Front crawl, back crawl, Croxby Crawl

How I love to swim and even more so now my poor legs are being subjected to so much mileage.  It is definitely the closest thing to flying for me. Gliding through the water is bliss.  However back stroke is proving a bit of a problem at the moment due to this nose gubbins I've still got going on after all that illness at Christmas.  One drop of water down the back of the nose and I'm rearing up like a squid-on-fire.  That gets the lifeguards going I can tell you. Went to see the doc about it and also to get this medical certificate signed.  To race in France you need a special form signed and stamped by a doctor - no form, no race it's as simple as that.  If you think I'm going to do all this training only to get to Paris and be turned away.... Anyway fortunately all is well and I've also got this spray to use so fingers crossed I might see the back of it at last.

On Saturday with the club we did the Croxby Crawl.  I have mentioned this before but basically it is 4.4 miles of hilly hell. As one person pointed out 'It never gets any easier'.  Too right.  Anyway it was a lovely day, cold but sunny.  I ran it all and didn't walk any of the hills though the temptation was high.

And so on to yesterday. The long run.  16 miles was required but it's best not to think about that when you set off.  It goes something like this.  First 3-4 miles ... oh this is ok... what a nice day ... morning! morning!...(leaping like a gazelle)... next 4 miles ... hmmmm think I'll have a jelly baby at mile 6 ... glug ...hello!... looking around at the scenery... is my leg playing up again? ... (scampering like a curious terrier) ... next 4 miles ... stop thinking about the leg ... stop and have a stretch ... glug gluggetty glug ... hi! ... scoff a few jelly babies ... (trotting like someone trying to catch a bus but not wanting anyone to see them running) ... next 2 miles ... silence ... grimacing face ... extend hand occasionally to thank cars for giving me a wide berth ... (autopilot-type commando yomping mode) ... next mile ... maybe I'll cut it a bit short today ... don't you dare! ... feeble grin at passer-by ... glug ... silent screams of agony ... final mile ... barking 'come on! come on!' at yourself while no-one is around ... glance at the watch every 0.1 of a mile... try not to trip over your own feet ... will yourself to get there ... 16 miles! Hooray! Drop at the side of the road and lie there like a dead badger in the kerb.    Oh it's just like reading Mo Farah's biography isn't it?

All in all feeling pretty good.  Thank heaven for compression tights, no aches and pain today unbelievably.

Keep right on to the end of the road...

Oh the horror of the long slow run.  It has to be done.  There's no getting out of it and there's no arguing with it.  15 miles today.  I have to admit I really didn't want to go out.  It's hard enough to clock up the miles but when the wind is blasting away it is so much harder.  Actually it was very sunny and still to start with and it was quite pleasant to be trotting along in the fresh air.  I'd decided to do a circuit from our village to the next via another small town.  Plenty of folks walking dogs and everyone was very sociable.  I'd decided to wear my Stroke Association http://www.justgiving.com/Katy-Hewis vest in the hope that people might cut me a bit of slack by realising I was doing this for a reason. Not sure it worked!

However, it did help me to keep remembering why I'm doing this.  Especially during the times when it gets really tough and I had to do a Mister T on myself - "Cut yo' jibber-jabber.  Don't you think any one of those folks suffering a stroke wouldn't swap places with you in a heartbeat?  Get on with it!"

The hip thingy is still there. And yes it did make a reappearance on the Saturday run.  In fact it was so painful at one point I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to take it seriously.  Next thing I knew it had disappeared completely.  How weird! And then after the run we all stuffed ourselves with sausage buns and cake.  That helped immensely.  Although I did feel a complete gut afterwards.  There's got to be some perks to this running lark.

So I had to do 15 miles today in order to be on track for this 20 mile race on 9 March.  Not that I will be racing it you understand but it's still 20 miles whichever way you look at it! Unbelievable. 

http://www.deviantart.com/art/Tired-Runner-177729096

Hippy hippy shake

I didn't mention it before but I did have a bit of pain in my right hip flexor during the race on Sunday.  Started at 3 miles in and persisted.  That's the thing that you notice when you lift your leg up.  Last time I had that trouble was after my first half marathon and it lasted for a few weeks. Pretty painful the next day so I emailed my sports therapist who very kindly sent me a load of exercises.  Compensating for torturing me with sports massage of course! Anyway I went swimming on Mon eve and on Tues it was miles better.  On Wed I did a 30 min interval run and no problem.  On Thurs eve I ran with the club and we were doing hill repeats.  So after two repeats the pain was back.  Groan.  Obviously its the extra effort of going uphill. So today I went for a long walk and now it has gone off again.  So will it reappear tomorrow on a 7 mile run with the club?  I hope not.  Maybe I will just stuff myself with cake afterwards and ignore it. Otherwise it will have to be a trip to Mick the Marmaliser to batter it out. Yerk.

It all went horribly wrong... and then went right again

OK I admit it.  I've been putting this off.  Basically everything went sky high and then plunged dismally into the abyss.  On 15 December I did the  Great Yorkshire Pieathlon which is the most fun you can ever have with your trainers on. It was absolutely brilliant. Yes that is us posing with the great Pieman himself and no this photo does not show the chuffing great hills we were expected to climb on the route. Yes that is a turkey on my head. Is that a problem?

There's so much I could say about it but I try to keep these entries short so alas I'll move on.
Basically, to cut a long story short, I was on such a high after this fantastic weekend that I didn't notice the storm approaching.  And that storm was a nasty chest virus thingy that wiped me off my feet, put paid to my Christmas and New Year, stopped me running for three weeks, made me miss seeing my lovely family and friends and caused me to pull out of my New Year's Day 10k race. You absolute swine. Though not swine flu thank goodness.

Naturally I was not in the best of moods.  Especially when I got an email from the Stroke Association Just Giving page reminding me that there was only 12 weeks to go to the marathon.  Shriek! Tentatively I tried to run down the lane and back.  Wow, talk about not appreciating your health when you have it, I could hardly breathe.  So no running, no swimming, even walking felt like a huge effort.

Okay fast forward to now.  Gradually I have managed to eke my way back to 13 miles. That was in the icy conditions that caused me to narrowly avoid doing a Torvill and Dean's Ravel's Bolero on several occasions.  I could have fallen and squashed a dog at one point.
Yesterday I ran the Ferriby 10.  What a day. You know when you're on holiday in a caravan and the rain is lashing down the window panes and the caravan is rocking in the wind and your little face is pressed up against the window willing it to stop so you can go to the beach?  Yes well it was like that but instead of sitting inside, nice and warm and playing cards, you put on a tee-shirt and prance off for 10 miles up hill and down dale in temperatures of 2 deg with horizontal sleet shotblasting your cheeks. So cold in fact that my arms and fingers went numb and I didn't realise I couldn't make a pincer movement until I tried to get a Shot Blok out of my bag. Good job I didn't have to re-tie a shoelace. Anyway, despite the conditions being the worst I have ever run in, I had a brilliant time.  For some reason it all went really well. My legs didn't ache, my breathing was fine, my pace was comfortable and all in all I just ran it.  No problems.  How often can you say that?  I feel like saving that experience in a bottle for times when things are not going well.  Strangely enough I was running along thinking 'it's going to get bad/ be a really steep hill/ feel really difficult in a minute' but it just never did.  Oh the joy of such a run. You read it here remember?

So here I am.  Back in the zone as they say. Not sure how this week is going to work out or when I am going do my next long run but suddenly this marathon looks like it is not so far out of reach after all.

Unlucky for some

So they say.  Today I weigh 12st 4lbs which means that somehow, miraculously I have lost 3 pounds which seems unlikely considering the excesses of the Christmas market and the hot chocolate with Baileys which I allegedly consumed.  And for that read 'consumed'.

Anyway this week has been very good.  On Tuesday in Zumba we were doing the Plank.  That's not a dance by the way.  Now since I have no upper body strength whatsoever, and since my core muscles seem to be non-existent, this was very difficult.  Come Thursday I realised I couldn't even cough without my stomach muscles hurting.  What a state.  Better do more of those.

On Wednesday I ran 11 miles which went a lot better than I had anticipated.  It was very foggy and very cold but I plodded along regardless.  I had been reading that on the long runs you should run a minute/minute and a half slower than your anticipated marathon pace.  I did my utmost to keep at that and hey presto! it worked. In addition my new compression socks meant that my legs felt OK through the whole run.  So that's the secret then.  I had meant to do this run on Monday but I was a wimp and allowed myself to talk myself out of it.  Shame on you! So come Wednesday I did a Ray Winstone on myself  -  ' Oi Leggy! Wotcha doin'? Get yourself out there or else! You're going dahn...'

On Thursday I walked across to the nearest village, scoffed a toasted teacake and a skinny latte and walked back.  Then I went for my appointment with Mick the Marmaliser and had my legs well and truly pummelled into oblivion.  Ooh the agony.  Especially my right Achilles. Got to pay more attention to that.

Today I ran a 30 min interval session with my TMP (Trusty Marathon Pal).  It was very mild and still so that was ideal.  Mind you a minute can seem a long time when you're running fast.  Hopefully that's going to feel a lot better the more we do it.

Now gearing up for the Great Yorkshire Pieathlon on Sunday.  My last race of the year.  It sounds a right hoot, can't wait!

Finally the sunrises and sunsets here have been beautiful recently.  Who can't help but marvel at them?  

More running

So that's two more runs done this week.  On Thursday I ran with my fellow Paris Marathon chum and we decided to attempt a 30 minute tempo run with the add of the app on her phone.  All good in theory but cue unprecedented windy weather.  Now tempo running is hard enough without feeling that you are running into a concrete wall.  Nevertheless we achieved.  Bring it on as they say.  Good job we did it when we did because it all went bonkers after that with flood alerts and the works. 

Today I ran 8 miles with the club which was very good as they are excellent fun.  Not sure whether schlepping round the Xmas market yesterday and stuffing myself with goodies, mince pies, mulled wine and hot chocolate with Baileys (what a combo!) was such a good idea pre-run.  Especially when I woke up with a headache and feeling distinctly under the weather.  Never mind, the route was beautiful, mostly off road and through some lovely villages. Afterwards we were treated to sausage rolls, hot chocolate and cake.  What could be better? It was most amusing when another group of runners approached as we were scoffing and we were tempted to frantically stuff it all back in the boot of the car!

Next weekend I am doing the Great Yorkshire Pieathlon .  That's 6km of trail, 220m ascent and a pie station every 2k.  Hah! Can't wait.

It starts today...

Okay Okay... deep breath... here we go... today is the start of 16 weeks of training culminating in my first marathon on 6 April 2014.  The Paris Marathon.  Or should I say Marathon de Paris.  Ooh la la. At the moment this is a terrifying prospect.  Let's hope that over the next few weeks it will become a little more believeable.

Today I weigh 12 st 7.  How did that happen?  I'm heavier now than after I had the kids.  So much for taking up running and losing weight.  I'm getting bigger by the minute.  By the time the marathon is here I shall be the size of Pavarotti.  If there was any justice in the world I would be stick-thin and running along like a gazelle with all the running/swimming/walking/zumba I do.  And now Christmas is on the horizon so that's not going to help is it? Anyway each week I will post my weight in the hope that it will spur me to lose some.  Let's face it, all that weight slamming down on my knees with each footfall is not good.

Today I ran nearly six miles on a loop from home to the nearest village and back.  Since the local farmer (!) has not marked and flattened the footpath I had to run around the field and got stung to high heaven and soaked for my trouble.  Nevertheless it was a lovely morning for a run, slightly misty and with a very interesting pinky/beige sky.  The nice man in the signal box poked his head out and let me go through the side gate over the railway line. So that's the first run of Week 1 over. Stick with it gal!