Sunday 18 December 2011

A little setback

Saturday morning, and off to Parkrun having managed to change my shift at work until the evening. It was all going really well, as I was running with Deb from the club who is faster than me, so was on for another PB, until I fell over. Over nothing other than my own feet. And had to limp all the way back from the furthest part of the course to the start, covered in mud and feeling pretty stupid. Grrrr.

However, I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to Deb for walking back with me, and to Chris, Julia, Howard and the rest of the Lliswerry Runners that stuck around to patch me up, bought me a much needed bacon roll, made sure that I was ok and was able to get home. And also to Liz, lecturer at uni, who randomly happened to be in the cafe afterwards - I must admit, I was a bit worried that she might ask me which structures I thought I had damaged and I couldn't remember a single one at that point - but who just gave me some great advice on what to do next.







Chris trying to sort out my damaged limbs!


I managed to drive home, and then discovered the lump on my left ankle was the size of an egg, so decided that visit over to A & E might be in order. Except I couldn't walk. Despite the fact that I live about 500 metres from the hospital, I was contemplating calling a taxi, when a lovely couple that were collecting their student son for the holidays took pity on my injured self and gave me a lift - I must have looked a complete state, still dressed in my running gear, with blood down my leg, and soaking wet from the rain, so was very grateful at that point. 

I couldn't really fault the service at the hospital - I know everyone moans about the NHS, but in and out within 3 hours on a Saturday afternoon, following two x-rays isn't too bad at all. Maybe the shocking pink and the sweaty odour was upsetting the other patients a bit too much and they rushed me through. The good news - despite the doctor's initial concerns, my ankle is not broken and my patella is intact. The not so good news - the ankle is sprained, and will take up to 8 weeks to recover. The Bath Half is 12 weeks away so if recovery does take that long there is no way I will be running it.

After a day of doing nothing, both legs are feeling a bit better. The bruising is getting worse, but that is to be expected, and the ankle is more stiff than sore, and I have no dorsiflexion at all. I found another scrape and bruise on my shoulder this morning, and my elbow has also gone a bit purple. 
I thought I would include a couple of pictures from today in case anyone thinks I am making this all up to get out of becoming a supreme athlete:

My right knee.   The hospital advised me to keep the manky plaster on for the next 48 hours.
I do not usually have elephant ankles! I can currently only get my feet into my ugg boot rip offs and my wellies.  

Thank you for reading. I'll keep the blog updated with my recovery. And like all the x factor contestants say "this is not the end, you haven't seen the last of me."
 

 
 

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Drowned rat.

I haven't been out running at all since last Wednesday, as over the weekend I was on an annual booze cruise to France, and there was as much chance of me flying to the moon as there was of me doing anything vaguely healthy. And due to work and uni commitments this week, I am a bit limited on other opportunities to train. So despite the pouring rain, and the lure of Chelsea v Man City in the pub, I went out for a little 5k, and was actually quite look forward to it. Until I had been out for 10 seconds.

Whoever it was at the running club who told me running in the rain was invigorating was lying. It's not. It's crap. And wet. That lovely pink and black waterproof that was so enthusiatically purchased a couple of weeks ago? Not waterproof at all. I would have stayed drier had I wrapped myself in newspaper. 

It has been pouring down virtually non stop all day here, and the drainage system is clearly inadequate, meaning I spent at least half the time ankle deep in freezing cold puddles. Still, I kept plodding on; determined not to be defeated.

I was approaching the last 500 metres or so, with the end in sight, when some tosser (not a word I use often) decided it would brighten up his evening to slowly pull up behind me in his 4x4, then acclerate through a huge puddle, thereby ensuring that I was completely drenched, instead of the 90% soaked that I had been previously. And he shouted something indecipherable, but no doubt jolly amusing out of his window at the same time.

On a more positive note, I managed to finish in the same time as I did the route in last week, which given the amount of time I spent jumping puddles wasn't too bad I suppose. And happily for me, the football was an 8pm kickoff so I got to see the last hour at the gym. 


Thank you for reading.

 

Thursday 8 December 2011

Fastest 5k yet :-)

Really tired so not going to write too much. The running club had their 5k time trial as part of their annual 4 sport challenge tonight - it also involves swimming, cycling, and some hideous sounding circuit training thing at the gym, which sadly I am likely to miss out on as I am away for the weekend. 

It was good to try a 5k on the pavement, as so far the Park Run and night time plodding around Roath Park has been at least in part on grass or bark. And I managed it in 31.58, which is a huge 3 minutes faster than I have done that distance before. Also found it easier running with someone else, as it meant that I didn't slow down towards the end. It was an out and back course, and as usual, there were lots of words of encouragement from the faster runners who were on the final bit while I was still puffing along the first mile. 


I do wonder why some men find it necessary to beep their horn as they drive past though. Maybe the sight of two slightly sweaty, red faced women was too much for the motorists of Newport tonight, and they just couldn't contain their excitement.

My reward was a lovely three course meal with the Newport and South East Wales Triathlon Club, who are closely associated with the running club, and happened to be having their Christmas do tonight in the clubhouse. Probably consumed five times as many calories as I burnt off running, but it tasted so good!

Monday 5 December 2011

Can I raise my sitting bone towards the sun?

I have purchased a very helpful book entitled Run for life: the real woman's guide to running for a bargain £2.49 at the Kidney Research charity shop. It's full of useful tips to help me on this journey. And apparently yoga is the way forward. It helps with flexibility and strength which is always helpful, and also balance and coordination, and I am sadly lacking in both of those. 

I didn't really "get" yoga the last time I tried it about 10 years ago, at some overpriced health club in Surrey where I was living. It was all a bit much - full of the hairy armpit brigade and much burning of incense, along with strange constipated dog type noises, and that music which is meant to be dolphins talking to each other or some other such nonsense. And the only workout I got that day was of my pelvic floor muscles as I tried not to wet myself laughing when the instructor told me to "raise the sitting bone towards the sun, and absorb its energy into your soul". Which if I recall correctly, means stick your arse in the air. 

Anyway, not being one to rest on a good idea, I decided I would go tonight and have an evening off from the running as I had been out the previous two days. First problem, there was no yoga class on at the gym tonight. But there was pilates. And from the little bit I know, I thought they must be almost the same thing.

I opted for the beginners class, and went into the semi lit room - not quite sure why it needed to be dark, it just means that you can't see what the instructor is doing - and saw that I was the youngest in the class by at least 20 years. Oh well, I thought, this will be nice and easy, and then I can go back to the jacuzzi where I belong. Except it wasn't easy at all, I am quite clearly also lacking in flexibility and strength as well, and I was shockingly bad compared to everyone else there. The instructor had to come over and show me the easy versions of the moves on several occasions, while I observed sympathetic smiles from everyone else who was able to lift their bum more than 3 inches off the floor. My humiliation was complete when the lovely retired lady next to me offered to carry my mat back to the cupboard as I was clearly having some difficulty reaching down to put my shoes back on. 

However, when lying in the sauna shortly after, I did note that I felt all nice and stretched, and since there was no incense or any mention of my sitting bone, I might just go back again next week, as I can only get better.   









 


Saturday 3 December 2011

Mud and posh porridge

A lovely, bright sunny morning today so really nice for the park run. It had rained almost non stop for the previous 24 hours though so I knew the course was going to be muddy with huge puddles in places. 

I thought I'd give the porridge another go, but thought I might upgrade a bit, hoping that the flavour might be a might more palatable. An ex with far more disposable income than I've ever  had introduced me to the expensive, but rather pleasant Dorset Cereals and I'd noticed that Asda has recently started selling a range of porridges, so thought that they may do the trick. And I have to say that I was quite impressed - apart from the burnt bit at the bottom, but that was down to me not reading the instructions properly rather than the product being flawed. I must be the only person on earth who can regularly wreck foods in the microwave (apart from my mum who managed to produce flames and destroy a microwave when warming a hot cross bun, but that's another story!). Managed to eat the whole portion this time. This was the variety that I tried, and I would highly recommend it:


The run itself went well. It was very muddy and wet in places, but I quite like that as it adds more variety, although I suppose does slow things down a bit. And the best part is that I now don't have gleaming white trainers making me stand out as a complete beginner:






I was overtaken by the faster walker about 1km from the end, which did make me a little bit disheartened at the time, however I found out at the end that he actually holds the course record with a PB of 16.44, so I suppose he should be able to bunnyhop it faster than I can run it.

I was amazed to read in my results email that I had smashed last week's PB, by 68 seconds, having run the course in 35.01. I'm very happy with that time, as it proves that the interval training and extra session in Roath Park are actually doing some good.

So far I have avoided naming the running club, in case they didn't want to be associated with my slightly pitiful attempts at athletic excellence. However, since they have now linked my blog to their website, I'm guessing that they won't mind. This should link to the Lliswerry Runners
site; please take a look. I would highly recommend the club to anyone around here that is thinking of taking up running - I have found the support and encouragement from the coach and members to be so helpful, and I would have given up within about 10 minutes had I not gone along to the training sessions. 







Thursday 1 December 2011

Puffing around Roath Park Lake.

Last night was interval training at the club. It involved running backwards and forwards along a 500 metre stretch of road, until we had reached a total of 5k. And for the first time, it actually felt ok. I was the slowest person there, although I can't see that changing for some time yet, but again because of the way that the session is organised, no one gets left behind or is unable to participate in the session. I did get lapped by the faster runners 3 times, but its the taking part that counts I reckon.

Over chips and cheese in the bar afterwards, Chris who is the club coach suggested, that as I can now run 3 miles without stopping, I should now be fitting in a longer run on my own, trying to add an extra mile each week. Since there are 15 weeks until race day ?!!!?? that will give me some extra time if I am unable to complete it and need to repeat a week and still take me up to running the entire distance.

So armed with that knowledge, this evening I headed out into the night to see if I could manage 4 miles. I am grateful that I chose to take on this challenge when I could do most of my training in the dark; I'm not sure that the people living in the posh houses surrounding Roath Park Lake are ready just yet for the sight of me puffing along the pavement, getting increasingly red in the face with every step. There weren't many people out and about at 9pm on a Thursday, other than "proper runners" with their reflective go faster stripes and heart rate monitors, who pretend that they haven't noticed an amateur like me in a tatty t shirt barely going faster than walking pace.


Much to my amazement, I completed the entire 4 miles without stopping to walk, so I must be getting the pacing right and not setting off too fast. I'm still quite slow though, so I'm hoping that will improve with practice. But for the first time tonight, I got the feeling that I might actually be able to do this.


Here is today's little bit of helpful motivational guidance:


 
Thank you for reading.