Category: Running

As we were away on Sunday morning, I did my long run on Monday instead.

I wanted it to be my longest run before the Brighton half in 2 weeks, and decided that I should run 13 miles. Last year I had run 15 miles before, but I was aiming for under 2 hours. This year I am going to enjoy it, and not worry about the time (I am in the 2-2.15 pen this time) so I thought that 13 would be far enough. I knew that from the start of Ellenbrook parkrun to home was 5 miles, so I went a slightly roundabout way of getting there. I had a bit of a rest here (after 8 miles)- took some pictures and replied to some messages before heading home again. It was cold, but the sun had come out and I was very thirsty by the end. I had taken off my jacket, but then as I turned the wind was very cold and I ended up wearing it for the way home.

I had packed a cereal bar in my belt (a lovely pumpkin one from Rude Health) but I didn’t fancy it. A mile from home I ran through the town centre, and so Starbucks tempted me in- the thought of a nice cold drink was enough to get me to have a little break.

I went for an iced drink and then bought a cinnamon swirl for later (it is sort of a tradition after running a half marathon now)- running the mile home with the ice cold drink was not good though, and even though I kept swapping hands, I ended up with numb fingers!

On Monday afternoon I was visiting a friend- we had a lovely walk along a canal and had tea and cake in a cafe, before walking back along the canal- the perfect way to stop my legs from getting stiff, although there was a lot of traffic on my drive home so I was a bit stiff by the end of the drive.

On Tuesday I did a lot of pottering around at home, cleaning, washing, sorting, and walked into town. In Holland and Barrett I spied this huge tub of peanut butter- I love the Pip and Nut stuff but the little jars are fairly expensive- this is more more economical, and easier to dip dates into as well.

Later I met Andy in town as Starbucks were doing buy one get one free on hot chocolates (he went for a Frappacino which was a much better option in hindsight as my hot choc was really quite disappointing compared to their normal one), and I made him some cookies. We don’t do Valentine’s day (I would much rather celebrate our birthdays than a “Hallmark holiday”) but as I was home it was good to be able to meet up, as if I was at work I wouldn’t be able to.

Annoyingly, the water pipes in our road are being replaced. There was a sign up at the end of the road and we got a letter through last week saying it was due to start on Monday, but then the sign went away. Sadly (I mean, it will be good in the long run, but it is so annoying right now) the diggers came and blocked our cars in our driveway on Wednesday afternoon.

I’d been out visiting friends, and had a lot of fun doing a many point turn to inch past the red fence and squeeze on to the driveway. Not sure how I am going to get my car back out again though…

It is slight chaos because the whole end of the road is coned off, and the road is on a bend, and so when you start to go you can’t see if any cars are coming. Lots of people usually park in the street too, so they have all had to park elsewhere (or like in the photo, just park on the pavement).

Do you have set routes for running or do you make them up as you go along? Since moving I still have not quite sorted my routes yet, and sometimes what I think will be 4 miles will be more like 2.5, and at other times they are much longer! Have you bought any bargains recently? Do you do anything for Valentine’s day? I did like all the posts about Galentine’s Day (taken from the excellent show Parks and Rec), although I didn’t manage a brunch on that day, I have had some lovely catch ups with friends this week.

Hey peeps! Guess what? Half term is here!

On Friday I went straight from work to the train station- we had booked train tickets from Bedford to Nottingham (and can go straight from St Albans to Bedford), so we could see the Light Night. It was actually very disappointing- Andy had downloaded a map of where everything was, but it turned out a lot of the things were only in the afternoon and not the evening. There were some bonfires in some places, and a lot of food stalls by the main square, but the few things we saw were not that great (a KA filled with a few fairy lights). But still, we had a good wander and it was good to stretch the legs after sitting on the train for a couple of hours.

On Saturday morning I was off to Forest Rec parkrun. There are a few parkruns in Nottingham, but this was the most central. I had originally planned to run there, as it was about 1.5 miles from our hotel, but I was not 100% of the directions, and the tram went straight to by the parkrun (the Forest stop).  I was checking their facebook page as they had posted on Friday night about checking for ice in the morning, but I had left by the time they posted to say it was on. I had figured that I could always just run around the park if it was cancelled. I left plenty of time to get the tram- it was only a 10 minute journey at most, and they were every 10 minutes, but I needed time to buy a ticket from the machines and read the signs many times to check I was going in the right direction- it turned out to be very simple though- just like the underground, each stop was announced and also scrolled across the screen so I could keep double checking where I was.

When I got there (not very early, around 8.45 I think) there were a few volunteers but hardly any runners. It was snowing (but not settling on the ground) so maybe people stayed in their cars for as long as possible. But just before 9 there was suddenly a huge crowd of people (185 in fact). It gave me time to read the information sign (it used to be a park for horse racing- you could sort of see it as it was long and wide, on a slope, so you could guess where the grandstand was).

The course sounded very complicated from the new runners briefing (we were even shown a map, which I like, but generally confuses me more)- but basically you started in the centre of a circle, ran out to the edge of the circle, completed two clockwise loops of the circle, and then retraced your steps back to the centre. finishing in the opposite direction to how to started, but in the same place.

The first part of each loop was flat, and around football pitches- quite muddy in places (and also with these weird yellow brush things sticking out of the grass), but nice and flat.

The second part of each loop was mainly uphill, with switch backs across various paths- so the ground was easier to run on, but it was very steep in places. At least you only had to do it twice. The final bit of the loop was a lovely downhill, although again very steep and because of the snow I was careful (partly because the snow sticks to my glasses and makes it harder to see, but also because the pavements were a little slippy).

I didn’t get lapped (I think I am unlikely to be lapped at a two lap route as if I finish in around 30, a person running it in 15 minutes would be finishing as I begin my second lap) but as I ran up on the middle of the second loop, you could look down to the right and see the finish straight, and people were already thundering towards the finish. Impressive stuff.

I didn’t look at my watch at all, and so when I got home I was pleased to see a royal flush negative split- 9.34, 9.21, 9.20, 7.57 (for the final sprint!). Position 121, 29.11, for my 96th parkrun and my 15th UK course.

I took a few photos of people finishing as I headed back to the tram stop.

And one of me with the finishers in the background.

I was trying to get the snow in the picture too, but it didn’t really come out.

I also tried to capture the steep hill, but of course that never works either! Kudos to all the marshals who were out in that weather- I do always say thanks as I run past, and one of them said “you guys are doing the hard work”- I had no breath back to reply, but I really feel that standing about in the cold is so much worse than running!

I stopped to get a hot drink in town before going back to shower, and then we were off out for breakfast- the best bit!

Mmm, Bill’s pancakes and a bit pot of tea- so good (and the tea was free thanks to paying with the Bill’s app- even better!). The snow had changed to rain as it had warmed up slightly, so after a wander around the shops was walked up to the arboretum, as I had passed that on the tram earlier and thought it might be nice.

It was cold and wet- not the best weather for enjoying outside. We only fancied a small lunch so ended up sharing a wrap (some sort of beetroot one- very tasty) and a piece of lemon and raspberry cake (this was an amazing combination).

We saw some snowdrops! Spring is hopefully on the way.

We’d booked an early dinner at Jamie’s Italian as we had a voucher, and then had booked cinema tickets to see the Lego Batman movie, so after warming up in our hotel room for a bit, we headed out for the evening.

The film was really good- I liked the first Lego movie anyway, and as a fan of Arrested Development, the combination of Will Arnett and Michael Cera was good enough to keep me laughing. There seemed to be a lot of jokes about old Batman movies (who knows which ones I have seen) but not knowing them didn’t make it any less funny. I heard some reviews where people were saying some of the jokes would go over kids heads, but there were some children in the cinema with us and they pretty much didn’t stop laughing the whole way through. This isn’t a spoiler, but what amused me so much was every time someone was shooting a gun, the noise was someone saying “pew, pew”.  Anyway, good fun and more lighthearted than our last cinema trip (T2).

The next morning it was raining a lot- we went to Starbucks for a quicker breakfast, before going around the shops for a bit.

This lovely cafe (Homemade- which also had a cafe at the parkrun park) had so many amazing varieties (you can see the lemon and raspberry on the right) so we got a piece of blueberry cake to have at home. The train home was at lunch time, so we bought some bits and listened to the film podcast on the way back. All good (apart from the fact that we forgot to turn the heating back on until we were about to drive back from the station, so it was only 12C at home- brrrr!

All in all, a great start to half term, even if the weather was a bit rubbish!

Where do you like to go for a weekend break? What are you looking forward to seeing in the cinema? I think Hidden Figures looks really good, so I am hoping to see that once it is released. Have you seen any signs of spring? Some of the daffodils have started to appear and it won’t be long before they are flowering.

This week’s parkrun of choice was Ellenbrook Fields. With the recent bit of rain, both Ellenbrook and Panshanger are muddy ones, but Ellenbrook is much flatter and probably the less muddier of the two as it is generally wider, so easier to find a less muddy route.

I was planning on running a mile beforehand to warm up (half a mile from the car park to the start, and then up and down the taxi-way until the start) but I ended up seeing an OH lady (she was chip scanning) so we chatted for a bit instead. It was so cold- I’d taken my long sleeved top with me at the last minute, to wear at the end, but I ended up keeping it on the whole time. Some of the puddles had big bits of ice in them- I wasn’t expecting that as this week has been fairly mild.

I saw another runner (Denise- our OH runner of the year) – she is usually a bit faster than me so I decided to try and keep her in sight and see how fast I could go.

It was very muddy- I was trying to dodge the puddles but after about a mile ended up putting my whole foot in (ankle deep)- cold wet feet for the rest of the run!

I had no idea how fast I was going as I had left my watch on from the warm up (I prefer to leave it running rather than stop-start it, as then Strava takes out all the still bits, plus my watch is a bit ropey now and does not always save things properly if I fiddle about), but as we ran through the cow field (about half way, or a mile to go possibly) I overtook Denise. I did wonder if I was going too fast, but I felt OK so pushed on. After the cow field there is the “water feature”, which is where the track narrows (between fences) and dips down- it’s really boggy there, and then afterwards you run slightly uphill, and it lulls you into a false sense of security as you think the mud and bogs are behind you, but then you realise that what looks like a rutted field is actually more bog. (It’s also where I fell over on the Sweatshop run years ago and gave myself a black eye and scraped all the skin off my shoulder).

At this stage you then run past heaps of gravel (?) from the old quarry, and again the path was basically a giant puddle with smaller and more boggy puddles around the edge. By this point I had given up avoiding the water and was just trying to not slip over. I passed the final marshal (with a tambourine- I love that they have instruments here!) and then onto the taxiway. I think it’s about half a mile from there to the finish, and you can sort of see it as it’s so straight. I glanced at my watch then and saw 8.08- then I spent some time wondering if I had selected current or average pace, and then I tried to pick up my pace a bit. I ended up counting to 100 in my head, and then again (I think I got up to 40).

A few runners who had finished were walking the other way and cheering us along, and there is always a big crowd of marshals at the finish- last week they slightly changed the finish so it’s straight on instead of a sharp right turn, so they were all shouting to keep going to the end of the line and not stop where the flags were as that was just showing the way. It felt good to stop!

Even when I finished I didn’t know how fast I had  gone- it felt fast but also the mud makes it hard, and your legs feel tired so it’s hard to gauge.

After getting my token scanned I jogged the long way around back to the car, so in the end I did about 4.5 miles. I had taken shoes with me to change into for the drive home, but I should have also packed spare socks- they were so soggy.

I think I need to get some dark coloured running socks, as the mud never seems to properly come out of them either.

When I plugged in my Garmin, it told me I had achieved a segment “PR” for the parkrun course, but I had to wait and see for the official results!

4 segment PR’s including 27.03 for the parkrun course (my previous pb was 27.16 which I got at the start of August). The email came through a bit later telling me I had a new shiny pb of 27.06! Hooray!  My all time 5k pb is 26.29, but from St Albans in 2013, so I didn’t know if I could get close to that With less mud, I think I can! I’ve looked at my results and I think that is my fourth fastest time, as I also ran 26.50 and 27.05 at St Albans. (In fact, it is, as I just worked out you can sort by time on your parkrun table. I also have run 27.12 three times and 27.16 twice, and then my eyes went funny looking at all the numbers and I had to stop).

When I was looking through the results, I saw this running club name- Derek Zoolander school for kids who can’t run good. Best running club name! (Also seen- Pirate ship of fools, and 5K fairweather runner support group). A few runners were wearing the cow cowl, adding Ellenbrook to their tourist list.

I had a lot of work to get through, and then I went for a back and shoulder massage (my incentive to get it all done)- this was very much needed! Later my dad and brother picked me up and we visited my sister, as she had just had a baby on Friday (Mum had been with her for most of the day)- I don’t think I have ever held a baby so young before. I am so used to seeing our niece (on Andy’s side) who is coming up to a year old now, so it was strange holding someone so teeny and fragile (with such a floppy head). So lovely though, and my dad was of course over the moon (as she is his first grandchild).

On Sunday morning I had a shorter run in the fog- I did an out and back for 7 miles. Around half way my leg started to feel stiff- I got this in the Brighton 10 miles and during a few long runs since then- all that seems to help is stopping and stretching. I did a lot of yoga stretches when I got home to try and help.

While we were having breakfast we saw that the fox had come back in to our garden again (right in the middle at the back of the garden). Seeing them in the middle of the day is a bit weird- I was thinking about how I would react if I saw one up close when I was running- I’ve seen them from a bit of a way away, but as someone who is nervous of dogs, a wild fox would rather terrify me if it came close.

Later today we are off to the cinema- the perfect activity for a cold and cloudy day.

What is the best running club name you have seen? Do you have some times that you keep on getting at parkrun? Do you mind the mud? I don’t, but I really should pack a towel in my car to sit on for the drive home!

So for a long time now I have my long run on a Sunday morning, before breakfast. I know some people like to eat before they run, and I used to (unless it was 3 miles), but I really hate the feeling of food in my stomach as I run, and so I gradually started running a little further before breakfast.  When marathon training I got up to around 15 miles before I started eating before, and this was mainly to practise for race day.

I do have a few meals that I find work well for my Saturday evening meal- I have found that pasta is not the best (possibly too little protein when I have it), but sharing a pizza with a salad, or if we are away somewhere having a big salad works well for me. Sometimes we have had a veggie burger with salad (and avocado if we have one at home) and that has been fine too.

On Saturday we ended up having takeaway chips- we hardly ever have any sort of takeaway (I am not keen on Chinese or Indian, or anything spicy like that, and although pizza is OK, I prefer the thin based ones which the takeaways don’t tend to have). I didn’t really think about what I had eaten, but then I am not really following a training plan, and was just going to run as far as I felt like in the morning.

I did think it was going to be raining, but in fact it was frosty (really slippery pavements in places)- along here I had to run on the grass as the path was really icy. I was feeling fairly tired and after about 4 miles I started to feel very hungry and thirsty, which is not like me. Probably the chips were saltier than food I usually have, and of course no protein (because I refuse to even look at the pickled eggs, not sure who on earth would ever eat one of those).

I thought about heading home to make it 8 miles, but then I felt OK, and it wasn’t raining, so I carried on. I reasoned that next weekend I would rather have a cut back week, because the following week at work is very busy, and if I didn’t run so far this week I would feel like I should run further next weekend. It made sense in my mind.

I ran to Panshanger park again, and this time wandered around the fields for a bit (I was going to run across to the bottom of the hill, but there were some massive dogs running freely in the field, so I took a detour into the Dragonfly Trail to avoid them).

The water was still frozen solid.

I wandered about looking at the new signs that were up since I had last run through the valley, and then ran out to the farmhouse (dogs in the distance) and back.

I admired the cycle rack (Panshanger’s second birthday present) before heading back the way I had come.

I saw a fox crossing the road ahead of my on my way back- it was huge! The frost had all melted and it was getting much more mild which slowed me down a bit.

If I had totally re-traced my steps it would have been 12 miles, but in the end I took a slight short cut back home again, so I did something like 11.3 miles. I’m not going for a specific time in the Brighton half this year (not like my sub 2 hours last year) but I know that if I don’t keep the long runs fairly long I will mentally struggle a bit after around 9 miles. I’m happy with that distance today, but in training over the next couple of weeks I will go a bit longer (although probably not the 15 that I did last year in training).

I was so thirsty and hungry when I got home- I got some grapes out and ate those while I was waiting for the electrolyte tab to fizz away in my water.  After a shower I felt better, and had breakfast plus a massive mug of tea- the caffeine seems to help after a long run (does it help the sugar get into your blood stream faster maybe?). Anyway, lesson learned! No chips before a long run.

The rest of Sunday was spent doing a few jobs (sorting my tyre pressure, buying ingredients for cooking at work, sorting some clothes for the charity shop) and some nicer things (making peanut butter crispy squares for work- from the Pip and Nut book), catching up on a bit of TV.

Do you eat before a run or not?

On Friday night it was time for the OH awards evening. Thankfully my windscreen was finally replaced on Friday, so there was some good news. The cream was cleaning up my eye, and although I still had a little cough, I wasn’t losing my voice any more- I had wondered about just staying at home, but I am glad I persuaded myself to go in the end.

It was being held at a local golf club, just around the corner from where I live (well a couple of miles away, and partly down a lane with no pavements, so I wasn’t running there).

Last year it was a sit down meal, but this year was a buffet and then a disco. It was lovely catching up with everyone, and seeing people with normal clothes (and hair) instead of running gear. I had a very delicious chocolate tart, and everyone had personalised glass tags with our initials on them (and OH on the back)- such a lovely touch.

Mine even had a non-alcoholic drink ready with it (as it included a drink upon arrival- they are very sweet to remember that I don’t drink).

After a few hours of chatting (and some people dancing) they gave out the awards- it was lovely to see the reaction from the winners, especially those not expecting to win. The runner of the year wasn’t there, so they said to keep it quiet and they would give it to her at parkrun as she was volunteering in the morning.

As it rained a bit overnight, I wore my trail shoes as I was heading to Ellenbrook- clean soles at the start!

Dad was going to run there, run parkrun, and then I was going to take him home, as he is doing some longer runs before a half marathon in the spring. I got there a bit early and it was cold, so I ran up and down the old taxi-way a bit (a straight concrete strip in the field). I saw a green woodpecker (but I had left my phone in the car so couldn’t even try to photograph it), and then was stopped by someone walking her dog, asking where she could go to avoid the runners. Now, I am not great with directions, and of course the par has no road names, so after I try to explain it to her (do you know the field with the cows? Well instead of turning left and going through the field, carry on straight…) I ended up saying that there were signs out, so if the sign said turn left, she could carry on straight instead. (I also did say that we didn’t have that many runners and they would be spread out, but she said her dog got a bit excited and would bark a lot so she wanted to steer clear).

As she walked away I then saw my dad running towards me, and shortly after my brother cycled along, so we headed to the start line together.

I’d opted for a t-shirt, and left my jacket on the fence, but the wind and drizzle picked up a bit during the briefing and I had begun to regret my choice of clothes. Once we started I was OK though.  We had a good catch up, and finished together (along the trial straight ahead instead of a right-angled turn on slippery mud) in 29.49- we were aiming for under 30 minutes so Dad’s 10K came in under the hour so we were pleased with that. It started to rain a lot harder and the wind picked up so we didn’t hang about for long before heading to the car.

Very dirty soles at the end, although this was taken on Sunday.

I had offered to do the run report as our RD is not keen on that job, so I spent a bit of time coming up with that- it’s here if you fancy a read and a sing along. We also walked into town, and then spent the evening around Andy’s brother’s house, watching the football and eating takeaway chips (a nice treat, but maybe not the best pre long run meal..).

Does your running club have awards? We have awards for perseverance, most improved, best newcomer, and runner of the year, as well as the fastest times, although they always precede the fastest times awards with a lot of conflicted views on whether they should be awarded or not!  Do you see a lot of non-parkrunners at your local parkrun?  Both Panshanger and Ellenbrook are a bit out of the way, and are used by dog walkers but that’s about it. St Albans is full of people out walking, kids on bikes and people feeding the ducks so it is a bit busier in that respect.