Building Trust

Long run day for me and Ruby today.

We set off from home and went straight up onto George's Lane via Wilderswood.  Less than five minutes after leaving the house, I realised that I was wearing far too many clothes so I stopped and removed my OMM smock, my gloves and my buff so I was just wearing a t-shirt and leggings and really regretting my decision not to have worn shorts.  It was boiling!

From George's Lane we climbed up to the Pike then back down onto George's Lane and all the way along to Rivington Road.  We crossed over and ran down the road a bit before turning into 'Old Rachel's' and making our way to Lead Mines Clough.  Once there we climbed up to Bomber Memorial and I stopped to take a couple of photos...

Ruby admiring the view...

As you can see from the above picture, I didn't have Ruby on the lead for the vast majority of this run.  It was a little daunting but she wasn't overly badly behaved.  When we saw other dogs in the distance I made her stop and 'wait'.  She did quite well but then gave in to her urges and jetted off towards the dogs and wouldn't come back to call.  Luckily she didn't snap at any of them, which she occasionally does, so no confrontations took place.  It's really frustrating because she's so happy off the lead and it makes running better for both of us but I just don't 100% trust her yet and I don't trust her in the slightest around sheep.

We continued upwards and ran along through the woods for a while, before turning back and down into Lead Mines Clough.

We then ran down the road and along to the side of Yarrow Reservoir before dropping into Rivington and running up to the top barn, then along the trail back home.

Total distance - 11 miles

Week's total distance - 27.4 miles

Loch Trool and Corsewall Lighthouse

We went back towards Glentrool again today as I absolutely love it there and wanted to run another of the waymarked routes.  This time I chose the green route, which started from 'Bruce's Stone'.


It was a really tough route actually and was very undulating.  It started with a lot of downhill which made me realise that meant that the return to the car park would be a lot of uphill!

It started off through some woodland but then opened out to the Loch.

The route took me all the way around Loch Trool and through lots of forest paths.  It was again mostly stones underfoot so I'm glad I didn't take Ruby with me as it wouldn't have been nice on her paws.

The last mile of the run, as expected, was all uphill and was along a road back to the car park so I was pretty knackered by the time I got back to the car and definitely in need of more cake at the cafe!

Total distance - 5.95 miles


Speaking of cake, this holiday I have averaged two cakes a day which I'm not proud of.  I'm dreading getting on the scales when I get home as I must have put on at least half a stone!

Later on today we had a drive around the coast north of Stranraer and we stumbled upon the Corsewall Lighthouse where we stopped for tea and shortbread.  The Lighthouse is actually a hotel but is a bit pricey with the room prices, off-season, ranging from £80 per person per night to £115 per person per night.  I'd love to stay there though and some of the rooms allow dogs!  Think we'd have to save up quite a bit for that though.

Finally, I just have to share this picture of Ruby on our way home from Scotland, curled up in the back of the car among all our luggage.  She looks so comfortable.

Coastal Path, Kirroughtree and the Big Viaduct of Fleet

Before I get to today's run, I just want to say that I can't believe how lucky we have been with the weather on our holiday.  It's March and we're in Scotland but it has been beautiful sunshine most of the time.  Duncan has even been walking round in just a t-shirt although I have stuck to long sleeves - but without a coat!

I got up early today so I could get a good run in before setting off to Kirroughtree for Duncan to go biking again.

I decided to leave Ruby at home with Duncan so that I could try out the coastal path again without having to worry about her annoying angry bulls/cows.  I set off for the farm over the road and headed into the first field.  I went over the stile and there were about seven bulls all staring at me.  As I neared them, all but one ran away (though they all still stared at me).  The one which didn't run away just stood glaring at me only about 30 feet away.  It started to snort so I took that as my cue to get the hell out of there and I ran back over the stile and back down to the farm.  I carried on along the road until I found a suitable path to try to get to the coast on.  Eventually, after running through a very muddy field, I managed to get to the top of the cliffs on the coast.

From there I ran towards Gairlston, skirting the edges of fields.  I ran past the ruins of Cruggleton Castle, so I stopped to take a couple of photos.

From the ruins I could just about see our cottage in the distance so I took a picture of that too, which you can just see on the right hand side of the slightly blurry photo (it was REALLY windy and difficult to keep a steady hand).

I continued along and eventually came out of the fields and onto a trail which took me down into a heavily wooded area.  My mind started to play tricks on me a little in there as I kept hearing cracking twig noises but it was only birds and other wildlife.  I thought that I'd like to run all the way into Garilston now but if I did, I wouldn't have enough time to get back again as Duncan wanted to get out on his bike early.  I tried to call him to get him to pick me up in Garilston but, as expected, couldn't get a signal.  I therefore gave in and turned round, retracing my steps back to the cottage.

It was a lovely run, although it was very windy this morning and it was quite hard work running against it through the farm fields.

Total distance - 5.9 miles.

After I got back we set off to Kirroughtree which has various moutain biking routes through forrests, together with walking routes.  Duncan set off on his bike and Ruby and I followed the 2.5 mile yellow waymarked route through the woodland.

It was a really nice walk and I again let Ruby off the lead for almost the entire route.  She even saw a black Lab at one point and listened to my command of 'stay' and didn't run towards it.  I was really proud of her.

She ruined that later on in the day though when we all went for a walk along the Big Viaduct of Fleet and she saw a deer and shot off after it.  No matter how much we called, she didn't come back.  Why does she always let me down just when I begin to trust her?

Glentrool

Today we drove out to Glentrool Visitors Center, part of the Galloway Forest Park.  There are some walking routes from here, along with mountain biking routes, so Duncan took his bike along and did a 9k route through the forests.

Ruby and I chose a 5 mile walking route to run which just involved following the yellow waymarkers so it was nice knowing that I didn't need to navigate or anything.

It was a really lovely run although I don't think Ruby enjoyed it as it was pretty tough going under-paw for her due to it being mostly loose stones.  She was again lagging quite far behind and, even though I slowed right down to an 11.30 minute mile pace, she still wasn't catching up.  I'm worried that I've broken her with all the running.  Looking at her paw pads later on, they don't look raw or anything so I don't think the stones can have bothered her too much.

The first 1.5 miles of the route climbed up through the forest and there were stunning views when we reached the top

Later on we crossed a bridge over a waterfall but Ruby didn't seem to like being on the bridge and ran to the other side, waiting for me there whilst I took some pictures.

We arrived back at the car park and Duncan arrived back from his ride less than five minutes later.

The route Ruby and I took turned out to be shorter than the markers said as I clocked it at only 4.55 miles.  Still it eased the guilt of the giant slab of malteser tray bake I devoured in the cafe at the visitors centre afterwards.

Afterwards we had a drive up to Ayr and then drove back along the coast before being pulled by an unmarked Police car due to the fact that our MOT had run out on 7 March!  Oops!!!  Neither of us had any idea it had run out.  Despite the £100 fine, this still didn't dampen our spirits and we have had a really good day today.  So far the holiday has been amazing and I feel like we've made some progress with Ruby.  We've had her off the lead loads (she wasn't on the lead at any point during our run today) and when she has seen other dogs and we have commanded her to 'stay' so far she has actually listened, rather than running off after the dog.  Fingers crossed this is a sign of things to come!

Total distance - 4.55 miles

Whithorn, Dumfries and Galloway

Due to having a chesty cold all week, this is actually my first, and last, run of the week.  It's also the first run of my holiday in Scotland.

We are staying in a cottage between Whithorn and Gairlston on the south coast of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway.  Our cottage is gorgeous and has a huge garden, complete with a secret hideout with chairs in to have a cheeky drink under the stars.

There is a coast path right outside the cottage which I was looking forward to having as my morning run however, it turns out that most of it is just along the edge of farm fields, which are full of bulls and so running through them with Ruby isn't too appealing.

Instead, today, I just ran along the road a bit.  As I'm still getting over my cold and haven't run for a week, I decided to just run out for 1.5 miles and then turn back again.  Even though it was along a road, the road was really quiet and in the whole three miles only one car passed me so I didn't mind it.  Plus we saw a couple of deer and some massive hares during the run too so that made it worthwhile.

Ruby was being a bit of a slow coach again.  I'm getting a bit worried about her to be honest.

Total distance - 3 miles

Week's total distance - 3 miles

After we got back from our run, Duncan went out on his bike for a short ride into Garilston so I drove there with Ruby to meet him and we went for a play on the beach.

Ruby's New Friends

Having woken up at 5am feeling like death (most probably due to the copious amounts of whisky Duncan put into my hot toddy last night) I went downstairs and made myself a snack.  Duncan was getting up at 5.45 to go to work so I just curled up on the couch and tried to doze a bit for an hour.  When I heard Duncan get up, I decided to get up too and go for an early morning run to see if that made me feel better.  It should be long run day but I wasn't sure I was up to that due to feeling a bit ropey and having come down with a bit of a cold and a sore throat yesterday.

Duncan dropped Ruby and I off at the Tockholes Road and we ran along Witton Weavers Way towards Belmont.  It's lovely running that early (6.30) as there's just nobody around and everything is so peaceful, just the sound of geese and other birds.  Once into Belmont we ran along a public footpath which takes you to the path which runs along side of Rivington Road all the way to Hordern Stoops.  I went slightly wrong though and another runner with two dogs up ahead asked if I was OK.  I told him that I had gone wrong and he pointed out a stile I could cross.  He was running with a Patterdale too, although his was taller than Ruby and with shorter smoother fur (Ruby is very wiry).  He also had a Springer Spaniel.  We started running and I told him to go on ahead as I'd slow him down but he said he was happy with the pace.  We got chatting and he mentioned that he ran for Horwich so I asked his name.  It was Ian Hamer!  Not sure how I didn't recognise him, seeing as I have been to see him at the doctor's surgery, funny how different somebody can look in their running gear than in a smart suit.

He convinced me to let Ruby off the lead for a bit as there were no sheep between where we were and Hordern Stoops so I manned up and let her off.  She had the time of her life!  She was loving running along with her new buddies.  I wanted to cry for how happy she was.  I wish I could do it more often but she's really unpredictable and if she sees another dog in the distance she'll run off towards it and won't come back to call and then she usually picks a fight with the dog so the owners get annoyed with me.  She's the same if she sees any other animal too and I could never let her off near sheep.  I have trusted her a few times and let her off the lead, but every time (save for today) she has let me down.  One time I let her off and she made a beeline for two Rotweiller's and bit one of them on the nose, much to the owner's annoyance.  The bigger the  dog, the more she attacks.

Once we got to Hordern Stoops we got the dogs on their leads and ran along the road a bit, to the end of Belmont Road.  We then ran along Belmont Road to the Pigoen Tower and let the dogs off the leads again.  Ruby was great!  Maybe the answer is that I should just run with her really early when there are no other dogs out and about like today.  Once we got near the the old toilet block by the Pike we did see some people walking a dog and Ruby did start to run towards it but I called her back and miraculously she listened!  I was so proud!

We carried on along and passed Wilderswood, where Ian then turned off and ran up to Two Lads.  I got Ruby back on her lead and we carried on and went down Old Rake and onto Brinks Row then back home.

I really hope this is the sign of things to come and that Ruby is finally starting to listen to me.  When we were running home we saw another dog and she dragged towards it as usual but people keep telling me she will be worse on a lead than off.  It's just that I'm too paranoid because of past incidences to let her off, especially when I'm on my own as I hate confrontation.  I once let her off on the trail behind Rivington School and she chased after a squirrel and ran into the woods in the direction of the road.  She wouldn't come back to call and I really panicked that she would run into the road and get knocked down.  It really does shake your confidence with letting her off.  Maybe I'll have to keep trying bit by bit and try to build up some trust.

Total distance - 8 miles

Week's total distance - 23 miles (rather pitiful really)

Northern Athletics Road Relays, Heaton Park

Last night was the club's presentation evening and what a great evening it was!  I picked up the trophy for overall club champion (for this you have to do a mixture of races in cross-country, fell and road), veteran cross country champion, cross country (single race) champion and also picked up second prize for road champs and for cross country (series) champs.  All in all, not bad!  Lots of new silverware to add to my Fielden Cup on the bookshelf.

Christina won the women's road championship, Josie the fell championship and Debbie the Cross Country championship.

Chris also picked up his fair share of trophies in the men's championship, along with Tony, Doug, Andy, Gary, Dave, Mick and others (sorry for anyone I've missed out).  Loads of awards for the juniors too!

RED ARMY!!!

Turning to today's race, this was the Northern Athletics relays.  Six stage for the ladies, twelve stage for the men.  Thank goodness I'm not a bloke as every other leg of their relay was a long one and the short one was hard enough.  The relays took place at Heaton Park and, for the ladies, involved a 3 mile loop which was quite undulating and hard work.

My team consisted of me (obviously), Nadine, Lindsey, Debbie, Clare and Christine.

Personally I felt I performed really well and was pleased with my performance.  I didn't think I would be as I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a bit of a sniffle so I thought that might impair my performance but it didn't. In fact, my pace was the best I have ever done in a race so I'm really pleased. It was tough on the legs though and I have pretty sore shins now.

The other girls seemed to have no complaints about their performances either so all in all a good race.

Overall we came 29th out of 49 teams which is really pleasing seeing as one of our fastest runners had to drop out last minute due to injury.

At the time of writing I'm not entirely sure how the men did.  I think they came 16th but I'm not sure how many out of, however this has secured them a place in the nationals, well done guys!

Total distance - 3 miles plus warm up/down

A Beautiful Evening

Another lovely run in the sun tonight.

We set off from home up towards Wilderswood and then through it.  

We then came out onto George's Lane and ran towards the kennels, where we started to climb to Two Lads.

We had a good run up to Two Lads and I for one was feeling really good.  Ruby seemed OK too, apart from at the points where she saw another dog up front and started choking herself pulling on the lead.  Will she ever learn?

From Two Lads we then headed up towards the mast.

From there we headed off down the flags and towards the shooting hut.  It was still pretty boggy around the flags and Ruby sank up to her neck at one point and I had to pull her out.

At the shooting hut I realised that it was nearly 6pm so we'd better get a wiggle on and get home before it got dark because I stupidly hadn't brought a head torch.

We came out on the mast road and headed back over towards Two Lads and then back onto George's Lane, through Wilderswood again then home.

Very short and boring write up tonight I'm afraid but I haven't got time for anything more.

Total distance - 6.15 miles

It Only Takes a Minute

Another glorious day and another run in shorts and t-shirt.  I could get used to this.  No doubt the snow will come soon though.

I ran on my own tonight as Duncan was home to look after Ruby so I decided to do a tempo session.  My aim was to warm up for a mile and then do three miles at an 8.00 to 8.15 pace.

I headed down towards Rivington and followed the path by the side of Lever Park Avenue.  My watch beeped for a mile so I upped the pace and continued along towards Rivington Barn.  My watch beeped for two miles when I got past the Prep School and it showed 7.54 on it for my first mile at pace.  Feeling pleased and still comfortable with my pace I continued up Horrobin Lane and then down The Street.  Nearing the end of The Street, my watch beeped for three miles.  It showed 7.40.  Great, I was still feeling comfortable.  I came out of The Street and headed along the road, before then turning back on myself and heading back along The Street.  I was nearing the end of the three mile session and was still feeling OK and suddenly realised that I was on course for beating my 5k PB.  I added up my previous two miles in my head - 15.34.  I kept this number in my head so I could add it to my last mile and made the decision to carry on until I got to 3.1 miles before starting my cool down so I could see what time I did 5k in.  Mile 4 beeped on my watch and I looked down - 7.24.  Total for the three miles - 22.58.  I was running uphill at this point but was determined to get a good 0.1 of a mile in, which I did in 47 seconds.

23.45!

My 5k PB is 24.41!

Granted this isn't overly impressive as I don't do many 5ks and in fact the pace of my 10k PB is actually better but that's not the point.

I had very mixed feelings.  I was elated that I had knocked nearly a minute off my 5k time, but annoyed that it was in training not a race.

This only adds weight to my moan about how I always do better in training than in racing, something I really need to work on.  I don't know if it's because nerves get the better of me in a race or if it's because I feel more self conscious but whatever it is, it needs sorting out because I'm obviously more than capable of getting better times, especially because I felt so comfortable today and like I could have given more if I wanted to.

Total distance - 5 miles

T-Shirt Time!

Duncan went to the pub today to watch the rugby with 'egg man, dude' and unfortunately dogs weren't allowed in the pub.  I therefore used the time between dropping Duncan off at the pub and picking him up to go for a run with Ruby.  It was 3pm at this point and we parked up at the end of George's Lane as I fancied a run which didn't involve Ruby getting filthy again so I thought we'd just stick to George's Lane, run along to the Pigeon Tower then turn back and retrace our steps.

The weather was absolutely amazing today and I was running in shorts and t-shirt for the first time in about six months.  Even before my run I wasn't cold.  Due to the weather, the trails were really busy.  I don't think I have ever seen that many people up on George's Lane before, except for on Good Friday.  It was absolutely heaving and looked like Strangeways was having a day trip as it seemed to be full of yobs (that makes me sound like an old lady doesn't it?).

Ruby again seemed to be struggling.  It may have been down to the heat but I'm not sure as it wasn't particularly warm yesterday when she was also struggling.  We did get to a big puddle though which Ruby had a drink from and then went for a paddle in, which came up almost over her back - so much for keeping her clean today!  I let her have a paddle for five minutes and then we continued on our way.  She was still being really slow.  I just jogged along and let her go at her own pace as I don't like to push her.  We carried on to the Pigeon Tower and then went down the slippery slope to the right hand side of it, onto the driveway and then climbed back up to George's Lane.

We then ran back towards the car but, just after Wilderswood car park I decided to have a change of scenery and we went down the public footpath which takes you along to the fishing pond and down onto Wallsuches.  From there we carried on along to Chorley Old Road and then back to the car.

Just to prove how slow it was, our average pace for this run was 11.47 minute mile!  Now to say it was a pretty flat run and that most of the track isn't too rough underfoot, that's pretty slow going.

The thing is, I think Ruby is only pretending to be slow because, whenever we saw another dog up ahead, and at one point sheep up ahead, she started running fast and pulling on me along so she can't have been that tired.  Then we we passed them she'd go really slowly again.  I wonder if it has anything to do with the new hands free lead which is quite heavy, maybe it's tiring her out pulling on the heavy bungee so much?

I hope she gets back up to speed soon as I don't want her to stop enjoying our runs because they're getting too much for her.  Hopefully it's just a couple of bad days.  I might give her a rest tomorrow and Tuesday and just walk her and then run on my own.  I might also see if there's any difference when she's back on her old lead.

Total distance - 5.3 miles.

Week's total distance - 30.75 miles

Faster Ruby, Faster!

I wanted to go out this morning with the WFDBWGUA lot but due to a change in Duncan's plans, this didn't happen.  The three of us went to my mum and dad's in the morning as it's my dad's birthday today so I put off my long run until the afternoon.

Duncan dropped us off at the end of Coal Pit Lane and we ran along to the trespass stone, then up to Smithills  Reservoir.  We ran around this but once at the other side turned back as I didn't want to run up the boundary wall again with Ruby as she kept sinking in the mud last time and as it's been raining so much I'm guessing it's not any drier yet.  We went back to the trespass stone then turned right towards Holden's Plantation.  We started heading towards the mast road, which is where we started to see some of the runners from the Bolton Hill Marathon coming towards us.  They were only about 3 miles from the finish by this point and were looking very tired.  I decided to run along the marathon route in the opposite direction to cheer on the runners as they went by.  We came out onto the mast road and then headed down the path past two lads onto George's Lane.  We stopped at the drinks station and had a natter with the marshals, before continuing along George's Lane and to the gate opposite the bottom of the Pike.  We turned through the gate and headed down the field (the route of the Pike Race).  It looked like torture for the marathon runners having to make this climb so far into the race.  They were all in good spirits though and said a cheery hello to us as we passed.  One of them asked if they could borrow Ruby for a bit so she could give them a tow up the hill.  We headed down the road towards the school but turned right then left, taking us down the other side of the school through some really muddy ground which the marathon runners were struggling to walk up.  We came out onto Lever Park Avenue, crossed over and followed the path which runs alongside the road towards the barn.

After the barn, we turned left and headed towards the prep school, before turning right past the bowling club.  The runners were very few and far between at this point and so we now stopped continuing along the marathon route and we turned left and followed Dean Brook back into Rivington Green.  We then headed up to top barn and up through the terraced gardens back onto George's Lane.  As we ran along George's Lane towards the kennels, we started passing the marathon runners again.  By this point, Ruby was barely moving.  She was trotting along really slowly and had been since we were at the top barn.  I found myself keep saying 'faster Ruby, faster' but she just didn't want to.  Maybe she was having an 'off day' - it happens to us all!

We passed the kennels and then turned right following the path by the side of Wilderswood back home.

Once home, Ruby went straight into her bed and lay there looking sorry for herself.  She seems to have perked up now though after her shower so hopefully she was just a bit tired and there's nothing actually wrong.

We're off to Viva Espana at 6pm with Brenda and Tony for some tapas so I'd better start getting ready!

Total distance - 11 miles

The Quiet Before the Storm

There are a couple of days missing from my blog this week and the reason is that I had Wednesday down as a rest day and yesterday I was going to do a hill session.  I was all geared up for it but then Duncan rang with a better offer - the pub in Tockholes where the beer is cheap before 7pm on a Thursday.  At first I resisted and was adamant I was going to do the hill session but then I made a decision... I'm going to give myself a break until the first of April.  I go on holiday soon and when I get back I'm going to get into some really intense training.  I'm determined to get faster and I figure that fresh from my holiday would be a great place to start so, until then I'm going to just enjoy myself.  Obviously I'll still be running, just as I am now, but I'm just not going to beat myself up if I miss a session.  Come April though, I won't be missing any sessions without very good reason, the pub not coming into this category.  Duncan, you have been warned!

Tonight's run just took us along to the barn, to the pigeon tower car park and then a zig zag up to the pigeon tower.  We then ran up the Pike via the steep grassy route to the side of the steps.  From there we went down onto George's Lane which some scumbags have decided to tip all sorts of rubbish along.  TVs, bags of plaster, chipboard, mop buckets, you name it.  I don't in any way defend this disgusting behaviour but I think Bolton Council have a lot to answer for, closing all the tips.

After being disgusted at all the rubbish, we then ran along to the top of Old Rake and back home.

Total distance - 5.5 miles.

Pancake Day!

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

Thought I'd work off the calories in advance of eating them today with a good speed session this morning.  Duncan dropped me off on his way to work over on Rivington Road.  I decided to run without Ruby today so that I could get in a good session without having to stop every five minutes for Ruby to have a sniff or go to the toilet.

My intended session was a mile warm up with 5 x half miles at 7.45 minute mile pace (you may not think this is very speedy but it is slightly faster than my 5k PB pace and is off-road, muddy and not flat) with quarter mile jogs in between, followed by a mile or so cool down.  The session went really well and I felt pretty pleased with myself.  I've set out below the pace for each of the five half mile reps:

Rep 1 - 7.38 pace
Rep 2 - 7.26 pace
Rep 3 - 8.03 pace
Rep 4 - 7.46 pace
Rep 5 - 7.39 pace

Rep 4 was the one I found the hardest and had the most uphill so I'm quite surprised that the pace is better than that of rep 3.

The reason I'm so pleased is that the vast majority of this session took place over uneven and muddy ground and it wasn't entirely flat either.

Total distance - 5.65 miles

No running this evening, just a leisurely stroll around Belmont with Ruby and Duncan before heading to my mum and dad's house for delicious pancakes (some with just sugar and some with Cumberland sausage, fried onions and ketchup!).  Hope you all enjoyed your pancakes too!

Stats

I spent some time today analysing my results from the whole of the Mid Lancs Cross Country league yesterday, comparing these to three other athlete’s results which were similar.  My three strongest races were Burnley, Liverpool and Barrow.  All three of these were relatively flat and not terribly muddy so I think there might be a pattern emerging.  Hyndburn, where I didn’t perform well, was REALLY muddy (that’s the race I went over on my ankle in and ended up in the first aid tent afterwards), and Blackburn was very hilly AND muddy.  Kendal is the exception which breaks the rule.  I was last out of the four runners I analysed at Kendal, however when looking at my Garmin stats, my pace was faster than at Barrow and was actually the third fastest pace of all cross country races I’ve ever done.  Perhaps all the other girls in my analysis were just having a really good day.  I do wish I hadn’t worn spikes at Kendal though as there was quite a lot of path I could have run on had I been in fell shoes which would have taken a good few seconds off my time. This just backs up what I said yesterday about struggling with hills when I hit them at speed so it's good that I know what I need to work on. 

Here’s the example of my stats where you can see how much better I performed in the above mentioned three races.  I have used three comparators and have put down our positions in the race, together with my position between just the four of us:

                            Burnley            Liverpool          Hyndburn         Barrow             Blackburn        Kendal

Me                                  81 – 1st           78 – 2nd          88 – 4th           40 – 1st           65 -3rd            65 – 4th

Garstang runner 1        83                    79                    71                    43                    58                    60

Garstang runner 2        92                    105                  76                    44                    63                    54

Red Rose runner            94                    76                    52                    0                      68                    51

As you can see, in Burnley and Barrow I was the fastest of the four of us and, in Liverpool, the second fastest.  All three of the other ladies beat me in the overall league standings and are all in my age category or younger so they will be my targets for next season.  Annoyingly, the results only use your best four races but if you add up the points from all six races, I actually did much better than Garstang runner 2. 

Turning to tonight’s run, this was just another easy one (as I did have today down as a rest day but the beautiful sunshine was calling to me) along to the top barn and back.  As we got near to home we bumped into Jan from the club and ran the rest of the route with her which was nice as I find that last bit up the path from the school to my house to be the hardest (just because it's at the end of the run and is slightly uphill) and Jan helped take my mind off it.  I told Jan about my problem with hills in race and she suggested a 2 Lads session I should do to help with this so I'll give that a go, possibly later this week if I can run without Ruby. 

Total distance - 3.3 miles

Trotters 5 (Second Race of the Weekend)

Still feeling tired from yesterday's race and with a strange pain in the side of my foot, I decided to just jog around this one and not take it too seriously.  I promised myself at the start that I wouldn't care how well I did and what my time was.  Of course, me being me, this didn't happen and I still found myself disappointed at the end with my pace, which was a nine minute mile pace(!), something I haven't done for a long time in anything other than very muddy, hilly races, like some XCs and all fells.

I started off quite well really, but didn't set off too fast like I usually do. It was something of a rolling start to be honest as they race started whilst we were jogging up to the start line.  The course was two laps and each lap had an uphill section and it wasn't until the top of the first uphill section that I started to tire a little.  This won't have been helped by the fact that I had been awake since 4.00am and had a bad stomach all morning. Once I started going downhill though, I got a second wind and this lasted all the way to that hill again.  The second time round, people around me started to walk and it's really easy when people around you start walking to walk yourself but no way was I doing that.  This wasn't a fell race, this was just a gentle incline and walking it wasn't an option so I overtook quite a few on there which I was pleased with.  Again, once at the top and when we started going downhill, I got a huge rush of energy back and again overtook a few other runners.  The downhill pretty much lasts all the way to the finish which was nice. Looking at my Garmin stats later on, my last mile was by far my fastest, with the fourth mile (the one with the second hill in it) the slowest.  In fact so slow that it dragged down my entire average.

It wasn't a bad race, few too many roads in it for my liking but I think I'd do it again.  The curly wurly in the goody bag was enough to bring me back!

I really feel that I need to practice more speed on hills.  I find running on hills in training quite easy because I'm just plodding up and down them but when I hit them at pace in a race, I get pretty floored by them.  I need to get my backside to the hill sessions again on Thursday nights and really sort this out.  Steve was ace last time and had me sprinting up Factory Hill, which is what I need.  It's hard work and makes me feel like chundering but it does me good in the long run.

Speaking to Gemma at the end of the race really helped as we had a discussion about not caring what other people think.  I think that's why I found my time disappointing today, not because I'm disappointed myself, because I only set out to jog round, but because I'm bothered about other people seeing my time and thinking it's rubbish.   I need to adopt a more carefree attitude as one of the things which makes me dread racing is worrying about what people will think if I get a bad result, which I know is ridiculous but I can't help the way I think.  Gemma really helped by telling me that nobody will look at my times and think they are rubbish because people don't think like that and will respect the fact that I'm out running and racing all the time and not just sitting on my backside doing nothing.

Total distance - 5 miles (plus warm up)

Andy will probably despair at this but at 4.30pm I took Ruby out for an easy run.  The thought of running outweighed the thought of walking so off we went (this is the joy of dog ownership - you HAVE to go out).  It really was an easy one though, nice slow saunter to the barn then up onto 'the driveway' up to George's Lane, past the kennels then back down by the side of Wilderswood.

After a good warm down, a bath with a glass of wine was in order which I think was pretty well deserved.  Just waiting for the take away now...

Total distance - 4.35 miles

Week's total distance - 25.25 miles (approx)

Mid Lancs XC - Kendal (First Race of the Weekend)

This morning I woke up with a huge feeling of dread.  Yet again, I started trying to talk myself out of racing today.  This is making me think I need to knock racing on the head for a while.  I'm just not enjoying it at the moment and I'm not entirely sure why.  It's not really anything to do with not getting good times, I think it's more a self-consciousness thing.  I'm not really sure what to do about it either but I really need to sort it out because I don't actually want to stop racing, I just want to start enjoying it!  At the moment, the only part I enjoy is crossing the line at the end.

Last year I quite enjoyed Kendal cross country so went in with a positive attitude.  The course was different this year as one of the fields it went into last year was closed off.  The course for the ladies was one medium lap and two large laps.  I was the sole representative for Horwich ladies and the only other Horwich athlete in my race was Nathan Townsend who was running in the under 17 men category (for anyone who doesn't know, the under 17 men and the senior ladies race is run together but the results are split afterwards).

I made the same mistake as I make in most cross country races - I started too fast.  It's really easily done, especially in cross country because the start line is really wide spread and so it isn't very deep so it's easy to be swept along by all the fast girls (and under 17 lads) at the start.  Having looked at my Garmin stats, I ran my first half mile in a 6.34 to 7.15 minute mile pace which is much faster than my usual pace, even my road pace!  I was still doing a 7.30-7.45 pace into the second mile, which is when I began to struggle.  I felt sick and my legs just had nothing left in them.  They were completely drained of energy.  I gave it all I had but had nothing left to give.  When I crossed the line I just made for a grid on the floor to sit down on before I fell down.

I did take 9 minutes off my time from last year's Kendal XC but it's not really comparable because it was a different course.  I think it is still a huge improvement though, given that the course distance was pretty much the same.

The men's team won the race, making then the overall winners!  RED ARMY!!!!!

Total distance - 3.10 miles (plus warm up)

All photos courtesy of Mark Birbeck