Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
7 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok. Not to panic or anything, but since I did my last long run - 23 miles 2 weeks ago - I've only done one 10 mile run and some kung fu classes and short runs!!!
Now I know that in theory this is exactly what's supposed to happen - in the last couple of weeks you're supposed to taper down your training and rest your muscles a bit more so that you're not tired on the Big Day. But being a first time marathoner I can't help feeling like I've completely lost my momentum. Mainly because I came down with a cough in the last week which has stopped me sleeping properly and have only done one 10 mile run in the last 6 days - and that was on Monday.
Anyway, being philosophical about it I realise there is nothing I can do now except hope and pray that my cough goes away ASAP and make sure I carb load in the days leading up to the race, and sleep asap.
But given the amount of training I've done for this, I thought it only fair to give my charity, the British Heart Foundation, one last shameless plug. I've already raised the minimum I needed to run the race so don't feel compelleoverwheld to give, but if you're reading this and this hits close to home and you do feel like donating I would of course be grateful as will the British Heart Foundation: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JodieSurendran . I want to write a bit about why I run and how I came to this point where I feel this ming urge to run a marathon - and if successful probably longer distances eventually, if I can avoid injuries.
Like many people who discover running and fall in love with it, I use running as a kind of meditation - a sanctuary from my everyday life as a headhunter which can be extremely challenging and fast paced. There is something about running which allows you to let go of a lot of things mentally and just concentrate on the rhythm of your stride, or lose yourself in some music. For me, it's a great opportunity to be more aware of God and just generally the world around me and stop thinking about the little things in life which are really unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
I said at the beginning of this blog that my dad, Dr PN Surendran, who died in August 2010, was the original inspiration for this marathon as after his death I needed something consistent to focus on and as his heart was one of the many things that led to his death it made sense to choose the British Heart Foundation as a charity. He was proud of the extensive training I have been doing over the last few years for various challenges and always encouraged me.
However another source of motivation for my training has been the sheer amount of comments - even from people who are complete strangers - along the lines of this:
"You're running HOW far? I could never do that."
"Wow, you must have a lot of energy."
etc etc.
Every time someone says something like this to me I can't help but have a little smile to myself as it just couldn't be further from the truth. And the truth is: with the exception of those who are physically unable to run, the vast majority of us can do this. I don't care how old you are, or how unfit you think you are, or how little self discipline you tell yourself you have. If you decided to, I bet you a hundred quid you could run a marathon. I should know. I'm not even a good runner. I doubt I'm even average. But I'm doing it, and enjoying it.
So, watch this space, I will be blogging my final time (assuming I finish - eek!!!). And if you do feel like donating, you would be very welcome to support me at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JodieSurendran .
Thank you for reading!
Jodie x
Now I know that in theory this is exactly what's supposed to happen - in the last couple of weeks you're supposed to taper down your training and rest your muscles a bit more so that you're not tired on the Big Day. But being a first time marathoner I can't help feeling like I've completely lost my momentum. Mainly because I came down with a cough in the last week which has stopped me sleeping properly and have only done one 10 mile run in the last 6 days - and that was on Monday.
Anyway, being philosophical about it I realise there is nothing I can do now except hope and pray that my cough goes away ASAP and make sure I carb load in the days leading up to the race, and sleep asap.
But given the amount of training I've done for this, I thought it only fair to give my charity, the British Heart Foundation, one last shameless plug. I've already raised the minimum I needed to run the race so don't feel compelleoverwheld to give, but if you're reading this and this hits close to home and you do feel like donating I would of course be grateful as will the British Heart Foundation: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JodieSurendran . I want to write a bit about why I run and how I came to this point where I feel this ming urge to run a marathon - and if successful probably longer distances eventually, if I can avoid injuries.
Like many people who discover running and fall in love with it, I use running as a kind of meditation - a sanctuary from my everyday life as a headhunter which can be extremely challenging and fast paced. There is something about running which allows you to let go of a lot of things mentally and just concentrate on the rhythm of your stride, or lose yourself in some music. For me, it's a great opportunity to be more aware of God and just generally the world around me and stop thinking about the little things in life which are really unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
I said at the beginning of this blog that my dad, Dr PN Surendran, who died in August 2010, was the original inspiration for this marathon as after his death I needed something consistent to focus on and as his heart was one of the many things that led to his death it made sense to choose the British Heart Foundation as a charity. He was proud of the extensive training I have been doing over the last few years for various challenges and always encouraged me.
However another source of motivation for my training has been the sheer amount of comments - even from people who are complete strangers - along the lines of this:
"You're running HOW far? I could never do that."
"Wow, you must have a lot of energy."
etc etc.
Every time someone says something like this to me I can't help but have a little smile to myself as it just couldn't be further from the truth. And the truth is: with the exception of those who are physically unable to run, the vast majority of us can do this. I don't care how old you are, or how unfit you think you are, or how little self discipline you tell yourself you have. If you decided to, I bet you a hundred quid you could run a marathon. I should know. I'm not even a good runner. I doubt I'm even average. But I'm doing it, and enjoying it.
So, watch this space, I will be blogging my final time (assuming I finish - eek!!!). And if you do feel like donating, you would be very welcome to support me at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JodieSurendran .
Thank you for reading!
Jodie x
Monday, August 29, 2011
In which I get lost running along a canal, and accidentally run through the Notting Hill Carnival...
Phew. So, to pick up where I left off: I don't think I actually posted the link to my 22 mile run before, so here it is.
Anyway, this week has been a slow training week but I did do a run I was really proud of this weekend, while I was in Durham visiting my mum - 10 miles with an average pace of 8:25 per mile. This is officially the fastest I've ever run over a mid-distance, so I'm really pleased with it!
Today, I was considering doing 24 miles, but as I'm supposed to be doing a long run next weekend with RHD where we basically run non-stop for 4 hours and hope it gets us to 24 miles, I decided to take it down a little bit as it's good to have something to aim for (and because RHD thought I might overdo it...). So I did 21 miles instead. Couldn't decide on a decent route and then my sister, who is admittedly a bit clever, came up with the idea of running along the canal. So I ran down to Islington (5 miles), found the canal (it isn't obvious at all!!!) and ran along it.
I have to say I found running along the canal without gettting lost quite a challenge. Now, I know how that sounds. And that I'm not doing myself any favours telling everyone on the internet that I found it difficult sticking to following a canal, especially when I'm always harping on about people laughing at me. But it's true! I got to a certain point near Edgware road and the canal just... disappeared. And I spent 6 or 7 minutes looking for it. Eventually I crossed Edgeware road and found it again, but it was a private section so I ran along the road next to it until I could get down onto the path again. Then I kept going until... suddenly there was a LOT of police and crowds, and the smell of burning. This sounds familiar, right? Was I in Tottenham again in the middle of another riot? Happily, no! I had managed to run bang into the middle of the Notting Hill Carnival. There were about a hundred BBQs on the go, hundreds of people dressed in brightly coloured costumes having a good time.... oh yeah and a bunch of young guys in handcuffs being marched along the canal by some policemen. Although that was quite a funny sight, as they seemed to be having good banter with the police and they were all laughing and joking. If I ever get arrested, I hope I get a nice policeman who has some banter with me. Not that I'm expecting to get arrested....!
Anyway, apart from the very last mile (a shocker at 10:44.... my knees were beginning to get a bit tired... weird because at this point last week I was absolutely fine!), I did a decent pace, and overall averaged 9:28 per mile.
Starting to see the end in sight now for the Berlin Marathon... it's starting to be exciting and terrifying! I have already begun to daydream about what my next big challenge will be, which is probably a mistake since I haven't even completed Berlin yet...! I've been reading Born To Run by Christopher McDougall... it's obviously having a (bad?) influence on me :-D although I have to say I'm excited about having more free time to practise my kung fu after the marathon too. My kung fu is nearly as good as my running was 3 years ago. (In case you hadn't worked it out - that means TERRIBLE but enthusiastic.)
Anyway, this week has been a slow training week but I did do a run I was really proud of this weekend, while I was in Durham visiting my mum - 10 miles with an average pace of 8:25 per mile. This is officially the fastest I've ever run over a mid-distance, so I'm really pleased with it!
Today, I was considering doing 24 miles, but as I'm supposed to be doing a long run next weekend with RHD where we basically run non-stop for 4 hours and hope it gets us to 24 miles, I decided to take it down a little bit as it's good to have something to aim for (and because RHD thought I might overdo it...). So I did 21 miles instead. Couldn't decide on a decent route and then my sister, who is admittedly a bit clever, came up with the idea of running along the canal. So I ran down to Islington (5 miles), found the canal (it isn't obvious at all!!!) and ran along it.
I have to say I found running along the canal without gettting lost quite a challenge. Now, I know how that sounds. And that I'm not doing myself any favours telling everyone on the internet that I found it difficult sticking to following a canal, especially when I'm always harping on about people laughing at me. But it's true! I got to a certain point near Edgware road and the canal just... disappeared. And I spent 6 or 7 minutes looking for it. Eventually I crossed Edgeware road and found it again, but it was a private section so I ran along the road next to it until I could get down onto the path again. Then I kept going until... suddenly there was a LOT of police and crowds, and the smell of burning. This sounds familiar, right? Was I in Tottenham again in the middle of another riot? Happily, no! I had managed to run bang into the middle of the Notting Hill Carnival. There were about a hundred BBQs on the go, hundreds of people dressed in brightly coloured costumes having a good time.... oh yeah and a bunch of young guys in handcuffs being marched along the canal by some policemen. Although that was quite a funny sight, as they seemed to be having good banter with the police and they were all laughing and joking. If I ever get arrested, I hope I get a nice policeman who has some banter with me. Not that I'm expecting to get arrested....!
Anyway, apart from the very last mile (a shocker at 10:44.... my knees were beginning to get a bit tired... weird because at this point last week I was absolutely fine!), I did a decent pace, and overall averaged 9:28 per mile.
Starting to see the end in sight now for the Berlin Marathon... it's starting to be exciting and terrifying! I have already begun to daydream about what my next big challenge will be, which is probably a mistake since I haven't even completed Berlin yet...! I've been reading Born To Run by Christopher McDougall... it's obviously having a (bad?) influence on me :-D although I have to say I'm excited about having more free time to practise my kung fu after the marathon too. My kung fu is nearly as good as my running was 3 years ago. (In case you hadn't worked it out - that means TERRIBLE but enthusiastic.)
Sunday, August 7, 2011
In which I run into a phonebox and a lamppost, and we almost run through the biggest crime scene in North London.
Wow, it's been a long time since I last updated my blog! Although in mitigation I have been busy, first I resigned from my job, then I went to Malta on holiday, and then I came back to London and started a new job. Crazy times.
The last blog post I made was after I did a decent 15 mile run on June 17th. I was pretty pleased with that particular run. However the week after that my fiance and I went on holiday to Malta. Training had been going well so I was a bit apprehensive about how I was going to keep the fitness levels up in 30 degrees of heat. However, we found our hotel had a pretty good - and very under-used gym, so I spent 2-3 hours every day on the cardio equipment. Still, it wasn't the same as proper running, and when we got back to London RHD and I went out on another run. The plan was to do 16 miles, but from the beginning I wasn't "in the head space" and I crashed at about 9 mile. No idea what happened, but it felt as though I'd done no training for about 2 years. We ended up running 12 very sloooooooooooooooooooooowwww miles before I gave up.
The following week, RHD was away so I ran by myself and did 16 miles at an average pace of 9:19 per mile . This was a huge relief: I'd been thinking I'd somehow lost 4 months' training with one trip to Malta. Apparently not. I have to say I didn't take enough water out on this run and ended up having a very quick stop in the Islington Tap to fill up my bottles - much to the surprise of the barmaid and the guy propping up the bar! Presumably it's not every day that people in neon wearing strange running gear come hurtling into the bar, drip sweat all over it and demand a refill of... water.
RHD was so impressed with my 16 mile run that she ventured away from the safe south and came to North London for our 17 miler on July 17th - we did pretty much the same route, just slightly extended with a loop round Finsbury Park. Again, it was a good run - apart from the part where in a fail of the like usually only seen on those silly TV programmes where people send embarrassing videos in of people dancing embarrassingly and falling over, I managed to run directly into a phone box on Holloway Road, to the uncurbed delight of three hooded youths (it's un-PC to actually call them a hoodie these days, isn't it?) - and for the next 7 days walked around with a bruise on my knuckles which made me look like I'd been out on the razz and got into a huge fight. This wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't then run into a lamppost mid-week on my way home from work... aargh!
The following week found RHD and I in my car on the way to Surrey at stupid-O'-clock - we had entered the Surrey Slog. This was the result of me having too much time on my hands after leaving my last job and deciding it would be a great idea to enter an off-road, hilly half marathon. Quite how I managed to persuade RHD to do it, I'm not sure, but it's a good job she did come because my Garmin died 10 minutes in - so here's RHD's record instead which gives an idea of the crazy hills we ran up and down. My official time can be found here at the end of the third page - 2:18 - I was pretty happy with this as you're supposed to add 15% onto your normal half marathon time, which I haven't tried to get a PB in but I think is probably between 1:55 and 2:00 on the flat. This was the most enjoyable run of my training so far apart from my week in Cumbria - finally a chance to run somewhere beautiful, instead of pounding away on the streets of Haringey.
Pleased with ourselves, we decided to go for 18 miles the next week - and again, my Garmin was dead so here's RHD's report of that run. We were pretty pleased - it was boiling hot (about 25 degrees) and keeping hydrated was a challenge. It was also the first week where I've veetoed energy/electrolyte gels on the long run and gone with jelly babies instead, on the basis that gels are DISGUSTING and I think the manufacturers are laughing at us. The jelly babies aren't 100% vegetarian, but then again neither is icecream or wine so I decided to take an executive decision and give it a go. It was much nicer - but by mile 15 we were really struggling for water. We were down by the river and just as RHD said, "well, you can buy some water if we pass somewhere" and I gave her a Look knowing that we'd never pass anywhere that sold water down there, we found an ice-cream van and were saved!!! After glugging about 250ml of ice-cold water in one go, I was almost completely revived and we cantered home in good shape.
Which brings us to this week's run - 20 miles. We decided to skip 19 miles, as we were both keen to get past the mental block of 20 miles, and I'm so glad we did. For whatever reason today when we ran, I just felt absolutely brilliant for the entire run. I don't know if it had more to do with the 6 (yes, really) baked potatoes I ate last night as carb-loading preparation or the adrenalin rush we got when we ran up to Tottenham which was part of my planned route as I hadn't read the news this morning...!!! This was sort of a defining visual moment I will never forget - us dashing up to Tottenham in our neon Lycra and ridiculous running belts, and suddenly hearing RHD yell "Jodie, wait" - as I turned around and saw she had manged to just avoid running into the saddest-looking burnt out car I have ever seen in my life as a result of last night's rioting. We tried to run a little further, but we were quickly in the thick of a huge crowd of people staring at the burnt-out buildings and cars, scores of reporters and camera crews and a large number of police. We had to turn around and take a different route. Anyway, usually on these long runs I get tired after mile 15 and have to push through but today was a milestone as for some reason, even by 20 miles I felt absolutely fine and could've probably run another couple of miles or even a whole marathon distance. Berlin, here we come.... watch out.
The last blog post I made was after I did a decent 15 mile run on June 17th. I was pretty pleased with that particular run. However the week after that my fiance and I went on holiday to Malta. Training had been going well so I was a bit apprehensive about how I was going to keep the fitness levels up in 30 degrees of heat. However, we found our hotel had a pretty good - and very under-used gym, so I spent 2-3 hours every day on the cardio equipment. Still, it wasn't the same as proper running, and when we got back to London RHD and I went out on another run. The plan was to do 16 miles, but from the beginning I wasn't "in the head space" and I crashed at about 9 mile. No idea what happened, but it felt as though I'd done no training for about 2 years. We ended up running 12 very sloooooooooooooooooooooowwww miles before I gave up.
The following week, RHD was away so I ran by myself and did 16 miles at an average pace of 9:19 per mile . This was a huge relief: I'd been thinking I'd somehow lost 4 months' training with one trip to Malta. Apparently not. I have to say I didn't take enough water out on this run and ended up having a very quick stop in the Islington Tap to fill up my bottles - much to the surprise of the barmaid and the guy propping up the bar! Presumably it's not every day that people in neon wearing strange running gear come hurtling into the bar, drip sweat all over it and demand a refill of... water.
RHD was so impressed with my 16 mile run that she ventured away from the safe south and came to North London for our 17 miler on July 17th - we did pretty much the same route, just slightly extended with a loop round Finsbury Park. Again, it was a good run - apart from the part where in a fail of the like usually only seen on those silly TV programmes where people send embarrassing videos in of people dancing embarrassingly and falling over, I managed to run directly into a phone box on Holloway Road, to the uncurbed delight of three hooded youths (it's un-PC to actually call them a hoodie these days, isn't it?) - and for the next 7 days walked around with a bruise on my knuckles which made me look like I'd been out on the razz and got into a huge fight. This wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't then run into a lamppost mid-week on my way home from work... aargh!
The following week found RHD and I in my car on the way to Surrey at stupid-O'-clock - we had entered the Surrey Slog. This was the result of me having too much time on my hands after leaving my last job and deciding it would be a great idea to enter an off-road, hilly half marathon. Quite how I managed to persuade RHD to do it, I'm not sure, but it's a good job she did come because my Garmin died 10 minutes in - so here's RHD's record instead which gives an idea of the crazy hills we ran up and down. My official time can be found here at the end of the third page - 2:18 - I was pretty happy with this as you're supposed to add 15% onto your normal half marathon time, which I haven't tried to get a PB in but I think is probably between 1:55 and 2:00 on the flat. This was the most enjoyable run of my training so far apart from my week in Cumbria - finally a chance to run somewhere beautiful, instead of pounding away on the streets of Haringey.
Pleased with ourselves, we decided to go for 18 miles the next week - and again, my Garmin was dead so here's RHD's report of that run. We were pretty pleased - it was boiling hot (about 25 degrees) and keeping hydrated was a challenge. It was also the first week where I've veetoed energy/electrolyte gels on the long run and gone with jelly babies instead, on the basis that gels are DISGUSTING and I think the manufacturers are laughing at us. The jelly babies aren't 100% vegetarian, but then again neither is icecream or wine so I decided to take an executive decision and give it a go. It was much nicer - but by mile 15 we were really struggling for water. We were down by the river and just as RHD said, "well, you can buy some water if we pass somewhere" and I gave her a Look knowing that we'd never pass anywhere that sold water down there, we found an ice-cream van and were saved!!! After glugging about 250ml of ice-cold water in one go, I was almost completely revived and we cantered home in good shape.
Which brings us to this week's run - 20 miles. We decided to skip 19 miles, as we were both keen to get past the mental block of 20 miles, and I'm so glad we did. For whatever reason today when we ran, I just felt absolutely brilliant for the entire run. I don't know if it had more to do with the 6 (yes, really) baked potatoes I ate last night as carb-loading preparation or the adrenalin rush we got when we ran up to Tottenham which was part of my planned route as I hadn't read the news this morning...!!! This was sort of a defining visual moment I will never forget - us dashing up to Tottenham in our neon Lycra and ridiculous running belts, and suddenly hearing RHD yell "Jodie, wait" - as I turned around and saw she had manged to just avoid running into the saddest-looking burnt out car I have ever seen in my life as a result of last night's rioting. We tried to run a little further, but we were quickly in the thick of a huge crowd of people staring at the burnt-out buildings and cars, scores of reporters and camera crews and a large number of police. We had to turn around and take a different route. Anyway, usually on these long runs I get tired after mile 15 and have to push through but today was a milestone as for some reason, even by 20 miles I felt absolutely fine and could've probably run another couple of miles or even a whole marathon distance. Berlin, here we come.... watch out.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Untitled by jodes82 at Garmin Connect - Details
Untitled by jodes82 at Garmin Connect - Details
Today's 15 mile run. Huge hill in middle. Pleased with the average pace of 9:18.
Friday, June 10, 2011
How my relationship with my running buddy works.... :-\
Today's text conversation... speaks for itself:
Me: Omg. Rain!!!
RHD: Yes! It will be refreshing
Me: I don't wanna run :( can we just go to a gym class instead? Or do intervals inside? Rly not up for running outside :( Xx
RHD: (silence)
Me: No but I am gonna be sooooo cold and tired on my way home.....:(
RHD: Are you serious??? Bad Jodie? Where is your commitment? Don't make me comment about this on your blog!
Me: But I'm cold and tired! Xx
RHD: Bad Jodie!
Me: :( let's go find a Pilates class and then have dinner instead? X
RHD: No deal
Me: Just dinner then?
RHD: No deal. I know you don't mean that.
Me: Just a drink then?
RHD: (silence)
Me: I really, really, really don't want to be cold and wet :'(
RHD: But today is the only day I can run. You can shower and put on snuggly dry clothes at mine x
Me: (pathetically) I don't have a towel... :)
RHD: No more excuses - I have plenty!!
Looks like I'm going for a long run in the rain then...
Me: Omg. Rain!!!
RHD: Yes! It will be refreshing
Me: I don't wanna run :( can we just go to a gym class instead? Or do intervals inside? Rly not up for running outside :( Xx
RHD: (silence)
Me: No but I am gonna be sooooo cold and tired on my way home.....:(
RHD: Are you serious??? Bad Jodie? Where is your commitment? Don't make me comment about this on your blog!
Me: But I'm cold and tired! Xx
RHD: Bad Jodie!
Me: :( let's go find a Pilates class and then have dinner instead? X
RHD: No deal
Me: Just dinner then?
RHD: No deal. I know you don't mean that.
Me: Just a drink then?
RHD: (silence)
Me: I really, really, really don't want to be cold and wet :'(
RHD: But today is the only day I can run. You can shower and put on snuggly dry clothes at mine x
Me: (pathetically) I don't have a towel... :)
RHD: No more excuses - I have plenty!!
Looks like I'm going for a long run in the rain then...
Thursday, June 9, 2011
What does my running training involve? + musings about my bum. Part 1
Runners are a bunch of boring old farts aren't they? It's a bit of a serious sport though, right? And also - isn't it true that runners get injured much more than say, cyclists or swimmers or ramblers???
To be honest I don't have a clue, but my training consists of a lot more than running. For starters, I am in beginner kung fu at the Tang Long kung fu school in Finchley Road . Trust me when I say beginner kung fu - as taught by Shifu Heng Wei - is one of the hardest workouts I have ever experienced. By the end of the class you lose about a litre of sweat, but it feels good!
Then there's Bodypump . Yes, weight lifting to cheesy music. Amazing. And a lot harder than it looks, because of the sheer amount of reps involved. In fact, I took along 2 mates to a class one day because they bantered me about Bodypump being "girly". One of these guys is a 6ft body builder, the other is 6'4" and just.... huge. By the end of the class they looked like they needed a stretcher!!!
Then there's Pilates, cycling to work, all of those crunches and other core strength activities which are vital for running to help avoid overuse injuries. The most amusing of these is something I have imaginatively named "standing on one foot". I read a book called Feet In The Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession . The author makes a number of attempts to complete the Bob Graham Round - 74 miles over 42 peaks in 24 hours. (Yes, you did just read that correctly.) I secretly harbour an ambition to complete this one day. Maybe in about 20 years....! Anyway, in the book as part of his training, the author spends some time every evening balancing on one foot and then the other, in order to strengthen the ligaments in his ankles. I thought this sounded sensible, so I tried it in whilst watching a movie on TV one evening. By the end of 5 minutes my butt was on fire, so it was clearly a good thing to do. However, the idea of standing still at all is something I am not too familiar with, let alone doing it every night. I thought to myself, "how can I incorporate this into my day whilst doing something else?" The answer? On the tube every morning on the way to work whilst reading the newspaper and listening to my Ipod. That's at least 4 things I'm doing at once, which helps a lot with my short attention span :-D . And after 40 minutes of this every day, my bum is considerably stronger. Also, people think I'm weird for standing like a stork and generally leave me some space - great in rush hour!!!
To be honest I don't have a clue, but my training consists of a lot more than running. For starters, I am in beginner kung fu at the Tang Long kung fu school in Finchley Road . Trust me when I say beginner kung fu - as taught by Shifu Heng Wei - is one of the hardest workouts I have ever experienced. By the end of the class you lose about a litre of sweat, but it feels good!
Then there's Bodypump . Yes, weight lifting to cheesy music. Amazing. And a lot harder than it looks, because of the sheer amount of reps involved. In fact, I took along 2 mates to a class one day because they bantered me about Bodypump being "girly". One of these guys is a 6ft body builder, the other is 6'4" and just.... huge. By the end of the class they looked like they needed a stretcher!!!
Then there's Pilates, cycling to work, all of those crunches and other core strength activities which are vital for running to help avoid overuse injuries. The most amusing of these is something I have imaginatively named "standing on one foot". I read a book called Feet In The Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession . The author makes a number of attempts to complete the Bob Graham Round - 74 miles over 42 peaks in 24 hours. (Yes, you did just read that correctly.) I secretly harbour an ambition to complete this one day. Maybe in about 20 years....! Anyway, in the book as part of his training, the author spends some time every evening balancing on one foot and then the other, in order to strengthen the ligaments in his ankles. I thought this sounded sensible, so I tried it in whilst watching a movie on TV one evening. By the end of 5 minutes my butt was on fire, so it was clearly a good thing to do. However, the idea of standing still at all is something I am not too familiar with, let alone doing it every night. I thought to myself, "how can I incorporate this into my day whilst doing something else?" The answer? On the tube every morning on the way to work whilst reading the newspaper and listening to my Ipod. That's at least 4 things I'm doing at once, which helps a lot with my short attention span :-D . And after 40 minutes of this every day, my bum is considerably stronger. Also, people think I'm weird for standing like a stork and generally leave me some space - great in rush hour!!!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Been a while!
Well, it's been a while since I last blogged, mostly because my sense of humour has been otherwise engaged (on secondment to my office :-p ). I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself because I completed a very fast 10m today.... but we'll come back to that later.
I went on holiday in Cumbria to try to escape London during the madness of Royal Wedding Week (variously known as Pippa Middleton Butt Appreciation Week and Tourists Who Would Normally Be Very Patriotic Wave The Union Jack Week. I thought I was very clever and, erm, cool to be avoiding all the frivolity (after all, with the world's economy teetering on the brink, the NHS in its swansong and the deadly cucumber epidemic, surely this is no time to be having fun?) but as it turned out on the day of the wedding I secretly wished I was standing in the crowds on the Mall (apparently people brought stepladders out??!).
Sooo I had a wonderful time in Cumbria, and during the course of the week clocked up almost 80 miles (running and walking when necessary ie. up steep bits like this:
In the course of the week I managed to take in:
And here are some considerably nicer photos of said hills.
Yewbarrow, Great Gable and Lingmell reflected in Wast Water:
The Scafell Pike range taken from Scoat Fell:
The wrong path (oops, someone followed me there) up Kirk Fell:
Me at mile 13 on my way back from Wast Water on the first day (thought I'd slip this one in):
Me being fronting up a random chicken in the carpark at Ennerdale Water who wanted to hustle our car:
The beautiful Ennerdale Water:
.... just beautiful.
The day we did the Langdale Pikes we parked the car at the New Hotel at Dungeon Ghyll. I went to reception to pay for parking and nipped into the ladies' on the way out. As I entered the bar there were about 20 hikers all in full gear, glued to a huge flat screen TV. My eyes followed their gaze and there in one of the most remote valleys in England were Kate and Wills exchanging vows. Not a dry eye in the house. Nowhere to hide....!!!
I arrived back in London and full of excitement at my training kickstart, RHD and I went for a long run the following weekend and did a full half marathon which we were pretty pleased with. We recovered from that a little bit too quickly so the weekend after that we decided to bring the run up to 14 miles, even though we could get away with resting at 13 miles for a couple of weeks as we were well ahead of schedule on the training plan. We set off from RHD's flat in Fulham and ran along the river which was an awesome run. RHD had been telling me about an amazing frozen yoghurt shop on the King's Road so we talked about frozen yoghurt all the way round and that pretty much got us round - we actually ended up doing 15 miles instead of 14 (with much protesting from me towards the end). We then went into the frozen yoghurt shop and, sweating profusely (well, I was anyway) ordered our dessert from the very confused guys behind the counter and walked back along the King's Road, getting some very strange looks indeed from the people spilling out of the bars (it was Friday night and we probably looked as if we'd gone for a 2 mile jog, given up and gone to get ice cream, daaaahling).
Continuing the cross training (kung fu, body pump, intervals, Pilates) during the week we were really starting to see a big improvement in the distance we can run and the pace we were able to sustain. So last weekend we found ourselves back in Cumbria - Ambleside - with RHD's parents (including her marathon crazy dad whose current ambition is to get into the 100-Marathons Club). We went for a 10 mile run with said dad on the Sunday and managed to time it so we ran back along the Brathay Marathon route.... just before the winners were due to finish. Oops. Cue lots of honking from passing motorists who clearly thought RHD was getting a gold medal and I was on my way for silver. At one point, a panicked-looking official saw us coming and started to jog on ahead of us. We had to call him and explain that although we might look like "runners" of some discription, we didn't really look like the Brathay Marathon winners... did we? The Brathay is notoriously difficult because of the hills and furthermore the finishers included some of the 10 In 10 runners who were running the Brathay as the 10th leg of a 10 marathons in 10 days challenge. Erm... in about a decade I might start to look vaguely like those guys. Maybe. We got through our 10 miles pretty fast though - we did 1:31:01 which we were delighted with, averaging 9:05 minute miles.
Which brings me back to today, in which I smashed through that PB by running 10 miles in 1:25:31. 8:33 minute miles over that distance for me is a real measure of my fitness and I am seeing a huge improvement now. Very exciting stuff. Thanks for reading and please keep supporting me - it really helps!
I went on holiday in Cumbria to try to escape London during the madness of Royal Wedding Week (variously known as Pippa Middleton Butt Appreciation Week and Tourists Who Would Normally Be Very Patriotic Wave The Union Jack Week. I thought I was very clever and, erm, cool to be avoiding all the frivolity (after all, with the world's economy teetering on the brink, the NHS in its swansong and the deadly cucumber epidemic, surely this is no time to be having fun?) but as it turned out on the day of the wedding I secretly wished I was standing in the crowds on the Mall (apparently people brought stepladders out??!).
Sooo I had a wonderful time in Cumbria, and during the course of the week clocked up almost 80 miles (running and walking when necessary ie. up steep bits like this:
In the course of the week I managed to take in:
- 13.2 miles from the campsite in Gosforth up to Wastwater, moving up the hill south-east at Flass/Cinder Bridge and running across the top of Whin Rigg and Illgill Head before descending at the north end of Wast Water and attempting to run back across the scree (I sort of managed a funny hop most of the way across).
- Great Gable, Green Gable and Lingmell starting from Wasdale Head.
- An extended version of the Mosedale Horseshoe (starting at Wasdale Head and running down to Overbeck Bridge, and then ascending Yewbarrow-Red Pike-Scoat Fell-Steeple-Pillar-Kirk Fell.
- A complete circuit of Ennerdale Water, including travelling some distance into Ennerdale Forest.
- The Langdales - Loft Crag-Pike of Stickle-Harrison Stickle-Thunacar Knott-High Raise and back via Stickle Tarn and Stickle Gill.
- From the north end of Buttermere: Red Pike-High Stile-High Crag-Seat-Buttermere Fell and back via the road to the north of the lake.
And here are some considerably nicer photos of said hills.
Yewbarrow, Great Gable and Lingmell reflected in Wast Water:
The Scafell Pike range taken from Scoat Fell:
The wrong path (oops, someone followed me there) up Kirk Fell:
Me at mile 13 on my way back from Wast Water on the first day (thought I'd slip this one in):
Me being fronting up a random chicken in the carpark at Ennerdale Water who wanted to hustle our car:
The beautiful Ennerdale Water:
.... just beautiful.
The day we did the Langdale Pikes we parked the car at the New Hotel at Dungeon Ghyll. I went to reception to pay for parking and nipped into the ladies' on the way out. As I entered the bar there were about 20 hikers all in full gear, glued to a huge flat screen TV. My eyes followed their gaze and there in one of the most remote valleys in England were Kate and Wills exchanging vows. Not a dry eye in the house. Nowhere to hide....!!!
I arrived back in London and full of excitement at my training kickstart, RHD and I went for a long run the following weekend and did a full half marathon which we were pretty pleased with. We recovered from that a little bit too quickly so the weekend after that we decided to bring the run up to 14 miles, even though we could get away with resting at 13 miles for a couple of weeks as we were well ahead of schedule on the training plan. We set off from RHD's flat in Fulham and ran along the river which was an awesome run. RHD had been telling me about an amazing frozen yoghurt shop on the King's Road so we talked about frozen yoghurt all the way round and that pretty much got us round - we actually ended up doing 15 miles instead of 14 (with much protesting from me towards the end). We then went into the frozen yoghurt shop and, sweating profusely (well, I was anyway) ordered our dessert from the very confused guys behind the counter and walked back along the King's Road, getting some very strange looks indeed from the people spilling out of the bars (it was Friday night and we probably looked as if we'd gone for a 2 mile jog, given up and gone to get ice cream, daaaahling).
Continuing the cross training (kung fu, body pump, intervals, Pilates) during the week we were really starting to see a big improvement in the distance we can run and the pace we were able to sustain. So last weekend we found ourselves back in Cumbria - Ambleside - with RHD's parents (including her marathon crazy dad whose current ambition is to get into the 100-Marathons Club). We went for a 10 mile run with said dad on the Sunday and managed to time it so we ran back along the Brathay Marathon route.... just before the winners were due to finish. Oops. Cue lots of honking from passing motorists who clearly thought RHD was getting a gold medal and I was on my way for silver. At one point, a panicked-looking official saw us coming and started to jog on ahead of us. We had to call him and explain that although we might look like "runners" of some discription, we didn't really look like the Brathay Marathon winners... did we? The Brathay is notoriously difficult because of the hills and furthermore the finishers included some of the 10 In 10 runners who were running the Brathay as the 10th leg of a 10 marathons in 10 days challenge. Erm... in about a decade I might start to look vaguely like those guys. Maybe. We got through our 10 miles pretty fast though - we did 1:31:01 which we were delighted with, averaging 9:05 minute miles.
Which brings me back to today, in which I smashed through that PB by running 10 miles in 1:25:31. 8:33 minute miles over that distance for me is a real measure of my fitness and I am seeing a huge improvement now. Very exciting stuff. Thanks for reading and please keep supporting me - it really helps!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A good run home! at Garmin Connect - Details
This was my run home tonight.
I developed a serious case of jelly legs about halfway through... but I pushed through and actually ran faster than I expected, even with a heavy rucksack (that's a backpack for all you Ozzies/Americans reading this). Very pleased with myself!!! Especially as there were some hills.
What makes me particularly happy looking at the splits are miles 2, 3 and 7 - all at a pace of under 9 minutes per mile.
Happy face :-)
Monday, May 9, 2011
My run to work this morning.
Untitled by jodes82 at Garmin Connect - Details
Clear speeding up at the end when I realised I was almost late for work. Good training motivation!!!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Untitled by jodes82 at Garmin Connect - Details
Here is our training run from this morning.
We decided to make it 13.1 miles instead of 13, so it was a true half marathon. Running at marathon race pace means running slower than you normally would run that distance, so our 2 hours 7 minutes is very respectable but it's at that pace because that's the pace we'd like to run 26.2 miles at in September.
Pretty good run anyway. RHD thinks I'm weird because I sweat half my body weight when we're out running. I think she's weird because she hardly sweats at all. We didn't knock over too many tourists, and we managed to work Regent's Park, Green Park, Primrose Hill and Hyde Park into the run. Hurray :-)
Friday, May 6, 2011
The madness really kicks in....
Hi everyone!
This is my first proper blog, so please bear with me throughout as I'll probably be changing my style and trying new things throughout.
Hopefully if you're reading this, you're here because you've received some kind of information from me or a third party about my Berlin Marathon attempt, taking place on September 25th 2011, the day before my 29th birthday. (I've always wanted to limp around in agony in a strange city on my birthday. Luckily my lovely fiance will be there to prop me up.)
I am training for this with my training buddy, RHD, who is also a marathon virgin, and we're in the very early stages of our training plan, which consists of 1 long run, 1 tempo run, 1 set of intervals and a LOT of cross training on a weekly basis.
Last week I went to the beautiful Lake District and clocked up just under 80 miles of hill-running and trail-running so on the whole am feeling quite fit. I invested £105 into a gadget called a Garmin Forerunner 305 , which is an excellent bit of kit (actually I'm sure it'll be even better once I've figured out how to use it properly) and does things like beep at me when I run too fast or too slow. This is mostly very useful apart from when you're sprinting down a 40 degree hill and the thing starts screaming at you in terror. But on the whole a pretty good buy.
So thanks for dropping in, and I'll be updating everyone again very soon!
Jodes
This is my first proper blog, so please bear with me throughout as I'll probably be changing my style and trying new things throughout.
Hopefully if you're reading this, you're here because you've received some kind of information from me or a third party about my Berlin Marathon attempt, taking place on September 25th 2011, the day before my 29th birthday. (I've always wanted to limp around in agony in a strange city on my birthday. Luckily my lovely fiance will be there to prop me up.)
I am training for this with my training buddy, RHD, who is also a marathon virgin, and we're in the very early stages of our training plan, which consists of 1 long run, 1 tempo run, 1 set of intervals and a LOT of cross training on a weekly basis.
Last week I went to the beautiful Lake District and clocked up just under 80 miles of hill-running and trail-running so on the whole am feeling quite fit. I invested £105 into a gadget called a Garmin Forerunner 305 , which is an excellent bit of kit (actually I'm sure it'll be even better once I've figured out how to use it properly) and does things like beep at me when I run too fast or too slow. This is mostly very useful apart from when you're sprinting down a 40 degree hill and the thing starts screaming at you in terror. But on the whole a pretty good buy.
So thanks for dropping in, and I'll be updating everyone again very soon!
Jodes
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