Dear Weather Fairy.....

.....When I said in my previous blog that I thought I would have preferred snow to the awful conditions of the Reading Half Marathon, I didn't expect you to take me so seriously!

I had my longest run to date scheduled in for Saturday, an 18 miler which I planned to run with Sui who is an expert distance runner and has offered to help me get through my next few long runs, as I have been finding the going tough.

The plan was to start out running at 8.30am on Saturday, knowing that the run would take about four hours, and Sui was going to visit a friend straight afterwards.  On Friday night Pete and I cooked up a massive pasta feast and I was tucked up in bed before 10.30pm, with an early alarm call set to allow time for breakfast.  At 6.30am I got up to let the cats out, and peered out into the back garden.  It was snowing, and a very very fine layer had started to settle.  I got back into bed for an hour, and then a text came from Sui saying the conditions were not looking great for running.  I got up and looked, and lo and behold the garden was covered in a thickening layer of snow, which was still falling heavily and which showed no signs of abating.  Arse!
So, we had to admit defeat.  The only benefit of this was I got back into bed and had a nice lie-in!

This meant that Sunday morning came, and I found myself once again up early in order to get a quick breakfast down me before heading to work to run laps around Green Park on my own.  I planned on running 11 laps, which would take me to around 18 miles.  The rationale for running around work was that the footpaths are gravel and therefore would not be icy, and also the route is mindless and quiet, meaning I could try to take my mind off the distance by running with music playing (for the first time ever).
When I got to work the temperature gauge on my car was reading -2oC and it was snowing.  The first three laps felt a bit of a struggle to warm up (despite three layers of long sleeved tops) and I had to stop once per lap to remove stones from my trainers, but after that I settled into a nice rhythm.  I saw a couple of other runners, and some cyclists who were also doing laps in the opposite direction to me (saw them several times, which we laughed about each time they went past and said hi!) but most of all what I saw was snow.  Blowing in my face.  A lot.  I started to struggle around 12 miles in as it began to feel like wading through treacle and so I stopped for a short walk/water break.  I put my hands on my thighs to stretch my calves out a bit and realised that my thighs were numb.  I literally could not even feel my trousers against my skin I was so cold.  I ran for another couple of miles, however after 14 miles I found myself sitting in a bus stop having a gel and a drink, sheltering from the wind and snow, and I had a real wobble.  I wanted to cry and I wanted to stop, purely because I was so cold I couldn't face leaving the bus stop!  I decided that the best thing for me to do was to run back to the office completing the lap I was on (lap 9 of 11) and then get on the treadmill to run however many miles were left.  You know things have to be bad if I am preferring the idea of running on the treadmill to running outside!
So I set off from the bus stop and ran back to my car, picked up my pass and lucozade, and ran all the way into the gym up to the treadmill.  I looked at my Garmin and it said 15.48 miles which I was pleasantly surprised about.  The treadmill is set up to record distance in kilometres, so I knew I had to run somewhere between 4-5km in order to make the distance up to 18 miles, so off I went.  I found the treadmill running hard, and yet I was really really slow somehow.  It didn't seem to matter how much effort I put in or how much I upped the speed, the distance didn't seem to be ticking over any quicker!  I had to slow to a walk at one point early on so that I could remove two of my three long sleeved tops, but after that I just took it steady until the distance was just under 4km.  As I have said before, I struggle with treadmill running partly because I can't stop myself constantly checking the dials, and so I was using music to stop me - I was only allowed to look at the dials each time a song finished.  As I got close to 4km, I decided that I would just run until the current song had finished and then stop, which happened to be at 4.04km.  It was with some relief that I hit the stop button and stumbled off the treadmill to start gathering my stuff together and head back to the car!

When I got home, I really struggled to walk from my car to the house, and so I didn't even sit down before getting into the hot bath Pete had all ready and waiting for me.  What a relief to finally feel the warmth creeping back into my bones!!
I then logged my two separate runs on Fetch, and discovered that I had covered a distance of 17.99 miles in total.  I think that's close enough to my 18 mile target, don't you?!!

So, Dear Weather Fairy, as you seem to be taking my weather requests quite literally, and since I have my longest training run of 20 miles to come on Friday, do you think you could do me a favour and dig out that yellow ball I seem to remember seeing in the sky a long time ago?!?  Also, if you could hold back on precipitation of any kind, and let the wind die down for a few hours, I would be eternally grateful..........

Yours Sincerely,
The Ice Road Runner.

PS.  When my iPhone started playing 'Walking in the Air' from The Snowman on random shuffle last Sunday, I didn't skip it because it seemed so apt.  Perhaps this Friday we could have a spot of 'Walking on Sunshine' instead?!

Reading Half Marathon 2013

Sunday 17th March 2013 was my third time running the Reading Half Marathon, however this one was a little different to the others for me!
For a start, when I have run half marathons before, it has been the culmination of months of training specifically for that half marathon.  So, there has been a feeling of nervous excitement before, a sense of taking it all in and enjoying the occasion during, and a wave of euphoria at the finish at having achieved my goal!
This one was essentially a training run for me.  A warm up before London.  However, warm was the last thing I felt on Sunday!!!!
You see, it was a pretty miserable day weather-wise.  In fact that may actually be understating the conditions somewhat.  I have seen the official photographs of me, and lets just say I won't be sharing them with anyone (the term 'drowned rat' comes to mind!) so I will leave you with these pictures I found which pretty much sums it up....

I have been training in some pretty miserable conditions this year, but I have to say the race on Sunday topped the list of the coldest and wettest run so far.  I think I would even have preferred snow, as at least then I wouldn't have been so wet!

I made my way to the start with 15 minutes before kick off.  Whilst walking from the stadium to the start line, the heavens opened in a big way, and so when I lined up between the 2hr25 pacer and the 2hr30 pacer I was already dripping wet, soaked to the skin.  I felt strangely calm and serene, which is unusual for me at the moment and I have to say was a really nice feeling.  I smiled to myself as I caught a whiff of that smell you always get at the start of a race - Deep Heat!!  The usual warm-up routine started, with thousands of people, the majority wearing bin bags in a vain attempt to keep dry, all jigging about waving arms in the air and generally having a bit of a laugh.  A few minutes passed, and the rain turned to sleet.  We all began to huddle closer and closer together as any heat the warm-up had generated was lost to the atmosphere.  I tried to roll my sleeve up to set my Garmin and realised I couldn't feel my fingers or hands, and when I did a little check I realised I couldn't feel my toes either!  We heard the race start up front, and gradually we edged our way forwards with the usual walk a bit-jog 3 steps-hop over the discarded bin bag-stop-walk a bit routine until finally about 20 minutes later, the crowd opened up, we broke into a jog and across the line we went.
I found Sui shortly after joining the A33.  Sui definitely deserves some special mention in this blog - what a star she was to come and join me running in those conditions! I am truly blessed with some wonderful family and friends who I would be completely lost without!
Somewhere between two and three miles in, not too long after the first hill, I decided to take my windproof top off.  Not that I was overly warm, but it was quite clingy in the wet and I had warmed up enough to just about feel my hands again so thought it a good idea.  The rain had also eased a little and I was optimistic it might just hold off.  With this being my third time running this particular half marathon, I was looking forward to the obligatory bursts of the Rocky Theme Tune, however there was strangely no sign of it this year!  There was however, still a band playing on the way into the University, shortly before my first walk for water.  There was a lot of support in this little loop which was much appreciated, as the rain had started to fall again.  I have to say, in spite of the weather there were still a fair few hardy souls who had stuck it out and were there to cheer us runners on throughout the whole course (and a few bemused shoppers!).  Not as many as previous years, but who can blame them eh!  I remember pelting it down the lovely long downhill that takes you to the A4, then running down the road past The Knob Shop and there was loud music blaring out of one of the shops, and lots of people dancing on the street and cheering us on.  From there to the underpass on the IDR, and the steel band were in their usual place under the bridge - the sound was so loud and invigorating!  I remember the 10k marker, whilst heading through the back of the town centre, and thinking that I felt pretty good for halfway, in spite of the fact that the rain was coming down so heavy that I could blow the drops off my nose and no amount of wiping the water out of my eyes was helping!  From here the next landmark is Russell Street, which is the last proper hill of the course and comes around 8 miles in.  The Nags Head had their usual table out with beer for the runners, although the table was quite empty - I guess a lot of earlier runners had been partaking!  I ran up the hill and felt much better than I have in previous years, although I was getting so cold (there was a short sharp shock of hail) that shortly after getting to the top I made the decision to put my windproof back on.  When I moved my arms to untie it from around my waist, I realised that my arms and hands were so cold, they had stiffened and I was really struggling.  Then when I managed to get the windproof over my head, the wet fabric clinging to my already soaked top made it nigh-on impossible.  I wrangled for a little while and eventually managed to get the damned thing on - but at the expense of my race number, which was so sodden it couldn't cope with the strain and fell off.  So that was folded up and put in the jacket pocket (it had the timing device on it so I needed to keep it to record an official time).  From here on there was a slight lull, both in the rain and in the support.  It is a bit of the course that I always seem to forget, running along the Tilehurst Road to Prospect Park, then on to the A4.  I do remember this year a lovely lady offering out a bag of sweets, and I gladly took one!  This takes you up to 10 miles, and shortly after that you find yourself running down the A33.  This is a particularly cruel part of the race usually, as for most of the way down the A33 you can see the Stadium and the Windmill, which mark the finish point.  They seem so close and yet so far when you have almost three miles still to go!  However on Sunday, there was no such teasing - the one benefit of the inclement weather was that neither landmark was visible until you were practically on top of them!  Although I do still maintain that making the last mile of the course a loop back into Green Park and out again, when you are so close to the stadium it feels like you can touch it, is very cruel!!!  Which is not to mention that the last stretch to the finish line involves running uphill into the stadium!  At this point I had to leave Sui, as with no race number she couldn't come into the stadium.  I stumbled my way in and it was with the usual joy that you enter the stadium to run a quarter of a lap to a rapturous round of applause from all of the supporters waiting in the stands!  It is a feeling like no other, and always spurs me on into a little sprint!

My Garmin recorded a distance of 13.23 miles in 2 hours, 34 minutes and 47 seconds (I should knock a few seconds off mind you, because my numb fingers hadn't turned the Garmin off the first time I tried).  The official chip time is 2 hours, 34 minutes and 39 seconds.  A PB, and I truly believe that on a better day weather wise, I potentially could have knocked another couple of minutes off that.

The funniest moment for me was when I saw my niece afterwards and showed her my medal, and she asked me if I had won.  I explained that I hadn't, so she persisted and asked me if I had come second, third or even fourth.  It was tricky explaining to a 5 1/2 year old the concept of running a race where 'winning' is achieved just by 'finishing'.  Maybe one day when she's a little older she will understand, and will hopefully be proud of her old Auntie!

It's how you get through the tough ones....

.....And today was most definitely a tough one for me!

I have been having a lot of pre-LSR anxiety, so the day before the run I get butterflies and find it hard to sleep.  Much like I would normally feel before a race.
In order to make myself feel better, I mapped myself out a pavement route of 17 miles, with bail-out options from around 14 miles onwards in case I was having a tough one.  I didn't want to run on the trails as the weather had been terrible and I knew the going would be tough, muddy and would quite probably involve wading through flooding.  I just couldn't face that this weekend, especially as the temperature had plummeted too.

I had a good breakfast and set out feeling positive, and enjoying the prospect of a completely different run to normal, in different trainers (I have a feeling the trail ones are a smidge too small, hence the toenail difficulties last time).

I was ok for the first 8 miles or so, and then I found myself running against a cold headwind.  Which brought with it a few snow flurries.  I pushed on through, allowing myself a couple of extra walk/drink/sugar tablet breaks from what I had planned, however to be honest I still found it tough going.  At around 12 miles my feet and hips began to give me a lot of pain.  My feet in particular had been a little sore, but bearable, however after around 12 miles and with the pain spreading to my hips, it began to get unbearable.  I contemplated quitting, but at this point I saw a Robin hop along in front of me and stop to look at me.  It made me actually sob because I associate robins with my Grandma (my Auntie told me that there is a belief that if you have lost someone close, they visit you in the form of a robin to comfort you) and helped to focus my mind and keep me going.

However, after 14 miles I was literally running past the end of my road, and in a lot of pain.  I managed to shuffle around the block in various loops a couple of times to make the distance up to 15.61 miles but that was as much as I could manage.  So annoyed, one more little loop would have made it 16 miles.  I had the energy in my body and legs, but my hips had totally siezed up and my feet felt like I was running barefoot on cobbles.

Going to take the trainers along to Sweatshop and see what they say, as I have not had those problems before.  A few hours later now and my main issue is significant pain in my left knee (which is not even my dodgy one!) which may require a trip to the physio.

Ho hum!  I have the Reading Half Marathon to look forward to next weekend, so onwards and upwards with any luck!!!

Money well spent

After the disastrous 13.2 mile run, I realised I needed to have a rethink.
I realised I was tired, physically and emotionally, and feeling pretty stressed.  So, I booked some time off work in order to sort myself out.

I also placed a couple of orders for some bits and pieces to help me on my next long run, both to make it easier, and also to help me psychologically - I can't tell you how much I was dreading the next long run, and I knew that a few new bits of kit would make me feel a bit more positive about it.
So, I ordered myself my first ever Garmin (Forerunner 10, basic but does all I need) so that I won't have any more problems with my phone crashing, along with new socks, a new top, some anti-chafe gel (it's glamorous being a long distance runner you know) and most importantly a hydration back-pack.  I went for a £14.99 non big-brand one rather than fork out four times that for a CamelBak (although they did look pretty damn cool and I was very tempted!).
Alongside those bits of kit, I also got some lucozade drinks, a gel and a sport nutrition flapjack to try.

Because I have a lovely boss, I was able to take some time out of work to get a daytime run in during the week, and did a little 4.5 mile pavement run.  It really helped to get me back in the right frame of mind.

The weekend came and I met Zeph for lunch on Saturday.  After I got home, I decided to just head straight out for my run and get it over with, so that I didn't spend all of Saturday afternoon and evening worrying about it.  I had just enough time to spend three hours running before the sun went down.  So, all kitted up, I headed out.
I had a vague plan to walk at 4 miles for a drink and sugar tablet, then again at 8 miles for a drink and to take the gel, then again at 12 miles for a drink and sugar tablet again.  I hadn't really decided on the total distance, because I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself, so I just decided to go with the flow.  The plan worked pretty well!  I did walk at 7.5 miles after running up a hill and feeling a bit knackered, then again at 8.5 for the gel, and after that I took on water and sugar tablets twice more, at 10 miles and 12 miles.  But, the difference was I felt great for the whole run.  I never felt so tired that I needed to walk, I was just walking to refuel which is how it will be on race day.
Around 11.5 miles I sort of caught my left foot on a bit of undergrowth, and I had a bit of ankle pain, followed but a lot of pain in my left toe.  I decided to keep going because I was otherwise feeling really good, however I think that I may lose the toenail - my first marathon toenail casualty!

Anyway, I managed to complete 15 miles with relative ease, and I honestly feel that if it wasn't for the toenail I would have run to 16 miles because I still felt great and had a really nice rhythm going.  All in all just a massive confidence boost!

I have learnt a very valuable lesson - marathon training is hard, and there is no need to make it even harder by not taking advantage of the resources out there designed specifically to help!

I am therefore embracing the kit, and can now be found running around the trails at least looking like a seasoned pro.....