LUCOZADE SPORTS MARATHON SEMINAR

Part of my marathon prize was a marathon seminar day run by the sports products company Lucozade and a training session with Liz Yelling, marathon runner and Olympian.

Well I was pretty worried about all the super fit types that would be at the seminar, all the gazelles and leopards that would be present, walked into the room, was one of the last ones there, due to the fact I took a wrong turning on the vespa and added an extra 15 minutes more than needed onto my journey, got there in the end, changed out of my scooter gear, walked into the room a lot of people were seated together, felt like the first day at school or college when you don't know anyone, sat by myself, not for too long though was joined by a older white guy who was friendly enough. He would not be taking part in the training session later on in the day, due to an achilles injury.

The day stared with a talk on nutrition which was good, could've been interactive to keep it interesting, but the information given was great, and I got some good tips for hydrating and eating during training and on marathon day, of course they promoted their own products but in all honesty they were not too heavy handed.

Liz Yelling gave a chat and it was great to hear that she too cries during training if she is having a hard time and she is having a hard time coming back to training after a baby, so that made me feel better about my pity tears during my 14 mile swim, sorry 14 mile run the other day. She gave us a run down of how she got into marathon running,what was intriguing was the how hard it seems to be to get everything correct, nutrition, hydration, training,she gave me a real insight into the determination, strength and self belief that it takes to perform at that level.

Liz then lead the way to the outside track for the training session.everyone was in tights and t-shirts, but with rain a possibility and to be honest it wasn't 't that warm I was fully track suited up, I was not even sure if I should take part it as was only two days since my 14 miler and my achilles was still protesting a little. To my surprise I had a great time, two things I did not want to happen, one to be the slowest and two to be the biggest, I was one of the slowest but there was a girl as slow as me and no I was not the biggest. I was also worried about my achilles so decided not to push it, for the warm up Liz ran with me we chatted and had a laugh an she was cool, there I was little old tortoise running with a world class marathoner, I can assure you that will be the only time that happens. I am sure the pace was more of a walk for her, but it was cool and I felt like I had a right to be there. There were some real fit types out there on the track, people who were aiming for a marathon time of under 3 hours, that means I will be out there for almost twice as long as them, instead of feeling bad about that I now consider myself an ultra runner.


We done a few warm up stretches, and then ran at marathon pace for 6 minutes, although Liz did say 6 miles at first and everyone one looked worried, then she corrected herself, so 6 minutes running at your won marathon pace then 60 seconds recovery, I stuck at the back and took my time, let the gazelles and leopards do there thing, then we ran faster than marathon pace with a 30 second recovery, all in all we were out there for an hour and ran about 4 miles, my achilles actually warmed up and gave me no problems, and even though I was back of the pack I felt good and it gave me the confidence and boost I needed after the 14 miler, where I questioned my sanity.

I met a woman who was using running as a way to recover from breast cancer and to lose the weight she had gained from the steroids she had to take, she was 42 and it was humbling and inspiring to hear her story.

Lunch was great sandwiches, pasta, salad, fruit and tiny muffins, I can’t lie I had a muffin,but as I said it was tiny, a few sandwiches and a bit of pasta. After lunch a talk by a British runner Paul Evans who won the Chicago marathon in 1986 at the age of 36. He gave us a talk about his career which was amusing and inspiring then we had a talk by a physio we got us up doing some exercises which should help prevent injury her thing was all about having a strong core. Talked to her afterwards about my injury, she said it was the one injury that you could run with whilst it was causing pain and not have to worry about it.

That was the end of the day, they gave us a load of products to take home and I stocked up on the drinks and gels and some new beans they’ve created, I stuffed it all in my rucksack and my Vespa and I wobbled home.

So all in all a great day, worth going to and just what I needed to lift my sprits especially as the training starts to pick up pace.

Happy running.

14 MILES OF RAIN

14 long miles in the rain, I was out on the street for so long I might as well have set up camp! It was a miserable day, miserably wet, it did not help that my achilles was playing up, had to stop off and buy some freeze gel and that helped, praise the Lord for McDonalds, two toilet stops kept me going and gave me a break from the weather.

At one point the rack sack I was carrying fell open and all my bits and pieces started running away from me, (maybe they thought they could go faster without me) A guy who was selling the Big Issue helped me to gather my drinks bottles which were really picking up speed, I gave him a couple of pounds to show my appreciation but did not take a Big Issue as I had nowhere to put it.

I am telling you at times raining so hard all I could do was stop and find some shelter. It didn't help that I was slow,slow and slow again as usual. The run was great in the sense that I completed it, I achieved what I set out to do, but a disaster in terms of time, and pacing, what pace? It was more of a shuffle than a run and at times I wondered if I was swimming it was so wet, no running gear can keep you dry if it’s torrential, and after about 10 miles I was too tired to lift my feet at every puddle so they got soaked and I was sprayed a few times by car drivers. Everything was wet, I mean everything, shoes, socks, clothes underneath, knickers the lot, what I needed wass feathers and webbed feet,oh yes I did wear my running tights, I can’t say I wasn’t a little paranoid, my bum has no right being in running tights in public, but at least there was no chaffing this week and I didn't stop traffic!

No I am not down about the run, actually as soon as I arrived back and was warm my spirits lifted, there is something about being warm and dry which can make you feel great, I don't mind the rain but that was ridiculous, I immediately got out of my wet clothes, and a nice hot bath made me feel human again and after a stretch I was back on track, today I feel great no lasting damage, even my achilles has been giving me no problems and I feel in a lot better shape than I did last week after the 12 miler, maybe that has something to do with not doing a spinning class the day before my long run!

Training wise I am back on track I have been able to keep to my programme so I have to give myself a pat on the back, I may not be Paula Radcliffe, but as least I am trying. Tomorrow as part of my marathon prize I have a Lucozade conference, where we get to train with Liz Yelling a British olympic marathoner, learn about nutrition,injuries e.t.c, it runs for the whole day and should be pretty interesting, the track training session last for an hour,pray for me that I am not the slowest out there!

Happy running.

FIGHTING THE FAT!

Confession time, I did not lose weight this week,I did not gain but neither did I lose,I look better, clothes fit a little better, but no movement on the scales. With over 22 miles of running, weights spinning class you would think I would've lost, but I have not been great with the food,I haven't been extremely bad but I have not been great either.

This week I will go back to strictly counting Weight Watcher points as it always, always works, sometimes I can't lie I do get fed up with this weight battle, but I know the alternative is a lot worse, fatness and unhealthiness, which is not an option in my book.

I am finding that the running is making me pretty hungry now that the mileage has gone up, so I need to be careful that I am not undoing all my good work by over eating, so no more chocolate while running,I shall leave that to the other half at 6ft 2 inches and 13 stone he is a good height and weight and can afford to eat like a horse I on the other hand need to eat like a pigeon.

I lost weight last year whilst I trained for the marathon so I know I can again this year just need to get my head around it again, but more than that I am once again enjoying my new healthy regime and the exercise, where I went wrong was to stop training altogether for a few months when I injured my achiilies, next time I will keep training no matter what cause weight is so easy to put on but a bitch to lose.

Like I always say I ain't trying to be a broomstick just fit and healthy and running helps me to do that, fingers crossed I can stay injury free and keep pushing, keep running.

Plus I really need to get a bit of weight off my clothes espeicially my jeans are not exremely comfortable at the moment, and even a little bit of loss will help with that. I cannot give up the fight,I will continue to work towards perfection,okay maybe not perfection but I will continue to work towards the best I can be.

CROSS BETWEEN JOHN WAYNE AND A DUCK

Well, I was a bit of a mess after the 12 mile run on Saturday, by the end my groin was playing up and I had a tiny bit of chaffing on my left thigh, I think tracksuits are great up to a certain amount of miles after that chafing can be a problem, not confident enough to wear running tights at the moment so next week I will put a pair of shorts on underneath. I was not in the greatest of states, the other half and I went shopping and I dropped a pound coin on the floor I had to get him to pick it up as my body was refusing to bend.

The way I was walking was not a good look, I really truly looked like a cross between John Wayne and a duck. I stretched and blue foamed rolled like a mad woman, after a good nights sleep I felt a lot better on Sunday I even jumped on the exercise bike for an hour just to loosen up my muscles,I know the other half thought I was crazy but it worked and I felt a lot better which was good cause I had two different places to get to later in the day.

The ironic thing is you train to keep fit and it ends up messing you up! Last week was a good week of training so no complaints as I accomplished all my goals, trained 5 times, 3 runs a spin class and the exericse bike session, and discovered the joys of the treadmill, today is a rest day, thought it was best I took a day off before my poor body rebels and disowns me.

This week the plan is

Tuesday: Treadmille run 5 miles and pilates class.
Wednesday: Treadmill run 5 miles ( with some interval training) and upper body weights.
Thursday:14 mile run ( on my own on the road, ganna be tough the first long run I will be doing on my own).
Friday: In the evening if I can still walk I will do a spinning class.
Saturday: Rest yaaah.
Sunday; 7 mile road run.


I am taking everything slowly a week at a time,but so far so good. If you don't push yourself you won't know what your capable of.

Happy running.

WELL DONE TO ME

The plan was to run 7 miles on the road along the canal and then the last 5 miles on the treadmill, but I felt so good I carried on and finished the whole 12 out on the road. The other half was with me and it was the furthest he had ever run, ten miles being the longest before today and he done great no moaning or complaining, head down and he got on with it. He was up for running the full 12, the sun was out, although it was still not warm, (scarf and gloves were needed an appreciated) and bar the ground being a bit muddy underfoot the terrain was great as well.

The one thing that does annoy me about the canal is the cyclist who come speeding along like they competing in the Tour De France, expecting you to get out of their way, but don't want to slow down for you. I always run past on the side opposite to the water cause I'm not falling in for anyone! Cyclist always complain about drivers being road hogs but I regularly see their own hoggish behaviour on the canal.

I'm feeling very happy and proud of myself, 12 miles is the longest I have managed to run in a long long time, considering I had to cancel all my summer races due to my achilles, talking about my achilles it held up well, no problems at all, yes it took a bit of time to warm up, and it never feels as loose as the right one, but it was fine, tapped up nicely and wrapped in a compression sock.

I don't know how smart it was to do a spinning class yesterday as the last few miles my thighs were cursing me out, and my groin started to feel like they belonged to Barbie, I wore a pair of cotton knickers rather than my usual Lycra ones and after about 10 miles they began to bite into the side of my legs not a nice feeling, won't be making that mistake again I can assure you.

Had a few jelly babies, a couple of squares of chocolate, which is the other half's choice of food whilst running, and two gels, it's taking me a while to get used to them again! That all worked fine and even though parts of my body were protesting, overall I felt good and had good steam and puff even at the end, in fact this weeks 12 miler was better than last weeks 8, makes no sense,

This week has been great, managed two one hour sessions on the treadmill of 5 miles each, one spinning session and a 12 mile road run, not bad ,especially considering my injury was giving me gip at the beginning of the week. I have managed to finish the week on a high and hit a massive milestone in my training.

Next week, I need to fit a 7 miler in and a 14 miler as well as two more shorter runs, I feel more confident after today's run that I can do this, I can get to the starting line of the marathon as long as I continue to train smart.

Happy Running.

TREDMILL RUNNING

The treadmill is a revelation, I know at lot of runners hate it, but for me it's been great, so yesterday I jumped on again in my socks and knocked out another hours worth of running, why do I like it? because it can't rain on me, neither do I have to wrap up in a hundred layers just to keep warm, nor do I have to dodge dog mess, there is always a toilet within close reach and it's been great on the achilies.

I know I have to get back out into the elements again but I wanted to give my leg a break as it's been playing up and to be honest it was great idea. Once I was done I hit the upper body weights,I'm excited to see how I will look in a few months with a combination of running, weights and cross training, I'm thinking cut, fit, muscular, Serena Williams look alike, that would be nice. I've been reading a lot on tredmill running some people love it some people hate it, but I figure if I use it with road running it can't do any harm, in fact it seems to be helping with my motivation by spicing up my training.

SPINNING

Today I done my first spinning class in what must be well over a year and a half, and I loved every minute of it, the guy who taught us looked familiar and it turned out we had worked together as youth workers over ten years ago! He was great very motivating played good music and was a lot of fun, which is how I love my instructors to be. Lord the class was a challenge but in a great way and when it got really hard I reminded myself if was not harder than running 5,6,8,9,10 or more miles and that thought kept me really going. Forgot how much the seat can hurt, so I put my towel on it and was grateful when we got up and started pedalling from an upright position,no matter how much meat you got on your bottom those seats can be deadly.

I was surprised at my fitness levels and that I was able to push really hard, I was sweating like a beast by the time I finished and felt fantastic, I got into zone and it reminded me how much I used to enjoy going to the gym, makes a change from struggling by myself all the time, so far rejoining a gym has been a good idea.

TWELVE MILES

Tomorrow is a big day for me, I will be attempting my longest run yet in this training programme which is a 12 miler, I'm a little nervous it's a long way and I am really testing my body at the moment to see what it can do. I'm hoping that the treadmill running has given me the break I needed mentally and physically and that tomorrow is completed and I can tick it off, my mileage really needs to go up if I'm going to be on track for the marathon. Trying to eat well today and drink lots of water in preparation, the plan is for me to run 7 miles on the road with the other half, then hit the gym and finish my last 5 miles on the tredmill, wish me luck.

BARE FOOT RUNNING

Yes I tried it, bare foot running that is, well actually I was not completely bare foot I had my socks on and I ran on the treadmill rather than on the road. Let me rewind, after my 8 mile run on Saturday my achilles and calf started to play up after a clear four week run of no problems, so I iced, stretched and massaged and today was my first foray back to running. Instead of running outside I decided to be kind to my body and hit the gym, I also decided to try running in my socks rather than my Asics super-dooper trainers, with dry top weave, rocket boosters and extra cushioning, which cost me an arm a leg and a kidney, to see if this made any difference. I took it easy building up the speed as I went, waiting for any pains, or twinges to tell me I was crazy but they never came and an hour later, I jumped off feeling invigorated and with no ill effects attributed to my new venture.

I thought I would be bored on the treadmill, but with a good selection of music on the ipod and the softness on my legs got me into a zone and it felt brilliant. Would I run barefoot outside, are you crazy? Remember I have an issue with dog mess so that is complete no no, because if I stepped in it, that would be a major problem for me, I have been known to throw shoes away after such an accident but it's not like I can throw a foot away, plus I do not live in a nice leafy suburb, I live in an inner city, grimy, dirty, litter strewn area, which is not conducive to running around like a hippy.

For the foreseeable future I will only run barefoot in the gym on the safety of the tredmille, but I am pleased to report it was a great experience which I will try again tomorrow with some upper body weights my weekly long run will take place outside over the weekend, but for now my calf and achilles are both thanking me for the tarmac break.

Jokes aside there must be something in this barefoot running, as so many people swear by it, and to be honest in all my years of exercise, gym going, dancing professionally years ago, I had never, ever suffered an injury, even when I was dance training 5 hours plus day in day out, we danced all day in bare feet, When I toured day after day performing African dance it was tough very tough on the body but not once did I suffer an injury, honestly not once, there has to be something in it, or something about my running style or my shoes that is causing me to get injured. If I lived somewhere where I could safely run barefoot outside and that would stop me from getting injuries I really would not hesitate to give it honest consideration, I wish such a choice was a viable option but it unfortunately is not.

Happy Running.