Category: General ramblings

So, as I mentioned before, I have signed up to run 100 miles during the month of September (not all in one go!). More of a challenge than July, as I am at work so no chance of a longer run midweek to make up the miles.

I had worked it out roughly as four runs per week, 3 of five miles, and 1x 10 miles. But I got behind as coming back after my holiday I eased in a bit gently, doing less than 5 on the shorter runs, and only a 6 for the first long run.

This week I did some adding up and realised I am leaving things a bit late- I keep thinking as I am doing a half next weekend it’s fine, as that’s more than 10 miles, but forgetting that I won’t be parkrunning on the Saturday…

Anyway, last week went like this:

Monday– Rest/ walk after work (2 miles ish)

Tuesday– It was so hot! This was at 6.30 (after being in a boiling hot classroom all day- it’s 30C in the coolest bit)- the temperature outside was still 30! We did 4 miles around the lake as it was a bit cooler, and that was far enough for us all.

Wednesday- I woke up in the night with an awful headache – I knew I had not had enough to drink after the Tuesday run (a glass of nuun, a cup of tea and a little bit of water), and I ended up being awake for a couple of hours. As we had a meeting and then our club social on Thursday, I had to do my run that day, so I went out for 5 miles. I took it slowly as I was tired from the night before, and I bumped into someone from the club so I chatted to her for a bit.

I was dripping when I got home! I think it felt hotter than Tuesday, probably being an hour earlier didn’t help. I made sure I had a lot to drink though, including some coconut water.

Thursday– Rest

Friday– Walk after work (and how crazy were all those floods? My journey to work felt like I was driving through rivers!)

Saturday– I was going to meet my dad at Panshanger parkrun, as I had not been there since before holiday, and they were having a charity cake sale. I got there early and did a couple of miles along one of the tracks, and the hung around at the start, Luckily I had my phone with me, as at around 8.45 my phone rang, with my dad telling me that him and my brother left late (my brother’s alarm didn’t go off) and so they were going to Ellenbrook as they would not get here on time!

So I did the parkrun, and then as I was in the barcode scanning queue I realised it was around 0.4 miles back to the car, and I had already run 5.4, so if I did a little bit around a field I could make it up to 6. Every mile counts!

I bought a couple of these amazing flapjack caramel pecan squares and had a bit of one when I got home- it was delicious. My trail shoes got their first outing of the autumn too.

In the afternoon we headed into London as some of my relatives from Austria were visiting, so we had a lovely wander by the Thames, had a Starbucks (it was so cold!), walked some more, went to some pubs (the rest of my family very much like a beer or three!) and had dinner before wandering back along the Thames in the dark. There was an interesting art instillation- a large cube of drawings made by North Korean refugees, lit up from the inside. At night it really stood out and looked very dramatic.

Sunday– Long run. I had to be up early as I was meeting friends at Luton Hoo for “morning coffee” (basically pastries and tea), and Andy was also up early as he was driving down to Southampton. So by 7.30 I was out the door. I had planned on running 10 miles, but as I neared home I felt OK, and still had 10 minutes left of my allotted run time, so I headed around the little mile loop to make it up to 11. After a drink and some pottering (emptying the dishwasher, putting away washing- these things are more useful to life than stretching) I had a shower and even managed to dry my hair for 10 minutes, so it wasn’t completely dripping. Then I could enjoy a lovely catch up.

So, I think this week I actually managed the 25 miles, (26 in fact) and now my total for the month is 69. I need to make sure I stick to my plan though otherwise on the final day I am going to be doing a very long run after work indeed!

Are you a fan of art? I like it when it is explained, as just looking at something does not often mean much to me- I’m not good at interpreting things.

So this week our running club held an evening event, to celebrate 4 years of the club!

The event was being hosted in a local cycle shop (that also has a cafe- what a great idea), and they were hosting a guest speaker, Shu Pillinger. I had a bit of a rush to get there as we had a presentation to parents at work, due to finish at 6, but of course there is the tidying away and driving home. I ended up getting home at 6.55, and had the quickest ever shower and some toast before rushing out of the door at 7.20- I just made the 7.30 start in time!

My phone was not keen on the screen it seems!

The evening was lovely- when I arrived there were nibbles on tables as well as prosecco and sparkling water. I bought a cup of tea from the cafe (my one caffeinated drink per day allowance needed using up!), and I chatted to a few of the club members. It’s funny seeing people out of their running gear, with normal hair!

At around 7.45, we sat down and Shu began her talk, and it was just fascinating. She began by running a race for life, and from then has transformed into an ultra athlete. The main challenge she talked about was completing the RAAM (Race Across America)- she cycled the whole width of the USA in 12 days and 9 hours, and was the first British woman to ever achieve it. I didn’t even think you could drive across the USA in that time. She talked about the hallucinations, falling asleep on her bike while cycling (it was pretty non-stop), a bit about her vegan diet, and then her training. She commutes into London each day on her bike, 20 miles each way. One thing she mentioned was that at the weekends she likes challenges such as cycling around the outside of the M25 (not on it)- apparently to cross one of the bridges, as bikes are not allowed on it, there is a phone box and you call someone, and they turn up with a van, put your bike in the back of the van and then drive you across the bridge. It sounded like the equivalent of a secret handshake or something. She might swim a mile in the morning before that, and after the talk that evening she was running back (to St Albans, so maybe 7 miles or something, depending on whereabouts).  She did a bit of a question and answer session too, and there were lots of questions about her running, different events and her weekends. Her website (linked to above) is well worth a look if you are interested in that sort of thing. It felt like a live episode of the tough girl podcast! When it finished she changed into her (marathon talk) running t-shirt and kit, and then headed off.

I chatted a bit more before heading home at around 10pm. It was so inspiring and interesting, and something that I would have no idea about if the club had not put the event on. Although I am not about to cycle around Ireland or run around Cypress (other events she had taken part in) it was good to hear someone so passionate about keeping active and chasing new challenges. It was also to see some fantastic photos (Monument Valley at sunrise) and it made me want another holiday!

What sort of people inspire you? What types of challenges do you like?

So since getting back from holiday I have been very aware that I have a half marathon to run at the end of September (in Disneyland Paris- I’m so excited!!!). I knew I would not have much of a chance to run on holiday, but I did run 13 miles the week before we went away, with the aim of getting up to around 10 miles in September. I was also very conscious of not getting my bad back from upping miles too quickly, so I decided to start off gently and then up them more at the end of the month.

I also signed up to run 100 miles during September, because I liked the medal.

(From their facebook page). Seriously, how pretty is it???

We arrived home late Monday, and on Tuesday I went out for a 3 mile run- I had to stop and walk and put that down to being tired (I was awake from around 3-5am), being dehydrated, and not having eaten much the day before (I didn’t want breakfast when we landed, and ended up having some cereal at around 5pm after we had got home).

I stopped in town to buy an almond croissant and had that as my breakfast when I got home

On Wednesday I made the most of my last day of the summer holidays and went out for 4 miles, and then on Thursday after work I went for 5 miles, because I realised it was September and I needed to start ticking the miles off. Perhaps running 3 days in a row wasn’t a good idea, but Friday was a rest day anyway.

On Saturday I headed to Wimpole Estate parkrun for some tourism,and then on Sunday morning I did 6 miles before going out for brunch. I would have been tempted to go a bit further, but I didn’t have time and that was just as well as I know once I get back into more of a routine I can run further.

Then last week has looked like this:

Monday- rest day. Walk after work.

Tuesday- 8.3 miles with club- I had warned them I would be slower than usual as I had not run that far for a while, but it was great. As we ran down the final hill, the sun was setting and we had beautiful views across the countryside. Everyone stops at the top of each hill for the group to catch up so I had a few chances to catch my breath which was good. One of our runners managed that route for the first time- she had done up to 6 miles before, so that was a great achievement. Somehow, running long in the evenings seems more of an acomplishment than running on a Sunday morning.

Wednesday- Yoga class!

Thursday- 5 miles after work to try and ease my yoga aches!

Friday-  I met some friends at the Waffle House after work, and although I did consider a walk when I got home, I was too tired so just watched some of the Paralympics instead.

Saturday morning, sitting in my car wondering if the rain would ease off!

Saturday- I had volunteered to do the new runners briefing at Ellenbrook parkrun, and with the 100 mile challenge I have broken it down to mainly three runs of 5 miles each, and a long run of 10 miles. To make the parkrun up, I did a couple of laps of the university, which totalled 2 miles. I then had time to chat to the other volunteers and give the talk before running it myself. One lady turned up with a crutch, saying she had not been able to walk for 18 months, and was gradually working back up to it- she wanted to walk it and then eventually run it.

I ran a bit with someone else from my club, and we were having a lovely chat for a bit, but then she felt like she was slowing and so I kept on going. I ended up overtaking a couple of ladies, and one of them came up to me at the finish and told me “I didn’t think anyone would go past me and the you did”- I apologised but she was only being nice about it, and it was probably half a km from the end, so we ended up having a nice chat about all things running. There were loads of our club members volunteering and running, and it was great to see so many people. One person said “if you get a good time after nattering the whole way around I will be so annoyed!” – in my defence we only really chatted for the first half! I was saving my legs for Sunday anyway!

I was talking to one of my friends about doing the 100 mile challenge, and she said she didn’t think she could run for over 6 miles. I said I liked to listen to podcasts, and at that point John Norman (Danny Norman’s dad, who used to present the parkrun podcast) came over and started talking to me about podcasts. Now, some of you may remember (!) that he stopped me out for a run- I have checked my blog and it was back in 2014 (here if you are interested). Him and his wife help out most weeks at Ellenbrook, and sadly in August he had suffered a stroke (the Ellenbrook team put out a message on facebook to wish him well, so he wasn’t keeping it private), so he ended up telling me about that. He’d been signed off from physio this week so was really pleased to be on the mend.

Sunday was 10 miles- (a bit of a Martin Yelling inverse taper going on- I figured that I ran 8 miles on Tuesday to the jump up to 10 would be fine)- someone from my club was going out for around 12, and usually I would have joined her but I didn’t want to set an alarm as the next time I won’t set one is the 2nd October. I woke up around 8, and pottered about before heading out just before 9.

It was perfect running weather- sunny but cool from a gentle breeze. Fab.

How do you get back to running/exercise after a break? What is your ideal weather? After this muggy and hot week I am quite looking forward to some cooler and crisper days.