Fowlmead...........well was it a challenge

It sure was......it was pouring with rain before we even left home, Two hours of driving and although the rain had stopped and started many times the day was looking grey and grim.

The week before I had been on antibiotics to try and clear a touch of Tonsillitis and a head cold, I had made up my mind that if I didn't wake up coughing or spluttering I would run, I had been feeling better since the Thursday, but looking out the car at the rain lashing at the windows I did begin to wonder if maybe I was suffering with a fever for considering that this was a good day to attempt my longest ever run. 

As we pulled into the car park at Fowlmead Country Park it became obvious this was not going to be quite as flat as we thought, The challenge information had said 19 metres of elavation, not hilly but undulating........ I had joked with Mark that I hoped this wasn't going to turn out to be just one big hill.......We could see the park cafe and then this steep slope up to the starting line/base station. Mark went and collected our numbers while I struggled to change into my running tights in the front of the car...*.note to self get dressed at home no matter how long the journey*

My strategy was still to use a run/walk ratio right from the start, I didn't care if everyone went off like a bullet. I was going to stick to my plan and just take it steady, after all 6 hours is nearly three hours longer than my longest run ever. 
 
We listened to the event briefing, I set my trusty Gymboss to gently bleep and vibrate at each change of run/walk and my Garmin so I could keep a check on the elapsed time, then we were off. Lap 1 was pretty uneventful just trying to get my pace right and not freak out when everyone vanished and I was all alone trying to make sure I stayed to the route. I tried to register landmarks so I would know how I was doing on future laps. 

Laps 2 & 3 were very wet the heavens opened and the trail was starting to get very churned up 64 runners sploshing over the same 3ft wide path led to some pretty quick sand type tracks not the ideal surface for Luna sandals even with injini socks........it was close to the end of lap 3 that I did my first of 2 spectacular Dawn French moments straight out of the Vicar of Dibley.......I'm sure you all know the scence where she jumps in a puddle only to find it comes up to her head............well I slipped and landed sideways up to my armpits in lovely muck.....as Fowlmead is an old coal mine the mud isn't really mud it's Black coal dust tiny tiny bits of grit that get everywhere like sand.........

My second fall came just a few yards further up the same part of the route on lap 4 and it was at this point I decided I was going to quit at the end of lap 5 a half marathon would be just fine............then the sun came out for the first time...........Mark caught up with me (well lapped me really) for a quick chat and that encouraged me to set a new plan, finish the 5 laps in the Luna sandals and then change into my trail shoes and just plod out whatever I could manage till the time was up.

After a change of shoes and a lump of cake I headed back out and finished a further 3 laps, On that last lap I tried to take in all the scenery and soak up the feelings of what for me was an amazing event, all those weeks and months of plodding along on training runs to increase my distance. All those nights where Mark had encouraged me to go faster or push myself harder. All the support from my husband who patiently puts up with my moaning and groaning. Just as I was off daydreaming in a world of my own I looked up to see Barry my husband coming along the path to cheer me on, we had a quick chat and he said Jaime (my future daughter in law) had gone on to the finish to get some photos of me crossing the line. By this time Mark had already finished an Ultra distance of 29 + miles but when he found out that I was going to be the last runner he ran back to run the last 100 meters with me to the finish.......

Yes I was last ....64th place......but I had also completed a fantastic 21.6 miles in 6 hours 9 mins and 27 seconds which put me in 42nd place for distance covered. I know it's slow and I may never be speedy but I will also never forget the fact that 15 months ago I could not run for 30 seconds........I am not disappointed with the result, but there is a little nagging voice that wants to know if I hadn't had two toilet stops (which you had to walk 100 yards downhill then go into the cafe to the loos) maybe just maybe I could of squeezed in another lap or 2 in the time allowed.......................guess we will find out next year  

Before I sign off I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone that made this event possible - the organisers and volunteers were amazing but also my hubby Barry for putting up with me and driving us to and from the event, Jaime for putting up with my cranky mood and last but not least my son and running buddy Mark  who tries his best to bring out the best in me. 

Can You Hear That Banging Sound?...........................

Well can you hear that banging sound?.........that would be my heart!

I keep asking myself.....Are you scared yet? but a little whisper of a voice 
comes back saying......................Nope but I am nervously excited, if I can just stop my knees from making that knocking sound, I might even be able to run...for a while

16 months ago I hadn't even gone for a gentle jog let alone thought about trying to run, so I really can't quite believe I am saying this, but in 24 hours I will be lining up at the start of the Fowlmead Challenge 6 hours to run as many 2.67 mile laps of the beautiful country park as you can run in the time limit.

When I chucked caution to the wind many months ago and entered this event, secretly I thought, oh well even I can manage a couple of laps, then grab a coffee and watch Mark finish (whatever insane distance he achieves), but it wasn't long before it dawned on me that Mark was, how can I put this, encouraging me to complete the whole thing and stay out there for 6 hours. 

My first reaction was 'No way' then as the weeks have gone by and my long run has increased in distance, that little voice has been starting to say things like, 'If you really tried you might be able to go for 3 laps' or 'With a bit of a push, you could do 5 laps, that would be a half marathon' by this point if you have a good imagination, you should be able to hear manic laughter.........Stop....just be quiet, this madness has to stop!!!!! I knew I was in serious trouble when I found myself consulting pace calculators to see if there was anyway I could increase my pace to be able to squeeze in enough laps (10) to do a marathon! 

Well the simple answer is No.....No way, I am just not fit enough or fast enough (this year) After finally coming to my senses, it's time to make a sensible plan.......... I know that no matter how slowly I go, I am just not able to run continuously for 6 hours, so the only way I can stay on my feet and moving is to set out with a Run/Walk strategy right from the first mile. So that is what I am going to do......will I manage 3 laps? a half marathon or more? Your guess right now is as good as mine.................but I am sure looking forward to the journey......................see you on the flip side!

From There To Here

Ok I know it has been a while since I last updated my blog, but life sometimes just gets busy!

 

Have I been sitting around doing nothing? certainly not! 

The Color Run was great fun

No record breaking times, but that really wasn't what it was all about. 

Tomorrow it will be 4 months since I started my running journey.

After that first night out with Mark, only being able to run for just about 30 seconds with lungs screaming and legs like lead, I had no idea if I would survive this long. But we kept on going out each week and slowly I could run just that bit further before having to take a short walk break. 

Although I was making progress, by August I knew that If I ever wanted to really be a runner I needed to increase the amount of times I ran each week. So I started doing some extra sessions using the NHS podcasts, I haven't always been able to complete the three  runs required in the same week, but have taken my rest days and then fitted them in around my runs with Mark. By doing this I quickly saw the benefit of these extra sessions, I was able to keep running further each time Mark and I went out, not much faster, but he assured me that speed will come with time and not to worry about it, that just time on my feet and miles on my legs was all that I needed to do. 

And so to today where I had to face a really big challenge on my journey, a milestone moment that is week 5 repeat 3 of the couch to 5k plan, just another podcast, just another run for the week.......but this one has been looming up for a while now, making me nervous with the words "Run for 20 mins" no walking......Hey where did that come from last week we were only running for 8 minutes then walk, then run again........gulp can I really do this, have I put in enough effort? when I am out with Mark we don't time my running or walking just the overall time it takes us to do 5k I run till I can't run anymore......walk till I get my breath back.......run some more.

All through my morning at work I kept thinking, it's just a number, your going to be on a treadmill, you can stop and walk if you need to. You can always try again next week or the week after. No one is going to be upset with you, but you. All these thoughts just kept going round in my head................Then just one thought as I changed into my running gear and headed to the gym.............

STOP being a bloody princess, get in there and DO IT! 

So I Did  

5 mins brisk warm up walk and then I ran for 20 minutes without stopping, 5 mins cool down walk and do you know what? I haven't stopped smiling since................It wasn't fast.......It may not have been pretty for spectators but today I feel like a runner!!!

One last thought before I sign off for today

A Thank You 

To Mark 

for changing my life forever

for the second time

A Real Pain In The Butt

The title of this post is sadly very accurate, I have really been in quite a lot of pain since a trip to the health suite last Wednesday. You see I had a bit of a problem last December with Piriformis Syndrome  For me the worst thing for causing pain was sitting on any hard surface. I had several months of physiotherapy and acupuncture to release the nerve, which along with aqua aerobics did a great job. However at the health suite I had a nice steam and then went in the whirlpool, that was my big mistake, I played the jets along my lower back and legs thinking this would give it a nice massage. I was wrong, what it did was inflame my muscles and trap a nerve again, by the time I got out of the pool I knew I was in trouble. 

Well long story cut short, I have had to do extra physio exercises and take a lot of anti inflammatory drugs and use an amazing freezing gel called 
Polar Frost  Thanks to a combination of all of these things I am now pretty good.

On the plus side I got a call from Sweatshop to say my Brooks Puredrift had arrived, I was really pleased with their collect in store service and the fact that this also gave me a chance to have a quick run on their treadmill to test the shoes out, all felt good even considering my nerve pain.

Training session 7 became more of a walk and talk session, because although I was not really in much pain while walking or even running slowly, it didn't seem like such a smart idea to push my luck. It was very nice though to go out with Mark and just have the time to chat about running and what gear is good etc. It was also good to take my new Brooks out for a spin, they did very well. We went 5.7 miles in 1 hour 54 mins so nothing too speedy, I did a couple of slow runs just to try out the shoes, but I will do a proper post about them when I have had a chance to really try them out.

Till the next time.................................

It's All In The Shoes

Training Session

 A few little lightbulb moments for me this week, just small moments where I have found myself thinking about my training and feeling more like I can really do this, I can call myself a runner. I may never be the fastest & I may well stick to 5k but there is nothing wrong with that. I can still achieve that and work towards getting better at that distance, and not get hung up on needing to do marathons etc. 

I am doing the Race For Life at the weekend with my Sister and my Daughter. My Daughter will run, but we will walk with my wonderful dog Alfie. But there is that small bubble of excitement in me knowing that next year I will be able to run the complete distance, I can almost sense how brilliant that is going to feel.

Training session this week got off to a good start, the weather was a bit cooler and with a nice breeze. For this run I am wearing (this is getting to be a bit like a fashion show) Nike Free 7.0 with my Nike anti-blister socks. Now to be honest I was really hoping that these shoes were going to be The Ones, because lets face it just how many pairs of running shoes will I have to cram into my already over crowded closet. Now don't get me wrong I love my Vivobarefoot, you can really feel like you are connected to the ground you are running on, however this can also be a bit of a disadvantage when you are running on pavements, especially as a beginner like me. I will need to have much better form and lightness in my step to avoid the shin pain I am currently getting from roads and pavements. So back to the Nike, they fit very well in width and have a good size toebox. They didn't feel overly heavy, and more importantly I had a quick run around outside my house and my shins hadn't screamed at me, but even before leaving for our run I was wondering if all this comfy padding and squishy feeling was really going to suit my running style. 

Off we go for our warm up walk then through the woods and out into the fields, we do 30,60 and 90 second repeats with 90 seconds or so walk in between, I can feel that I am quicker tonight, but the ground feels muted, I can still feel larger stones and sticks but with a kind of dull sensation.
 
On our way back home Mark says to me we are now going to have like a play session for the final 10 mins or so before we reach home, the idea is to just run or stop at random times and speeds to suit myself, we have a quick race to the bus stop, then a bit of a walk then a steady but speedy dash across a bridge I actually ended up running for just about a 3 minute stretch without being out of breath.  All in all a really good session. And the verdict on the Nike Free 7.0 the jury is still out. While they are very comfortable and I certainly could run on the harder surfaces without any shin pain, to be honest I am still not convinced that that is such a good thing compared with actually feeling the ground you are on.

I have read a lot on the Runners World forums about one of the most important things when you start to run is to get a pair of the right running shoes for your style of running, I have decided that  I am going to go to a sports shop and get a gait analysis done. Lets hope there will still be some space left in my closet for the right shoes!

Stats for 23rd July 2013

 5k = 55mins 8 seconds my Personal Best (PB)
Gear: Nike Free 7.0 and Nike Anti-Blister toe socks

Third Times The Charm

Training Session

 

After last weeks longer training session I had a few aches, nothing too major but enough to make me realise that we needed to dial it back a bit and stick to

our plan of 5k distance, at least until after I have done the Race for Life on the 28th July.

Tonights plan was to just have a nice stroll as it's also only been 3 days since the 100k Race To The Stones which Mark completed in just under 22 hours, he did the whole race in his Lunar sandals and still only ended up with Two blisters, I have done more damage to my feet in one night in a pair of fashionable shoes!

But still to show some respect to Mark's well used muscles, we decided to leave out the big hills and change our route to go through a nice wooded area and then follow a path beside the train tracks which has more gradual inclines.

I am again wearing my Vivobarefoot shoes but trying out some Nike anti-blister socks, these are also toe socks which I think I might do a full review of in a later post, but for now lets just say it took me a while to get them on and comfortable. I am also trying out a heart monitor, I thought it would be good to see if I am keeping within safe limits for my not so young ticker or at least it will give me accurate information if I need to go see my GP.

We stuck to 1 min running 90 seconds recovery for most of our session, even after just these few weeks I am finding this much more achievable and even my breathing seems more controlled until we go uphill then I lose my rhythm. Once the breathing goes astray there just seems to be so much to think about, feet, posture, arms, head, and still breathe, a bit overwhelming at times. Thankfully Mark is there gently reminding me to relax. 

We reach our half way point and I am happy to see that my heart rate is fine and that even on the tougher parts I am still in the 60-75% of max rate. The alarm for the upper limit only went off once and that was running uphill.

All in all a very enjoyable session, I am really having fun but sometimes feel a little sad that I didn't discover running 20 years ago, I could of been really good by now..........

Stats for 16th July 2013

5k - 59mins 42 seconds = 19.16 min/mile
1 min runs with 90 seconds walk repeats
Gear: Vivobarefoot with Nike Anti-blister toe socks



Till the next time...............................................

Ready......Steady......GO.....

Training Session

Ok so it's taken a week or Two to synchronize diaries with Mark. I would keep calling him Cardiosaurus, but it takes too long to type & check the spelling so from here on in it's Mark or CM for Cardiosaurus Mark or maybe that should be Coach Mark.

The date and plan is set, we will meet and go for a nice brisk walk up and down some fairly steep hills, then into some fields to do repeats of 1 minute running then 90 seconds walking to recover, repeated for 20 minutes...........Ok so this all sounds like a pretty good plan.

The day arrives & I have to admit I was feeling a little nervous and questioning if maybe I might just be a little mad. But the Garmin is set GPS signal found and we are off..........I soon found that those fairly steep hills were doing a pretty good impression of Mount Everest.  Mark kept up a slow but steady pace, reminding me all the way to keep my breathing going and shorten my stride, now being rather vertically challenged scraping in at 5 foot long strides are never going to be my thing so all was good.

Hills conquered, we arrive at the field and Mark takes some time to explain to me all about correct posture and landing on the front part or forefoot rather heel striking. If you followed my link from my earlier post to Mark's blog you will have already learnt that Mark is a "Barefoot Runner" now although barefoot can indeed mean naked feet, when said in quotes usually refers to minimalist shoes or in Marks case Lunar Sandals.

I would love to say that I will be following literally in Mark's footsteps but for now, I haven't quite decided what I will wear to do my running in, so I am going to be trying out various options and see which seems to work for me.
For this first lesson I just dug out my favorite trainers, not completely zero drop infact I believe they are closer to about 6-8mm. 

Back to the lesson......Right, Mark gives me my instructions to run for 1 minute, not to go for speed but relax and concentrate on form and controlled breathing........and we're off 5 seconds.....yep I'm ok.....10 seconds I'm starting to breathe more rapidly.........20 seconds.....OK my lungs are on FIRE, legs feel like lead.......30 seconds........right that's my lot.... I suddenly got the message of just how unfit I had let myself become and how long 60 seconds is when you just want to cough up a lung. Think we may need to adjust the training plan, so we walked for a few minutes till I had my breathing back in control which to be honest didn't take long. We did a few more repeats of 30 seconds running and then walk to recover. Then finished off with the walk back up and over the hills rounding our lesson off to complete 5K I was knackered but pleased with myself for finally getting up off the couch and doing something to take back control of my life....

Stats for 2nd July 2013



 5K = Total 1hrs 11mins = 23 min mile
Repeats of 30 seconds running, Several minutes walking
Gear: Primark Trainers with Injinji socks.
 

Till the next time.................

The Beginning of The Mummysaurus

Where to begin.............well the aim of this blog is for me to be able to have a place to record my journey from near total couch potato to being able to run 5k without needing hospitalization at the finish line! so lets start with a bit of a basic profile:

• I am female
• 54 years young
• Married with Three grown up children (One of which Cardiosaurus is responsible for my current training, but more of that later)
• I have a wonderful dog, which I am hoping is going to be my running buddy for the next few years.

I had been pretty overweight and out of shape for some years, then last year (the royal jubilee to be exact) I joined Slimming World along with my sister, to get help to finally shed the extra pounds. A little over 6 months later I hit my target weight and have managed to maintain that since thanks to continuing my membership with Slimming World and going to the group meetings each week. But now having lost the extra pounds I thought it was about time to start getting a bit fitter. Like most people my age I have had a few health issues and I have my fair share of cracking and creaky joints and a couple of bunions just to round off the package.

I didn't want to just dive in and join a gym and commit to the monthly fees, which so many people do but end up never using, I didn't need the guilt trip not just over fitness but also over the money being wasted.
So I started going along to my local swimming pool and doing an Aqua Aerobics class for the 50+. This I really enjoyed so much that I also encouraged my daughter to come along to an Aqua Zumba class, Which is not only a really good workout, but also somewhere to have a really good laugh and mummy/daughter time.

Now talking about Mummy/child times brings me back to my son Cardiosaurus you see he is an Ultra Marathon Runner, Ultra's are races that exceed the normal marathon distance of 26.2 miles and can be 50 miles, or even 100 miles or more. But rather than taking up all my blog space telling you about his adventures in running these mega distances I will just give you a link to his blog http//:cardiosaurus.blogspot.co.uk so you can see for yourself.

Back to my own story..............In casual conversation at a family gathering I mentioned that I was going to walk the Race for Life with my sister and my dog at the end of July but that my own personal goal was instead of walking the 5k Race for Life I would really like to be able to run it by next years event July 2014 I expected to hear laughter or rude comments about my dodgy knees or my advancing age, but to my surprise and shocked ears all I heard from my son was "Challenge Accepted"

So here I am, now known as Mummysaurus with a running story of my own.



................ to be continued