Canterbury 10 – one big struggle

Last weekend I completed my first race of the year – the Canterbury 10 mile road race, with around 1500 other runners. Canterbury is my home city and I love being able to take part in a race so close to where I live as logistics are an absolute doddle. It’s a hilly, scenic route which takes in the rolling countryside of the villages on the outskirts of the city – definitely my kind of race. I actually signed up for this race back in September last year as it gives you something to focus on during January and a reason not to just give up on training entirely over the festive period.

So it is safe to say I had been looking forward to this race for a good few months. That was until the week of the race itself. A few days beforehand illness struck and I felt completely exhausted. On the Friday I was starting to feel better but I still had a banging headache and I had hardly managed to get out and run at all that week. By Sunday morning I was totally dreading the thought of running 10 miles…let alone racing it.

To give you some background this was actually my third time running this event. 2017 was my first year. At this point I had only ever run one 10 mile race and that was a completely flat coastal route back in April 2016. For the Canterbury 10 in 2017 I managed to finish just a few minutes after my previous 10 mile time. I was happy with that considering it was a much more challenging route and the freezing fog made race conditions very difficult. In 2018 I knocked a staggering 6 minutes off my 2017 time to cross the line in 1:23:23.

In the 12 months since this race last year my running has come on leaps and bounds so I was feeling confident that I would get another PB this year. But this only added to the nerves leading up to the start line. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I would feel if I didn’t get a PB especially when I considered how much my running has improved since the last time I ran this race. Now if someone else had told me that they were not looking forward to a race because they were worried they wouldn’t get a PB I would have told them not to be so ridiculous! But we are not always the best at heeding our own advice are we? Particularly as I am someone who likes to compete with myself and constantly strives for improvement.

For the entire week leading up to the race I had been checking the weather religiously as it had been threatening sleet showers. On the morning of the race I had got up early to take my eldest to swim club and it was raining hard and freezing cold at 6am. By the time we walked to race HQ just after 8am the rain had lessened but it was still very windy and freezing cold. This only added to my nerves. It’s a difficult course at the best of times but the added issue of non-favourable weather, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

I had calculated that if I stuck to around 5 minute kilometres (yes I still measure my runs in kms – feel free to judge me!) then I would be well on target to grab myself a massive PB. I had managed to stick to this pace, or there abouts, on training runs so I knew I would have it in me in race conditions to stay at this speed. But instead of reassuring me this only made me feel worse as I just kept thinking that if I don’t manage it I will only have myself to blame, which is simply not true. Anyway the race set off and as you can imagine with so many runners the first mile or so is incredibly bunched up. You have to weave your way in and out of the other runners so that you are able to settle into your comfortable pace. However, from the very first step everything felt uncomfortable. My shoulders felt tense, I couldn’t get my breathing right, I felt like I had my shoes on the wrong feet, my big toes hurt and I was getting uncharacteristically annoyed with everything and everyone around me. I knew then that I wasn’t going to have an enjoyable race.

At around 2 miles in I could see a commotion up ahead and runners were clearing the path. A female runner from another club had taken an unfortunate tumble and was lying on the ground crying out in pain, with her leg twisted at a very awkward angle. It was evident she had done some serious damage. Other runners had stopped to be with her whilst the medical attention arrived. It was really unsettling to see. I have since discovered that she broke her femur bone, poor woman, I hope she recovers quickly.

At 4 miles there is the first of 2 killer hills. This one is relatively short (around 400m) but really quite steep. My pace obviously slowed but I was managing to overtake some other runners up hill and this gave me a bit of a confidence boost. However, when I got to the top I was unable to enjoy the recovery because I just could not recover. My legs were done in and my lungs had simply had enough. Just after the half way point the course took a sharp left turn into a gentle incline straight into some awful headwind. I was still managing to dip in just under that magical 5 minute kilometre but I was finding it all such a huge effort. Usually at the half way point in a race I get a buzz from knowing that every step I take from that point onwards was another step closer to the finish line. Not this time. As I was running into that headwind, struggling to breathe and getting absolutely zero joy from running I knew that these final 5 miles would be the real battle.

I was completely right. Each mile felt like it lasted an eternity. I was cold, miserable and heavy footed. It was pure hard work and determination that got me through. I kept thinking there was absolutely no way I was going through this ordeal and getting a time I was not happy with. This was the only thought that kept me driven for those final few miles. I crossed the finish line in 1:22:40. 43 seconds faster than my previous PB.

When I crossed that finish line and someone kindly cut the timing chip from my shoe and hung a medal round my neck you would think that I would have felt ecstatic, over the moon, accomplished. Instead I just felt numb. Relieved the suffering was finally over but just numb. I had left everything out on the course and I was completely empty. But why did I feel this way? When you look at the facts I should have felt wonderful – I had managed a PB in awful weather conditions, despite being poorly that week. But something just didn’t sit right with me about this race.

I took some time to reflect on what had made me feel so rubbish about an otherwise incredible achievement. In all honesty I think it is that I am not used to having to work so hard for a PB. I am not saying that all of my achievements have come easy, far from it, it is more that I have been used to enjoying the events where I have done well. Don’t get me wrong, I have had bad races before, but these are the ones where I have had a bad result to match my bad experience. To go through all this pain and struggle for 10 miles then still end up with a result to be proud of was all new to me.

So what have I learned from all of this?
1. A bad experience is no reflection of my performance
2. Overthinking is the killer of enjoyment
3. Not all achievements come easy. Sometimes if you want something badly you absolutely have to work for it. The struggle to achieve what you really want is likely to hurt but it’ll all be worth it!

Running free: running happy

Despite the grimace on my face in the picture above (cut me some slack – I was running uphill!) I have never felt in a happier place with my running.

2018 is my marathon-less year and I have been wondering how I would cope this year without the structure that my marathon training plan brought to my running last year. I’m nearly two months into 2018 and I have to say actually I am coping pretty well indeed.

The year started with a bang. With two parkruns and a run between them on New Year’s Day, meaning that I covered 12 miles on that very first day of the year. The first of those parkruns saw me cross the line with a course PB which I was more than happy with considering I was chatting with my friends the whole way round, attempting to take it easy in preparation for the remaining 9 miles of the day. This wonderfully positive day was followed 3 weeks later by the Canterbury 10 Mile Road Race in which I flew round in 1:23:23, more than 6 minutes faster than the previous year’s time and 3 minutes faster than my 10 mile PB from 2016. Then last weekend I ran my final long distance race of the Winter, the Deal Half Marathon. Another PB bagged and faith in my running ability sufficiently restored.

Now that the Deal Half is done I have deliberately chosen not to plan in a load of races for the remainder of the year. It all got a bit much last year. I trained for one race, then the next. Never really recovering properly and never giving myself time to reflect on my performance, good or bad. Deal was an incredible experience, despite it being a tough, hilly course which was made only tougher with more than significant head winds throughout. It showed me that I am capable of so much more than I allow myself to believe. It also reinforced the idea that I get carried away on race day. I am never able to achieve that pace outside of race conditions. I still can’t fathom how I managed it, even a week later.

There are lots of reasons why I am still running loads during a normal week despite not having any races booked in. I wrote a post a little while back Why Do I Run? which explains many more reasons why running is so important to me. I like to stay healthy, I still want to lose a bit of weight and ultimately it is a brilliant leveller in terms of my mental health.

I fully intend on racing over the Spring/Summer as traditionally I tend to run better when the sun is shining but I will book in some local 10ks nearer the time. This is my new, relaxed approach to training and racing. Running for the sheer enjoyment of running rather than having to got for a run because the plan says I must. I don’t want to get all stressed out about PBs, pacing, fuelling strategy, bla bla bla. I will book a half marathon for around the Autumn time too as it will give me a reason to continue going out for my long runs over the summer months, but I will worry about that nearer the time.

I have enjoyed running so much more this year because of the lack of structure. And I don’t know if it is a coincidence or because I am fully fit now but I have noticed real improvements in my running in terms of both speed and endurance. Sure I still have the odd ‘bad run’ but these are few and far between. Ultimately I am so much happier just doing my own thing, it is like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders knowing that I am running because I want to not because I have to. And actually if I wake up on a Sunday morning and decide I would rather stay in my pjs and eat pancakes with my kids, that is absolutely fine! My running will never be entirely without structure and this is with a massive thank you to my incredible running club, the Canterbury Harriers, who I train with on Tuesday (speed work) and Thursday (longer runs). The Harriers have experienced coaches who are always able to offer the best advice and steer me in the right direction when needed but it is great to run with a fantastic, supportive group of like-minded people.

I am using this year to try out some new things with my training too. I have already started doing some more strength and conditioning work in the gym, something that I would have previously been too scared to do in case it impacted on my training plans for the week. I want to go out and run more trails, knowing that the runs may be shorter and slower but that is absolutely fine too because my aim is to enjoy it and there is nothing more enjoyable that being able to run and explore at the same time. Mileage isn’t the be all and end all. I am also going to use this race-less time to focus on chipping away at my home parkrun time. You never know 2018 may even be the year I break through that mythical sub 25.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support. Keep smiling!

Sammy-Jo
x

Reflecting on 2017 – a shed ton of miles!

Wow! What a crazy year of running 2017 was for me. My husband bought me the Strava print (in the featured image above) as a Christmas present and it allowed me to reflect upon all the running and mileage I have completed in 2017. I have also been keeping a running diary for the whole of 2017 which has allowed to track all of my runs – 1300 miles and countless races, including my first marathon. Regular readers of my blog will know the ups and downs I have faced this year which only makes my achievements feel so much more significant to me. 2017 is definitely going to take some beating!

I am happy to report that I finished 2017 on a major high by running a parkrun PB, something I have been chasing for a while as I hadn’t had a PB on that course since February 2016, further proof that I am finally getting back to full strength after the various ‘health hurdles’ I have faced since my marathon in May.

It would be impossible to go through everything that has happened this year but here is a little recap of 2017:

January:
– The start of my marathon training, brimming with positivity.
– My first race of the year -the Canterbury 10 miler (can’t beat a race in your home town). Freezing cold conditions and a challenging hilly course but I still managed to bag a sub 90 minute time.

February:
– Deal half marathon – surprised everyone with a 1:58 – taking over 12 minutes off my previous time – clearly marathon training was paying dividends.
– Ran my first ever sub 26 minute 5k, on a flat parkrun course but it did wonders for my confidence.

March:
– Dramatically ramped up my marathon training mileage – averaging 40 miles a week over 5 days of training. I was absolutely exhausted and the marathon doubts started to creep in but I completed some long solo runs.

April:
– More training woes including an abandoned LSR. But helped through by some incredibly supportive friends.
– Started listening to podcasts rather than music for my long runs and this proved to be much more successful in taking my mind off the boredom/pain.
– Gave up alcohol in preparation for the marathon (this is more than a big deal for me!)

May:
– BEWL WATER MARATHON completed. Absolutely amazing experience. Helped round by my awesome mate Paul. Spent the remainder of May experiencing a true ‘runners high’ and the odd slightly lost feeling but I was assured this was perfectly normal.
– Start of the inter-club summer relays – discovered that my legs were no longer able to run fast or short distances. Fantastic.

June:
– Charing 10k – significantly slower than the previous year (blamed the marathon) but still enjoyable.
– More feeling like I was lost without a rigid training plan to follow.
– Paced the hubby around his first 10k race – made it over the line sub 60 minutes – very proud wifey.
– Further summer relays – started to enjoy them more. See slight smile in photo below (but it could easily be a grimace).
– Did a 14 day run streak in an attempt to get my running mojo back – didn’t work, wish I hadn’t bothered. Blamed the marathon again.

July:
– Increasing whininess that my legs won’t move fast despite completing a marathon 6 weeks ago.
– Lost the mum’s race at the school sports day – that was a particularly low moment in 2017.
– Thunder Run – 24 hour relay race – 4 laps of 6 miles over a very technical course on quite possibly the worst weather weekend of the year. My first camping experience too! A brilliant but challenging weekend spent with friends, creating memories I will never forget.

August:
– Aylesham 10k, a hilly local race. Beat my 2015 time but it still wasn’t a particularly fast 10k.
– Canterbury half marathon – possibly the worst race experience of my life. I walked huge parts of the course and achieved a personal worst HM time.
– By now I had come around to the idea that I will be slow forever.

September:
– Reached the 1000 mile mark – contemplated giving up running forever.
– Decided not to be stupid and to persevere with this running lark. However while out on a long run I was so tired and my legs felt so heavy that I took a bad fall. Started to question why I was still bothering with something I was so rubbish at.
– Received some game-changing advice from my running club buddies.

October:
– Bit the bullet and went to the doctor. After a few blood tests I was diagnosed with anaemia and given a strong dose of iron tablets for 2 months. Totally relieved that there was a reason for my terrible running.
– Royal Parks Half Marathon – incredible race with approximately 16,000 runners around some wonderful sights in London. Really enjoyed myself.
– Completed my 100th parkrun – a real running highlight.
– Picked up a niggling little foot injury. Annoyed that I had to take a couple of weeks away from running but it gave me time to work on my core strength and reflect on my training.

November:
– Enjoyed some social runs in the woods. No time pressures, just a run and chat. Perfect.
– My running mojo was slowly returning.
– Completed the 666 trail race – a very technical run (the clue is in the title). Absolutely loved it, didn’t stop smiling the whole way round.
– Bought speedy* new Asics trainers. *N.B. there is no guarantee that the shoes make me faster but they certainly look pretty.

December:
– Running gradually getting easier and faster. As a result I was feeling infinitely happier.
– Finally achieved a parkrun PB – the perfect end to an awesome year of running.

2018 onwards:
Many people are surprised when I say that I will not be running another marathon this year but I’m just not cut out for another Spring season of marathon training. So this year I am going to focus on my parkruns and 10k races with the odd half marathon thrown in for good measure. But ultimately I just want to get back to enjoying running and being healthy. 2018 is the year for being kind to myself and not taking things too seriously.

BRING IT ON.

When your running mojo runs away

The featured photo in this post is a photo taken of me during a recent half marathon in my home city…walking.  It was a horrible race for a whole host of reasons that I haven’t even got the energy to talk about but I had to walk an awful lot of those 13.1 miles. I seem to be doing a lot of that walking stuff lately. The truth of the matter is I’m really not that fast anymore. Not that I have ever been particularly speedy but things have taken a terrible turn for the worst and I can pinpoint exactly when this downturn of events started happening – around the time I ran a marathon.

When I first started writing this blog around a year ago my stated aim was to get faster. Not by much but faster all the same. I would love a sub 25 minute time at my local (hilly) parkrun and at some point in the not too distant future I would love to run a sub 4 hour marathon. That’s the dream right? I figured that embarking on a marathon journey could only lead me on an upward trajectory to better running. WRONG. Oh so wrong. My parkrun times are right back to where they were when I started parkrunning over 3 years ago and a sub 27 minute feels like a distant memory let alone sub 25. I fear that throughout marathon training where I ran week upon week of 30+ long slow miles, getting in the groove and just getting the miles done has ruined me. It is like my fast twitch muscles have forgotten how to work and my slow twitch muscles have taken hold for good. I have said before that I am lucky to be surrounded by some absolutely incredible runners who have also completed marathons this year but have come out the other side and their running has come on, quite literally in leaps in and bounds.  My marathon was way back in May, what on earth is wrong with me? When is my time going to come? But if there is one thing I have learnt from running, it is that however hard this may be, you can’t compare yourself to others, everyone is different. And it is really hard. Especially when I am putting in so much time and effort into my training but not getting anything back.

Well it doesn’t take Einstein to work out the effect this has had on my attitude to running and my running ‘mojo’. There were times during marathon training that I felt down but this is something else entirely. I recently went out for my normal 10 mile run on a Sunday. I’m a marathon runner so 10 miles should be a walk (or run!) in the park. But no. It felt unbelievably hard. It was like each of my knee caps weighed 5 stone and it was as much as I could do just to lift my feet up. I had to keep stopping and it was a real effort from start to finish. When I got home I didn’t even get the ‘well at least I managed it’ feeling. I actually felt remorse for doing it in the first place. I vowed never to run again. Of course I ran again 2 days later but that’s not the point. The struggle I was feeling and lack of ease that I had previously felt when running had really got to me.

I spoke to one of my friends (also a runner) recently about the issues I have been having with speed and how I was so much faster before my marathon. He replied “yes but you can run so much further now”. And do you know what? He’s right! I can run further so I just need to find a way of letting my legs know that when I go out on a shorter run I can afford to run a but faster. It also made me feel a bit better realising that I may have been able to run faster over a 5k distance a year ago but I wasn’t running the weekly mileage I am now. In 2017 I have run over 1100 miles so far. That’s a huge amount of mileage to be carrying around in your legs and an achievement that I should keep in mind when I am being so harsh on myself.

Another friend (again also a runner) when talking to me about my running woes made a very good point. I am so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by some awesome runners who regularly compete in marathons, ultra-marathons, 100 milers etc. and sometimes this leads us to forget that the distances us ‘normal runners’ do are still HUGE. There were times when I couldn’t run a mile without stopping and now I regularly run at least 4 days a week and clock up around 25 miles in that time. We just need a slap in the face every now and again to remind ourselves of how far we’ve come.

So what am I going to do about this little blip? Firstly I am confident that that is all it is, a little blip. Ultimately I love running, of course I do. But that doesn’t mean you always have to like it. I have got the Royal Parks Half marathon in London this weekend – a race I have been looking forward to all year so my plan is to try my best and make the most of the scenery and amazing crowds. Moving forward with my running I have booked a routine check up with my doctor (under duress from my ever supportive husband) just to rule out any other reasons for my general feelings of fatigue. In terms of my training I think it is time to shake things up and concentrate on getting some of that speed back. I have enlisted the help of a friend (guess what – a runner!) who is actually a brilliant runner and a real inspiration and he really knows his stuff or in his words “knows just enough to be dangerous”. We’re going to sit down and write a training plan together. I am hoping adding some structure to my training will be just what I need and having a plan written by someone else might help with my discipline.
The next few months are definitely going to take me on a journey and hopefully lead me to new levels in terms of my fitness and ability. I am certain that there will be plenty of ups and downs along the way, just like my favourite type of trail run. But am I ready for the challenge? You bet I am!

Bewl Water Marathon 2017

Here it is – the blog post you have all been waiting for: my marathon race review!

On Saturday 13th May 2017 something amazing happened – I only went and ran my first marathon. That’s a right, a whole 26.2 miles. And not just any marathon – a trail marathon. I must be a glutton for punishment.

The morning started bright and early with an alarm set for 5:45am. The race started at 9am and it was just over an hour drive away so I wanted to be sure we had plenty of time in case we got caught in race day traffic (been there before!) or stuck behind a tractor on the country lanes. Weather was looking alright, not too hot and some cloud coverage. I had a fairly good night of sleep considering I had been waking up at 5am all week full of nerves and excitement. I had packed my kit the night before and done the obligatory ‘here is a photo of all my stuff for my race aren’t I hardcore?’ social media posts, so I knew I was well prepared from a logistics point of view. I did my best to consume a bowl of porridge washed down with a coffee but the nerves were starting to kick in and what would normally only take a few minutes to eat seemed to take a lifetime. Breakfast finished, car loaded and off we went.

We arrived at Bewl Water about an hour before race kick off and I was surprised to see so many cars in the car park with runners busy getting their compression socks on, eating some last minute breakfast etc. For some reason I thought there would only be about 10 people. This actually made me feel a bit better, that I would just get lost in the crowds somehow. I went to register and pick up my number. The event has 3 races on the same day, half an hour apart. The half is 1 loop, marathon is 2 loops and ultra is 3 loops. I was happy to see that the marathon bibs were colour coded lucky red and for some reason I get a bit superstitious about race numbers so 404 looked good to me. I love a good quote too so I was big fan of the motivational line the race director added.

At the registration tent I met up with my friend Paul and his lovely wife Clare. If you are a regular reader of my blog you will already know that Paul agreed to run the race with me back when I signed up for it at the end of 2016. He is an awesome ultra marathon runner and has been a great source of support and encouragement in the months leading up to my marathon. Anyway, we exchanged some nervous chatter, most of it I don’t even recall, I just wanted to get on with the race. I have to say I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. The 3 weeks of decent tapering meant that I was craving a long run. The start line was about a 5 minute walk from race HQ so we eagerly made our way down there. This included some fairly steep steps leading down to the water reservoir – I knew I’d be hating them come the end of the race. After a few pre race photos, some good luck kisses from my family and a fairly amusing pre run brief from the race director, the klaxon went and we were on our way!

The first mile involves a loop round the start line which includes a reasonably long, fairly steep hill. You don’t do this additional loop on the second lap but I still thought it was pretty cruel that you were made to do that hill 3 times. Little did I know that was just the start of things to come. After that initial loop was over with we went up onto the trails and by mile 3 I had got myself into a good comfortable rhythm. The good thing about doing a two lap race is that once that first lap is done you know that every step you take from that point onwards in one step closer to the finish. The downside to this is that everything you do on the first lap you know you are going to have to do again…13 miles later. By mile 5 my mind was already drifting and I was starting wonder what each part of the course was going to feel like in 13 miles time. This isn’t a good strategy and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. At mile 5 I allowed my head to convince my legs they were as heavy as if I was at the 18 mile point. Not good. Thankfully this didn’t last long. Paul and I managed to maintain a steady pace and having someone to chat with was great. The beautiful scenery was a real distraction too, not to mention the terrain. You really had to concentrate and watch your footing to make you sure didn’t stumble. The aid stations were great too. They were perfectly positioned roughly every 3-4 miles and were stocked with water, squash, sweets, electrolytes and best of all – the brand of gels that I’ve been using for my training. This meant that I was able to remove my waist belt at the half way point and pass it to my husband, to make the run more comfortable.

At around mile 8/9 the route took you away from the water reservoir and out onto the surrounding village roads. This is when the run really got tough. I don’t mind the odd hill but these hills were relentless. Every time I thought I had got to the top of a hill it would just keep on going. I persevered and plodded my way up those hills but had that nagging feeling at the back of mind that I’d only conquered half the battle. After a couple of miles we ended up back on the trails of the reservoir path. This included a long section of large gravel which wasn’t that pleasant to run in road shoes. The soles of my feet felt bruised and it was pretty brutal on my poor old ankles. Mile 10-12 seemed to go on forever and I really needed a wee. Then at mile 12 we were ‘greeted’ by the steepest of steep hills. There are not enough swear words to do this hill justice. I tried my best to run some of it and knew that at mile 25 those swear words be making an appearance. I resigned to hiking up the final part of it ready to push on to the half way point where I could finally use a portaloo. Oh and see my family of course.

On to the second lap and up that hill that seemed like the mother of hills when I was standing at the start line over 2 hours ago but now I’ve done that first lap appears to be nothing more than a speed bump. Onto the trails again and I’m feeling comfortable and happy. The army cadets at the aid stations were super and filled up my water bottle for me whilst I was drinking a glass of squash or taking on a gel. Everything was going great, you could even say I was enjoying it. Then at around mile 15 I started to get a feeling in my lower stomach like a needed a wee again. I put this down to nerves and adrenaline, knowing that I was more than half way through my first marathon and not hating it. This strange feeling didn’t disappear so I decided it was time to face my fears and toddle off for a quick wee in the woods. Back out on the trails and a very slow mile later, that feeling returned so I nipped off to find a secluded tree once again. But the feeling was still there. I persevered and struggled through. By the time we were back out on the hills of the village roads again I made the decision to briskly walk up the hills and run the parts I could to conserve energy. At mile 19/20 when we were back on the reservoir path the mild discomfort in my stomach had mutated into the worst stomach cramp/stitch combination you could ever imagine. I was struggling to breathe let alone run. I was thankful to be wearing sunglasses because the pain was so bad it was making me cry. I battled through to mile 23, using various breathing techniques and trying to block out the pain. Paul was great and knew all the right things to say to keep me focused.

At mile 24, nearly 5 hours in, knowing that I still had that awful hill to climb before the finish, I exclaimed that it would be good to finish before the clock says 5:15. Paul half smiled and politely let me know that it wouldn’t be possible at my current pace. I knew I had to pull something amazing out of the bag, so I dug deep and catapulted myself up that hill (i.e. walked as fast as I could) then somehow managed a sprint, of sorts, for the last mile at an average pace of sub 9 mins. I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face in a time of 5 hours and 11 mins. There I was met by my husband and kids, where I cried my eyes out and had post race victory photos. All of which seems a blur to me now. I was just so happy to have finally finished. 19 weeks of training and nearly 700 miles later. Those 26.2 miles were the full stop to my marathon journey. And I’m really quite proud of myself.

So what next? Plenty of times you hear people finish a marathon and say ‘never again’. Not me! Despite the hills and challenge of the trails, I did actually enjoy the distance. And I know there have been a few wobbles along the way but I have really embraced the structure that marathon training has brought to my life. If anything I love running more now than I ever have. I always knew that taking on a trail marathon first would leave me wanting to do a road marathon. It has got to be easier right? We shall see.

 

Eat, Sleep, Train, Repeat

Yet again, it has been a while since my last blog post. Turns out that training for a marathon is pretty time consuming so it doesn’t leave much time for this writing stuff.

People will often ask “So how is the marathon training going?”. I’m not sure if this question is borne from a genuine interest in my running or because the training takes up so much of my time that I literally have nothing else to talk about. A few weeks ago, during a particularly bad training week which I actually blogged about it was that bad, I went to lunch with some colleagues. One of them asked how I was finding marathon training and I snapped at him, saying that it was possible for me to discuss topics other than running. In actual fact I was wrong as we then sat in almost silence for the next 30 minutes. I had literally nothing else of interest to talk about.

So how is it actually going? This is something that I tend to avoid answering. I usually just say ‘yeah it’s alright’. But is it??? Things have got much better since the bad week. Once I realised that running as many miles as the plan instructed me to was actually making me miserable I decided that I needed to make it a bit more flexible and I’ve been feeling more empowered. I try and loosely follow the plan but I’ve added in some cross training to bring the fun back and as a result I feel happier, less stressed and more in control. Right now a typical training week looks something like this:

Monday – Lunch time recovery run of approximately 3 miles plus a Body Pump class in the evening.
Tuesday – Speed session with the Harriers. This ranges from 1km intervals to hill repeats. Horrible but rewarding in equal measures. Vital for marathon training.
Wednesday – easy run of between 8 and 10 miles (depending on time available before the school pick up).
Thursday – easy run with the Harriers, approximately 7-8 miles.
Friday – Spin class followed by Pilates.
Saturday – REST DAY (usually volunteering at parkrun)
Sunday – Long steady run which increases in distance every week. I am up to 15 miles.

Clearly this is not set in stone, which is something I learnt the hard way. I have two young children and a job. You just can’t live life to a plan. Life gets in the way and things have to get changed up a  bit. If we have a busy Sunday I will get up extra early on a Saturday and do my long run before parkrun. I did this last week and it resulted in the slowest parkrun ever but it meant I got the miles done and I am one run closer to joining the parkrun 100 club. Win win! I may have also missed a Tuesday training session as I ate too many pancakes, that definitely wasn’t in the plan. The addition of cross training is so important to me. I am still recovering from my back injury so Pilates is crucial for helping to strengthen my spine and core muscles. I returned to my beloved Body Pump about a month ago having had 6 months out and I’m loving regaining my strength and gradually increasing the weights. The spin class is purely about maintaining my fitness on the bike. I didn’t want to take a massive break from cycling whilst I was marathon training and I now don’t have much time to get out on my actual bike so this a happy medium. 45 minutes of pure cardio (otherwise known as working so hard you feel like you might be sick but I love it!)

So all in all I’m feeling much happier about the training but would I say it is easy? Definitely not! I still get the odd day when I hate running. Something doesn’t feel right, maybe I’m not in the rhythm or I’m tired or distracted but for every one of these runs I have five where it doesn’t feel so bad. And marathon training is all consuming. When I’m not running I’m thinking about running or fuelling or tomorrow’s session or planning my LSR route. No wonder I don’t have anything else of interest to talk about. But for now I’m more than happy to be in the groove of training. Getting up, getting out and getting those miles done. I don’t have much time to reflect on how it is going or how whether I’m enjoying it. Training has become part of who I am. With 8 weeks to go until my marathon I’m in a good place, progress wise and in a reasonably happy head space. But will I miss the training once my marathon has been and gone? Only time will tell…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess that’s why they call it the (training) blues

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by and giving my blog a little read. I’ll warn you now this post is going to be far from positive but I think it is important that I blog even when I am not in the happiest of head spaces. You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and all that.

I will be the first to admit that I find running really hard and let’s be honest, if it was easy we would all be doing it, but this week I have found running even harder than usual. I have just come to the end of week 5 of my marathon training plan and boy am I glad to see the back of this training week.

Up to this point I have been embracing the structure that my training plan has brought to my running. It has kept me motivated and I have been somewhat happy with the improvements I have seen. I took part in a training race a couple of weeks ago, the Canterbury 10 mile, where I set myself a target of finishing in less than 90 minutes and came over the line in just under that time. I was elated! This pushed me on to week 4 of my training programme and I felt great upping my mileage way past 30 miles per week.

Then…BAM! Week 5 arrived and I feel TERRIBLE. Not ill, not injured – just wretched. These negative feelings arrived without any warning, they just appeared like a big black cloud, refusing to shift. I didn’t feel at all motivated to go out on any of my scheduled runs and when I did get out they felt uncomfortable, not in a niggling injury way, more like I have my shoes on the wrong feet (I even checked this once or twice). In addition to this I had become consumed with my training plan and running in general which led to restless nights of sleep and exhaustion. Let me give you a run down of what week 5 training entailed:

Monday – rest day
Tuesday – speed training session with my running club – 8 x 1km loops (with 1 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down)
Wednesday – 7 miles easy run
Thursday – 6 miles easy run (with my running club)
Friday – 6 miles easy run
Saturday – Long steady run of approximately 13 miles

And now a blow by blow account of my emotional state during this week:

Monday – no training today therefore I feel guilty/awful/lazy/fat/restless
Tuesday – my legs won’t move fast/why do I need to bother with speed work anyway?/I want to run far not fast
Wednesday –  I really don’t have time for this stupid run so I’ll run as fast as I can just to get it over with
Thursday – I’ll just ignore everyone in my running group because I really don’t want to be here (therefore defeating the object of running with the club in the first place) – apologies to any Harriers reading this
Friday – I literally HATE running. I’m not even sure a marathon is really for someone as useless me. What was I thinking?!

So you can see a very negative pattern forming. By Friday I had had enough of it all so I did the most grown up thing I could think of and posted an extremely attention seeking, melodramatic status on Facebook then went out on the slowest, most unenjoyable, unambitious, miserable, flat 6 mile run. By the time I got home I had received a handful of lovely messages from my ever supportive running friends with some amazing advice for how to move past this mind set. And let’s be honest, that’s all it is, a mind set. My legs will be able to run 26.2 miles but my head sometimes needs a bit more convincing. The messages reduced me to an emotional wreck and I had a good cry about it. Many of these friends have either run a marathon or are currently training for a marathon too (I’m not the only crazy person) so I was relieved to hear that these emotions are completely normal and everyone goes through them at some point. Hopefully this is just a minor wobble, a bump in the road so to speak. Which is ironic really given the undulating nature of my chosen marathon course.

So what am I going to do about it? Well needless to say, my incredibly understanding friends perked me up and I managed to get out on my long run on Saturday. I only managed 11 miles rather than the planned 13 miles, due to time constraints, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. And I actually enjoyed it! I had my headphones on, I went on an off road/woodland route and barely even looked at my watch until nearer home so that I could see how far I had gone. Moving forward I am going to scale back the miles a bit for the next few weeks. Thankfully, and I never thought I would be pleased about this, I have the Deal half marathon next weekend to focus on so I am going to have to taper a bit anyway. I am taking my training back to basics. I will be returning to classes at the gym that I really enjoy but haven’t been able to do because I’ve been out running all the time. After no time at all I am sure my passion for running will return. But in the meantime I am going to train smart but train hard!

 

 

Marathon training has arrived

This is my first blog post in a while, sorry everyone! Life got a bit crazy in December with illness, work, Christmas etc. There were 2 weeks when I didn’t manage to run a single step as I was struck down with an awful virus. But I’m back to full fitness now and ready to face the challenges that 2017 will bring my way.

The most important of these challenges being my very first marathon!

After finding out in October that I had not got a place in the London Marathon (like thousands of others) I wasn’t disheartened by the thought of running that distance, I just needed to find a race that was right for me. My first thought was Brighton but I was really put off by the price hike that was implemented after the London ballot results. A few of my other friends are running Manchester Marathon and I was really tempted but it is just too far to travel with the family. Then my super ultra-runner friend Paul T suggested Bewl Water Marathon in May. This was already on my radar as another friend, Laurence, had run this marathon in 2016 and the photos looked amazing. I figured the incredible scenery would help take my mind off the pain?! It is fairly local too. Paul has been a great source of advice and encouragement over the last couple of years so when he offered to run it with me my mind was made up and I entered. What could be better than running 26.2 miles in awesome settings with a friend to keep you company? So on Saturday 13th May 2017 I will attempt my first marathon, Bewl Water marathon.

I must point out here that Bewl Water marathon is a challenging course. It is described as ‘an undulating, rural wooded trail’. I’ve been caught out by that description before! The marathon course is made up of two half marathon loops around the reservoir. Crazy people can do a third loop to complete an ultra marathon (maybe next year?!) Taking this into consideration I am keeping an open mind about my target finish time. It will be an achievement just to get round without dying so I’ll work on that sub 4 hour marathon for my next attempt. Sub 5 hours may be more realistic this time. Sorry to use a cliché here but I just want to enjoy it (that made me feel a bit queasy just writing it!).

I am very fortunate to be part of the Canterbury Harriers running club. One of the many reasons I feel so lucky is the Spring marathon plan they provide for their members. This is a 16 week programme that starts at the beginning of the year, predominantly for those taking part in London marathon. What this means for me is that I’ve got a few extra weeks to play with which is probably a good thing given how injury prone I am. The best thing about this programme is that it takes into account the Harriers training sessions on a Tuesday (speed) and Thursday (long run) that I would be attending anyway. I just have to make sure that I do an extended cool down as the weeks go on. I have had to amend the plan slightly as the Sunday club cross country races are included and I’ve chosen not to take part this year for a variety of reasons but mostly because it works best for me to do my long runs on Sundays. Another benefit of using the club training programme is that key races are already on the plan such as this Sunday’s Canterbury 10 mile race.

 I am half way through week 3 of ‘the plan’ and I suppose you are wondering how it is going? I have started marathon training from a very fortunate position as I have been doing long runs on Sundays for a few months now. So the first few weeks were always going to feel….dare I say it….easy. It is just a matter of finding the time to fit everything in. Whereas before if I couldn’t manage a session due to life getting in the way it would be fine but now it is written down in felt tip pens borrowed from my 5 year old and stuck on the fridge I absolutely have to do it without fail. It’s bizarre. An example of this was last Sunday when I took part in a sponsored swim with my son in the morning (I am a terrible swimmer so it really took it out of me) but then still had to get out in the cold and rain and run 10 miles. By the evening I was so tired I could barely string a sentence together. But nevertheless – so far so good.

I am sure there will be bumps along the way and times when I hate marathon training and question why I signed up for such a ridiculous challenge in the first place. There will plenty of blog posts too! But in the meantime I am loving the structure or training and already noticing the increase in my fitness levels. Onwards and upwards.

 

#loveparkrun

In my earlier blog posts I promised that I would get around to talking about my love of parkrun. So here it is. My name is Sammy-Jo and I am head over heels in love with parkrun. This free, weekly, timed 5k event has changed my life and I’m going to try and put into words why I love it so much.

Firstly, for those of you who don’t know what parkrun is you might want to go and check out their webpages at www.parkrun.com but also where have been for the last few years?! In short, every Saturday morning at 9am, groups of runners across the world meet at their local parks and walk, run or jog 5k. You need to register with parkrun first (see their webpages) and print off a barcode so that at the end of the run you can have your finish token scanned along with your barcode and your finish time will appear on the website as if by magic.

It is probably best if I take you back to where it all started, a little over 2 years ago. I had heard about parkrun maybe a year or so before that. I have always been into fitness and have run in the past but never really taken it seriously. Someone in my office told me about a parkrun in a nearby town and tried to persuade me to go along. I got as far as registering myself but never had the guts to turn up. Something about runners in numbers made me feel quite nervous and I hadn’t run 5k in a good few years. Then a little while after that I got an email at work with the news that a new parkrun was starting not only in my city but actually situated at the university campus where I worked, now I had no excuse. I printed off my barcode in earnest.

So on April 12th 2014 I made my way to my first Canterbury parkrun and made it round the course in 29 minutes 18 seconds. I had no idea what to expect in terms of my ability so to finish in less than 30 minutes was pretty amazing but it was really hard work. I can’t say that my love of parkrun was instant. It definitely grew on me over time. I went through a good few months of waking up on Saturday mornings full of dread and even convinced myself that I hated running at one point. But I persevered and I am so pleased that I did.

Over time I have seen my running improve. It is not for everyone but the timed element of parkrun really motivates me. I am not competitive in the most common sense of the word. I don’t want to beat anyone except myself. Someone once told me that the only person you need to be better than is the person you were yesterday – but in this case I just need to be better than the person I was the Saturday before. There is nothing more certain of putting me in a good mood than getting a new parkrun personal best.

Parkrun has definitely made me more focussed on running. There is something about running amongst runners of varying abilities that makes you feel so inspired. From the super speedy sprinters at the front that look as cool as a cucumber crossing the finish line in 18 minutes to the runners at the back of the field with the tail runner who give it their all for every single minute of their 45 minute run. It is absolutely incredible. And lets not forget the awesome volunteers who give up their valuable time on a Saturday morning to marshal, hand out finish tokens, man the timers or scan barcodes. It has motivated me to set training goals and look at longer distance races. Many other runners use parkrun as a stepping stone to other events. There have even been times where the only reason I have been running during the week is so that I don’t find parkrun so hard on a Saturday. Those days are long gone now and now I will occasionally use parkrun as part of a longer run or to try and improve my 5k time. My current parkrun PB is 26:00 and I’ve set myself a crazy target of going sub 25 by the end of the year – as I’ve said before It Means More When You Write it Down. I will get there, I just need to believe in myself!

I can’t even tell you the exact moment that I fell in love with parkrun, it just sort of happened. As time went on I got talking to other runners and would occasionally volunteer at the event. Then my husband started coming along to support me and then he became involved in the volunteer team too. He is often seen marshalling on the course with our two children (sometimes other runner’s children too – we call this the parkrun crèche). We would stick around after the run and have coffee and a natter with these other runners and volunteers. Then before we even realised it had happened these runners and volunteers, these people that we wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for parkrun, became our friends. At the risk of sounding gushy these are the people that have changed my life. There are times when I’ve had a bad run or I’ve been injured and these friends that would otherwise have been strangers have been there to pick me up. I would be completely lost without them.

So in short – if parkrun is something you have been considering please do give it a go. You won’t regret it!