Saddo stato

Not really much of a post, but as sleep was eluding me and my mind was filled with all sort of trivia such as .... when was the last time I ran under 25 mins at parkrun? 

I have made no bones about the fact that I have fallen out of love with running a little and it is difficult to pin point when things started to go sour; was it during my last proper marathon training cycle, which was for London Marathon 2015?  I thought a bit of stat analysis would help....here is what I have found out and I am not sure that it holds the answers.

My parkrun PB was in October 2013, which is 23:25 

I last ran under 25 mins in May 2014 at Hanley

Here are my stats for Hanley parkrun

As for the other stats from my garmin, well that tells me that my pace has slowed down as have the number of miles run and I suppose your can't have pace if you are not putting in the mileage. 

My race calendar for next year is looking very bare, with only 4 races scheduled and one of those is a triathlon. There is the intention to do more races, but there will be more diversity in races and hopefully an injection of pace! 

Walking wounded

September was not my best month!  It started off well with a lovely relaxing week in Ibiza which was my first week off since forever…well last year really.  Then I came back ready to get focused carry on with the swimming, cycling and getting down to some serious training before my key race Robin Hood half marathon.

And that is where things started to go downhill; since forever I have been thinking, talking about cycling to my parents' house. I have run it many times and the last time, I ran along the cycle route and I was excited about trying it out.

The short version of this story is that I had a collision with a Bee; which made me I fall off my bike, had to be rescued by my knight in shining armour, get patched up by the angles at the Walk in Centre and then be ridiculed by my friends and family alike (once of course, they knew I wasn't too badly injured). I really can’t wait for the ambulance chasers call me up with "had an accident that wasn’t your fault" :)

So due to my injures this meant I wasn't able to go swimming, because of the nasty open wound on my elbow, and it was a perfect excuse not to do any speed work… I fell of my bike you know

My next calamity happened because I just wasn't thinking; as I mentioned earlier my key race this, but it had been demoted to get around and survive.  The main reason for this was that I simply hadn’t put in the key running sessions what with, training for the triathlon, the falling off my bike and always taking the easy option on club night. 

So race day came and although I felt  undertrained, I was well prepared in terms of kit…no missing running bra or running trainers this time - that was a relief. Little did I know at the time I had already made my biggest mistake of the day, simply by putting my bra on!

Now your running bras, ladies, are like your trainers after around 300-400  miles they start to lose their elasticity and you need to replace them and this was the reason that I had chosen  today of all the days to were a new running bra, this was not only new new but really new as in a new model I had never worn before…..YES I KNOW I committed the mortal sin of wearing something new on race day. 

For the first couple of miles all was good….however after mile 3 I was in serious trouble, by mile 8 was agony and despite asking every one of the St Johns ambulance  crews on route no one had any Vaseline to spare :( 

Although I was very uncomfortable to say the very least, there was a reminder that there will be other people who might be having a worse day; case and point was right in front of me a lady who err umm how does one say this…was having a worse day than me and the evidence was running down the back of her legs.  I have to say this did spur me on a little if not in the least to get away as no one wants to be caught on camera with that in either the fore or back ground.

My last few miles were very uncomfortable and I admit the thought of taking my bra off did cross my mind, but the damage had been done and the best thing I could do would be to get to the finish ASAP, take the dam thing off. But if you have ever suffered with third degree chafedge you know that taking the offending article of clothing off is not the end of the story, there is the horror of the shower and putting clothes back on! Needless to say the following weeks after Nottingham were very uncomfortable and not very supportive ;)

What followed for the rest of September was a terrible sore throat, followed a week later by a stinking head cold. So I can honestly say that it September has been pretty shitty really, in terms of my health!

I am approaching October optimistically :) watch this space

Unplugged...the key to enlightenment

For the last few years I have been playing with the idea of unplugging from recording and measuring all my fitness activities (running, cycling, swimming, walking).  Ever since I took up running I have recorded every element of my run and dutifully added it to my spreadsheet, before the advent of Garmin Connect or Strava. It was great watching my mileage grow each week/month and watching my average pace per mile decrease over time.  I watched myself go from a regular 10:30 min mile pace down to 7:50 ish with glowing pride and sense of achievement….

However, what I once enjoyed soon turned sour, and that little screen on my watch dictated how I felt about my run, likewise not achieving a certain distance each week (30 miles) made me feel lazy, unfit and a little down.  Which is ridiculous when you think about it, a given pace or mileage should not determine about how you feel about a run, that should come from within rather than from a little device on your wrist.

This is the reason that I unplugged! Now, many of my running buddies are real statos (you know who you are) and they love to know the distance, the pace per mile, splits, HRM, oscillation, VO2 max, which moons were in alignment during their run and they were shocked by my little experiment, and was convinced that my head to explode the first time I went out without my Garmin (they weren't alone in thinking that). ***

But I am happy to report that my head stayed on my shoulders and didn't explode! I've been unplugged since the 1st September and run or cycled 11 times which includes a race.  I would have been on the biked and swam more however, there is story they which I will share next blog.

SO the BIG question is; do I feel more enlightened now I have undertaken this little experiment? To be honest I don’t really feel any different…. I think I need to acknowledge a few things a move on

1. I like data
2. I like recording information
3. I need to stop setting targets
4. I need to set targets based on my current level of fitness ( I didn’t really mean point 3)
5. I should stop comparing myself to a time in the past when I was always getting PBs, summers were sunnier, I was 1 stone lighter and it always snowed a Christmas
6. I should enjoy whatever exercise I do, because it normally means I'm with friends, I am prolonging my life (barring any major accidents see the next blog)
7. I have been coveting my next triathlon GPS device for the last 27 days
8. If I forget my watch it won’t be the end of the world, my run/ride/swim will still count even if it isn’t on Strava

 

I am really sorry if you came to this blog expecting from profound message about how running without devices has set me free and how everyone should do it….it took an unexpected turn for me as well!!

*** other than Olly Clarke he said I could make it!