Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow

Today's run: 15.5(ish) miles in the snow. Oh, and in 3 hours 30 mins or so.
Injury check: Only standard aches.
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I planned a lovely route out yesterday. It would take us along a riverside footpath that's also part of the national cycle network - therefore off-road but still ok for a bike - and would be a nice 7.5 miles out and back to complete my planned 15 miles.

The environment

Then the snow happened. 

Remember when I thought running in the snow was fun? Yeah, it's less fun when the marathon is only a month away and you really need to be racking up the miles regardless of the weather. Besides which, if I wasn't training I could be properly enjoying the snow by, say, making snowmen.

Anyway, I re-mapped my route and plotted out a 5.3 mile loop from my doorstep, with a plan to complete it three times. I picked a route that meant I'd never be more than about 1 mile (direct) from my flat, so if it all got too much I could cut the run short at any point and just make a break for home. 

Unfortunately my support crew couldn't join me today. Road bike + road tyres do not go well with 2 inches of snow! But I am (currently) a runner, therefore I must run. So, in the snow and the ice, and the sub-zero temperatures, I set out. Well wrapped up, of course:

The gear

1. Hat. Nice, neon-bright yellow running hat. Essential in these temperatures.
2. Neck warmer. Originally purchased for a snowboarding holiday, I never imagined I'd be re-purposing it for running in the snow.
3. Top layer: lightweight jacket, very useful in keeping the wind off. Under layer: long-sleeved running top. 
4. Phone holder. With a £10 note tucked inside, just in case I needed a ride home.
5. Gloves. Also great for taking the worst of the chill out of the biting wind. These are smart gloves, with clever tips in the index fingers so I can still use a smartphone screen when I'm wearing them.
6. Watch. For timekeeping.
7. Map. Don't judge me. I planned this route meticulously and a paper scribble wrapped around my forearm is much easier to look at than a phone screen strapped to my bicep.
8. Pace band. Fairly academic today, really. 
9. Belt to carry my energy gels in.
10. Jogging bottoms, over the top of my running tights. I usually don't run in trousers but layers was the key word of the day.


I was under no illusions that I'd be able to keep to a pace today - hence the achingly slow time. I ran on the roads where I could, and in the slightly deeper snow when it was there, but I was jogging fairly slowly over a large amount of the route, and walking some portions of it, just because the footing wasn't particularly good. I was more than willing to sacrifice a good time today in preference for not injuring myself, especially as I began to tire. I walked the final half mile of the last loop because the snow and slush underfoot was starting to get icy.

But, even though I had the option of cutting today short each time I returned to my flat, I covered the whole 15 miles. I am over the moon with that, especially as I actually feel ok right now. 

My body is definitely getting more used to putting in this amount of exercise without demanding that I suffer too much afterwards. To be fair, I'm also getting much more used to how I'll feel after this amount of exercise and what I should be doing to recover: in my case, this includes cold drinks, hot drinks, chocolate, crisps and then decent food.

I've also completely given up on the idea of cold/ice baths, because I just can't sit in one for more than a few minutes and I haven't seen that produce any benefits! A hot bath is calling me tonight. And I have totally earned it.

Reading Half Report

The run: 13.1 miles / 21.08 km in 2:22:06.
Injury check: Nothing prohibitive.
Running buddy: Katie.
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Sunday, 17th March, 2013. My first (and last?) half marathon. There are no photos of the event*; the rain and the cold pre-empted any plans for photo opportunities, I'm afraid. 

Apart from the rain, this was a good run. It was a fairly interesting course, with twists and turns and variety in the roads; there was a bit of uphill but nothing too steep or too long; it's very nice to have people on hand offering you water and Lucozade; it finished in a football stadium with crowds watching and cheering. And I got an awesome time.

But the rain... oh, the rain was horrible. 

Also, I had to get up before 6am. On a Sunday. (Yes, 6am does exist on a Sunday morning - who knew?) I drove to Reading, ate a second breakfast in my car before scoping out the area and meeting up with Katie, and then popped back to the car to change. 

I then wore a bin-bag to the start line. With a hole cut out for my head. I know: so stylish. I'd actually been advised (by my dad) that many serious runners do this on wet runs. I was ambivalent about the idea, until I was actually out in the cold and the rain in my running gear, and having to bimble around in the 'race village' and behind the start line for some time before we could actually run enough to warm up. 

(As Katie remarked, seeing dozens of bin-bag-swaddled people bobbing on the spot to keep warm, in the rain, in the queues for the portaloos, really brought home the ridiculous nature of what we were about to embark upon.) 

The running itself wasn't actually too bad, once we'd got going and warmed up. Allow me to present a recap of the key points (I'm not promising they're all entirely in chronological order):

• Mile 3 provided the only real gradient in the whole race - a bit of a slope but it wasn't a killer, and we were still relatively fresh at this point.
• The church along the route into Reading centre that was playing pumping dance music was definitely a surprise. But a welcome one. If I was going to join a church, it would be one of the kind that plays pumping dance music to bedraggled half marathon runners. 
• My parents were watching for us between the Mile 6 and Mile 7 markers. They'd printed (and laminated) a sign with our names on it, and were waving it proudly on a five-foot bamboo pole. (This was to help us pick them out from the expected crowds. Due to the unrelenting rain, the watching crowds were somewhat reduced...) I may never have smiled so much while running as I did when I saw that sign. 
• Only slightly further down the road we passed Katie's family, although I was looking in the wrong direction at the time and more or less missed them entirely. Apologies and a belated 'hello' to them.
• Throughout the course of this race I splashed myself in the ear with Lucozade. Twice. Note to self: re-cap drinks bottle properly when running. 
• Mile 9: Katie leaves me behind. Up until now I'd kept up with her pace but at this point my bad knee was twinging and I needed to stop, fiddle with my knee support and walk for a few minutes to work out the niggle. I was a little afraid that this might mean my pace would start to slip - not actually because of The Knee, but because I no longer had Katie pacemaking for me! However,the splits (oh yes, Reading Half emails you the splits as well as your final time) don't show much of a drop off, which is brilliant - especially given that I was running a little faster than my usual pace up until this point. 
• During Mile 10 I chatted briefly to a guy called Simon, encouraging him back up to a run from the walk he was at as I passed him (I was having an enthusiastic, let's-talk-to-a-stranger moment). We didn't really get into introductions, but I learnt he was called Simon when he got the random "Go on, [insert name here]!" cheers from some onlookers who spotted him approaching. He pulled away from me, then I passed him a bit later, then he passed me, then I passed him... Eventually I passed him when he was walking again and that was the last of that game. 
• Musing: the number of people I saw with their name on the back of their shirt thoroughly confused me. If you've already passed someone before they can read your name then a) they are no longer looking at you to cheer you, and b) you're less likely to hear the cheers anyway. Put it on the front, guys. But also: I am absolutely having my name on my marathon shirt. Well, a version of my name that people can pronounce at a glance, anyway.
• Mile 11 was a long, boring, straight section of A road. By this point I was just trudging through the metres, picking random people out ahead of me as either pacemakers or 'you're the person I'm going to pass next... and now you're the person I'm going to pass next... (and repeat)'.
• Either side of the Mile 12 marker was a dogleg along the north edge of the stadium. This was my lowest point, and luckily it lasted a very short time: I got caught out of breath again and had to slow to a walk, breathing deeply. At which moment Katie - who was now a little ahead of me and already on the return section of the dogleg - spotted me and shouted some encouragement! I took a few more deep breaths and started running again...
• And finally I entered the stadium. Finally, the end was in sight. I put on a sprint over the last few dozen metres, put on a grimace smile for the cameras, and gave a high five to one of the cheery volunteers as I crossed the finish line. And fantastically Katie had waited for me a few yards over the line, at which point we soggily celebrated our survival. 

2:22:06. I was hoping for around 2:30, so that's a fantastic time for me. All of the credit for that time goes to Katie, for dragging my pace incrementally upwards and taking us past the official 2:30 pacemaker - and then past the 2:25 pacemaker as well. 

13.1 miles - 2:22:06

After the run Katie went off to the kit tent to collect her bag and then to find her parents; I was so cold and wet through that all I could think about was getting back to my car. It was dry inside my car. And warm. Changing in a car is never graceful, but I did it, because I damn well wasn't getting back out into the rain again! (You know how your fingertips prune up when you've been in the water took long? By the time I took my trainers off my toes were like that.)

I sat in the car, ate some food and had a hot drink from my thermos flask while watching the rain continue outside. Eventually I drove home, had a hot bath, put an ice pack on my bad knee for a while and then rolled into bed. And thus ends my tale of the Reading Half. 

I'd like to send a final thought out into the ether thanking all those strangers who braved the rain to cheer on those of us slogging through it. The normal Reading Half crowds might not have been there, but those hardy souls who had made it to the kerb and huddled under umbrellas, shouting encouraging words at strangers, really did help. 


P.S. I have to add a word of praise for my Tune Belt arm-band phone holder: despite the neoprene and plastic being drenched for 2.5 hours, it transferred none of that to my phone, which emerged entirely unscathed - hooray!


*There are, of course, some photos of the event. But only my nearest and dearest are going to get to see them. Maybe.

Is It Nearly Spring Yet?

My friend [looking at the weather forecast for the weekend]: "But look, it'll probably be above zero. That's better than it has been some weeks recently."

Me: "I am tired of running in temperatures that are colder than the inside of my fridge."


Winter can go away already. Grumble, grumble. 


Edit: Since this conversation took place, the predicted temperature for Sunday is no longer above zero. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Reading Half

Today's run: 13.1 miles in 2:22:06.

Report to follow in due course.

Medal me!

Pre-Reading

Tomorrow I'm running the Reading Half Marathon. 

I have to get up ridiculously early for a Sunday, and it looks as if it'll be cold and raining for the whole time I'll be running. So that's something to look forward to. 

Also, despite having run (a bit) further than the half marathon distance in my training, I'm quite nervous about tomorrow. I think that's because it's a very different experience to psych myself up for - and on top of that it's not just outside my front door, there's a lot more planning required for this run. 

But, essentially, it's just another training run on the road towards the full marathon. So let's do this.

What? Isn't this how you prepare for a half marathon?

And Repeat

Today's run: 6.35 miles / 10.22 km in 1:11:13.
Injury check: Toenail is tender but no pain.
Training buddy: Rob (bike + foot)
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Note to future self: this is the right level of fitness to be at. 10k in just over an hour, with enough left for a sprint at the end. And then the ability to carry on with my day. After all this marathon nonsense is through, try and remember this feeling and don't let it get away.

A short long run today, if you will. I'm tapering down to the Reading Half Marathon on 17th of this month, so only an hour's worth of run required. 

Rob was my training partner again, and actually fancied running a bit this time, so I planned a 3ish mile loop and we covered it twice: once with him on bike and the second time on foot. I, of course, ran it all. And felt very good about it. I kept a good speed all the way around; the time isn't a record because we paused to stretch out a couple of times, but I was mostly going just a little faster than my usual pace.

The best bit of today was being able to manage a sprint finish over the last few dozen metres. Well, one of the best bits. Another good bit was the novelty of being the one coaching Rob at the end. 

Oh, and another great bit was the post-run snack: paté on crumpets. So good. 

To Run Or Not To Run...

...that is the question.

Well, not really a question so much as a general musing. Obviously I have to keep running.

In fact, not only are my waking hours seemingly full of going running, thinking about running, talking about running and writing about running, I'm now dreaming about running. Yes, for the last two nights, I have had dreams about running. I ask you, is that fair?!

But in all honesty I'm taking a short break from the running this week to rest up my left foot. The pain I developed in my instep on Sunday was, I believe, due to a muscle cramping up and then me continuing to run on it, causing bruising across the sole of my foot. Consequently I haven't been able to run this week - I managed a gym session, although I was limping a bit - and instead I've been regularly massaging my foot. I'm hoping that a few days off will put me right for this weekend's long run.

In other developments, I've just passed the £1000 mark in my fundraising, which means I'm more than halfway towards my target. (Hooray! And thank you so much to all my wonderful, generous sponsors.) It feels very aptly timed, just as I turn to face the half marathon next week. 

If I look back a year ago, I could never have seen myself doing this. That all changed with the tragic event of Emily's death. Not long after she'd gone, I wondered if there was something I could do as a tribute to her life. Running the marathon did occur to me, but a quick bit of research convinced me that I just didn't have the strength or reserves of willpower to get through it. Obviously I changed my mind; it's amazing what a difference TEAMwork can make. 

When we're done, we'll have raised thousands of pounds for Em's chosen charity, Diabetes UK. Hopefully we'll have raised some awareness of the risks of diabetes, too. Em wanted to help fund research that worked towards curing diabetes. I hope that the money we raise in her memory will contribute towards that goal. 

More Than Halfway There

Today's run: 13.5 miles / 21.73 km in 2:45:00. 
Injury check: All the injury are belong to me.
Support crew: Rob on bike.
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This was a tough one. For no discernible reason, this was markedly tougher than last week's long run. I was struggling even before the 12 mile point, so it wasn't the extra 1.5 miles that made it so much harder. 

My salubrious warm-up zone.
In a car park. But in the sun.

We even started out in the sun, so I can't blame it on the weather either

For variety, this was a single direction run (rather than out-and-back): I started out by getting the train down to St Albans, met up with Rob, and then began the run back up to Luton. 'Up' as in northwards, but also 'up' as in gaining elevation, as Luton is on higher ground than St Albans (see map). 


It did give us variety but my route planning was exceptionally rubbish and we ended up travelling along a good two miles of 60mph roads that had no footpath beside them... Consequently there was a little bit of off-roading here and there, which was much easier for me than for my road bike-riding training partner:

Road bike tyre has an argument with sharp stone. Loses.

While Rob was fixing his punctured tyre, I headed off across a farmer's field alone. Temporarily without my support crew, I resorted to singing to distract myself (Don McLean's American Pie is a good one - several minutes long if you know all the verses). This was also the point at which I met the big hill in the middle of the route - and I actually managed to run all the way up it (yay!). Well, I couldn't make it easy for Rob to catch up, could I?

It wasn't long before he did, of course, and we moved onto the second half of the run, which was mostly along the Harpenden to Luton cycle path. It was quite picturesque at points and the weather was actually fairly spring-like. 

It was all going pretty well and I was making good time, but eventually my various injuries and niggles started playing up and slowing me down. There was a bit of walking. My lowest point in this run was around 10 miles when I was hit with a sudden tightness in my chest and again I had to slow to a walk for a while, breathing deeply. This was rather annoying, as I've been ok to date cardio-wise, even when my legs were failing me.

By this point, of course, my legs were beginning to fail me (and feet, and toes...) and the last couple of miles were an effort to push through. Rob kept me going, especially with the final half-mile countdown. And then he called me a taxi to get me home! This was another consequence of my poor route planning: we finished the 13.5 mile route a good two miles from home. Which I could have walked, but by this point it would have taken me a long, limping time. 

The good points I'm taking from today are: 
1. This is further than I have to run for the half marathon in two weeks' time.
2. I've mastered the art of finding my pace and sticking at it for a long time: when I found my stride it felt good, even at the painful end of the run.
3. I have the best support crew ever.

I am also really looking forward to next week's long run, which is a slight wind down before the Reading Half and is therefore only ~75 minutes long. 
Yes, I can now actually say 'only' about a 75 minute run. Never thought that would happen.
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Injury roll call:
> Bad knee - no pain during, post-run achey hurt.
> Good knee - twinges during.
> Right ankle - all fine :-)
> Toe - popped the blister midweek, strapped the toe up today but still had some pain near the end of the run. Post-run unwrapping reveals nail to be bruised and tender but no blister this week.
> Left foot - arch started hurting around 3 miles; stretched it out and carried on and it gradually faded. Post-run inspection identifies a large bruise across most of the arch. New sports insoles ordered immediately.