Tag: training

And I nearly ran again

Jess GuthLeave a comment

The beauty of working at home – when that afternoon slump hits I can put on my trainers and run it off. Well that’s the theory. Of course with the afternoon slump also comes the ‘I can’t possibly run I am waaaaaayyyyyyy tooooooooooooo tiiiiiireeeed’ feeling. But when I can make myself go it really does help. That was the plan for today then.

I’ve been a bit sluggish today all day, bit dozy and tired but nothing too odd for a Monday. Anyway, Kath has taken time off work to be around for lambing so we set off to run together.I didn’t feel quite right from the first steps really. Can’t quite describe it, just off. I figured it was just a case of mind over matter and I’d settle in but I didn’t. It wasn’t so much like running through treacle like it can be when you have tired legs, I felt wobbly. It felt a bit like running on an uneven and shifting surface. I also felt slightly sick. I thought about this carefully during the walk break, gave myself a talking to and set off again for the next run but it was exactly the same. I stopped. It didn’t feel very sensible to keep going. Kath offered to walk back home with me but that would just be silly. I was perfectly fine as long as I didn’t try and run. So she went on and I walked home.

I don’t know if I am just tired from 3 days of back to back running after having that lurgy or whether I was a bit dehydrated or what but whatever message my body was trying to give, it’s been received. No running today. Got it. Part of me is a little grumpy about that because I was looking forward to the having run feeling but a porridge bar and a cuppa on the sofa aren’t so bad either. It’s easy to forget that rest is also important but it is, so I shall rest today and see how things are tomorrow!

And I ran again

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Yep, 3rd day in a row. It’s been a funny old day. I got up feeling positive and quite energetic but my legs were really tight. I’m sure my hamstrings were 2 inches shorter than they were yesterday. We had cereal and fruit for breakfast and did some planning for our Disney trip in September and a bit of tidying up and pottering about. Then we went for Sunday lunch at Kath’s mum’s. We talked about Disney plans some more and made some reservations etc. Then we checked on the sheep (all fine) and then came home. Once home I felt a bit flat. I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. There was some work stuff that needs doing but I’m trying really hard to not let work interfere with weekends. We’ve seen what comes of that and it’s not pretty.

So I had a bit of a battle with myself. I was on the sofa. Getting off the sofa is really hard. I’d been on it for a while faffing on the computer, half heartedly looking at some work stuff, planning tomorrow’s work day. But I felt a bit lost. I was thinking about all sorts of stuff but in particular of a friend who currently has her son in hospital fighting anorexia. It’s not my story to tell, so I won’t say any more but I suddenly thought that if an 11 year old can somehow find the strength to battle his deamons in the way this kid is then I can ask for help to get off this damn sofa and go and run. I asked Kath if she’d take me. She’d already been once this morning and I wasn’t sure she wanted to go again or indeed whether I could run after a full Sunday dinner complete with chocolate pudding and vanilla ice cream. She agreed.

We got changed and did some yoga to try and get my legs loosened a bit and then we set off on a slow plod. We used intervals all the way and actually it was ok. It was a little slower than the same route yesterday but also more consistent and I got a little further up the hills. In all honesty, a Sunday dinner is not good running fuel – at least not if you have pudding. I felt like I was seconds away from a stitch from hell all the way round and at times I felt more than a little sick but complaining wasn’t an option. Today running wasn’t about me. It was about a kid in a hospital bed fighting like hell. Of course me running doesn’t make any difference to him, it’s somewhat of a hollow gesture and part of me can’t help feeling that it’s all a bit selfish on my part. After all him being there made me get my butt out the door. Thinking about him made me not quit on the hills but that’s not about him, that’s about me. It changed my perspective and made me shout at myself. I can hear myself now: ‘Just suck it up sunshine, you’ve nothing to complain about’.

So somehow my 3.1 miles seem so pathetic in the face of other people’s battles but my friend, her son and their family are in my thoughts and I’m sending strength and maybe me (and many others in our little running family) putting one foot in front of the other with him in mind is a show of support and solidarity from which they can draw some comfort and hope.

Road Running

Jess GuthLeave a comment

Quick update

Didn’t run Sunday because K had a niggly knee and I am not known for my willpower or desire to go running on my own. So it’s just as well we went on Saturday. For today the plan said 50 minutes slow. I do like a plan that says slow. I can do slow.

We had toyed with the idea of going this morning but I wanted Kath to have her knee checked out first which she did this morning and she is cleared to run. Our track record of going for a run after work is poor. Once I get in from work I really don’t like to be parted from the sofa! However, this moomin butt needs to keep moving! We arranged for Kath to pick me up from the station and then to park at Mum’s and run from there. I got changed there and then we set off. We ran along the road which had the advantage of street lighting and of being relatively flat. It has the disadvantage of being a relatively busy road and a boring out and back route.

We set the watch to 17 2 minute run/1 minute walk intervals (51 minutes) and then the Garmin wouldn’t lock onto the satellite. Rather than messing with it we just set off. It felt fast but it also felt quite flowing. Well when I say fast, I mean fast for me – for the rest of the world I am really talking about marginally faster than a brisk dog walking pace. Running along the road is odd. We’ve never really done it before. There wasn’t much to look at and there was the traffic noise so my focus was different and I realised I was focusing on breathing – not in a ‘I can’t breathe’ sort of way but in a ‘oh I prefer to sound of breathing to the sound of traffic’ kind of a way. I was focused on me and that’s not something I am all that comfortable with but it did mean being more aware of form, breathing and when things tightened up and when things felt good.

Surprisingly, mostly it felt pretty good even if hard and on almost all runs I managed to keep the pace until the end of the 2 minutes, I just had one wobble as we were heading up a slope and I lost my stride pattern and everything felt out of sync. I kept thinking I was surprised at how ok it all felt. Ok is not something I usually feel when running.

As we don’t have the data from the Garmin we had to rely on Google Maps which reliably informs me that we ran 4 miles exactly. So that means that finally -for the first time in ages – we managed a decent length run at under 13 minute mile pace.

In other news – Sunday weigh in yesterday showed a 2 pound gain. Hmph but ok – readjusting after the few days of no food and I suppose I’ll have to admit to the chocolate biscuits and the 2 days of university sand which lunches…

In more other news – the Wanderlust TV yoga – we’ve done days 1-4 and it is helping although I was struggling to keep up a little on Day 4. It’s useful to get more guidance on technique and this morning we did the yoga Studio 20 minute beginner am sequence and goodness it is harder when you do it properly! Right I am off to have a bath and then try Day 5.

 

Sulky Running

Jess GuthLeave a comment

Apparently my last post was my 200th post on this blog. Well if I’d known… actually who am I kidding, I wouldn’t have done anything different at all.

Our 10k plan quite clearly states that today is a core strength or rest day so I think my fire breathing, looks could kill sort of response when Kath suggested we should run today and tomorrow was perfectly justified. She wouldn’t let up though, pointing out how gorgeous it was outside (yeah, the sun just blinds you so you don’t see the ice patches…) and how much better we’d feel (hmph, I don’t want to feel better). When she said ‘Come on, try and be positive’ my amazingly positive response of ‘If I run, slip, break my neck, I don’t ever have to run again?’ just got an eye roll and a’ oh for fuck’s sake’.

I got changed – is it possible to get changed in a stroppy sort of way? If it is then that’s what I did. I can sulk. No, I mean really sulk and today I put every little ounce of sulkiness I had into this and drew on years and years of practice. I did not want to go out there and run. But I also knew that Kath was right. I would feel better, it is gorgeous out there… so just saying no wasn’t an option. But going and embracing it wasn’t either. Sulking was the way to go. Sulking would work.

We had decided (well Kath had and I refused to agree or disagree because I was sulking) that we would repeat the 6 minute run, 3 minute walk session from the other day. So off we trotted and very quickly something happened – I forgot I was supposed to be sulking. We weren’t even 2 minutes in and I allowed myself to notice how lovely the sun felt on my back, I started looking around a bit and noting the snow on the hills on the other side of the valley. We had turned and were going uphill so running took a bit more concentration and I remembered I was grumpy about this. Then came the walk break. After the walk break we were heading downhill – I’d never run down this particular hill before. We don’t usually turn down the road here because we don’t often run on the road but the paths and tracks we do use were likely to be icy or at least muddy and slippery. Ah yes, I’m sulking aren’t I, I remember, I don’t like downhill. Running is stupid, I remember now.

We turned the corner and started up the road that looks almost flat but it’s not. I think you only really know this when you run it – it’s a slope. It’s a pull. I should be grumpy but I was actually feeling that little twinge of satisfaction and pride you get when you know you’re running uphill but your pace isn’t slowing, your lungs are burning that little bit more and you can feel your legs pushing. I was working bloody hard but enjoying it, really enjoying it. FFS I am supposed to be sulking, remember.

Walk break

Last 6 minutes, there it is, stride pattern, breathing, movement – everything fits. Just like that I have time and energy to look around, to see the dogs playing, the old ladies standing in a driveway nattering away, a woman running in the opposite directions really pushing the pace and the drivers getting irritated and impatient with each other as they navigate their way around parked cars. I notice the blue sky and the birds in it. I notice how the sun feels on my face. Then it’s over. The run is done. We walk a little and then decide to run the rest of the final walk break. That takes us to the co-op to pick up some milk. Then we walk home. I’ve forgotten I’m supposed to be sulking.

Uneventful week 1 of 10k plan

Jess Guth1 Comment

I’m still on plan  – I am still slowly making me way through week 1 of the 10k programme. After the Monday run, Tuesday was a core strength session so I did the strength yoga on my yoga app (and fell over several times) and then we also did some other core strength exercises (press-ups, squats, lunges and the dreaded plank which I held for what felt like an eternity until I face planted).

Wednesday was  crappy day. I was more anxious and stressy than I have been in a long time and I actually just wanted to hide on the sofa but in spite of the outrageous wind, Kath made me go for a run. The plan said 6 minute run with 3 minute walk break 3 times. So we did that. It was cold and stupidly windy and at times I felt like I was running on the spot. It was such hard work but I did feel better afterwards.

Thursday was rest day and today was a 30 minute walk. We had thought about re-doing the 6minute/3 minute run but I am a wimp and didn’t want to run because of the snow and possible ice. We walked to feed the sheep instead.

We’ve also done day 2 of the Wanderlust TV 21 day yoga challenge. We’ll try and catch up a little over the weekend as we are supposed to be on day 5. The challenge is brilliant – I’ll get to a proper review at some point but the explanations are great and even though I’ve only done 2 I think my technique is already better.

Core session tomorrow and run on Sunday but we’ll check the weather and pick the better day for the run so may swap them round

Happy Friday.