Running - AnnaTheApple

March 26, 2014

Exciting (and scary?) times ahead

Can you believe March is almost over? This is crazy. I love this time of year though – each warmer day is a blessing and there’s such hope for better weather. I actually think I prefer spring to summer. Summer can be either very disappointing (too much rain or far too hot).

I am so excited about the coming weeks. OK I am also filled with a huge sense of foreboding and dread because of the marathon. But it is quite an exciting time regardless. I’m intrigued to know how I’ll do running 26.2 miles – will I blow up at 18 or 20 miles? How will I cope? What will it feel like?

Not just my marathon though, Ben’s running his second marathon and he’s had a good amount of training, getting in an 18 miler and consistently running in the week (and PB’ing left right and centre in half marathons and a 10k).

There are also people at my club running Brighton, London or the Dorset marathon. And so many bloggers are training for marathons. And Marathon Talk’s Martin Yelling and Tom Williams doing Manchester.

Let’s also not forget the big one. Mo Farah (Farrrrrrrrahh as that American commentator called him) and his marathon debut. I really hope he wins (but I think Geoffrey Mutai will do it).

To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement. I think I might just glue myself to social media for the next few weeks (hmm, what’s new I suppose?).

Last night I went for a 10k run after work in Basingstoke and just decided to try as hard as I could. The route is two loops. Unfortunately it includes a fair few uphill’s, but also some downhill’s.

The ‘GAP’ figure is: “Grade Adjusted Pace estimates an equivalent pace when running on flat land, allowing the runner to compare hilly and flat runs more easily. Because running uphill requires extra effort, the Grade Adjusted Pace will be faster than the actual pace run. When running downhill, the Grade Adjusted Pace will be slower than the actual pace”. (I use Strava to upload my runs).

Not too bad but not flat. This run was about giving myself confidence that I haven’t lost everything. For definite I have run faster 10ks, but considering my injuries and lack of consistent training I am more than happy with where I am right now.

It’s hard to know what I should be doing in these two weeks before the marathon. This week I’m going to go to running club, Parkrun and then do a 12-13 mile run on Sunday. Maybe this long run is stupid so close to ‘M Day’ but I think I need to do it mentally. Then next week will be one shorter speed session and the rest easy shorter runs.

I haven’t even finalised my thoughts about fuelling during the run. Or where to put gels as I won’t be carrying a bag or anything. These things are keeping me up at night. I think I’m just going to take four gels with me, in my hands I guess, and just go with how I feel.

I think I probably speak for everyone when I say I can’t wait for this marathon to be over!! 😉

What would be your fuelling strategy for a marathon? (Or what have you done in the past?)

How do you mentally prepare yourself for something Big and Scary?

Will you be watching (or running) the London marathon?

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

Bath, Bristol, a run and lots of food

I am on cloud nine right now. Actually, maybe cloud eight. I feel exhausted! But in a good way. I had a mad but brilliant weekend.

It was one of my close friend’s hen weekend (for Americans, I think you guys call this a bachelorette party?). I drove up to Bath on Friday morning as I had Friday off of work and met up with the hen, her sister and another friend. We were staying in the very posh and lovely Windsor hotel for the night.

I shared a the room on the left with another friend who arrived later and the bottom-right picture is the view from our window

The location of the hotel was perfect. It was only a very short walk and you were right in the centre of Bath with the shops and restaurants.

The road that the hotel was on

After sorting ourselves out we headed out for lunch at Bill’s. I went for my favourite: Caesar salad and a cheeky portion of sweet potato fries.

So yummy. Then we headed for a few lovely hours at the Thermae Bath Spa.

Fabulously relaxing. It was like swimming in a huge bath! And there were these steam rooms that were infused with different scents, like peppermint (like being in a big vat of Vix) and sandalwood. Very nice. And the top layer had another warm pool right out in the open with a lovely view of Bath.

After this we hopped back to the hotel to get showered and dressed ready for dinner. We went to Browns where we met up with another friend.

I had a very refreshing glass of Prosecco and a wild boar burger with fries. This definitely filled a hole! I wanted something carby enough for my planned long run the next day…

We didn’t go to bed too late (for normal people – late enough for me!). And my alarm was set for 5.45am. Oh joy. My intention was to run 10 miles, but see how my foot felt and would stop if it hurt. I had planned a route and took a printed map with me in case I got lost. I was a super ninja in the morning getting up and dressed as quiet as possible as to not wake my friend (she was fine with me going out early – I had checked beforehand!)

My planned route had a HUGE hill to start with so I ignored it and just ran wherever. Unfortunately the beginning was still quite hilly but then I managed to find a good area to run around that was flat for the second portion of the run. I ran 11 miles! And everything felt NORMAL. No niggles. OK it was tough and I know I’ve lost so much fitness (from both injury breaks). But I am over the moon.

View of Bath on my run

It’s given me a little bit of confidence for Paris. I only stopped at 11 because I was running out of time. Though it was probably sensible to not go further if I’m honest.

The hardest part? These stairs back to the room. Yep all the way to the top. Brutal.

Then it was a quick shower and delicious breakfast of kippers and scrambled egg.

Loved this. I wouldn’t have it every day as it was overwhelmingly fishy but it was a nice change.

Then we zoomed to Bristol, picking up another friend en route and had an afternoon of quad biking and high ropes.

High ropes were stupidly scary. I was all the ‘Big I Am’ when I got there, thinking I’d have no issues but as soon as I got up the top beam I was shaking, terrified and just wanted to get down. Turns out I’m a bit of a wuss. Quad biking though was more my forté. I got the fastest lap round the course!

Later as we got back to the hen’s house we enjoyed cake and champagne while getting ready.

After getting all glammed up we headed out for dinner at Cuban in the centre of Bristol and met up with yet more people. It was funny because I got huge déjà vu when I realised where we were. This is where the race village had been set up for the Bristol half marathon!

I ate so much I’m not gonna lie. There were so many sharing starters at the beginning. And then I had a huge but lovely seafood soup thing.

Phenomenally good.

Then my least favourite part of the night…going clubbing. Ah I think I’m just too old now. Well actually I never really enjoyed clubbing that much when I was at university. I wasn’t drinking heavily, maybe that was problem.

All the tacky hen do stuff of course

Very loud, sticky floors, past my bedtime <—granny status right there. Not my thing. But the hen had a great time and that’s the important part. I tried to get into it for her sake anyway.

Anyway the weekend was brilliant but I am shattered. It didn’t help that the airbed my friend and I were sleeping on half deflated in the middle of the night and we woke up at 5am with our legs in the air going “what the hell??”. It was fairly amusing.

I got home Sunday afternoon and went to bed very early. But I still need another day, you know? All in all, a truly great weekend 🙂

Have you been to Bath or Bristol before?

Have you been on a hen do before?

What’s your ideal hen do? I like lots of activity-style things, like paintballing and go-karting.

March 14, 2014

What have I done wrong?

I’ve been a little quiet this week. I’m embarrassed to write this post. I absolutely cannot believe it. You can see what’s coming can’t you?

After Reading half marathon I had a bit of pain in my foot which I thought would just go away. I tried running a few days after and it felt sore and stiff. But I thought it was just the aftermath from the race. Anyway I became ill over the weekend and couldn’t run anyway. So my next run was Tuesday night. I got 1.9miles and my ankle was in a lot of pain.

I walked back, falling quickly into a pit of despair. Are you joking? Is this really happening to me again?

Did I do something in a former life to piss someone off? Seriously? Do I deserve this? I’ve done everything I can to ramp things up slowly and to be sensible.

Anyway I just couldn’t blog about it, or talk about it really. I was really really sad. Talk about déjà vu right? I mean in terms of blog content this is getting a bit repetitive.

I saw my physio this morning and he thinks it’s a sprained ligament in my ankle that happened at Reading and with all the adrenaline I wouldn’t have noticed. He’s actually quite positive about it. He said it’s an acute injury that has come on very suddenly and should disappear as quickly.

But ‘quickly’ is all very relative when you have an impending marathon in just over three weeks time. Obviously I won’t be able to run 18 miles this weekend. In fact, I can’t run until next weekend (two weeks before the marathon) – provided that the treatment I had today and next week goes well.

To say I’m panicking and upset is an understatement. But I can’t give up just yet. If I’m running by next weekend – properly with no pain, no discomfort, no issues – then I’m still going to do Paris.

This might be madness. Believe me, I am fully aware of how very undertrained I am at the moment. Not only did I start my training just recovering from an injury, I also missed a significant long run and going forward I will have lost almost three weeks worth of running from another injury.

But if I can run by next weekend I will still have two weeks left (when people normally start tapering, ha!). Obviously I can’t do any sort of significant long run. I can however, get some consistent running in.

I am fully aware that I will not be able to hit any of the time targets I had dreamed of. I have completely stepped down my expectations for Paris now. This race will just be about enjoying the day, the sights, the crowds and finishing. I know I can run a half marathon at 8-8.30mins/mile chatting away without issue. Perhaps I can run a marathon slowly? Yes I might need to walk, yes it will be so very hard but better to do it and get rid of my marathon demons then just give up?

Is this madness?

March 3, 2014March 4, 2014

Reading Half Marathon

Hello lovelies. Well, I am shattered! Ben and me completed the Reading half marathon yesterday and it was great. We survived! Hurrah! Here’s my recap of the race.

It feels crazy that it was only last year I ran this half marathon and it was my first proper race. I trained for like 12 weeks for it. Now it’s part of my marathon training. Honestly, I would never have believed you a year ago if you’d told me that.

Saturday evening we both had a pizza to carb it up and had a nice early night.

My standard chicken, veg and BBQ sauce – hold the cheese

The alarm went off at 6.15am. I quickly walked Alfie, got ready, had breakfast (porridge) and a coffee. My parents and Ben’s mum arrived and we were off to Reading.

I decided to go with my shorts and compression socks again as I felt so comfortable in them and liked the extra support that I find the socks give. But I was a bit chilly and thankful for my parents so I could wear my jacket and then hand it over to them at the last minute.

The race village was cool with a huge inflatable shoe. It was very busy. We saw Tony the Fridge (top right picture) who was running the half marathon with a fridge on his back for charity. What an inspiration!

Then we said goodbye to the parents and headed to our waves. By this point I had had three pees and I would then queue up for another pee in our wave (we had a lot of time). That’s got to be a record for me.

Oh we were so cold waiting to start. It was also fairly late starting. We did the group warm-up and then we waited for another five or so minutes, by which time we were cold again.

Then we were off. I have to say mile one to mile three weren’t great for me. I felt they were a slog. It was very busy with the amount of people but this kept my speed down so I didn’t shoot off which I was pleased about. There’s a huge temptation in the big races to let the excitement get to you but luckily this was not the case. There were a few inclines and I just felt that it was a lot of hard work so soon.

We got into Reading University and I started to get into it. My paces were coming down and I felt comfortable and strong. I grabbed a water from the water station. It might be because I’m a bit slow but I serious issues with these water things. I say ‘things’ because they’re not bottles, they’re like pouches of water. I didn’t really know how to get the water out so squeezed it in my mouth and then got choked by a gush of water. I spent the next 30 seconds almost dying.

I’d say miles four to eight I was happy. I was enjoying the crowds, my music, the bands, the atmosphere. It felt comfortably hard but I was in the racing zone.

I saw the parents at mile seven which was lovely.

Miles nine to the end were when I had to put my head down and push on. I had had a gel at mile eight and was now counting down the miles.

The stretch at mile 11 down the dual carriageway was hard going. The wind was in our faces.

Hilarious side story: a man (I say man because he was at youngest 18, but potentially early twenties) was running alongside me. His family were ahead and cheered him on. His mother (probably in her late 50s) starts running alongside him yelling encouragement at him. This continues for about 30 seconds to a minute. The guy just looks like he wants to die. It was hilarious. I think everyone around thought it was somewhat amusing.

Then that horrible incline into the Madejski Stadium and a great finish into the crowds cheering.

My official time was 1:39:35, 2275th. I’m quite happy with that. My two goals were to beat last year’s time and hopefully to get a sub 1:40. There was no way I could get a PB at my current fitness level and also Reading was never a goal race.

Ben got 1:46:12, 3847th – a PB by six minutes. That boy is on fire!

We went to the lovely Jamie’s Italian for lunch (more on that in another post) after getting changed. Ahh the great joy of getting changed in the back of a car…

Then when we got home I had a lovely hot shower (nothing quite like it after a hard race where you’re freezing afterwards). And then a horrific ice bath.

But with a cup of tea and good reading material it wasn’t so bad…ha.

I think I’m done with Reading now. I’d like to do Silverstone or Bath next year I think. I’ve enjoyed running Reading but it’s not that scenic and when you’ve done it a couple of times it’s sort of done and dusted. I’d definitely recommend it though: great crowd support pretty much all round, very popular so you’re never running alone, brilliant finish in the stadium, nice goodie bag (snacks and cotton T-shirt) and the best medal I’ve had in a while!

Thank you Reading, it’s been great 😉

What did you get up to this weekend?

What’s your favourite half marathon (or race)?

How do you recover from a race? It’s all about food for me, then showering, then ice bathing. Then NOTHING.

February 27, 2014

I am not an injured runner

Hello! Dare I even whisper that things are starting to look a little spring-like around the place? Let’s not mention it…we might scare it away.

My life (and blog) for the past three months has been consumed by my running injury. My knee niggle that stopped me completing my December marathon last year. Stopped me running for the whole of December. And limited my running in January.

[A big thank you for hanging on with me during what was probably a boring and depressing time in terms of content]

But it’s now coming up to the end of February. I have completely a half marathon, ran 15 miles, and gained some of my speed back. And my legs still work.

Yes I ache after a long run. Yes I still get a bit of a niggle and tightness the day after a run. Yes things feel tough and hard and I wonder how the hell I ran that half marathon PB in September last year.

But the tightness disappears. The niggle isn’t there constantly and doesn’t cause me any pain or hinder my running. The speed is coming back, albeit gradually.

My problem these days are psychological. I can’t stop thinking that I’m an injured runner. I can’t stop over-analysing a tightness or a slight twinge. I try not to push too hard in case I do something else to myself. I read every article I see on injuries and injury prevention. I obsess constantly on how are my legs feeling. I poke my legs subconsciously (I kid you not).

I need to get over this. I need to let go and just go for it. I’m not saying I’ll go out and run a 20 miler. I will still be cautious in my mileage build-up. I will still listen to my body when it needs a rest. I will still do my leg strength routine twice a week and core once a week.

But I’m not going to hold myself back from running anymore. In my very gentle, very cautious self-made marathon plan (based loosely on the Bupa beginner one) I had a four mile recovery run planned for Tuesday night.

Ben came home on Monday and said he was going to running club on Tuesday night – the interval session one. The big scary ‘I’ word that my knees tremble at. Ben is completely the opposite to me in running. He is Mr Optimistic. Mr Throw Caution To the Wind. Mr If it Hurts Just Run Through It. So of course he’d be bashing out an interval session two days after a long run.

My legs felt tired on Monday but nothing major. A bit achy, to be expected. So I thought to hell with it. Let’s do this!

On Tuesday night we set off together (aww aren’t we cute?) and met up with the club. One group was going to do a mega hill session and the other group a less hilly interval session (more of a slight gradual incline). I’m not a complete idiot, I went with the less hilly option. I’m ready to get back out there, but I am still being sensible.

And I went for it. I kept up with the lead guys (granted, not the fastest in our club – they were at the really hilly session in a different location) but I was in the lead pack holding strong. 12x just over 300m with 2mins recovery. I reached pace peaks of 5min/miles (VERY briefly)!

With a mile to the club, just under a mile to the interval spot, then over 3k in intervals, and then reverse of the first two miles.

It absolutely killed me. And I felt bloody brilliant.

Have you done something that has made you proud lately?

What are you scared of at the moment? Can you overcome it?

Intervals/HIIT – love or hate?