Cross Country

Is there anything more defined by love and hate than Cross Country running?  Yesterday was the first Midlands League Cross Country fixture at Leamington Spa.  It had rained pretty much continuously all week, so even walking from the car park to registration found us covered in mud!  However, as soon as we lined up at the start line the sun came out and the next four miles of mud, hills, ditches and pain included sweat.  The first mile is always tough, especially when it includes a hill, so you just have to dig in and try not to walk, although it is tempting when you feel like you're running at a snail's pace.  By the second mile, everything was hurting, especially my back but I'm getting towards halfway so I just have to push on and before I know it I'm running through a ditch, which is both fun and scary as I have no idea how deep it is when I jump in.  Once I get past 2 miles, it's a case of trying to stick to the same pace, whilst hopefully other runners fade and I can overtake them, with Cross Country it's all about the position rather than the time, even if you've ran the same course the year before as the conditions will never be the same.  Once I was ascending the hill a second time, I knew it literally was downhill from that point as I was over halfway, so whilst my legs were hurting and every step seemed to attract more mud to my spikes I pushed on until I was attempting to sprint down the finishing straight  I'm not sure how people do manage to sprint in spikes as I managed to pick the pace up only slightly, I'd obviously used up all spare energy in the previous 3.9 miles. Once crossing the finish line and meeting up with my club mates I felt so relieved and happy to go through such a tough run that challenged every muscle in my body.  Once we'd had a cup of sweet tea it was then time to watch the mens race, watching their faces made me realise just how tough but satisfying the race was.

It's all about Cross Country

Well I haven't blogged for a while probably because I've been busy racing :).  The 24 hour race went really well, hardly any issues with my ankle and I've also bought some new trainers, which seem to have done the world of good.  The running highlight of September was Worcester 10K, which was an absolutely fantastic race, everything about it was spot on - the weather, the course, the crowds, the fellow runners, Jo Pavey and a brilliant PB in a distance that is not normally one of my favourites.  Cardiff Half Marathon and Great Birmingham Run followed in October, which were both good experiences but I wasn't feeling too well for either of them due to viruses going around.  Its a funny thing running when you're ill, you're putting in 110% effort but your body just feels out of sorts and you realise you just can't push anymore and you have to take a break. Taking a bit of a break wasn't too bad an experience as there's nothing like not being able to do something to make you realise how much you miss it! After the much needed break, I built up the training again and its now full on with plenty of Cross Country races to keep me motivated up until Marathon training starts in January. The only issue I'm finding at the moment is dragging myself out into the dark to run ever since the clocks changed. Its not even cold but the darkness just makes me want to curl up on the sofa.Thankfully the desire to do well at Cross Country is over-riding the desire to stay inside, which shows how important it is to have a target to keep you motivated.  Also the social aspect of group efforts means that I don't want to miss seeing my running club friends, so on goes the trainers and jacket and out I go, after all its only a few months of darkness before we all start looking forward to Spring :)

Big weekend of 24 hour running coming up!

It has been a quietish week running wise.  Firstly there were track efforts on Tuesday, the track was very wet after a crazy storm descended over Worcester, so we enjoyed splashing through the puddles on our 6 x 400m efforts, with 200m recoveries.  It wasn't a long session but the lack of recovery and the fact that I was being chased by 4 club mates meant that it felt really tough!  The next day my legs felt extremely tight, especially my heels and ankles. I had agreed to go on a recovery run with a friend who is injured but I was so slow that I felt like I was holding her up and not the other way round.  I've been having a lot of issues with my ankles, heels lately and each morning when I get up, they are so stiff that I'm more or less hobbling down the stairs.  I've had a very painful massage on my ankle and calves and have been given exercises to do off the step, I'm also going to buy some new running shoes in the hope that it will get easier.  Probably not the best physical condition to be going into a 24 hour relay race but at least I'm in a team of 8 so will get a lot of rest between laps.  I don't want to stop running but have been trying to be sensible and incorporating more cross-training, such as spin and last night I did some weight training to try and get stronger.  Fingers crossed its not too uncomfortable running at the weekend, as its such a fun event.

Erring on the side of caution

Its been a funny old week, whereby plans to train with my running club have gone out of the window, due to an accident on my bike (Tuesday) and a lack of energy and fear of damaging my ankle again (last night) have meant that I have mainly trained on my own.  I normally enjoy the efforts sessions that I take part in with my club, the camaraderie and shared pain get us all through the sessions but Tuesday I was too shook up and back late to make it to the athletics track so I had a rest and resumed training the next day. Wednesday's session involved 3 x 10 minutes at Threshold, which was a tough session but mainly on the flat, which worries me a lot less than Thursday night's efforts which largely consist of running very fast downhill and around a corner, which I decided were not good for my still fragile ankle.  I opted instead for a short recovery run on the flat, which was fine but not entirely social.  Never mind I managed a run with a friend who is coming back from injury today, so that meant that not all my runs were solitary.  I've got parkrun in the morning, where I'll be running with approximately 500 people so unlikely to feel lonely there and next week I aim to make it to the track to train with my club friends as whilst its great to run on your own sometimes, it can get rather lonely when its all the time and there's nothing like training in a group to make you push yourself that little bit harder.

Wet, soggy but so enjoyable run :)

Well after a week of not running and doing lots of balancing, cycling and spinning, I decided to test out my precarious ankle.  I was super cautious, putting heel supports in my trainers, wearing a compression support and compression socks, I seriously did not want to be limping home halfway through.  I had to post a Birthday card during my run, so ran slowly up for 2 miles up to my friend's house at the top of a hill.  Within 5 minutes, the sky had gone really dark and it started to rain, now I've ran through plenty of rain in my time but this was seriously heavy, the sort that soaks you within 10 minutes and creates puddles everywhere that just have to be ran through.  1 1/2 miles into my run, I fell over adding a grazed knee to my dodgy ankle, but I carried on, ignoring my bloody knee.  Once I'd posted my rather soggy Birthday card, I decided to pick up the pace a bit, which felt good, my ankle didn't seem to be suffering.  I decided to keep at the new pace for about 20 minutes and then pick up the pace to Threshold for another 20 minutes. Without even realising it and probably because I was in a hurry to get the run done due to the rain getting worse, I had increased the pace to near Threshold pace early, so I upped it again and then proceeded to keep it at that pace until I got to 6 miles.  After about 4 1/2 the pace did start to feel pretty uncomfortable but I had to stick with it for another mile and half and then I promised myself that I would run the rest of the way home at recovery pace.  This bargaining with myself and has got me through many a race, training session and tough run, the mental side of running really is so important.  Without it, many people would never be able to run a marathon and it really helped me today, as I would've been annoyed with myself if I hadn't kept the pace up like I'd planned to.  When I got home after it felt so good to be running again and to manage a pretty pacy progression run after a week of not running and dodgy ankle.  Sometimes it takes an injury to make us realise how much we love and miss running when we're not able to, so we should treasure the times when we're running well.

No running :(

Well it appears that my legs of a 90 year old were due to being injured.  My ankle is swollen and I decided that cycling everywhere was my best option yesterday, as it took me so long to limp around. I've always been very fortunate in the past, in that I don't really get injured, I get niggles and just take it easy for a few days and then its back to training.  But this is a proper injury, there's swelling and pain, so I need to be a bit more cautious and attentive to my poor ankle.  I've had a massage, iced it, worn a compression bandage and I've now got some resistance bands to play with once the swelling goes down.  I feel like a proper athlete.  I was supposed to be running a local 5K tomorrow but looking forward to cheering on my husband and other club friends instead.  Sometimes it takes an injury to make you realise how much you actually love running but in the meantime, you can still be involved.

The legs of a 90 year old!

I knew my legs weren't going to be great this morning when I struggled to sleep due to them tingling and aching.  Consequently, I tentatively put my feet on the floor and attempted to walk quickly to the stairs, well  I think a 90 year old would've been a lot quicker.  My heels were stiff, which meant that my whole foot felt stiff, my calves weren't much better and when I slowly made my way down the stairs my right calf cramped up and I began to question whether I should really be attempting to run parkrun this morning.  I ran up to the Countryside Centre slowly (rather by necessity than choice) and chatted to a few of my running friends and it appears that there aren't many of us that having got some niggle or other.  I lined up at the start line unsure as to whether I would be racing or just taking it easy.  As they shouted go, my legs didn't appear to be keen to get off to a flying start, so I just went with what felt comfortable and watched the front runners fly off into the distance.  However, something rather satisfying happened on my 5k run, after a more leisurely start my lungs and legs started to warm up and I found myself picking up the pace, catching people up and passing them.  It felt so motivating after a hard week of training and by the end, I was chuffed with my best time in 3 months.  It just shows that its not all about getting a PB, turning what feels like a tough run around can be just as satisfying.