A Mug's Game

Up at what has now become a bit of a lie in for a Sunday to travel over to Pocklington on the other side of York for the Snake Lane 10. This was a race I'd entered ages ago before I knew I had a place in London. Despite it being lower mileage than I perhaps should be doing at this stage, I decided to go with it and run it anyway.

It was a lovely sunny morning, so I braved the club vest and headed off. Our fridge is broken so no milk for my usual pre race bowl of porridge so settled for toast instead, which I am now blaming for the eight miles of stitch I experienced in this race.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the race and would definitely do it again. Managed to get a new personal best of 1.28, on really tired legs and also the lovely mug shown above. Can't be bad.

Now thinking on to the extra 10 miles I have to run next Sunday in the Trimpell 20, and am off for a lie down.

Mileage Envy

I really tried to take Julie's advice of dusting myself off and planning my next run, but by Monday I had diagnosed myself as suffering from 'mileage envy'. A quick poll of fellow runners revealed that this is a common disorder. Everyone's discussing how many miles they've covered and suddenly I have a feeling of disquiet about my own training.

So, after last week's aborted long run, and in fear of the Trimpell 20 which is just over a week away, I made plans to fit in another long run this week. And 15.3 miles later today, I'm feeling a lot happier and more confident that I'm on track with my training. A day off work enabled me to get out in the daylight, as I set off from Apperley Bridge for a run to Otley and back the sun was shining and Spring was definitely in the air. A world away from the snow of last Saturday. Having always run with friends, I am struggling to get used to these lone runs, and I think I possibly run slower when I'm on my own. I didn't wear a watch so don't know how long I was out but since I managed to get through two full episodes of Marathon Talk, I suspect I was gone for some time!

Confidence regained, legs suitably sore and body racked with tiredness, I can now report that training is going well. Last Monday, was the sixth and final strength and conditioning session in the block of Enhanced Training offered by Bradford Athletics Network. I'm now pretty well versed in running efficiency, posture and control, drills and circuit training and have loved (nearly) every minute of these sessions. Tuesday, I was back on the torture rack having a much needed sports massage. Apparently, I have a thickening in my Achilles on my left foot and need to immerse it in cold water after a run, which I tried after a five mile trot around Eccleshill on Wednesday but found I was just too much of a wuss to do this for longer than a few seconds, so I hope there's not trouble ahead here.

Thursday was the final session of Speed-work for Endurance Runners at the track with coach Brian Scobie. These sessions have been great, and I have finished every one of them glowing. This week involved running 1k effort round the track and then eight 200 metre efforts with 200 metre recovery. Really tiring! I must admit, though I know these sessions have helped me to run faster, I'm not sure of the impact they have on marathon training as the efforts are relatively short. Brian's trained winners of marathons though, so here's hoping they will result in a miracle on marathon day!

Sunday, I'm tackling Snake Lane 10 in Pocklington for the first time, so this will be my highest mileage week to date.

I know that I'm on track. I just need to have a bit more confidence in my training.

And no more mileage envy.

The Runner's Nod

The runner's nod. It's the sharp dip of the chin, the acknowledgement as you pass another runner that says 'yes, I'm aware it's snowing and we're slipping and sliding about. I'm wet through too and I know we're both crazy but if we don't verbally acknowledge each we can pretend this isn't happening'. It's the running incidents, worries, questions and sentiments that only runners seem to understand. 

Despite waking up to a white, snowy Yorkshire this morning I set off intending to do a 15 mile run as planned on my training programme. I had debated for a split second about what to do. It was snowing hard and the weather didn't look like it was going to get better anytime soon. I concluded that postponement was pointless as in all likelihood the weather would be worse by tomorrow. Either icy or too slushy to run.

My friend who I was supposed to be running with had pulled out at 7.30am - too slippy and he's not training for a marathon so why risk it. But I am marathon training so with no other option, clad in high vis and Marathon Talk on the iPod for company, I headed off out.

It started badly. I could barely see from the snow as I trundled along the canal and my feet were wet through and squelching within minutes. I reckon the number of puddles I dodged around must have extended my mileage a bit. I made it up to Calverley, not a soul in sight and turned left towards the Clariant building onto Calverley Lane. Passed a few runners up here. Curt nod (I'm sure they weren't as wet as me) and I carried on up towards the ring road.

The ring road was a different story. Cars paying no mind to the inclement weather. I was struggling to hear the Ron Hill interview on my iPod. Considered turning up the volume but then reminded myself of the dangers of not being aware of my surroundings. The Chelsea tractors were out in force, apparently driving as fast and as close to the pavement as possible to ensure the lone runner was covered from head to toe in dirty slush.

Carried on down towards Lawnswood, which is uphill. How hadn't I noticed this before? It seemed that everyone was out for themselves this morning. I managed to slip and fall over at the Horsforth roundabout but quickly gathered my dignity and carried on.

Turned left at Lawnswood roundabout and carried on up towards Bramhope. Coincidentally, I did this run exactly a year ago with Julie and Lisa. It snowed that day too. At the time, we were all just experimenting with gels, and I remembered Lisa telling us it was time for one at around Adel. I duly had one of the foul tasting things, hoping it would see me up to the Fox and Hounds pub at Bramhope, where I planned to have another.

The Fox and Hounds, was, it turned out much further away than I remembered, and it was a bit dicey getting up there as the pavement started to disappear around Golden Acre Park and I found myself having to keep swapping sides of the road.

I finally spotted Church Hill, which took me up to the pub. And this is where I now know it went wrong. The moral of the story being, always check a map before you head out. I'd been relying totally on memory from a run that took place a year ago, where I'd probably spent much of the time chatting rather than watching where I was going. So, was it right or straight on after the pub? Right, it turned out.

I headed straight on. The pavement suddenly disappeared on both sides on the road. I started to panic. The cars were coming really fast and I couldn't see any pavement ahead. I carried on trying to run on the road but jumping onto a sloping verge every two minutes when a car came speeding by. I could imagine other runners being told the story of my inevitable downfall in the future, as a lesson in being prepared. There were no runners in sight. No one gave me the nod on this road.

I didn't remember any of this from last year.

Finally, and much to my relief, a pavement finally appeared as did a sign for Cookridge Lane. I knew I'd gone wrong somewhere but the thought of turning back onto the racing track was too much. I was cold, wet, tired and fraught. The world looks a really different place on a day like today.

So, I did something I'd never done before on a run. I rang James and begged him to come and pick me up. Meanwhile I sheltered in a local paper shop.You couldn't make it up...

Feeling really despondent and worried that I hadn't managed 15 miles (just 11), I recounted the story to Julie. I got the nod, 'dust yourself off and plan your next run'.

Julie, me and Lisa
Snow run 21 February 2010

Where would we be without our running friends? 

Onwards and Upwards

Things are looking up.

Quite literally today as I completed the hilly Liversedge Half Marathon, a race well known for its 'undulations'. There are lots of negative mumblings about this race due to the hills but having run it last year, I knew that it isn't too bad.

Well, not when you train in EcclesHILL anyway.

The race didn't start until 11am, which was lovely, as I'd been used to getting up at some ungodly hour for weekend races/runs usually in the dark and arriving at the race not really sure how I'd got there. Next thing, we'd be off, and I'd find myself only just coming round on the final mile or two by which time I'm be too shattered to remember anything about the run.

Anyway, a civilised start time seemed to make for a better race (and a better Saturday night!). I didn't really have a game plan for this race other than just to run it like I would a training run. And try not to wear myself out for the week ahead.

I've never been particularly interested in repeating races that I've already done the previous year, but it is a great test of improvement (or otherwise). This was the case today as this race wasn't nearly as tough as I remembered it. And I managed to slash 14 minutes of last year's time coming in at 2.02.14. I can't be cool and pretend that I really did just saunter round as if on a training run. It's a pretty hard thing to do on a race. But nevertheless, I only did really hammer it on the lovely downhills in an attempt to make up for some of the time I inevitably lost on the killer hills, which were plenty.

There was some great support throughout the race from club members including Lindsey at Bailiff Bridge, both Mick and Lindsey who were cheering us on up the long stretch at about nine miles and finally Jo and her wonderful son Jack who ran in with me on the final uphill stretch. This camaraderie is what I love about running.

This week has gone well. I've done a little less than I have been doing by ditching my Wednesday night bootcamp session, at least in the short term. I've eaten a little of what I fancy, had a great session at the track and experimented with recovery drinks.

Going into the next week with optimism. Everything seems to be in perspective again.

Rumination

Sunday again, and the end of another week's training and the truth is, I don't know whether I'm coming or going with this marathon preparation lark.

What I do know is that I'm beginning to feel it's taking over my life.

And I'm not sure how this has happened.

I'm supposed to be doing this for fun!

The reality is my entire body is aching. I feel weighed down with a deep tiredness in every bone. I have developed a hacking cough, and worse of all, I'm spending nights ruminating about training when I desperately need to sleep to recover from all the training.

Am I doing too much? Too little? Is it okay to cross train rather than run? Is my diet okay? Am I drinking enough water? Do I need isotonic drinks? Should I be looking at recovery drinks? Am I going too fast on training runs? Too slow? What marathon time should I be looking at? Is it normal to be this tired? And so it goes on and on...

Looking at the past week's training. I don't think it differs greatly from what other people in my position will be doing. If anything, it's probably a little less...so why oh why do I seem to be the only one who's shattered?

Monday - circuits
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - bootcamp
Thursday - intervals at track
Friday - three mile recovery run
Saturday - 12 mile run
Sunday - Dewsbury 10k

When I think rationally about it all, I realise that it's fear driving me on and the cause of the rumination. A worry that I won't be able to run all 26.2 miles or horror of horrors, I will be slower than last year. Non runners will think that I'm mad - surely just running a marathon is enough. Runners, I hope, will understand.

But I am aware that I do need to get a grip, or where will I be in nine weeks time? I'm not really going for a specific time, and I'm sure I'd be happy with last year's time.

So this week's ruminating will see me repeating 'I'm doing this for fun...I'm doing this for fun...". Any other ideas for relaxation would be most welcome!

A more sane me will return next week. And hopefully a less tired one.