A recovery week building up to the Nationals Cross Country Championship

London Marathon Training - 8 weeks to go! 

Key -Both -Blue Kelly -Purple John - Orange 

After 10 weeks of training, we were both looking forward to a recovery week with reduced mileage. We planned to front load the week as we had our last cross country race of the season on Saturday - the Nationals! 

Monday 19th February 2018 

After a full on long run yesterday, I was feeling very stiff and achy this morning. I was sure that a 6 mile run and an hours PT session would help!!! 

This is how this week's PT looked - 

Squats plus floor work.

Squats plus lunges with 3kg Medicine ball rotations

Squat with 30 kg x20 followed by elbow to knee crunches x20              x3 sets 

Squat with 40kg x15  followed by down n ups x 10                         X3 sets   

Cable rotations plus seated Medicine ball balance throws As

Squat with 50 kg x10 followed by lunge patterns x10

Glute raises then press ups                    X10.          X3 sets 

30 kg squats......5-10-15-20

Mat work

A positive and strong workout at the start of the week. Consistent week-on-week strength training is essential (for me anyway) 1-to stay and get stronger 2-to prevent injury. No we have a few weeks in a row under our belts it's taking us less time to recover from PT on a Monday - win-win!

Tuesday 20th February 2018 

Still feeling the effects of the last few days meant that I wanted to take today's GA run at the slower end of GA. I'd rather have done this run in the evening but with parent's evening after school, I knew it was best to get it done first thing. This meant another early start - 5:26am. 

John was being his usual speedy self but I decided not to kill myself trying to keep up with him! Happy with a steady 7:57mm average pace for 10 miles with a couple of quicker miles in the middle. 

10 miles @ 7:26MM felt pretty straight forward and luckily after some 10+ weeks of training, no fear of killing oneself! ;-P Good to be able to run long so soon after PT now - body starting to adapt to the additional training.

Wednesday 21st February 2018 

As John was racing Weston Prom on Thursday, he wanted to run early again to give himself more time to recover. I chose to run early as well - better to have some company than run by myself in the evening. 

Out of the door at 5:45am for what looked on paper like one of the hardest sessions on the P and D plan. 9 miles with 6x 800m efforts at 5k pace. Now my 5k pace is probably around 6mm so I thought I'd try and aim for that. I wasn't convinced that I'd be able to do this session properly with how I was feeling the day before...time to dig deep! 

I did a couple of miles to warm up and surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good. I had planned to help myself out a bit by choosing the flatter/downhill sections to do my efforts on. 

Effort 1- initial thoughts - ouch! This is hard. I managed 6:16mm - 800m. It did go pretty quickly though. I only had 5 left and wanted to get closer to 6mm for the next one. 

Effort 2- better! 5:54mm. I played some mind games with myself on this one which helped. I used the lampposts as markers to run to. 

Effort 3 - 5:59mm. I was finding that my legs were recognising the rhythm of 6mm pace and getting into it much easier. Mentally, I was feeling good - half way there - 'you've got this!' 

Effort 4 - 5:57mm Not much longer left. Gritting teeth time!

Effort 5 - 6:03mm still managing to hold the pace - just! 

Effort 6 - Last one woohooo 5:37! I was clearly very excited that I was nearly done! 

Proper chuffed with that session. I'm not normally very good at those V02 Max workouts but I hit my targets with that. ... I wonder how many days it will take me to recover now! 

3 early mornings have started to take their toll on me. Reverting back to a Gollum-like-state... 

13 miles in <8mm pace not as straight forward as yesterday mornings run and I'm unable to provide the stunning workout the GFRG was capable of - amazing what one can do when the book say so!

Thursday 22nd February 2018 

7 miles recovery on the plan...John recommended that I just to do 5 ...I decided to listen to him for once. Headed out at 6:11am (another parents evening tonight so had to get the run done - another early start!). 

John was racing in the evening so I was running alone. As soon as I started moving, I knew it was going to be a slow one. Yesterday's session had taken its toll and EVERYTHING hurt! 

I managed just over 4 miles at 9:26mm pace before I decided to call it a day. Ouch. 

Weston Prom (5miles) for me - 7th in 28:03! Perfect conditions meant for some very good  racing - but - the long runs over the past few weeks and the early mornings decided to punish me with about 400 mtrs to go... I was among a very strong pack of 5+ runners running well, taking my turn at the front of the group and looking to time my dash for the finish perfect, but... everyone else found a late sprint finish and I seemed to find the beach side quicksand! I threw away at least 4 positions and a Sub28! Not happy short term but in terms of marathon training and London - this was a good block of 5miles at LT! 

Friday 23rd February 2018 

Just a gentle 3 miles today before nationals tomorrow. Thankfully my legs were feeling a bit better than yesterday - although I did have lots of little niggles. 

Same for me - glad for a steady half hour round the harbourside instead of the usual 10. Feeling a lot fresher after such a short time on feet.

Saturday 24th February 2018 

Nationals today wooohooo!!! We were up early again to catch the coach to the Nationals Cross Country Championship at Parliament Hill in London. The journey was very straight forward and very little traffic meant that we arrived with plenty of time to spare. 

We walked the course and watched some of the junior races. Although the course was technically 'dry' as it hadn't rained for a while, when thousands of people run over the same stretch of ground repeatedly in the space of 5 hours, they are bound to create a bit of a mud bath! There were quite a lot of boggy sections - but also a fair amount of sections of the course that looked in good condition. 

My aim was to improve on my 149th position from last year and hopefully sneak into the top 100. 

I wanted to get a good start and see if I could feature in one of the 'mass start' photos that would, no doubt, feature in Athletics Weekly next weekend! 

After a mile warm up, the GWR girls and I headed to our pen which was on the right hand side of the middle - perfect as the first turn was a right hand bend. We were in the same pen as the Avon Valley crew and it was nice to catch up with new friend/rival Beth. I couldn't possibly forget her name as there is a member of her team who yells her name at the top of his voice! We wished each good luck and then took to our marks. 

Then gun went off and I was ready. I stormed off and headed uphill. It didn't take long before what seemed like hundreds of women were passing me! As the course narrowed, everyone got closer and it was pretty chaotic! So many people - with a lot of sharp elbows! 

We reached the downhill section and I relaxed a little and did a bit of overtaking. At the bottom of the hill was the muddiest section of the course. I decided to keep right to avoid the worst of the mud...this did mean that I dropped back a little...mental note to keep left next lap. 

Then we went uphill again and again I lost more positions - why can't I run uphill?! On every downhill, I picked up the pace and tried to over take as many people as possible. It didn't take long before I heard that familiar "Go Beth!" Despite Beth being from a different club, it felt good to have a friendly face nearby when there were so many people I didn't know. The next section of the course was a bit better and I started to relax and enjoy myself. I was annoyed that I wasn't as far up the field as I would have liked, but I reminded myself that cross country wasn't my 'a' goal. I'd not doing any specific cross country training so I could expect to much! 

After finishing the medium lap, we reached the boggy section again, keeping left this time, I found I kept a better line and actually didn't slip too much. Thankfully, I had done my shoes up tightly so they managed to stay on ....lots of people's didn't! Beth and I were taking it in turns to over take each other and I used her as a focal point which really helped. 

The GWR boys were out in force, for the first part of the race, cheering us on - waving their flags and pompoms! Annoyingly, the boys race was very close to the girls so they couldn't watch the whole race as they had to get ready for theirs. 

With 2 miles to go, I heard another familiar voice - Sarah from Bristol and West had caught up with me. Again, it was nice to see someone I knew and I managed to stick near her and Beth for the last couple of miles. The course continued to undulate so they passed me on the uphills and I then returned the favor on the downhill sections. The number of spectators got less and less as the men all went to get ready for their race. We had 1 mile left and I'd had enough! Luckily, I heard John's voice which spurred me on. The downhill finish was great and I was really looking forward to crossing the line. As I did, I saw John on the other side of the barrier - :) 

I kind of gave up in the finishing stretch - I guess knowing that I was quite far back in the field...Sarah and Beth both finished ahead of me- they finished strongly. I feel like I didn't achieved what I could have but I enjoyed the course (despite it being very tough) and I enjoyed the day out. I finished in 191st place. 

When I'd finished, I didn't have time to relax. I had to sprint over to the other side of the field to watch the boys start! All the GWR boys were great - especially John ...but I'll let him tell you about his race. 

Cross Country is hard. Cross Country Nationals at Parliament Hill is hell! The course is relentless, hilly, muddy and too long... 12Kms of questioning why we run. 693rd place for me - an improvement of 669 places and 7 minutes faster than last time round in 2015. Although a tough reminder of why it's important to cross train and bank some weekly hilly/muddy runs, there are also positives: 1500+ fit and healthy fast women running full pelt uphill together with an iconic back drop of London town in the background with my favourite woman very near the front of it all :-) Good to bank the experience and I'd still go back again...

Sunday 25th February 2018 

After cross country yesterday, I was NOT looking forward to the planned 16 mile run today. Nevertheless, we were up and out of the door at 8am and on our way to meet Marcus and Rob. I didn't think I'd be able to keep up with the pace after yesterday but I surprised myself! Chatting away to the boys definitely helped and I managed 16 miles at an average pace of 7:44mm. Really quite pleased with that. 

No lie in for us! 16 miles 7:20MM - 16 miles was more than enough after XC racing yesterday. 2 hours on feet banked and we were blessed with really nice weather. GFRG, Maestro, Rob and I chatting and enjoying our usual loop.

Total mileage for the week:

Kelly - 55.4 

John - 68

Our first 80+ mile week! Gollum becomes Smeagol...

London Marathon Training - 9 weeks to go

Key Blue - Both of us Purple - Kelly Orange - John 

Monday 12th February 2018 

After getting an early night, we were up at 5am, eager and ready for our PT session. We ran the long route to PT to make the morning run up to 6 miles. After a very heavy session last week, we'd requested something a little lighter for today. 

After Sunday nights MOT check on the back/running properly , I ran to PT with confidence and excitement at starting another week of training. A lighter session than last week (much appreciated and very beneficial) meant that the session was testing but fun throughout. Our first go on balancing boards - great for core and ankle strength. 

This is what the session comprised of: 

Crunches, 

Cable rotations,

catch n throw balancing on bum  30s...then 60s

Plank elbow to knee,

Elbow to knee crunches,

Plank to side plank with arm raise  30s....then 60s

Scorpions, 

Crunches  4 sets of 12

Medicine ball lowers, opposite leg extensions  .x12

Knee drives plus squat thrusts   10 of each      (  X4)

Side plank x10

Bar roll outs x10    X3

Glute raises x10

Plank foot jumps x10    X4

Balancing on balance boards (we had one each!) 

Throwing balls to each other, squatting, one leg balances - hard but fun! 

As it was half term, I had the luxury of being able to go back to bed afterwards! 

I didn't stay in bed too long though as I went out again at lunchtime and did a little 4 mile recovery run on the way to yoga. Yoga was great - although very hard - I definitely benefited from an hour of stretching!

Tuesday 13th February 2018 

Another early start today. We were out of the door at 5:20am as we had 10 miles at GA to do and we wanted to ensure we had time to have pancakes for breakfast! We decided to use the Portway and run 5 miles out and then 5 miles back. The first 5 miles felt pretty good despite it being uphill. We managed 6 progressive miles up to 7:12 mm. But when we turned around, we realised why we'd found the uphill section so easy - the wind was like 40 miles an hour and had been behind us. When we turned, however, it became seriously challenging to keep the speed up. A one point I actually came to a stand-still with the wind being so strong! 

Despite all this, we still managed to get the 10 miles done at 7:28mm average pace. 

We got home and celebrated pancake day in style! 

GA = General Aerobic or just going for a run. These workouts are supposed to be easy and fun and not looking to hit any specific pace or time - a stress free run. It would have been had it not been for the tornado like winds we were facing! Ah well - karma leveled things out with glorious pan cakes á la GFRG!

In the afternoon, I did another yoga class - felt better today. 

Wednesday 14th February 2018 

Happy Valentine's Day!

How did we celebrate? By going for a run of course! 15 miles with an average pace of 7:50mm with our running club. It was, once again, really wet and windy. yuk! 

I was hoping to go fairly steadily but our friend Orla had other ideas and we ended up doing a few quicker miles down the portway. 

Weather was similarly cruel and punishing, same as Tuesday but we all battled through and banked what is now becoming a regular mid week long run. Getting in the mid week long run does help back up the Sunday long run, the body adjusts and get's better at spending some much time on feet and it makes the weekends longer running more enjoyable! 16miles @ 7:20MM pace :-)

Thursday 15th February 2018

Another soggy day of running - I feel like this has been an especially wet campaign. 8 miles at recovery pace of 9:09mm. Tired legs but wanted to stick to the plan and get the miles done. 

Back to running with the work guys at the Aalco running club! After the banter passed after going AWOL for a week we had a nice and steady 5K together - I added another 3 miles to make up the planned 5 and Luke went off and rounded up to 12! He's marathon training as well and does his longer runs in the week.

Friday 16th February 2018

Today I was really feeling the effects of my high mileage week. My legs felt heavy and tired and I was hoping for a gentle plod with John as he had the day off work. Unfortunately for me, John had was feeling fresh and speedy and I couldn't keep up. Never mind, 13 miles done and a recovery run planned for tomorrow. 

10 miles @ 8MM pace - a nice and steady GA run, earning (almost) all of the calories I enjoyed consuming throughout the rest of the day!

We spend the rest of the day playing bowling with our families! John won...of course! 

Saturday 17th February 2018

Saturday means parkrun! We didn't go last week so it was nice to head back to Ashton Court today and tackle the hill once more. I took it really steady (as it was supposed to be a recovery run) and enjoyed some lovely marathon training chats on the hill. An average pace for me of 8:06mm. 

I was however starting to feel a little worried about our planned long run tomorrow - I wasn't sure if I would be able to stick to the pace. Lots of foam rolling and calf massaging in store for the rest of the day in a desperate attempt to loosen up my muscles!

Fancied a blast at parkrun today! I like to have the racing feeling at least once a week and also wanted to give myself tired legs for the next days long run - sadistic I know! 2nd finisher with a time of 18:10 - well off a PB time but respectable after last weeks issues and with it being a 5K race in the middle of a 13 mile medium-long run @ 7:25MM pace :-)

Sunday 18th February 2018

Long run day...oh dear! 20 miles with 10 at marathon pace on the plan...after already having done 60 miles this week...this is going to hurt! 

We were out of the door by 8:15am and ran to meet the rest of the (super fast) crew at the bottom (hooray!) of Bridge Valley Road. We timed it to perfection...or so we thought...we got caught out by a bridge swing which meant a rather speedy warm up run to the meeting point (we all know that the Maestro waits for no man...or woman!). 

There was no hanging around, straight into 6 miles at marathon pace. This for me, should be 6:40mm. This is hard. Really hard. Especially hard when the first 3 miles up the portway are uphill! I managed 6:44, 6:44 and 6:50 on the uphill sections. No quite what I wanted but not too far off. I was happy. Luckily, the next 3 miles were downhill. But, once again, I'd forgotten about the wind. Urch! The next 3 miles looked like this 6:42, 6:54 and 6:50 ...I wish strava measured the wind factor and adjusted the speed accordingly! 

We then re-grouped and ran towards the section section of our route - the Bristol to Bath Cycle Path. We waited to Dr Dave to join us (I was very grateful for the short rest) and then headed up the cycle path. The boys wanted to do another 6 miles at marathon pace but I only needed 4 more. The first 3 miles are uphill, so I decided to do 2 miles steady, then 1 uphill at marathon pace and then the last 3 downhill. 

Watching the boys storm off into the distance, leaving me along to tackle the never ending uphill section was a bit depressing for me if I'm honest. I couldn't keep a good pace, everything was hurting and I was generally feeling pretty down. As I was getting more and more frustrated with myself, my  breathing was becoming more and more labored. I decided to stop and try to re-focus. After giving myself a good ol' talking to, I bucked up my ideas and pushed on. When my watched beeped, I picked up the pace and managed to get to 6:49mm for the next marathon paced efforts. 

Thankfully, the boys had waited for me and it was nice to pause for a moment and re-group. I had just 3 miles at marathon pace to go. All 3 were downhill. I was able to keep relatively close to the rest of the crew which kept my spirits high. The last 3 miles were 6:43, 6:32 and 6:26mm. The last 3 miles were hard but I enjoy having a count down and I knew that the pain was almost over! 

Finally, I reached the end of the efforts and was very relieved to have done 10 miles at around marathon pace. Yes, some of them were a bit slower than I'd have liked but considering the weekly mileage and the hill and wind factors, I was pretty pleased. 

20 miles done with an average pace of 7:19mm.

20 miles @ 7:00MM for me with 2 x blocks of 6 averaging MP - Block 1 = 6:33MM + Block 2 = 6:28MM

This workout was a massive confidence booster for me. I usually get through this workout and bank the times required but on top of that I felt strong and confident throughout. 'T was lush running in a group, really helpful taking it in turns at the front and the time flew by with all the positive banter! As per usual, I don't feel I've done the necessary amount of tempo workouts (runs of 5-10 miles at faster than marathon pace) but today showed that there's nothing to worry about - yet - 9 weeks to go to bank some decent tempo workouts and a couple more long runs with marathon pace. Fantastic week for the GFRG - massive miles banked! No doubt she'll make the distance - will she run the speed and get the time she wants??

Total mileage for the week: 
Kelly - 83.7 John - 80

Nice to see John smiling again...much less grumpy and depressive than last week! 

Hopefully he can remain as Smeagol for another 9 weeks!

A week of ups and downs

London Marathon Training - 10 weeks to go 

Key = Both of us = Blue Kelly = Purple John = Orange 

Monday 5th February 2018

I thought I'd been feeling pretty exhausted today after 22 miles yesterday. In past campaigns, after every 20+ mile run, I was almost unable to run the next day - apart from doing like 10 minute miles. 

The alarm went off at 5am and I got out of bed and my legs didn't feel too bad.

We started running to our PT session. We went the 'long way' today to make it up to 5 miles rather than just the usual 3. Even with Bridge Valley Road's hill, my average pace was 8:56 - really pleased with that. 

Our PT session was pretty brutal but I felt strong and in control throughout. 

It went like this:

20 Squats with two 12.5 kg dumbbells then 20 crunches 

20 squats with two 15kg dumbbells then 10 down and ups x 10 then 20 crunches 

20 squats with two 17.5 kg dumbbells then 30 mountain climbers the 10 down and ups then 20 crunches 

20 squats with  two 20 kg dumbbells then 20 squat jumps then 30 mountain climbers then 10 down and ups then 20 crunches 

20 squats with two 20 kg dumbbells (John had two 25kg!!!) then 20 squat jumps then 30 mountain climbers then 10 down and ups then 20 crunches 

Squat and press with 10 kg plate then medicine ball press ups X10.        x5

Bridge glute  raises then plank foot jumps.   X10.          X5

Clean n press 15kg bars x10.  then split lunge jumps plus 5kg plate  x10.     X5

35 kg squats with barbell on back .......5-10-15-20-15-10-5 

 

Similarly to the GFRG, I also woke up feeling surprisingly sprightly and raring to go. Our first PT session for a while and we weren't eased into it. A very tough session but we completed it and felt strong and very hungry for the rest of the day.

Tuesday 6th February 2018

After a much needed lie in (by lie in, I mean 7am!), I went to work feeling pretty achy after yesterday's session. Most of the pain was in my shoulders which is common for me when I've done bar work. My legs were tired but not too bad. 

At lunchtime, I went out for a cheeky 2 miles for our staff running club. This is a great way to get a proper break and catch up with the other teachers. It was our quickest one yet with 8:56mm average pace. 

I had a meeting in the afternoon so I got changed after running club and left my kit bag in the staff toilets...unfortunately, this meant that I forgot to take it home at the end of the day. When I got home, I got ready for my run but realised that my watch was in my bag at school. Urch! This posed a major problem for me because I love running with my watch - I rely on it. Also, we all know that if it's not on strava, it didn't happen! Thankfully, John reminded me that you can use strava on your phone to record a run. The only problem with that, was that I'd have to have my phone in my pocket so would be able to know how fast or slow I was going. This meant that for the first time, I'd have to try 'running to feel'. 

I started off with John but, after realising that he wasn't able to run at all quickly, he urged me to go on ahead. Feeling a little bit sad at having to run alone (something that I hardly ever do) I pushed on and tried to think about what pace I might be running. While some people claim that running without a watch lets them feel 'free' and 'relaxed' because they don't have to worry about what pace they're doing, for me it was the opposite. I felt stressed and anxious. I wanted to run faster than recovery pace, as this was supposed to be a GA run, but not too fast because I knew I had a big run planned for tomorrow. Thankfully, my body got into a rhythm and managed 10 miles at an average pace of 7:51 which is almost exactly what I would have liked to have done had I used my watch! I guess my legs know more than I give them credit for! 

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now... Only joking, KD said I wasn't allowed to be miserable and depressed on the blog so I'm gonna defy my natural and what I thought were lovable personality traits for the sake of doing as I'm told... Yesterdays feeling of sprightly-ness was very deceiving. I woke up today feeling like a tonne of bricks had hit me and more worryingly like my back and hips had been ripped apart. I have history of having sacroiliac dysfunction, a diagnosis I paid many hundreds of pounds to receive. A couple of years a go my right hip was nearly an inch higher than my left, this was due to over stretching the muscle that runs from my back to my bum and the body struggling to put it right on it's own. I don't think I've done anything nearly as serious this time round, I think I've been training hard and doing a PT session quite as intensely as I did after a big break maybe wasn't too sensible, body was telling me to chill out and recover.... so I did... 5K for me at 10MM pace.. 

Wednesday 7th February 2018

What with John only running a few miles and us not wanting to go to club today, I had a challenge on my hands! This Sunday is the last (for me) in the Gwent League cross country series so I needed to do my long run today. 20 miles needed. Solo. Oh dear. I hardly ever run on my own and I've never ran a full 20 miles alone so wasn't sure how I'd cope. I decided that I needed a really strong mental strategy to get me through. By the time I got home and got ready etc, it was already 7pm so dark. I decided therefore to keep it safe by running laps of the Harbourside. It was well lit and a route that I knew well so I wasn't worried about being alone. I decided to do the 5 mile route which meant that I'd have to do 4 laps. 

At the Runfest talks the other week, we heard Jim Plunkett-Cole speak. One of the memorable parts I took away, was how he managed to get through a grueling 4 lap swim. He told us that, each time he passed a buoy, he spoke to it and told it how many more time's he'd see it. I decided to use this strategy for my run tonight. 

There are a number of memorable landmarks around the Harbourside: bridges, cranes, squares etc. At each one I spoke it it (yes out loud!) and told it how many more times I'd see it. Lap 1 felt surprisingly good. Despite the heavy PT session and 22mile run just a couple of days ago, I felt really good. I really wanted to impress John with my run today and so I set myself a challenge of running all miles at under 8mm pace. I didn't want to go off too fast in the first lap as I was a bit worried about how laps 3 and 4 would go. 

Finishing lap 1 felt great. The time had passed super quickly (I wasn't even listening to music or anything) and I was feeling really strong. It was a bit tricky going passed all the people in the center of town but I knew that, with each lap, it would get quieter. 

The end of lap 2 came pretty quickly and now I was over the moon. Half way there and feeling great. I was desperate to get back home and see John (who I knew would be feeling a pretty down) so I kept the pace up. Lap 3 was probably the hardest because it was quite tempting to stop at mile 15 and just go home. No. I told myself. You wanted to do 20 now do 20. 

For the last lap, I took great joy in telling each inanimate object I passed (in true Jim Plunkett-Cole style) "I ain't gonna see you no more!" That worked as a brilliant distraction and, before I knew it, I was running around Queen's square for the last time. I finished my 20 miles and couldn't help but let out a "YES!" of delight (and making a random passer by jump!) 

A really high point of the week for me. 

Really depressed at this point. Back still giving me grief and a 5K run at 10MM pace which only happened after a 200mtr run and going back home where I threw all my running clothes and trainers in the bin and had a shower before being similarly inspired by Jim Plunkett Cole - that guy did a triathlon every day for a year surely you can run 5k?!? So I did. I was very proud and pleased for KD when she got home from her run but sadly my depression alongside what was jealousy and envy at being able to run so far and so fast lead to me being rather mean, snappy and rude! I hate being like this and thankfully Kelly is very understanding when I get down and understands what it's like to not be able to run. For the record I thought her 20 mile mid week run was AWESOME - so soon after the previous long run and a hard PT sessions, KD is fitter than ever and the next 10 weeks is gonna be damage limitation cus all things being well, she's in Sub3 shape. :-)

Thursday 8th February 2018

Today my legs hurt. Just a gentle recovery 7 miles today. I really felt that I'd earned that! The first 3 miles, I ran with John who was definitely speeding up and hopefully starting to recover. Average pace was slow but I needed it slow - 9:17mm. 

Progress - sadly I missedd running club with the guys as I was worried about being able to keep up and my violent mood swings but did run the risk whilst running with the GFRG! 5k @ 9:30MM!!

Friday 9th February 2018

More recovery today. 5 miles in the morning. Slightly quicker than yesterday but everything hurts. 9:08mm. 

It was the last day of term today so running club was rather quiet - a lot of tired kids I guess! I was feeling rather tired myself and was clearly still feeling the effects of Wednesday's run as one child asked me "Why are we going so slow today?" I explained about my 20 miles and the girl was very understanding (although I did let a few of my speedies go ahead of me for parts of the run!). 

In the evening, I'd booked another sports massage - I think this may turn into a regular weekly session. I love how I feel the days after and I do think/ hope it will stop me getting injured. Jenny worked mostly on my tight calves and achilles but did a do a bit on the rest of my legs too as the squats from Monday had clearly had an effect on my quads. 

More progress! Back is feeling a lot better but I don't wanna risk any set backs. Another steady recovery run at 9MM pace this time... I can see the light!!

Saturday 10th February 2018

Today was going to be a VERY exciting day! We started off with a 5 mile run together (lovely to run the full distance with John x) after a much needed lie in. 

Back at home, we packed our things and drove to Frome where we'd booked a lovely little cottage for the night. We watched the rugby, cooked a very healthy gluten free prawn curry for dinner before walking the short walk to the Cheese and Grain. The Cheese and Grain is a brilliant music venue. The first act was called 'Punk my hits'. Cleverly, they took some of the classic 80s, 90s and 00s pop his and turned them into rock songs! After a couple of cheeky sambucas, we were dancing merrily. 

Then, S club 7 came on (ok technically S club 3..but they were the best ones!) they were fab. Played all the classics and took us back to the 90s! Finally, 5ive came on (again 3!). Similarly, they played all of their best songs and incredibly, we remembered all the words and most of the dance moves. A brilliant night. 

Lovely to be back running properly again with my partner in crime. 5miles at 8:45mm pace and every step felt blissful. Pain free and I felt fully in control of my pace and style. The world wasn't coming to an end after all! The evenings fun times watching SClub and Five was great - it brought back great memories of my sister blaring out this crap music in the room next door so whilst being drunk on 2 shots of Sambucca and feeling somewhat nostalgic allowed for some risky hip action on the dance floor. Awesome night!

Sunday 11th February 2018

After not necessarily the best preparation last night, today we were off to cross country for what would be my last Gwent League race of this season. I wanted to do well but was also really conscious that the marathon is my main goal so I really didn't want to do any damage!

We arrived in Pontypool and the first thing we saw, when we arrived on the course, was the MASSIVE hill. Great. The good thing was, the course appeared to be really dry so would be firm under foot. I knew I'd just have to work hard on the uphill and I'd be rewarded with a nice, long, downhill. 

We had a great team today and it was lovely waiting together on the start line. The gun sounded and we were off. After about 50 meters, we came to a very boggy section. Oh dear. 'Never mind, focus on getting a good position ready for the hill' I told myself. Then came the hail. Ouch! Horizontal hail directly into my face - really quite painful. 'Never mind - try not to think about it'. 

I got into my (now) usual space - as there are pretty much the same people at every race, you get to know where abouts you should be. The hill was upon us very quickly and I focused on my technique: 'shorten my stride, stand up straight, use my arms' I repeated to myself. It also really helped that all the male GWR crew had positioned themselves brilliantly and were really encouraging. 

I knew that I was just outside the top 10 so I decided my aim would be to finish in the top 15 today. After the first lap, I was feeling pretty good and ready to face the hill again...but I'd forgotten that lap two had a cheeky little surprise lurking for us... another hill! Great. But an even muddier, boggier, stonier hill. Double great. There was a very steep section that some people were starting to walk...'No!' I told myself 'you will not walk' so I didn't. I overtook a couple of people on the uphill (almost unheard of for me!) and was looking forward to the downhill. Unfortunately, the downhill was even harder than the uphill. Seriously muddy and slippery and dangerously steep so I had to slow right down to avoid falling over and covering myself in mud. 

I was then overtake on the downhill section - again almost unheard of! This made me a bit cross. But there wasn't anything I could do. I wasn't going to risk falling and damaging my ankles and putting my marathon in jeopardy. Doing the hill for a second time was very painful. It seemed to go on forever (probably because I was going up it so slowly!).  By the time I was back on the downhill, the finish line was in sight and I gave it everything. I had a cheeky look behind me and to my horror, there were about 20 girls right on my heels. I picked up the pace and sprinted for the line. Delighted just to have finished! 

15th position - my 2nd highest this season. 

Feeling strong and pretty much recovered I made the journey to XC but with no running kit. London is my main goal and I didn't wanna risk any set backs running off road / cross country. A very sensible decision as the course was one of the hardest most technical I've ever seen. KD and the teams all put in amazing performances. The club entered 14 runners - massive progress, as usually at this point in the season we'd all fit in one car. It was a great venue and a lovely atmosphere, the day was fun and although I wasn't running I was really happy to be a part of it. When I got home I ran a progressive 5miles running up to 6:30MM pace and feeling good :-)

Total mileage for the week: 

Kelly = 59.7 (yes this is very painful for my OCD but I'm not going out now to sort it!) 

John = 30 miles (just waiting for KD to run around the balcony with the GPS on...)

A very tough week for me. I do not deal with set backs well. Running is my thing. I love to run and without running I am not me. When I woke up Tuesday in pain/agony/dying? I genuinely thought I wouldn't run the same again - stupid I know! I spent the week combating my state of mini-depression stuffing my face with digestives and hob nobs and subsequently have put on 2+ kilos in weight! If I didn't have Kelly on side that would probably have been 5kilos and I'd of probably have tried to run through the pain to punish myself whilst trying to prove I'm indestructible - which I am very much not! The body is amazing but there's only so much it can do. A rest week was needed and I don't feel I've been set back to much. I feel as though I've gone from being a 2 litre Diesel with turbo to a 1.2 with a flat tyre... but there's 10 weeks to go, plenty of time for an upgrade - one part at a time!