Marathon training has begun!

As you may know, I have been preparing to train for my marathon for the last couple of months. It all started in December with running every day to 25^th and also trying to increase a single run to 10 miles.  All was achieved and I have been steadily running 4-5 times a week since the beginning of January 2019 and increasing my long run distance.

So 4th Feb signalled the start of my 16-week training plan; which does feel long but I’ve built in some wriggle room and factored in a week in Mexico🌞. I have still not managed to really get in much quality work, reps on the treadmill are hard work and no one really fancies a tempo session unless you have company😒 .  

But I did get my longest run for 2 years done a whopping 14 miles last week and followed up with 13 miles this week.  On both runs, I was feeling the effects by the end and none of it was particularly quick.  

I like to reminisce about my long runs, of the past when I could run 14 miles at 8:30 min pace and question whether I will be ever that quick again…..but then I remember that I’m older,  that style of running hurt and I didn’t really enjoy it.  So I will carry on with my plodding miles and hope that the pave does quicken a little.

You do have a lot of time during your long run and I used to decide which charity to run for. I'll be fundraising for it's Bowel Cancer UK and my link to my just giving page is here I had originally thought perhaps I could run for all the B cancers; Bladder, Bowel, Balls and Breast, but I don’t think that there is such a charity out there yet!

Bowel Cancer UK  provider expert information and support to patients and their families, they campaign for early diagnosis and treatment, they support and fund research to help stop people dying of bowel cancer and they educate. To find out more check out their website. https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/

Cancer has struck my family again; my Dad survived his last bout with Bladder cancer and has been fit and healthy for the last 8 years.  Then last year he started to get some symptoms, which made him book an appointment with the GP and following that he was put on the cancer two-week pathway and had a battery of tests. 

The outcome and diagnosis was not what any of us wanted but in the grand scheme of things it was in the early stages and he had stood a good chance to win in this battle too.  

His treatment plan was an aggressive one of combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy, neither were very pleasant and towards the end of the treatment, they were beginning to take their toll on him.  However, after 5 weeks his treatment stopped and although the treatment effects continued they didn’t get any worse and they even started to lesson week by week.  By week 5 after he finished treatment he was back to his chipper self….all be it a lot thinner than when he started. 

Now for the next barrage of tests again to see how things are going….and it was good news treatment had gone well the tumour was now a distance memory.  Although things don’t stop there, because of his previous cancer and the treatment he was unable to have the usual next stage in traditional treatment pathway which was an operation to remove the site of cancer, which meant there were several options to him. 

As it stands, 4 months after he finished treatment,  he is now on a watchful waiting list, where he has regular scans to ensure he remains cancer free and the second anything changes we face a new decision which is knife or no knife…..

It is a tense time for all of us, but I think that it is the Owen way to feel invincible and that we will defy the odds, so let’s keep our positive pants on and keep moving forward.

New year, new me??

A good question is it a new me? Well, certainly from a hair perspective I have gone bold and being brave!

Let me tell you a little story.... when I was 12/13 and it was the early 80s, “Born Blonde”, "sun in" hair bleach was all the rage. I  had decided that a blonde fringe looked so good going full blonde was the only way to go....fast forward a sunny Saturday afternoon, sitting with a bottle born blonde on my LONG DARK BROWN hair, in the sun with a plastic bag on my hair (to help aid the processes 😮), as I went to wash off the peroxide concoction off my hair, the fear of impending doom never struck me, until the towel fell from my hair and I finally looked in the mirror!        

Needless to say, it took less than 10 minutes and I was back at the sink with my mums wash-in wash-out brown/black hair colour. For the next 5 years, I had to constantly dye my hair dark brown and had to stay away from perms which in the 80s was the style of choice for any self-respecting teenage girl!!

 

30 years later I was sitting in the hairdressers with a clear plastic bag on my head watching the colour leave my hair, trying to convince myself this time it will be better, time has moved on… computers can fit in your hand,  cars run on electricity and you can get a flight to Vegas for £250! Surely they are not still using Born Blonde…. Whilst I’m enjoying my new hair, to a degree, there is still that 12/13 girl looking back at me in the mirror on the odd occasions.

So what about your running I hear you ask, well I'm feeling a little more like a new me; I ran my fastest parkrun in 16 months and I ran my longest run is nearly 20th months!! I did rest while I had my cold and waited until I had recovered before I commenced training again, so it was a good 5/6 days off, but I got straight back on the plan and even took it sensibly, with some reduced mileage runs rather training to ramp things back to where they were.  So after my mini break and my week back, I have three new records:

My fastest parkrun (27:33) since 19/08/2017 at Fletcher Moss parkrun, which was a nice little course, a couple of small hills which had quite impressive downhill section considering I’m sure we didn’t climb that much. 

My fastest mile (8:03), I can remember the last time I ran a whole mile that quick it was in my last mile of my parkrun, I was picking people off as in the last half a mile and even managed a sprint finish which I have not done in years either!

Finally ,my longest run (11.1 miles) since 28^th May 2017 which I am pretty sure was Manchester half marathon!!   

So it really does feel like a new year and new me 😁

Road bump

Well, I have hit a road bump this week, week 2 into my Edinburgh base training plan and things were going well. 

On Tuesday I had made it to Derwent runners, had a great 6 miles steady run, got to explore a lot more of Derby and knew I would be back, 4 miles on Thursday morning and was all set for my long run on Friday.  Then Thursday came, I woke up and had a tickly cough but pressed on for my 4 miles treadmill run, however, as the day wore on I started to go downhill quickly and apparently I was looking rather rough (and that was them being nice).

Fast forward to the evening and I am huddled up on the sofa, in three layers of clothes, surrounded by tissues, sipping a very special hot toddy, which is only making do until I can take my hit of night nurse and go to bed.

I have come down with this horrible cold that is going around at the minute, the news on the street is that it lasts for at least a week! I really hope not. Fortunately, at the minute, I don’t work Fridays so it meant I could take up permanent residency on the sofa for the rest of the day. I gave myself a long lie in, got dressed and settled down for a day of Wanted Down under, RipOff Briton (Holiday edition) and the box set of "The Good Doctor" which was a bit of a lifesaver (pun indented).

Needless to say that I am taking the week of my training plan and when I feel well enough I will get back to it…

Not going to sweat it and I have a good running buddy who is going through something a lot worse, so a little cold is not going to keep this girl down for too long, I'll be up and running in no time.