MoRun: done!

Yesterday saw a number of PBs in my running life:

• my slowest 10k ever
• the worst conditions to run in
• the most fun during a race
• the funkiest medal
• the muddiest I've even been after a run
• first race without my family cheering me on

On arriving at Wollaton Park, this was the scene that greeted me:

Urgh!

At that point I REALLY started to worry for the safety of my beautiful clean and shiny new shoes. Everywhere was soaked through, even the "dry" bag drop had puddles in and it was a case of putting my bag on other bags to try and stop it getting completely soaked. Can I just say here, I don't do dirty. I like nice, clean road running, jumping over the occasional puddle but mostly staying mud-free. I couldn't face the thought of going to a music festival such as Glastonbury because actually living amidst so much mud and not being able to scrub it off just makes me shudder.

Notts Women Runners

Anyway, back to the race. After talking to the lovely ladies in NWR for weeks now I got to at last meet a good chunk of them, and as expected they're fab. I was super nervous going into the race as my family wasn't able to come and watch as my eldest son was poorly, the weather was ghastly and my confidence had been damaged by the GSR leaving me feeling a bit ambivalent. It would've been easy to pull out but I'm no quitter, and when I met the girls I was glad I hadn't. Here we are taking the prospect of the race very seriously!

Mo Sista!

So sporting a rather fetching Mo that would give Mario a run for his money, we set off round Wollaton Park. It was hard enough to start with because we had to run up a steep grassy hill that had become somewhat of a mudslide with all the rain we've had lately. Quite a few of us were grumbling about what lousy conditions it was to run in, but soon we settled into a nice conversational pace and I ran with Sarah and Zoe with whom the laughs were abundant. We realised that to try and run it in a good time was pointless, so settled for just completing the course without breaking a leg! It's at this point I thought trail shoes might have an advantage over my road shoes. After a while it began to feel pointless trying to avoid all the mud and puddles, so I just accepted I was going to get dirty. Zoe, however, went even further and decided to plough straight through all the puddles...I wish I was that brave!

Towards the end of the race we started seeing lots of fake moustaches littering the paths as they'd sweated off and just dropped. I now have visions of all the deer prancing about at night wearing them as they take part in their own MoRun, but then I do have a very strange imagination! They'll probably end up lining rabbit burrows and keep the bunnies nice and warm during the winter. 

Finally, after 2 laps of Wollaton Park and 10km, Zoe, Sarah and I crossed the finished line triumphantly, tired, muddy but in receipt of new bling.

We did it!

Sadly my shoes will never be the same again, but hey, what's wrong with a bit of mud? Besides, the spoils more than make up for it! I'm still not a fan of the mud, but yesterday proved that you can get covered and still have a laugh.

MoRunning 2014

 

Massages and moustaches

This week saw a first in my running life: I got a sports massage. I was so disheartened with my inability to run on Sunday because I couldn't shake my "limpy gait" as I like to call it that I booked in for a sports massage to try and see what the problem was. Sports massage. Those two words conjure up the image of a lovely refreshing massage specifically designed for hard-working athletes. Instead what you get is YEEEEOOOOWWWWCCCHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! To my credit I only swore once, but holy crap that was some serious pain! TT found every bit of my calves which were causing me problems, and a whole load more besides. It was painful, I was bruised and tender for days afterwards but oh my goodness it was amazing! My legs felt so free the following day and I was able to run again too. This was a good thing as apparently I'm a tad grumpy when I haven't run for a while. Who knew?!!! Unfortunately, while foam rollering is really good at maintaining muscles when doing heavy training, it's almost impossible in my house to use the roller before the children have gone to bed for the following reasons:

Either the roller makes a good seat or I do!!

I'm beginning to realise that as hard as I'm training my body for the marathon, I'm needing to train my mind just as much. I tend to focus on the here and now a lot, so having injury now stresses me out a whole lot, but really it's better to be injured now and have chance to recover adequately than to damage something after Christmas when I'm starting to build up the miles and need to be in peak form. So many times when I'm running I get that little voice in my head making me doubt what I'm doing, making me feel that I can't keep going and need a walking break and generally ruining what could be a perfectly good run. I need to find ways to remain positive, to tell that voice to do one and remain confident of my own ability. TT has proven to be really helpful in this, if only for the fact that every time I slow to a walk I have to do a whole load of burpees to compensate!! But it's slowly sinking in. I CAN do this. I suppose that years and years of self-doubt in anything I do will take their toll but it's time to overcome those and get ready to push out some miles!

Larry grows a Mo!

Tomorrow I'm doing the MoRun; this is a race to support Movember where upon lots of men grow moustaches throughout the month of November to benefit prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men's mental health. The race is a 5 or 10k distance through a local park and entry fees go towards this great charity. As I'm currently busy raising money for my charity, Mind, I am reluctant to promote my husband's Movember page as I don't want to miss out on sponsors for Mind, but just once I'll pop a link up as so many men are affected by the causes represented by Movember that it'd be mean not to. You can find Larry's Mospace here:   http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1592138
There are three good points to doing the MoRun tomorrow. First it's a good 10k run in what will be nasty weather over off-road terrain so a good training session. Secondly I'll be meeting some of the Notts Women Runners ladies which will be fab. But most importantly, there will be new bling!! And who could turn down a beauty like this?!

Ahhhhh new bling!!

A long week

I have intended to update this blog several times recently, but I've not been feeling so well of late. My mood has been persistently low despite all the wonderful things around me, and despite an increase in my anti depressants. I have also been injured which means running has been sacrificed for cross training, which, although good in its own rights, doesn't give me the same uplift and sense of achievement that running does. Lots has been happening though, so time for a catch up.

My excitement at getting new running shoes was short-lived when I discovered the next day that I'd done a fair bit of damage to my calves running in my old shoes. I woke up on Tuesday and felt like I'd been run over by a tractor. My knees had that dull achey feeling as though they were jarred in some way, and my calves were sore and inflamed, particularly on the right side. Not good. I took some NSAIDs and got off to the gym, but considering I was limping a bit and struggling to walk down stairs, it wasn't the best work out I'd had. I did body pump mostly ok, but when I went to run some intervals on the treadmill afterwards I realised within seconds that this would be a bad move. So I spent the remainder of my gym time staring forlornly at the treadmills from where I was on the cross trainer, cursing my stupid legs under my breath. I don't like having my plans scuppered, and it was frustrating not being able to do what my training plan laid out.

Sports massages bruise. A lot.

When Thursday came around my legs were feeling a bit better but were still painful. However, that marked the first day of my training journey with TT, and there was absolutely no way I wanted to sacrifice a run out with someone who could assess my gait and running style and help me to improve it and thus become a better runner in order to do more cross training. So I made a decision, and this turned out to be a MASSIVE mistake. NEVER EVER do this. I dosed up on pain killers so I couldn't feel my leg pain, and I went ahead and ran with only a little niggle. Yes, I felt absolutely fabulous for a good run, and identified some areas in which I could work on, but in retrospect I did my body no favours. For when I woke up the next morning I could barely walk. The inflamed leg had turned into a full on strain, and it was horrendously painful. It was then that I decided to attack it full on, and got my talented hubby to perform acupuncture on it, I had it massaged and I iced it loads. Then I wore compression socks all day and didn't run.

TRX handstand

Fast forwards nearly a week and I think I'm finally fit to run again. It's been a tough week without having my "therapy"; it's such a good way to process all the stressors and rubbish bits that occur day to day, and I often finish a run a completely different person to how I started it. But this week has had some benefits. I've had more time to "mess around" at the gym and play about on the equipment a bit more which I don't usually do as I'm either rushing to a class or out for a run. The best thing I've learnt how to do is handstands using the TRX equipment. That was a great abdominal and upper body workout, and completely unlike anything I'd usually do. I've also been doing leg raises on the monkey bars and trying to move across them. What has struck me is how amazingly strong children are to be able to support their body weight so easily and swing from bar to bar like little monkeys. It does make me wonder whether, if the natural fitness, strength and flexibility children are born with is cultivated from an early age so they don't lose it, humans would be capable of far more amazing feats than the average person is.

Anyway, I digress. I'm going to head out this afternoon once my husband is home and can look after the children, and see what these legs can do. I know I still have a large amount of time before the VLM, but the anxieties as to whether I'm capable of running 26.2 miles in one sitting are still there. Taking a week off for injuries does little to quell that worry. So fingers crossed my legs are back to normal and I get to have my run later on. Goodness knows I need the blast through, and I think my family would appreciate their grumpy mummy/wife cheering up too! But before I go, feast your eyes on my latest bit of bling for running a 10k this month:

Pretty, purple and glows in the dark!

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Not all that glitters is gold

This morning marked the first day of my marathon training plan, and I woke up injured. I kid you not. My calves were absolute murder and my knees were achey too. I had planned to pop the The Derby Runner to buy new shoes today, and wondered if my old ones were in part responsible for all the calf pain I've been experiencing lately, but more than that I was wondering (as I often do) am I dreaming too big in wanting to run the marathon? Have I overestimated my own ability? After all, I started running in February this year, and didn't get past 5km until the end of May when I had my hypermobility identified, and was fitted with orthotics and stability shoes which made all the shin splints and plantar faciitis settle down. I thought that running the Race For Life 10k race in July was ambitious, applying to do the Great South Run even more so, so what does that make my wanting to run the London Marathon?! Deluded?! Yet I ran both of those races and did fairly well each time, so who's to say I can't run London next April?

I really didn't want to faff about with my training plan on day 1, that wouldn't help my mind set at all, so I limped into body combat as planned whilst dosed up on NSAIDs and paracetamol. I took the low impact options where possible which I hate doing; it makes me feel like a old woman, and goes at odds to my competitive nature. But I did manage to see the whole class through and felt better for doing so. The next stop was The Derby Runner for new shoes. I took in my old shoes as asked if they thought they were ready to be replaced yet. After a few seconds of twisting and bending them I was informed that they were completely wrecked after many miles of running, and I may as well be running barefoot for all the support they were giving me. I'm guessing that's why my legs have been getting increasingly painful!

Apparently they shouldn't be able to do this...

Oooh so pretty and new!

So, mystery solved. My shoes were wrecked. The annoying thing is that now I'm itching to go out for a run to try out my new ones, but should probably allow the inflammation in my legs to settle a bit first. Another thing that came out of today was that I am finally beginning to identify myself as a runner. When Carolyn at the Derby Runner commented on how many miles I was putting into my shoes, and how many shoes I will get through during marathon training, I felt like a proper, serious runner. I suppose that before I felt like someone who does a fair bit of training and sometimes goes out for a run, but now I'm the real thing. I think I bore my friends and family senseless because I go on about running, or running-related things like fundraising an awful lot. I have my set day every week where I do my long runs, and I'm so lucky that my husband is so supportive and happy for me to go out and leave him with the children for a few hours a time. This week I'll be starting to work with TT who will be improving my running style and efficiency. Now all I need to do is believe in myself and things will really start looking up.