Category: Salford Harriers

Back on Track!

16/6/2015

Following a good day of rest yesterday (cycle commute not withstanding), I took myself for an experimental 5k this morning as a sort of recovery, sort of 'how will this feel?' test. I felt slow, obviously my pace has been a bit unnatural of late due to training for pacing duties and though I wasn't trying to stick to that any longer, I certainly wasn't speedy. Also, my old mate the ITB niggle was waving from the sidelines and I didn't fancy any more enthusiastic contributions from that side of things!

I was absolutely chuffed then, when following a slow pootle to work on two wheels, I realised I had next to no pain whatsoever and that the old leggies felt a lot lighter and less dull from slow running than they have done for a while. As this conveniently coincided with a rare free Tuesday evening, I took myself along to a track session with Salford Harriers at the Ethiad stadium. I'd planned to maybe plod round the track a bit anyway and really just thought I'd bob by to show my face but I felt OK so joined in with the track session. I'm never one of the fastest at track and am almost always trailing at the back but I was pretty chuffed to check my laps later and realise that I was kicking out around 6 minute mile pace, which is almost the fastest I've ever run anyway. So good to feel the wind under my tail again!

It was a lot warmer than this cloudy photo makes it look!

I'm not too sure of how advisable it is to do a speed interval session 48 hours after a marathon and I'm not quite convinced it's the sort of tapering one should be doing 5 days out of a 12 hour ultra either but heck, I enjoyed it and I don't feel I pushed myself beyond sense. As long as I take the remainder of the week fairly easy, I reckon it'll all be A-OK!

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Salford 10k and the Last Long One

6/4/2015

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Clearly having far too much fun!

Last year, when I went to cheer on a friend who was running the Salford 10k, organised by Salford Harriers at the Sports Village in Salford, I might reasonably have guessed I’d be running it myself this year but I’d have been mildly surprised to learn that I would also have joined the club! This being so, it was with a sense of slight guilt that I enjoyed participating in the event as a runner while so many familiar faces around me got stuck in to doing a fine job of organising, marshalling, dispensing race numbers and the like. There were a few other Harriers running too of course and it seems many of them did very well with a podium position for the gents and at least one new PB for the ladies. I managed a reasonably acceptable sub 45, which I didn’t think was too shoddy as a chunk of training as I approach my London Marathon taper. I treated it as a kind of tempo session, with a slightly slower 3 miles home (which turned in to 4 when I got a bit lost by the River Irwell!) tacked on the end to help make up the miles! It was a bit gloomy but nice and warm; I even took my gloves off, as you can see from the photo, gratefully, if presumptuously stolen from the Harriers' website!

A rest day on Saturday then preceded a final Long Slow Run, the Sunday staple for many marathoners! Since the weather was so glorious, I experienced no temptation to hop on the treadmill and decided to head out on a route I last ran on Summer Solstice as part of the Longest Day Run virtual challenge. You can see details of the run that day along with a few piccies of the route if you check out the 21st of June 2014 blog post, but I’ll go so far as to share yesterday’s stats too, though I didn’t take any photos. I recalled that it was around 23 miles but I guessed it would be more like 22 as I’d got a bit lost trying to get on to the Mersey. Apparently not. 23.5 miles in the heels!

I’m not going to pretend the last few miles weren’t hard but that was due to two very identifiable factors;

A) I’d underestimated the temperature and ran out of fluids so was probably a bit dehydrated and

B) that pesky old ITB started up a good effort at niggling from about mile 18, possibly exacerbated by aforementioned dehydration.

There was a point, round about mile 20, where I was wondering if I should stop and walk, such was my ‘I’m getting injured!’ maranoia, however, upon deciding that probably wouldn’t really be any less painful and would just take a lot longer, I kept it up, just at a slightly slower pace. It wasn’t that sore… I was probably just being a wuss. I got through it anyway, my leg didn’t fall off and I still did the run on average 17 seconds faster per mile than I did in the summer, which was quite gratifying really as I thought my pace had got slower and my fitness had dropped since my training went out of the window due to illness over winter.

Regardless of the run stats, I’ve always maintained that you’re only as good as your recovery and so I was a little concerned how I’d be feeling, especially in the knee area, the next day. Thankfully, my recovery package of delicious (!?) soya protein shakes, foam rolling, saunas, steam rooms and compression socks seems to have been at least mostly successful and whilst I’ll not pretend I haven’t got slightly heavy and achy legs today, and yes, I can feel it in the iliotibial band, I certainly don’t appear to have injured myself. Woo hoo! Let the taper commence!

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Getting my March On!

17/3/2015

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I think it was pretty clear from my last post (about 3 weeks ago) just how relieved I was to be feeling a lot better and able to participate in my first two (cross country) races of 2015. I imagine it also came across that I was being in no way complacent about my recovery and was resolved to keep things gentle in the hope that they would then remain steady. Well that worked then. I am very pleased to report, to those who follow such things, that I finally feel I am approaching the level of fitness, both physical and mental, that I had been lucky enough to enjoy prior to my ‘mini melt down’. I call it that, though of course that’s with the perspective of distance as it rapidly diminishes onto the horizon behind me. It didn’t feel ‘mini’ at the time. Thankfully though, through a bit of digging deep into the reserves of grit and determination, along with the support, understanding and encouragement of some very fine friends (and even a colleague or two) the ‘faith’ (for want of a better word) that kept me going through the darker moments feels as though it is now paying off and there may even be one or two fruits ripening, having been thoroughly fertilised by all that compost (aka ‘life shit’). Anyway. Feeling fit again is blooming awesome and here are a couple of things that seem worth sharing from the depths of my little running universe!

The weekend before last, I enjoyed my first road race of 2015; Altrincham Athletic’s Trafford 10k. It was a bit gloomy, slightly drizzly, but no biggy in terms of weather. I’ve heard tell it’s a very flat course and ideal for Pea Bees. There were certainly a few very grimly determined looking faces that supported that assertion! I wasn’t interested in a Pea Bee myself as my main concern was that I wanted to ‘top up’ my mileage to match the equivalent 18 mile Long Slow Run that would be an appropriate thing to do round about that point in the marathon training non-plan (no I still haven’t reinstated The Plan. More here on why I deleted it in case you missed that nugget of joy). In fact, I had even considered running to the race; about 12 miles from my place, 6.2 mile course, bam, 18 in the bag and a bus home. I saw sense when I was offered a lift however, which is possibly just as well. None the less, the closest I got to a Pea Bee was the surprisingly large invertebrate that decided to seek its maker at the back of my throat about ¾ of a mile in. I’m vegan dammit, get out of my gob! Cough. Cough, cough. Cough cough COUGH. OK. I’ll just swallow you. Oh. You’re stuck to the back of my throat. cough. Great. Couldn’t you have decided to kill yourself in my eye instead? There’s really nothing like picking fly legs out of your peepers whilst attempting 7.5 minute miles. Eventually, the irritation became so intense and my breathing so disrupted that Mr Diaphragm decided to wade into the tragic struggle of life and death. Cue pit stop whilst I semi chuck my guts up at two miles, freak out the marshals who are hastily recalling their rusty First Aid at Work skills and convince the runners gleefully overtaking me that I’m the twunt who went off too fast. Well, following the unceremonious dispatch of the dearly departed, I managed to pick the pace up considerably and really rather enjoyed the rest of the race (if you discount the bit where I had to stop and fertilise an oak tree. It looked hungry.).

According to some in my running club, you’re not supposed to enjoy racing and if you’re able to wave and smile at people who cheer you on round the course then you’re clearly not trying hard enough to bring home the silverware. Sorry Salford Harriers. Stuff THAT. This is my weekend and I’m here to have fun. It think that’s fairly well illustrated in this pic; no race face ‘oh god I’m dying!’ gurning for me! I was so disinterested in the event as a race I didn’t even check my official results until a couple of days later, content enough to simply make it into town in time to participate in the first ten miles of the Up & Running Manchester community marathon training run. I knew I was sub 50 something but was pretty surprised to find my official time was 4 minutes quicker than that.

Trafford 10k. Yes, I can smile and run at the same time..!

Ah, what glory could have been mine if I’d not collided with nature (in more ways than one)!? Anyway… I did 17 miles in the end that day, not 18 (I did one as warm up). I’m such a slacker. Incidentally, I’m not one to plug kit and products unless I genuinely find them noteworthy but I’ve been a fairly staunch proponent of SiS energy gels since encountering the delights of mid-run fuelling. However, on this run I discovered Torq, courtesy of Up & Running. The Raspberry Ripple gel is actually like eating melted ice cream. Mmmmm. Ice cream. And it’s vegan, unless you supplement it with flies. Try it out if you get the chance. Nom nom nom.

Ah, and while I’m on kit… it may be worth mentioning (if you’ve bothered to read this far, chances are you’re already a seasoned run geek and don’t need telling but hey…) that if you’re training for a spring marathon, you probably need to be thinking about your shoes now. Any that you’ve already been building the miles in are likely to be knackered by the time your race rolls round and you need to allow time to break your new ones in. As such, I am now the proud owner of some Mizuno Wave Rider 17s. Yes, the 18s just came out but time was when the 17s were the new shiny bestest ones and I’m a cheap skate. Hmm. Skates. Now there’s an idea!

Right, I’m going to wrap it up in a sec before I bore even myself but a couple of little digestifs before I sign off. Firstly, I’m super-excited to be officially registered now as a 4:45 pacer for the Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on June 14th. I’m hoping to complete London a tickle quicker than that, but it’ll bring its own challenges and I’m really looking forward to helping support others in achieving their targets in what is a significant goal, no matter your pace!

And finally finally, I was also rather touched last week, to be awarded a virtual honour by none other than the impressively wonderful Tiny Runner in her own version of the Running Awards. There’s really nothing more I can say beyond the comment I left her and her response was equally cockle-warming. Ahhh. Feeling the run-love anyone?

So to summarise (OK, now it’s really finally finally) I’m back in the game, I’ve found my mojo, I’m pushing on up and I’m running on out the door (as this morning’s 6.30am happy 8 miler proves) down the road to London, Liverpool and my first (two) Ultra(s)! Oh, did I tell you about that yet? Well, it’ll have to wait!

Fin.

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Back in the Race...

28/2/2015

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Though my blog posts have been a little less frequent of late, I’ve shared enough with anyone who actually reads them to know that I’ve not been too well since the end of last year… but that things were on the up. That trend has (thankfully) continued (more or less!) over the last month and I’ve now managed two races, as well as being broadly on track with my pleasantly vague marathon training ‘plan’ for London 2015.

With the Salford Harriers Senior Women in Wythenshawe

Post race with mum and friends on Parliament Hill

Speaking of London, and with the event drawing ever closer (less than two months away now!) I should probably start getting a little more on the case about fund raising. For speed, you can sponsor me using the text details to the right, or visit my fund-raising page to find out more about why I am running for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

After Trafford next week, the rest of March will see me looking forward to the Trimpell 20 and then a training weekend in Anglesey where I shall be leading my first running groups for UK Run Chat since qualifying for a Leadership in Running Fitness license.

It doesn’t seem to matter though what my own pace will be in any of these events; it looks like the summer will be speeding past in no time!

Given that both races so far have been Cross Country, the term ‘on the up’ is applicable in more ways than one, especially so last week at the Nationals on Parliament Hill in London. Yep. It’s called Parliament Hill for obvious reasons. Mud, wind and a steep hill is pretty much synonymous with cross country and I was fairly pleased to finish upright and with both my shoes still firmly laced to the appropriate appendages, which is more than can be said for many unfortunate runners who I saw hitting the deck (read sludge) or stopping to fish spikes out of swamp-like conditions. That I finished about 7 minutes slower than a cross country race of the same 8k distance the week before in Wythenshawe might once have perturbed me but given the differences in courses and conditions, I was pretty relaxed about that.

The race in Wythenshawe marked the end of the 2014/15 season of the Manchester Area X-C League and went pretty well, especially considering I’d not raced since Stockport 10 back at the beginning of December. I came 18th in the Senior Women’s race, 17th over the series (11th and 9th in the 20 to 34 age group) but our team came third in the race as well as winning the division 2 medal for the league. I’ve been told I get a medal for that, which I can collect next weekend at the Trafford 10k so it’s just as well I’ve already registered to run it!

I’ll keep it short for once but in other exciting news, I confirmed this week that I shall be a pacer at the 2015 Liverpool Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon! I’d considered running the inaugural event last year but as I’d not yet completed a race at that distance I opted to stick a bit closer to home with the Asics Manchester Marathon instead. In 2015, I’ll be pacing Liverpool with the 4.45 target group. As it’s not until June it’ll have no bearing whatsoever on my efforts in London… But I’m hoping it’ll serve as no more than a gentle warm up for my first ultra; Trail Blaster, which is the weekend after!

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Another Runpacked Weekend!

27/10/2014

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It’s not always been that easy for me to get along to ParkRuns in recent months but for various reasons my Saturdays have recently become a bit freer and so it was, as I had a bit of a spin round Platt Fields last week thanking marshals along the way, that it occurred to me I should really put my trainers where my mouth is and sign up to the volunteer roster.

Fast forward to this weekend and there I was on marshal point 6 ready and waiting alongside a row of friendly looking, if slightly squashed, cones to politely request that the speedier runners keep to the left and allow those still coming round the corner the luxury of doing so safely without any head-on collisions! I felt initially a little awkward; would my encouragement be appreciated? Would it be enough? Would I run the risk of pouring children’s TV presenter style irritating and disingenuous saccharinity on the poor sweating masses? These concerns were soon dispelled as the appreciation of the runners was shone back at me with every shout of ‘great running! Keep it up!’ I proffered. Armed with this boost, and the information I had been given that I was at the 3.5k point, I happily whiled away the minutes, reassuring everyone that they only had 1.5k left to go and incapable of keeping a huge Cheshire Cat grin off my chops. Unfortunately, after the speediest runner zipped back past me, (Ah yes, and ‘Keep to the left for me please guys!’) it slowly dawned on me that the 3.5k distance was for the return loop. As such, I had been chronically misinforming everyone on the out-bound section! They did not have ‘3.5k in the bank already!’, nor had they ‘broken the back of the course, nearly there now!’ Whoops. So if you did South Manchester ParkRun on Saturday 26th October and feel like murdering the marshal in the turquoise woolly hat who callously mislead you, broke you mentally and ruined your chances of a PB… Um… Sorry. Note to self; pay more attention. Slight mishaps aside, I did really enjoy being ‘on the other side’ as it were and it seems well timed that the ParkRun newsletter this week reflected on the benefits of being a volunteer;

“I still hear the term ‘giving up their time’ when referring to volunteers. I do believe that one of the biggest barriers to people getting involved with volunteering is the incorrect assumption that by doing so you are somehow making a sacrifice.”
Tom

A semi-run selfie... Of my boob.

The first runners approach my marshal point!

It’s certainly true that I in no way felt I was losing my time any more than I feel that way when I choose to attend a ParkRun event to participate in the physical activity. In fact I felt I had done far more than if I had ‘invested’ my Saturday morning in a lie in, or faffing around at home completing mundane tasks! I’ll do the housework later, when there isn’t a hoard of ambitious runners who need a shout of encouragement! It really is a great way to start a Saturday morning (aside from actually running of course!) especially when weekend race plans make it inadvisable to actually run.

The way I was supposed to go...

...Vs the route I took!

Cones safely packed away, I hopped on the bike (after a quick trip home to refuel and change!) towards Wythenshawe for the Manchester University Cross Country Relays to compete in a team of 3 for Salford Harriers. Now, there had been a certain amount of discussion on the email thread that it was difficult to find the university sports ground and there were various directional instructions offered. As these were for car drivers and I find it less easy to follow verbal directions than visualising it with a map, I had thrown myself on the mercy of Google for a suggested route. I had looked at a couple of options throughout the week and spent some time on Friday evening, as well as Saturday morning reviewing these and planning how I’d get there. I also allowed myself roughly double the predicted journey time to get there. HAH! Never underestimate just how confusing enormous ‘spaghetti junction’ roundabouts can be. I was doing soooo well until I got within 5 minutes of the place, at which point I was reduced to spending the next 40 minutes going round in circles, following poor directions from passers by and showering my very patient team mates with increasingly frustrated texts and ‘phone calls. By 5 past race-start, I had pretty much given up the chance of running, feeling crestfallen to say the least that I had let the side down and wasn’t going to get my run in. Still, I figured I could cheer them over the finish if I got there in time for that at least.

When I finally found the venue and spotted the runners chasing round the field, a glimmer of possibility shone through the gathering clouds of embarrassed disappointment. I threw the bike at a railing, dragged off my helmet and legged it, spikes in hand to what I determined to be the start/finish change over point (add to all this that I had never done a relay before and you get the idea that the concept of ‘comfort zone’ had been abandoned somewhere in the middle of a motorway flyover). There was poor Bev, ready and waiting to do what would have been her second lap for the side, my number pinned to her front. I’d like to say she was probably pleased to see me, and I guess for many reasons this was probably the case but I suspect she’d also quite have liked to bop me one too. Still, she had a plethora of encouraging words, kindly took responsibility of the cast off clothing of my impromptu alfresco strip-tease and pointed me in the direction of the changeover point where I stood in a queue of hyped students, un-warmed up and not entirely sure exactly what to do when. Eventually, I spotted a familiar face in a Salford shirt barrelling towards me and took this as my cue to commence operation ‘run as fast as possible through the mud’. With Bev’s words ‘just go flat out, it doesn’t matter if you blow up, it’s only 3k’ ringing in my head (and trying to ignore the potential impacts of this approach on the requisite return cycle) I did just this. And then 12 minutes and 13 seconds later it was over.

Oh. Right then. Er… I’ll just… Um… go home now. Our team came in at 21st with a total time of 00:36:13. Bev, as always, absolutely battered it with a lap of 10:56, and Amie a respectable 13:04. I didn’t get lost on the way back to town either so all’s well that ends well. I’d like to say I learned a lesson about being more prepared, and checking my route but in all honesty I don’t think I could have been more thorough and I’m not sure I’d have run any faster if I’d had time for a warm up anyway. What I did reaffirm however, is that it’s worth persevering with something, even if it seems all for naught. I won’t pretend I didn’t think ‘I’ve missed it, I’ll just turn back and go home!’ a couple of times but I am, of course, so very glad I didn’t!

The swap over point at the University Cross Country Relay... Spot the Salford Harrier!

Sunday wasn’t short of run-portunites either and I had decided to swap my Sunday Long Run for the Tandle Hill Trail Race, organised by impressively speedy, very committed and untiringly enthusiastic Salford Harrier John under the guise of Cannonball Events. Far easier to navigate to (we’ll skip the bit where I almost went past and ended up on the motorway) I was as ready as ever on the start line, fresh from a 1 mile warm up! I’d even had time for a wee! Luxury! It was good to see a few people before we set off too; including Lisa of Belle Vue Racers, who had been so welcoming to me as marshal 6a to my 6b at yesterday’s ParkRun! It’s a small world, this northern running one! Soon after we set off I realised I recognised the route for a reason; it wasn’t just generic British countryside; we were in the same place as the Royton Trail Race that I’d done with Up and Running Staff in the summer! I knew I recognised that place name! Ah well, in that case this was going to be a lovely run!

And it was; 5.8 miles of beautiful country park and stunning views that are rather wonderfully captured in this video by John! (not that I had much time to appreciate these - check it out at about 5:37!) One of the best bits though, occurred on the backwards loop of my warm down; jogging back along the lane and trying to stay out of the way of runners who were still finishing, one lady in a Rochdale Harriers strip called out to me ‘come on, you will push me!’ I was about to say ‘actually I’m already done and just cooling down’ when I realised how arrogant this could make me look.

Instead, I buttoned up and replied with a cheery ‘Yes, come on, let’s do this!’ To say my warm down turned into a slightly speedier affair than I’d planned would not be an overstatement and I’m not sure I’d have been able to keep up with her for long if I’d really been racing! Still, the sweaty hug at the end was worth every twang of muscle fibre in the knowledge that I’d helped shave a few seconds off a finish time. I’m still not sure if she realised I’d already finished. I hope not. I wouldn’t like to seem patronising! Still, it was a good day for Salford Harriers anyway as Bev in usual style grabbed the spot of First Lady with a course record. No prizes for fourth (third place was a good minute ahead of me!) and so I wrapped up my weekend of run-citement with a gentle (downhill!) cycle to what felt like a very well-earned sauna!

So; that weekend went past like it was chasing a PB but I’ve plenty to look forward to with Lancaster Half Marathon next weekend and more Cross Country the weekend after! Apparently some people start running a bit less as the seasons change towards winter… I wonder why…

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Ahhh… So THAT’S where I left my mojo!

12/10/2014

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I’ll be totally honest, I started this weekend with some pre-run anxiety. I dunno why I get it, it always works out fine, if I could switch it off I would but I can’t so there you go. The main cause of this was the impending cross country race as the first of the Manchester League, hosted by Stockport Harriers in Woodbank Park. There were three reasons I think, that I was a little nervous. First and foremost, I’d never done a cross country race before. Infact, I’d only done two cross country runs before (assuming you don’t count walking at the back in school two decades ago), last weekend in Heaton park, mostly to get used to running in the new spikes (you can read about that here if you like). A total of 15 miles. Secondly, this was the first race where I felt I was really joining in with the whole club running thing and competing as part of a team for Salford Harriers (as opposed to just turning up to a race and happening to mention I’m a member.) Thirdly, I didn’t really know where I was going as I’d never been to that park before. Not a huge cause of anxiety really but still, another unknown. I talked myself up before I went that of course it would be fine, nothing to worry about, blah, blah, blah but I didn’t really get settled into the idea until I managed to successfully navigate my way to the park (one down!) and spot some friendly Salford faces. As soon as I’d got into a warmup lap with a couple of the other ladies I totally relaxed and started to really enjoy it already.

A few laps round Woodbank Park..

Still not very muddy!

We had great weather for running; not wet (a little muddy underfoot but hey), not windy and not too hot or sunny either so another big tick in the ‘told you it’d be fine!’ box! There was some confusion regarding how many laps to do and I’d heard talk of ‘a hill’ but I tend to run quite strong on hills I think and my tactic is to just follow the guys in front so I wasn’t fazed by any of that. As soon as we set off I was incredibly glad I’d put the effort in to do the test runs last weekend as it really is such a different thing to be running on soft ground. I felt fairly strong though and was glad I’d switched a couple of my training plan days to give me Friday as rest (as well as deciding against the hill reps on Thursday!) After my concerns had melted away I genuinely loved the experience, very scenic and a real joy to be flying over the woodland paths and grassy stretches, though I was a little concerned when we encountered a very muddy, steep downhill section with a big sign at the bottom saying ‘ROOTS!’ I’ve been so accident prone lately; that really would be just my luck!

Perhaps that made me take it more cautiously but I didn’t have any trouble and felt sure footed all the way. When we came to an uphill stretch I found myself mildly scoffing at the talk of the hill. ‘Oh come on!’ I mentally chided ‘This is more of a slope really…’ Until we got round the corner a bit. ‘Ah. THIS hill.’ Thankfully, what it proffered in gradient it lacked in length and so with a few quick little steps, concentrating on effort not pace, I got to the top with not too much bother, but yes, granted, I’ll give you that as a hilly course! I was interested to see later the correlation between the gradient and my pace (courtesy of Garmin!).

Pace mapped against elevation! No surprise I go slower up hills!

On the third lap I was almost the only person still even giving a passing courtesy to the idea of running and many were slowing to a walk for that bit. I completed the course in… a time. I’ve been told that times aren’t important in cross country (though I’m not sure that can be totally true or there’d be no competition!) so I’m not even going to say what it was. So there.

What I will say is that the whole thing was just over far too quickly! (and not because I ran particularly fast!) I do think I got off lightly with the weather and the boost of support from so many of the Salford men who were there ahead of time for their own race (in this event the ladies ran a separate course) did help me power over a few of the tougher bits but I am definitely looking forward to the next one I am planning to run; a home stint (hosted by Salford Harriers) round the infamous Boggart Hole Clough! December the 6th though… Not sure we’ll be so meteorologically blessed!

It was owing to the commitment I’d made to run the cross country race on the Saturday that I had been reluctant to commit to the Oldham Half Marathon on Sunday as suggested by regular race buddy Simon at the Salford City 10k. Combined with my intention to register for Lancaster Half in a fortnight, I wasn’t too sure it’d be a good idea, especially as I’d been warned it was a ‘tough little course’. ‘I’ll see how I feel in the morning!’ I had vaguely non-committed. Still, having been told I’d be saved a place out of a reasonably small maximum field of 500 it was hard to turn down and I’d already pretty much decided in the afterglow of an enjoyable Saturday that I was good to go. It was in a completely different and far more buoyant mood that I hopped on the bus to Oldham and set off through the fog to trot out a few miles through Saddleworth.

A different kind of running for Sunday morning!

Knowing that I didn’t have to do it, and with no pressure on myself to try and get a ‘good’ time (after all, it’s a hilly course and I raced yesterday so no sneaky PB attempts here!) made my mood much brighter I think and I enjoyed it from the first step.

It was a pleasant surprise to see a couple of other Salford faces there too, also who ran yesterday, though as far as I’m aware I’m the only Harrier that actually raced both. Not that it’s a particular accolade; I think going to support is really important and something I should do more of if I wasn’t so obsessed with running the races myself! Though I could feel it a little in my calves still from yesterday, I could tell I wasn’t risking injury, I felt fitter than that, a fact even the Garmin agreed with when it beeped after a mile and a bit to tell me that my recovery was ‘good’. Now, I’d never seen it say anything else until yesterday when it decided to let me know, as I tracked my route home, that my recovery for that bike ride was only ‘fair’. I think that’s reasonable enough and I’m glad to know it can say something else when it wants to!

#UKRunChat-ters get everywhere! Me with RunChat buddy, Howard!

The scenery I had been promised was only slightly marred by the fog but in fact I think in many ways (at least where you could see through it) it just made the landscape more interesting as it drifted in and out between the hills and slunk about the wooded areas like a naughty teenager who hasn’t quite finished the night out yet and doesn’t want to go home. A waning moon high up above the hills added to a very pleasant view. Yeah, you had to go up a hill to see it but hey, you got to come down the other side too ‘wheeeeee…’!

I'm sadly getting bored of medals but I love the design of this one!

I chatted happily with Simon until about 7 miles I think when I had to use a bush (meh, whatever, a minute maybe on my time but a far more enjoyable run for the stop!). Annoyingly, I didn’t catch him again so either we missed each other or he kept up the same pace as me and pipped me to it! Whatever the reason, I had the next seven miles to slip into more of a personal reverie and it occurred to me that this time last year any running related angst hadn’t been related to a short cross country but to my impending first ever attempt at a half marathon. I ran the Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon last year as only my 3rd ever race and first at the distance (apart from managing 14.1 on a treadmill as I wanted to know I could ‘go the extra mile!) and it seemed like such a huge challenge, yet here I was now, deciding on the morning to just hop up and run one as if it was no bigger a deal than making a cuppa for breakfast. It really is amazing how much your perception of challenge can change once you have achieved a goal. To be fair, any angst I had for that race probably paid off. I ran it in 1:37, a full 13 minutes quicker than I did today!

Interestingly, when I told a mate later about the race he said ‘Hmmm, did you do it in, what, an hour and 50?’ Spot on! A very well judged guess that he told me he’d been able to make knowing my recent times in combination with the fact that he’d run it himself a few years ago. Still a pretty impressive guess in my opinion!
So that about wraps it up for my weekend of running! What with slips, trips, bike crashes and a busy month at work, I’d been feeling a little ‘meh’ about the old running malarkey of late but I can officially say I have found my mojo. It was somewhere between the muddy hill of Woodbank Park, Stockport and the foggy slopes of Saddleworth Moors. Who’d have thought!?

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Spiked!

4/10/2014

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Ready to Go!

Last week I fetishised my new Mizuno, proudly showing off their crisp whiteness and resolving (mentally, if not verbalised) to break them in on a treadmill before taking them into a less sterile running environment. This cautious treatment was not to be the fate of my second pair of new running shoes in less than a week! Having semi-accidentally agreed to run for Salford Harriers in the Woodbank Park Cross Country race next Saturday, I realised it would probably be a good idea to do a little research into exactly what ‘cross country’ involves. My only previous experience of this was a far distant school memory, where I trudged at the back with the walkers as my speedier and more athletic class mates shot off over the Chessington countryside before returning with a mysteriously joyous glow, which at the time I simply could not understand the origin of.

I always suspected that the ‘cross country’ lesson was a default for when the teacher hadn’t had time to prepare anything more structured and whilst I enjoyed the countryside (and frequently walked in it in my own time anyway for this very reason) I couldn’t understand for one minute why on earth you’d want to run through it. Hah! (Incidentally I also recall stating very firmly at the age of about 8 or 9 when I first discovered the concept of vegetarianism that I would never be one of those either. I love proving myself wrong.) Well, those old school running demons were soundly slain about 2 decades later when I returned to visit my mum earlier in the year and took myself off on a rather muddy run to discover the source of my classmate’s apparent triumph in the woods. Satisfying but not exactly race-standard. Research into this strange new running discipline suggested I should probably procure a pair of ‘spikes’ and so I capitalised on my staff discount at Up & Running to treat myself to a pair of Brooks Mach 16. It seemed neither practical, nor appropriate to break these in on a treadmill and so I made the most of a free and fine afternoon to take myself off to Heaton Park to combine my Friday Hill Reps with some grassy-spike-action! I’d never want to run a race in new shoes anyway and since I had no experience in these toothed beauties, I didn’t want to leave it to chance and find myself bitten!

After a gentle cycle up to the park, I pitched up near the best-bin-in-the-world-ever and laced up. My first impression was how bloomin’ tight the damn things were despite having gone a whole size bigger, but I’d been told by my colleague that they were supposed to be so I ignored the bipedal-claustrophobia and got to it. Not so bizarre until I was forced onto a path, at which point I was not sure which was potentially sustaining more damage, the spikes or the concrete! I was surprised to discover that my first warm-up mile, which felt like a ten minute mile plod, actually trotted by in a round 8 minutes 30. Hmm. Not so bad then. Another mile later and I had selected a small hill upon which to conduct my main training. Now, I say ‘small hill’, perhaps ‘short’ might be a more accurate adjective. I’ve not bothered to work out the incline but I suspect it is steeper than the 7% I have been becoming accustomed to on the dreadmill, however, what it offered in gradient it lacked in distance and I found myself powering up it in a fairly consistent 18 seconds. I’ve been doing 60 second reps in the gym, though definitely at a gentler slope, so this seemed a reasonable alternative. I recently read an article that suggested hill reps should be at periods of around that anyway so perhaps it’s not so much of a trade off!

BEST BIN EVVVAAAARRR!

A deceptive view from the top of my hill

A disappointing lack of mud... I did run! Honest!

Marathon News; how to get 'chugged' in your own living room.

Though I could feel the steeper hill forcing different muscles to work (no bad thing!) I found it pretty easy to handle the sub 20 second times and happily churned out about 15 of these (maybe more, I lost count and erred on the side of caution a couple of times), much to the amusement of the picnickers based at the bottom. I rounded off with a gentle, exploratory 2 mile cool down, the main feature of which was accidentally irritating a few golfers (whoops, sorry, coming through!), before finishing the whole run with a total of around 5 miles in about 45 minutes. Disappointingly, despite my best efforts, I failed to find any mud to splash through and so the shoes are still virgin pink. Oh well; an ironic complaint from the woman who has decided that the tenth anniversary of ParkRun is officially rained off. I shall have to be careful what I wish for as I’ve seen the forecast for next week and suspect the race proper may be a slightly wetter affair.

Other running-related titbits from this week include a bumper feast of goodies with the arrival of a UKRunChat Challenge medal (which I feel rather unearned in comparison to the efforts of Jeff and Joe), my October Joggbox (contents yet to be explored), a crisp new copy of The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distance by The Oatmeal (already devoured and laughed manically over) and last but certainly not least, my copy of the London Marathon 2015 magazine. Only 6 months to go! Maybe if I start running faster I’ll get there quicker!?

Finally, the arrival of this magazine prompted me to set up my Just Giving Page in preparation for the Marathon, which will be my fund raising race for the year in memory of my best mate Giles, who we lost 2 years ago to the day. I will be running for the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust and you can see my donations page here.

An October sky on the 2nd anniversary of Giles' death

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City of Salford 10k

7/9/2014

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Although I had clearly stated my intention to run my first ever sub 40 minute 10k at the City of Salford race (with ‘just’ 31 seconds to shave off my We Love Manchester 10k time), I had to revise this plan. As such, I started today feeling genuinely justified with my head-injury related decision (I say that as I mean it really wasn’t one of those runner’s excuses I’ve previously decried) that this was not a realistic goal and that following a rather off-piste week (see yesterday’s blog for more on that little adventure!) I was lucky to even be running it, let alone attempting any sparkling performances.

If this had been a film of course, I’d have sailed over the finish line in the face of such handicap, probably in slow motion and to the gentle rhythm of an uplifting soundtrack, perfectly timed to a soaring crescendo as I demonstrated that humans are capable of achieving their dreams if only they really believe in them. I’d have then continued to run, straight into a burning building, rescued a granny and promptly handed over my fresh medal to cheer up a crying baby before discovering that I’d actually come first and pulled off a course record. I’d then have been abducted by aliens, flayed, lightly broiled and absorbed through a semi-permeable facial membrane for dinner. Hey, I like odd films, OK?

Well, it'll come as no surprise to learn that I didn’t run sub 40 and I didn’t even PB. I didn’t get abducted and eaten by aliens either though so it’s not all bad. I did actually manage to run the course faster than I did in 2013, with a chip time of 42.31 as opposed to last year’s 43.45. Funnily enough, last year I had prepared much better, hadn’t had a spate of silly accidents in the preceding month and felt like I’d achieved something pretty amazing. Funny how your perspective changes!

Results

Simon and I exchange post-race congratulations... and a bit of sweat.

Actually the best thing about today, as always, was the people. I bumped into two friends (one of whom I hadn’t even known was running) before I’d even got to the start line and as one of these has been battling with injuries recently herself, if was really good to see her there and good to go. Shortly after we set off, I was particularly delighted to be joined by my now frequent, but always unplanned race buddy, Simon who coasted up alongside me and teasingly chided me for not saying hello as I went past! Running comfortably at a similar pace (especially at he start which seemed more crowded than last year), we had a good chat and he made me laugh when he pointed out that although last year we’d been delayed by 15 minutes as we waited for the trams to stop, this year we’d been delayed for 5 while we waited for the tram replacement bus. That’s the Britain we all know and love. After allowing him to sorely tempt me with the Oldham Half Marathon in October (Hmmm, decisions, decisions!), I decided it was time to focus and run my race. At 3k, I wished him well and moved off. Though I watched him just slightly ahead of me for a while I must’ve over taken again at some point so I suppose the ticking off for failing to wave can stand after all!

Thankfully, the weather was good and despite a grim looking start this morning, the sun was shining by the time we set off and there was very little wind. Surprisingly, I found most of the people I was looking for at the end too, despite the crowds. Yesterday, during the UKRunChat challenge, I spoke with Joe about positive speech patterns and how powerful these can be. For example, saying ‘I am going to stay relaxed’ is a much better way of getting that outcome than saying ‘I am not going to get stressed’ , which in a way reaffirms the potential negative. For this reason, round about kilometre 8, when it started to feel hard and a niggly headache crept in, I stopped myself quickly when I started to think to tell myself that I was going to run as hard as I could despite my recent accidents. Instead, I started to muse that I was going to enjoy being as strong as I am and run well for today. I genuinely think that helped make a difference as I don’t remember what happened to the headache but it wasn’t there by the time I finished. The cheers of the crowd always help too, especially when people recognise the club shirt and you get a good strong ‘Go on Salford!’ (Actually, it was a Salford Harrier who took second place!). I’m still a little confused with regards to the identity of the sun-glass wearing cyclist who shouted ‘Go on Annabeth!’ twice along the route but it was nice to be recognised and it did provide a bit of impetus!

All in all a good and an enjoyable race, even if not a perfect one. Most importantly, I finished strong and following a worrying week when I was beginning to feel concerned that I’d really gone and broken myself good and proper this time, I’ve still got enough enthusiasm to be musing over that next race date. Since there’s nothing now in the diary until London next April, I think I had better get on the case and sort that out! Oldham Half you say..? Hmmmm…

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Humbling Harriers Handicap

28/8/2014

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They say (whoever ‘they’ are!) that you learn something every day and yesterday was no exception as I rocked up at the Salford Harriers club house for their ‘Summer Handicap’ race. Aside from a vague understanding that there was some sort of specific event going on and that I had to bring a bottle of wine and some safety pins (runners are so boozy, the pins come as standard…) I really didn’t know what to expect.

The New (old) Bike!

I’ve been using the bike for the the 15 or so miles (that’s both ways) to and from work every day this week and if you can judge cycling success by how few times you fall off, which, judging from recent events seems a fairly good benchmark, then I have been very successful in this (just under an hour to work, just under 40 minutes home, Aaah, the difference between up and down hill!) and have noticed few physical ill effects beyond, erm, some ‘saddle soreness’. I haven’t noticed it to be especially tiring, though I was extremely glad when I was offered a lift to the club house last night as it saved me getting lost trying to navigate from Ashton to Moston (I’ll have to try that route another week!).

It hadn’t particularly occurred to me that it might affect my running; I was able to do a track session on Tuesday as normal and if I’d felt tired at all from that I’d have thought it was a mild after effect from Saturday’s half marathon more than anything else. Perhaps however, a couple of days can make a difference as I realised as soon as I’d got to the Blue Bell that I was pretty low energy with what I call ‘butchers window’ legs; you know when you see those dead legs hanging up on hooks? Yeah. Like that. I’d not had time to re-fuel between work and legging it out again either but dinner was in the fridge waiting for me and I was visualising it at the end of the run like the carrot on the stick it was. There were some other veg involved too, and some tofu but when you’re vegan, describing dinner as a carrot on a stick isn’t a million miles off. ‘Never mind’ I thought to myself just take it easy, it’s less than 4 miles apparently, just a pootle round ‘The Clough’ and be done.

Nope. A bit more involved than that! So it turns out that a ‘handicap’ is when the slowest runners start first, the fastest runners start last, and everyone (in this case) does two laps of the park before going back to the pub for a buffet, prize giving and a natter. So that’s what the wine was for! I duly pinned on my number and did a warm up lap with Jen, who was not exactly over the moon to discover that she was off first! I was told to start 11 and a half minutes after her, with the fastest runners starting still later. This had all been worked out according to our recent race times apparently. Given that there was no way I was in 20 minute 5k mode and I had already accepted that I’d not be giving my best performance, I just took it gently and didn’t really think too much of it when I was overtaken by a few familiar faces. My first mile was in at about 8 minutes 30 which was a bit of a warm up really as I’d cooled off quite considerably since our earlier lap. I sped up as usual, and completed the third mile in less than 7 minutes 20. No surprises there really as I seem to take a good few miles to warm up and I’d not joined in the more committed club members who’d been doing strides (fast little warm up runs) right up to their start time.

Harriers doing warm up strides; maybe I should have done some!

Club president Stan Curran Reads the results in the Blue Bell

Well there’s a first for everything and yesterday was my first for being last! I’m not entirely sure how it’s worked out but as I completed in 24 minutes that’s probably quite a bit slower than was expected. One of my favourite quotes (not sure where it’s from though) is ‘Last is just the slowest winner’ however, and so I was pleased to accept my prize; yet another running top, I’m never going to need to actually buy any more kit ever at this rate! Lesson learned; probably not the best idea to cycle to work on the day of a race you are particularly bothered about, or if you have to, make sure you get a gel or something down you before the starting gun! I also now know what a handicap is.

Not sure how much I’m looking forward to the Christmas one, it gets a bit icy in The Clough apparently! I’ll probably get the train that day either way and do some strides before we start. Maybe I can ease my (only mildly!) wounded pride in so doing!

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ParkRun Sandwich!

16/8/2014

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It's not been an especially remarkable week for running really; I've still been in semi recovery while continuing to experience some knee and shoulder pain as well as reduced mobility in my shoulder. It's been getting steadily and noticeably a little better every day though so I feel reasonably optimistic about the Thames Meander Half Marathon next Saturday. With this rapidly approaching, I have been following a basic training schedule this week despite the discomfort; a track session with Salford Harriers on Tuesday (16 x 200m), a little run out for fun on Thursday, a treadmill hill reps session on Friday... and lots of swimming and cross training. I've not even been able to do a lot of strength/core exercise or yoga because of my shoulder... at least I can run though!
Here's a couple of screen shots just for illustration purposes really... The track session average pace looks rubbish but now I have finally discovered the lap button on the Garmin, I know my fastest 200 meter rep pace was of 5.49 (slowest was 6.04), which is surprising as I felt a lot slower and was firmly at the back of the pack! A boring heart rate chart for the treadmill hill session (6% inclines at 8mph) but it made me laugh... Can you spot the toilet break!? Ha ha.

Tuesday Track

Hill Reps Heart Rate

So, all in all a fairly standard week and not much to write home (or blog) about really, in fact well done if you stayed awake for that bit, you must be an even more obsessive runner than I am! Things, you'll be pleased to know if you are actually reading this, got a tickle more interesting today though... I wanted to do a 13.1 miler this weekend to feel prepared for next Saturday. As the weather looks horrible on the forecast for tomorrow, Saturday (also being a full week away from the event) was definitely the day of choice... BUT... as a Saturday when I am actually home and free... I also fancied ParkRun. Whattayagonnado!? Well. (5 miles from my house to Heaton Park) + (5k ParkRun [3.1 miles]) + (5 miles from Heaton Park to my house) = 13.1 miles. Bazinga. You do both. You have yourself a Saturday Morning Heaton ParkRun Sandwich!

The (Somewhat Questionable) Stats

Now, I have no idea what Mr Garmino was playing at when we (you never run alone with a Garmin!) set off as I am sadly unable to claim that I ran my first mile in three minutes and forty four seconds (wtf!?), however it must have sorted itself out as I didn't slow to an almost 12 minute mile half way up Cheetham Hill either. I'm certainly confident it was doing the right thing by the time I got to the race as my official ParkRun time of 24.01 matches pretty closely with the 23.98 minutes you get if you add up the lap times for that chunk of the run, allowing too for a couple of seconds for me to remember to hit the lap (and pause!) buttons. Of course, nestling in between two 5 mile runs (and still feeling it in my knee) I wasn't exactly racing today and it made me laugh when I was overtaken by a guy pushing a buggy. 'That's the epitome of embarrassing!' I quipped and was kind of sad when I went past him again. 'Oh, you're trying now are you!?' I was asked; 'Nah, you're just getting tired!'. I love that about ParkRun. It really is about the community and the fun and the shared passion. Today I also wondered about the running-in-a-pack thing. I love running alone and never feel freer, though there's something kind of primordially instinctive about running in a group. It certainly supports the hypothesis that it's something we used to do when hunting; not outrunning quarry in terms of speed but through sheer stamina and there's nothing that keeps you going quite like the energy from the crowd.

Well. That and the energy gels of course and today I tried out a High 5 gel from my first JoggBox. I don't use gels that often but I cracked this one open on my way out of the park as I figured I needed to use up some of my hoard and it might make the last chunk of the run a little more... zingy. I found it incredibly sweet but then I don't really 'do' much in the way of refined sugars (Even when indulging my cake habit I tend to rely on natural sweetness from fruit, etc.) so perhaps I am more likely to notice that. It did the job though; it was really windy for a lot of the way back and I'm sure I used up all that extra energy just battling into it pretty much all the way into city centre!

The Sandwich Route!

I was home at about 20 past 10; just enough time for a stretch before Radio 4's Kitchen Cabinet (something I also enjoy when I am actually in on a Saturday to hear it!) and a cup of Moringa Tea, my favourite discovery so far from JoggBox. Apparently it's good for recovery as it has anti inflammatory properties. I just really like the flavour, it reminds me of some teas I had in China and Japan that I think were made from roasted barley.

Moringa Tea for Recovery! (No, I'd never heard of it either and yes, it does taste better out of a Moomin mug)

So there you have it! A very satisfying start to a Saturday! At an hour and 45 mins total running time, it's not exactly my best for the distance but it's not bad for a training run, especially as I've been focusing on much shorter distances lately. A week of gentle tapering is now on the cards I think (though maybe I'll squeeze in one more track session before I start that too seriously!) and then a Meander down the Thames! We've been warned to kit out in rain wear and trail shoes and that some of the path gets muddy, so I'm not expecting a PB but I am expecting to enjoy a mosey down by my favourite river and I reckon by then I should be pretty much back to what passes for normal... watch this space!

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Glittermouse is a visual artist, educator and practising Buddhist who also likes a bit of a run from time to time. In 2014, she realised others could benefit quite a lot from her reflections on running trials, tribulations, triumphs and trip-ups… so she added another volume to her package of blogging adventures.

You can find out more and source links to other projects on the 'home' page of this site.

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