Saturday 26th May - the day before the 10k race at the zoo. It's hot hot hot! (27-30c) A few jobs completed around the house and lots of carbs scoffed for the following day. I really wanted to get out and run and was feeling moody because of it. Seeing people out there in their running kit, jogging along. I want to be out there with them. Sigh. Is this what an addict feels like? Come on, I want it to be Sunday already....
Saturday 27th May - I'm awake long before the alarm. Kids and husband snoozing away whilst I scoff breakfast and head out the door with all my kit and number to Whipsnade Zoo. It's already hot (28c) and it's 8am. I start worrying about heat stroke and how hard it's going to be running in this heat. In all my worrying I forget to warm up properly and start the race feeling stiff. The one race I want to do really well in and I forget my warm up. One lap completed and I feel okay. Not feeling to hot and the hills I dreaded last year are feeling rather easy. Lap two, the heat is starting to feel uncomfortable and the fatigue in my legs is increasing so I concentrate on my running form to keep my mind of the ache in the muscles, it works, lap two flies by. Lap three, the heat has really kicked in now, the hills still feel easy but coming up to the finish I don't feel right. Instead of pushing myself I ease of. I still did a fantastic time compared to last year - 58 mins compared to 1 hour 12 mins. As the chip was being taken of the dizziness kicked in - to much heat, to much effort, not enough sweat to cool me down. If I don't do something fast heat stroke will be next. A quick collection of the medal, goodie bag and a jog to some shade. I get the water bottle and drown myself, covering as much bare skin with water as possible. Thankfully there's a cool breeze and the cooling effect works. Phew! I really did not want another sit down in an ambulance again.
Lesson of the day..... if you have you're own drinks on a hot day, take the water on offer and use it as extra cooling for your skin.
Then, to add a little cool down session to the day I helped my son around the 2k kids fun run. For a 5 year old who doesn't run competitively he did very well completing the course in 15 minutes. My daughter at 11 years old raced of and completed the course in 13 minutes. Athletes in training, haha. The medals and goodie bags afterwards were of course a great incentive for them.
A few lessons learnt today. I'm hoping that the rest of the races for the year will not be as hot as that one.
Next weekend has no race booked so it may be a training run for the half marathon the following week.
119.6k of races completed so far - another 200k to go. I'm also making my personal challenge of 200 miles of races a fund raiser for various charities. virginmoneygiving.com/hels205
TTFN
Hels
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Too busy to post on my blog!
I start a blog about keeping motivated to keep running and improving. I then loose track of my progress because I'm suddenly improving. Not just by a little but LOTS! Where has this energy, this superhuman effort come from?
An example of the change since March this year. Leighton 10k was completed in 1 hour 10 minutes. A similar 10k run with what I would consider more difficult terrain and more hills was the Milton Keynes Race for Life on 19th May which I completed in 56 minutes. Now if someone had said to me in March that I would not only beat my personal best time but also smash it by a whole 3 minutes I would have been rolling around on the flooring laughing like crazy. Call me amazed!
How did I get to this crazy increase in timings for 10k?
Getting to the doctors and assessing my health. Once I did that I knew what my limits were and either got medication to help it or changed my diet to improve my overall health.
Hills - yes hills!! I find hills amazingly difficult. A few steps up a steep hill and I'm gasping for air, my legs are screaming for oxygen and my stamina is sitting at the bottom of the hill tutting at me for even thinking I could attempt such an obstacle! So instead of avoiding them I make sure I include a good hill or two. So far I've had no choice for training runs, it's been all races in May!
Warm up Warm up Warm up! Sounds utterly wrong to make sure you are warmed up, flexed up and fighting fit before you start a long run doesn't it? I'm completely converted. Get yourself warmed up, jog until your breathing is even and you feel warmed through. Dynamic stretching - no standing still for this one - get a good dance routine going, move your arms, your legs. Look like a spider having a fit and get all you limbs ready to rock and roll. First few times I did this the race felt more difficult. But now..... 56 minutes! Improved 10k time by 14 minutes. That's got to be good news. No stitches, no aching, no cramp, no pulled muscles - I felt good, strong and FIT FIT FIT!
Lastly - Core muscles. I've made a conscious effort to get my core muscles strong this year. No ignoring those boring plank exercises. Yoga or a good physio can point anyone in the right direction for what type of training you need. Everyone's different so I'm not even going to bother posting what I do here. Find out whats right for you. Bad back, sore shoulders, bad knees - they're all a knock on effect of bad core muscles. The exercises take determination to keep up but the benefits are amazing.
So what was my last race? Bedford 6 - 6 miles of fairly flat pathways around a country lake park. A lovely evening with fellow runners yet again. How did I do? Well not more than 10 meters from the start point I fell and gave my knees and hands a good gravel rash. Did I stop? Hell no! A quick joke about how I didn't need to demonstrate how to fall over to veteran runners and I was back on my feet and targeting person after person in front of me to get another personal best time. 56 minutes for 6 miles. A little short of 10k but I'm proud of that time considering how I looked by the end of it. Thank you to St John Ambulance who helped plaster me up afterwards.
Next race - Whipsnade Zoo 10k with the kids running 2k after the main race. Rock on! Even with bruised knees I'm ready for another run.
TTFN
Helen.
An example of the change since March this year. Leighton 10k was completed in 1 hour 10 minutes. A similar 10k run with what I would consider more difficult terrain and more hills was the Milton Keynes Race for Life on 19th May which I completed in 56 minutes. Now if someone had said to me in March that I would not only beat my personal best time but also smash it by a whole 3 minutes I would have been rolling around on the flooring laughing like crazy. Call me amazed!
How did I get to this crazy increase in timings for 10k?
Getting to the doctors and assessing my health. Once I did that I knew what my limits were and either got medication to help it or changed my diet to improve my overall health.
Hills - yes hills!! I find hills amazingly difficult. A few steps up a steep hill and I'm gasping for air, my legs are screaming for oxygen and my stamina is sitting at the bottom of the hill tutting at me for even thinking I could attempt such an obstacle! So instead of avoiding them I make sure I include a good hill or two. So far I've had no choice for training runs, it's been all races in May!
Warm up Warm up Warm up! Sounds utterly wrong to make sure you are warmed up, flexed up and fighting fit before you start a long run doesn't it? I'm completely converted. Get yourself warmed up, jog until your breathing is even and you feel warmed through. Dynamic stretching - no standing still for this one - get a good dance routine going, move your arms, your legs. Look like a spider having a fit and get all you limbs ready to rock and roll. First few times I did this the race felt more difficult. But now..... 56 minutes! Improved 10k time by 14 minutes. That's got to be good news. No stitches, no aching, no cramp, no pulled muscles - I felt good, strong and FIT FIT FIT!
Lastly - Core muscles. I've made a conscious effort to get my core muscles strong this year. No ignoring those boring plank exercises. Yoga or a good physio can point anyone in the right direction for what type of training you need. Everyone's different so I'm not even going to bother posting what I do here. Find out whats right for you. Bad back, sore shoulders, bad knees - they're all a knock on effect of bad core muscles. The exercises take determination to keep up but the benefits are amazing.
So what was my last race? Bedford 6 - 6 miles of fairly flat pathways around a country lake park. A lovely evening with fellow runners yet again. How did I do? Well not more than 10 meters from the start point I fell and gave my knees and hands a good gravel rash. Did I stop? Hell no! A quick joke about how I didn't need to demonstrate how to fall over to veteran runners and I was back on my feet and targeting person after person in front of me to get another personal best time. 56 minutes for 6 miles. A little short of 10k but I'm proud of that time considering how I looked by the end of it. Thank you to St John Ambulance who helped plaster me up afterwards.
Next race - Whipsnade Zoo 10k with the kids running 2k after the main race. Rock on! Even with bruised knees I'm ready for another run.
TTFN
Helen.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Longer route version 2
After the rather successful long run Tuesday I thought I would plot a slightly longer run today. Plus I was kitted out for heavy rain which never appeared??
This route is a keeper, a nice 1k warm up on a slight downhill followed by 2k constant uphill, some bits quite steep. The hills don't stop there though, after you reach the top it's then up and down for another 2k then you get a gradual downhill for 3k. To finish of a rather flat 4-5k with a couple little hills to climb. 12.5k in 1hr 33mins. I felt very good too. No sore knees, my feet felt good and even now, ready for bed I feel good about the run.
I'm amazed I've kicked out this much mileage this week. Even with the drenching I got last week! Even better is my pace, it seems to be improving each time I'm out running. Struggling to get below 8mins per kilometre just a month ago, I'm now 7.2 mins per kilometre.
The core muscle workouts every morning seem to be helping much more than I expected. They're only 30 mins worth but the benefits I'm reaping from them are awesome. No knee pain, no back pain, easier breathing - rather surprising what's happening.
Next run will be the Flitwick 10k. Fingers crossed my time will be much better than last year!
TTFN
Hels
This route is a keeper, a nice 1k warm up on a slight downhill followed by 2k constant uphill, some bits quite steep. The hills don't stop there though, after you reach the top it's then up and down for another 2k then you get a gradual downhill for 3k. To finish of a rather flat 4-5k with a couple little hills to climb. 12.5k in 1hr 33mins. I felt very good too. No sore knees, my feet felt good and even now, ready for bed I feel good about the run.
I'm amazed I've kicked out this much mileage this week. Even with the drenching I got last week! Even better is my pace, it seems to be improving each time I'm out running. Struggling to get below 8mins per kilometre just a month ago, I'm now 7.2 mins per kilometre.
The core muscle workouts every morning seem to be helping much more than I expected. They're only 30 mins worth but the benefits I'm reaping from them are awesome. No knee pain, no back pain, easier breathing - rather surprising what's happening.
Next run will be the Flitwick 10k. Fingers crossed my time will be much better than last year!
TTFN
Hels
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Trying out a long route
You know how far you want to run but you're not sure how long it's going to take you - so what do you do?
I wanted to manage a longer than 10k route to help with half marathon training. So I thought a good run thats over 12k should do it. I took my average pace over my last few training runs and worked out long it would take to run 12k. It was about one hour twenty minutes.
How did it go?
So there I was again, last week I was unprepared for the rain, this week I was kitted up for it. Just before leaving work the weather was appalling! Heavy rain, high winds and one very dark sky. But, as I left the car and headed out on my selected route the sun came out and it was lovely all the way up to 1k left to run, that's when the heavens opened and tried to drench me yet again!
The route I took was mainly uphill from the start for at least 5k then headed back towards where I started from with occasional downhill & uphill sessions. By 10k I was feeling very chuffed with myself. My feet were a little sore, my left knee was only just starting to niggle but otherwise I felt like I could carry on for another loop. Good thing the kids needed picking up and deffo good thing I got rained on at the finish or I would have been very tempted!
So how did I do? 11.6k in 1hr 26mins. Not to shabby for a relaxed run, I wasn't pushing for speed, just the hills and mileage was important to me and I was very close to my estimate for 12k.
Rest day tomorrow, although...... This is one of those - don't push yourself to hard to soon moments, isn't it?
TTFN
Hels
I wanted to manage a longer than 10k route to help with half marathon training. So I thought a good run thats over 12k should do it. I took my average pace over my last few training runs and worked out long it would take to run 12k. It was about one hour twenty minutes.
How did it go?
So there I was again, last week I was unprepared for the rain, this week I was kitted up for it. Just before leaving work the weather was appalling! Heavy rain, high winds and one very dark sky. But, as I left the car and headed out on my selected route the sun came out and it was lovely all the way up to 1k left to run, that's when the heavens opened and tried to drench me yet again!
The route I took was mainly uphill from the start for at least 5k then headed back towards where I started from with occasional downhill & uphill sessions. By 10k I was feeling very chuffed with myself. My feet were a little sore, my left knee was only just starting to niggle but otherwise I felt like I could carry on for another loop. Good thing the kids needed picking up and deffo good thing I got rained on at the finish or I would have been very tempted!
So how did I do? 11.6k in 1hr 26mins. Not to shabby for a relaxed run, I wasn't pushing for speed, just the hills and mileage was important to me and I was very close to my estimate for 12k.
Rest day tomorrow, although...... This is one of those - don't push yourself to hard to soon moments, isn't it?
TTFN
Hels
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Delapre Abbey 10k - so far so good!
After no run Friday or Saturday I was itching for a run today. I had kept up the core muscle exercises but no runs. A part of me really missed the regular run. The other part of me gave me a good slap to say I need some rest days! Ha ha!
Today was the Delapre Abbey 10k by Ultra Go Beyond events. The last time I went to one of their events I was running through parts of Irchester Forest I had never seen before and I've been there a number of times with the family. As the last event with them was so thoroughly entertaining and utterly tough I was looking forward to today knowing it wouldn't be a road race but a mixture of path's and field. So how did it go?
The morning started with drizzle. Driving to Northampton, the windscreen wipers were on all the way. I had towels and a complete change of clothes. After the soaking I had this week I was determined not to repeat the mistake of being unprepared.
I arrived in good time to pick up my T-shirt and chip. Topped up on High5 Zero then did a quick warm up jog to the start line. It was good to see Shon there. The last race I saw him at it was a 5k at Woburn Abbey and
We all started in stages, 10k first followed by half marathon then marathon.
I found the first lap fairly easy, I kept my pace even and not to fast knowing that I'd have to repeat this lap another 2 times. Repeating the lap felt pretty tough, its been a while since I ran in mud and soft grass and even though my legs and lungs felt good my ankles were feeling a bit rough. Lap 1 was a loop around the lake and back to the house, a shorter lap than the following 2 laps. Lap 2 went around the lake like the first lap and then out into the field in front of the main house. Lap 3, a repeat of lap 2, was thankfully helped along by a very friendly and entertaining fella. We had a very similar pace and we kept each other going for most of the first part of lap 3. In the second half of lap 3 this guy kept the encouragement coming that I pushed myself much harder than I would have done if I was running by myself. A huge thank you to this guy, I beat my last 10k PB this year by a whopping whole 3 minutes!!
After spending so much time running this week and getting such a good result this weekend I am planning to make sure I get lots of good runs in this week for the Ampthill Flitwick Flyers 10k next weekend. It will be the third time going round this course and I am totally looking forward to it.
TTFN
Hels
Today was the Delapre Abbey 10k by Ultra Go Beyond events. The last time I went to one of their events I was running through parts of Irchester Forest I had never seen before and I've been there a number of times with the family. As the last event with them was so thoroughly entertaining and utterly tough I was looking forward to today knowing it wouldn't be a road race but a mixture of path's and field. So how did it go?
The morning started with drizzle. Driving to Northampton, the windscreen wipers were on all the way. I had towels and a complete change of clothes. After the soaking I had this week I was determined not to repeat the mistake of being unprepared.
I arrived in good time to pick up my T-shirt and chip. Topped up on High5 Zero then did a quick warm up jog to the start line. It was good to see Shon there. The last race I saw him at it was a 5k at Woburn Abbey and
We all started in stages, 10k first followed by half marathon then marathon.
I found the first lap fairly easy, I kept my pace even and not to fast knowing that I'd have to repeat this lap another 2 times. Repeating the lap felt pretty tough, its been a while since I ran in mud and soft grass and even though my legs and lungs felt good my ankles were feeling a bit rough. Lap 1 was a loop around the lake and back to the house, a shorter lap than the following 2 laps. Lap 2 went around the lake like the first lap and then out into the field in front of the main house. Lap 3, a repeat of lap 2, was thankfully helped along by a very friendly and entertaining fella. We had a very similar pace and we kept each other going for most of the first part of lap 3. In the second half of lap 3 this guy kept the encouragement coming that I pushed myself much harder than I would have done if I was running by myself. A huge thank you to this guy, I beat my last 10k PB this year by a whopping whole 3 minutes!!
After spending so much time running this week and getting such a good result this weekend I am planning to make sure I get lots of good runs in this week for the Ampthill Flitwick Flyers 10k next weekend. It will be the third time going round this course and I am totally looking forward to it.
TTFN
Hels
Thursday, 5 April 2012
3 Days in a Row
Was it a good idea?
I went for a good run Tuesday (in the rain!). The club handicap Wednesday night and now this afternoon. A even paced 5k.
I should have felt rough but no, I didn't. I felt good. In the groove. My feet felt a little sore but this was no hard run so it was easy for them. When 5k came up I must admit I was a little shocked. That's it? I was expecting further.
After booking the half marathon events this morning and thinking I'm just throwing money away, I am now starting to think maybe I can do it. My body is obviously getting what it needs (finally) to get me from a to b. Plus downloading my fears, excuses, rants to this blog I can clearly see for myself how much I have been holding myself back. More mental than physical hang ups.
I never thought a running diary would help me run further but when you're making excuses for your body and it's not a physical thing that's holding you back a running diary is the perfect friend to rant to. Plus other peeps can read this and probably see, they're not alone, we may be different in our own right but sometime we suffer the same problems and it's nice to know someone else out there is working through that same problem.
TTFN
Hels
I went for a good run Tuesday (in the rain!). The club handicap Wednesday night and now this afternoon. A even paced 5k.
I should have felt rough but no, I didn't. I felt good. In the groove. My feet felt a little sore but this was no hard run so it was easy for them. When 5k came up I must admit I was a little shocked. That's it? I was expecting further.
After booking the half marathon events this morning and thinking I'm just throwing money away, I am now starting to think maybe I can do it. My body is obviously getting what it needs (finally) to get me from a to b. Plus downloading my fears, excuses, rants to this blog I can clearly see for myself how much I have been holding myself back. More mental than physical hang ups.
I never thought a running diary would help me run further but when you're making excuses for your body and it's not a physical thing that's holding you back a running diary is the perfect friend to rant to. Plus other peeps can read this and probably see, they're not alone, we may be different in our own right but sometime we suffer the same problems and it's nice to know someone else out there is working through that same problem.
TTFN
Hels
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
To much to soon - overdoing it!
I've been out and run again this evening. Tonight it was my clubs handicap race, came in 2nd from last but boy did I feel good pushing myself.
Afterwards I felt so good I took a gentle jog home the long way round. My feet feel a little punished for the extra mileage this week and then it hits me. I've gone from hardly any mileage each week to over 20k from Sunday, no wonder my feet are feeling a little over used.
So do I pull back a little and let the recovery take hold or is that another excuse not to run? My running mojo is working well this week and I'm even contemplating signing up for a half marathon in June. A couple weeks ago that would have been a total nono!
What's happening here? What am I scared of?
Overdoing it
Injury
Stress
Home/kids/husband balance
Am I making excuses to fail yet again before my body has even hinted that it can't cope?
Questions, questions....
Well. I'm not a fast runner. I'm not even in the middle pack when I enter these races. So what if I get the chance to do lots of runs this week. I feel good.
Okay so after hashing it out on this blog it's a fear thing, an excuse thing that's saying I will fail if I push to hard. So what do I do about it?
Plan 1 - ease back a little. Sign up for a half marathon and make sure I keep my core muscles in check to prevent injury.
Plan 2 - ease back a little. Don't sign up for the marathon yet!
Plan 3 - keep going while I can, it's not going to last so get those miles in now now now..... Hmmm a bit over the top eh!
Plan 1 to begin with. I don't have to run the half marathon if I'm not up to it at the time of the race. Yeah, that feels good.
TTFN
Hels
Afterwards I felt so good I took a gentle jog home the long way round. My feet feel a little punished for the extra mileage this week and then it hits me. I've gone from hardly any mileage each week to over 20k from Sunday, no wonder my feet are feeling a little over used.
So do I pull back a little and let the recovery take hold or is that another excuse not to run? My running mojo is working well this week and I'm even contemplating signing up for a half marathon in June. A couple weeks ago that would have been a total nono!
What's happening here? What am I scared of?
Overdoing it
Injury
Stress
Home/kids/husband balance
Am I making excuses to fail yet again before my body has even hinted that it can't cope?
Questions, questions....
Well. I'm not a fast runner. I'm not even in the middle pack when I enter these races. So what if I get the chance to do lots of runs this week. I feel good.
Okay so after hashing it out on this blog it's a fear thing, an excuse thing that's saying I will fail if I push to hard. So what do I do about it?
Plan 1 - ease back a little. Sign up for a half marathon and make sure I keep my core muscles in check to prevent injury.
Plan 2 - ease back a little. Don't sign up for the marathon yet!
Plan 3 - keep going while I can, it's not going to last so get those miles in now now now..... Hmmm a bit over the top eh!
Plan 1 to begin with. I don't have to run the half marathon if I'm not up to it at the time of the race. Yeah, that feels good.
TTFN
Hels
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