Gail Hates Running

Whilst the snowfall has stopped (for now), the snow which has fallen, has either turned to slush or it's compacted into ice. My walk to work yesterday was the thing that put paid to any allusions that I would be doing a long run outdoors.  2 hours 20 minutes in those conditions would result in several trips to casualty. So, the only thing to be done was to get on the treadmill. Thankfully the gym reopened this morning (thank you staff of David Lloyd Newhaven) and James and I reluctantly began the slog. It was more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Treadmill running is SO DULL. However, with the help of a Torq gel and some Active Root drink, I got it done. Thankfully I wasn't looking at going for a specific distance, as my treadmill said one thing, James' treadmill said another and my Garmin was in agreement with neither! But, 2 hours 20 minutes in the bag,  Hopefully the rest of the snow will sod off for next week so I can get back to training pr...

90- 100 Minutes - 15.68 km  Soundtrack: "Homo Deus" by Yuval Noah Harari So I'm in Chester this weekend and my train back up to Edinburgh on Sunday is 14.30.  Sunday is normally "long run day" but there's no way that's going to work, so after a great deal of psyching myself up, I get my trainers on and head off down the cycle network.  I'm meant to run between 90 - 100 minutes today.  As always I try and go for the upper limit. I go 5 miles to the west, which means I almost reach Connah's Quay. The run is split pretty much 50/50 between England and Wales. I meet a couple of cyclists and several very lovely dogs. Whilst the photos look pretty grey, it was a great day for a long run (albeit really warm). I only saw one other runner the whole time, which I did find strange. Although I did get to run with a squirrel for a while, which was cool - almost 99% convinced it wasn't a hallucination too. I had a real figh...

40 minutes....  Ok, so this was meant to be 40 minutes. I went off too fast. Kept going. Was not smart. Stopped after 5km. Let's chalk this up to a learning experience and never speak of it again.

40 Minutes This is the first time that I have run with someone as part of my training. I don't like running with people. But seeing as I'm about to run a very big race with an awful lot of people, this is something which I have to get over, and fast. So, the boss has almost fully recovered from his ski-ing/ribs incident. Still "a bit sore" apparently, so I make sure to ask him (at least twice) during the run whether he was ok. It was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Even managed to talk on the way round without asphyxiating myself. So that's a bonus.

20 Minutes (Recovery) My training plan was very specific that, given I ran for my longest time ever yesterday, I'd need to stretch off my legs.  The weird thing is my legs don't feel tired or sore. I think I made a bit of a mistake because of that and I went a little faster than I should. I'm sure it'll be fine. I've been really really careful to keep up with stretching and foam rolling. I'm not sure if that's doing anything so far, but I'm kind of scared to stop.  Urghhh. That'll be my OCD (or my "stubbornness" according my ex-husband - he's dead on) kicking in already.  I've started reading "Eat and Run" by Scott Jurek  and one of the most fascinating things I've learned so far is the difference he found in recovery when he went full vegan. It is a fascinating book, which I thoroughly recommend.  Now, obviously, I'm not saying that the paltry miles I'm putting in are anywhere near clo...

90 Minutes I'm not looking forward to this, I'm quite anxious, in all honesty. I've never run for 90 minutes without a break before. I'm 10 minutes, having an argument with myself over whether or not I'd just be better to pack it all in now, when I pass the incredible ultra runner, and all round ace bloke, Robert Turner. He eats 50 mile races for breakfast.  It was at that point the voice in my head said "Suck it up. At least you're not running the same distance as him". The other voice in my head shuts up. I keep going. It's 10.00. It is slippy AF.  Cramond is like a ice rink. I'm expending more effort  trying to stay upright than I am putting one foot in front of the other. Maybe next time, I should plan a route that's more conducive to the weather conditions. The run along the promenade is made much more fun by the massive number of dogs. All breeds, shapes and sizes. Never fails to put a smile on my face. It was challen...

50 Minutes I have not had a good morning at work. It's been pretty shit. So when lunchtime comes around I'm almost glad to get out for a run. I'm getting used to the feeling of being alone inside my own head and not actually thinking about anything when I run. That's proving to be then nicest part of the whole thing, being able to switch off from everything else around me. The run is hard, it's cold, I'm tired and I'm still not 100% over the bug, but I manage 5 miles. So that'll do for now. Currently listening (courtesy of a recommendation from the ace Martin Little) - A Very Successful Cover Up . Which is all about Watergate and so very resonant with the current US political scene.

40 minutes It's Tuesday and I'm going to get back on the training schedule. 40 minutes at lunchtime. It's cold. It's frosty AF, but I get my carcass out there. It was NOT pretty, I appear to have turned into a snot monster, but I did it, so snotty smiles all round :)

Pilates: 1 hour It would appear I've been living with a gross misunderstanding on the nature of Pilates. I had thought that it was Yoga-esque or Barre-esque. BUT NO. Turns out, it's an Abs class with a squishy ball and, God, it was hard work. Good job my single ab had just recovered from Saturday, eh? 😐 Gx

50 minutes:  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2427908960 It was set with the best of best intentions. After Tuesday's horrible lunchtime experience, I thought I'd try something different. Get my arse out of bed and get out the door. Have all the training done before I even get showered and dressed for work. I had all my kit set out and ready to go, so I didn't even have to think about it in the morning. An excellent plan, that. Some may even go so far as to say a "cunning plan". I congratulated myself on my genius and waddled off to bed with a cup of peppermint tea and my copy of "I'm Not With the Band: A Writer's Life Lost in Music" by Sylvia Patterson , which is absolutely brilliant. The plan was almost fool-proof. However, I had not factored in a high enough 'fool" quotient. Because ass-hat here switched the alarm off in her sleep - clever huh? - and then proceeded to sleep through till 7.15am, when the proper alarm...

Chester:  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2406336360 It's that horrible time between Christmas and New Year. That epoch of cheese and wine and chocolate and everlasting Sundays. Where nobody knows what day it is and, quite frankly, we're all too fat to care. I have fully immersed myself in the festive spirit (and spirits). I feel like a blimp on legs and I have to run today.  In the main, because tonight is Hogmanay and I'm having my last night of proper excess before the marathon. Last year I stopped drinking for 5 months. It was really hard, up until the point that it wasn't. Can't even remember when that was, but it was the best decision I've ever made to improve my own mental health. By the grace of all that's holy (and the lets just take a minute to count the blessings of incredibly well made kit by Brooks) I mould myself into my kit and I get outside. I'm running along the cycleway in Chester - it's pretty flat...ish - and ...

Run Details:  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2393953422 I have never  had to give myself that many pep talks to get my fat arse out the front door before. I spent 30 minutes trying to convince myself that my mum needed me to stay for help with the Christmas dinner prep. That was given short shrift by my mother. Very short shrift. The nerves I felt dissipated as soon as that familiar "ping" signalling that a GPS signal had been found, emanated from my Garmin. Everything was fine, till I got past the next house and hit the "breeze" head on. I did a loop of the village, it was 1.89miles - absolutely bugger all to write home about, really. But I did it. Didn't enjoy it, but didn't die. So, there's a bonus. Maybe the next one will be better.  Bloody hope so. Gx