Rest week over and I'm back running. The trouble is I'm feeling more and more like I was over optimistic to sign up for a marathon and less and less able to keep psychologically on top of this.
At the beginning of this training spell a 9 mile run was much easier than it was today. My legs ache and I feel really tired.
Was I mad to think I could do this or is it just a dip?
Answers on a postcard please ...
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Winter running
I managed the long run this morning. And I'm feeling a bit more upbeat than Monday. First lecture of the year over and a spring in my step.
Well, that's hardly the case as the reality of winter running hit me as hard as the wind that whipped around my bare arms this morning. I have always said that I open air swim in the summer to cool down and open air run in the winter to warm up. This is the order of things - the way it should be.
This year, however, I discovered the joys of running on lovely summer mornings and as I left for my run today (complete with nutrition and hydration - no more bollockings from tri-coach dara for me) I realised that the temperature has dropped a smidgeon. I have obviously been looking back to last winter through rose-tinted specs as I had forgotten the misery of running round an open park and feeling so cold that I actually cried. I had also forgotten the joys of double layering so that my arse doesn't go blue and the misery of sweating into a knitted beanie hat.
And much worse, I remember how much I hate running in the rain. I hate wet weather gear and would sooner (and have) got soaking through and through rather than wear it. And I hate mud which only comes with (and after) the rain.
This year I am going to get myself some really cool winter training clothes. Here's the list:
1) A wet weather jacket that doesn't make me sweat and that folds up so small that I can carry it.
2) Warm running tights (so that I don't have to wear two pairs).
3) Warm socks.
4) A proper runner's beanie hat that won't retain forty pounds of my sweat in it.
5) Another pair of really warm running tights so that when I get wet and muddy (did I mention that I really, really, hate mud?) I don't have to wash and dry them overnight.
6) Some long sleeved running tops so that I don't have really cold arms for 15 minutes before I warm up.
7) A better attitude to running in the rain.
Running is really cheap - you only need decent trainers and the rest doesn't really matter. But I justify this long list by the fact that I'm training for a marathon and while the clothes won't make the running any easier they will make those winter mornings much more pleasant.
And, by the way, did I mention that I really, really hate mud?
Well, that's hardly the case as the reality of winter running hit me as hard as the wind that whipped around my bare arms this morning. I have always said that I open air swim in the summer to cool down and open air run in the winter to warm up. This is the order of things - the way it should be.
This year, however, I discovered the joys of running on lovely summer mornings and as I left for my run today (complete with nutrition and hydration - no more bollockings from tri-coach dara for me) I realised that the temperature has dropped a smidgeon. I have obviously been looking back to last winter through rose-tinted specs as I had forgotten the misery of running round an open park and feeling so cold that I actually cried. I had also forgotten the joys of double layering so that my arse doesn't go blue and the misery of sweating into a knitted beanie hat.
And much worse, I remember how much I hate running in the rain. I hate wet weather gear and would sooner (and have) got soaking through and through rather than wear it. And I hate mud which only comes with (and after) the rain.
This year I am going to get myself some really cool winter training clothes. Here's the list:
1) A wet weather jacket that doesn't make me sweat and that folds up so small that I can carry it.
2) Warm running tights (so that I don't have to wear two pairs).
3) Warm socks.
4) A proper runner's beanie hat that won't retain forty pounds of my sweat in it.
5) Another pair of really warm running tights so that when I get wet and muddy (did I mention that I really, really, hate mud?) I don't have to wash and dry them overnight.
6) Some long sleeved running tops so that I don't have really cold arms for 15 minutes before I warm up.
7) A better attitude to running in the rain.
Running is really cheap - you only need decent trainers and the rest doesn't really matter. But I justify this long list by the fact that I'm training for a marathon and while the clothes won't make the running any easier they will make those winter mornings much more pleasant.
And, by the way, did I mention that I really, really hate mud?
Monday, 5 October 2009
Fed Up and Miserable
After a couple of good weeks of training I am now sitting up in bed at 10.30 on a Monday morning. The first bug of the year has hit and I am fed up.
I am usually really healthy - I rarely get colds - but there has been a change in the weather and a nip in the air. the children have gone back to school, him indoors has had a bad head cold and now it has got to me.
What really annoys me is that after my lovely open air swim on Thursday evening I was chatting to a lifeguard about the benefits of cold water swimming. Raising the immune system, opening the capillaries, blah blah. I should have know better than to tell her that I never get colds.
The next day I was feeling a chill but went running anyway. I felt really tired and chilly (and hot and sweaty) over the weekend and this morning have a bunged up nose and just don't feel right.
Here's the question though. Is it a real cold brought on by:
a) swimming in the lido at dusk and getting chilled?
b) saying that I never get colds?
c) is it an inevitability at this time of year, especially as I have been dodging the lurgy from all and sundry over the past week?
or,
d) is it something to do with the fact that I have to start teaching tomorrow and I'm looking for an excuse not to?
Anyway, I am not going for my long run this morning. I am sitting in bed writing the lecture that I will inevitably have to give because I won't be so ill that I have to let everyone down. I'll just have a good reason to be under par. Rather than just being under par because I am.
I am usually really healthy - I rarely get colds - but there has been a change in the weather and a nip in the air. the children have gone back to school, him indoors has had a bad head cold and now it has got to me.
What really annoys me is that after my lovely open air swim on Thursday evening I was chatting to a lifeguard about the benefits of cold water swimming. Raising the immune system, opening the capillaries, blah blah. I should have know better than to tell her that I never get colds.
The next day I was feeling a chill but went running anyway. I felt really tired and chilly (and hot and sweaty) over the weekend and this morning have a bunged up nose and just don't feel right.
Here's the question though. Is it a real cold brought on by:
a) swimming in the lido at dusk and getting chilled?
b) saying that I never get colds?
c) is it an inevitability at this time of year, especially as I have been dodging the lurgy from all and sundry over the past week?
or,
d) is it something to do with the fact that I have to start teaching tomorrow and I'm looking for an excuse not to?
Anyway, I am not going for my long run this morning. I am sitting in bed writing the lecture that I will inevitably have to give because I won't be so ill that I have to let everyone down. I'll just have a good reason to be under par. Rather than just being under par because I am.
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