Running - AnnaTheApple

September 4, 2014

Where’s my head at? Marathon woes

Hurrah, Thursday! Unfortunately yesterday felt like Thursday to me…which is slightly annoying today. Hey ho!

Tuesday I saw my physio again. He says my shin seems a lot better. It does feel better but it still doesn’t feel completely right. It’s weird. It’s not a pain or a sharp feeling. It’s more like a discomfort and a tugging at my shin, if that makes any sense? If I push quite firmly at it there are tender areas but no sharp jump-out-of-my-seat pains. On the runs leading up to having time off I’ve felt it as a kind of nagging discomfort, until finally I knew I had to stop because if I pushed through it would turn to pain. Then afterwards it feels tender and I could feel it when I walked – that discomfort and pulling sensation.

Anyway, he told me I could run the next day – nothing crazy, just three miles. He said to stop if I feel any sort of pain or sharp stabbing feeling. A certain level of discomfort is fine though. I was going to run Wednesday morning but after a 20 mile bike ride the night before I decided to leave it until Wednesday evening after work. Also this way my body would be nice and warm and loose rather than all tired, cold and tight from being asleep so recently.

I felt sick all day thinking about running. How did I get here? How did running become such an anxiety for me? I was literally scared to run. I didn’t want to run but knew that it would be worse if I didn’t because I would continue to wonder how the shin was. I had had just over a week off of running, two sessions with my physio…this run was, on paper, set up to be good.

As soon as I started running I felt weird: stiff, strange…but the shin felt fine. I felt fine. As the run continue the shin did niggle from time to time but nothing like before. It didn’t alter my gait or speed. After the run it was tender but nothing horrendous. I stretched and iced. Today it feels OK. Not amazing but not as bad as it has previously the day after a run.

I have no idea what this means though. Really the test will be the next time I run, which is Saturday and again just three miles. I look back at my ‘training’ for Paris and I’m trying to compare it to understand where I’m at.

I’m happy (‘happy’ being a very loose word there) to run Berlin as long as the shin issue has gone. I can’t plough on through 26 miles in pain or discomfort and then be out for months afterwards. That’s not how I roll. But if the shin issue goes and in the two weeks leading up to the marathon my runs are feeling relatively normal (I’m under no illusion that everything will suddenly feel absolutely perfect) and the shin is not getting any worse then I can run Berlin. Any ideas of improving my times or hitting any certain goals obviously are gone, but just to enjoy the run like I did for Paris will be more than I can dream of at the moment.

It is four and a half weeks from Berlin. For Paris I had sprained my ankle when it was four weeks from the marathon date, and had to take two weeks off. But that was an acute injury that disappeared quite quickly. Who knows about this shin issue?

If you were me, what would you do?

Have you ever had shin splints?

Any advice out there would be marvellous!

August 26, 2014August 26, 2014

Visit to North Wales

Hey, hey, hey. I am back from my long weekend in North Wales and back to the blogging world. I’m very behind on all my blog reading as well…this both stresses me out and makes me happy as I love reading blogs but hate getting so behind.

Last Thursday Ben and me were off work as we were heading up to visit my grandparents again in North Wales, Llandudno. Though the weather didn’t look to be amazing we were really looking forward to the trip. I decided to get a longish run in before we went (13.1 miles to be exact). It went OK and I was happy enough. I tried to keep the speed down but I wanted to try a faster finish.

Sort of anyway! Annoyingly my left shin has been niggling me. It’s been niggling for a little bit, hence why I have been lighter on the running side of things and not racking up any great mileage. But after attempting to run again on Saturday (3 miles) it just felt bleurgh. I saw my physio today and he’s not worried but he says it’s inflamed and I need to let it rest. I can bike and swim to my heart’s content but the pounding of running isn’t letting it rest and heal sufficiently. Not ideal at all during marathon training but I’m trying not to stress too much about it. I’ve come to realise that running and me is a bit of a messy relationship. I just need to get through Berlin and then I’m going to have a bit of a break to let everything in my body that feels the urge to niggle settle down.

Anyway back to Wales. Our journey was 5 hours of being in the car which was boring and stressful for my teeny tiny bladder. We did however see a giant dalek in Chesire.

Random!

We arrived and caught up with my grandparents and had dinner. The next morning we were up to do a gentle bike ride (just under 10 miles) with them. I love how cool my grandparents are – along with their mountain bikes that they often take out to the surrounding hills and mountains they have their Boardman road bikes as well! So we all had a bike.

The weather was a bit dubious but then the sun peeped out and we all got very warm. We stopped for coffee and a nice walk in the RSPB enclosure.

There were lots of birds to see but I honestly couldn’t tell you what we saw as I am no bird watcher! But it was a lovely walk in the beautiful scenery. Then we cycled back home, while having a bit of selfie fun on the way of course…

We’re fairly pleasant people I assure you

Then we had some lunch. My grandparents are quite health-focused so we had a delicious salad for lunch (you know I love my salads). Ben and me quite fancied another walk as the sun was shining and I wanted to have a little mosey around some of the local little Conwy shops so my granddad gave us a route on a map and sent us on our way – he’s very good at devising routes being a retired mountain guide!

Ben point out the sheep

It was a bit of a trek up some hills but we saw some beautiful views and I got my retail urge out of the way, though I bought nothing. The next day I got up early and went out for a 3 mile run in the pouring cold rain and it was just terrible. My legs felt tired, my shin felt niggly, the rain was AWFUL and I was soaked. But I had a lovely hot shower and breakfast and was ready for a nice long walk with Ben and my grandparents. The walk was going to be very long and would basically find seventeen lakes (yep, seventeen). We started together but my grandparents sent us on so we could find our own way using our map navigation skills following a route my granddad had once again written.

The weather was strange. It rained a bit, it got sunny, it rained a bit more. But otherwise it was a lovely cool temperature, perfect for walking up very steep hills!

The first half of our walk went well and lasted about an hour and a half covering 3.8miles. We met up with my grandparents and had a packed lunch in the sunshine on a bench which was lovely. Then we went off again for the second half. We didn’t do quite as well this time…we missed a turning and got ourselves a bit lost.

This was the ‘path’ we missed – doesn’t look much like a path does it!?

In the end it worked out fine as we met up back with my grandparents and we all decided to cut the walk short as we were feeling a bit tired (3.6miles in just over an hour and half).

Serious navigation going on here

But we did get to see some very beautiful lakes.

That evening we headed out for an Indian. Can’t beat a good Indian! The family loved that I was happy to be the designated driver and they could enjoy a pint (or three). I was just happy tucking into copious amounts of tasty food!

The next morning we had a shortish walk planned, then lunch out and then Ben and me would make the long drive home. We drove to Parys mountain, in north east Anglesey. Parys mountain used to be a very large copper mining area, which was quite clear as we were walking around.

Huge quarry area

Sadly Ben’s leg had been quite painful the whole weekend but he was soldiering on. Looks like we’re both off running for a little while. Least we can mope together! What are we like??

We made it to the summit. Our walk was under an hour and 2.1miles, with lovely views and lovely company of course.

We’d worked up a fair appetite by this point so headed to Anglesey to a fantastic restaurant, Dylans. I loved it! It reminded me a lot of Jamie’s Italian with it’s decor and food options. They mainly specialised in fish and pizza but did a wide range of different meals. Ben and me shared a huge sharing platter called the Forager’s platter which had roasted vegetables, olives, bread, goat’s cheese and cheddar. I let Ben have most of the bread and cheese so I could have all the veg (we work well together in that respect).

I had Caesar salad…what do you expect really? It was lovely. Good thick Cesar dressing, crispy bits of bacon, nice chunks of chicken and crispy lettuce. However, no anchovies (not that they were on the menu). Point deducted.

Ben got a fiorentina pizza (spinach, mozzarella, egg & parmesan). He loved it.

Pudding though…ohhh pudding. Originally I was like “nah, nothing really calls to me”. But Granddad and Ben were ordering pudding and the blueberry pancakes sounded quite nice.

Honestly the best pudding I’ve had in a while. Perfectly fluffy, good amount of blueberries and the best butterscotch sauce EVER. I could drink that stuff. Ben had a rhubarb sundae and he was equally impressed.

And that was our long weekend in Wales. I love spending the time with my grandparents. They’re such good company, so easy-going and so very active! I’m sure I’ve said this before, but we hope we’re like them at that age. Such great role models. Use it or lose it!

Do you enjoy active mini-breaks and holidays?

Is your family active?

What’s your favourite pudding?

August 18, 2014August 18, 2014

A busy weekend of all the things I love

Happy Monday lovely people. I hope you all had a great weekend.

Mine was bittersweet. Ben is sadly injured. He’s marathon training like me for Berlin (end of September, less than six weeks- PANIC). And, like I mentioned a few posts ago, he went to the Ultra 12 event and ran 4 laps of 5 miles over 12 hours. He was already slightly injured before going into it (although he hadn’t told me this – he’d only said he had a small niggle) and Ultra just pushed him over the edge. He’s seen our physio and the outcome is he’s sprained his knee and can’t run for a week and then see how it is.

This meant all plans for him running at the weekend dissolved and he was in a Dark and Shady mind space. I feel so sorry for him as I know exactly what this is like, being injured while marathon training. But he’s got so many miles in the bag already and if it’s only a week (even if it’s two or three weeks) he’ll be absolutely fine. Ben is determined and strong willed, even if he doesn’t get the training he wants he’ll still do Berlin.

But it meant Saturday I was off to parkrun on my own.

Ben decided to have a lie-in instead which I could totally understand and I went down early to help set up.

It’s always a nice crew of people who volunteer setting up so there’s always a bit of banter and good conversation which helped with me being Ben-less.

Ben and me recently got Steve Way t-shirts so I wore mine to test it out.

My not-so-pregnant-anymore running friend was at parkrun which was lovely. Ages ago I posted about how she was still running while pregnant and doing amazingly (find it HERE). Well she had her baby boy about 10 weeks ago and has been getting back into running. So when we started parkrun and she was running a good clip I decided to hang on to her a bit – it’s always easier following someone doing a good pace than doing it on your own.Karen, my not-so-pregnant-anymore friend, running next to me

I felt good on the last lap so decided to speed up a little bit and managed to get 22:08 and third female which I was chuffed about. Nice tempo run!

Then, after clearing down, it was back to the Wounded Soldier. I let him off housework duties so he could mope a bit more and then we had to dash for some coffee with Ben’s mum.

Alfie loves Ben’s mum as she always gives him doggie chocolates

Then I managed to persuade Ben to go for dinner at Nando’s for our friend, Nathan’s, birthday.

Whole chicken and double salad = perfection

Chicken and beer, what more could you need? While chomping away on chicken Ben and Nathan planned to do a swim in the morning and then a cycle. I was planning a long run so decided to join the cycle afterwards.

The next morning I got up early and did 13.1 miles. It did feel like a hard slog for the first half and from mile four onwards I started getting very thirsty. I foolishly hadn’t brought any water thinking the temperature was cool enough. I started fantasying about drinks and wondered if I could beg for water from a shop as I had no money. At 7.5 miles I realised I was quite close to Ben’s mum’s house and as it was 9.15am it wasn’t too early…I rang her and she was more than happy with me dropping by to grab some water. Bliss! Bit of a strange experience to talk to someone on the phone mid-run though!

Ignore the fact that the mile numbers don’t make sense – I stopped to stretch after the first mile and randomly stopped my Garmin completely. So annoying! The run took just under 1:50 which I’m pleased with. I felt stronger towards the end so picked up the pace a bit. It’s funny because Saturday’s parkrun the work was all happening in my lungs and heart, whereas Sunday’s run my lungs and heart felt fine, it was all to do with my legs which is how it should be I think.

After getting back and foam rolling a bit I then had breakfast and quickly changed my top to get ready to cycle with the boys.

Straight away my legs felt like lead. It was a good cycle but it was tough. Usually our 15 mile route is fine and I can speed off along the straights but honestly I felt like an old lady. But it was nice to spin the legs. When we got home it took about 10 minutes for me to take my socks off though as I was so shattered.

As Ben and Nathan went to the pub to watch the football, I showered, reluctantly walked (shuffled?) Alfie round the block and then promptly collapsed onto the sofa with half a watermelon and chilled for a bit. Then Ben returned and we headed to my parent’s for the piece de resistance…afternoon tea.

Awkwardly Ben’s football team had lost and my dad’s football team had won (same match) but they were good sports about it (whew). It also helped Ben was four beers down by the this point and like a hyperactive child.

We went to the same place we went last week (The Tea Rooms in Lee-on-Solent) and it was lovely. Roast chicken sandwiches, a beautifully tasting scone with cream and jam and carrot cake. Ben had coconut and lemon cake and my dad had Victoria sponge (my mum just had cream tea).

As we went for a walk along the seafront Ben spotted an ice cream shop and jokingly (or so I thought) said he really fancied ice cream. I called his bluff and he so he went and bought one!

By this point Ben is both hyped up on alcohol and sugar. Bouncing all around the place, climbing walls and just generally being good fun. I’m glad he was feeling in a better mood (even if it was under the influence…).

Finally a happy chappy with his ice cream 🙂

And then we headed home to crash, both from exertion and sugar, on the sofa. Another weekend complete.

When you’re feeling down, how do you make yourself happy again?

What’s your favourite ice cream? I really can’t stand the Mr Whippy ice creams, I like the proper stuff!

Have you ever cycled after a long run? Triathletes are just amazing! It was very hard.

August 13, 2014August 14, 2014

How much should you run?

Happy hump day everyone. I had Monday off this week so this week feels a bit odd (but the weekend still can’t come quick enough, am I right?)

Monday was a funny day because I had originally planned to be doing the Ultra 12 event Saturday night so had taken the day after off to recover. However I didn’t go so obviously didn’t need to do much recovering Monday. Unlike my poor husband who didn’t have Monday off and did run Ultra 12. Funny how that worked out really…

I had nothing planned for Monday as I did manage to get my long run in on Sunday (despite the weather being appalling in the morning). I’m glad I got it done because it meant on Monday I could do a quick strength routine in the morning at home and then just do lots of walking instead.

Because I’d taken bit of time off running recently I felt it was stupid to jump straight into a really long run, so kept it to 10 miles. My average heart rate was 162 which was perfect for this run, meaning I was running nice and easy. Not that I really need my HR monitor to tell me that as I can usually feel how things are going. The run felt relaxed and easy. Though I’d stupidly put on a long top because I thought the weather would turn again. It didn’t until 5 minutes after arriving home. *Sighs* During the run I was actually praying for torrential rain I was that hot.

I did manage to get some nice walks in with Alfie, but when out running some errands I badly misjudged the clouds and got caught in a downpour!

Think the shorts might retire soon…

Recently I’ve read a few interesting articles that one of my running friends tweeted. A series of articles caught my eye: How much should you run? There are five parts to it (I’ve linked to the final part with the conclusions). Spoiler alert: it seems that mileage is unimportant in improving marathon times, running higher volumes of miles a week will lead to injuries (40 miles a week apparently leads to a 50% increase in injury rate) and elites are just genetically gifted supernatural beings (sort of).

Further articles talk about how easy runs are rubbish and you’ll still get injured (I am of course paraphrasing a little). By the end of reading a few of these articles I was ready to throw either my trainers or myself out the window. My scientifically-minded running friend (Kate – hello!) however assured me that these studies were very old and the research is therefore limited. But it did make me a little bitter and depressed, I won’t lie. I always feel with running I get so far and then get knocked down again with injury. I am hugely jealous of people who can do stupidly high mileage and remain uninjured.

I’m pretty sure I have a terrible running style but I am improving little by little with strength training and drills (I truly believe with each new injury I learn a little more and work harder to never repeat the same mistake). But I think I’m one of those runners who can’t run every day and trot along without issue. I’m hoping as the years go by I will get stronger but who knows? I’m trying to cycle more than I did before as an effort to maintain fitness but reduce injury with running.

I do think these articles are to be taken with a pinch of salt and that it really depends on the person, their biomechanics, their training, their genes…etc. etc. so I shouldn’t just dive head first into a Dark and Shady place.

Runners, how often do you run? Do you know where your ‘tipping point’ is with injuries?

What do you do to prevent getting injured (in any sport really)?

How often do you get injured (if ever – you lucky sod)?

July 21, 2014

Week #6 Marathon Training

Hi guys, another week of training done. Now I know I said I probably wasn’t going to document my marathon training every week but I guess I am…sorry, I know it’s quite running heavy and probably boring.

Anyway last week was a mixed bag. I felt very tired and getting up really early in the morning was taking it’s toll. But I guess I need to ‘woman up’ and get on with it, this is what’s it all about.

Monday – no running but this strength routine:

– 4x 15/leg single leg squats
– 4x 15/leg weighted calf raises
– 200/leg clams with resistance band
– 4.5mins crab walk
– 3mins plank
– 100 Russian twists

My lovely theraband has snapped like three times…

Tuesday – 5 mile tempo run (one mile warm-up, three tempo miles, one mile cool down). I went off too fast on the first tempo mile. In my head it went like this: “Wooohoo yeaaahh! So speedy! Yeaaahhh!” then 7 minutes later “I’m dying, god I’m dying. And here’s a hill. I’m dying.” And that trail of thought continued for the rest of the run. Well done, Anna, brilliant pace control.

Wednesday – I was supposed to do a strength workout but I was working from home and it never happened because when I finished work there’s so many more cool things to do at home than workout. I did manage some toe lifts and 100 bicycle crunches. Then I just lay on the floor watching a film (Gone Baby Gone <—amazing).

Thursday – 6 mile easy run. Usually I wouldn’t bother showing my splits for an easy workout to avoid my ego being enticed but this run annoyed me. I spotted a fellow runner ahead of me who was running a little slower than me. I eventually overtook her, said good morning as you do, and then had to pick up the pace to get a bit further ahead (it’s that awkward over-taking moment, you know?)

Anyway she starts getting faster to catch up! And all I can hear are her footfalls behind me. Like seriously, BACK UP. I overtook you. Don’t try and repay the favour on my easy run. I had her hound my heels for two miles (mile 3 & 4) which meant I had to run faster than I wanted to to avoid her overtaking me. This is probably all in my head I know.

Strength workout in the evening:

– 4x 18/leg weighted calf raises
– 4x 15 single leg squats (15 more on weaker leg)
– 4.5mins crab walk
– 200/leg clams with resistance band
– 4mins wall sit
– 4mins toe lift
– 2x heel taps

Friday – Alarm set for 5.10am, walk Alfie, out the door 5.45am for a 15 mile bike ride…One mile in feeling great “wooohooo cycling’s not so bad!” …a few minutes later “hmm feels so bumpy, better check my wheel”. GARGH flat tire. Even if I did have a puncture repair kit I wouldn’t know how the hell to fix it. So I turned around and walked a rather miserable 1 mile home. I was not amuse so took my frustration out with cleaning the bathrooms and hoovering.

My lovely husband (finishing at 12.30 on Fridays) fixed the puncture for me so when I got home from work I could try again. I loved it, really enjoyed it. But got to almost 12 miles and bam another puncture.

But a really nice guy on a bike stopped and helped me. He was very nice and helpful, fixed the puncture after like 20 minutes worth of sorting as my wheel is so tight.

I was very grateful, we then parted ways and two minutes up the road another puncture. Seriously. Ben had to come and collect the bike and me.

Saturday – we went to our local (Netley Park) parkrun. I thought I’d just see how I felt and push it if I fancied. I went with it, pushed hard and got 21:56 and first lady. Quite happy with that!

Sunday – Ben and me and some guys from the running club did the Stansted Slog half marathon. Unbelievably hard. I’ll do a recap post soon. I finished in 1:53:09, fifth female. Brilliant race.

And now I’m shattered! But a good week of training. I’ve got a sports massage tonight with Kyle thank god as my legs ache so much. Good aches though (*touch wood*).

Have you ever had an annoying failed workout?

Have you ever done an off-road, hilly race? It’s like an adventure but so much harder than a road race.

Are you good with maintaining tempo speeds or a set workout without getting carried away?