Short and sweet! Run report 3rd November

This will be short and sweet as I have a tonne of work to do!

Haven't managed to run for a week due to half term and being away but thankfully managed to get out with the lovely ladies at Chelmer Roadrunners (Tuesday group) this morning.

A lovely, slightly damp but crisp Autumn morning, perfect running conditions. Not too cold, not too hot.  Lovely.  We ran a new route around Galleywood, slightly hilly which was tough, but kept up a decent pace (averaged 7mins per km) and managed to run 7kms, partly because we weren't sure where we were going!

The only annoyance is that my hip started to ache again for the last kilometre.  To be fair I have not done my physio exercises for 5 days now either due to being away over half term.  And over the weekend I walked miles and had started to notice my hip aching at the end of a long day of walking around a foreign city (coupled with sleeping on a hard uncomfortable sofa bed at a friends house!).   Going to work v hard on my exercises this week and next.  Seeing my physio man again next Monday for the last time pre race.

Loved it again today, and it's made me excited about my next (and last pre race) long run which will be on Friday.

Oh yes, and I got home from my travels last night to my race number!  My race number and info for my first ever half marathon has arrived and it is all real now.  Gulp!  2 weeks 5 days!

Long run report 23/10/15. Mind over matter

First half marathon in 4 weeks 2 days!!!! Gaaaaaaaagghhhhh why did I agree to this?

This week has been a lot about resting my legs and doing my glute strength exercises since my great 8 mile on Sunday. I did another circuit/kettle bell type of class on Wednesday and even did 20 fast mins on the treadmill as my warm up - the idea of the short run was to keep my legs in the game without fatiguing them. And I fared much better, thank goodness, with the class this week - no where near as much stiffness or pain the next day!

All good. Until today's long run - we said 9-10. We did 9.5miles. But my god I think I hated running 8.9 of those miles 😭😭

Foolishly we decided to try a new route and we seemed to pick the hilliest roads in town. I kid you not that the first 4.5 miles was mostly uphill. And they were some seriously big never ending and in parts very steep hills. It was miserable. The hills triggered off my hip/thigh pain. I felt like I was running through treacle. I could not get my breath, no matter how much I slowed down, I felt panicky as I couldn't slow my breathing, I even felt a bit sick at one point. Could not run. 

Perked up slightly after a gel and a lovely flat downhill section until about mile 6.5 when I really really had to talk myself into every step. Even during the "easier" 4.5-6.5, downhill section, I still just found it incredibly hard to keep going, even downhill, as my right leg muscles were twinging and tightening with every step and my legs felt heavy and my whole body felt drained.  

I don't know how I kept going, we tried to chat, I kept losing my breathing. We tried saying lets just run slowly for ten minutes and see how we feel, and then setting new mini goals. It was a mind over matter run today. My mind was all out convincing my body that it wasn't going to die and just had to finish. I do not know how my mind triumphed because I was so close to giving up for so much of the run!

We even had an awful bit near the end where we just couldn't work out the best route home avoiding hills and yet still being long enough to get over 9 miles. Hilariously we ended up  doubling back a couple of times and down then running up and down my road three times to get us to 9.5 miles in the end. 

I still don't know where those inner reserves came from to keep going those last few metres. Sore sore sore tonight, but proud of course!

Back in the zone - 8 mile run

Yesterday, Sunday 18th October I managed a good long run to get my head back into the half marathon training.

Before going out I had been dreading it, and convinced I wouldn't be able to make it more than 5 miles.  However it went really well which has really helped me regain my confidence about this half marathon... which by the way is now 4 weeks and 6 days away! Gulp.

I was feeling very stiff and achey from an exercise class (kettle bells and squats) on Friday which I really regretted doing.  So I was not expecting the run to go well, and when I met my running buddy she was also in pain and her toe was still throbbing from her Royal Parks Half Marathon the weekend before.  So it didn't bode well, however we started off on another beautiful sunny Autumn morning and there was lots to catch up on to hear how her half marathon went last week so a lovely chatty run.

We set off on an 8 mile route, but both us said we would have been happy to achieve a 10km (6 miles). The first 3 miles was really tough, as always, I felt like I was wading through treacle and I honestly thought that even achieving 6 miles was going to be impossible.

Thankfully as usual, around mile 4 I got into a groove and was pleasantly surprised that my hip felt fine, and the stiffness from the kettlebell class was actually calming down, as though the run was loosening and waking up my muscles.  10kms passed and all felt good and I started to feel that actually, 8 miles was completely do-able.  And so we did it.  The last half mile was really hard work, and my hip, thigh and lower back was starting to get stiff.  However, despite that struggle, hilariously we ran the last 3/4s of a mile at a pace I usually save for a fast 5k race! I think having the end in sight, and wanting to get there quicker just pushed me along!

I felt ecstatic - really really pleased with myself and I can't tell you how important that run was mentally to feel like I can achieve this half marathon and that training is back on track.  If I had not been able to achieve this run  I would have been feeling behind and struggling to get my distances back up.

It's still going to be a push - We think we only have time for 2 more long runs.  Later this week on Friday we will have another long run, hopefully 10 miles but then it's half term the week after, and I'm going to be doings thing with my little Monster, including a weekend visiting friends in Spain, so a long run is not possible.  We then plan to have our final long run of 11-12 miles the first week of November, before resting for two weeks before the event on 22nd November.

And this morning?  Well my hip and bum are still incredibly stiff and uncomfortable.  I'm not sure if it's still the after effect of the over the top kettle bell class that I shouldn't have done on Friday!

Feeling positive about running though.  Back in the zone!

Stressing

Stressing and worrying about my hip this evening and the upcoming half marathon. I don't know if I should rest it. It's difficult to decide since I feel absolutely fine at rest and walking and even when I start running I have no problems at first at all. The niggles just start after I've run 3-4kms at the moment.

Part of me wonders if resting might help it to heal, but I also know I had a week off running after my 10km race and it made no difference - as soon as I started running again the niggle was back. 

So what if I rest and it's all for nothing? I'll be missing out on vital training ahead of my first ever half marathon.

I know have managed to run up to 10.5- 11 miles before, (depending on which watch/app you believe lol!) but that was 3 weeks ago now and I haven't run more than 10kms since. So I'm panicking that I don't have enough time to get those long runs in again.

The half is on 22nd November

The plan was for - 

- 8-9 miles this Thursday or Friday

- 10.5 miles next week,

Then a rest week with just short runs due to it being half term and going to Spain,

- Then two weeks before the race 11-12 miles long run.

Then taper.

So if I don't manage to do the 8-9 miles this week I'm worried that I'll really struggle to make the leap back up to 10 plus next week. And I'll only have two long runs before the race. And I've never run this distance before. Until August I'd never run further than a 10k!

I just don't know what to do for the best 😫😩😫😩

Anyone got any advise or experience?

What was I thinking?

Serious doubts kicked in today.  What was I thinking signing up for a half marathon?  I can't run!

I had a really really shitty run today. Woke up in a bad mood, feeling exhausted like I hadn't had much sleep. Went to run with Chelmer Roadrunners and was pleased than an interval session was planned, rather than distance.

But I just couldn't do it.  We ran about a mile as warm up, but because the 6 or so of us were all trying to stick together we went off way too fast, all trying to keep up with the fastest lady and she was seemingly oblivious to the rest of us struggling. Then we started our intervals - was planned to be 30 seconds faster (not sprinting, just increasing cadence) and then 2 minute recovery jog, repeated 8 times, and then finish off with another mile plus as a slower cool down run.   I don't think we managed that many intervals.  4 out of 6 of us were all so tired from going out too fast that the 30 second faster bits seemed to last forever and ever and ever and got slower and slower and harder and harder.  I think I did 5 well-ish, although starting to flag, and then on the 6th I started to feel queasy and had to walk my recovery rather than jog it.

And by that point my bum and hip were starting to hurt too :(  Oh woe is me... crappy crappy run.

Once I'd walked for a minute I did try to get back into it I really did but just couldn't! I wanted to keep going for a mile at a slow pace to cool down but actually managed less than 1/3 of a mile before the nausea kept bubbling up in my throat and I started to get really worried about hurting my hip.  So I decided to walk back to the start, and thankfully there was another lady, Emma who was also struggling and very happy to walk with me.  We put a little slow jog on for the last 1/4 mile and had a lovely chat about finding work that fits around children and school runs!  I've never felt queasy on a run before so that was a new, not very welcome experience for me.

In the end we ran less than 5kms and I hated every minute of it and I now hate running. Full Stop.  I really hate running and I hate that I seem to have hurt myself.   What an idiot to think I could run a half marathon... ( in 6 and a half weeks!!!!).... when those long training runs have broken me and I now I can't even manage 3 miles :( I want to cry.

I am keeping on with the glute strengthening exercises that the physio has given me but also finding them very hard and it's too early to see any difference yet... I wish someone could magically fix my running.

I'm off to eat some chocolate now and wallow in the self-pity of a shitty run.

Double run day and first time physio!

Yesterday was a beautiful day.  Started off cold and crisp, and bright and sunny and my son and I headed off to Junior parkrun full of excitement and with a spring in our steps to enjoy the sunshine.  The leaves are just starting to turn and the park looked so pretty and by the time we started to run, it was surprisingly warm.  The last gasp of summer in October!  As he is only 4, bless him, junior park run for us is more a fun thing, with lots of walk breaks, and chasing and racing from tree to tree and playing tag.  He adores sprinting over the finish line though, and yesterday he was much faster than usual because he had a batman t shirt on!

He runs the 2km (1.5mile) course in times ranging from 18-20 minutes.  Some of the over 10s at junior parkrun are amazing and finish in 7 minutes!  My aim is not to push him into running or being competitive at all at this age.  To me it's just important that he enjoys some physical activity and being outside, and it's nice to enjoy it together.

After dropping him at home I was off on my own run with my running buddy and by 10.30am it was positively tropical out!  Such a nice sunny day for a run.  As usual we went out all excited and feeling great, and went off far too fast (10m30s per mile!) so by mile 2 I was really out of puff!  We had a plan to run for about 45 minutes, and we had said we would go slow and take it easy but we start talking and just speed up and even when we tell each other to slow down we do and then forget and speed up again!

It's good for me though, as if I ran on my own I would plod and never push myself.  With Michelle I push myself to keep up with her.

After mile 3 my hip started to niggle again :(  we kept going but decided not to push for an extra little loop around a park we like, and head back for home, with a plan of running for 40 minutes instead of 45.  In the end we completed 6kms (3.75 miles) in 40 minutes and I was happy with that as it was faster than my usual pace, given that I hadn't run for a whole week and was recovering... however by the end my hip and butt cheek was very unhappy.  I spent the day stretching and hoping this wouldn't turn into something serious.

However my biggest issue at the moment is that when this happens, I'm afraid to tell my husband, because he's so negative about me running that he will use it as an excuse to try to put me off running.

Likewise, I had not told him that I had an appointment booked in with a physio this morning....

Fast forward (through coffee shops, cooking, homework, mowing the lawn and Downton Abbey) to today (Monday) ... After the school run I had my appointment with a physiotherapist who specialises in sports and had been recommended to me by other runners.

He was brilliant!  He obviously sees a lot of people with similar issues and was really positve.  He concluded what I had an inkling of myself - that I lack good muscle strength in my body and in particular the muscles in my hips and thighs and bum that are the main controller of running, lack strength.  This is fine if I just keep running comfortably up to 5-6kms but once running regular 10kms and more, my muscles are struggling as they don't have the strength to keep me going for runs over an hour without causing pain.

He showed me how, as a result, my knees are bowing in, to over compensate for the tightness and strain those muscles are feeling which is in turn making the hip hurt more, slowing me down, causing me to waste energy.  After lots of questions, watching me stand, walk, stand on one leg, bend my knees, touch my toes etc, then he spent about 20 minutes manipulating the muscles in my right thigh, hip and bum to try and loosen up the muscles.   It was EXTREMELY painful!  But, it helped a lot, the mobility in that leg and hip improved immensely as a result by the end of the session.

He then took me through two exercises that I have to do twice every day for the next 6 days to start to build up my strength.  He also thankfully said I should NOT stop running, but just stick to 3mile runs for the next week, as that is the point at which it starts to suffer.

His theory is that with perhaps 3 sessions with him and 6 weeks of exercises (and he said he will change and add more exercises each week), my hips will be a lot stronger, I will be able to run longer without pain, and ultimately run better with less after effect.

Very interesting talking to him and I'm feeling more positive now about tackling the half marathon next month.   Just have to make sure I do these exercises twice a day now! Oh, those exercises if you're interested are:

Single leg bridge, 10sec Left, 10 sec right x 10
Side leg race (lying on left, raising right leg) hold for 30seconds x 10

And finally... last night, running buddy Michelle sent me a plan for our longer runs for Norwich. Our aim is to get up to 12 miles before then.  So off we go!

Lisa x