Category: Running

So, the great thing about running is that you don’t need anything except for trainers (and a sports bra). No other equipment, or gym membership is required.

But, of course, there are loads of optional extras. MP3 player, Garmin, water bottle, arm carry things, waist belts, quick draw gel belts, special earphones….

And of course there are loads of products geared at active people.

When ramping up the miles during half or full marathon training I quite like protein cereal bars- I like variety so I go between Clif bars, Bounce Balls, Pulsin’ bars, nakd bars and whatever else I come across. I find them more filling than regular cereal bars, so often on a Wednesday I will have one in the afternoon as otherwise the gap between lunch (generally around 12.30) and dinner (after 8pm) is a bit too long.

The website Probikekit.co.uk recently sent some of these protein Clif bars and some nuun tabs for me to review for my blog- I was very happy to try them out. I love nuun tabs anyway, so it was great to try a new (to me) flavour. I find that after running in the heat I end up with a layer of sweat on my face, and I often used to get headaches after runs so I tend to have one after a long or hot run to help replace the electrolytes. When I was marathon training I used to take a bottle with nuun + water with me, instead of just water.

The nuun tabs are simple- add them to water and they fizz away and dissolve. They contain sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium as well as some natural flavours and ingredient to hold them together/ make them fizz.

I got home from holiday this morning (we flew overnight from Montreal and I think I managed to doze for about 2 hours) so I was feeling pretty ropey today- hungry at weird times, and super thirsty after being on the plane. So although I didn’t run today, I felt I could do with some rehydration. The lemon tea flavour was really nice- I like iced tea anyway, and it was similar. Tropical remains my favourite flavour, followed by the pink lemonade, but they are all quite faint flavours which is good too.

When I remember I like to make up a glass before I run, and leave it in the fridge so it is nice and cold when I get home.

Excuse the blurry photo- I could not get a better one!

The Clif Peanut Butter Chocolate Builders Bar was like a chocolate bar only filled with soya protein. It had a great chewy texture, and was also huge! 68g! The bar had 264 calories and a whopping 20g of protein, as well as a vitamins and minerals (and no trans fat – good for a processed product). Now, I am not saying this is a health food, but for when you are hungry and fancy something sweet it makes a nice change. I also think that I could cut them in half as it did take me ages to eat the entire one.

What little extras do you love? When I was doing yoga more frequently I bought some special grippy socks which were brilliant.

How do you get over jet lag? I tried to sleep on the plane (I have an eye mask which help) and as soon as I got home I was unpacking, putting on washing, going to the shops, but I ended up having a nap at 1pm as I was just so blurry in the head, and am going out tonight (great timing!) so could not even aim for an early night.

* I was sent a voucher for money off these products in exchange for an honest review- all opinions are my own.

So, when I started running I was reading a lot of forums and magazines and generally trying to find out as much as possible.

One “rule” that was quoted at me time and again was the 10% rule- not to increase the distance of any run by more than 10% per week (or not to increase total distance by 10% per week).

At first, that seemed sensible. Of course you don’t want to increase distance by too much as your body needs to get used to the stresses of running. I was following a beginner running plan anyway, so assumed that the plan had all of this covered.

But then I started to actually work it out. For a beginner starting out, you would probably run about a mile in your first session. So the next time you can add 10%, which would equal 1.1 miles. Then 1.21 miles. Then 1.3 miles or something. Basically, the distance goes up so slowly you would take months to get to a 5K, not the 8 weeks that most plans suggest.

Or start at 2 miles. But then you have 2.2 miles, 2.42 miles, 2.66 miles, 2.92 miles…

It just does not quite work anyway.

Even if the rule applied once you were running further, say, 6 miles, you still would not increase mileage enough to keep up with most training plans.

Apply the rule to weekly mileage and because it is a percentage it still does not go up in line with most training plans. So, if that “rule” does not really work, what others do not work?

Well, the other “rule” of running I get annoyed over is the obsession with fueling runs. Magazine articles bang on about making sure you have a snack before you run, and then eating something when you get home to help replenish your glycogen stores in your muscles. But again when you begin to think about it, it just doesn’t make sense. You have enough energy in your muscles to run for hours (I think it is around 18 miles- hence the marathon “wall” when those supplies run out), so if you are going out for a 3 mile run after work then no, you don’t need a pre-run snack.  Of course, if you are hungry and would have one anyway then fine, but it is not dangerous to run without food. I prefer running on an empty stomach, but I remember when I first started running I was scared of running more than a couple of miles before breakfast- I had visions of me fainting mid-run. Ridiculous!  Of course everyone is different, but I have run up to 12 miles before breakfast and been fine.

The same with the post run snack. If you are eating normal meals then you don’t need a protein shake or peanut butter on toast (Runners World etc love to mention these snacks)- just have your dinner.

And don’t get me started on the obsession with drinking so much liquid…

What “rules” annoy you? The one that made sense to me was that your long run should not equal more than 50% of your weekly miles (so if you run 10 miles as a long run, the rest of your runs need to total at least 10 miles)- this seemed sensible in limiting your long run but also making sure you were being consistent with training.

 

It is tough. I run much better when it is cool, but luckily I am running for fun and not training at the moment.

But also the weather forecast has not been that helpful- I went out on Friday night in the sweltering heat, because I thought Saturday would be more storms, but in fact Saturday was overcast and would have been fine. Ah well.

Anyway, Sunday was a lovely 6.5 mile run looping around the fields. Just perfect to be home before most people were awake. Although it was so hot as the sun was blazing down.

Too cool down after that I made a chai latte- I had some coconut tea brewing in my tea jug, and had some of that topped up with almond milk. I have made this with a little splash of cinnamon syrup too, but it is lovely just like that too.

So summery.

As we are off on holiday soon we have been trying to run the freezer down a bit. I found a scone in there so had it for lunch on Sunday with some lemon curd. Delish.

On Monday and Tuesday I had a run after work- both the same out and back route mostly through the fields. On Monday I ran out for 15 minutes, then turned around and headed home- I got back in 14 minutes so I was pretty pleased to manage that in the heat. My Garmin has been playing up a bit though- it finds a satellite, then when I start it, it loses the signal again so often the first half a mile of my run is not on the map, and then it affects the overall speed and distance too. Today was the same route but I didn’t pay attention to the time, I just enjoyed it- on my way back there was a lovely strong breeze so it was more comfortable.

I have been wearing my tennis visor which keeps my face cool, and trying to choose shady routes, but really in this weather I think any run is a bonus so I am just enjoying it.

I made some fudge at the weekend as gifts for colleagues (note to self, boiling up sugar when it is baking hot outside is not the best way to cool down), so I packaged that all up. I got those cute bags and tags from ebay- so pretty. I got some red spotty ones too that remind me of Minnie Mouse, but will be good colours for Christmas.

We have been having some lovely walks after dinner too- I have not been using my hairdryer as it i so hot, so this lunchtime my hair was still wet from last night! This evening we had a walk which started off my hair drying at least.

Any cooling down tips? 

On Saturday morning we were up bright and early to drive up to Milton Keynes. A few weeks ago Andy had decided that as I was running there, and it was the same weekend as the Grand Prix, he may as well get a ticket for it. So he dropped me off at race HQ at 8.30am, and then was off to qualifying.

Well, the race didn’t start until 10am, so I had plenty of time. The race was around some lakes, so I had a little wander about. It was really pretty.

It was raining pretty hard at that point. I was wearing a raincoat, but that meant I didn’t want to go to the bag drop until as late as possible.

The race HQ was tiny- just how I like it to be.

Starting arch on the right, and the fence on the left is where the finish tunnel was, as well as the bag drip tent. After my little wander around I made my way back to the HQ- by around 9am it was getting busier. There was music playing and a lady chatting about the sponsors, people who were running and so on. At 9.35 I reluctantly took off my coat and put my bag in the drop tent, and then headed back to the shelter of some trees. I didn’t join in with the warm up, but at least they didn’t do silly stretches.

I was secretly impressed with my colour co-ordination- the purple number, my purple Thoosa vest and purple on my trainers.

It really poured during the warm up, but luckily it stopped just in time for the start.

They had pacer runners, which I love. I started between the 55 minute and 60 minute ones, as I wasn’t really sure how I would get on. I knew I couldn’t get a pb, but as it was overcast and fairly flat I thought sub 60 would be a realistic but challenging target.

The route was lovely. It was 2 laps of the lake, which of course has pros and cons, but as I enjoyed the first lap it was good to do it again. There was some support along the way, and there seemed to be a good community spirit between all the runners. It seemed to be the first race for a lot of people. The course was pretty flat. There was a section (3K/8K ish) that was up and down a bit, almost like running up and down gentle bridges (I think where water was flowing in and out of the lakes or something), and the final part was through some woods, but I was glad of the overcast day as most of it was right in the open. It was a pretty muggy day and I was very hot by the end, despite wearing a vest. The shade of the woods was much appreciated. Towards the end I was flagging a bit, and had a little stitch, when a girl running next to me (we had been next to each other for a few km I think) said “nice pacing” to me- then I felt like I had to keep going.

When I saw the 9km marker I checked my watch- at this point I realised I hadn’t looked at it at all (a bit late at that point for any help with pacing!) but I was on 53 minutes I think-if you have read one of my race reports before you may well remember that maths goes out of the window for me when I am running (I calculated 7 miles as being half way of a half marathon before…), and my Garmin is set to miles, and I know mile pacing, but I felt pretty sure that I could do a km in 7 minutes, so pushed on for the final part. In that final km I pulled away from the girl a bit, and managed to overtake another girl who had been swapping places with me for a lot of the race too.

As I as coming up to the finish straight I heard the commentator say my name (they were checking race numbers) which was a nice touch (I had this at the lovely Sherwood forest run before) and then she was saying “we are still under 60 minutes” so I felt pretty pleased!

This is what it is all about! As I crossed the line a medal was put around my neck (I tried to just take it, but the person insisted in me wearing it, which I quite liked really)- then I got to choose my t-shirt (and they had all the sizes!!! Hooray!!!!) before being handed a goody bag and told to go and get a recovery shake.

The grass was wet so I sat on the carrier bag that my t-shirt was in, and had some of the shake. It was OK (a fruit and soya protein drink), but to be honest not the best thing for me right after running. Then it absolutely tipped it down. I walked to the public toilets and got changed (baby wipes for the win), and then went back and stood under some trees and ate some almonds I had brought with me. The plan was for me to walk to the centre of Milton Keynes and get some lunch, and then Andy would pick me up on his way back from Silverstone. I had a map, but the map said it was 2 miles away, and I wasn’t even sure which way up to hold the map. It is not my forte. Luckily there was a Premier Inn there, so I got a taxi instead. I did feel a bit of a cop out (I just ran 6 miles- a 2 mile walk should have been fine) but it was raining so hard.

Then I had the joy of negotiating a busy shopping centre on a Saturday, with all my wet (heavy) race kit in my rucksack. FYI, rucksacks make negotiating busy shops even harder.

Straight away I saw Pret, so headed there for a lunch of an avocado wrap, mango and a peach iced tea. I had some shopping (end of term gifts for colleagues, and birthday presents) but a few hours later I was flagging, so went for a Starbucks. A cinnamon roll is usually a treat I save for after a half marathon, but I didn’t have one after Ashridge. The goody bag included a magazine, but I had also packed my mp3 player and was pretty tired, so I listened to some Marathon Talk instead.

 

Words cannot convey how tired I was by this point. I had big bags of shopping, my rucksack (wet trainers weigh a lot!) and the goody bag. The shops were so busy, and although a change of clothes made me feel better, I did feel a bit skanky and really wanted a shower. Andy didn’t pick me up until 4pm in the end, so I had been out for hours.

At least I bought a few bits for myself- Accessorize were having a sale so I bought this scarf, some new earrings and some green Essie nail polish (which coincidentally matches the scarf!).

The goody bag was pretty good. The technical t-shirt was the best thing, and the medal was lovely too. It also had a random selection of other goodies: some shower gel (for men– weird… at a women only run…), Urban Fruit mango (the best!), rice bran oil, that spatone iron water stuff, cereal,  9 bar, shampoo sachets, some sweetener and some chewing gum.

I like that the t-shirt lists all the races. I think that is why they had all the sizes (and they weren’t SML either, they were actual number sizes which are so much better). Before when technical t-shirts have been on offer at a race I have ended up with a massive size as none of the smaller sizes are left when I finish (well apart from Stockholm) so I have a few really baggy technical t’s. I love that this one fits so well.

The ribbon has the date and place, so something is specific to that event.

I was not massively keen on the white, thinking it would be a bit see through, but I went for a run on Sunday morning and it was fine- I don’t think my sports bra showed through. It is lovely breathable fabric too- thumbs up from me.

I was a bit unsure about a women only event- I did wonder if it would be all pink and girly, but it was supportive as well as being competitive (they mentioned at the start that if you wanted to be the fastest time of their series this year you had to aim for sub 42 minutes). For me, I would definitely do this race again. The race HQ was nice and small (bag drop tent, a few portaloos), right by the car park, the technical t-shirt is a bonus. I also liked it being on a Saturday as it meant I could recover on Sunday instead of hobbling around work on the Monday. The scenery was really pretty too and it was a traffic free course.  It was chip timed, as you had a chip in your number, but the results have not been published yet. I shall have to wait and see if I officially got in under the hour.

Have you ever done a women’s only event before? I have run a few Race for Life’s and think they are great for raising money and encouraging people to start running, but I preferred this one as it was more low key, as well as being more of a running event.

EDIT: Chip time is back: 59.19     Number 98/316 runners

 

Well, maybe not excuses. Some of them are good reasons.  I will let you be the judge.

Since the Ashridge Trail half (over a week ago) I have only run a couple of times.

And here are my reasons/ excuses.

Monday- Sports massage after work. Marking to do after that. A bit too achy to run. Plus I had a headache (seem to get these often after the sports massage).

Tuesday- Gentle run on my own- a couple of miles. No time for any more as marking to do.

Wednesday- Gave Sweatshop a miss as hadn’t had an email saying what sessions it would be- knew I would not manage a speed or hills session as I was still a bit achy. Andy persuaded me to go to the cinema (we saw Chef, it was great- I smiled the whole way through- go and see it). More marking when I got home.

Thursday- Went to Pump. Yet more marking to do after that finished.

Friday- Planned a run after work but came home with an awful headache (I had been up until about midnight each night that week, so I think I was just over tired). Painkillers + tea + listening to the radio was what was needed.

Saturday- Walked around Bath all day. Yet again ended up with a bad headache.

What a beautiful beach! We walked along here for about 90 minutes

Sunday- Went for a walk along a beach. Was going to have a run when we got home, but I hadn’t eaten lunch and had only had a couple of cups of tea to drink all day, so decided against it.

Monday- Went for a run! Hooray! Well done me! I left work late and again had a pile of work to do, and as I was driving the excuses started to creep in- I could always go tomorrow instead….. but I knew I would feel better in the end, so headed out for a quick 3 miles. I did get a bit creeped out by a man running- he overtook me and as he ran past me he kept his head facing mine until I properly caught his eye, and then he saluted me. That was not too bad (although I only normally smile or say hi to runners who are going in the other direction, not normally to people who overtake me). But then he ran on around the road, and I went off into the fields, only to be overtaken by him again about 5 minutes later. That did freak me out a bit so I quickly headed back!

These are the cows with the big scary horns! Luckily they were behind a fence, but sometimes we run through that field and I hate it when they are near the path. 

Tuesday- No run. But aside from a break for dinner and to pop to collect something I had ordered from the shop, I worked solidly until 10pm. So I am not sure when I would have fitted one in.

So basically, life has been busy. Now I know that of course I could get up earlier in the morning to squeeze one in, but it would have to be stupidly early to fit in a shower after, and I don’t think I can function on any less sleep, so that would not be wise. At the end of the day, I run because I enjoy it. I also run because it keeps me healthy, but at the moment a little more sleep, and a little rest (when I can find it) is what I actually need.

I have a 10K race this weekend, but I am going to enjoy it and am not expecting a pb- you can’t get much flatter than the Brighton 10K that I did before, and I have not been working on my speed recently. In the autumn I have a few races already booked in, so I might even follow a training plan (oooh, get me) but at the moment I want to enjoy running and not feel any pressure.

And now, what I really need is to get ready for bed!

Do you always follow plans or do you make things up as you go along? What do you do about exercising when life gets busy?