Drowned Rats

Well, it had to happen. Given the weather that we've had in the last few months I was never going to get away totally dry. I have managed so far due to judicious switching of days, use of the treadmill and darned good luck, but today I got wet.

Still happy though!

Last week was not one of my best. After my efforts on Sunday and my new personal best distance of 8 miles I was feeling quite good. Another session with my friendly physio and some not quite so friendly jabbing of thumbs deep into calf muscles confirmed that things muscular are improving, my foot pain is negligible and everything seems to be holding up to the return to full on "running" (I always hesitate to use that word - what I do is more of a joggy shuffling!). However, after a very bad night's sleep and what felt like the beginnings of a cold, I wasn't really in the mood for Tuesday's 50 minutes. I had planned to go and do it from the gym, in order to end up there so I could have a hot shower - you may recall a slightly throw-away comment in the last post about a leaky hot water tank? Upshot was, we had no hot water for three days... Anyway, I set off from the gym, deciding to run around the playing fields until I'd done enough, but could only manage about 15 paces before I had to stop. It felt like I'd been shot in the legs! My poor shins, worse than anything I'd had before, and seemingly out of nowhere. I decided to walk it and see if things eased, and after I'd been all the way round 1 1/2 times I tried a very slow jog again. This time I managed about 100 yards before I had to stop again, worried I was going to cause serious long term damage. I hobbled back to the shower, hobbled back to the car, got home and sat around feeling very sorry for myself.

Wednesday I was full of a cold, so took the advantage of a rest day to lounge around with alternate ice/heat on my shins and watch c*** telly; Thursday I felt a bit better but was scared of my legs so took another day off instead of doing the planned 40 minutes. I did walk into town later in the day; it's about 4 miles or so there and back, I took it very slowly and it didn't feel too painful, just a bit "unhappy" in the lower leg area. I couldn't afford another day off so on Friday, pretty much over the cold, I did a very slow plod of about half an hour, barely 2 1/2 miles. 

Around to another weekend then! The weather forecast for Sunday was diabolical so I decided I'd do my long run on Saturday afternoon. I had to be thrown out by hubby mind you as I'd got too comfy on the sofa watching footy! A panicky message to my friendly physio about the soreness in the shins had resulted in the advice that my lovely moulded insoles, while brilliant for supporting my arches and helping the pain in the foot, may in fact be too firm to run on and be causing impact damage. So I took them out and replaced them with the factory fit squishier insoles and set off. I planned to do not too much as I was concerned about my shins, but in fact once I'd done a mile or so they felt much better so I carried on and ended up doing the full 1 3/4 hours covering 8.7 miles, albeit slower than last week. I had my audiobook on again, listening to a very interesting bit about ultra ultra long distance running (100 miles high up in the Rockies anyone?!) which kind of put my little suburban pootle into perspective! I'd got to within the half mile or so from home when it started to drizzle a tiny bit, but I thought it would be nice to cool down in a bit of drizzle, so I eased to a walk for the last bit. Within 100 yards it was blowing an absolute hoolie and chucking it down horizontally, out of nowhere!! So much for cooling down; I ran home as fast as I could and was completely drenched by the time I got in (to the garage, I wasn't allowed in the house!). I read later that there had been reports of mini tornadoes in parts of Surrey, perhaps that was it?!

After a lovely hot bath I went to the hospital to visit a friend who's just had a baby, then hubby and I went out for dinner. It's not all about running you know!

Today was just bloomin' wet, the whole way round. But I did it, I carried on as per the plan and got wet. After all, it may well rain on the day in April so I'd better get used to it. The nice thing was, my feet were very comfortable, even in the wet, no nasty blisters or anything so that's good. I was supposed to do 65 minutes today (this is quite a big week) but of course, once you get out you have to keep going till you get home, so it ended up a little bit longer - 6.7 miles in 76 minutes. I hope to crack 10 miles this weekend...

Livin' on a Prayer!

Yes, that's right, I'm half way there! My first ever training session was 12 weeks ago, and 12 weeks today it'll all be over. Eek!

Lots to tell you since last time - go get a cup of tea. On Monday, feeling more positive after last weekend's mini meltdown, I was supposed to do just 20 minutes of "recovery" and thought I could probably run the whole thing. Er, no. Still needed to walk after 10 minutes. And I had really, really sore shins - I think it's a bit to do with my new shoes and insoles, and restarting to run again after my break over Christmas. I had just the same problem a couple of weeks into the training back in November, and it eased then after a little while so hopefully this is just a temporary blip again.

Tuesday was another steady 50, and this time I did manage to run a bit more. I think the fitness is kicking back in at last! Unfortunately I had to walk the last 10 minutes (it was quite up"hill") as my shins were agony. But I did cover 4.25 miles in the 50 minutes, which is just a fraction under the 12 minute mile pace so not too shabby, and I strapped some ice to my legs when I got home which seemed to help a bit.

The next challenge was Friday - my plan said "40 minutes brisk". Brisk?! I can only do one pace! But I was determined to give it a go. I went to the gym as my friendly physio had advised me to treadmill it, in the hope that it would be less mean on my poor shins. Also I thought it would be easier to keep track of my speed and know when I was going "faster". Unfortunately, having finally got to the end of Deathly Hallows Part 1, I'd forgotten to upload Part 2 so had nothing interesting to watch. And believe me, when you've got nothing else to watch, the numbers on the display don't half tick round slowly! I did really feel I was pushing myself hard, and, bearing in mind my normal road speed is just over 5mph, I had the treadmill up to 6mph for some goodly stretches, which felt mighty fast and tough. At the end of my session the stats showed I'd done 4 miles in 45 minutes, which gave me an average speed of 5.33mph, or 11:15 minutes per mile. I was a teeny bit disappointed that it wasn't a bit faster, as I was cream crackered and even a bit wibbly when I got off the treadmill, but it was overall a good session and any improvement is a good thing.

Which brings me to Sunday's long run. Do you need another cup of tea yet? Sunday was a beautiful day here, although it had rained a lot overnight, and everywhere off road is still really boggy, so I knew I'd have to run on tarmac. I wanted to get back on programme, which said 90 minutes (take it easy it said - I can do that!), and I mapped out a route that I thought would be about 7 and a bit miles. I'd also got myself an audiobook to listen to. Normally I listen to music while I'm out - my iPod has a whole range of stuff which shuffles through (it's fun to see what pops up next) and every so often I'll get a really great tune with a perfect beat for my rhythm, so for 3 1/2 minutes or so I'll be flowing beautifully and steadily until the next track and it all goes a bit to pot again. But a couple of people had recommended audiobooks as a way of passing time when the runs get longer so I thought I'd look into it. They are really expensive! I mean, I know you get several hours listening, but £20 for a book?! And what to choose? Do I go for a book I've already read so I know what's going on, or something brand new (in which case I'd have to concentrate a bit more - not so good on the roads?). And if I got a book I didn't know and it was rubbish then I'd have wasted my £20... In the end I went for a non-fiction book called "Born to Run", about a native tribe who live in canyons in Mexico and can run vast distances. Don't mock, it is actually very interesting, although I did find my mind wandering occasionally and then I'd have missed a bit and wasn't really sure what he was talking about - with a non-fiction book though, this is not such an issue as missing a crucial plot point in a novel!

So, back to the running. I set off at a very gentle pace, and kept going. I walked occasionally but not nearly as much as I thought I would, and in fact towards the end it was almost easier just to keep running. I even managed to keep going up a couple of inclines (I hesitate to call them hills), even the one that had a stream flowing down it that I had no option but to splash through and get soggy feet. After an hour I treated myself to a jelly baby - I am not going to be able to keep going through a whole marathon with nothing to eat, no matter how carb loaded I am, and apparently it's good to practice eating on the run. The current fad is for energy gels that come in little sachets and you squirt them into your mouth as you go, but these are really for later in the programme (when your run gets to about two or three hours) and to be honest sound a bit yucky. The jelly baby, however, was a lovely little treat, just enough to give me a teeny sugar rush but not enough to sit too heavy in my stomach. And just think how many I could eat over the course of a whole marathon! Maybe we should have a sweepstake... Or maybe not.

In the event, I ran exactly 8 miles (I was about half a mile from home when I got to 8 so switched William off  - you know I don't do all this maths and route mapping in my head; there's an app for that and his name is William - and just ambled slowly home to cool down) in 1 hour 32 minutes. That's slightly more mathematically challenging, but it's just over 11 1/2 minute miles. And I felt really good, still felt I had more in the tank and no major pains anywhere. I was a bit worried that I'd seize up over the course of the afternoon but in the event it was no worse than you'd expect for having run 8 miles. So that was definitely an up day (apart from the leaky hot water tank... Grrr).

Oh, and I have entered a half marathon. The plan says you should aim to do one before the actual thing, as it's good training for race day etiquette - hanging about at starts, not getting carried away and rushing off too early, tackling water stations etc. I couldn't find one for the beginning of Feb, as per my plan, without having to travel too far and worry about logistics etc, but the Surrey Half on March 9th actually passes about a mile from my front door so it seemed rude not to join in. It's five weeks before the big day so hopefully will fit into the plan ok, and based on Sunday's effort I am aiming for somewhere in the region of 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

So, sorry about the novel I seem to have written here (maybe I should record it as an audiobook and charge a fiver to listen...!). If you're still with me you deserve a gin and tonic now. I am, as I said right at the beginning, half way there now, and beginning to believe this is really going to happen. Lots more hard work and miles to put in between now and then, but bring it on!

Up days and down days

This is normal apparently. Some days I feel it's all going brilliantly and, even though I am a little behind on my plan and haven't managed further than five miles yet, I have plenty of time and commitment and will get there; other days it's all terrible, I am miles behind on my plan and haven't done further than five miles yet, everything hurts and I'm never going to get there…

Last Thursday was a good day - I did an hour of Fitball and worked really hard (for me) then went into the gym and did 45 minutes on the treadmill (bit of running, bit of power walking) and covered just over 3 1/2 miles. Not brilliant but I'd put in the effort and felt good. Afterwards I tried a bit of icing/heating therapy as had been advised on a running forum I have joined. I filled my new (beautifully knitted, woolly-covered) hot water bottle, got an ice pack and then, while sitting at lunch, I placed my sore foot on each in turn for 2 minutes. I am not sure if it did any good but it felt quite nice.

On Friday and Saturday, however, I was in a lot of pain! I think it was from all the squats and lunges at Fitball, but my goodness my quads were sore. And when we went into town hubby parked at the bottom of the car park and made me walk up 9 flights of stairs. Thanks for that…

For my Sunday long run my plan said 80-90 minutes, but as I have missed a few Sunday sessions due to having to cycle rather than run, I thought this was a bit much. I mapped out a route from home that was about five miles and set off - walk 5, run 5 as before. By 18 minutes I was out of puff, wheezing and panting and feeling so miserable, and this was only the second set of "run 5"! I am hopeless! I felt like I've lost so much fitness over Christmas (the weight I've put on probably doesn't help either, but that's a whole other kettle of fish), and the thought of doing this for another 3 months and completing 26.2 miles seems like so much pie in the sky. 

However, I persisted, and things gradually improved. I kept on with my 5:5 regime roughly, although it depends very much on which way the slope is going - if it starts to go up too much I'll happily abandon a run section, but equally there were one or two decent downs where I was supposed to be walking but didn't. Overall I reckon I ran about 2/3 of the total 66 minutes, over a distance of 5.5 miles. For even the mathematically challenged that is easy to work out at 12 minute miles, or 5 mph. (Which is pretty much how it's going to be I think, so, given that hours 4, 5 and 6 will be quite a bit slower, it'll take me 6 hours plus I reckon.) By the time I got home my mood had improved somewhat and I felt ok - it's still not really good enough, I am behind my plan and the idea of the 26.2 miles is still scary as hell, but at least I'm not giving up!

Running again, in new shoes

But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

First of all, I did my "long run" session on the bike in the gym again at the weekend, on Saturday as we were due to drive to Exeter on Sunday to return son no. 2 and a friend to Uni. I hooked up my Harry Potter movie again, but the screen on the bike wasn't working properly so I had to watch it on my phone screen. Not ideal but it still helped the time pass. I did 50 minutes, after which I was so sore I could hardly get off the bike, but nevertheless I transferred to what they call a "recumbent" bike, which has a proper seat not a saddle, and you pedal away from you rather than up and down so it's more comfy and works the legs slightly differently, and completed an additional 25 minutes on that. And still didn't get to the end of the film (they've just escaped from Luna's dad's house…). So in total I did 75 minutes and covered 16.9 miles. You can go so much further on a bike!

On Sunday I didn't in fact go to Exeter as there was no room in the car for me as well as two hulking teenage boys and all their luggage - God knows what on earth was in all the bags - so hubby set off with them and I had a quiet day in, cleaning the boy's bedroom and catching up with Christmas Downton Abbey and some knitting.

Monday, after a quick bike in the gym and some Body Balance (first time since before Christmas; I seem to have developed some extra rolls of fat which meant I was slightly less bendy than usual) I had my first proper session with my friendly physio. Lots and lots of firm kneading of the calf, wiggling of the ankle and pressing into the sole of the foot - some extremely painful, some slightly less so - and she said I could start to run again, but with care, and proper impact absorbing footwear. So yesterday I took myself off the The Sweatshop in Woking, where they are all extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They had me stand on a glass plate which lit up all the bits of my foot that touched the glass in lurid green, measured the straightness of my ankles and shins, watched me run on a treadmill and watched for any bend in the ankles while running, heat moulded some insoles specially to the exact contours of my feet and brought me about 8 pairs of shoes to try on. About an hour, and quite a lot of money, later (and I thought running was supposed to be "one of the cheapest forms of exercise you can do. All you need is a T-shirt, some shorts, some shoes and the road…" Yeah right, but the shoes can cost an arm and a leg) I left the shop with these bad boys:

(I would have preferred the pink ones but apparently when it comes to running shoes you have to go with what feels best not the colour you like.) 

Anyway, got them home and, seizing a window of opportunity between biblical deluges, took them out for a spin. No more than half an hour, my friendly physio said, and at least half should be walking. Five minutes walking, five minutes running x3 then. It's amazing what 3 weeks off can do - I was out of puff after less than 20 minutes and felt like I had regressed almost to the beginning. Ho hum. But the shoes felt very comfy, although by tea time my heel felt quite sore again. Day off today to rest, try a slightly longer run again tomorrow.

Flooding and endurance testing

Today it wasn't raining. In fact, it was better than that, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, the wind wasn't blowing a hoolie and it just seemed a lovely day to go for some endurance testing. (Don't tell my friendly physio, she might not be quite so friendly.) No running, I'm not that naughty, but a nice long walk at a reasonable pace to shake off the holiday cobwebs and excess mince pies. I thought I'd head off in the vague direction of the river somewhere, to have a look at the water levels after yesterday's deluges, and then take it from there.

After about an hour, I couldn't get any further:

so I doubled back on myself a bit and tried a different route to a different part of the river. Couldn't get there either:

This is actually a field to the side of the road, but the footpath beside the field was under water too, with a very large puddle in the road through which cars were splashing with abandon, and I didn't fancy that much. So I doubled back again and tried another way. By this time I'd done about an hour and a half and was having a lovely time. It wasn't too chilly and I was feeling very comfortable with my walking pace, concentrating a bit on not banging down too hard on my heels and maintaining a good posture. All going well then, until I got deluged by a learner driver not paying attention to the road conditions and the surroundings, and whizzing through a huge puddle too close to the pavement. I hope they failed their test…

At last I reached a point where I could see the river:

On the opposite bank is Dapdune Wharf where I was volunteering in the summer. It's closed now for winter but some of the buildings require some cleaning out from the floods over Christmas, but not until the danger of further flooding has receded a little. This side of the river the tow path into town is under water, and those parts of the tow path not currently flooded but where the river burst its banks last week are quite considerably damaged:

I'd gone far enough now but still had to get home. I took a quite big loop rather than go straight home, and ended up having done 9.76 miles in a smidge over 2 1/2 hours. My hips felt a bit weary and there are two little tender areas on the balls of my feet which would have blistered if I had carried on - but it is a good thing to know where I am susceptible to things like that so I can take precautions when I get to my longer distances. Overall though, it was a great walk (I am a little sore and stiff now but don't think I've caused any major setbacks). I think when The Run is over I'll go back to long distance walking; it's much more comfortable and enjoyable than running and you don't feel guilty if you stop to take a few pictures!

Pancreatic Cancer UK

As it's a new year, let's get serious for just a moment. Although I appreciate that I am one of the lucky ones who get a place in the London Marathon through the ballot, which allows me just to run for myself if I should so wish (and believe me that's a big enough challenge), that seems to me to be a little bit selfish, so why not use my personal challenge to help others? I have therefore offered to run for Pancreatic Cancer UK, as this was the disease that took my lovely Mum from us over six years ago now. 

Before we were so devastated by it, we knew very little about this form of the disease, despite the fact that it is the most fatal of all cancers in the UK, with only 3% of patients surviving for 5 years or more – something which hasn’t changed in the last 40 years. Part of the problem is that it presents with a whole range of diverse, non-specific symptoms, meaning that diagnosis is very difficult and far too many people are only diagnosed when it is too late to make any difference to their chances of survival. This was indeed the case with Mum - for some time after she began to feel poorly she was treated for diabetes, and it was only when she failed to get better and further tests revealed secondary tumours in her liver that the real cause of her illness was diagnosed. By this time though, it was too late for her and she died just three short months later, at the age of just 66.

Pancreatic Cancer UK is the only national charity in the UK dedicated to combating this form of the disease on all fronts: information, support, campaigning and research. It aims to improve knowledge and awareness of pancreatic cancer in the hope of improving diagnosis and survival rates. I have set up a sponsorship page and would be so grateful if you could give just a little, to inspire me with the challenge I have set myself and to help this very worthy cause. Thank you.

http://www.justgiving.com/Sacha-Farley

Harry Potter and the Exercise Bike

Well here we are in the final few hours of 2013. I hope it's been a good one for you. This blog is a bit off-piste as there's not a lot of running action to report on - as you will know I am on a bit of an enforced exercise hiatus, and also it's been Christmas. I have tried to keep going, honestly, and actually I think I've not done too badly. I even went spinning on Christmas Eve for heaven's sake! I was complete rubbish and didn't do any of the standy uppy bits (it's a skill I have never mastered) but I did keep going for the whole class. On Sunday I went to the gym and "cycled" for an hour - I uploaded a Harry Potter movie to my phone and plugged it into the screen in front of my bike; it helped the time pass much more quickly, but couldn't do anything to alleviate the soreness in my bottom! I've also been out power walking, or more like just walking, which I probably shouldn't do as it's still impact on my foot but I had to do something and, it being the Christmas season, the gym opening times have been a bit hit and miss, and it's a bit of a faff to get in the car and get down there, when I can just sling my trainers on and whizz round the block. I've been very good about stretching my calf as much as I can - while washing up or ironing, and every time I walk up the stairs! - and the foot is certainly not as sore. Hopefully I can get started with my friendly physiotherapist pretty soon and she'll let me go running again. I should be into Week 2 (of 16) of the actual marathon training plan now, which means that 15 weeks from now it'll all be over...

Away from the "training", Christmas was great. We had our boys home from Uni, eating us out of house and home, but we had such a super relaxed family time. Just lovely. And looking back on the year soon to be gone, that's been pretty lovely too. The highlight was obviously our mega Route 66 road trip in October, but there were many other happy memories - son number 2 turning 18, finishing school with great A levels and heading off happy and confident into the world of student-y things; son number 1 continuing to achieve great things in his studies, capped by his winning £1000; hubby celebrating his 50th birthday with a great family party in the sunshine; a hot and sunny week in Spain; a girly spa and wine break in the Isle of Wight with great friends; volunteering with the National Trust and meeting some lovely new people... But that's the danger with blogging, you can easily get sucked into writing about all kinds of stuff that other people are just not that interested in, so I'll just finish by wishing all my loyal readers (all 4 of you!) a very happy and healthy 2014 - the first few months are going to be quite challenging for me, but I am very much looking forward to it, and then I plan thoroughly to enjoy the rest of the year!

Happy New Year! xx