Ready to go and an epic fail

This weekend made me realise that I’m getting a bit tired of marathon training now. I’m so close to the end but I’m still not there. I’ve been training since February (about 17-18 weeks) and I’ve really loved it but now I’m tired. I feel drained, both physically and mentally. This could perhaps be due to the amazingness of the Cakeathon last week and running at a tough pace which left me tired, with heavy legs and then still three weeks left to go. But it’s easy going now so hopefully nothing will go wrong!

The weekend was jam-packed. On Saturday I was at the Netley Abbey parkrun. A few of us had tried to persuade the Netley parkrun gods to do the cricket pitch course (boring but flat) but after almost convincing them someone piped up to say it was their 100th and they really didn’t want to do the cricket pitch, which is fair enough. The cricket pitch is really only good for a fast time as it is so boring (five laps) whereas the other course goes up a hill through some woods and is generally more interesting and only three laps. The next cricket pitch parkrun will be the week after my marathon so I really hope I’m not broken so I can give it a good go!

I didn’t have breakfast before parkrun this week but did have a black coffee so I was curious to see how I would do. It didn’t feel quite as gut-bustingly hard as last week (and I didn’t feel sick either) but I did feel that “running on empty” feeling. Half-way through though I did want to give up, mentally I was just not feeling it. But I spotted the lead lady who had overtaken me at the start and decided to try and catch her. At the start of mile three I got past her and then pushed on harder to prevent her coming back to me. It was tough but a good motivator to keep pushing.

On the final mile someone shouted to me that the second lady was just behind me so I floored it (well, I increased my pace slightly but in my painful state it felt like flooring it) and managed to finish 15 seconds before her. I got 20:42, so slower than last week by eight seconds which I’m happy with. Still sub-21!

After a drink in the cafe with some friends from the club, I headed home to get cleaned up ready for a nice lunch out in Chichester to celebrate my mum’s birthday. It was a place called Amelie and Friends and it was lovely!IMG_1290 I went for melon with coconut sorbet to start which was really refreshing but sweet. To be honest it wouldn’t have been out of place on the pudding menu but it was tasty. And for main I went for the lamb kofta skewers with hummus, tzatziki and chips. Very tasty.

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It was a lovely afternoon spent with my mum, dad and sister, Rachel.

I spent the night at my parent’s so I could have a nice run along the sea front the next morning and I was going for lunch with friends who lived nearby to my parents, so it made sense. Plus it also meant I could leave Alfie with my parents rather than leaving him on his own most of the day.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible the next day. I woke up to rain and wind, which always seems to happen when I want a nice run along the coast!! I felt miserable before I even started. I was dragging my feet getting ready and a big part of me wanted to just not go. But I thought how well I’d done so far. I haven’t missed one long run yet and I should be grateful that I’m running without injury at the moment so I needed to suck it up and get out there.

But it was a miserable run. I felt de-motivated, tired and it was cold and wet. As I ran past the sea the waves were huge. I saw lots of kite surfers in their wet suits apparently loving it and thought how different people were. You couldn’t pay me to have been in that water! But then I suppose they looked at me in my shorts and single layer and wondered what the hell I was doing (but then I was currently wondering the same…).

At nine miles I was fed up and wanted to be done. There was no way to cut the run short as I was past half way now and I could only run the rest of the way home. I honestly did consider ringing my dad though to pick me up. The rain, which had stopped for a while, started again and I got cold. I was so thankful for the run to be over when I got home!IMG_1295

I really enjoyed the hot shower I can tell you!

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Average pace of 7.54min/mile.

After showering I had a bit of time to chill and eat something before I was going out so I sat with some partially frozen berries and Greek yogurt and RunnersWorld magazine. I almost napped, I felt that drained and sleepy.

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Not my usual breakfast at all but lunch was on the horizon shortly and I didn’t fancy anything huge. I would have had a smoothie but my parent’s didn’t have many ingredients…can’t get the staff can you? 😉

Lunch was amazing. We went to Ranchos Steak House as my friends are fellow meat lovers too. I enjoyed a half rack of ribs to start and then two racks for main – I love that this is an option there. I know, I know, I’m obsessed. But I just love ribs!

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And runger was in full force! It was so good. After lunch we did a bit of shopping and I bought myself a lovely blazer from Dorothy Perkins in the sale. It was only £24.90! And then I had to head back home to deal with my garden.

I don’t do gardening. I’ve never mown a lawn before. I decided I needed to get things under control this weekend as we’ll need to start the process of selling the house and, well, the garden looks awful. It’s a jungle out there! And the front of the house there’s a bush and it’s just grown ridiculously huge and almost taken over the pavement. I know my neighbours will be looking down their nose at me as I’m letting the side down and it just makes me look sloppy. Of which, I assure you, I am not! The inside of my house is lovely and tidy and clean…it’s just the garden that’s awful.IMG_1312

My parents thankfully came to help me but to be honest it was a bit of a lost cause. The lawn mower (a budget one bought three years ago) couldn’t cope with the sheer length of the grass (and the fact that it was still damp from the morning’s rain) and started smoking. Epic fail! We couldn’t even do one third of it.

But we did manage to tame the bush. Though I shouldn’t have left my dad alone and unsupervised with the clippers as he hacked a big chunk out of it! Honestly, I could have cried. I was so tired and stressed by this point. Well we managed to do what we could and the bush is now a lot smaller…it just looks a bit crap from one angle. At this point though I couldn’t care!

I’m planning on seeing if I can hire someone to cut the lawn at the back and make it look presentable. I think that’s the only way forward…

How good at gardening are you?

How do you motivate yourself when you’re really not in the mood to exercise?

Are you a big meat lover?

14 Replies to “Ready to go and an epic fail”

  1. I think it’s really interesting what you said about the people being out in the water and you would never do that, but people might look at your running and wonder why you would put yourself through that. I think that just goes to show that not everything works for everyone, but luckily there are so many ways to stay active, there is something for everyone.
    Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy recently posted…Comment on Balsamic Prawns, Rocket and Red Pepper Pasta by DanniiMy Profile

  2. I think it’s okay to be unmotivated sometimes, after all, we can’t always give 100% or else it would tire us too much. Your body is probably just tired, make sure to get extra rest this week! When I am unmotivated for working out I usually just give myself a break, but that is because I have a history of exercise addiction so I know when I need to stop pushing my body. But I’d say for you maybe download some new music to get you in the mood!
    Aimee @I Live Healthy Today recently posted…Huge Changes Ahead.My Profile

  3. I’d definitely be feeling unmotivated in that weather Anna – brr! Rain is not fun at all. Well done for your awesome running this weekend though 🙂
    Urgh I’m terrible at anything garden-related.. we really need to work out how to tidy up our place but it’s not too high on the agenda at the moment, thank goodness.
    Claire @ Flake and Cake recently posted…Bristol 10k 2015My Profile

  4. Sounds like tapering has come at the perfect time! That picture of you after your wet run did make me smile…sorry!
    Well done on first lady at parkrun. When I run with my non-running friend at the Peterborough course we always get lapped and I love to see the speedy runners go past, always looking out for first lady!
    Mowing the lawn and hoovering are my least favourite jobs. We only have a budget FlyMo mower but it has different height settings for the blades underneath. If you start cutting with it set quite high, rake the cut grass up and then mow it again on a lower cut setting once the lawn has dried out it seems to work. Otherwise your poor mower is working too hard! Either that or strim the worst of it down a couple of days before you want to mow and it will be a much easier job. We have quite a large lawn and split into several sections; out the front of our house, sloping alongside our drive and at the back. It once took me four hours it was that long before I started! 🙁
    Mary recently posted…Testing out the Shires and Spires courseMy Profile

    1. When we do the cricket pitch (which is 5 laps) there is a lot of lapping going on from the super speedy guys, it’s amazing. I quite like that though as we can cheer them on.
      FOUR HOURS – ain’t no one got time for that 😉 😉
      AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #13My Profile

  5. Nice job on the parkrun!

    I am pretty rubbish at gardening. I used to suffer really badly with hay fever, and that has been my excuse pretty much ever since!
    Steph recently posted…On the mendMy Profile

  6. It sounds like the taper is just what you need. I got into the habit of an afternoon nap after my long runs as I was just getting so shattered. I was also losing a bit of enthusiasm for my midweek runs too, as I was just feeling constantly tired. That was really why I didn’t sign up for another one next year- the training took over so much.
    That run along the seafront sounded tough- you will have so much mental power for Liverpool too from runs like that.
    Nice work on the parkrun too!
    Your garden looks a bit like how our allotment would get after a few days of sun and rain- I would not even know where to begin. I used to rope in my dad and brother to help with it, although the other week we got a leaflet through from a gardening company- our garden is tiny so we would not need it, but if I were you I would do that and get it sorted- much less stressful.
    Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…Chocolate and cherriesMy Profile

    1. It does take over. For the most part I have really enjoyed it though. I love the long runs but I think this has really taken it’s toll now with so much consistent mileage.
      I don’t know how you manage an allotment! I’d be clueless! Yes I’d rather pay someone once to get it sorted rather than exhaust and stress myself doing a rubbish job.
      AnnaTheApple recently posted…Rants and Raves #13My Profile

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