Shiny new toys!

I'd clearly offended the running gods in my last blog when I said that my first running set was gradually increasing, as my next couple of runs were back down to starting with a somewhat pitiful three and a half minutes. But no matter, because I had some shiny new toys that I'm confident are going to improve my running dramatically (let's face it, they're probably not but I'm doing my best to remain optimistic here).

Realising that I need to be doing more cardio work than my little legs are capable of running, my first new toy was a rowing machine, and an abundance of nectar points meant this bundle of joy cost me a very reasonable £5!

Easier to stow than a canoe I guess

So far, for the price, it seems like a pretty good little machine. Pretty much no frills but it has 3 levels of resistance, was pretty easy to put together (of course I put the seat on back to front at first), not too noisy, and not too big. The blurb claims it folds up for 'easy' stowage but really it just becomes a very tall V shape, which is far from inconspicuous unless you've got a big cupboard you can store it in. 

So far I've been using it on non-running days (apart from Friday's which have been total rest days) building up to 25mins, and occasionally doubling-up if it's been a short run. Ok, it's only been two weeks so I shouldn't be too impatient, but I can't say I've seen much benefit yet, although I can definitely feel my thighs working.




My second, and considerably more expensive, new toy is my somewhat inconspicuous GPS watch. Yeah, inconspicuous it's not, and having been blessed with skinny wrists (and yet decidedly chubby ankles - how does that work!?!) I was concerned that this was going to be too big for me, but no fear because obviously this watch - despite being huge - is designed for people with significantly less body fat than me, so I could probably still lose half an inch on my wrist and still be able to fasten it. And although it feels quite heavy when you first pick it up, it's surprising just how quickly you forget that you're wearing it. Or you would, if it wasn't for the constant bleeps every time you reach a kilometre, or pass somewhere you've previously pressed the lap button, or pass somebody wearing a heart rate monitor. Along with the accompanying vibration - which really is good enough to warrant this little watch it's own episode of Sex And The City -  it certainly manages to stop me from falling asleep. 

Forerunner 310XT (glamour shot)

I'm gradually working out all the settings, and maybe it's because I'm a little OCD but I think the instructions - when you finally manage to find them to download -  could be clearer, and possibly in a language I can understand, because this little watch is more complicated than your average clock radio (and every single one of them I have come across you've needed a degree in rocket science to operate). It does amazing things, but so far getting it to do, or stop doing them, has been trial and error.

The fantastic thing for me is that it will tell me as I'm running, how fast I'm running. Unfortunately it has no means as yet of actually making me slow down (maybe that vibration could be extended to a small electric shock), and as yet I am still unable to find that elusive 14 mins/mile that I'm meant to start training at. What I'm less impressed with is the amount of problems I have getting it to download to Garmin Connect, which again seems to be a process of trial and error, and swapping browsers - every single time. Because it's pretty much meant to do it itself once you bring the watch within 3m of the computer, there's very little in terms of instructions in case it doesn't quite seem to be doing what it should. At first I thought it was a problem with the watch but apparently Scott also has to close and reopen the browser to get his garmin to download so I'm hoping it's not just me, but I am surprised that none of the Amazon reviews I read mentioned this.

So only time will tell if these can help my running (and I've just received instruction that our next parkrun is the 5th Oct so only two weeks to go).

WEEK 10

Monday 9 September (evening)
16m 38s. 1.35 miles. Average Speed 4.86 mph. Average Pace 12:20 min/mile
3:38r / 2:00w / 0:59r / 1:46w / 1:25r / 1:30w / 1:30r / 1:31w / 1:08r / 1:11w

A disappointing little jaunt through Morris Wood. From the outset everything just felt wrong, even my trainers didn't feel like they fit me. Trying to keep telling myself that there is no such thing as a bad run, but to be honest this felt like a bad run.


Wednesday 11 September (evening)
26m 03s. 2.07 miles. Average Speed 4.8 mph. Average Pace 12:30 min/mile
3:39r / 1:42w / 1:23r / 1:59w / 2:03r / 1:03w / 1:46r / 5:23w / 2:35r / 1:11w / 0:57r / 0:43w / 0:51r / 0:40w

Dark damp run round the Abbey, finishing up at the chinese takeaway as a treat. It was also the first run out for the garmin, and I wish I'd known that you don't have to wait for it to locate satellites before altering the settings, because it would have been nice to have done that from the comfort of my sofa rather than out in the rain. It wasn't a great run, my calves feel tight, and the guy in the takeaway seemed concerned until he worked out I'd been running.

Despite the issues setting the watch up, and the fact it seems to think I clambered over the top of a fair amount of Kirkstall Abbey, I'm really pleased with it, and I'm sure that will increase the more I get to know the watch.







Saturday 14 September (afternoon)
36m 29s. 3.1 miles. Average Speed 5.1 mph. Average Pace 11:43 min/mile
7:44r / 2:01w / 2:47r / 2:58w / 1:45r / 2:01w / 2:04r / 2:01w / 1:35r / 1:20w / 1:27r / 3:01w / 1:20r / 2:01w / 2:15r

Decided to continue what is becoming a routine Saturday afternoon run down the canal, only this time, instead of running in a loop I chose to just run out half-way and then run back. Can't say I was particularly looking forward to it but once I got out there it was ok. As I wasn't running on the road I opted to wear my trail Merrells and quickly realised during the walk to the canal just how sticky the sole feels on tarmac. Nothing much to note on the run, my right achilles hurt on and off throughout, not content with swallowing the local insect population I managed to get a midge in my eye, and the garmin managed to pick up a passing runner's heart rate monitor. I also succeeded in getting an "Look daddy, a jogger", which I guess is an improvement on last week's "If that's a runner, why is she walking". In my defence I had finished my run and was cooling down.

WEEK 11

Monday 16 September (afternoon)
35m 40s. 2.82 miles. Average Speed 4.7 mph. Average Pace 12:54 min/mile
3:03r / 1:36w / 1:50r / 1:04w / 1:22r / 5:01w / 1:13r / 2:05w / 1:11r / 3:41w / 3:10r / 2:11w / 0:51r / 4:10w / 1:20r / 1:44w

I love running with Scott, having the company is great and he has been immensely helpful with my running. He's also remarkably patient when, despite his protests, he must find 'running' with me very frustrating. So when he invited me for lunch followed by a bimble round the chevin as a recovery run following his new half-marathan PB setting run at the Great North Run the day before (and before going on to set a new marathon PB in Oslo the following Saturday - the mad fool), I jumped at the chance.

Company aside, this was not a great run. The minute we set off nothing felt good, my legs felt heavy, I struggled to get a rhythm going, and just generally felt very off-kilter. Very quickly I became worried that I was going to be enforced to embark on my first bear impression. No I don't mean scaring the dog walkers or stealing marmalade sandwiches from random picnickers , no I mean in terms of the great philosophical questions such as 'Is the Pope Catholic?' You get my drift. Anyway, it wasn't pleasant, nearly impossible to concentrate on breathing, pace and monitoring the stomach at the same time. In the end it proved to be a very stop-start affair, until I was very glad to get back to the car.


Wednesday 18 September (evening)
15m 50s. 1.4 miles. Average Speed 5.3 mph. Average Pace 11:18 min/mile
6:52r / 1:31w / 1:42r / 1:31w / 2:39r / 1:01w / 0:34r 

Another short lap through Morris Wood. Having learnt from Monday's experience I made sure it was a good couple of hours after I'd eaten before I headed out. Unfortunately it had also been a couple of hours since I'd had anything to drink, and I don't think that helped much. It wasn't a great run but I did manage a final, slightly uphill sprint home at 7:49 min/mile pace (ok, so that's a sprint for me) and that felt surprisingly good. It was only much later that it occurred to me that I didn't have to stop just because I'd reached home, I could have just have kept on going. I think I've become too fixed in taking set routes.




Thursday 19 September (late afternoon)

37m 42s. 2.87 miles. Average Speed 4.6 mph. Average Pace 13:09 min/mile
6:08r / 2:03w / 1:55r / 1:35w / 2:01r / 2:42w / 1:30r / 4:21w / 2:46r / 1:31w / 1:01r / 1:01w / 1:04r / 2:00w / 0:36r / 1:48w / 0:22r / 0:30w

Felt lethargic all day and the weather was a bit grim so I wasn't desperately looking forward to heading out, and set off without knowing where I was going. It ended up being a bit of a dark and dismal affair around the Abbey (hmmm, I'm getting a sense of deja vu). It was also the first time since slipping on a twig that ended up with me at the physio that I became worried about slipping on wet leaves and other general tree detritus that was littering the pavements. I'd much rather take my chances with mud and tree roots!

Yet another not-great run. My running pace is still far too fast for me to maintain

Saturday 21 September (afternoon)

37m 37s. 3.11 miles. Average Speed 5 mph. Average Pace 12:00 min/mile
6:41r / 2:01w / 1:01r / 2:01w / 2:32r / 1:33w / 0:32r / 1:31w / 1:44r / 2:01w / 1:48r / 1:46w / 1:43r / 1:45w / 2:01r / 2:01w / 2:01r / 1:16w / 1:26r

Another non-eventful bimble out-and-back along the canal (apart from receiving a nod of thanks from a cyclist whose way I'd skipped out of - sadly my experience is that you can already be crammed into the edge and they will still barely give you room let alone slow down or even acknowledge your presence). It was surprisingly warm, certainly too warm for the full-length running leggings I was wearing and I wish I'd taken some water with me. I maybe lost 30 seconds stopping a couple of times to try and stretch out my calves, but it was a long way from being a brilliant run. I did ratch up my battle with the local insect population and instead of my usual swallowing of midges I managed to headbutt a wasp or bee instead.

Another uninspiring couple of weeks all-in-all.

The loneliness of the short-distance runner

Alternative title - I blog because I'm crap and when you're this crap running can be a lonely business...

Although my parkrun hadn't been monumentally faster than my previous best time for 5k (35:29 compared to 36:59), the fact that I'd managed to run for a solid 18 minutes compared to my previous best of 10 minutes, and was so stratospherically better than my usual performance, meant I knew full well that I wasn't going to be copying that performance any time soon. So it was with a bit of a heavy heart and sense of foreboding that I headed out for my next run two days later...

And I wasn't wrong, the length of my first running set (the one which sets my mood for the rest of the run) fell significantly, back to my more usual times of 6/7/8 minutes. Needless to say this has somewhat beaten my post-parkrun euphoria into submission and I've been struggling to even look forward to runs, let alone enjoy them.

The following photos, both taken from the parkrun, pretty

 accurately demonstrates the range of highs and lows my running suffers from

wow, I'm off the floor and everything! (seriously need to do
something about that fringe though)

 

somewhat later in the run (at least the fringe looks better)

That second photo is courtesy of the organising running club's website.

Needless to say, if I ever become good enough to join a club - it won't

be that one 

Fortunately a combination of my slightly OCD personality and my love of a good spreadsheet has provided a slight sliver of hope. I decided to list all my post-physio runs along with the time splits, and suddenly I realised that although the improvements are incredibly slow, generally those first running sets are getting slightly, but more importantly, consistently longer. 

no wonder I'm myopic

So although I'm struggling with motivation a bit at the moment, I'm determined to keep going, and do more to hopefully improve my running, so next I am going to blow my nectar points on a rowing machine so I can still work on my cardio on non-running days.

WEEK 9

Monday 2 September (evening)

17m 30s. 1.64 miles. Average Speed 5.63 mph. Average Pace 10:40 min/mile

7:29r / 1:30w / 2:27r / 1:31w / 2:02r / 1:31w / 1:00r

I think my legs were possibly still tired from Saturday. Calves felt crampy from the start and my ankles sore. I doubt I was doing myself any harm though so I really need to work on running through the discomfort.

In addition to the run (which turned out shorter than I'd planned), I was going to do some hill sprints but after running up the first of the Normans and wanting to throw myself under the traffic at the top rather than carry on living, I decided not to bother.

Post-run damage - calves felt REALLY tight

Wednesday 4 September (evening)

39m 17s. 3.22 miles. Average Speed 4.92 mph. Average Pace 12:12 min/mile

8:06r / 1:30w / 2:01r / 1:31w / 1:21r / 2:01w / 2:10r / 2:01w / 0:37r / 0:42 stop to get rid of pebble / 1:07r / 2:00w / 1:30r / 1:30w / 2:01r / 2:30w / 2:25r / 2:30w / 1:44r

A nice evening run round the Abbey just as the sun was setting. Unfortunately I was diverted off track as a stage was being built for what turned out to be this year's Classical Fantasia (more on that later).

Tried to concentrate on lifting my knees (and I do mean 'lifting' rather than 'pushing' my knees up) and keeping everything below the knees floppy. It really does feel like playing horsey, but afterwards my calves didn't feel too bad, and it was certainly an improvement on Monday.

possibly the last time I'm going to be able to do this route
post-work without a torch

Saturday 7 September (late afternoon)

37m 40s. 3.1 miles. Average Speed 4.94 mph. Average Pace 12:09 min/mile

6:40r / 1:30w / 1:00r / 1:32w / 1:39r / 3:30w / 0:45r / 1:30w / 2:30r / 1:30 / 2:20r / 4:00w / 1:36r / 2:00w / 2:03r / 1:30w / 2:05r

Another run along the canal, and through several weather systems. Overall it was faster than I should be doing for a training run but the running bit isn't getting any better. Finished feeling a bit despondent.

So not a fabulous end to the week, just one where I feel like I just have to keep plugging away. On a brighter note, one benefit to living where I do on the top of a hill, I am in a prime position to watch the aforementioned Classical Fantasia firework display. This year's was particularly impressive, and my photography couldn't come even close to doing it justice, but here are some photos anyway, just for the hell of it. I was hoping to arrange them better but Blogger has defeated me.

Fear and Loathing in Woodhouse Moor - my first Parkrun

Fran's modest representation of our run

I mentioned in my last blog that I was somewhat nervous about the impending Parkrun that Scott had decided I was going to do. This wasn't an entirely honest reflection, in truth I was absolutely freaking out. Totally, batshit crazy, freaking out. You'd have thought I was about to take on Badwater.

I know it's ridiculous. As Scott pointed out "What's scary about going for a bimble around the park?". But this was a bimble around the park with people with stopwatches waiting for me at the end, and a list documenting just how badly I'd done (it's a good job I hadn't realised that there would be numerous people there taking photos too). It felt more like a school games lesson than anything else I have done my entire adult life, and as I previously said, games lessons don't hold fond memories for me.

A couple of not-brilliant runs earlier in the week had succeeded in building my conviction that this was going to be a messy event. Not that these were horrible runs, no ambulances were called, no obituaries were written, but somehow in my head I was convinced I was going to do spectacularly badly. So two days before, when Scott announced that his friend Fran was going to run with us my fate was sealed, not only was I going to humiliate myself in front of people who don't know me from Adam, but also in front of Scott's friends. I got 2 hours sleep that night. On a plus note I had no appetite so great for helping drop some weight pre-race!

6am Saturday morning and the alarm goes off after 4 hours sleep. It usually takes a good couple of hours for me to wake up but abject fear did the trick and I was pretty much wide awake from the off.

Now normally I have a fairly rapid, if nervous, digestive system so I was counting on 2 hours being plenty of time to get my breakfast of toast out of the way (in every sense of the phrase). Oh no, not today. Today my stomach went into shutdown, causing extra anxiety that it was going to spring into action at some inopportune moment.

Arriving at Woodhouse Moor it was sunny and slightly cool, pretty much perfect weather actually. There didn't seem to be very many people around when we got there (a few of them stretching and clearly taking this very seriously), on the plus side this meant that there wasn't going to be many people to witness my collapse, but on the downside there was an increased chance most would be on their second post-race coffee by the time I got to the finish line. The fact I wasn't vomiting at this point probably indicates my whole body had gone into denial.

Honest I'm not nervous at all

We walked down to the starting line and found what looked to be a small huddle of people but turned out to be nearly 350. We tucked ourselves in at the back and after a bit of chatter about returning missing finishing tokens and a welcome for the newbies - we were off!

Having only ever run either alone or with Scott on a couple of occasions, running in a crowd was a little weird but not as bad as I expected (yes I have a crowd phobia too, it's really quite amazing I manage to leave the flat), and the crowd pretty quickly stretched out. It was nice to realise that I wasn't immediately flagging at the back, and it didn't really register when we started getting lapped - and I had only the thinnest sliver of despair when we passed the finish line to start the second lap and there was already a queue of people waiting to have their finish times logged.

the route

Scott did a fantastic job of  keeping me going and it was 18 minutes in, and over half way, when I finally succumbed to walking. That was 8 minutes longer than I've previously managed to run in one go so I was more than pleased with that, but I confess that then seeing people that I'd been keeping up with, heading off into the distance was disheartening, and made it mentally more difficult to get myself running again. It was a small, and very pathetic, achievement that on the home straight I managed to whip up enough energy to outrun a guy I had been swapping places with for the last kilometre.

The eventual result - 35:29 minutes, and 323rd out of 342 runners, which put me behind a 3-year old, who'd even had time to stop en-route to relieve himself, and several babies in pushchairs, but people were still queuing to have their times recorded when I got to the finish line so I didn't feel so embarrassingly slow.

Last in my age group...at least I can't get worse

Overall my experience of the event was positive, and I would recommend it to anyone. I am totally in awe of the commitment of the organisers and volunteers that turn up at silly o'clock every Saturday morning to do this, all of whom were friendly and encouraging. And having managed not to humiliate myself too much, and Fran having achieved her goal of running her first full 5k, we've decided to return in October to give it another go, although once the endorphins had settled down I went from hoping to improve my time, to the fear that I wouldn't be able to repeat the day's performance. I guess only time will tell...

Post-run, and those are genuine smiles

WEEK 8

Sunday 25 August (evening)
23m 16s. 2.11 miles. Average Speed 5.45 mph. Average Pace 11:00 min/mile
3:03r / 1:00w / 3:03r / 1:01w / 3:02r / 1:01w / 1:40r / 1:00w / 1:01r / 1:01w / 1:46r / 1:30w / 1:01r / 1:01w / 1:22r

Turns out a 4-mile dog walk isn't the ideal warm-up (at least that's my excuse). Felt tired right from the start and calves felt very tight.


Monday 26 August (afternoon)
37m 29s. 3.1 miles. Average Speed 4.97 mph. Average Pace 12:05 min/mile
3:02r / 1:30w / 2:01r / 1:00w / 1:32r / 1:29w / 2:22r / 1:01w / 0:59r / 5:01w / 1:31r / 2:00w / 1:18r / 2:00w / 1:33r / 2:01w / 1:32r / 3:01w / 1:01r / 0:52w / 0:42r

Today I ran my canal route in reverse, and discovered that despite all laws of physics, what feels like a nice flat route in one direction feels like a slow uphill slog in the opposite direction.

It wasn't a great run, despite lots of cloud it was surprisingly hot, and being a bank holiday the canal was like the Tour de France with added dogs. I lost the plot somewhat mid-run (spot the 5 minute walk), but managed to pull myself back together.


Wednesday 28 August (evening)
27m 12s. 2.21 miles. Average Speed 4.87 mph. Average Pace 12:20 min/mile
7:34r / 2:01w / 2:38r / 2:01w / 1:38r / 2:02w / 1:32r / 2:41w / 0:47r / 3:41w / 0:37r

I wasn't entirely sure where I was heading when I set off. The first 7 minutes felt good, and a lot better than my last couple of runs, but was probably facilitated by a couple of downhill segments. Having to stop running at one point because it was too dark to see is the first indication that the nights are starting to draw in.


Saturday 31 August (too damn early)
35m 29s. 3.1 miles. Average Speed 5.3 mph. Average Pace 11:20 min/mile
18:00r (yeah baby!) / 1:36w / 1:52r / 2:00w / 3:32r / 1:11w / 3:07r / 1:07w / 1:24r / 0:39w / 0:56r

Yeah, I've already bored you enough with this one. Apart to say a HUGE thank you to Scott for getting me round in the time I did, and for keeping me running for as much as I did. I have no doubt I wouldn't have done so well without him - and he didn't even get to officially record his early morning sacrifice as he didn't want to log it because it would be severely detrimental to his stats.