Trial and error (and more error)

One of the many Rules of Running is 'Do not wear anything in a race that you haven't first tried in training.'  My last couple of runs have flagged up just why this is important.

They're in here somewhere...

Sunday's 120-minute off-road run saw me pair my Brooks Glycerines with Feetures socks.  I always wear my Balega socks with the Glycerines and the Feetures with my Sauconys - I have no idea why, it's just become a habit - but it was the Feetures that I grabbed from the running sock drawer first (yes, I have an entire drawer just for running socks) and I couldn't be bothered to rummage around for the Balegas because I was already setting off later than I had planned....and they're just socks, right?  How much of a problem could they cause? 
 
A fair bit, as it turned out.  Within 30 seconds of starting to run, the right sock disappeared into my shoe and rucked up under my foot.  Sigh.  I stopped to sort it out, thinking that I just needed to pull it up a bit higher but again within 30 seconds of running, it snuck back under my foot again.  Sigh and several swears.  I wasn't about to spend another half-hour going back home to get more functional socks and I wasn't about to spend a two hour run fighting with my right foot.  So I did what any impatient person would do and removed the sock and ran with one socked and one sockless foot.  I had feared developing blisters on the naked foot but it was in better shape at the end of the run than the other foot.  I'm not sure what this means for my Sock Future (do I dare to go bare?) but I do know that I'm glad to have found out now - and not at the start line of an ultra - that Feetures and Glycerines do not get along.

And then there was today's 60-minute threshold run (for those who find it interesting, it was a 10 minute warm-up, threshold intervals of 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 minutes with 2 minutes recovery between intervals, and a 10 minute cool-down).  I had to start in the dark so wore my head torch for the first time in a couple of years.  'This will be good practice,' I thought, given that I'll be running/walking/shuffling/crawling during the night for at least the last couple of hours of London2Brighton.  I also thought that I'd experiment with wearing my compression calf sleeves to 1) keep my calves warm in the fierce wind and 2) give some extra support to my grumbling left calf.  I've only ever worn these for recovery post-run but lots of runners think that they really help during the actual running as well.  I'll take any help out there that might keep my weary legs ticking over, so practicing with calf sleeves in training can only be a Good Thing.

Argh!  Get these off me NOW!

Except that it wasn't.  I HATED the feel of them.  I kept interpreting the tight (supportive) sensation of the sleeves as being a tight (injury) sensation.  And even once I got my head around that, I HATED how hot they made my legs feel.  OMG, I just wanted to stop and rip them off but to do so would have meant taking off my tights first and, by then, it was getting light and I didn't think that the passing rush hour traffic would appreciate being flashed.  I toughed it out but I will NEVER wear them for running again.  EVER.  My calves will just have to cope on their own. 


And how did the head torch work out?  Well, it was comfortable and, with three brightness settings, very adaptable to changing light conditions.  I noticed that it had a fourth setting - a series of flashing lights which I thought would be good for increasing how noticeable I was.  I used that for a mile or so before I realised that the pattern of lights was actually the SOS signal.  Sigh.  No wonder some of the oncoming cars were slowing down to have a look.  Just as well I figured that out now and not in the  middle of the night near Brighton after the rescue services showed up.

Running.  There's always something new to learn.

It's (still) all about the shoes

Triumph 9s.  So lovely.  So missed.

My recollection of this blog's previous life is that I spent a lot of time obsessing about shoes, running and otherwise.  So it won't be a surprise to anyone that today's topic is, of course, shoes.  Running shoes, to be specific.

Glycerine 13.  Pretty.

I still mourn the disappearance of the Saucony Triumph 9s, as none of the Triumph's other incarnations have suited me.  I've literally rubbed along with the Saucony Rides (blisters and bruised toenails from a too-narrow and too-shallow toe box) for the sake of their 8mm heel-toe drop, but eventually I was A Very Brave Runner and tried the Brooks Glycerine 13s.  The toe box was still a bit too narrow to comfortably run more than 8-10 miles and the drop was 10mm, but at least my toenails stayed attached.  However, when it came time to start training for the Florence marathon, I knew that I had to find shoes that allowed my poor feet to stay blister free. 

Ghost 10s.  As comfy as they are beautiful.

Hello, Brooks Ghost 10s!  Their 12mm drop makes my calves ache, but the toe box is nice and wide and there were no peeps from my (thankfully ex)blisters throughout training or, indeed, during the race.  A trade-off that was well worth making.

But now, my Glycerine 13s - my short and middle distance shoes - are at the end of their useful life.  I have a new pair of Ghost 10s waiting in the wings for my long road runs but they are too soft for comfortable trail running (I can feel every stone through the soles and, indeed, ended up with bruised feet following the Aviemore HM last year) and, because both of my pending ultras have trail components, Coach Ben has instructed me to do all of my long runs on trails.  So what is A Very Brave Runner to do but rock up to the local Run4It and spend 1.5 hours trying on pretty much every road and trail shoe in the shop? 

Ride 10.  Purple.

Leaving the lovely and very patient salesperson in a state of exhaustion amidst a pile of empty boxes and scattered shoes, I eventually decided on the newest model of the Saucony Rides.  My previous issues with the toe box seem to have been addressed and they do remain a 8mm drop shoe, which seems to suit my calves better than a 12mm drop.  At the very least, they should be good for all but the LONG runs.

That still left me with finding a trail shoe.  The lovely and very patient salesperson girded his loins and brought out yet more offerings.  The only trail shoe that had more than a 4mm drop was Salomon but they were so tight and uncomfortable that it wasn't even worth trying them out on the treadmill.  It took my calves months and months and months to adapt to an 8mm drop when I got my first pair of Triumph 9s, and I am extremely doubtful as to whether I'll ever be able to adapt to 4mm in time for the first ultra at the end of March...but being Very Brave, I'll give it a go.

Peregrine 7.  Also purple.

Welcome, then, Saucony Peregrine 7s!  They were in the sale AND they are purple AND they were very comfy during the treadmill test.  What's not to love?  I will, of course, need to be sensible about transitioning to them and I have arranged a phone call with Coach Ben next week to get his guidance about this, but perhaps it's time to allow my fear of Different Shoes to go the way of my fear of Running Too Much.

I'm not the runner that I used to be.

Developing mental toughness, whether I want to or not

It’s only Wednesday morning, and so far this week I have:

• experienced the most terrifying flight EVER - storm force winds at Orkney meant an approach to Kirkwall that was simultaneously up & down like a roller coaster AND barrel-rolling from side to side.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.
• taken more than 20 hours to get to work in Shetland because it was even windier in Shetland than in Orkney, so the Shetland leg of the flight was cancelled and we had to spend the night at a hotel in Kirkwall.  I had room service and watched Lord of the Rings on the telly, so that made up for a lot.
• twinged my lower back when I tried to heave my overly substantial bag onto the weighing belt at the airport.  It’s not painful, just stiff and aches a bit.  Sigh.
• had to rearrange Monday morning’s appointments for later in the week, which has eliminated most of the time that I had set aside to do admin, which means early starts and late finishes in order to get everything done before I leave on Friday.
• had to deal with a low tyre pressure warning light on my hire car.  The only tyre pressure pump in Lerwick was out of order so I had to take the car to the car hire company’s garage, where the mechanic took one horrified look at the tyres and said that the tread on both of them was illegal.  I obviously wasn’t allowed to drive the car away and had to hang about at the garage while another car with functioning tyres was found for me. Which, although inconvenient (I could have been using this time for admin), was actually a Good Thing, because it had been sleety haily not-quite-snowing since the previous day and the roads were icy, so some proper traction was welcome.
• had to run yesterday’s threshold run (10 minute warm up, 5x5 minutes at threshold effort with 90 sec recovery, 10 minute cool down) on the treadmill because the pavements were so icy.  I tried to convince Coach Ben to let me move that run to today, citing the icy pavements as well as the -1c temperature, the 17+mph wind, and HATING the treadmill but was clearly told ‘Complain all that you want, you’re still doing the run.’  
• enjoyed the treadmill more than I expected.  Having a bit of structure to the session makes it more interesting than just plodding at the same pace for what feels like forever, as I used to do. I should know by now that Ben is always right.

What does that litany of whingeing have to do with running, I hear you ask?  Well, apparently if we only run in good conditions and only when we feel like it, we never learn to persevere in races when the going gets tough.  We never learn to push through discomfort and tired legs and we never learn to ignore that inner voice that says snuggling under a blanket with a cat on your lap and a piece of cake is better than going for a run.  That determination to get out there no matter what your head is telling you is what gets you to the finish line.

For me, then, making myself run yesterday ON A TREADMILL after those stressful couple of days, is one more thing that goes into the Mental Toughness Bank.  Ker ching!

The year of running long. Very long. Like, really really long.

Immediately after the Florence Marathon, Coach Ben asked me what my next goal was going to be.  In a burst of endorphin-fueled optimism, I said 'I've always fancied an ultra.'  (For the non-running readers, an ultra marathon is any race over 26.2 miles.)  In my head, he laughed and told me to think of something a bit more sensible.  What he actually said was, 'Great, we can do that!'  I thought that he was joking and that he'd come to his senses once he had a proper think about it.

However, when we spoke a couple of weeks after Florence, he remained enthusiastic about the idea and told me to have a look online at the different options .  I sent him a month-by-month list of ultras (I was being thorough, not obsessive) with some marathons and half-marathons added in for good measure, and we came up with a plan for 2018 that made me laugh with excitement while simultaneously terrifying me.  Apparently feeling both of those emotions is a Good Thing (to paraphrase Coach Ben, 'If it doesn't scare you, it isn't worth doing') and suggests that at the very least, I'm not going to be bored!

So, here's the plan:

31 March:  John Muir Way Ultra (50k):  From Port Seton to Dunbar in East Lothian (near Edinburgh), mostly along the coast and on a combination of paths, tracks, and roads.  And a bit of sand.

26 May:  London 2 Brighton Challenge (100k):  From Richmond on Thames to Brighton, taking in the North and South Downs.  Some roads, some trails, some hills.  Yikes!  But apparently the cakes at the aid stations make it all worthwhile.

Autumn:  a marathon still to be decided, possibly Dublin or maybe Florence again, and I wouldn't mind having another crack at the River Ness 10k as well.  Assuming, of course, that my legs are still functioning by this point.

It's hard for me to believe that I've gone from, in the early days of this blog, not being able to run more than 12 miles/week without getting injured to thinking that running 100k in one go (well, running along with judicious bits of walking - no one except the top runners runs every single step of an ultra) is achievable.  I have no idea whether I'm physically or mentally tough enough to cope with an ultra distance, but that's part of the adventure - to find out where my limits are and, hopefully, to have fun along the way.

Because to paraphrase Coach Ben's paraphrase, 'If it's not fun, it's not worth doing!'

I'm back! Hurrah!

Well.  It's  been over 2.5 years since my last blog entry and I really thought that I was done with this.  I got tired of writing about the seemingly endless cycle of injury-recovery-injury and drifted away to be injured on my own time and to just get on with running without having to think of anything interesting (or positive) to say about it.  And I have, indeed, been running.  Here are the high points:

Autumn 2015:  After pulling out of yet another marathon due to injury, I decided that I needed to get some proper guidance with Strength & Conditioning (S&C) rather than just faffing about on my own, so signed up with a personal trainer.  This was one of my best running-related decisions ever!  2.5 years on and although I still have imbalances and I'm still not very flexible, I am strong enough, flexible enough, and balanced enough to do the kind of running that I want to do without constantly getting injured.  In fact, touch wood and say it very quietly so that the Running Gods don't hear:  I haven't been injured since starting PT.  Thank you, Kim, I could not have done it without you!  For various reasons, I'm taking a break from PT at the moment but I've found some online resources to fill the gap - I've learned my lesson about neglecting the S&C side of things.

October 2016: Loch Ness Marathon.  I loved my training and I loved the race.  I finished in 4:49 (an hour faster than London in 2013 and on a more challenging route) but, more importantly, I finished uninjured and with a huge smile on my face.

March 2017:  I went to a week-long running camp in the Algarve, organised by a company called Full Potential.  This ended up being a week that challenged many of my assumptions about myself and about my running (e.g. 'I can't run two days in a row,' 'I can't run faster than 11:30min/mile pace,' 'I'll get injured if I do XYZ') and I left feeling energised and hopeful that maybe I wasn't too old to make improvements.  Huge thanks to Cathy and Paul, who also attended the camp, for inviting me along!

April 2017:  On the back of the Algarve camp and, in particular, an inspirational chat with Coach Ben, I decided to experiment with having a running coach.  I figured that I'd give it a month and if I hated it, no harm done.  So I signed up with Coach Ben through Full Potential and found myself immersed in the world of threshold runs, Kenyan Hills, easy vs steady runs, 90% effort runs, race pace runs....yikes!  And it was hard hard hard until my body got used to what was being asked of it, but I loved it.  I was never bored and I quickly started to see progress with not only my pace but with being able to run much more comfortably over longer distances.  And I didn't get injured.  Working with Ben has been another one of the very best things that I've ever done for my running.  I targeted the Florence Marathon in November 2017 and along the way ran the Edinburgh HM in March (2:13), the Nairn HM in August (2:14), a 10k PB at the River Ness 10k in September (54:14), a HM PB at Aviemore in October (2:10), and for the Florence Marathon...

November 2017:  In heavy rain and wind and with a cold, I finished in 4:31:27.  Uninjured.  And with a huge smile on my face.  I had enough energy to pick up the pace by 30-60 seconds/mile for the last five miles and had the best time.  I still smile when I think about it even now.

But now it's a New Year and I have New Goals, and I wanted to resurrect this blog to track my journey towards them.  Tomorrow's topic:  If it doesn't scare you, it isn't worth doing!