Britain - AnnaTheApple

June 11, 2014June 11, 2014

Braishfield 5 mile beer race

Five mile races are, in my opinion, so much better than 10ks. You get to 2.5 miles and you’re half way! Yes this is an obvious statement, but mentally it’s so much easier to segment the race when everything is hurting.

I’m not keen on 5ks and I hate 10ks. I much prefer the longer distances – 10 miles and halfs are perfect. I get into my stride and enjoy the race because I’m not absolutely blasting the pace. Five miles are a kind of happy medium because I’m not clinging on to the speed (well, my version of speed anyway) for too long, which I think 10ks push me to. Though I suppose I should be running faster than I would in a 10k…

Before I get onto the Beer race, can we just talk about the random fluke thunderstorm on Saturday morning? What was up with that!? Ben and me headed down to Parkrun in rain and crashing thunder and lightening. Ten minutes before the start the heavens opened up in a big way and soaked us all.

We were helping pace a friend round as we were racing the next day. There was a nice group of us running round together. We all got soaked and covered in mud.

As Ben and I drove home, blissfully unaware of what was to come, I daydreamed about a lovely hot shower. We got home to find the water wasn’t working. Bare in mind that our legs are covered in mud, we’re absolutely soaked and freezing. What timing!? In the end we had to go round Ben’s mum’s house to borrow her shower – we were so grateful!

Moving on to Sunday, Ben, me, our running club friend, Matt, and our support crew (my parents & Ben’s mum) went to the Braishfield 5 mile beer race. So-called because you get a token for beer and a cake afterwards rather than a medal.

Ben and Matt wearing their ‘Smurf’ trainers (Adidas Boosts)

The weather was very warm, but I knew they’d be a bit of shade on the course so I wasn’t too worried.

I was quite pessimistic about this race. I knew I wasn’t anywhere near the shape I was in last year and I haven’t been consistently running since the hip saga. But hey ho, with the goal of CAKE in mind I warmed up and got myself ready on the start line.

Previously I’d achieved 34:20 and so I (doubtfully) set myself the challenge of sub-36 minutes. It’s a fairly hilly course but all on road.

As I got into the first mile I felt OK. I decided to ignore my watch and just run on feel. I was conscious to not blast it out and ruin myself for the rest of the race. I also knew there was a lovely hilly on the first mile.

I remember last year how bothered I was about how many females were ahead of me at this point, but this year I just tried to ignore it and run my own race.

As I got into the second mile, I just felt so tired and fed up. I could feel myself struggling, my pace was rubbish and I was hot and bothered. Self-doubt and annoyance just clouded my brain: “You’re rubbish”, “Last year you were so much better – what have you done in a year?”. I considered just dropping out. Pretending I felt ill or weak. How terrible is that?

I passed the 4 mile marker at at 2.5 miles as the course loops back on itself (I hate this, so demoralising). To keep myself going I kept thinking “soon you’ll be back here, in under 15 minutes.” So I kept that 4 mile marker in my head as my next target to get to.

I managed to pick one girl off ahead of me which perked me up a bit, but I still saw three girls ahead of me. I was also certain there was another far ahead too. I finally got to that 4 mile marker and knew it was under 8 minutes until the end.

A man ran up next to me. He was faster than I was so I started to drop back from him, happy for him to overtake. At this point the race was over for me. At absolute best I could be fifth female so it was all about maintaining that position and just finishing now. He turned to me and said “come on, keep with me”. I replied, “no, no, you go on. I can’t”.

But he replied, “No come on, dig deep.” Believe me, I was digging deep to stay with him. Everything in my body was screaming at me now. But it felt rude to not stay with him. He was absolutely brilliant. He kept pushing me, even when I whined “honestly, go on.” He just kept me going. We picked off one of the girls ahead.

Then we turned the corner, and it was the final lap around the field (thank god I knew about it this time!)

He kept pushing me and encouraging me. And we finally caught the other girl!

Then the final sprint.

And finish! Out of 303 runners I came 52nd and 3rd female with a time of 35:50.

Honestly, without that guy’s help I would have come 5th female and probably just coasted to the end. I turned round and thanked him and gave him a hug. I was so chuffed! He really pushed me and got me that position.

Ben and Matt’s race had been good as well. They ran a fair way together.

For Matt it was his first 5 mile and so a PB whatever. Despite feeling some nasty pains in his foot, he achieved a great time of 37:27.

Ben’s target had been 37 minutes and he got 37:04! So he was very pleased too.

And then the best part: cake of course!

The selection was amazing. This photo doesn’t even do it justice. There were so many options! I went for a slab of rocky road.I gave my beer to my dad (of which he was very pleased with) as there’s no way I could have drunk it after the race. I rarely drink beer at the best of times!

And of course, the support crew who we were very grateful to cheer us on.I didn’t actually know I was third female at this point though. I wasn’t sure how many girls had finished in front of me so we decided to wait and see the prize giving, just in case. Plus the sun was shining and it was nice milling around talking to people (and also buying more cake…shhh!)

I’m not going to lie, I was (am) disappointed with my time, which is stupid because I knew I wouldn’t get close to last year’s time before the race began. Also I was in such better shape this time last year with all the 10ks I was doing. But I couldn’t help but just feel a bit rubbish about it. Seriously, a minute and a half worse? And I was putting everything into it.

Anyway we stood there waiting for the results, and I only had a glimmer of hope. So I was genuinely surprised and so very chuffed when they called my name for third!

We got given a glass tankard with our position on the side.

It was a good day out, don’t get me wrong, and I’m over the moon with getting third (and cake). But I can’t shake the disappointment. Because of my stupid niggles and hic ups I haven’t been able to improve on my times. It’s like, what have I been doing for a year?! Where’s my progress?

But I know I just need to focus on my next challenge and not get bogged down with the shorter distance races that I don’t enjoy as much.

Have you ever been disappointed with your performance?

How do you move past a disappointment?

June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

Adventures in North Wales

Ben and me are back from our adventures in North Wales. We left Thursday afternoon and after around five hours of driving we got to Llandudno to see my grandparents.

I don’t know about you but I get so bored on car journeys. I need lots of drinks, lots of snacks and a few stops to stretch my legs and empty my tiny bladder.

Essential snacks!

Anyway, we got there safely and had a lovely meal before heading to bed as it was quite late by this point.

My granddad is a very experienced mountain climber, mountain guide and seemingly all things outdoorsy. They both regularly still go hiking, walking and mountain biking. Considering my granddad is in his 80s this is amazing! This was not going to be relaxing weekend and that was fine by us.

The next day we headed out for a walk in Conwy.

We started in Dwygyfylchi and walked over a rather large hill…it was great fun!

The views were fantastic. And it felt great to be outside in the fresh air on a beautiful day. My granddad knows so much about the area and about walking we were just like sponges trying to learn as much as possible.

We walked from there back home and did a total of over seven miles. Not too shabby at all! We had a lovely lunch of salad with ham, cheese and avocados and then headed out for a walk along the Llandudno promenade.

We had a mosey around the pier where there were all your usual sorts of British seaside bits and bobs, like trinket shops and arcades. We also found a great old fashioned sweet shop where we bought some chocolate honeycomb and buttered popcorn flavoured lollies (think I got one piece of the chocolate honeycomb before Ben ate the lot!).

Then we met up with my grandparents again and had a little spot of tea and cake.

Well it wouldn’t be a proper trip without cake after all! I enjoyed carrot cake whilst everyone else had lemon sponge. It was delicious.

The next day we got up early and headed out to walk up Snowden. It was only about 30 or so minutes from my grandparent’s which is just amazing. To live so close to such beauty is brilliant. Ben and me were green with envy.

Ben and me headed off with a challenge set in our mind. We wanted to get to the summit in under two hours. My grandparents were taking a more leisurely walk and the idea was that we’d walk up and then walk down and meet them wherever they were on the path.

As you can imagine the views were incredible. I was just awestruck the whole time. Because we’d started quite early (just before 9am) it actually wasn’t that busy at all. Though we did see quite a few runners running down. I was both amazed and shocked. No doubt if I’d try doing this I’d injure myself stupid. Speaking of injuries, my hip is much better! I ran Thursday morning before we left and it felt niggly but not too bad. I actually think all the walking helped strengthen it because it just felt better and better as the days went on. Yipee!

Well we made it to the summit in 1:51.

The last mile was really tough. Finding good footing, the steep gradient and just maintaining a good pace. We were over the moon to beat our target though.

And what views! It was fantastic.

After reaching the summit and admiring the view, we headed to get a hot drink and something to nibble in the cafe (yes, there’s a cafe at the top!)

Ben had a flapjack and a hot chocolate while I had a cappuccino and two apples (but of course). Can’t beat eating an apple in such a beautiful place with the one you love.

Then we headed back down. Obviously downhill was miles easier and we got to the bottom in 1:30. Piece of cake! We met up with my grandparents and then enjoyed a little picnic of smoked salmon sandwiches and fruit. Perfect!

Then we took a little drive along the Snowdonia marathon. This is definitely one for the bucket list. But when they say undulating, they truly mean undulating. There were a crazy amount of slow inclines, sharp hills and long steady up-hills. One for a couple of years time I think!

This is part of the route towards the end. Fantastic views but a punishing course.

That evening we enjoyed a very nice Indian for dinner. We’re are huge Indian fans so this was just perfect. A nice end to a great day.

The next day Ben and me ambitiously decided to go for a run. My hip felt pretty damn good (while the rest of me felt fairly shattered). We ran together and decided to keep a fairly easy pace. We ran down to the Llandudno promenade. It was so warm, even before 9am. We stupidly didn’t take water and were devastated when we found a water fountain on the prom that was broken.

We actually struggled quite a lot on this run. Both our legs felt so heavy and tired and we were very hot and thirsty. Also, I haven’t run properly for almost two weeks and depressingly my running fitness has once again gone down. I can’t tell you how much this really frustrates me. I could whine on about it but I’ll spare you 😉

We finished on a sprint because my grandparents live on a hill and we decided to just go for it (as you do). So we were shattered at the end.

For our last adventure my grandparents took us to the Great Orme for another walk. Ben and me have absolutely fallen in love with hiking and walking and just want to keep at it and tackle new challenges. But we realise how very inexperienced we are in terms of map reading, navigation and just general knowledge. My granddad offered to give us a quick map reading 101 on this walk. He printed us out some maps and guided us along the walk, often stopping to ask us questions and give us advice.

Ben showing off his map reading skills

It was brilliant! You can really tell he was a guide and a teacher because he was very patient with us and explained things really well. It was just under 4 miles and we walked for about an hour and a half. It was great. I felt afterwards a lot more comfortable with map reading, though I must say I think I have a fair bit to learn! So this is our challenge at home now, to get out to places like the New Forest and local walks and try some map reading of our own. Maybe this sounds boring, but we think it’s fantastic. We can’t wait to be able to do bigger mountains and other challenges but we need to be prepared first.

We had such a great time in North Wales and hope to come back soon. My grandparents are just brilliant – we hope to be as active as them at their age. It really is quite inspiring. It just shows that growing old doesn’t mean your life ending or having to become inactive. Use it or lose it. They have a great quote that they bare in mind all the time: make the days count, don’t count the days.

Have you been to North Wales before?

Are you a fan of walking, hiking or mountaineering?

How do you cope on long car journeys? For me it’s having lots of do (podcasts, books, magazines) and lots of snacks (sometimes healthy, sometimes not…).

Who is your fitness inspiration?

May 21, 2014May 21, 2014

Netley 10k

I think we can agree that the weekend was a hot one. Sunny, beautiful, but fairly warm. Ideal BBQ and chilling weather but not ideal running conditions. I’d rather run in rain or freezing temperatures than heat (and wind; wind sucks your soul away). Sunday morning, Netley 10k race day, began very warm.

Netley 10k was set in the beautiful location of Royal Victoria Country Park. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while you might realise this is our usual location for parkrun (and a recent RR10 race). It’s about 10 minutes from us so the morning was very leisurely, getting up at 8am.

This 10k was our club championships. Basically prizes were going to be awarded for the below categories:

Ladies Champion
1st, 2nd and 3rd Ladies Senior (under 35) <—my category
1st, 2nd and 3rd Ladies V35 (35 to 44)
1st, 2nd and 3rd Ladies V45 (45 and over)

Men’s Champion
1st, 2nd and 3rd Men’s Senior (under 40) <—Ben’s category
1st, 2nd and 3rd Men’s V40 (40 to 49)
1st, 2nd and 3rd Men’s V50 (50 and over)

As I said in my previous post, I wasn’t sure if I was going to run or not because of my [insert expletive here] hip. I woke up and it was the best it felt all week. In an ideal world I reckon 2-3 more days of rest would have 100% sorted it. But obviously I didn’t have that time. I decided to run it anyway. I popped some Ibuprofen and thought “to hell with it”. Kyle, the sports massage therapist, gave me some good advice and told me it wasn’t a tear or anything crazy bad like that and running on it would aggravate it, of course, but wouldn’t knock me out of running for weeks or months. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have run on it but this was important race only happening once a year and I had a shot at getting a prize. And nothing planned afterwards (apart from RR10s which I could miss if necessary).

Going into a race knowing that you’ve got a niggle that’s been nasty all week is not how I like to start a race, believe me. I did a warm up with Ben and some of the other running club guys and it actually didn’t feel too bad. Not as bad as before and not as bad as Alton last week. But the warm-up wasn’t at speed so I was still in a bit of turmoil.

The course was three laps of the park. We said goodbye to my parents who had found a good place to stand to see us and we headed to the start line.

The race started at 10.30am in a big pack of us. It wasn’t chip timed so I found a spot near people I knew who were roughly my speed – don’t want to be that annoying ‘plodder’ who gets trampled by the ‘elites’ 😉

I told myself to aim for around 7.20min/miles but see what happened (i.e. go slower if needed). The course had a couple of hills/gradual inclines which were annoying considering we had to do them three times, but otherwise it was a nice and scenic on-road race with lots of support.

To begin with I got really confused in my adrenaline-fuelled brain. For some stupid reason I panicked myself thinking it was 10 miles not 10km until realising no, no it was 6.2 miles. Thank God. Because each lap was around 2 miles I decided to segment the race that way in my head, trying to convince myself it was just a tough parkrun (yeah right).

I was so pleased that running felt fine. Maybe a slight hint of a niggle but nothing to change my gait or bother me. In fact, as the race continued I felt better and better (adrenaline? pills? magic??)

(Thanks to Gary in our club for the great photos!)

This was just after the first lap and first water station. I’d dumped a water on my head at this point as it was just so hot. I hate 10ks. They just go on forever and the pace is just so hard. I never enjoy them. Mentally you have to stay focused. I tried to keep people in my sight and either not lose them or gain on them.

There’s my dad in the background cheering everyone on, bless him

It was tough, I’m not going to lie. To keep the pace up and also mentally to just stay focused. I was chuffed to catch up to a few people who I didn’t think I could beat on the final lap, and then it was the home-straight to the finish.

I think I faded a bit towards the end but otherwise I’m over the moon with how I did.

My official time was 44:04, 14th female and 1st female in my club. I felt pooped afterwards.

Sadly Ben didn’t have quite as good a race as he’d hoped. In his words, he prepared badly the day before (bike ride, not drinking enough water, and drinking too much wine the night before). And with the heat and the undulating course it really did help.

He finished in a time he wasn’t happy with (48:10). Though obviously I’m proud of him regardless, I do understand why he was unhappy (his PB is 45:01). Us runners are too hard on ourselves about hitting targets and we’re perfectionists. We will ruthlessly beat ourselves up when we get a less than stellar result. When I saw people finishing that I knew Ben would ordinarily beat I knew he’d be unhappy. After he finished, he became the Grumpy Runner (like I was the entire week before).

To be fair though, the race wasn’t easy and barely anyone got a PB. I’m proud of how far he’s come – this is the guy that gave up smoking and struggled to run a full mile when he first started running just a year ago. One race is not an indicator of ability.

After chilling for a bit after the race (and obviously eating a slice of rocky road that our ladies team captain had brought – thanks Kelly! ‘No Cake’ is over!), we headed back to get showered, me to have an ice bath and then go back to Netley for a running club BBQ.

The men-folk obviously crowded around the BBQ doing men-things: poking and re-arranging meat – a far more complex process than the regular cooking us wives do 😉 (Stereotypes ahoy! Apologies).

Doing a fine job

And then the prizes were handed out. I was awarded 1st Ladies Senior and Ladies Champion. Obviously I’m over the moon but I must just add that one of our speedy runners is currently pregnant and therefore graciously allowed me to claim the prize 😉 She’ll be back next year to win it back I’m certain (and another speedster is suffering from shin splints).

And then I enjoyed a lot of chicken! And Fanta Zero…I could live off Fanta Zero, it’s my nectar. But I had a banging head ache the next day – too much sun and Fanta. Rock and roll, people. After a fun game of rounder’s we headed home and collapsed on the sofa. Job done.

Have you ever gone into a race knowing you’re injured? My hip isn’t necessarily a ‘proper’ injury, but running a hard race on I’m sure didn’t help it one bit. The next morning it ached a lot.

Would you give up a good race if you’re injured or just run it anyway?

How do you console someone who had a bad race/result? There was nothing I could say to Ben to make him feel better. I do understand as I know nothing would make me feel better; it’s all in your own head.

What’s your perfect BBQ food and drink?

May 19, 2014

I think we can agree I’m fragile…

Hello sunshine! Down South we had a gorgeous weekend of beautiful sunshine and warm weather – I hope it was just as nice where you were.

Last week was a bit of a downer for me. After the Alton 10 miler (OK, let’s be completely honest here, after Parkrun on the Saturday) my hip was niggling. God I never, never learn. I shouldn’t have run Alton. It only aggravated it further and made walking afterwards uncomfortable and a little painful. What an idiot. The Alton race wasn’t important at all and yet I thought if I ran it rather than race it I’d be OK. And it niggled the entire race. I really only have myself to blame. Especially because our running club championships were the following Sunday (Netley 10k). Yeah, so really stupid.

I took the rest of the week off running in the hopes that I could run the race. I had a deep tissue massage from a great local sports masseuse, Kyle, who’s basically become our club’s favourite masseuse and he’s doing the rounds on everyone. He comes to your house as well which is just so handy for me with my stupid commute. If you’re local to Southampton, look him up he’s great –> http://www.hackettmassage.co.uk/ He’s also a nice guy who’s an amazing runner (we’re talking 5 minute miles and winning races).

But unfortunately the hip niggle was still there. On Saturday I cycled down to Parkrun on my new road bike and met Ben there to set up in the morning.

It felt dreadful and I became Grumpy Anna in my dark and shady place. I marshalled and cheered on the runners. Still fun, but not as fun as running obviously. Ben did great pacing one of our running club friends and helped him PB.

After that we headed quickly to see Kyle (as I’d panicked text him that morning after thinking my cycle had made things worse) so he could help set my bike up correctly so not to aggravate things any further and have a quick look at my hip. Very helpful and nice considering it was the weekend.

Then we rushed back to shower and then pick up my new car, which obviously turned Dark and Shady Anna into very happy Anna.

A lovely shiny red Fiat 500…sport turbo something-or-other (Ben spec’d it – I know nothing about cars). It drives like a dream, very speedy despite it only being a 0.9 (hello no road tax!). It’s like a go-kart, so light and zippy. And the interior is all lovely and black and red.

New car selfie – self-indulgent I know, but I just couldn’t help it

After that Ben and me went out for a little cycle on our road bikes with our friend who’s also bought a new road bike. In true Anna style though after about 5 miles I panicked it would make my hip hurt and decided to turn back home (around 10 miles in total – not a huge distance I know).

The rest of the day was me moping about umming and arring about the next day’s race and generally being quite annoying to be around. Ben is quite the saint to live with me when I’m suffering from a niggle!

Speaking of Ben, we went out for dinner with previously mentioned amazing sports masseuse and his wife on Friday night and Ben did the most amazing parking.

Our car is on the left. There was perhaps a little bit more space on the other side but it was so tight. I am hugely impressed! He had his proper Serious Parking Face on and I was just stood there biting my nails. Stupid Mini driver though, learn to park!

Sunday was our Netley 10k…more on that in my next post!

(Spoiler alert: I did indeed run it)

Do you have sports massages regularly? I would have them every week if I could.

Are you good at parking? I think I’m OK at parking… it’s just general driving I struggle with 😉

Do you get grumpy when you can’t run/work out?

May 14, 2014May 10, 2016

A long way to go

This year has been very strange in terms of running. I started the year feeling absolutely pants, recovering from a stubborn injury. I got back into running fairly slowly when my knee started to hold up and began gaining back speed and things were going well.

Then after the Reading half (not many weeks before the marathon) I was struck down with another injury (sprained ligament in my ankle). Luckily because it was such an acute injury it went away as quickly as it appeared (just over two weeks). But it knocked my training and made me readjust my expectations for the marathon.

The marathon happened and I did so much better than I could have dreamed. No issues, a GFA and a great experience. Off the back of that though it has been quite a tedious time with running. I love it still, don’t get me wrong. But gaining back speed has been a tough old slog. I’m nowhere near where I was this time last year in terms of my parkrun times and I don’t feel as confident a runner as I used to be.

I’ve been going to regular club training sessions, parkruns and the odd race but things don’t seem to be there as easily as before. I know it’s just time, but I’m so impatient. Though I’m over the moon for my running friends and husband getting PBs, it’s frustrating for me that my PBs were achieved last year when I was in peak condition so my chance of beating them soon are slim.

This was evident when I really tried to go for it at parkrun on Saturday. I had my game-face on, the course was the flat five laps around the cricket pitch, and I was feeling ready.

I got 21:32 (2nd female) which is over a minute away from my PB. I really pushed it and felt shattered afterwards.

I know I can get the speed back if I consistently train and do the right sessions, I’m just having a moan. I know I am very lucky to be able to run and enjoy it – don’t get me wrong. Since my numerous injuries, I am very grateful for every run and I know injuries are so easy to get. My runs could be numbered at any point. I just feel a bit useless at the moment with my running.

I also had the worst run of my entire life. I’m taking part in our running club’s league races (Hampshire RR10s) and we had one last Wednesday night. The races are typically 4-5miles long, off-road and undulating. This one was in the New Forest.

Ben and me met up with the rest of the club and warmed up.

Ah those happy faces, unaware of what was to come

I started ridiculously fast. Like stupid fast. It was downhill and I was just like “la, la, la, I’m so speedy”. Then hit the wall and the wheels came off spectacularly on mile two. It was painful, horrible and I thought at one point just to stop.

Thankfully, I didn’t. I zipped up my woman-suit (girl version of man-suit) and just persevered. There was so much thick mud to get through it was a nightmare. Then a lovely long hill for 3/4 mile at the end. Joy.

My lovely new Run Mummy Run compression socks fully Christened with mud on their first outing

I’ve never been so glad for a race to be over. I’m not joking when I say I’d rather do the marathon again than that race. Too fast, stupid pacing, too much mud. A silver lining at least was that I got 11th female and first female in my club.

Because I knew that I worked very hard at the RR10 and I was also aiming for a good time on Saturday’s parkrun, when Ben and me signed up to the Alton 10 miler race on Sunday I knew straight away I didn’t want to race it. But Ben was keen to go for a PB (honestly, that boy is on fire. He got a PB at parkrun! I’ll be watching my back soon – he was nine seconds behind me). Ben’s 10 mile PB was 1:26:xx but that was last October and he’s made some great improvements since then so it was clear he would PB (providing all went well). It just depended on by how much of a PB it would be. He wanted 1:18. So I said I’d pace him as that was still quite a comfortable speed for me. Not an easy run, but not a racing speed (my PB is 1:15, of which I’m not happy with but let’s not go there).

The run was well organised and the course was very scenic – think traditional little British villages and farms. But undulating and windy on the day.

We ran fairly steady. I struggled a little bit due to a slightly niggling hip (let’s not talk about it) but other than that it went fine. Ben ran well and achieved his goal with time to spare – an 8 minute 1 second PB.

He was over the moon, as you can imagine. Two PBs in one weekend. Nice work, hubby!

Running is never easy. You really have to put a lot of hard, consistent work in to get good stuff out. I know I’ll get there again, it just takes time.

Have you ever felt frustrated with your ability?

Is your other half into sports or fitness? Do you compete against each other? I never want to race against Ben. I’m sure he’ll get faster than me at some point but I don’t mind. I’m happy that he’s doing so well. I never want to compare his performance against mine. It would be silly anyway considering he’s male and I’m female!

Have you ever been paced or have ever paced someone else in a race?