Slippery people

Janathon day 7 - first week completed!

Since I was doing intervals on the treadmill less than 12 hours ago (and have a 10k race on Sunday), I decided a short and gentle plod would be in order this morning. Or, given the state of the pavements, possibly a not-so-gentle skate, or, if I'm unlucky, a decidedly ungentle fall on the behind. I dropped the little one off at nursery, put on all my luminous gear again and headed out into the freezing cold with some trepidation.

First bit didn't seem too bad, but it rapidly got worse, and I had to go very slowly indeed to avoid the risk of an unplanned bum/pavement encounter. When I got to the relevant point, and on the basis that it couldn't possibly be any worse, I decided to run up the path past the allotments and see what the old railway line path (usually one of my favourite routes but a no-go area in recent weeks due to the weather) was like. It wasn't too bad at first sight but I soon discovered that large stretches were fairly lethal. I managed to keep going and remain vertical by running at the very edge of the path where the ice was slightly - though only slightly - less treacherous. (Incidentally this description of roads as being "treacherous" always amuses me a bit, as if the roads had promised not to do something and then gone and done it anyway. Kind of like the Liberal Democrats, really.)

After a mile or so on the path I left it to run down a steep road (that bit was VERY slow) and back along the quiet road which luckily was OK to run in the middle of as you can hear any cars coming from a distance, and home to complete a very slow 2-and-a-bit mile loop. On the positive side, my legs felt fine, and it was lovely and peaceful out without a soul around. Clearly nobody else is foolish enough to go out in these conditions when they don't have to!

Stats:

Distance: 2.14 miles
Time: 23:06
Average pace: 10:48
Total Janathon miles so far: 26.68

Weighty matters

Janathon has come at a good time for me (weather conditions notwithstanding) because not only does it get me off to a good start for my planned 1000-in-2011, but I’m also properly trying, for pretty much the first time in my life, to lose some weight. I’m not overweight – 5’7 and 10st 5, BMI of about 22.7) but I am, or was, about a stone over what I used to be and what I would like to be . (That’s what having a baby at nearly 40 does for your figure… the weight just didn’t come off the way it did when I had my first child at 23, regardless of how much breastfeeding I did. Which was a lot.) Anyway four years on the extra weight is still there, mostly around my middle where it seems to have settled in and made itself comfy. I think it’s definitely time for it to go. Plus I might run faster if I was a bit lighter… well, you never know.

I started a couple of weeks before Christmas (yeah, I know) logging my food intake and exercise on www.myfitnesspal.com . I don’t think my diet generally is that bad – I don’t really have a taste for sweet things or (much) junk food - but I probably eat too much. Especially bread. I love bread. I make my own and I find it very hard to resist scoffing it in large quantities. Running, even when I was marathon training, hasn’t had any effect, so I could only conclude that my calorie intake was too high.

Finding out for the first time how many calories are in things has been an interesting experience and logging what I actually eat has definitely made me think before reaching for a snack. I’ve cut down (without drastically changing) what I eat, and so far have lost about 6lb, taking me below 10 stone for the first time in four years! Of course, the extra running necessitated by Janathon won’t do any harm, either…

Anyway, I had planned an outside run today but (a) pavements like sheets of ice and (b) the little one's playgroup not being on meant I was back in the gym instead, where they must have got well and truly sick of the sight of me over the last couple of months. Ran for 40 minutes on the treadmill and felt good. In fact, around the third mile I actually started to feel quite euphoric, not an emotion I normally expect to experience on the treadmill. I do love running.

I hope the ice is gone tomorrow though.

Stats:

Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 39:58
Average pace: 9:31
Total Janathon miles so far: 24.54

Learning to love the dreadmill

Didn't manage to get out for a run at a reasonable time today so instead I went to the gym in the evening to pound the treadmill for a while. I'm having a disorganised day and I didn't realise till I got there that I'd forgotten my Garmin. You might think a Garmin would be unnecessary for running on the treadmill, what with being indoors and all, and you would be right, but I like to use a footpod when treadmilling and it's interesting to see how the distance measured by the footpod compares with the distance measured by the treadmill (they're not identical). However I am not a sad person who cannot run without a Garmin attached to my wrist, no no, definitely not, and I didn't even consider going home to get it... well, only briefly.

Actually I really enjoyed my run on the treadmill and I didn't even look longingly at my left wrist very often. When I got there the gym was pretty quiet (I don't know where all those January people are, maybe they have already given up?) and only one of the 6 treadmills was in use. It was occupied by a big beefy guy in a singlet who was (and I swear this is true) running while leaning forward and literally hugging the front of the treadmill. I mean literally. His arms were around the front of it and his legs were running. Maybe this is some new treadmill technique in which I am as yet unversed, but it looked very odd. He carried on like this for about two minutes, walked for about 10 seconds, then scooted off out of the room. Maybe he thought I was giving him funny looks, or admiring his singlet, or something. Then another bloke came in and ran for five minutes while holding on to the side rails. I don't know what the experts have to say about this but it doesn't look right to me. It's not as if you have side rails when you're out running in the great outdoors, after all.

Anyway apart from these small diversions I was alone in the gym and I did some (not very fast) quarter-mile intervals for 35 minutes, and covered 3.53 miles by which you may deduce that my intervals were indeed not very fast, but that did include a warm up and cool down, and rather to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then I did a little (and I mean a little) on the weights machines, which I really don't use enough because I'm not very good at them. My legs are reasonably strong from all the running but my upper body is pretty feeble. I know that's a reason to do more strength training rather than less, and I do plan to start doing more.

Garmin-less stats:

Time: 35:00
Distance: 3.53 miles
Average pace: 9:55
Total Janathon distance so far: 20.34 miles

Whoops there goes another year...

Day 4 of Janathon today, which takes us, um, about an eighth of the way through? (Disadvantage of Janathon over Juneathon: 31 is much less easy than 30 to work out percentages of.) It's also, though obviously far less importantly, my birthday. Yay! I'm 43, which sounded a bit depressing, but then I thought that if I live till 86, which seems perfectly feasible looking at the rest of my family and the great ages they tend to achieve - the women, anyway - I'm still only halfway through my life and not even halfway through my adult life, which was a much more cheering thought. Also takes me one step nearer to my grand plan of continuing running until I'm so old I'm the only person left in my age category at races and might therefore actually win a prize.

Anyway I had planned 6 miles today but what with the need to entertain and dole out cake to visiting relatives (I wasn't allowed to make my own birthday cake, so had a pink Disney Princess one from Sainsbury's instead, chosen by guess who), time was short and I only managed 5-and-a-bit. I did get to use my nice new birthday Brooks hi-vis gilet from Run4it though, which I was quite impressed with, though I did initially feel a bit as if I was about to go and dig up a road. It will certainly get me seen, though, which I guess is the main idea. It was very light and comfortable to wear, has pockets which is always nice and even a little inner pocket for your MP3 player, although I didn't discover this until I got home and hence didn't use it. I did look a bit like an explosion in a paint factory with my blue long-sleeved top, purple gloves and fluorescent gilet, but never mind. I didn't overheat, which was my main concern as I do tend to warm up very quickly when I run and hence hate wearing too much. I'm always amazed by the people I see out running in big jackets etc.

Also a word of praise for Run4it who had exceptionally fast delivery (ordered in the afternoon, arrived by courier the following morning) and even threw in a free packet of jelly beans. Good service.

After yesterday's icy experience I decided to do a loop starting by running up the hill and leaving the icy bit till last. The icy bit wasn't quite as bad as yesterday, though still hazardous in places, and it was an enjoyable (and highly visible, just as well given the dark and drizzly weather) run.

Stats:

Distance: 5.1 miles
Time: 50:18
Splits: * 10:51 (up the hill!)
* 10:04
* 9:17
* 10:00 (up another hill)
* 9:15
* 0:50
Average pace: 9:52

Just bimbling along

What with having done a 10k yesterday and, more to the point, the fact that it has rained all day today, I decided to opt for a leisurely 2 mile out-and-back bimble along the bottom road to Garthdee. This turned out to be a less than amazing idea as that road seems to be the only one where the pavement is, despite the rain, still extremely icy, resulting in pretty hazardous running conditions. Well, it was either that or run in the road, which is hazardous for different and obvious reasons. I managed to totter precariously along on the pavement for most of the way, with the occasional foray onto the edge of the road when it got too un-navigable. Also got drenched twice by passing cars, I prefer to assume accidentally.

Hope tomorrow is a drier day.

Stats:

Distance: 2.12 miles
Time: 21:59
Splits: 11:11, 9:49, 0:59
Average pace: 10:23

Lumphanan Detox 10k: Race Report

Was looking forward to this race, which is billed as Scotland's first road 10k of the year, which I presume it is, not that I've conducted any research to verify it or anything. Had a bit of a mass turnout of people from Fetch who live vaguely locally, either running or supporting, which was fab. *wave*

Being on 2nd January it's called the "detox" 10k, though having had a fairly sedate New Year I wasn't particularly toxed in the first place. I was more worried about the hill and what with that and not having done any runs longer than 5 miles for a while, I wasn't expecting a good time and was happy to be within or just over the hour. Due to the conditions underfoot because of recent weather, the route was changed slightly to remove the off-road section, which had the unfortunate side-effect of resulting in having to run up another hill back into Lumphanan at around the 8k mark. Boo!

Even more unfortunately, it turned out that Lumphanan had no water :-O presumably due to frozen/burst pipes, which must have been a nightmare for the organisers and resulted in the obvious problems for the usual pre-race toilet visits. Flushing was, shall we say, somewhat occasional. There was some discussion about whether the race should have been cancelled as a result of the water issue, but it was either too late for them to cancel or they just decided to go ahead anyway.

The race kicked off at 11.30, and was immediately uphill, which continued for nearly the first 2k - the first kilometre was the steepest, though, and I was pleased that I managed to run the whole thing as I was totally expecting to walk some of it. Still, thanks to the uphill the first mile was a pretty slow 11:52! The gradient eased off a bit in the second kilometre, but was still uphill, then began a much pleasanter long descent! (At the top of the hill someone shouted "It's all downhill after this!" which as usual turned out to be a big lie.) I managed the second mile in 9:04, the third in 8:54 and the fourth in 8:56 (hurrah for downhills). The view over the snow-covered fields was lovely, and the underfoot conditions weren't too bad apart from a few icy patches where you had to watch your footing, but mostly it was fine. Then came the climb back into Lumphanan, courtesy of the changed route, resulting in a fifth mile of 10:08, though I managed to regain a little bit of time with a sixth mile of 9:07.

The kilometre markers were a bit dodgily positioned, especially the 10k mark which for some mysterious reason was about 200m before the finish (thanks for that), meaning that you passed it, ran on, turned a corner expecting the finish to be right there but it was still what felt at the time like ages away (it wasn't). I was neck and neck at the corner with another woman, but managed to find a burst of speed from somewhere to burn her off at the finish :) and finished in, according to my watch, 59:16 - about a minute and a half over my PB, but I was glad to be under the hour. (My watch also said it was 9.91km rather than 10, but everyone else seemed to find the distance to be correct if not slightly long, so I don't know where the other 0.09km went - I swear I didn't take any short cuts.)

The soup in the village hill after the race was welcome, even if the toilets still weren't working! And we got a nice t-shirt with a picture of an exhausted-looking detoxing runner on it, though no medal.

All in all a fab morning out and a nice start to the racing year.



Stats:

Distance: 6.16 miles (see above)
Time: 59:16
Average pace: 9:37 (mainly thanks to the slow first mile!)
Best pace according to Mr Garmin: 6:08 (gulp)

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

..Or a few thousand steps. I'm planning on completing 1,000 miles in 2011, so the journey starts here.

Happy New Year everyone! Had a pretty sedate night last night and got Janathon off to a good start with a really enjoyable 3 and a bit mile run this morning, ahead of tomorrow's 10k. I've been treadmilling a fair bit lately what with the weather (snow alone can be manageable off road, but the ice which has prevailed over the past couple of weeks has rendered most surfaces unrunnable). However most of the pavements - though not the paths, which are horrendous - are now largely clear apart from a few isolated icy and slushy patches, and I managed a satisfying, if cold, out-and-back run along the main road. Would happily have gone further, but my training hasn't been that great lately and I didn't want to overdo it before tomorrow, which I suspect is going to be a bit of a struggle anyway (there's a big hill at the beginning, although lots of downhill thereafter). But since I haven't done more than about 5 miles in nearly a month, I'm not expecting a great time.

I did feel really energised and positive today, though - probably because I was running outside in the fresh air rather than in the hot and sweaty gym with the crappy music and nothing to look at but my own hot and sweaty reflection in the mirror - so the month, and the year, feel like they're off to a good start.

Today's stats:

Distance: 3.43 miles
Time: 32:41
Average pace: 9:32