No Braunton 10 miler for me today ....

Ok, I'm sorry I've been rather neglectful over the last month and not kept you up to date, but after my last post my health and running just went further down hill ........ and I haven't been able to use my Christmas present either!

My Christmas present

On the Monday after Christmas I set off on a 30 minute 'easy' run and if you look at my time it all looks great .... 10 minute miles! However what it doesn't show is that I had to stop after 15 minutes to catch my breath and stopped the clock for a minute or so!

Me stopping???

Yes, I know ..... unheard of (the only other occasion being the day before I was diagnosed with shingles).

Two days later I tackled the hill training on my favourite hill ...... 10 minute warm up which coincided with a hail storm then 3 x 3 minute hill reps at hard pace ....... oh dear God, I couldn't get out of first gear, no matter how much I tried. What a struggle!

What to do?

I ran slowly uphill for another 10 minutes .....

Now you'd think that running back down hill for 20 minutes would be easy peasy ............

Wrong!

............ and so I came to a decision .......

As I passed the OB and woofers I managed to gasp 'I can't run it, there's no way I can run 10 miles .......'

Once we were all back in the truck the OB asked whether I was giving up on the Braunton 10 altogether or just the recce run four days later.

Well a few minutes previously I had meant the actual race but of course you know me, I started to wobble and decided it would be the recce but would run on the Friday to see if by some miracle I was a runner again!

I didn't run on the Friday nor the recce on the Sunday, nor for another 10 days  ....... I really didn't feel well at all. At one stage I thought the shingles was back with itchy spots and feeling exhausted as I had in the summer.

I'm sure you're wondering why I hadn't been to the quacks, but I assumed it was a 'virus' and as I learnt many years ago you just have to let them take their course. Pills don't work!

I did however make a doctor's appointment after trying to run again and not even managing 3 miles and the real crunch was the next day walking with a friend for just 1.5 miles and finding I was breathless all the way back and being pressured by said friend and the OB.

After listening to all the above Dr. Fernandez said ' as I've been saying five times a day for weeks to people it's a virus and I can't prescribe anything for it' (yeah I know!) 'You have your goals even if you're disappointed .... mine is to walk up the hill out of Shebbear without getting breathless'.  I did however have a blood test for everything imaginable and he'd be on the phone that evening if there was anything untoward with it. As I was on my way out he did mention that it could be cancer, lymes disease, vitamin D deficiency (as 'we don't get much sun in North Devon' ..... I think it's his Spanish sense of humour)

There was no phone call!!

Good news then!

Today ten days later and the day of the Braunton 10 mile I put my running clothes on and my new TomTom watch and ran 3 miles on the TT .......
My aim and of course pep talk to myself was 11 minute miles ..... no pressure ..... you're not training, just see if you can run 3 miles without stopping .........

So the first mile was my usual straight out the traps sub 10 minutes!

Slow down, slow down .............

Second mile 10.03 ......

You've guessed it ..... the third mile despite being the long slow hill I hate (or as I gasped on my way passed the OB and doggens 'I hate this fucking hill!!!)  10.58!!

I couldn't have run further but didn't need to stop to catch my breath along the way either so fingers crossed I'm on my way to recovery ........

What ever the weather ....... I had to run!

As you know I was having a rare Monday off from training this week as I was working away in South Devon.

This wasn't a problem as it meant I would have a day off before going out on Tuesday!!

Ha ha ...... Barney had other ideas!!!

Barney???.

Yes, the Met. Office in their wisdom have decided to name the weather, so the latest storm was called Barney!
Yes, really!

On Tuesday we battened down the hatches and training was put on hold and cycling group was cancelled.

Apparently the wind was meant to drop over night, and then we would have a calm spell before the wind and rain returned at midday, so the plan was for a run fairly early on, on Wednesday morning, then a session on Friday and as I can't make parkrun on Saturday, a run on Sunday!

Well! The Met office got it wrong ..... it was still very windy on Wednesday morning, but ......... I had to run.

Now I don't mean that I was champing at the bit, the opposite really ....... it was windy and not appealing but I had to run.

Oh! I've just realised that I haven't told you what this weeks training plan is .....

Sooooooooo ..........

1) 8 miles at steady pace

2) 10 minute warm up then an up and down the scale hard and easy five minute segments for 20 minutes, some strides and a five minute cool down

3) 10 minutes easy, 10 minutes strong, 10 minutes harder pace

I decided to do the 8 miler ....... reasoning that on the day of the race the weather may be similar and I'd have to just get on with it! No wimping out on the day is an option!

Back to the Puffing Billy then! It was like rush hour though as I set off ....... I think everyone like us felt the need to get out ........walkers,  lots of dog walkers, a tandem, cyclists (with no bells .... grrrrrrr!! The old blokes in lycra are the worst!)

Well, it wasn't as sheltered as I'd thought and immediately
I was being buffeted by the wind. My immediate thoughts were ' Oh bugger, I better get my excuses in early with this wind so my time doesn't look too bad' bearing in mind this was to be at a steady pace! There was no way I could repeat last weeks seven mile time ......
Anyway you know me by now, after my initial wingeing and swearing I get on with it ....
........... so I got on with it!
 Running over the riverbridge at Landcross before turning round (when the bird on the phone told me I'd done four miles) to run back ........

I've since found out that this wind and running thing is called resistance training!!!

....... and yes I'm as surprised as you at my time!!!

The only downside was that despite smearing on the Vaseline I got a blister on each foot.

On Thursday evening I found out the date for the Braunton 10 miler .... 24th January 2016.

When Coach Steph sold this race to me she said there were a couple of hills.

Eerrrrrrr just wondering how '2 infamous climbs designed to test the legs and spirit' escaped the conversation!!!

Petrockstowe on Friday was my next date to do the hard and easy up and down the scale run (not necessarily in that order!)

There was a bit of faffing/fannying on my part before we left as, as soon as I walked out to the truck I could feel the blister on my right foot rubbing despite having plastered both feet in Vaseline ..........

Sooooooooo, back indoors to tape on a wapping great big pad ....... and then we were off!

There's a new sign there, which is brilliant because it gives the miles between 'Stations'

Eh voila!

I digress ....... mainly because I hate interval training .......

but ........ I have to say it does what it says on the tin and I have to admit (grudgingly) that because of it my running has improved as you can see!

I won't bore you ..... I did it, the stopwatch was being tempermental, it was hard but I felt good afterwards (Sssshhhh don't tell anyone I said that especially Coach Steph!) and my blisters held up!

Today it seemed very strange to be running for just 30 minutes and strange to think that this is what I did day in  and day out before I discovered the Bideford 10k earlier this year.
There was no specification as to what terrain it should be done on and as I was missing my hill I decided to go and pay it a visit and make the run a bit harder!

I loved it!