharfe going about its business in a slightly more frantic way than I’ve seen for a while and I loved seeing dogs excitedly taking their humans for a walk. I almost wanted to carry on so the magic wouldn’t stop but I knew my feet were reaching their limit.

We had our usual post run bacon sarnie and coffee and , like I posted on Facebook, this is the stuff that birthdays are made of. I couldn’t have asked for a better morning.

Happy Boxing Day to you and yours!

Christmas Day Running

December 25, 2017December 25, 2017 Jess Guth2 Comments

I used to think people who run on Christmas day are weird. You know, like there’s seriously something wrong with them. Why would you want to go out in what is probably going to be miserable weather when instead you could sit in your PJs opening presents and eating mince pies while you hang on for it to be acceptable to open the prosecco. But then I also used to think people who run – full stop – are weird.

This year I was looking forward to my Christmas Day run. I managed an almost pain free Christmas Eve run on a run walk as I blogged yesterday. So running again today would be a good little test. We weren’t going far anyway, the plan was just for 30 minutes or so easy to finish at Kath’s Mum’s for our traditional Christmas morning bacon sarnie and present swap at her house. We’d dropped everything off at her house yesterday including some extra clothes to walk back to our house in after the run.

We woke about 6am but took our time coming round and getting out of bed, had a cup of tea and a mince pie while opening our presents from each other and then got dressed. We headed out about 7.15 and everything was still so quiet. Most houses still seemed in darkness and just every now and again there was a light on in one room or the Christmas trees lights were twinkling. It was coming light slowly. We ran/walked about a two 2 mile loop and my feet were achey but not really painful at the end. It was great to be out and have fun.

The rest of the day has just been a quiet and nice Christmas dominated by cooking our Christmas meal and then eating it. Now our mothers have left, we’re settling down in the living room, in front of the fire with our cats and I’m thinking about whether there is anything I really need or want to do while I am still 38 but I think, other than listening to the cats purr, everything – including breaking the 480 miles for the year will have to wait until I’m 39.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

really (not) a runner

rambling about my running journey

Tag: training