At Least the Run Won Over the Couch!

After staying in bed until 9.30 and then spending an hour or so sitting on the couch trying to talk myself out of going for a run, I finally got off my backside and headed out.  It became apparent after only a few minutes that this was going to be hard work.  I really have lost what little climb I had and that, coupled with the bottle of wine I consumed last night, made this a very difficult run.

I set off up Brownlow Road, past the stud then along the side of Wilderswood up to George's Lane.  By now, I was already really worn out.  This was not looking good.  I decided to go up to Two Lads from the kennels side so that I could have a little respite along George's Lane before climbing.  I'm not going to lie, I practically walked the whole way from the kennels to Two Lads, just running short sections.  This is the worst I have felt in a long time on a run.  I also had a raging thirst and hadn't brought any water with me.  On reaching Two Lads I did think about just writing off the run and heading back home but I'd come out with a route in mind and my word I was going to stick to it.

I then went the boggy cross country route to the mast then up to the trig point.  Finally, a descent!

I ran down the diagonal to the bridge but as I was running down my ankle started to hurt again (seriously, was anything going to go right today?).  It wasn't bad enough to stop but was just a sharp pain every now and then.  So even my downhill was rubbish today!  I then ran along the lane and up to Noon Hill.  Again, the climb to Noon Hill was just a walk.  My legs were like lead.  Not too far to go now though, on my way back home!

I ran along the boggy trod to the Pike and managed to get to the top of the Pike without any walking.  Shocking!

Coming down off the Pike was very slippery today after all the rain but I managed to stay upright, although I didn't come down at my usual speed.

Even the short run along George's Lane to the kennels was really hard.  All I could think about was getting home and glugging down a pint of water as soon as I walked through the door.  My mouth was so dry.  I really need to stop drinking!  Not that I drink a lot by the way, before anybody thinks I'm an alcoholic.

I got to the kennels and decided to run home down my favourite field, not that I was in any shape whatsoever to try to beat my Strava record.

Getting home felt brilliant and water has never tasted so good.

Only 16 miles done this week but that's four more than last week!

Hopefully, this book I have come into possession of might help with my climbing!  Yes, I hear you saying now, 'less reading, more running with help' but save your breath, I already know that!

Total distance - 6.5 miles 

Oh Mojo Where Art Thou?

This morning I went for a run in Manchester with Rachel from work.  We did the usual 3.2ish mile route (my Garmin decided not to find a signal at all this morning – seriously, worst £230 Duncan has ever spent!)  It was chucking it down and there were huge deep puddles along one bit of road where Rachel was laughing at me for ‘galloping’ through them on my tip toes. 

My running has been very poor recently distance-wise and I have only run a total of 32 miles since 4 October.  I usually run more than that in a week!  I’m finding it a bit difficult to get back into at the minute though and seem to have lost my mojo a little.  Throughout the summer, I had a structured training plan and a defined goal but now I don’t and I’m finding it hard to do anything other than plod out a few miles.  I had intended to go to the hill session last night but spent my train journey home talking myself into it.  I know the mojo will come back though so I’m not too worried.  I just need to get my act together.

Total distance – 3.2 miles

‘Skiing’ Off Two Lads

I went for another easy run with Ruby tonight (they seem to have all been easy runs since I got back from holiday – I think I may have lost my mojo again!) just up to Two Lads and back via Wilderswood.  When we had just got past Wylderswoode Stud (I’ve always wondered why the name of the stud is spelt differently) a husky came running over to us.  It went for Ruby, who was on a lead, and they started grappling.  Ruby let out a yelp, which I’ve never heard her do before as she’s usually a tough old bird.  The owner of the husky yelled at it and eventually it went back to her.  She apologised and, as Ruby didn’t appear to be hurt and it’s usually me doing the apologising for her biting dogs, I said it was fine.  To be honest, of all the dogs Ruby has attacked whilst I’ve had her, none have retaliated so this might have taught her a lesson!  We carried on up to Brinks Row but Ruby had stopped running and was just walking behind me looking all sheepish with her tail between her legs.  I couldn’t decide whether she was hurt so I bent down and gave her a good feel to see whether anything made her wince or whether I found any blood on her.  All seemed well but she just didn’t want to run.  After hanging around on Brinks Row for about ten minutes she finally decided she was OK now and we carried on on our way.  I stuck to the road (Old Rake) up to George’s Lane just in case she was injured as I didn’t want her on uneven ground.  She was fine though so once on George’s Lane we headed up to Two Lads.  I had Ruby off the lead at this point as it was dark and I knew I’d see any other animals before she would.  When we started heading down from Two Lads towards the kennels, I could see what felt like hundreds of eyes staring at me through the beam of my torch.  It was of course sheep so I had to quickly get Ruby back onto the waist lead.  The problem with this is that once Ruby saw the sheep she tried to chase them.  She may be small, but she’s very strong for her size and when you’re running down a slippery hill with a dog dragging you, it doesn’t end well.  The best way of describing it is that I skied off the hill.  There wasn’t much in the way of running, just me trying to stay upright whilst Ruby dragged me.  

What’s with all the sheep on Two Lads these days anyway, they seem to be there all the time whereas before they very rarely were and I always had Ruby off her lead. 

Total distance – 3.3 miles

First Head Torch Run of the Season

I went for an easy run with Ruby today, setting off whilst it was still light but knowing that it would soon get dark.  The problem with going out at this time though is that you get to a stage where it’s too dark to see all the rocks and tree roots but isn’t really dark enough for your head torch to have much effect.  Or is that just me? 

We ran down to the school and up the concrete road, then took the middle path up towards the terraced gardens and out onto George’s Lane.  It was on George’s Lane that I decided it was time for the torch but it really didn’t make much difference and I found myself being really careful at where I put my feet.  Next time I think I’ll just wait until it’s completely dark before heading out!

Total distance – 3.1 miles

Coed Y Brenin

Duncan, Ruby and I went camping this weekend near Coed Y Brenin in Wales.  We arrived on Friday night after being stuck in traffic for over three hours to pouring rain so it was lovely to be able to just hop into the back of the van and not have to put a tent up. 

On Saturday, we headed over to Rhyd Ddu to watch some of the Snowdonia Marathon.  I knew that John Swift was taking part in this so thought it would be nice to show up unannounced to give him a cheer a couple of miles after the half way point.  He looked fresh as a daisy when he ran past us.  After watching a few other runners come through and seeing the odd familiar face from local running clubs, we decided to head to the finish line in Llanberis.  We drove against the flow of runners and a couple of miles down the road we noticed Ed Swift coming up the hill.  I hadn’t known that he was running too so felt awful for not waiting around to give him a cheer.  When we arrived at the finish, John had not long since crossed the line and was heading back to his car to get changed.  We decided to wait for Ed to finish so went and stood about 100 metres from the finish line to cheer everyone on.  I don’t know why, but watching people finish at events like this makes me get a little emotional sometimes.  I think that it is seeing a lot of the runners with that look of elation on their face that they have achieved something so fantastic.  I was probably a bit more emotional than usual this time too, given my failed marathon attempt a couple of weeks ago.  Ed came round the corner and we gave him a huge cheer as he ran along the finishing straight.  We the walked with Ed and bumped back into John and, after a brief natter, went our separate ways.  Duncan took a couple of photos of John and Ed which can be found on this linkhttp://wfdbwgua.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/snowdonia-marathon-24th-october-2015.html?m=1

On the Sunday, we went to the trail centre at Coed Y Brenin.  As well as having mountain bike trails here, they also have new running trails at distances of 2.5 miles, 5.2 miles, 8.5 miles and 13.2 miles.  I couldn’t decide which route to do and I’m afraid to say I opted for the 5.2 mile route as I was feeling quite tired.  I’m glad I did though because I felt terrible!  The first mile felt OK which is odd because it was all climb and I was really pleased with how well I was doing.  At the top of the climb, I paused for a second but then couldn’t seem to get going again after that and was looking forward to getting to the end of the route. 

Once I returned, to the van where Duncan was sitting drinking a brew having just finished his bacon butty, my brother turned up to meet Duncan as they were going onto the mountain bike trails.  It was then my turn for a bacon butty and a brew.  After my refreshments, I took Ruby on a couple of the walking trails where she decided to attack what turned out to be a wooden deer!  She’s just not very bright. 

Total distance – 5.3 miles (extra bit on as I started the trail from the van, not from the trail start)

Loving the Bad Weather

When I go for an easy run with Ruby, I love it when the weather is bad.  It means that there's nobody else around and so I can let the little terror off her lead to run free.

Today it was raining and thick with fog so it was ideal.  I let her off the lead just after I turned off road by the school and didn't put her back on again until I came out onto Brinks Row at the bottom of Wilderswood.

In between that, we ran down to the top barn and then up the steep hill, crossing the driveway and up the even steeper hill to the Pigeon Tower.  We then ran along George's Lane, bypassing the Pike to Wilderswood and then down to home.

Total distance - 4.25 miles 

Stupid Garmin

I really am sick of my Garmin now.  I can't believe something which costs so much money can be so rubbish!  I know they're expensive but I'm thinking that the Suunto route is the one to go down.  Apparently they do far more extensive testing on their products before putting them out there and so there are less problems with them.

Today, my Garmin decided not to turn on.  It just hung on the 'Garmin' load up screen.  It finally turned on about half a mile into my run through Manchester with Rachel.

It was a nice easy run at 7.30am which set us up for the day ahead.

Total distance - 3.2 miles 

Half Decent Run

As the title suggests, this was my first half decent run since my failed marathon attempt two weeks ago.

I ran along to the top barn, then ran the short sharp hill up to 'the driveway' from the path which runs a way behind the barn along to the pigeon tower car park (I can never describe where I mean by this path).

I then zigzagged up through the terraced gardens, coming out at the Pigeon Tower, then running up the Pike and back down again onto George's Lane, then along, through Wilderswood and home.

The summer of pretty flat running has left me with very little climb in my legs but I did better than I thought I would.  My foot pain has mostly gone but there is now a pain in my big toe so running uphill doesn't help this as I'm up on my toes.  I gave it a good icing when I got home though and it isn't any worse now so that's a positive.

Total distance - 5.25 miles

First Run Back!

I had a bit of a run yesterday during my walk with Ruby but today I went for my first proper run since the Bremen Marathon.  The pain in my foot appears to have completely gone so I thought I'd give it a try.  I ran from Wilderswood Car Park on George's Lane, along towards the pike then turned off on the left and zigzagged through the terraced gardens, coming out at the Pigeon Tower, then running back to the car park.

My foot felt absolutely fine, however I was really tired in myself.  I can't believe that only a few weeks ago I was potentially fit enough to run a sub-four marathon as I found this 3.5 miles hard work today.  Really pleased that there was no pain though and hopefully I'll be back up to some decent mileage too.

I'm sat with my foot between two bags of frozen peas at the minute - not taking any chances!

Total distance - 3.5 miles

Bremen Marathon - DNF!!!!

I'm sat typing on a German laptop at the minute and all the keys are in the wrong place so this is really hard work (for example, the y and the z are the wrong way around!) so please bear with me.

I have kept it pretty quiet but I have spent the entire summer training for the Bremen Marathon.

I've never really wanted to do a marathon before and it's not something which has ever appealed to me but I was feeling fed up of just plodding along every day and wanted a focus for my training so decided that entering a big race would ensure that I stuck to a tough training plan.  The goal I had for this race was to do it in under 4 hours.

My training has been going really well, to the point that when I ran my 18 milers I was doing so well that when I finished I had built up enough time in the bank that I could do the last nine miles in a ten minute mile pace and still finish under four hours so I was really hopeful of a good race.

All through my training I remained injury free and had regular appointments with Maria to keep me loose and in good condition.

Less that two weeks before race day though, I developed a pain in the outside of my left foot.  I have mentioned it in my previous blog posts (which I didn't post to Facebook because they mention the marathon and I didn't want to tell people about it) but to recap, it came on a couple of hours after a run along the canal with Kathryn for no apparent reason.  All I could come up with is that it was a delayed reaction to wearing some tight high heeled boots to a party a couple of days before.  A couple of days after my run with Kathryn I did an easy three miles and, whilst my foot still hurt during this, it didn't get any worse and wasn't painful enough for me to worry. Three days after that, I was due to do 8.5 miles at race pace so, even though my foot was still a little tender, I set off, thinking that it was just knotty muscles which would wear off.  I was wrong and I ended up walking home after 3.5 miles as the pain got really bad.

My marathon hopes were now dwindling as the race was only a week away.  I went to see Maria on the Monday night and she spent the whole 45 minute appointment working on my foot.  She found a few points which caused terrible pain and she worked to ease them off, saying it was my plantar fascia.  She taped it up and said that I should see how it goes re the marathon but didn't rule out doing it altogether.

For the past week all I have thought about is my foot.  It has gradually got better, but hasn't stopped hurting completely.

Duncan and I agreed that it would be better to at least start the race and pull out if necessary than to not start at all, seeing as I had trained so hard for it.

I managed to get to seven miles before I decided enough was enough.  Perhaps I could have carried on more and worked through the pain but I really didn't want to end up getting to a point where I was out of running altogether for weeks/months on end, just for the sake of one race.

All the way back to the race start/finish I was trying to hold back the tears.  I felt like such a faiulre.  Seeing all the other runners in the city centre made it even worse.  I feel like I've really let myself down. 

This is the only race I have ever trained really hard and consistently for and it is the first race I have pulled out of.

To say I'm gutted is an understatement, I feel a little empty inside which probably sounds a little over the top but that's just the way it is.

On the bright side, the aim for this race was more the training than the race itself.  I wanted a focus to make me stronger and faster and I definitely proved a lot to myself in my training.  I now know that, foot pain free, I am more than capable of achieving a sub-four hour marathon, which is something I had a lot of doubts about beforehand.

Whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger, right?

Total distance - 7 miles