race - AnnaTheApple

July 5, 2013

Seriously painful

Howdy, howdy guys. Happy Friday. And I forgot to say in my last post, happy 4th July to those celebrating it. Do you know, it’s slightly depressing not celebrating a holiday that 80% of the blog world seem to be enjoying. Just an observation.

It’s been quite a busy week here. On Wednesday night Ben and I went to a great running event called Mile of Miles with our running club (did I mention Ben had joined the running club?? Well, he has…). It was at our local track and it was basically teams of 10 people running a relay.

So each team member would run just one mile. It was a beautiful evening and there were quite a lot of teams and running clubs involved.

I was fairly nervous and not particularly looking forward to it if I’m honest. I don’t tend to enjoy 5ks (3.1miles) so one mile was going to be worse. OK it goes quickly but it’s still painful. In my head I just kept thinking at most it was going to be 8 minutes worth of pain.

I was a little worried about only just being recovered from my previous leg issues. And I was on the fast team! Though the team were lovely and reassured me I didn’t need to go full out and to put my well-being first.

I warmed up and got ready to be tagged in. I was number six and so far our team were flying. Miles ranging from 6.30 minutes to 5.48minutes!!

Then I was off! I could feel my heart beating stupidly fast to begin with as I was so nervous but then I got into it and it honestly felt good. I couldn’t even really look at my Garmin because you literally don’t have time. It’s four laps around the track and I thought this would drag but it zoomed by. And the best part was passing the supporters on each lap.

My running club and team cheered me on loudly and it honestly put fuel to my run.

My mile came in at 6.12 minutes!

The fastest mile I’ve ever done! I was so pleased. And Ben, who was on a different team, got a time of 6.25minutes. My team ran our 10 miles in 1hour 1minute. I mean seriously, that’s pretty impressive!

And how do you celebrate a good race?

Check out my Inspector Gadget coat

By cake. Obviously.

The next day though I knew I hadn’t done my leg any favours. *Sighs* So I took it easy at running club the next evening and then ~~enjoyed~~ endured an ice bath afterwards.

It was painful I’m not going to lie. But it did feel pretty damn good. Perverse, I know.

Afterwards I decided to put my new compression socks on. It was so hard. I just couldn’t seem to get them over my ankle, and then when I struggled away I got the worst case of cramp in my calf that I have ever had. I literally screamed the house down.

Ben ran upstairs wondering what the hell was going on and went to touch me and I screamed at him “Don’t touch me!! Don’t come near me!!” as I feared it would only make things worse. Then Ben started laughing (don’t worry I’m currently filing for a divorce) and said “this will be like childbirth”. I then started laughing, then immediately started yelling at him to stop as all my muscles tightened when I laughed.

God. It went on for ~~hours~~ a good few minutes. And I didn’t even get a baby out of it.

In the end, Ben had to put the socks on for me. It was like that scene from Disney’s Cinderella when the guy is trying to cram the glass slipper on one of the ugly sister’s feet.

Then I slept in the damn things because, seriously, I wanted my ~~money’s~~ pain’s worth out them.

Runners, do you prefer roads, track or trail running? I was pleasantly surprised at how good track running felt. Nice and springy and the laps went quickly. I doubt I could run 10 miles on it. Or even three. Too boring.

Do you get cramp a lot? Thankfully I don’t. And after the other day, I never want it again,

How do you recover after a hard run? I’m all about icing and compressing now.

June 28, 2013

Exciting news!

Morning, morning! And how lovely that it is Friday today. Obviously because it is Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and Glastonbury is it raining. But of course!

And I’m pleased to say I have spent the last five days not running. I mentioned previously that I was going to do some cross training on the elliptical machine at work this week.

This archaic beast is like something out of a very old (and rubbish) alien movie

How long did I slog away on this machine? Exactly six minutes. Not because of any overriding pain or discomfort. Just plain and simple: I was bored to hell and back. Ambitiously I thought I could do 40 minutes (hahaha),but after being on there for two minutes I readjusted to 20 minutes. Four minutes later and I had given up. Jeeze, power to the people who can remain on one of those for a lengthy period of time!! I guess I’m just used to actually going somewhere and taking my mind of the monotony by having the outside world to look at. But each to their own!

Despite that epic fail, I have still been stretching, doing yoga and icing crazy amounts. My leg’s been a lot better. I missed running club last night as I thought that would be too intense as my first run back so I did a fairly easy 3 miles run this morning.

Most days this week I’ve been able to get up at the rather leisurely time of 7am as I haven’t been running. However, this morning I had to get up at 5.30am to fit the run in (and enough time to properly stretch, foam roll and ice after showering). And do you know what? I didn’t even mind! I miss my regular runs so much.

So in my last post I mention I had some exciting news…

I have entered my first marathon!!!! Both Ben and me have signed up to the Portsmouth Coastal Waterside Marathon for this year December 22nd.

I know it’s not London, Paris or Berlin but it’s about 30 minutes from home so the whole family can easily come and ~~pick up the pieces afterwards~~ watch. I always knew I wanted to do a marathon but it was planned for next year (probably a US based one as we’re looking to go there for a holiday).

But I’d been reading this book:

Really good book, loved it!

And honestly I was just itching to get out there and do one. And funnily enough the author, Phil Hewitt, comes from Chichester which is reasonably close to where I live and he got his first ever running trainers from the same shop I got my first ever running trainers (a tedious link, yes I know). And the other week I went there to have a mosey about for some running gear as I was in the area and I saw this massive poster for the Portsmouth Marathon. It was like my stars had aligned. I know this sounds like a ridiculous story but it was honestly just perfect. The book, the shoes, the location, my desperation to do a marathon…everything just pointed to do this.

I quickly checked the dates for the races I’ve got planned in the next few months to make sure I wasn’t being stupid and not giving myself time and it works out. So boom, we signed up. Marathon here we come, baby!

This weekend my uni friends are coming over and I’m so excited to see them. It’s always so great to catch up with them But this means tonight I need to get all the housework done as tomorrow I won’t have time. No rest for the wicked!

Have you done a marathon before? If so, did you enjoy it?

If you haven’t, would you ever?

What are you up to this weekend?

Do you enjoy the elliptical machine? How do you stay motivated?

June 26, 2013

Cake and Recovery

Whew, I feel so much more human after getting some good night’s sleep for the past couple of days.

Honestly, the weekend adventures hugely took it out of me. And, this is going to sound CRAZY coming from me, but I have decided to not jump straight back in to running. My body is literally exhausted. I haven’t done cycling in years so to suddenly jump on a bike and cycle up a ~~mountain~~ large hill is quite a shock to my system. I’m happy to say my previous injury from the other week seems to have disappeared. However I now have a new twinge in the back of my knee but it doesn’t feel that serious. But ice, rest and cake should make things all better.

As annoying as it is, I’m going to take a break from running this week and try using the elliptical machine at work instead. I think I really need to just take some time to allow my leg to fully heal. The Challenge really didn’t help things just after getting better last week. I hate the elliptical but I think I need to do something to stop myself from going mad.

My next race is a 10 mile trail race through the New Forest (beautiful forest in the South of England) on 14th July so I’m hoping this break will be good enough to be better before then.

So speaking of cake…it was my birthday last week and I didn’t really get a chance to go into much detail about how I celebrated. Well I didn’t to be honest. I had the UK Challenge the next day and that went on until Sunday so celebrations were limited. But my amazing mother brought round cake in the evening. People, there is always time for cake.

How pretty is this cake?? It’s gorgeous! My mum isn’t a great baker. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her bake. Ever. I could controversially say I’ve never seen her cook…but I don’t want to incur the wrath of the mothership (love you, Mumsie!!)

But, despite not being Nigella Lawson, my mum knows how to SHOP. And she did good on picking this beauty out. A Waitrose special cake (for those non-UK-based, Waitrose is like the queen of all supermarkets. Maybe just one below M&S Food).

However, the decorative butterflies could not be eaten we quickly found. Very disappointing and slightly nasty to chew. But otherwise, a very tasty jam and buttercream birthday cake sponge.

At work I was also give some very beautiful flowers from my lovely co-workers.

So I felt very spoilt despite having a mid-week birthday with no weekend celebration!

And in the morning (I’m working my way backwards through the day here for some reason…) my husband, Ben, decided to send me on a bit of a treasure hunt around the house. He had printed out lots of different pictures of my favourite clothes shops and running gear shops and restaurants (and hid them all about the place with clues to direct me to them). I could pick and choose what I wanted in terms of spending some money to get some clothes and going somewhere to have a nice meal. There were also little pictures of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and our favourite Indian restaurant so that’s on the horizon too hehe. So lots all my favourite things to look forward to!

From my parents they gave me a Lululemon workout top. SO chuffed. I’ve seen this top all over the Internet I loved the design.

Not sure how much I’ll get to wear this year round due to the weather though! Best get wearing it soon

From my mother-in-law she bought me a Lumie Bodyclock Starter Alarm Clock.

Not hugely necessary at the moment as it’s so light in the morning…but in the winter this will mimic the light of a sunrise and will, supposedly, gradually wake me up just before my alarm. I love being woken up my sunlight in the morning at the moment so this will be great (hopefully!) in the winter when it doesn’t get light until like ~~ever~~ 9ish.

On to some food-related news…stir-fries are back in the game again. Anything where more than half the meal is veg is a winner for me. I’m not sure it even warrants a recipe (basically throw together a load of veg, noodles, chicken and a handful of cashew nuts). But I did make my own sauce and that was pretty tasty.

Lemon Stir-Fry Sauce (serves 2)

2/3 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. flour/corn starch (to thicken it)

So easy, so tasty.

Psst! I’ve got some exciting news which I will divulge soon in my next post!

What’s your favourite stir-fry sauce? I love lemon, but I quite like black bean as well.

What do you like getting for your birthday? I’m not great with surprises so I usually ask for things I’ve seen previously. From Ben I just said surprise me and I was so chuffed he put so much effort into the treasure hunt and in the end letting me choose what I wanted from a predefined list (which he knew I’d love haha).

Do you like being woken up early by the sun? Though it means I can’t sleep in at the weekend I love having the whole day ahead of me and feeling all refreshed.

June 17, 2013

Sushi and Watercress

Hi guys! Hope you had a great weekend and, if you were celebrating Father’s Day, I hope you spoilt your old man rotten. I just want to preface this as well by apologising for being so moany in the past few posts about not being able to run. I realise how melodramatic I’m being.

Ben and I took my dad out for dinner on Friday night. We went for sushi. I haven’t had it in so long. I was quite impressed that both my dad and Ben were happy to go for sushi. My dad’s comment “as long as there’s noodles I’m fine” did make me chuckle.

Two fine looking gentleman if I do say so myself

We left my mum at home as this was purely to treat my dad (if you remember, for Mother’s Day we just took our mums out). I guess that sounds strange but sometimes it’s nice just to fully spoil one parent (unfortunately Ben’s dad lives in Essex so we couldn’t treat him as well). Obviously this meant a lot of Xbox and PlayStation talk and the inevitable football discussions. Fun for me…

We went for the ‘all you can eat’ buffet of sushi, noodles and rice dishes. Honestly I was in heaven. So we began with a few bits and pieces…

Spring rolls (for Ben), chicken pieces (for my dad) and BBQ ribs (for me)

And we had miso soup as well. Maybe it’s just me but I could eat/drink miso soup all day long.

And then came the main…which was never ending.

So much food, so little stomach space. My dad, predictably, ordered his noodles and thoroughly enjoyed them. Ben, surprisingly, partook in some sushi with me. Even salmon sashimi!

Needless to say Anna + buffet = stuffed

Aren’t I catch?

And my dad had a great time. On a slightly mushy note, my dad is brilliant. He has a great sense of humour (sometimes embarrassingly so, especially when we’re in the office) and a big heart. He might kill me for saying this, but seriously he gets teary eyed at the funniest things…X-Factor, sad adverts…And besides from Ben, he’s my number one supporter in running. Come rain or sun, he’ll be there cheering me on and being the biggest ‘soccer mom’ in the world. He’ll listen to me drone on about races and running gear and genuinely seems interested. Big pluses in my book

Saturday I went to support Ben doing his Parkrun. Sensibly I was sitting this one out. I decided to volunteer instead of run it and so I got to look all official and see how it is ‘from the other side’.

I felt very important with my high-vis top and clipboard

I got to stand and cheer as Ben zoomed past.

I called out to him to smile at the camera and he did a brief smile which I caught and then glared at me. Oops

I cheered on everyone who ran past (5 times as it was 5 laps) and I started running out of things to say… “Well done!”, “Keep going!”, “Good job!”, “Dig deep!”…and my hands started hurting from clapping so much. People kept smiling at me so I think it helped!

So I’ve been icing and stretching my leg like it’s been going out of fashion in the hopes I could run on the Sunday 10k race we’d signed up to ages ago (yes, yes I know another one).

Always a big fan of frozen veg!

I was fully prepared to drop out if in the morning there was any pain when I did I tester run up the road and back….

And there was no pain! Woohoo, so I got to run it!

It was in a lovely little town with a load of watercress farms all around it. It was a 5km run out and then 5km run back on the same route.

I felt very nervous because of my leg. I don’t believe it’s 100% back to normal as I could still feel a bit of discomfort so I took this race easy. I ran with Ben and it was great as I’ve never ran a proper race with him before. It was tempting to run off but I was sensible and just enjoyed a nice, scenic run. Up several nasty hills!

It was really nice to run a race with no pressures and just enjoy it – hell, it was just nice to run again!! Though I did wonder how fast I could have done it if I was 100% Anna again…probably not very fast considering the hills!

I even managed to take some photos during the race! You can see the people on the other side of the road heading back. The guy in the lead was SUPER fast. He must have been doing around 5-6mins/mile. Very impressive.

Along with our medals, we got a free bag of local watercress! Such a great idea

I was quite jealous speaking to the guys from our running club and nearby clubs who we always see at these races and how they got on. One of them runs around my speed and did make me a bit jealous to hear how he got on. But enough of that nonsense!

And on getting back I promptly did all my stretches like a trooper and then got the frozen veg out of freezer and fully numbed my leg. It ached a bit but absolutely no pain while running or afterwards. Hurrah! So I have another appointment with the physio tomorrow to ensure it’s all good and then hopefully I’ll be easing back up to my usual mileage and runs. Though this was my last 10k for a while.

Things I’ve learnt:

– Don’t think you’re invincible. You’re not. I have certainly been taking too many risks and thinking I’m above silly little things like injuries.

– Stretch. Stretch before running, stretch after running. And then stretch some more.

– Do more weight training. I don’t do enough for the amount of running I do.

– Don’t be annoyingly miserable when I get a (let’s be honest) very minor injury which stops me running just ONE WEEK.

– Don’t do consecutive races. Doing a Parkrun and 10k every weekend is a recipe for disaster.

But like I said, that was my last 10k race. I’ll be back to my usual runs now until my next race which is mid July. A month of normal running will be really good for me. My next races are more my style as well. Longer and slower. The next race is a 10 miler and then we’re doing a half marathon in August. So for now it’s all about easy, slow long runs. My favourite

How was your weekend?

Did you do anything for Father’s Day?

What do you prefer: short and fast races or long and slow?

If you like sushi, what’s your favourite dish?

June 10, 2013

A weekend of PBs

And just like that the weekend is over. I hope you’re all rested and fresh ready for the week! I’m not going to lie, I feel a bit tired and could do with another day off… I had a great weekend of races (casual Parkrun on Saturday and a 10k on Sunday).

For Saturday, I really wanted to push myself and see what I could do on the Parkrun 5k. I felt like I’d had a good week of running and was ready to go. As always, I was nervous in the morning. What was nice was that two friends of ours decided to see what Parkrun was all about so met us down there. It helped ease the nerves to chat to them beforehand.

It was the flatter of the two courses this week, which meant five times around the below field:

As excitement goes, this scores pretty low. Oh sure it’s nice to be off road, but seriously FIVE times around a field. I also massively panicked that I would forget how many laps I’d be on as I went round as you have to count yourself (not that I expected anyone else really to do it for me…!)

And so we were off. The first mile I felt strong and speedy (though a zillion men passed me, even a small child – now there’s a motivation killer for you). I was the second female and kept the first in my sights. As I ran I got cheered on by a marshal who yelled at me “go first girl”. I knew I was not first girl. I thought, this is awkward. I sort of smiled and pushed on. In my head I found it good motivation to try and be first girl, purely to get over the awkwardness (6.41mins/mile).

Second mile was tough. On the course there’s a tiny but steep incline. It lasts all of 5 seconds, but it feels like a mountain. I was counting on my hands how many laps I’ve done s honestly I’d have been lost doing it in my head (6.53mins/mile).

Third mile and it’s still tough. The end was in sight though. On the last lap you then do half a lap to get to the finish. I checked as I ran past a marshal that I was indeed going to the finish now. He laughed at me and said yes. No way could I have gone on anyway (6.53mins/mile).

After finishing I promptly collapse onto the grass and chill for a bit. My official time 20.26 (PB!) and first female. Ben also nabbed a PB as well. He’s just getting better and better, which obviously I’m over the moon about!

Afterwards I ran home at a very easy pace (for me) to just stretch my legs afterwards. It was such a sunny day and I was in such a good mood I just needed to carry on. I know that might sound mad, but when a run calls I answer!

I was quite happy to run at a much slower pace. It felt so good to just chill and enjoy the running high.

Sunday was a 10k in Portsmouth. Usually my mum and mother-in-law like to come watch us as it’s a nice trip out for everyone in the lovely weather. But they went to church instead so my dad joined to cheer us on.

As soon as we got there we knew this was a race full of serious runners. Last week’s beer and cake run looked like a picnic in the park in comparison. It started on a track and as we picked up our bib numbers there were already a number of zooming around the track warming up.

People were looking all intense and serious. Ack.

As we crowded to the finish line I saw this girl who literally looked like an athlete. Pure muscle. She was chatting to her friend and I overheard her say “I went pretty hard yesterday so today I’m just aiming for a 39”. Seeeriously? I dramatically lowered my expectation quite quickly then.

As we started I knew that our first impressions were correct. Ah well, they can’t all be just jollies round the countryside can they?

The course was quite flat and ran alongside a stretch of water. I was annoyed because I couldn’t wear my music as it was strictly forbidden.

I like to have music at tough time to take my mind of things. But the sound of my breathing would have to be entertainment enough. Ho hum.

It was two laps and as you run out to the water you’re head first straight into the wind. Fun. But on the way back it was like we were flying. Pft, 7mins/mile pace? This is easy (said no one ever). It wasn’t easy, just easier. BIG difference.

I distinctly remember thinking “This is horrible. I want to go home. Why do I do this?” about four times ~~a minute~~.

On mile 3 I started running alongside a man and it was one of those awkward situations where you’ve found you’re running the same steady pace and can’t get away. But it was nice as we then started chatting to each other (not a full on conversation, let’s be realistic here; we’re both puffed out). Then he increased his pace and headed off.

The finish was on the track again and as I headed back I felt pretty happy. My Garmin said 5.9miles so I knew the end was in sight. As I turned round the corner to get towards the finish I realised my error.

I didn’t realise we’d still have to run round the track. And you can see the clock. Nothing like a bit of pressure.

But I made it, hurrah! My Garmin time was 43.16mins. I do believe this is a PB, by around 15seconds (I’m comparing to the Marwell 10k not the Moors Valley 10k where I got a faster time as the Moors Valley was a shorter course and less formal a race).

I was shattered though afterwards. Absolutely knackered. I laid down for a little bit on the grass while I waited for Ben and honestly could have stayed there for hours.

Ben beat his PB as well by getting 51.47. PBs all round!

You might have noticed running seems to have taken over my life currently. It’s a shrewd observation and you’ll be 100% correct. I’ve always loved running but since doing these races it’s like I’ve awakened an insatiable beast that can’t be satisfied. I’ve never given birth but I’ve heard people describe running and races like childbirth. At the time it is painful and horrific and you wonder why the hell you signed up for it. But afterwards it’s like you’ve forgotten everything that happened before. You can’t believe you didn’t do it sooner, or more often.

One of the most inspiring things I saw this weekend was watching a woman cross the finish line. Her face as she ran towards the line was a face of absolute pain, agony and hatred. I thought she was either going to cry, scream or punch someone. But, as soon as she crossed the finish line her face transformed within seconds to a face of absolute happiness and joy. Her eyes lit up and the smile across her face couldn’t have been bigger.

That to me is one of the reasons I love running. It hurts, it sucks, it’s hard, it’s tough. But when you cross that finish line, it’s like the best thing in the entire world. It’s like you’ve won the lottery.

How was your weekend?

If you run/workout, why do you do it? What pleasure do you get from it?

Do you like to run with music or without? Running is tough mentally as well as physically and sometimes I really need the music to take my mind of things and occupy my thoughts.

What do you prefer, informal smaller races or more intense and popular races? I like both. But I like to know what’s coming before I get there so I can mentally prepare!