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| Bless you |
The main focus from mid August was getting back in to things and building mileage back up slowly. I did my home parkrun towards the end of August and was pleased feeling relatively "unfit" to clock the mid 25:xx. I've kept a close eye on my heart rate during recovery and it is an interesting thing. I would say a normal marathon I'm back to normal in a month, for the 100K - things seemed OK at first, then went downhill after a week back running (high HR for slow pace) and started to get back to normal after about 7 weeks - so as always it is just a question of patience. I enjoyed just being out doing the easy runs, and being "let out" to do the parkruns at the weekends. I started back on the circuit / bootcamp training as well, something that strangely I had missed whilst tapering and recovering from Stockholm. I thought it was only really running that really "did it" for me but it seems like I have found a love of another exercise type, and made a lot of new friends in the process.
More parkruns towards September, one full of cold paced a bit slower and then one almost in 24:xx territory and I felt like I was coming back. I needed to do these 5Ks as I needed a bit of short distance practice (or at least mental confidence) for the upcoming XC season, the first one is usually very painful in the lung and leg department, and I figured if I could get a few fast runs in beforehand that first XC would be less horrific. I'm well on the way to 50 parkruns now - I believe over the past year or two it has really helped my running, to the point where I'm actually prepared to drag my arse out of bed to help if not running. It's funny how some people never give anything back.
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| Full of cold but I actually look like I'm running! |
The middle of September, as always was the JW Ultra weekend. I wrote quite a lengthy blog about this last year, again it was a brilliant day in 2013. 6 relay teams for the club, our men's teams came first and second, and more importantly all the teams had a good time. We had 3 solo runners who all finished with very respectable times and avoiding illness / injury. I am very proud of the way that everyone in our club supports each other and how we can have such good days out at events.
In October we had our first XC race at Winsford. This is the first fixture in the North Staffs League - Cheshire is very North Staffs(!) from Stourbridge it is 70 miles each way. we had a good turnout from the men, not so great from the ladies myself and Ruby venturing up there. It's always an odd one because it happens before the seasons change, so quite often you've got your XC shoes on but the temperature seems too high - if I'm going to do an XC I want a good miserable time with sleet in my face and frozen feet, not wondering if I should apply the suntan cream. Still, it went better than expected, despite there being a delay, me and Ruby almost missing the start, not hearing the race briefing - we started with 2 x small laps unlike previous years; I'd assumed it would be 3 small laps total and almost cried when I discovered the last lap was huuuuge! C'est la vie. I hung on. Towards the end I was quite strong and overtaking. I clocked my rivals for the season and I shall try and keep ahead of them at the next fixtures.
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| The mighty SRC take over the north |
Soon after we had the excellent XC relays at Walsall. This takes a slightly different format, one runner from each team is out on the course at a time, the winning team obviously being the one with the fastest time. It makes for a different race, usually in our neck of the woods men and ladies have separate races, this one we are all together; men usually race 10k - this is 6k and we all do the same course so it is shorter faster racing for the men; and there is the potential to be in "no mans land" if you are on some of the later legs. It is important to know how to follow markers and tape!
A couple of weeks off of XC and I decided to keep my hand in with the short distance on Saturdays with parkruns and ran at Leamington one weekend followed by Killerton in Exeter the next. I spent a few days (flying visit really) at my friends in Cornwall, and 2 hours to Exeter, parkrun and 2h to hers it proved to be an excellent way of breaking up the journey. A beautiful course. You know it's going to be good when the RD warns "there will be broken bones here one day, it WILL happen" and the start is up a vertical grass hill. Some lovely terrain, lots of mud and very good fun. Also I took in the farmers market (3rd Sat of the month apparently) and the Cider festival - alas I was driving! I got to my friends house showered, had some lunch and asked what we were going to do. Of all the things I ended up building a shed, of which I am very proud and we had a jolly good time putting it together. Just as well as that evening the wind and rain came in with a vengeance, a half built shed would have blown away like something from the wizard of Oz.
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| Killerton start |
On the Sunday I ran at the Eden Project Half. The rain had stopped and the wind dropped, and we started from the "Strawberry" car park (sounds uninspiring but it was OK as car parks go!). It was very warm, vest and shorts weather, and we jogged through country lanes before turning in to a huge puddle which marked the start of a wooded area. The course was gorgeous and the halfies ran with the marathoners till about 7.5 miles where they split off to run more off road delights, we went on to the roads and the joy of the Cornish short sharp hills. At about 8 miles in, as seems to be my luck these days, the heavens opened, flashes of lightning and some of the loudest thunder I've heard in a while (yes louder than the Thunder Run!). It was refreshing though. We finished off by coming back on to the clay trails in to the Eden project, the last mile winding down towards the Biomes. A lovely run, and a very welcome (dry) t shirt and hot pasty at the end. If I get brave I may do the Marathon one day, but it would definitely be at a long run pace. On the Marathon front, I've chosen Rotterdam as my spring marathon next year, having enjoyed Amsterdam and Stockholm I thought I'd go for similar but different. It's around the time of London/Manchester so I should be good for all the usual build up races.
My work in Bristol has kind of fizzled out, and I think in the last Blog I'd taken 2/3 of the exams I needed to take to upgrade my professional qualifications. I was scared of the last one. Work very kindly put me on a course to help with passing the monster, and also put me up. I had a lovely time at the Premier Inn in Manchester, just as well I didn't have to commute it was long days and my poor brain was crammed with the intricacies of Microsoft System Center and Hyper V but I had some good times and some good runs there and the week after I passed the big scary one with 91%. It's a shame it's simply pass/fail and they don't differentiate between pass / distinction but there you go. I'm happy just to have got through it.
And finally - if you've got down this far: something I would not normally talk about in my blogs, but anyway during the course of August, well, I met someone. We'd previously met at a couple of parkrun events, and to cut to the chase we started going out. I've not been in a relationship for a while (through a combination of trauma and fussiness really) and compared to previous relationships it somehow seems very different. Suddenly there is someone who is on the same wavelength. Someone who gets me and simply says and does all the right things. Someone who I feel that twinge of excitement about when we've been apart and I know we are going to see each other. A gorgeous person inside and out he is cool, interesting, he makes me laugh, he rocks and quite frankly he rocks my world. It is very uncomplicated; he's my friend, someone who I would do anything for and seeing him happy makes me feel happy.
On that hopefully not to cheesy note I shall leave it there.
