The Universe vs Girlrunninglate

February 28, 20165 Comments

I’m beginning to think the universe has it in for me at the moment.

The day after my last post, I was at work and my back went. Yes, you heard that right. After the groin pull and allergic reaction to medication in the lead up to the Cambridge Half Marathon, both of which I had mostly managed to recover from, my back went. What was I doing I hear you ask? One armed pull ups? Kickboxing? Wrestling a bear?

No, fair reader. I turned. Yup. I made the fatal error of turning around.

Turn 1.gif

At first I was in denial. I just thought “nah, that hasn’t actually happened. I’ll Taylor Swift it and just shake it off.” But as I walked down the stairs from my office, I knew I was in trouble, and this was then followed by a Bridget Jones-esque 10 minute sob in the toilets. Nicely handled Thomas.

The next day it hadn’t eased up at all, and when Alan called to ask me how I was doing in the lead up to the half, I told him what had happened, and he asked me “do you think that maybe your body is trying to tell you something?” I then burst into tears again (2 days running – excellent!) and told him that I wasn’t ready to quit yet as I had physio and osteo appointments lined up later that afternoon. By 6pm I had the information that my L3 joint had locked up, probably because I have a terrible habit of carrying my stress with me all the time, and it had been an incredibly tough 10 days, both physically and emotionally. It was nothing mega serious, but I was uncomfortable and in pain.

It was probably my conversation with Stacy that really pulled everything into focus. She knew how emotionally invested I was in this race as I wanted to #RunForMarcus so badly, but as an athlete who has had her share of injuries in the past, she said “look at the bigger picture. If you run this, how much is it going to set you back coming out the other side? Will it mean a whole month off just because you’ve put your body through something it wasn’t strong enough to do? Also risking further mechanical injuries by running with a technique that protects your back. If you knock your hips out of alignment etc. it could be weeks before you’re back running again. Could you cope with no exercise?”

I hate it when she’s so flipping sensible.

My choice was, which will I regret more? Not running this particular race, or running it and injuring myself in a way that could take me out for a potentially long period of time?

When I then woke up yesterday morning with my back still painful and stiff, I knew my decision had been made.

crying

I look just like this when I cry

It’s so hard to let something go when you’ve worked so hard for it. Especially when I felt like I had already come through so much to be ok to run it. But sometimes things aren’t meant to be, and sometimes you have to just be sensible and make a tough -but ultimately right – decision.

I then decided that rather than wallow at home, I was going to go and support my friends and cheer them through it. The race was going to happen whether I was running it or not, and I knew I could at least be useful by being a fleece-holding cheerleader, so I got up at silly o’clock and headed to Cambridge with four of my friends who were running.

I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t easy standing there at the start line and chatting to Andy from Ely Runners as he commiserated with me, watching all of the runners bubbling over with nervous energy and wishing I was one of them. But as the starting horn sounded, I cheered everyone off and then scuttled across Jesus Green to the Round Church where I hoped to see everyone at the 2.5 mile mark.

All the super-fasties at the start. The eventual winner, Aaron Scott (1:06:47), can be seen in the dark headband with his head lower than everyone else’s.

After witnessing a scuffle between an impatient cyclist and the marshals (he wanted to cross the road just as the first – very fast – runners were approaching and when politely asked to wait he started ramming them with his bike before throwing punches), I managed to spot loads of people I knew and cheered them on as loudly as I could. I then crossed over to hang around outside Trinity ready to catch them when they looped back and hit the 11-ish mile mark. My attempt to catch Aaron on camera failed miserably (TOO FAST!) but I managed to catch local writer and all over stupidly fast person Liz Fraser, as well as my awesome friend Pete:

I then just started cheering on random runners, shouting out their names as they ran past (putting their names on their numbers is the BEST idea) as I remembered from my own experience of running the Cambridge Half that hearing people cheer you on by name is a brilliant boost.

After I was pretty sure I’d spotted everyone I knew, I headed back to Midsummer Common to get to the finish. I again spotted Andy from Ely Runners and managed to give him a congratulatory hug on his incredible PB before being told that as a non-runner I was NOT allowed to be in that section (way to kick me when I’m down!) and instead I walked around to the end of the runner’s funnel to meet everyone.

It was at this point that I lost it slightly. The sight of all of the jubilant runners and the excited chatter of PBs just hit me in a way that left me almost emotionally winded, and the sheer disappointment just came out and I burst into tears yet again. But I was also so, so happy for everyone who had just achieved something utterly incredible. I just wished I could have been a part of it.

But you know what? I was. I cheered people on as loudly as I could, my throat sore from my efforts. There is something brilliant about being able to give people the encouragement they need when there are still 2 miles left to go and their legs are shouting at them to stop but they’re mentally battling to keep going. I may have missed out on an awesome medal, but this race just wasn’t meant to be for me. I’m going to properly get over everything that’s happened in the last couple of weeks, get some emotional and physical balance back, and then come back better and stronger. And quite frankly, I’m done with crying.

Ugly Crier

How I actually look when I’m crying

Finding Focus for the Cambridge Half

February 23, 20168 Comments

Sometimes, things don’t always go to plan.

Take the NYE 10k. I had a miserable time of it, and it really threw me. It was mentally and physically difficult, and I felt weak and my confidence around future long races took a serious hit, leading me to doubt whether or not I even wanted to run long distance anymore. It felt like the joy of it had completely gone.

This Sunday (the 28th February), it’s the Cambridge Half Marathon. As training, I’ve done one 7 mile run, two 8 mile runs and two 11 mile runs. These training sessions have been spread out and sporadic, not helped by the three weeks of training I missed due to the awful cold-afflicted time I had of it at the end of January. Most of these runs have been tougher than I’m used to, because at the moment I’m probably only at around 65% of my peak fitness. This also means that I’ve picked up niggles along the way, including a “grumpy” knee and a pulled groin as recently as last week. All of this piles up so that I stress out and run in a tense, stiff posture, making myself more likely to get hurt. It’s a vicious cycle. In addition to this, I’ve been struggling with my hydration due to medication, and this weekend have also developed an allergic reaction to something that has covered parts of my body – including my feet – in a sore, uncomfortable rash. Awesome (and attractive).

theplague

So I admit that I’ve been tempted to bail on the Half on numerous occasions. At times it felt like the universe was telling me to. I knew a PB would be hard to come by, and I was worried about doing myself more damage on a long run that I was unprepared for. But then something awful happened that made me snap out of my funk and regain my focus.

A fellow local runner and blogger Marcus Gynn lost his fight against cancer on the 11th February. Now I know Marcus for a variety of reasons. My other half grew up with him, and had always told me stories about Marcus, mostly based around his Duke of Edinburgh shenanigans, including being chased by a bull in his bright orange high vis jacket, and setting fire to himself so that his fellow DofE buddies had to roll him down a hill to put him out while he laughed his head off. Since then I’d bumped into Marcus at a variety of races, due to his sheer love of running (his medal haul was pretty epic) and the fact that we ran at a really similar pace. I remember how tickled my OH was when he saw this race from the 2014 Cambridge Half and Marcus and I were the only runners in the photo:

Marcus would have loved to be running the Cambridge Half again, and here I was whinging that it was hard. Of course it’s bloody hard sometimes. If it wasn’t we’d all be nipping off for a 13 mile run before work. So I’ve completely reassessed why I run. I started doing it because like Marcus, I loved it. If I’m not at peak fitness I don’t have to push for a PB. I can just enjoy it. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to run with my friend Rachel, soak up the atmosphere, and run it for Marcus. I’ve sorted my niggles out with some epic osteopathy sessions with miracle-worker Melissa at Spritely Osteopathy and with an intense sports massage from Megan at the FAST Clinic (damn my stubborn glutes!) and I’m trying to get a handle on this rash. But if I have to slather my feet in Vaseline or even crawl this run, I’m going to do it. Unless anyone’s up for giving me a piggyback?

An awesome Twitterer has also set up an account in Marcus’ memory, @runformarcus1. The aim is to raise as much money for Marcus’ family’s chosen charities as possible, and in return you get a wristband with #runformarcus on it that you can wear on all your runs so that a part of him is always with you, cheering you on. If you’d like to donate £5 (to cover the cost of the band plus ensure a decent bit for the charities) or more you can do so here. Please also have a read of his blog if you can. It’s a joy to read and his bravery in the face of his illness is awe-inspiring.

I’m going to #RunForMarcus on Sunday. I really hope you’ll join me.

Safety is Sexy!

February 6, 20162 Comments

Ok. Enough is enough. People of Cambridge (and everywhere else for that matter), can we please start taking responsibility for our own safety?

Safety

Jimmy Fallon is wise.

I commute to work by bike every day, and I have lost count of the number of people I see doing stupid things on foot, on bikes and in cars. Can we please use a bit of common sense and not risk our lives and the lives of others simply because we want to get somewhere 5 seconds earlier or because we just HAVE to send that text? Here’s are the WORST things that I see people doing. Prepare your eye rolls folks.

DULLARDS

Eye Roll 1

Here’s a question. If someone is running or cycling in a badly lit area, with no lights or hi-vis, what do you think the chances are of someone being able to see them? It can be incredibly difficult to spot someone in this situation, and there have been numerous times when I’ve suddenly seen someone appear out of the gloom and had to slam my brakes on to avoid hitting them or simply as a reflex because they’ve made me jump out of my skin. As a cyclist you’re legally required to have white front and red rear lights on between sunset and sunrise, and with street lighting being reduced in some areas, it’s even more essential these days. If you’re out walking, maybe consider just having a reflective panel on your coat or bag. And runners, it’s just common sense for crying out loud. At night, just put something obnoxiously bright on ok? It doesn’t have to cost the earth either. Take a bit of responsibility for your own safety and stop expecting everyone else to look out for you.

NON LOOKY-LOOS

Eye Roll 4

One of my biggest pet peeves is cyclists (yes, I’m singling out here but I’m one of you) who just don’t look out for other cyclists. If you’re coming up to a roundabout and a cyclist is already on it, don’t pull on to the roundabout anyway. The other cyclist will have to swerve to avoid you, and more often than not that means swerving into the path of a vehicle behind them. Same goes for coming out of junctions. And if you’re planning to overtake something, just give a quick glance over your shoulder ok? Otherwise if another cyclist is already overtaking YOU, you’re making them swerve into the path of oncoming traffic, which is what happened to me last week.

THE ELECTED DEAF

Eye Roll 5

I get it – on long runs or bike rides it’s nice to have a bit of music to keep you company. But in a city with notoriously bad rush hour traffic and old narrow roads without a huge amount of room for the daily cars vs bikes fandango, it seems a bit nuts to me. Plus if you’re plugged in and a cyclist rings their bell, but you don’t hear them because you’ve got Meatloaf or some other guilty pleasure blaring in your lugholes, don’t then swear at the cyclist when they pass you and make you jump out of your skin. If you really, REALLY need your music, maybe try a pair of bone conducting headphones? Or better yet -run with a friend. Chat and motivation in one.

RED LIGHT RUNNERS

Eye Roll 3

Whether you’re in a car or on a bike this is SO uncool. In the case of bike vs bike it’s the same as the Non Looky Loos. Case in point is the junction where Station Road meets Hills Road. I’ve lost count of the number of times a bike coming down Hills Road towards town has run a red light as I’ve been turning right out of station road. The worst time was when I had to swerve to avoid someone coming at speed, and narrowly missed being hit by the ruddy great bus behind me. When it comes to pedestrians, kids are taught to cross the road when the green man is showing. They should be able to run across a road when it’s their right of way without worrying about a bike (or car!) smashing into them. A bike going at 15mph can do a lot of damage to little bones. And big ones for that matter. Don’t be a jerk. You’ll only arrive 30 seconds later at most. Enjoy the pause.

THE LAZY BONES

Eye Roll 2

In a car it means flicking a finger. On a bike it means lifting an arm. For crying out loud just let everyone know what you’re doing and SIGNAL. Despite what you may think psychics and mind readers don’t exist. Be courteous to your fellow road users and communicate.

THE MOBILE ADDICTS

Eye Roll 6

You get the queen of eye rollers. Whether you’re a pedestrian, cyclist or driver, JUST STOP IT. Be present.

Although this post has been pretty light-hearted, the message is serious. We’re all trying to get somewhere, and no one is more important that anyone else (no matter what your mum tells you). We just need to make it as safe as possible by looking out for each other and taking responsibility for our own safety.

Stay Classy

Five Reasons Why I Will Always Love Zumba

November 10, 2015November 11, 20151 Comment

I love to dance.

Back in the day I was a serious jazz hands kid (I know – shocker right)? I danced as a cat while someone sang Memory. I played Quasimodo, Orphan Annie and Old Martin from Royal Hunt of the Sun (I’m sorry I never spoke slowly enough Mr Sharpe. I’m still working on that). I took my Dance GCSE at 13, and the only A I got at A-Level was in Dance. At one point I was even seriously considering going to a theatre university until I realised I really wasn’t good enough for all that.

Another Drama Queen

These days, I’ll dance when I’m feeding the cat. I’ll dance in the changing rooms at work when (I think) no one else is there. I’ll dance after any amount of Prosecco. And that is precisely why Zumba is part of my weekly workout regime. I just love it.

Dancing after Prosecco

However, sometimes when I tell people in fitness that I regularly do Zumba as part of my weekly workout regime, you can see them desperately trying to stop their eyes from rolling back in their head. And I get it – dance based classes aren’t for everyone, and they sometimes struggle to see the benefits of it. But Zumba is the absolute bee’s knees for some people, including myself. And here are 5 reasons why:

It’s Accessible

Every Zumba class I’ve been to has been attended by people of all ages and all fitness levels. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been out of fitness for a while or if you run, swim, spin, lift weights and more in seven days. A good instructor (like my incredible instructor and friend Lucy) will make sure there are high and low impact versions of the various exercises so that it’s suitable for everyone. You work to your ability, not everyone else’s.

It’ll Improve Your Coordination

It may take a little while, especially if you’ve got two left feet, but the basic steps in Zumba tend to be repeated through the different routines so you’ll find you pick them up pretty quickly. Once you’ve got the merengue and the single, single, double nailed, there’ll be no stopping you.

It’s a Serious Calorie Burner

Have a quick search on Google and you’ll find no end of stories of people who have successfully lost a lot of weight and improved their fitness thanks to Zumba. Depending on your fitness level, you could burn anything from 400 to 1000 calories in a class.

It’s a Mood Enhancer

Research from the University of Derby has shown that a combination of exercise, social interaction and the concentration learning a new skill requires significantly boosted the mood of those suffering from depression. The uplifting atmosphere of a Zumba class coupled with upbeat music cannot fail to release those endorphins. And when your favourite routine comes on (Here to Stay (Electronic/Glitch Hop) or Feel This Moment for me) I defy you not to whoop and dance like you’re flipping Beyonce. This is the main reason I do Zumba. It never fails to put me in a brilliant mood.

This is how I look doing Zumba

It’s a Social Hub

There are now so many people I can call friends thanks to Zumba. Off the top of my head there’s Lucy, Elaine, Niaz, Tamsin, Clare, Olga, Angela, Hannah, Julie, Sally, Kirsty, Viv, Nella, Iryna and probably loads of others (don’t be offended if you’re not here – it’s 11:30 at night. I still love you). It’s such a sociable class and I usually spend the whole hour laughing my head off, and not just because of some of Lucy’s descriptions of the moves – pumpy pumpy anyone?

Zumba FRIENDS

There are loads of other reasons why dance based classes are a fun and valid fitness option, but these are the ones that came to mind first. And surely ANYTHING that gets people moving can only be a good thing.

This also seems the right blog post to do a shout out to Sweaty Betty’s recent Rave Dance class which I attended with TheeMiddleSis. I wish so much that this was something they could do every couple of months rather than an annual(ish) event, but basically it’s exactly as it sounds – a dance aerobics class with flipping GLOW STICKS for crying out loud! The free class was led by the ball of energy that is Jo Hopkins, and I vote that they make it a semi-regular thing! Just brilliant, brilliant fun.

Right – now who fancies a dance?

Endorphin producing awesomeness

MDUK’s 2015 Cambridge Town and Gown 10k – My Review

October 26, 2015October 27, 20151 Comment

Recently I’ve really been enjoying running 5ks. I think this is down to a mixture of knowing that I can beast myself but that it’ll all be over in around 21 minutes, and also the fact that I’ve been collecting PB after PB over this distance. That’s always good for a positive mindset.

But I know Alan wants me to do longer distances (secretly I think he wants me to do a marathon but I’m avoiding having that conversation wherever possible), so back on the 22nd June I signed up for Muscular Dystrophy UK‘s Cambridge Town and Gown 10k, which – if I went ahead with it – would make it the third time in a row that I had done this race.

Anyone who reads my blog with any regularity will know that my last 10k was a bit of a bust. I had a pretty nasty cold and so it was a stop and start affair that made me wang on about how much I HATED the 10k distance for a good few weeks afterwards. But an awful lot of my recent interval training with Ely Runners has been around the 10k mark, and Pete and I went on a 5.4 mile training run a couple of weeks ago which went really well. This all meant that I was actually feeling ok about the Town and Gown. Don’t get me wrong – the pre-race nerves were still fully present, but for once I didn’t have that anxiety dream about forgetting my race number that I pretty much always get. Plus Pete is always adamant that pre-race nerves are a good thing, and since he’s a speedy blighter I feel obliged to trust him on that one. I think my biggest concern was the fact that I’d be running it on my own, which is funny when I think about how I had always considered myself a lone runner until this year. Now I always have someone like Andy or Rich to run with at Ely Runners, and the last couple of big races I’ve done I’ve run with Elaine at her pace. I can’t keep up with Pete over such a long distance, so I knew I’d have to dig deep to push myself through this one on my own.

After some pretty shocking weather on Saturday, we were lucky to wake up to a cold but dry and bright Sunday morning, with the car thermometer putting the outside temperature at a brisk 5 degrees (making me doubt my choice of shorts over leggings). Ian and I picked up Pete and his wife Rach and the four of us headed into Cambridge to make sure Pete was there to pick up his race number before the registration cut off of 9:30am ready for the start of the race at 10am. While Pete and Rach headed to Midsummer Common I got to hang out with my sister, her partner Simon and my nephew Danny and niece Eloise for 40 minutes or so. The bonus of having a sister who lives near to the start of so many of the big races in Cambridge (and the provision of a non-Portaloo pit stop!) cannot be underestimated.

At about 9:20 I jogged to the start and caught up with Pete and Rach and after jogging around a bit more I finally plucked up the courage to give Rach my nice, warm Sweaty Betty top, before heading to the start line to begin the race with Pete.

I had absolutely zero intention of staying with Pete for anything longer than about 60 seconds, but by some miracle I stayed with him until around the 2k mark. We had blasted out the first mile in something ridiculous like 6:20, and when he peeled away by about 10 metres as we turned off Queen’s Road onto Silver Street I decided not to try and keep up with him. I know my limits pretty well, and I think if I’d tried to carry on matching him completing the 10k would have been difficult. But thanks to him I had gotten off to a cracking start.

Waving to Andrew at around the 3k mark.

I had already checked where the water stations were on the route, so I hadn’t taken my water bottle with me on the first 5k. But when I saw that they were handing out cups rather than small bottles or pouches I made the decision to grab my running bottle (I got a telling off for that later) from where I’d tucked it out of sight on the route. The thing is, sometimes I can’t drink a cup of tea on the sofa without choking on it, so trying to gulp from a cup of water mid run was not going to end well.

The second part of the 10k took us away from the city and out along the river, which is a lot quieter in terms of support but it’s flat and fast. The main issue is that it doubles back on itself, so the super fast runners come past you on their last 2k or so while you’re still fighting at the 6-7k mark. However, it was at this point that I saw Liz Fraser, a previous winner of the race, and I worked out that she could only have been a couple of minutes ahead of me. Naturally I assumed this meant that she was just having a bad race as opposed to my having a good one.

Unfortunately I started to get a stitch just before 8k, but luckily I got a handle on it fairly quickly, forcing my breathing to become more regular as it had become a bit erratic as I started to get tired. The final kilometre and a half was nothing short of agonising, but I kept trying to tell myself that it was only 4 more times around the track, just three more times around the track, chipping away the metres in my mind and telling myself “you got this, you got this.” When Alan appeared near the end and said to me “Come on, sprint finish! Kick! KICK”! I gave those last couple of hundred metres EVERYTHING I had. I can’t even begin to explain how agonising it was to find out that the big flags I had seen didn’t actually mark the finish line and that I actually had another 20+ metres to stagger to the end. After tweeting the organisers about this they explained it was a mix up with Sussex Sports Photography – the flags were theirs but as a runner in the final throes of a 10k you assume that any flags in the final few metres are the finish line. After having a great chat with Annie from MDUK on the phone earlier (how awesome that she took the time to do that?) she told me they’d make sure that any flags by any of their supporters wouldn’t be put in that position again.

When I crossed the (real) finish line and saw Pete looking at me slightly agog I knew I had achieved a decent time. I never in a million years imagined that a time like that was something I could do though. I didn’t dare believe it until I saw my speedy text with my official time. For the number crunchers amongst you, here’s a breakdown of the previous three Town and Gowns. The route changed for the better in 2014 – clearly cow dodging in 2013 was seriously slowing people down! – and that was also the year I ran it with Elaine who was storming her first ever 10k:

Year	No. Runners	Winning Male	Winning Female	My Time	Time Behind	My Overall Position	No. Female Runners	My Gender Position	Gender Position %	Pace Per Mile
2013	560	36:01	39:50	49:59	10:09	137	256	21	Top 8.2%	08:03
2014	778	33:42	37:30	50:53	13:23	287	329	47	Top 14.3%	08:11
2015	1279	32:25	36:56	42:40	5:44	144	619	16	Top 2.6%	06:52

So as you can see my improvement over the last couple of years has been a bit nuts, and this is in no small part thanks to Alan. But back to that rollocking he gave me. His words after I finished were “Well done, but if I ever see you running with a water bottle again…..” My reasons for doing so fell on deaf ears but this is something we need to work towards together. This is only the 2nd 10k I’ve run since he started coaching me, and I planned to run without it until I saw the water station. I need to build towards this, and I am someone who sweats a lot so I need to be able to take on some fluid on longer races. He said we’d chat about it when we next train, but since that’s going to be at Wandlebury – and we all know what happened last time I was there – perhaps we’d be better off leaving that chat until next week.

Regarding the actual race itself, I think it’s an utterly brilliant 10k and would recommend it to everyone. It’s without doubt my favourite 10k in my racing calendar (sorry NYE 10k – those exposed fens are just evil). It’s a serious PB course especially when the conditions are as perfect as they were yesterday – everyone I know who ran it got a PB – and the support in the city is brilliant. It’s really scenic too, and almost completely flat (although the little incline at about 8.5k is a sod). I would say they could do with more toilets as they don’t seemed to have increased the number despite having around 500 more participants this year, and the medals were a real step down from previous years (I personally don’t mind too much when it’s a brilliant race for charity, but I think it’s worth mentioning). And as for that Cool Dawn Recovery drink that came in the goodie bag – revolting doesn’t cover it.

If you enjoyed reading this blog, please send a pound or two to the brilliant charity who turned Cambridge orange for a day. You can do so here.

Sometimes it’s OK to Walk (or Run) Away

October 13, 2015October 13, 2015Leave a comment

Some of you may have realised that I have a tendency to overcommit myself. Whether it’s making cakes at 10pm, leading running groups for beginners, volunteering at parkrun, hosting cake clubs, learning Italian, attempting to add a couple of hundred words to my novel in the evening, blogging(!), making cards/cross stitches/bauble wreaths/arm knitted scarves (yes, really) for people and probably more that I can’t remember as my brain is in a permanent low state of frazzlement (yes that’s now a word). I often get asked how I do as much as I do and sometimes I don’t really know. I guess some weeks some of these things take a back seat to others and I try my best to prioritise whilst still – most importantly – finding time for my family and friends.

Standard Monday evening

I like to help people and I’m awful at saying no regardless of circumstances. And I really hate to let people down once I’ve committed to something. But mostly I think I have quite a bad case of FOMO. I like to sign up to things and say yes to things that interest me because what if they’re brilliant and I’m not there? So earlier this year I signed up to the Great Eastern Run which took place on Sunday. But I didn’t run it.

If you’ve ever done a big-ish run before you’ll know that you have to sign up for these things pretty far in advance. For example, the Cambridge Half is at the end of February but entries open next week. And we all know about the London Marathon timings thanks to a recent influx of status updates and tweets of joy or frustration from those trying to get a place. And having that amount of time can be a really good thing as it gives you the chance to formulate a cracking training plan. But on the flip side you always sign up to these things knowing you may get injured during training or come down ill a few days beforehand. Those are the breaks. But I wasn’t ill or injured. I simply wasn’t in the right mental state or indeed the best physical state to run 13 miles, and that wasn’t an easy thing to accept.

Marathon disappointments from some awesome Twitter types I follow

Now I know I can run 13 miles. I’ve done it a few times and although it’s not easy I’m physically fit enough to do it. But I want to do every race to the best of my ability, and so much of my training recently has been on interval and speedwork, leaving distance training to take a back seat. About 6 weeks ago I was starting to get nervous about the run, and I decided to talk to Alan to see what he thought I should do. But he raised the subject before I had the chance. He told me he didn’t think I should do it because I wasn’t quite in the right head space, which would make me more likely to have a bad run which would set me back mentally and also put me at risk of picking up an injury. Naturally my competitive instinct at that moment was to protest, to claim that of course I could do it. I thought I was letting myself down by backing out, not to mention my friend Elaine who had also signed up for it with the understanding that we’d be emotionally supporting each other to the finish line. But so much of the relationship between a runner and their coach is based on trust. If Alan gave me some advice and I then ignored it, then why should he bother? Plus can you imagine how insufferable he would be if I did get an injury? So we made a deal – give this one a miss with the aim to smash the Cambridge Half in February. And let’s face it – Alan has been right about an awful lot recently.

So this weekend I went seriously easy on myself and did very little. On Saturday evening Pete and I went for a speedy run around Ely in frankly gorgeous weather, managing a chatty 5.4 miles in 40:30 which would put me in a comfortable 10k PB position. And then on Sunday morning I did Zumba with Elaine, laughing most of the way through the class at her antics before going to coffee with her where we put the world to rights for over and hour.

Scrolling through Facebook and Twitter later that day I did feel a pang of envy at those who had done the run, but I knew I had made the right decision. Sometimes you have to walk (or indeed run) away from something because it’s the right thing to do at that moment, even if the competitive part of you is yelling at you to just do it anyway and sod the consequences. Plus I have the Town & Gown 10k in two weeks, and after my run with Pete I’m now looking forward to it, feeling strong and confident that my chances of a good run are high.

Sometimes I have to admit that my coach knows better than I do and that it’s OK to have an incredibly lazy weekend where you leave an indentation in the armchair because you’ve read 150 pages of your book and not moved for two hours except to reach for another chocolate. Sometimes you just need to do nothing.

And ok, so I did bake biscuits on Sunday afternoon, but they were easy ones, honest!

Let’s Have Another Chat About the Perception of Women in Sport

October 2, 2015October 4, 20153 Comments

So today I heard something that properly got my hackles up. I know what you’re thinking – “it doesn’t really take much does it?” I have a bit of a reputation of being loud and opinionated (and probably not always right) about matters that affect women so sometimes I worry I come across a bit “crying wolf-y”. But my officemate Lucy was bothered by it, and she is generally pretty laid back about things like this so that gives you some idea of just how bad it was. When she told me what had happened our conversation went something like this:

Me: silence – mouth open in shock

Lucy: “I know.”

Me: silence – mouth open wider in shock

Lucy: “I know.”

Me: “What. The. Actual.”

Lucy: “I KNOW.”

So let me show you what happened. The Cambridge University Women’s Rugby Football Club (CUWRFC) appeared on Heart Cambridge Radio this morning to talk about the Rugby World Cup. So far so good. Getting these amazing women out there into the public view is a great thing. But then “Kev” happened. Listen to the opening of his brilliantly professional interview:

I know right? In case you couldn’t hear him clearly he starts by saying – STARTS BY SAYING – the following:

“You don’t look like what I thought you’d look like. You’re all like really attractive, sort of fit girls”.

I’m actually finding it hard to organise my thoughts as I type this. In what universe is this an acceptable way to start an interview about sport? Can you imagine him speaking to the men’s team this way? “Oooh you’re all quite thin with lovely straight noses! How unexpected!” Of course he would never do that. And therein lies the problem. No matter what women achieve in sport – they thrashed Oxford 47-0 in their last Varsity Match by the way – how about doing your research and opening with that “Kev”? – they will still be judged by their appearance and patronised by those who should know better.

This is just a smaller scale – but no less important – version of what the England Lionesses experienced on their return from the Football World Cup. Tweet in point:

This awful, AWFUL tweet rightfully caused an uproar online. The idea that our incredible female footballers – their performance was the second best by an England team following the 1966 win by the men’s side – should be defined by the roles they perform for others rather than by their own achievements was so patronising as to verge on hysterical. Some even questioned whether the tweet was a joke. I think Jo Liptrott, someone my alter ego has followed on Twitter for a while, put it perfectly when she said “”Maybe they go back to having actual jobs & lives which DON’T revolve around them being subservient to other people???”

But if the official governing body of a sport is coming out with this junk, then surely we can’t be surprised when the local media does the same? The problem goes so much higher than some misguided DJ on a local station.

While a little bit of me was frustrated that CUWRFC didn’t pull “Kev” up on his dreadful comment, it’s easy for me to think of something to say in reply outside of the stresses of live radio. One of the players can be heard shouting “strong, strong” over the nervous laughter of the others, but I would have loved them to say “I don’t see how our appearance is in any way related to our sporting achievements.” I suspect “Kev” would have been more than a little flustered with a response like that.

And these are the responses we need to keep coming back with. We need to continue ridiculing patronising tweets and comments and to keep pulling people up when they behave like this.

I tweeted Heart Cambridge Radio and “Kev” about this earlier but unsurprisingly I didn’t hear back from either of them, but I didn’t really expect to either. I just hope that the next time they get a team of such incredible sportspeople in the studio, they’ll start off by talking about their achievements and their sport, rather than their appearances.

Keeping it in the Family

October 1, 2015February 14, 20165 Comments

An awesome thing happened today! For the first time ever, I trained with my big sister (National Masters 400m Champion if you will) Stacy. Although I obviously went through my athletics “phase” as a kid (i.e. an opportunity to hang out with my cooler older sister with the odd stumble over a hurdle or belly flop over a high jump bar thrown in), this was the first time we had trained together as fully-fledged grown ups (give or take). I was almost as excited as this girl:

So I turned up at the track today at 1:15pm, and the weather was gorgeous except for the wind that was going to be driving us back on the last 100 metres of each 300 metre lap we’d be doing. We would be doing 6 of these with a 4 minute break in between each one, which meant we had to push ourselves pretty hard but make sure we had enough in the tank to do 6 reps. Pacing myself over shorter sprint-type distances is still something I’m learning, but I like to think I’m improving.

After a fairly lengthy warm up (Alan never approves of rushing this) Stacy and I were set up to do staggered starts with Stacy setting off first and then my following when she hit the halfway mark. I’ve never seen Stacy run so close up before and it was fascinating. As a middle distance runner she’s much bouncier than me as she runs on her toes (as opposed to my mid/heel striking depending on how tired I am) and it made her look really powerful on the track. She also drives back her arms SO far which gives her her extreme power. Just look at the photo in this article for evidence of this.

Now as any regular reader of this blog will know, my self doubt has been a real problem with my running. There must be times when Alan wants to do this to me:

But having Stacy there seemed to change something in me. I tried to explain my thoughts to Alan about this and not sure I was very articulate, but I’ll try and do it here. I think if I’m running with someone who is a similar runner to me, I’ll try and compete with them and run at their pace rather than at mine, burning out too soon and generally having a miserable time of it. But with Stacy, I know that trying to run at her pace is a fool’s errand. She has been at the top of her game for years, and probably has enough titles and medals to build a small house. I’m never going to be able to run at her pace over these distances. So instead I just tried to run at MY best, rather than at someone else’s.

And it worked. Alan expected me to run 300m laps at 58 or 59 seconds, and instead I was coming in at 55 or 56 seconds compared to Stacy’s 51 or 52. What was brilliant was talking to Stacy in between laps, and seeing that even someone at her level finds these sessions tough. We talked about how we both find lap 4 the worst one, knowing that it’s near the end but not quite near enough to push through the pain barrier as we still have 2 more after that to get through. She also told me about “Louis’ Last Lap”, so named after someone she knows who always thinks of the second to last lap as the last one so that he can drive through it and imagine he’s finishing his laps. Because after all, however hard you’ve found the session, you can always get through the last lap. And I got through it by digging deep and coming in a fraction over 54 seconds. Who wants to take anything left in the tank home with them eh?

Listening to the banter between Stacy and Alan all the way through the session kept my spirits high, and having Alan tell me at the end that he thought it was the best I’d ever run was an incredible feeling. He told me I looked like the “real deal”, which has to be one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. I had managed to do all 6 laps without slipping into a mental funk and without losing seconds off my time. I enjoyed the session SO much. There’s just one problem – I’m going to want to keep running with Stacy, so I really hope she doesn’t plan to change her workout routine any time soon! I suppose there’s a risk of her becoming my new dummy(!), but I think she just inspires me to be the best athletic version of myself I can be. Roll on the next session.

Body by Simone at Sweaty Betty Cambridge – My Review

September 23, 2015September 23, 20152 Comments

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m a HUGE fan of any movement that allows people to experience exercise for free, whether it’s the awesome parkrun and Parktennis events taking over green space all over the country (and beyond) or whether it’s Sweaty Betty, continuing to expand their #GetFit4Free campaign with new and innovative workouts.

I’ve been to a few of Sweaty Betty’s free classes over the last year or so. Most recently I’ve enjoyed Flow and Glow with Rachael and Fly, Flex, Flow with Jo, and I loved both, so when I saw that they were bringing in “Body by Simone” for a four week period I knew I’d have to skip a Tuesday Ely Runners session (sorry guys!) to give the class a go.

Simone in this context is Simone De La Rue, an LA based fitness guru with abs of actual steel if her photos are anything to go by. According to the SB website, the “Body by Simone” workout will make your heart rate soar, tone and strengthen your body and leave you feeling fabulously happy. Ultimately, it’s a dance cardio workout tailored to work the bum, legs, arms and abs with the aim to give you a body like a dancer.

Now I know it’s going to take more than a 50 minute workout to give me a dancer’s physique. I’d have to lay off the visits to Cherry Hill Chocolates in Ely for a start and we all know that’s not going to happen. But I can say that after one class, if you were to do this regularly enough, your body would reap the rewards.

The class itself took place at the Hidden Rooms in Cambridge, somewhere I’ve not been before and which were a bit too well hidden for me as I walked past the door a few times before someone gently pointed me in the right direction with a bemused smile on their face. Inside there are low ceilings (which may have caused some of the taller attendees some problems but which obviously didn’t impact on me in the slightest) and a very cool, only vaguely hipster-ish vibe to the whole place. Previous classes I’ve been too have been held outside or in the Sweaty Betty store, but because there were some large, dynamic movements in this class such as lateral lunges and star jumps, the store wouldn’t have worked, and as music is a key element to the class we needed somewhere inside to make sure we didn’t cause a public nuisance. So being just around the corner from the shop, The Hidden Rooms were ideal.

Around 15 of us had gathered for the class, and after a quick intro by our instructor Katie (who I recognised from the Cambridge store and from the many times I’ve spotted her power walking to the train station) we were led into a very dynamic warm up, which set the pace for the whole class. And I have to give out a shout out to the AMAZING music she was using. When did you last hear Ghetto Supastar by Pras for crying out loud?! Just. Awesome.

The only kit required – a mat and some hand weights

Now I’ve never been the biggest fan of aerobics as I find it can be too “single-paced” for me. I like variety between high impact cardio, body weight movements and weights work, which meant that this class was a great fit for me. After a cardio song that involved pretending we had a ball in our hands (stick with me here, it makes perfect sense in the moment) we then went into weights work for the arms. Now I would normally scoff at 1.5kg weights (I do rows with 14kg dumbells at the moment), but after an entire song’s worth of tricep dips, flies, curls and more, it felt like I wouldn’t have been able to hold much more without sacrificing the quality of the movement. After another cardio track that involved a lot of squats and lunges, followed by another that involved lots of jumping, star jumps and deep squats to hit your palm on the floor (my personal favourite), we then did an abs section, which I think is the one I’m most likely to repeat regularly at home. I already have an ab workout that I do most evening (always to Naughty Boy’s La La La which my husband could not be more sick of) but this plank-focussed workout was a great alternative, incorporating mountain climbers and holding the plank position on our palms and then on our elbows. We then ended the class by combining three of the different cardio routines into one, so having a little bit of natural rhythm and the ability to follow dance-based moves will help, but isn’t essential.

Myself and Katie, two very Sweaty Betties after the workout

All through the class our instructor Katie – who clearly had a dancer’s background as evidenced by her ridiculously elegant arm movements – was fun and full of energy, which is clearly standard protocol for SB staff and ambassadors. It’s not easy to teach to a class of mostly strangers (I suspect she’s not able to build up quite the same rapport in these situations as she can with people who attend the classes she teaches regularly outside of the #GetFit4Free movement) but she was relaxed which helped to put the class at ease. Plus she asked at the start if anyone had any injuries, which is always a massive plus sign for me.

I left the class feeling like I’d had a great workout, and most importantly that I had some elements that I could take home with me and do again in my own time. If you’re keen to try it yourself you can either access the workout online, or the last class with the Cambridge store will be happening next Tuesday and you should be able to book a spot here from Monday morning. I mean why wouldn’t you? It is free after all.

Unless of course you count the shorts that I bought in the sale. Those wily SB minxes. They know exactly what they’re doing.

Wearing my new shorts that have all the colours

Trying to Outrun my Disbelieving Owl

September 19, 20154 Comments

It may come as a surprise to you that sometimes I doubt my abilities as a runner. I know right? I best give you a moment to get over the shock of that particular statement.

I’m not even sure what my problem is. Frustration that I didn’t discover running earlier, worries that I’ve not achieved what I feel I should have done in 33 years, general lack of patience and comparing myself to those who are fitter, stronger, younger, more experienced. Probably a combination of all of those things and many many more.

But I’ve noticed a change in the last couple of weeks. I think a tiny part of me may be starting to believe that I’m a good runner.

Squeak!

Some of you may be rolling your eyes at this and hovering your finger over the mouse to read about people pretending to faint to see if their dogs really care about them. Anyone who has only known me for a couple of years may only know the Duracell bunny, fitness fiend version of me and think I’m just fishing for compliments. But those who know me from years back (and especially my family) will know that I never looked like someone who could do the things I do know. I was a real trier, but few things came naturally to me, especially in the world of sport. I’ve always had to work pretty hard to be good at anything, except maybe for being a bossy loudmouth. That always came pretty easily.

But on the 10th September I was set to do the final Kevin Henry League 5k race for Ely Runners. I had only done the Ely sprint tri on Sunday 6th and that had tired me out more than I had expected, because when I run a long distance race I can get into a groove and switch off ever so slightly, but for the triathlon I had to stay more tuned in and consider the various disciplines and transitions, so my mind and body had been worked HARD. So when I left work at 6:20pm on Thursday to head half a mile down the road to the athletics track where Cambridge and Coleridge were hosting the run, I felt shattered with my stomach in knots and my hands shaking.

My pre-race nerves are pretty epic, but I had one thing in mind – keep my training partner Mary in sight. Alan had given me a talking to (read: slight bollocking) that morning. He told me to stay with Mary, and I told him I couldn’t. Big mistake. Alan doesn’t understand the “can’ts” and “couldn’ts” of the world. But I know that Mary is faster and stronger than me over longer distances and I thought he wanted me to stay literally on her shoulder. But he explained that he just wanted me to keep her within my sights, and I told him I’d try, which is all he ever really wants from me.

It was a gorgeous evening for a run – the temperature had dipped to about 16 degrees, and there was just a slight breeze. At the start I was gabbling to anyone who would listen, threatening to demand piggy backs from strangers and to run in the opposite direction, but then Mary made me laugh (slightly manically) about my nerves, calling them my “nervous owl” (thanks to a previous post) and I settled into the start in the same sort of place as her. It was time to see if my nervous owl could become a bit more confident.

I then went on to run the race of my life and I’m still not entirely sure how I did it. Somehow I managed to not only keep Mary in my sights but to actually stay on her shoulder the whole way round. I kept thinking to myself “it’s ok if she gets away at 2k, it’s ok if she gets away at 3k, oh my giddy aunt I’m still with her at 4k and flipping heck am I really at the final 300m and still only one place behind her?” I had pushed myself so hard that I didn’t have enough left in the tank at the end to catch her at the line, but when I heard thundering footsteps and heavy breathing at my shoulder I knew I had not run that kind of race only to be overtaken by someone at the line, so I dug deep and managed to finish one place behind Mary.

It took 5 days for the official times to come through. FIVE. DAYS. I am one of the least patient people I know so I cannot tell you how agonising it was waiting to see my time. I knew I had a PB, but I had no idea how much time I had taken off. I NEVER expected it to be 55 seconds. And it turns out that I had managed to keep not one but two other C&C runners at bay in that final sprint.

I think during the run, I found myself wanting to push for Ely Runners who have been so welcoming and do so much to create opportunities for people to enjoy running and even to excel at it. I wanted to do them, Alan, Mary and myself proud. And ultimately there was a feeling of “this is the last race of the league. I may as well hammer it.” The resulting PB is somewhat arbitrary compared to my existing one of 21:14 on a rougher, harder course (Milton Parkrun), but that is still I time I never, ever thought I was capable of achieving even on my very best day in perfect conditions on a fast, flat course.

So now I find myself in what feels like a quandary. I’m starting to believe that I’m a pretty good runner, but of course this means my head is running even faster than my legs and I’m over thinking things again. How seriously do I want to take this?

What if I fully commit and I’m not good enough?

What if I fully commit and I am?

What if, what if, what if?

GIRL RUNNING LATE

Tiny person running her way through life. Boring workout gear is not for me.

Tag: cambridge