Sunday, July 31, 2005
Quick update after Musselburgh wont take long!!!
Suffered with a terrible pain in my right side after
mile one, like a stitch but more muscular? Need to
figure out what it was so I can stop it from happening
ever again. It was sooooo bad I had to stop at about
one and a half miles, doubled over to try to get rid
of the pain. I dont think I was stopped for long,
but it feels like forever when you are being overtaken
but lots of others. Must say very nice of the other
runners who asked after me as I was doubled over.
Started off again at a slower pace and grabbed my side
until about mile 3 when the pain had eased slightly
and I could start pushing the pace a bit more. As Ian
Rowland said (as well as saying that I was not to
quote him); a lot of running is about being able to
ignore the pain. Did the 6 miles in about 53 minutes
which wasnt bad, but I was disappointed because of
the stop/slower pace. I am glad that I kept going
though.
I guess I will search the injury clinics in Runners
world on line to see if anyone has suffered anything
similar in the past and how to avoid any reoccurrence.
Any ideas then please let me know.
Also forgot to mention my shopping foray last week I
stayed in town on the Saturday night so thought what
better way to start the week that with a trip to
Footworks to find some running apparel. Got a couple
of very nice, trendy and functional tops. Also
figured out where the new running shop, Run-4-It, is
going to be on Lothian Road. Very useful to know for
weekends when I am in town as I cant get to running
shops during the week. This diary seems to show that
I buy new running stuff every other week, but honestly
its been a long time since I bought any new tops for
running. My running wardrobe didnt even have a
breathable t-shirt in it until last week!
Have just been to Pilates so am concentrating on
keeping my stomach in, shoulders back and down and
hips aligned as I type. Sheila Morrison and I are off
for a run mid afternoon. Brian is still progressing
with his training did 15 mins run and 3 mins walk
times 3 today. Aim is to do the Paisley 10k at the
end of August. Spose that means Id better organise
our entries at some point this week. I am looking
forward to the all the races coming in
August/September time.
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Saturday, July 30, 2005
Havent written for a while, it has been a hectic week
in my social life (which doesnt happen very often).
Last Friday 22nd I was at Sheila Morrisons with a few
of the other female runners having a bit of a
gathering. The Pimms was going down well! Sheila is
going to Nepal on a trek in September and she had a
couple of her old running friends up, to practice
walking for the weekend. By Sunday I was expecting
her to be knackered after spending 3 days walking, and
for our evening run Sheila did say she only wanted to
run 5 or 6 miles. Once we got started we ended up
doing about 8 miles and Sheila was still trotting off
in front of me. (Although I had been out on the town
on the Saturday night as well, which is my excuse!!!)
Monday 25th was my monthly massage man session and
unfortunately I had a few bits out of place. I had
started suffering hip pain the previous Thursday at
interval training and this was due to my lower back
slipping out a bit. Very interesting session,
although not what you would call relaxing in the
slightest!
Tuesday 26th at club night we went up round Spott and
then up Daniels Brae and back to the club. Somewhere
about 7.5miles to 8 miles quality miles though due
to all those hills!
Wednesday I went out with my work colleagues, spent
Thursday waiting for home time (more so than usual
anyway) and went straight along to interval training.
Such is my dedication to Ians painful sessions. Not
too bad tonight 4x100m then a 1 mile time trial. I
will watch if my time gets any better (aiming for
improvement like Clarissas) and if not
..will need to
think up that punishment for Ian Rowland definitely
not going to let him choose it!
After intervals on Thursday a few of us went on to go
out for a meal in Dunbar. Great fun, lots of running
chat going on and the martini was flowing.
Unfortunately the red wine was also flowing for Sheila
Morrison, and for some reason she decided to Parmesan
my handbag. Boy, will she regret that move
.
Friday night I went out with my study buddies from the
CIPD (HR thing) course that Ive just completed. It
was great, though hopefully havent overdone it before
the Musselburgh race today! Bit worried about that
race I got my race number and I was only number 44.
Im hoping that a lot of people will enter on the day;
otherwise I have a fear that Im gonna be right at the
back of the pack!!
This week weve also been trying out one of the
Runners World beginners programmes as Brian decided
he was going to run a 10k. So now his next session is
15 min runs with 3 mins walk, repeated 3 times.
Worryingly I think he already runs as fast as me. So
not fair!!! It took me 10 weeks to be able to run for
15 minutes and he can do it after a week. He is a bit
more of a natural runner build though. Will need to
measure his fingers too
.
Nice to hear about Val and her impending run in Oz
let us know how you go Val. I will need to go and
conserve my energy for the Musselburgh 6 mile race!
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Just a quick update tonight....I was so busy going on
about my mince the other night that I forgot to
mention Sheila Kerr's performance. How annoying is
this - I think I last ran with Sheila about 6 weeks
ago and on Sheila's own confession she has been lucky
if she has been running once a week. Sheila decided
to give the East Lothian Summer Series run a go on
Tuesday night, setting off at the same time as me.
And even with her lack of training kept up with me no
problems, chatting on the way round! Someone should
tell Sheila the idea of the race is to run as fast as
you can and that you're not meant to be able to carry
out casual conversation!!!!
Went to interval training tonight for the first night
in ages, and I think Ian Rowland wanted to punish
Sheila Morrison and I for our lack of attendance
recently. We were made to do a full session....6x600m
in 5 minutes. Alright if you are a speedy Gonzales
but for Sheila and I this meant pretty short recovery
periods. Hope that this will improve the running
times for the future or will need to think of a
punishment for Ian!
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Had a good couple of runs this week. On Saturday
morning (16 July) Sheila Morrison and I headed out on
much the same route as the week before going from
Belhaven up to Eweford Cottages, up beside Wester
Broomhouse and on up to Spott. We then went down to
the ford and ran up Daniels Brae (again!!!) in
preparation for the East Lothian Summer Series race on
Tuesday. We then turned left down to Pitcox and
headed down to the A1. From there we ran down to the
old A1 and cut across into John Muir Country Park and
back to Belhaven Bay. It was a beautiful morning,
warm but with a cool breeze. Think that run was about
11.5 miles, as Im trying to keep my mileage up at a
level where I feel another half marathon wont be too
much of a step.
Tuesday evening was the East Lothian Summer Series
race, the second held in Dunbar. Although, our
cunning training plan was to no avail. In the race we
ran the other way round the loop, going down Daniels
Brae and up to Spott at the other side! (Although Im
sure all the hill training did us the world of good,
as the route is hilly whichever way you run it.) I
have newfound sympathy for Paula Radcliffe also my
stomach was acting up all the way round and that was
only just over a 4 mile route. I wouldnt have been
able to deal with that on a longer run either!
Afterwards, some runners had a few drinks at Halhill
and Sheila Morrison and I decided to go out to get
some food. We both ordered non meat dishes.
Unfortunately my meal had some mince in it (not the
best when you are vegetarian) so we swopped halfway
through. I then started thinking about the amount of
meat I have eaten since I became vegetarian. Why is
it if I go out with a meat eater and they have a
vegetarian option, and so do I, mine is the one that
has the rogue meat in it? And usually you do only
figure it out when you have eaten some
.Ive spat out
fish pakora before (very politely of course) that was
served to me as cauliflower pakora; had bacon in a
cheese and tomato omelette; had bacon in a cheese
potato skin and that was all in this country! When
I go abroad I usually end up explaining Im
vegetarian in the appropriate language about 6
different ways and still get served a meal with meat
in it somewhere, but generally dont expect this in
the UK.
I am going to Ireland on holiday this year the last
time I was there my diet consisted of mainly cheese
sandwiches (not even cheese and tomato or cheese and
pickle, just plain cheese) but hopefully this time
round I will be able to find some more exciting food.
Tomorrow evening Im going to interval training. Its
been a few weeks since Ive been so Im sure Ill find
it even tougher than usual. I will update shortly
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Thursday, July 14, 2005
Last Thursday was my first run with Sheila Morrison
for about a week. Luckily, she had been abstaining
from running her usual amount so we went for a light
trot up to Eweford, under the A1 up to Wester
Broomhouse and along the grass track to Bowerhouse and
back down to Belhaven Bay. A nice run of approx 6
miles, but the heat made it much more difficult.
Worse was to come!! On Saturday we had planned to meet
up early (to try to avoid the heat of the day) and go
for a 10 mile run at 9:00am. It was already 20
degrees. We ran from Belhaven up to Wester Broomhouse
and down past Dozy Dean. Then we walked up the hill
to Spott for a respite. We ran on through Spott and
up Daniels Brae only the second time Ive run all
the way up the hill. We continued on, turning left at
the bottom and running to Pitcox, before making our
way back along a gravel track beside the A1 along to
Eweford cottages and back to Belhaven. There were
quite a few walking respites along the way, and
because of this extra time it took, we had to have a
picnic back at Sheilas it felt like we had been
gone at least half a day!
Sunday I attended Pilates, but no running. Took to
sitting in the garden and sunning myself instead.
Tuesday night at club was also a bit of a disaster.
Temperature was about 26 degrees when we set off and I
think it was remarkable that we managed to keep going
for forty minutes. (Sheila, Lindsay and I) Sheila
has turned from being the teachers pet into the
school bully as she made me run down beside the burn
at West Barnes and I got stung over and over by
nettles. Sheila and Lindsay were running on ahead
saying its not too bad, not overgrown up here at
all! Hmmm, my legs would prove otherwise!
Tonight I have been out running Jog Scotland 5 km in
Edinburgh. Sheila Morrison and Fay Stanton were also
there. The route would be a lovely scenic jog through
Inverleith Park and the Botanic Gardens. Didnt see
much of it as I had to focus on keeping going. The
route was what I would call undulating (and more
advance club runners would probably call it flat, but
thats because they call Lasswade undulating rather
than mountainous!). Started too fast for me and ran
the first kilometre in 4mins 30 seconds. Went down
hill from there really (although I did beat Sheila to
the finish which is a first for me in a race). Had to
get that in as I dont think the official times will
be accurate the lanes to write down the numbers were
all moving at different speeds and I think Sheila
managed to catch me up in the lanes! Oh well. The
goody bag was very good, tonnes of food in it.
Next run on Saturday, hopefully it will be a bit
cooler than last week. Will run up Daniels Brae
again, in preparation for the East Lothian Summer
Series race on Tuesday. I need all the practise I can
get for that one!
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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
After I got home last week, sad though I am, I looked
up the height of the mountain we climbed. It was 225m
above sea level (if my map reading skills are working
ok) and my partner, Brian, advised that I couldnt
really call that a mountain
oh well.
Nice to see a comment on here from Val. Think I need a
trip out to visit in order to get used to running in
the heat. I read in a magazine that it takes 7-14
days of continuous exposure to the heat in order to
get used to exercising in it. Herein lies my problem
just as I nearly make it to the 14 days of
continuous exposure, the weather turns, gets cooler
and Im right back where I started. Anyway, at least
Im getting some altitude training in
.
This week I missed my usual Thursday night run,
searching for some motivation (in the shape of a
mini-ipod) in Edinburgh. Eventually tracked one down
in club colours on the Friday and spent Friday evening
playing with my new toy.
Saturday we were back to warm weather. I persuaded
Brian to go fishing for an hour near East Linton, even
though conditions for fishing were poor and his hay
fever was even worse, in order that I could get a nice
5 mile run in.
Sunday was Pilates day. Recommended by my massage man
in order to build the core muscles and deal with my
hyper mobility. This is an interesting (well
annoying) condition I have. Basically my ligaments
are too flexible and dont support the joints
properly. This means my joints dont stabilise when
running and they can sort of pop out quite easily.
Havent had anything dislocate, just really annoying
clicking and uncomfortable feeling. I have to build
my muscles up more to better support the joints and
generally physios recommend Pilates for the job.
Pilates also causes pain in the stomach, waist and
inner thigh areas the following day, so must be doing
something worthwhile.
After Pilates I came home and went for a not too
scenic 6 mile run round the cement factory. The run
gets nicer as I head along Whitesands and then back
for the killer hill home. (Although I am lead to
believe some club runners like the hill up to my house
similar to one of the hills in the Doon Hill race.
This is just one reason why I think I will stick to
marshalling at Doon Hill!)
Tonight was another East Lothian Summer Series run,
and for me the weather was much more favourable than
the run at Haddington. Cooler and with a breeze. The
route was very scenic along by the Esk, through trees
and parkland for the majority of the run and I did
enjoy the race. Tough though when getting passed by
lots of runners in the last few minutes, the pressure
is on to keep it up! One of the other club runners
had an interesting gadget on her arm some GPS thing
that could tell how far we had run (4.4 miles
apparently). Thought that was one for the Christmas
list
.or perhaps when I need another bought of
motivation!
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