Friday, 15 August 2014
Two Lads - Mast - Pike
I had a lovely run tonight with Ruby. I really enjoyed it and as I was running through the mud and and slush from the mast to the Pike I looked up to the sky and took a deep breath feeling euphoric. I was brought crashing (almost literally) back to earth though as Ruby had stopped dead in front of me and I nearly fell over her. I could see the ground getting closer to my face but managed to right myself before landing face first in a puddle of mud.
We ran from home up through Wilderswood onto George's Lane and then headed up to Two Lads via the water tanks. I stopped to chat for a while to Sean and Ruby had a great time playing with her old house mates (Ruby used to belong to Sean so she had a little reunion with his other dogs).
We then carried on to Two Lads and then headed cross country for the mast then, when reaching the mast road, turned almost back on ourselves and headed over to the Pike.
As I mentioned above, it was really wet going across to the Pike but I was in one of those moods where I felt that the dirtier I got the better my run would be so I just motored through it all and loved every minute.
We got to the Pike and I let Ruby off the lead for the run down. She did her usual trick of stopping dead right in front of me though but I was able to stop in time. It's really unnerving running down a steep hill with a dog as stupid as Ruby with you.
I made it to the bottom in one piece and got Ruby back on her lead and we headed home, although I could have stayed out for hours. Ruby didn't share this feeling as by this point she had started trailing behind me and I was having to slow to a near walk so she could keep up.
Positive comments: Good strength on hills, really enjoyed run, no ankle pain.
Total distance - 5 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/180662951
Thursday, 14 August 2014
Very Short Trot
First run since going over on my ankle on Saturday so just a short one to test it.
It was completely pain free, although still slightly stiffer than the left ankle. When I got home I put some ice on it again and it feels fine now. Hopefully that's the end of that issue. Off to do a recce of the Langdale Horseshoe on Monday so going to take it easy over the weekend.
The run itself was with Ruby and we just ran down to Lever Park Avenue, crossed over onto the path which runs along the road,where some young scallywag on a crosser bike came past us. We turned left at the house and ran down to the next path on the left which takes you back to the path up to Liverpool Castle and again the young lad came past on the crosser. At the end of the path we turned left again instead to take us back to Lever Park Avenue and then ran back home.
Why does Rivington attract chavs?
Positive comment: Managed to run without any ankle pain!
Total distance - 2.25 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/180172738
It was completely pain free, although still slightly stiffer than the left ankle. When I got home I put some ice on it again and it feels fine now. Hopefully that's the end of that issue. Off to do a recce of the Langdale Horseshoe on Monday so going to take it easy over the weekend.
The run itself was with Ruby and we just ran down to Lever Park Avenue, crossed over onto the path which runs along the road,where some young scallywag on a crosser bike came past us. We turned left at the house and ran down to the next path on the left which takes you back to the path up to Liverpool Castle and again the young lad came past on the crosser. At the end of the path we turned left again instead to take us back to Lever Park Avenue and then ran back home.
Why does Rivington attract chavs?
Positive comment: Managed to run without any ankle pain!
Total distance - 2.25 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/180172738
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Swimming!
A trip to Horwich Leisure Centre was in order this morning as I'm really struggling to stay sedentary through my ankle/foot injury.
I haven't been swimming for about two years so decided to just do 50 lengths of breaststroke (proper head under water breaststroke though, none of this trying to keep your hair dry malarkey).
The three lanes all had a few people in each of them so I just got into the main pool area to start with as there were only about six people in it. The first few lengths were the hardest and I was wondering whether 50 was a bit optimistic but I soon got into my stride and it got much easier. After about eight lengths I noticed there was nobody in the middle lane so I went into there as I had spent my first lengths going in zigzags to get round other people, even though there were only a few in the pool.
I got to 50 lengths but didn't feel anywhere near tired enough and had only been in the pool for 35 minutes so I decided to do a few more.
When I got to 60 I decided I'd better start thinking about leaving, seeing as I had to go home and work so I made the decision to just do four more and make it a mile.
It took me about 45 minutes to do the mile which isn't ace but I'm quite pleased seeing as I haven't been swimming for so long and it was all in breaststroke.
My foot is much better today and the swelling has gone down almost completely. It's still a little painful on movement so I'm not going to try to run until it's pain free as I don't want any more setbacks. It didn't hurt at all whilst swimming so I'm going to try to find time to fit more sessions in but it's difficult as this is the only day this week that I can go in the morning and it's too busy for me in the evenings but I might just have to put up with it. I hate how groups of women go and stand chatting in the shallow end so you can't reach the end and do a full length. Why go to the baths if all you're going to do is stand around and talk? They're there for about an hour and probably only do ten lengths in that time.
Sorry for the rant.
Total distance - 1 mile (64 lengths or 1600metres)
http://www.strava.com/activities/179132840
I haven't been swimming for about two years so decided to just do 50 lengths of breaststroke (proper head under water breaststroke though, none of this trying to keep your hair dry malarkey).
The three lanes all had a few people in each of them so I just got into the main pool area to start with as there were only about six people in it. The first few lengths were the hardest and I was wondering whether 50 was a bit optimistic but I soon got into my stride and it got much easier. After about eight lengths I noticed there was nobody in the middle lane so I went into there as I had spent my first lengths going in zigzags to get round other people, even though there were only a few in the pool.
I got to 50 lengths but didn't feel anywhere near tired enough and had only been in the pool for 35 minutes so I decided to do a few more.
When I got to 60 I decided I'd better start thinking about leaving, seeing as I had to go home and work so I made the decision to just do four more and make it a mile.
It took me about 45 minutes to do the mile which isn't ace but I'm quite pleased seeing as I haven't been swimming for so long and it was all in breaststroke.
My foot is much better today and the swelling has gone down almost completely. It's still a little painful on movement so I'm not going to try to run until it's pain free as I don't want any more setbacks. It didn't hurt at all whilst swimming so I'm going to try to find time to fit more sessions in but it's difficult as this is the only day this week that I can go in the morning and it's too busy for me in the evenings but I might just have to put up with it. I hate how groups of women go and stand chatting in the shallow end so you can't reach the end and do a full length. Why go to the baths if all you're going to do is stand around and talk? They're there for about an hour and probably only do ten lengths in that time.
Sorry for the rant.
Total distance - 1 mile (64 lengths or 1600metres)
http://www.strava.com/activities/179132840
Saturday, 9 August 2014
Coope's Dozen... Again!
Having never done Coope's Dozen before May this year, I have now done it three times (one of which was the 'baker's' dozen).
Not many of us today, just me, Ed, John and Kev, although Kev wasn't going to be with us for the whole duration.
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The first few summits (Noon Hill, Rivington Pike, Two Lads, Whinberry Hill and Egg Hillock) seemed to go by quite quickly and were easy running (save for the first hill up through the plantation onto George's Lane, which we walked). Getting from Egg Hillock to Counting Hill was ridiculous though! The bracken was really high and we could really have done with a machete each to chop our way though it all, it was like being in a jungle. Legs cut to ribbons (well mine at least), we finally got through it all and made our way to Counting Hill. For me, that's the worst part of the run over with and the biggest climbs too.
We then made our way up from Counting Hill to the trig point on Winter Hill but, on the way up, I went over on my right ankle a couple of times. It hurt a little but wore off as I kept on running and didn't bother me again.
After the trig point, we went down to Hordern Stoops where Ed, as usual, had left us a stash of water, bananas and cereal bars.
A little rest later, we headed off to Old Adams. Kev left us at this point and continued along the flagging, probably towards Great Hill.
Again, going down the dip before the climb to Old Adams, the tussocks were really high and it was hard going, each of us making our own way through different routes, with Ed and myself reaching the fencing before the summit first and finding a little gate to climb over so we didn't need to battle with the barbed wire fence. No cows in the field this time so we didn't need to send Ed over on his own to risk life and limb (interestingly, on the cows point, there is actually an article about the dangers of cows in the most recent Fellrunner Magazine, so I'm not being daft being afraid of them).
From Old Adams we made our way back up, through yet more tussocks and bracken, to Spitlers Edge and from there to Great Hill where Ed had left us another stash.
On leaving Great Hill we made our way across to Round Loaf and then there was only one summit left. I'm not sure how, but on the way from Round Loaf to White Coppice, we seem to have got onto the wrong side of the gully and again found ourselves fighting our way through the bracken. I don't think I'll be wearing short skirts for a while as my legs are in tatters!
We got to the bottom and crossed onto the right side and then made our way into White Coppice where we were very tempted to stop and watch the cricket with a cold beer. We resisted the temptation though and made our way along towards Healey Nab.
On nearing Healey Nab, the final summit, my right ankle started to hurt. It had been about 12 miles since I went over on it and it had been pain free up until this point but the more I ran (or even just walked), the more it hurt. I'm really angry with myself now for carrying on when it was hurting so much as I'll have only made it worse, but we were still four miles from the car and there was nobody I could have rang to pick me up so I had no choice but to keep going.
Apologies for those of a nervous disposition but a disgusting foot picture is about to follow, my feet are pretty grim at the best of times. As you can see, the right one is red and swollen compared with the left one (you can't see the veins and bones in it so it actually improves it to be honest!!!).
I've had ice on it every couple of hours and a compression bandage but it's still quite swollen and painful (I'm typing this and took this photo 24 hours after the run). Feeling really annoyed with myself for letting it get like this but I just didn't know until the last few miles that I had hurt it.
Really enjoyed the run itself though, as usual. We seem to have done half a mile more this time than in May which is probably due to a difference in route in a couple of places. In May, we did the off-road route from the Pike to Two Lads and this time John and I took the George's Lane route. Also, in May we took the Shaly Dingle route from Egg Hillock to Counting Hill which we didn't do this time.
Below is the timing for each hill, although I might not be 100% accurate as I just worked this out from my Garmin Connect map so might have got some of the summits in the wrong place.
I'm not sure about the moving time to Counting Hill as 19 minutes seems way too fast to here - perhaps Garmin mistook our incredibly slow pace through the bracken for us being stopped altogether.
Total Distance - 19 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/178258908/overview
Not many of us today, just me, Ed, John and Kev, although Kev wasn't going to be with us for the whole duration.
The first few summits (Noon Hill, Rivington Pike, Two Lads, Whinberry Hill and Egg Hillock) seemed to go by quite quickly and were easy running (save for the first hill up through the plantation onto George's Lane, which we walked). Getting from Egg Hillock to Counting Hill was ridiculous though! The bracken was really high and we could really have done with a machete each to chop our way though it all, it was like being in a jungle. Legs cut to ribbons (well mine at least), we finally got through it all and made our way to Counting Hill. For me, that's the worst part of the run over with and the biggest climbs too.
We then made our way up from Counting Hill to the trig point on Winter Hill but, on the way up, I went over on my right ankle a couple of times. It hurt a little but wore off as I kept on running and didn't bother me again.
After the trig point, we went down to Hordern Stoops where Ed, as usual, had left us a stash of water, bananas and cereal bars.
A little rest later, we headed off to Old Adams. Kev left us at this point and continued along the flagging, probably towards Great Hill.
Again, going down the dip before the climb to Old Adams, the tussocks were really high and it was hard going, each of us making our own way through different routes, with Ed and myself reaching the fencing before the summit first and finding a little gate to climb over so we didn't need to battle with the barbed wire fence. No cows in the field this time so we didn't need to send Ed over on his own to risk life and limb (interestingly, on the cows point, there is actually an article about the dangers of cows in the most recent Fellrunner Magazine, so I'm not being daft being afraid of them).
From Old Adams we made our way back up, through yet more tussocks and bracken, to Spitlers Edge and from there to Great Hill where Ed had left us another stash.
On leaving Great Hill we made our way across to Round Loaf and then there was only one summit left. I'm not sure how, but on the way from Round Loaf to White Coppice, we seem to have got onto the wrong side of the gully and again found ourselves fighting our way through the bracken. I don't think I'll be wearing short skirts for a while as my legs are in tatters!
We got to the bottom and crossed onto the right side and then made our way into White Coppice where we were very tempted to stop and watch the cricket with a cold beer. We resisted the temptation though and made our way along towards Healey Nab.
On nearing Healey Nab, the final summit, my right ankle started to hurt. It had been about 12 miles since I went over on it and it had been pain free up until this point but the more I ran (or even just walked), the more it hurt. I'm really angry with myself now for carrying on when it was hurting so much as I'll have only made it worse, but we were still four miles from the car and there was nobody I could have rang to pick me up so I had no choice but to keep going.
Apologies for those of a nervous disposition but a disgusting foot picture is about to follow, my feet are pretty grim at the best of times. As you can see, the right one is red and swollen compared with the left one (you can't see the veins and bones in it so it actually improves it to be honest!!!).
I've had ice on it every couple of hours and a compression bandage but it's still quite swollen and painful (I'm typing this and took this photo 24 hours after the run). Feeling really annoyed with myself for letting it get like this but I just didn't know until the last few miles that I had hurt it.
Really enjoyed the run itself though, as usual. We seem to have done half a mile more this time than in May which is probably due to a difference in route in a couple of places. In May, we did the off-road route from the Pike to Two Lads and this time John and I took the George's Lane route. Also, in May we took the Shaly Dingle route from Egg Hillock to Counting Hill which we didn't do this time.
Below is the timing for each hill, although I might not be 100% accurate as I just worked this out from my Garmin Connect map so might have got some of the summits in the wrong place.
Total Distance - 19 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/178258908/overview
Thursday, 7 August 2014
Astley Park Trail Race
My first race since the road relays in March!
I had spent all day trying to think up excuses not to do it and I felt sick with worry (I have no idea why - you all know by now that I'm an oddball!) but I'm glad I managed to push all the negative thoughts aside and just man up!
Once I was on the way in the car with Brenda and Tony, all the nerves went away and I started to look forward to racing.
After watching the kids race and having a brief warm up with Mark, the race got underway.
The first lap seemed to go on forever but I was feeling pretty good even though Gordon had gone flying past me with ease on the way through the woods. Laurence had also passed me but I managed to get past him again on the second ascent of the dreaded hill, although it's no longer dreaded for me and is possibly my second favourite part of the race now as I go past everyone and nobody goes past me (my favourite part of the race is going through the woods and coming out back at the start as it's undulating and you can get a good speed up).
Once at the top of the hill though, I started to feel a bit ill. My stomach really hurt and I felt like I might be sick. This lasted for about ¾ of a mile but it then passed and I started feeling good again.
Other than that brief stomach ache, I felt fairly good throughout the race and felt like I was really motoring so I was a little disappointed when I crossed the line and checked my pace - 8.30 minute mile! I felt like it should have been much faster that that. My pace last year was 8.25, although I can’t compare the race time itself as it was a different course.
After the race, my stomach got really bad. I’m not sure why, maybe it was the oats overload I had (porridge for breakfast, a flapjack with lunch and another flapjack for my pre-race snack a couple of hours before) but I couldn’t eat anything when I got home after the race and felt really ill. This might account for why I didn’t do as well as I should have, or am I just making excuses?
In an effort to start seeing more positives in my runs than negatives, I am going to start putting three points at the end of each blog post showing the positives from that day’s session so no better place to start than with today’s race.
Total distance - 4.3 miles + warm up and cool down
http://www.strava.com/activities/176871047/overview
I had spent all day trying to think up excuses not to do it and I felt sick with worry (I have no idea why - you all know by now that I'm an oddball!) but I'm glad I managed to push all the negative thoughts aside and just man up!
Once I was on the way in the car with Brenda and Tony, all the nerves went away and I started to look forward to racing.
After watching the kids race and having a brief warm up with Mark, the race got underway.
The first lap seemed to go on forever but I was feeling pretty good even though Gordon had gone flying past me with ease on the way through the woods. Laurence had also passed me but I managed to get past him again on the second ascent of the dreaded hill, although it's no longer dreaded for me and is possibly my second favourite part of the race now as I go past everyone and nobody goes past me (my favourite part of the race is going through the woods and coming out back at the start as it's undulating and you can get a good speed up).
Once at the top of the hill though, I started to feel a bit ill. My stomach really hurt and I felt like I might be sick. This lasted for about ¾ of a mile but it then passed and I started feeling good again.
Other than that brief stomach ache, I felt fairly good throughout the race and felt like I was really motoring so I was a little disappointed when I crossed the line and checked my pace - 8.30 minute mile! I felt like it should have been much faster that that. My pace last year was 8.25, although I can’t compare the race time itself as it was a different course.
After the race, my stomach got really bad. I’m not sure why, maybe it was the oats overload I had (porridge for breakfast, a flapjack with lunch and another flapjack for my pre-race snack a couple of hours before) but I couldn’t eat anything when I got home after the race and felt really ill. This might account for why I didn’t do as well as I should have, or am I just making excuses?
In an effort to start seeing more positives in my runs than negatives, I am going to start putting three points at the end of each blog post showing the positives from that day’s session so no better place to start than with today’s race.
- I did really well on all three ascensions of the hill. Looking at the segments on Strava, I have the second fastest time on that hill and the people below me have faster times than me on the other sections of the course, which shows that I'm getting much better at hills!
- I had a strong finish and felt really good during the last mile or so.
- I actually did it, even though I had been trying to talk myself out of it all day.
Total distance - 4.3 miles + warm up and cool down
http://www.strava.com/activities/176871047/overview
Monday, 4 August 2014
To race or not to race...
...that is the question I was asking myself throughout tonight's run.
I'm trying to decide whether to do the Chorley 4.4 on Wednesday night. As you might be aware, I fell out with racing earlier this year and haven't raced since the road relays in March. I don't want to do the race on Wednesday but I know that the longer I leave it, the worse my anxiety of racing will get.
I'm not going to run it because it's part of the road champs, as I have no chance of getting anywhere with that this year now, haven't done enough races, but it's just a race I have always quite liked so I thought it might be a good one to help me get back into it.
I've never liked racing (apart from the crossing the finish line bit of course) but I've always wanted to like it, which is why I kept doing it in the hope that the more races I did, the less bothered I would be beforehand, but it doesn't seem to have worked and I still get terrible anxiety and spend the hours before a race trying to talk myself out of it. Most of you will be thinking 'why race if you hate it so much' but, like I said, I WANT to start to enjoy it. I just don't know how to take the pressure off myself and stop the anxiety. The only pressure is the pressure I put on myself and I'm well aware of that.
Tonight's run was a leisurely plod to the pub with Ruby. I set off down towards the school, where I bumped into Dave Jackson and had a natter for ten minutes about all sorts from dogs to speed training. Dave gave me some pretty good training advice that I'll definitely be trying out.
We then continued on our way, running down to Rivington Reservoir and following it along to the prep school. We then turned right past the bowling club and up towards Yarrow. I do this route a lot at the minute because I know there's plenty of water around for Ruby to drink in this hot weather. We carried on all the way to the road, where we turned left down the hill then left again at the bottom and along Knowsley Lane all the way to the Yew Tree.
By now I was really looking forward to a cold drink but as we went round the bend and the pub came into sight, I could see no cars at all in the car park and the place looking very quite. Yes, it was closed.
Duncan pulled up about ten minutes later as I had arranged to meet him there and he was gutted too so we drove round to the bowling club and had a drink there instead.
Total distance - 4.25 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/175426972
I'm trying to decide whether to do the Chorley 4.4 on Wednesday night. As you might be aware, I fell out with racing earlier this year and haven't raced since the road relays in March. I don't want to do the race on Wednesday but I know that the longer I leave it, the worse my anxiety of racing will get.
I'm not going to run it because it's part of the road champs, as I have no chance of getting anywhere with that this year now, haven't done enough races, but it's just a race I have always quite liked so I thought it might be a good one to help me get back into it.
I've never liked racing (apart from the crossing the finish line bit of course) but I've always wanted to like it, which is why I kept doing it in the hope that the more races I did, the less bothered I would be beforehand, but it doesn't seem to have worked and I still get terrible anxiety and spend the hours before a race trying to talk myself out of it. Most of you will be thinking 'why race if you hate it so much' but, like I said, I WANT to start to enjoy it. I just don't know how to take the pressure off myself and stop the anxiety. The only pressure is the pressure I put on myself and I'm well aware of that.
Tonight's run was a leisurely plod to the pub with Ruby. I set off down towards the school, where I bumped into Dave Jackson and had a natter for ten minutes about all sorts from dogs to speed training. Dave gave me some pretty good training advice that I'll definitely be trying out.
We then continued on our way, running down to Rivington Reservoir and following it along to the prep school. We then turned right past the bowling club and up towards Yarrow. I do this route a lot at the minute because I know there's plenty of water around for Ruby to drink in this hot weather. We carried on all the way to the road, where we turned left down the hill then left again at the bottom and along Knowsley Lane all the way to the Yew Tree.
By now I was really looking forward to a cold drink but as we went round the bend and the pub came into sight, I could see no cars at all in the car park and the place looking very quite. Yes, it was closed.
Duncan pulled up about ten minutes later as I had arranged to meet him there and he was gutted too so we drove round to the bowling club and had a drink there instead.
Total distance - 4.25 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/175426972
Saturday, 2 August 2014
Fueling Issues
As the title says, I seem to be having some fueling issues at the minute - either eating too much before or a run, or eating too little.
Today was the latter. I got up at around 8am this morning and had a pre-run granola bar. However, whilst Duncan was in the bathroom I decided to get back into bed for five minutes and then didn't wake up until after 11am. I had someone coming round at 12.00 so didn't have time for a run before that. At around 12.30 I had a small snack from my Graze box (about 150 calories) and then at about 1.15 I set off for my run.
I drove to Rivvy barn and then ran along to the bowling club and up towards Yarrow. At this point I was feeling fine and as moving well. I went to the end of the track and then turned right on the road into Lead Mines Clough. I ran to the bridge and then went right to go up the big hill and out towards Jepson's Gate, however, when I got to the gate at the top of the hill, the field through the gate was full of cows and calves. The calves were right on the other side of the gate so I really didn't want to go through. Strangely, all of the cows were black but all of the calves were white. Every single one of them.
I went back down the hill and then did a small loop through the clough before running back out again onto the road and then following the road all the way to the bottom and towards Anglezarke car park. By now, only 2.5 miles in, I was getting really tired. I was light headed and energyless and can only put it down to not having eaten enough. It was now nearly 2pm and I had only eaten 300 calories all day, which for me is very little. I get really lighted headed if I don't eat properly, which is why I can't run in the morning without having had breakfast.
Last week I ate too much and had indigestion all the way round so I really need to work on correct fueling - amongst all the other things I need to work on!
I ran the woodland trail round around Anglezarke and then headed back towards Yarrow via 'the slipway' and then headed down to Dean Brook. It was at this point that a fly shot into my mouth and no amount of 'hocking' could get it back up again. I could feel it at the back of my throat but could do nothing about it. Ah well, I probably needed the protein!
Total distance - 6.3 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/174393817/overview
Today was the latter. I got up at around 8am this morning and had a pre-run granola bar. However, whilst Duncan was in the bathroom I decided to get back into bed for five minutes and then didn't wake up until after 11am. I had someone coming round at 12.00 so didn't have time for a run before that. At around 12.30 I had a small snack from my Graze box (about 150 calories) and then at about 1.15 I set off for my run.
I drove to Rivvy barn and then ran along to the bowling club and up towards Yarrow. At this point I was feeling fine and as moving well. I went to the end of the track and then turned right on the road into Lead Mines Clough. I ran to the bridge and then went right to go up the big hill and out towards Jepson's Gate, however, when I got to the gate at the top of the hill, the field through the gate was full of cows and calves. The calves were right on the other side of the gate so I really didn't want to go through. Strangely, all of the cows were black but all of the calves were white. Every single one of them.
I went back down the hill and then did a small loop through the clough before running back out again onto the road and then following the road all the way to the bottom and towards Anglezarke car park. By now, only 2.5 miles in, I was getting really tired. I was light headed and energyless and can only put it down to not having eaten enough. It was now nearly 2pm and I had only eaten 300 calories all day, which for me is very little. I get really lighted headed if I don't eat properly, which is why I can't run in the morning without having had breakfast.
Last week I ate too much and had indigestion all the way round so I really need to work on correct fueling - amongst all the other things I need to work on!
I ran the woodland trail round around Anglezarke and then headed back towards Yarrow via 'the slipway' and then headed down to Dean Brook. It was at this point that a fly shot into my mouth and no amount of 'hocking' could get it back up again. I could feel it at the back of my throat but could do nothing about it. Ah well, I probably needed the protein!
Total distance - 6.3 miles
http://www.strava.com/activities/174393817/overview
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