Brolly-gate

Wednesday is my (droppable) session where I'm planning to try and do a tempo run, hills or speedwork.  Accidentally forgot the lunch I'd made for myself this morning so ended up offering to do the work lunch run - after all it was p-ing it down with rain and I was going to get wet anyway ...

Route therefore ended up including a hill straight out the door - not that it seems to show up on my stats! Pace also seems to be oddly different between GRG upload and Garmin website - must be because its Halloween - maybe bats have got in the satellites.

The most annoying thing about running in the rain in a city is UMBRELLAS! Now, I already have an issue with people using golf umbrellas in cities when they are on their own, but it's even worse when you are running and having to duck under 50 brollies a second (not that I've picked up the Scottish habit of exaggeration or anything).  And strangers do seem to huddle together on the pavement making it very difficult to get anywhere - I did try and avoid the busier parts of town as much as possible but still rather frustrating.  I have also ordered myself a hat today - it's not particularly helpful running when your glasses are so covered in water they no longer work (and I'm far too much of a woos to go for contact lenses).

This is also of course the last day of the month - and possibly the first month since I started running that I've not skipped a planned run (well apart from the one I unplanned because of flu) and therefore my GRG planner is looking nicely full of ticks! Proud Mousie!

Portobello road ...

... always reminds me of the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks (and yes, I probably could sing most of it!)

In this case though, my scheduled 30 min run ended up as a nice easy one down to Portobello.  I would say I've never managed to run the whole way before - but I'm not sure it counts as I did have to stop properly at one set of traffic lights.  Annoyingly when I did finally get to cross I nearly got run over by an idiot who hadn't seen the 'no left turn' sign and decided to try and plough into me as I crossed over. Cue gesticulation in hi vis gloves to the sign and shaking of fists.

However, despite that it felt like a pretty easy run - kept it nice and slow and steady, pushing the pace very slightly for the second mile and then making a concerted effort to kinda bomb it a bit at the end (technical term that).  Felt like I could have run home and back again, but decided to be good and stick to my planned time!  Heart rate monitor was also playing up (either that or my heart stopped half way round - I suspect I need a new battery) so haven't put that up on the GRG website.  I actually seem to be enjoying this whole running lark at the moment ... long may that last! Stats here from Garmin just for the giggles

Also super proud of one of my GRW friends and her husband who ran a totally inspiration half marathon yesterday after one hell of a couple of years -  think it's the only time a race report has made me well up!  And good news from another GRWer who might finally be on the way to a recovery after being injured for ages ... you all inspire me guys.

Hell - I might just sing Portobello road to celebrate after all ...

The trouble with tribbles ...

... or in my case Italians! (This does have a happy ending, I promise)

I was rather sad to have missed parkrun this morning: I had gone out last night (in my new trainers to wear them in a wee bit) and was really well behaved - just had a couple of glasses of wine with food, and was home by 10.30 to get a good night's sleep in.  I even followed the advice from December's Runners World regarding making sure I had water whilst drinking and when I got home. Dropped off nicely whilst watching QI on the laptop.

And then it all went wrong! At about 1.45am my (thankfully temporary - 8.5 days to go) lodger and her brother crashed in, stomped around the flat (admittedly my hearing is super keen at that time of night) and then she decided to have a shower for 20 mins. Not a 'quick soap down I feel manky' shower - but a full on 'shampoo commercial' style shower with relevant soundtrack ... and right behind my head. Never mind the cost of her having her second shower of the day, she was bloody noisy, and I live in a block of flats and I'm pretty sure someone's bedroom is on the other side of the bathroom wall.  Now, in the past I've forgiven silly mistakes like that, but last night I was livid and ended up having some very polite words with her.  Despite her apologising, her excuse being that she'd asked if it was ok to shower when she got home at night (7 -11pm was what I was thinking, not 2 in the morning which is frankly tomorrow), she then proceeded to chat with her brother for another half an hour. Loudly.  And her parents turn up next week.  

Rant over!

So unsurprisingly this morning I couldn't face the early morning needed to bus myself out to Cramond! However, I did need to grab a birthday present for a friend, and replace some headphones at some point this morning, so I decided to go out before lunch to sort out the present and incorporate the local cigar shop into a very slow run (trying to keep my heart rate down).  

It's a GLORIOUS autumn morning - the kind they write hymns/poems about. The air was crisp but with glorious sun, which for someone who overheats as easily as me was perfect (but not so cold my lungs caught fire).  There was a slight dewy dampness about making the fallen leaves smell gorgeous, and I EVEN got a head nod from a couple of fellow runners and some good hearted encouragement from some dog walkers.  

Kept the heart rate pretty low until the last 1/2 mile of my planned route which was all uphill, and even then it didn't shoot too high (concentrating on bouncing along without too much effort).  Pace was pretty slow, but then I had intended it to be. And I didn't stop until the cigar shop, when I got to confuse the chap behind the counter by a) turning up in full running togs, b) having Handel blasting out of my discarded headphones, and c) knowing exactly what I wanted ...

Decided to pause my Garmin rather than stopping the run entirely, and instead ran back home from the cigar shop - so having intended to try and manage a nice slow mile, I ended up quite happily doing 2.  A definite silver lining to the cloud of last night.

Oh and the new shoes are doing fine!

Stats today are from the Garmin site, as then HR will show up!

Having fun in Sweatshop

My beloved New Balance shoes seem to be coming to the end of their life: according to the GRG shoe tracker they only have about 100 miles left in them (which will be out before I have a chance to go to Running Bear when I'm at my parents' for New Year).  So I decided to pop down to Sweatshop while the sales are on, and grab a new pair and get my gait properly checked while I was at it.  Read all their advice on the website about what to wear (shorts so they could see my knees were covered up with a wrap skirt because of the temperature).

The girl who was on duty in Sweatshop was really lovely and helpful: we were chatting away about how long I'd been running and the amount I run a week (more of that anon). Turns out we have the same issue with Achilles tendons, although mine is much more pronounced.  My feet seemed to pass the health test though, and she had me running on the treadmill in some neutral shoes to do the actual test - have to admit the treadmill was quite scary as there was no front to it, and I felt like I was about to run off the front of the thing!

She then talked me really clearly through my gait test - which apparently shows I have good mid-foot striking technique, but have slight hip wiggling problems because my core probably needs to be stronger (although I might still end up kicking my calves).  I find it quite amusing that I basically mince when I run!  The test confirmed that I am wearing the right shoes having neutral but cushioned ones (for some reason she thought my New Balance ones were support shoes, but that may be a confusion over an old model).  But I was then taken through a good selection of shoes, both price-wise and styles, I think 6 or 7 pairs in all.  We narrowed it down to two favourites and I said she could choose which of the two would be best ... I am now the proud owner of these rather snazzy Brooks Ghost 4s!

What was also nice was that we got into a discussion about Shockabsorbers: the run bra versus the level 4 impact bra ... and she gave me the white version of the new run bra for the price of the old one because they only had it in white and the one I wore into the shop was black. To be honest, I'm not that bothered either way (although white actually is easier to wear under work clothes!) but she was so kind not only with than but with their sock offer too (I'd accidentally picked up 2 x £6 and 1 x £9 - but she gave me the £9 ones on the 3-4-2 offer).

The only thing that slightly surprised me was being told off for aiming to run four times a week - especially as both the marathon plans I am looking at are based around that.  Having chatted to a few peeps on GRW though, I think I'll stick to the four, with an allowance to drop my midweek tempo/interval/hill session on Wednesdays if I want to (for now at least) without feeling too guilty!

Basically I would give my shopping trip a 10/10 (it would have been 11 if the place was slightly easier to get to!) I wish I'd got the name of the girl who served me, but I'm definitely going to email the manager and say how good she was and how helpful.  Having planned to spend circa £100 (up to £120) on shoes, I walked out with shoes, 4 pairs of socks, and a new bra for £113 ... great value! 

JogScotland attempt II

You may remember my previous rather duff experience with a JogScotland group, partly caused by doing a hard session with the flu, but also dropping into a rather more experienced group than I was capable of keeping up with. I'm rather sad to say that it did rather put me off for quite a while.

About a week ago I decided to try and get in touch with the Edinburgh Uni Central group, who run from a building not far from mine ... and after a bit of a communication fail (I guess the guy I emailed first must have been away/left) I got through to a couple of the Jog Leaders this week who said to come along.

Basically it was great fun! We did just over 40 minutes and 3.5 miles at a nice slow and steady pace (with the odd pause to wait for others to catch up) - didn't feel like I was either dragging the group back or trying to whizz off ahead (although I might try and move up a group when my training steps up a bit more).  It was quite a bit longer than I had planned to do, but with a rest day planned tomorrow I figure I'll be fine.

The best thing was that  everyone was really nice and friendly and I will definitely be going back next Thursday!

Garmin stats here (which includes all the pausing)

My first interval session

My first attempt at running intervals ... (planned run = 15 mins)

Slightly annoyingly my Garmin didn't pick up the satellite signal for a bit (and it wasn't looking promising even doing the tradition 'hopping outside door to stay warm') so uploaded the Runkeeper report as that was what I was using to set times.

Plan was:                                                            

5 min steady

3 x 1 min fast/1 min slow-recovery

4 min steady

What actually ended up was:

5 min steady @ 10:08

1 min fast @ 7:11

1 min slow @ 9:57

1 min fast @ 7:52

1 min slow @ 12:47 

Then the last two intervals ended up more like 4 x 30s (oops - messed up my statistics)

4 mins steady @ 12:12 

And then I forgot to turn the app off! Garg (technology)

So turns out I'm not very good at judging how fast I'm going! Lesson should be that next time I should probably wait on my Garmin waking up so I can work things out a bit better. Pretty pleased I held the 7:11 and 7:52 pace as well as I did (that's usually my last 10 feet pace!). 

Dare I say it? I think I quite enjoyed this!!! Even if it did hurt in places .... and the sunset as you can see was AMAZING.

Official GRG stats here (not including the bit where I forgot to turn watch off)

Tempo and Tempi

Now as a musician, tempo generally means something completely different to me than to the average runner (and don't get me started on cadence!) ... however, today's planned 20 minute run seemed to turn into a Tempo run: ran the first mile mostly at sub 10m/m pace, although thanks to some necessary road crossings it took me more than 10 minutes (must try this down on the parkrun course some time).  Second half of the run was both slower but also hillier and require negotiating puddles and roadworks so took pretty much a whole minute longer.

My heart rate was actually not too bad for the faster half of the run, but shot up after trying to keep my pace up going up a short (but reasonably steep hill).  I think I need to spend more time trying to keep my heart rate down rather than my pace up!

I'm also experimenting a bit with my long marathon playlist (I figure it'll give me time to weed out the slow movements) and have picked up a few suggestions from friends.  I definitely need something with a reasonably upbeat tempo to run to, and things I can sing along to also help - perhaps this can be my crazy running gimmick to help earn extra pennies for the VLM - I'll sing all the way round!

The best laid plans of Mousie the marathoner ...

I think everyone knows by now that I love to de-colloquialise as much as I like making plans  (even if they don't come to fruition).

After my marathon training fail last year, pulling a muscle then getting flu (although partly also having the get-out clause that Grandad didn't know), I've decided to extend the marathon training this year so I definitely get to the start of VLM at least ...

Last night I was taking a more serious look at training plans: having started with the idea of just using the one from the Non-runners Marathon Guide for Women (Dawn Dias) which appealed to me on the basis that she was a complete non-runner/non-exerciser who wanted to do a marathon for charity - and has a wonderfully (slightly acidic) view of the whole process with the knowledge that she is writing after the event and did get round the course to completion.  I had put her plan into the Good Run Guide website pretty much as soon as I had my acceptance for London - and then extended it back along similar lines to get myself running again gently.

I then had an email from Grandad asking about the Essar Four Villages Half Marathon in January - which was admittedly a month before I was planned to get up to that distance - but then I figured I could take that month out of my extended plan, and just do the middle bit of my plan twice (I hope this is still making sense!)

HOWEVER (and this may be where I go into the realms of fantasy), I was pootling around the Runner's World site yesterday - ostensibly to see if there was any way of reporting a potential missing magazine - and ended up looking at their more detailed plans ... some of which are still designed for running 4 times a week (as the NRMGFW plan suggests) and I looked at the mileage tally for the 16 week 'Sub-4.30' plan which pretty much matching up with my already-planned January mileage anyway. 

I may well be getting far too over confident with my recent improved running prowess but I thought I might assess how I'm going round about the half-marathon time and maybe start in about week 3 of the RW plan (the first 3 weeks at least have the same mileage anyway). 

I guess I don't need to start counting my chickens yet as I haven't even got back up to four runs a week (this week is the first) ... although I have now got over nine hours worth of music on my marathon running playlist on my ipod to get me through! Because of course the score to my run is the important element ...

Virgin London Marathon: 183 days to go

I seem to start so many blog posts with "it's been a while" - not being one of life's natural runners I do find it very easy to get out of the habit.  But then I did something very daft and joined in with the general VLM buzz on Good Run Wall and entered the ballot thinking that no-one ever gets in on the first try. Well there's my theory (and I wish I'd bought a lottery ticket that day instead).  Also didn't manage to keep it so well hidden from Grandad this time as I wasn't sure where I'd be when the ballot was drawn so gave the parental's address not my own.* 

Decided (as I wasn't going to get out of it this time) that I'd better start working on the marathon training pretty much straight away - with pre-marathon-training training.  I'm using the same plan I was working on for Manchester, but drawing it back to, well, three weeks ago.  I'm doing my next half marathon with Grandad in January, a month before the plan says, so I rejiggled everything, and am basically doing the middle bit twice.  I can of course always re-assess after the half to maybe step up the plan a bit more ...

So today was the end of week 3 of my training: GRG stats can be found here: I also did a quick 5 min cooldown run after pottering around Homebase for 10 mins.  Given that I've had the flu this week I'm pretty pleased with only dropping one run and also for the hill profile of this one! With the flu I've just pushed my first 4 run/week week to next instead (with two very short runs in the middle of the week just to get me going again)

What I have been managing, which I was less good at last time, is running all the way. I'm purposefully not pushing past my planned time too much so as not to wear myself out.  And hopefully building up slowly will mean I can continue this - my only blip was about a 2m walk in the middle of parkrun last week because I actually felt like I was dying! (Entirely mental of course).

Here's to the next 185 days ...

*Note to new readers (and old ones who have forgotten this weird quirk of mine): Grandad is actually my father ... it's a long story but I blame my niece entirely!