Long run nerves

This week's long run is 12 miles: now that's still a mile and a bit short of the half marathon I am SUPPOSED to be running in nine days but it slightly terrifies me! I feel like I'm so slow that I'll just collapse halfway and give up and catch the bus. I think my mojo has really deserted me in the last couple of week (and proper Marathon nerves are starting to kick in the more people I tell about it). 

I know my aim is just to finish both, but I'd like to do them without actually coming last or the courses closing ... Manchester closes after 6 hours, and if you haven't passed a certain point they won't let you complete because there are no pavements for part of the course and it isn't safe. 

I also feel like I'm taking millions of steps backwards given that I don't seem to be able to run for even a mile any more: now I don't know if that's because I'm a bit nackered from the whole increased mileage. It will be interesting to see how tomorrow goes, although I've still had a mad week of singing to contend with and I'm never sure how much that contributes to being whacked out.

Bunnies have been cheering me up a bit, being mad and getting covered in curry that they licked off my plate (one of them is white, or rather now orange). Really hoping my mojo is going to come back soon, but I have some eggs for a pre-run brekkie tomorrow, and going to have to try the whole re-fuelling business as well en route! Plan is for a banana, and marmalade sarnies to go in my backpack with my powerade and emergency bus fares ... fingers crossed.

I think I have an evil twin sister ...

... unfortunately she happens to be me.

There seem to be two Mousies ... the first one goes to the gym and accidentally stomps out a PB by running for 40 mins, runs up hills, never misses a session (and has a perfect Febulous score) and does it all whilst feeling happy that clothes are starting to fit better and she's not had a cold for a while despite being surrounded by germs. 

Unfortunately the second would rather be on the sofa, pulls out confusingly pathetic attempts at dreadmill running, curls up under her duvet and would rather watch iplayer and eat pancakes.

Second one seemed to hold sway today. I meant to do 55 mins + cool down and end up doing just under 40 without (and apparently only 4.5k too which feels a bit wrong).  Did a few pushes to 8kph but was mostly sitting around 7/7.5 (or walking) and generally feeling a bit down in the dumps about the whole business. I was also getting mightily depressed by the wonderfully thin people bouncing around like gazelles at about twice the speed and barely breaking a sweat. And even a less-gazelle-like person was managing far better. 

Some weeks I just don't feel like I'm making any improvement at all: not getting faster, OK doing longer runs (but to the detriment of the rest of the week's exercise), not really losing inches/weight/clothing fitting better. It's so hard not to feel gloomy about the whole business. 

Doesn't help that (apart from the amazing peeps at Good Run Wall) most of my friends just think I'm nuts. Well I guess I am but surely it should feel like a good nuts not a 'lock her away for ever' nuts. Today was also a bit of a gloomy day because my contract got extended for another 2 months: which does mean pennies will be coming in for a bit longer (for which I am very grateful - don't get me wrong) but I had psyched myself up for really blasting the thesis and finally getting to mostly not work with my pathetic colleague - and in fact therefore remembering what a nice person they actually are when you don't in fact have to work with them.

Not bothering to put up stats cos frankly they are pretty pathetic.

UPDATE: By popular request Stats

Niggles

So this week had been a week of niggles: first the blisters, then twisting my ankle, and now I seem to have wrenched something in my calf (hopefully only a temporary situation). I guess it's not been the best week for my mojo either - with each run I've done being quite tough mentally. I know people always get bad days occasionally - and bad weeks - but I do sometimes feel I'm fighting more than I should have to. When is the runners' elation going to kick in!

After taking some extra rest days to let the blisters clear up a bit, I went out for a run between work and choir on Wednesday in place of my (normal?) cross-training session - I had been planning to go to the gym but one of my colleagues decided to have an 'idiot' day and I didn't have time and the only option was to pootle around some roads. 1/4 mile in I was crossing a street, and fell/wobbled down a pothole in the pedestrian crossing nearly twisting my ankle but I did feel like I could carry on. A slow 3.5 miles later I was back in time for a quick orange juice before choir.

Thursday I rested again, and left my ankle strapped up, and then yesterday I went out for my LSR. I'd planned the route in advance to head down to the tea shop in Cramond (from where I could get a bus back to the city centre after all). I could quite easily have thrown in the towel after about a mile and a half - and my ankle was being more niggly again. Somehow dragged myself slowly around my planned route, although had a couple of tearful moments and even more 'should I just get on a bus' moments. The thought of giving up and this week being a complete disaster kept me going - and was thinking about cake at the end of the run. 

So today should have been a nice recovery run, which I planned to do at the gym, after a wee cycle. Well the cycle bit went ok - but I'd had a bit of a twinge in my calf which I must have pulled a bit walking up towards the gym (it is pretty much uphill all the way - gotta love Edinburgh). Needless to say once I got on the dreadmill I didn't want to do much other than get straight off it! Going to see how it all feels after work and whether I feel like going out on the roads for half an hour to at least get a proper run in for the day.

Consoling myself with chocolate milk :-(

Stats from LSR

Owwwwwwww

Well today's run was PAINFUL: joints were aching and blisters are still playing up a bit - or rather one of them was. Both my hips were giving me gyp and my right leg was pretty stiff all the way up. Not sure the whole 'recovery run' principle is working for me! Maybe I should do some cross training to recover from long runs instead (or perhaps this was just a bad week). 

Possibly wasn't helped by the fact I decided to try some bursts of speed - definitely think sessions should be reserved for my runs in the early part of the week not for post-long-run days. Lesson learned! 

I haven't quite got up to the 20 miles in a week mark (short by 3/4 of a mile) but should break that milestone next week ... so I suspect the fact my mileage is increasing quite steadily is making my poor bones ache a bit more because of that. Who knows what next week will bring.

Stats from Garmin Connect

Chinese ...

I'm know that the whole 'treats for running' can easily get out of hand: but after running 8 miles today, I really felt like I deserved one (and I'd only had toast and malt loaf earlier in the day). Ordered myself a nice chinese and have just finished scoffing my banana fritters. Finally feeling a bit more human after feeling a bit queasy earlier ... perhaps a long soak in the tub also helped!

Blisters were feeling OK until about mile 2 when they started to niggle - but actually nothing I couldn't handle, and they certainly didn't get any worse. As I passed by the Forth again today, I might have been tempted to go for a nice refreshing paddle if it hadn't been for both lack of towel and the gaping holes in my feet. I know salt water is usually good for these things, but never sure what else is in the water down there!

The distance increase (from 6 miles last week) didn't hurt as much as I was expecting it too: legs were less leaden than than they had been last week - and it was pretty much the same last 3 miles (all uphill!) so I guess this is an improvement. Was definitely glad to finish when I did, but I'm hoping that this will be the same case when I push up to 10 miles next week ... and also hoping that the recovery run tomorrow won't hurt too much (my feet if nothing else!).

Emailed my stats from GRG to Grandad (so he doesn't see the Marathon training bit) ... hope he's pleased! But Garmin ones are linked below

Stats from Garmin Connect

All a matter of perspective ...

Today I was rather disappointed with my run - I only did 3.75 miles in 55 mins and walked a hell of a lot of the way - which was rather disheartening considering I should have been doing 5 miles. Then something in my brain went ping and I thought about it again. 3.75 miles is pretty much 6km ... now less than a year ago my ultimate aim for my running was to be able to complete 5km at all during a week, never mind as one of my training runs. 

I was suffering horribly still from accumulated (and compound) blisters picked up in the gym yesterday and feeling rather nackered from a rather active day. And yet I still dragged my arse out of my door, covered in lycra, and spent an hour trying to run - so the fact that I managed any running at all is a little bit of a triumph over mother nature. OK, I wasn't going to break any records (even my own), but I got out of the door on a cold day and I went for my run. I can log it in Febulous (and not let down the Good Run Wall team's Jantastic score).

So even if today did mean there was a lot of walking, and even if I am slightly down on my planned milage for my week (although I may be revising this anyway to an hour's run rather than specific miles) - I can be proud that I put those trainers on and went. And here's hoping my 8 mile LSR on Friday will be more successful and involve less foot pain!

So all in all, still a tad disappointed with distance etc for today - but still in some ways proud I went despite the blisters :-)

Week 6 Day 2 Stats (from Good Run Guide)

Good(ish) start to Week 6

So I'm now in Week 6 of the Marathon plan, and of the Marathon Talk Spring Motivation challenge and initially thought the week was going to begin badly. Felt distinctly dizzy, and then dizzy and sick, during and after my singing lesson for no apparent reasons. Thinking about it, there were a couple of things I picked out as possible causes, but was still not really up to doing a run last night as was planned on the schedule. However, I decided to drag my arse out to the gym and do my cross training session for the week with a bit of a row and a nice easy bike ride, and do runs Tues-Weds instead. Manage to clock my right knee a hefty bump in the process (anyone else have this problem on gym bikes) and was trying to be extra careful from then on as it was starting to click a bit.

So today was another gym session (my week is a bit busy for roads/changing at home at the moment) and I decided to go out nice and slowly and try and hold out as long as possible. One of the PureGym PTs came over to have a chat with me about possible 1-2-1 sessions (they all seem to be touting for business at the moment) and by the time she'd left me I realised I'd managed nearly 20 mins without stopping. From then on I kept setting myself further 5 minute increments to try and manage - including upping the pace every 30-60s until I got to 45 mins in and was going at 10kph. All in all I was quite pleased with this effort - despite the acquisition of a couple of proper blisters! Blisters only seem to happen in the gym, so will wear double layer socks tomorrow (yes, I'm back between work and choir) and hope that helps protect my poor feets.

Stats today courtesy of GRG because I completely forgot to put the Garmin on!

Week 6 Day 1 Marathon Plan

Week 5 Day 4 Marathon training by sparesoprano at Garmin Connect - Player

Well I guess that's as good a title any any ... this was my LSR for week 5: target 6 miles

Today's long run took me out towards Portobello but around the other side of Arthur's Seat to where I normally go, and via Duddingston. It's a bit more picturesque at the beginning, but doesn't have the advantage of being able to see the Firth of Forth from about a mile away. However, being a longer route, I did get to run along the promenade for a bit, before climbing back into town reversing my normal run down there.  Whichever way I go, I can now get there faster than on the bus (given that the number 42 weaves it's way around and about) so that's an improvement.

With Haweswater in mind, I was making a distinct effort to do as much uphill running as possible! And actually succeeding. Climb rate was 12 m/m (Haweswater is 17 m/m) but most of that seemed to be in my second 5km rather than all at the beginning. Was definitely starting to tire in the last half mile, but was trying to push for a negative split over the second half, and fighting a whopping great cross wind. My shorter runs next week are all 5 miles, and I pretty much felt at the 5m mark that I could keep going forever so I'm hoping this is a good sign.

Got quite a stiff right thigh, which I'm rather proud of as all the people on the Good Run Wall (a facebook group spinoff from Good Run Guide) who are doing long runs complain of sore thighs and I tend to feel it in my calves more - so I guess I must be doing something right. Tried out some self-massage tips from Runner's World and that seems to have helped rather a lot.

Tomorrow is technically a rest day, but will make sure I do some brisk walking to stop my legs seizing up ... and will have to work out how to get a run in on Tues when I'm meeting someone after work - might have to be a case of the 6am club :S

Week 5 Day 4 Marathon training by sparesoprano at Garmin Connect - Player

Update: Marathon Plans

Wow - I hadn't realised it had been over four months since my last post/confession - I guess I have a lot of updating to do!

I have to admit that September/October/November/December were not great months for my running at all. I seemed to come down with every cold/throat infection/sinusitis virus that was going round (perhaps not helped by one of my colleagues bringing in germs from his daughter's nursery). I tried to rest and run when I could, but was getting to a point where every time I went out the germs would descend on to my chest and I'd feel terrible for weeks. To be honest, as a singer, chest infections are really bad news so it was the running that got shoved on the back burner rather than anything else. I managed a couple of runs each month, but that was about it.

Had a bit of a duff experience going out for a training evening with a JogScotland group as well: now I was also ill and the session made me a lot worse which didn't help. And the actual session itself was fine although it was obviously already a tight knit group so felt a little bit of an outsider in chatty sessions. The group leader was very good sticking with me at the back of the pack but making sure the rest got a good training session going. I suppose the thing that narked me a tad (other than cliqueyness) was that having shown interest in the group, the woman never emailed me again (and they were thinking of changing their meetup day). However, I'm sure it was just a one-off niggly experience and thinking of joining my local sweatshop running group on a Tuesday to get some friendly runner company.

Now, in a moment of madness (I can't remember how long ago), I signed up for the Greater Manchester Marathon on the basis that it was close to free accommodation (parentals) and because it wasn't so expensive that it would be the end of the world if I didn't make it round. I'm planning to run it in aid of my church's restoration and renewal fund, part of which is to improve access to the building for the less able (who are currently reliant on a stair climbing wheel chair). 

Five weeks into my training plan, and motivation helped by my running buddies on the Good Run Wall and not least by our participation in the Jantastic Marathon challenge over at MarathonTalk ... and I have actually started talking to the relevant people at the church about how to set up online sponsorship for this. I'm still planning on keeping it close to my chest until I've done my first long race (more anon ...) but at least I've started the process - and I've warned them that I'm only in week 5 of my programme so will be making a decision later on in the process in time to advertise sponsorship.

I've got a few races planned between now and Manchester: first one is the Haweswater Half Marathon on the 4th of March which I'm doing with Grandad (32 days away!) and secondly the First Nation Home Challenge as part of Sport Relief on the 25th March which is only 6 miles (my planned long run for this week). Haweswater is quite a hilly course so am trying to make sure I build plenty of hills into my training runs at the moment - hoping to surprise Grandad with my progress but it just depends how things go over the next month. I don't want to push too hard and pick up an injury.

My marathon plan is taken from The Non-Runners Marathon Guide For Women by Dawn Dais, and involves four runs a week plus a cross train ... I have to admit I've managed better on the running than on the cross training apart from the odd gym session but I have my kit and am determined to pop to the gym between work and choir (in my nice new Running Bear Capris). Resting tomorrow, and then have my Long Slow Run (LSR) on Friday - which is a 6 miler this week.

Stats for January:


Runs logged:         14                   (Missed: 4)
Miles logged:          45.1                (Edinburgh to Glasgow = 48 miles)
Average pace:       14:15
Best pace:             12:47
Average THR:        149 bpm
Calories burned:    5589                (2.8 days @ 1940 recommended per day)