Just keep swimming

Following the marathon, with the next six months stretched and whilst we are waiting for summer to load I’m contemplating what to do with my next….. it’s true that marathon training really does consume you both physically and mentally, there is little time to think or do about anything else. 

This happens slowly and you don’t notice it happening, nearly every waking hour is taken up with thinking;

• about the route you will take, 
• the pace you will run, 
• have you got enough gels to get you though,
• will last night’s tea make and unpleasant reappearance where there are no facilities….
• do I have the energy to run again, 
• race day is T-minus x, 
• RACE DAY
• Finish line photos posted to the social media of your choice,
• retold the story about how the wheels fell off, or that you had an amazing race and yes you are pleased with your time!!

and then all of a sudden you have all this free time and mental capacity to do stuff….but you don’t know what to do with yourself. Personally, I’m not going to go on a 20 mile training run for shits and giggles if I ain’t got a marathon to do!  During my long runs, I’d dream about the stuff that could fill my day when not running, and now it is here I’m at a bit of a loss. 

So there was only one thing for it…sign up to a triathlon!  Which I have the North West Sprint Triathlon the end of September it’s a pool based Triathlon so (hopefully) there will be no getting out of the swim and bursting into tears! But what it does mean and with all this additional time I can finally get back in in the pool and back on my bike. 

So far it is week 3 of the new training plan and I’m keeping up my 2 early morning pool swims a week, it’s not easy and something I don’t enjoy that much, mainly because it is pure alone time with my thoughts…which is a scary place to be, because believe it or not I’m not very interesting. The strategy to keep me amused is to a) try not to imagine what those other weird floaty things are in the pool and b) remember what lap we are on.  Another good game is how many laps can I get done before other people join my lane Wednesday's record was 36.  But in the words of Dory “just keep swimming swimming”.

There has not been much in the way of bike training year other than spectating at the Potters Arf the other
week, so I need to up my game there but the awful summer weather hasn’t helped and my bike is need of some TLC maintenance to sort out the squeaking disc brakes.  Currently, my knowledge of how to sort this out has come from two YouTube clips and it looks easy enough what’s the worse that can happen...

Running ain't pretty

As the title suggests running is not  sport you undertake if you want to look glamorous,  well unless you are Nel McAndrew that is, she is one person who can run a sub 3 hour marathon and look brilliant at the end of it, I am putting it down to good genes.

I see some ladies at the start line with full makeup on  and wonder if they will end up looking  like Alice Cooper at the finish, I know I would! I have contemplated wearing waterproof mascara and stay put foundation, but my main focus on the morning of any run is trying to calm my hair down and asking the question "do I really need another wee?"

Then there is the race photos,  there are some kind hearted souls who give up their Sunday morning, in all weathers to spend hours taking photos of the runner as they go past,  they are indeed kind hearted souls but they have a mean streak, which is why they will find a great spot at the top the steepest hill on the course, when you are blowing out of our backside and looking a soggy sweaty mess and you try and raise a  cheery smile. However when you have built up enjoy energy to

check your photos on line later you could frame it and use it to scare the kids away from the fire.   I imagine that there are even worse ones that even the Internet gods just say No to.

Let's not forget the physical side of things, your feet as a runner would make bilbo baggins feel ashamed, you have to paint your toe nails or the front of our toe where your nail use to be to make them look halfway famine. Blisters are another blight of the runner, no matter how you try they do not look pretty so summer slingbacks and flip flops are out of the questions. If you don't suffer the blight of blisters, well done your feet are now that hardened that you can successfully walk across cut glass or hot coals and not feel a thing.

Chafing is a other charming side effect of running, currently I look like I am sporting the Rihanna style tattoo just below the bra strap from my recent obsession with heart rate monitor bra,  I thought it was a better alternative to my heart rate monitor strap but alas no.  I am really hoping that it goes before my holiday in May, but with training for London Marathon  I doubt it. I suppose us women do fare much better than men when it comes to chafing, I have seen many a gentleman finishing a run/ race with two red streaks down their running tops and I hear that it can get much worse, but I have opted not to dig much more into the topic with them, but then again some men do not help themselves ------->

The runners tan is another delight,  I love spring and summer running you get to be out and about when  the sun is shining,  however the strange tan line we end up with are legendary,  as the summer moves open the three quarter tights give way to shorts and then even shorter shorts and the tan gradually raises up your legs but completely misses your feel. The problem is most female runners are not Gemma Steele or Liz Yelling so the running pants are a pipe dream ( thank goodness)
however it does lead to an embarrassing couple of days on holiday while the rest of the body catches  up.

But then again I guess we don't do it for the glamour, we do it because we can, we do it for the health benefits, we do it for the personal challenge and we do it for the bling!