The Woldsman 50 miles...3 days to go!

Been tapering for the Woldsman race for a week now. In my grouchy, bored, carb-loaded anxiety I found this article about tapering. I think it was written as a joke, but everything is true for me:

http://running.about.com/od/distancerunningtips/a/You-Know-You-Are-Marathon-Tapering-When.htm 

But it's true! And I hate tapering! And I think I'm overdoing it because I'm anxious because I've never done an ultra before and I don't want to mess it up now. 

But on the plus side my leg is better after the Heptonstall Fell Race! Haven't done much since then:
Sunday 30th: rest (unable to move)
Monday 31st: rest (unable to move far)
Tuesday 1st: run 6 miles (hurt)
Wednesday 2nd: gym (30 min bike, 15 min cross trainer)
Thursday 3rd: 45 min spinning
Friday 4th: run 4 miles
Saturday 5th: rest (I went to a wedding. It was a good excuse to take complete rest.....)
Sunday 6th: rest (.....but all night dancing in 4 inch heels must count for something?)
Monday 7th: rest (feet hurt from dancing)
Tuesday 8th: 4 mile run

Last night I dreamed I was at the start line, but had forgotten my maps. Everyone laughed and I got disqualified before even starting. 

I also read something I wish I hadn't. The Woldsman has more climbing in it (4500 ft)than the Heptonstall Fell Race did (3170 ft). I am alternating between 1) ignoring this, 2) it must be a typo? 3) the fell race wasn't THAT bad right? 4) uncontrollable weeping. 

Feeling anxious.

The Heptonstall Fell/Hell Race

My fears were justified. I have just recovered enough capacity to be able to write/ think. 

I woke after a sleepless night at 5am, half by the birds singing in the garden and half by an increasing feeling of anxiety. Tried to eat porridge, but not really up for it, so threw most of it out. Big mistake.

Packed bag with a makeshift emergency kit: waterproof trousers (thanks Catherine), waterproof jacket, hat, gloves, compass (thanks Chris), whistle (thanks pound shop),  map sellotaped into a plastic wallet in case of rain, emergency food, water. All the talk of 'emergency' is not helping my nerves. What's going  to happen?!

Off to meet Chris who is also running the race. Studied map on train. Some of my anxiety lessens as I read the text in bold at the top of the map which says 'the route is well flagged'. How did I miss that before?! Maybe my map reading skills (lack of) won't be so much of an issue after all! Hurrah, the day is looking up.

Get to Hebden Bridge. Beautiful place! The start is 1.4 miles away in Heptonstall, all uphill. Good warm up. So pretty here and it's all misty. Very atmospheric. 

 

Registration is in a pub. Start as you mean to go as they say. And it's only £6 to enter the race - bargain! Am now hungry, so eat some Belvita breakfast biscuits and half a banana because the other half got squashed (breakfast is a DISASTER today!), and have some tea. Then I need a wee, of course. In the queue for the loo, people are saying things like "well, I'm not sure how this will go, but at least it's only a category B race, not an A. If it was an A I'd be really worried" and "after that point after checkpoint 4 at the...'insert several rapidly proclaimed strange sounding place names'...you want to keep left because if you keep to the right down the tree line by the field boundary you'll end up knee deep in a bog".  I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Apart from the bog. Which sounds ominous. 

Here's the route:

The start of the race was really one of my favourites! The village vicar came to start the race, and he did a tiny short sermon about a reading from the Gospel of John, or Luke, I think, about water and Jesus giving the water and it would give eternal life and you would never feel thirsty. Then he said, there is a water station at 11 miles, and said a prayer that we would all stay safe and make it to the water station :-)

And then it began. I have honestly never in all my life run a race this tough! I will start on a positive though - because it was beautiful route with some views that were so stunning it could make your heart ache for the natural beauty of the world. 

Quite soon after that though everything else began to ache, as the reality of running around this scenery sunk in.  Here are my mile by mile highlights:

Mile 1: Nice downhill to start and some people commented on my Chapel A running top, nice to feel part of a group again :-) Then a big uphill scramble. Everyone stops running and walks/ crawls up the hill.
Mile 2: Headache starts and I've forgotten my tablets :-( The bog starts. I start falling over. I fell over 7 times in the race, or was it 8. I don't remember now. Just that I seemed to spend a lot of time on the floor. The first time was a couple of miles in when I misjudged the length of a particularly boggy section, and slid back into it. To be honest, I was so tired from focusing so hard on where to put my feet for the last mile of bog, it was quite a relief to lie down for a moment, even if it was face down in a bog. You have to take your rest where you can get it. I remember feeling quite cross after that. And stayed cross for the rest of the time, and it got worse after each time I fell. By the end I was in a rage. My Mum says this makes me like my Dad, who gets very cross when out walking if the going underfoot is not favourable. 
Mile 3: The navigation section turned out to be really straightforward, really because I could see where we were heading to from a long way away, and there was a long line of runners to follow. In fact, navigation wasn't a problem at all, it was well marked and there was always someone ahead.The only issue I had was later in the race, when there was no one ahead. Approaching a pair of helpful walkers they called out "all the others have gone that way, they said were lost, but they all went that way anyway". It was the wrong way, and I and three other people who were following me (foolish!) ended up running on the wrong side of the river, much map consulting and debate ensued as to our location, and eventually we ran back up (an extra up!) the hill to where we came from, and off in exactly the opposite direction to what I had thought was right. Sorry everyone.
Mile 4: I saw an ice cream van parked at the bottom of a very steep hill. Hurrah! Oh no wait, its the Mountain Rescue truck.
Mile 5: Running behind a group of men. A couple of them were wearing the same running club tops and looked to be friends. We had just gone along a little road and over a couple of stiles back into the fields. Looked boggy again. Big muddy puddle just after the stile. One of the pair jumped in, and sank up to his WAIST in the bog - I promise I'm not exaggerating! His friend laughed, and jumped up onto the dry stone wall next to the bog and ran along it, overtaking his friend. I followed him. 
Mile 6: Can't remember that much about this section. We were up high so the views were lovely. I was waiting for checkpoint 3 to arrive because I knew that was getting on to half way. I'd been feeling really thirsty and had been putting off getting my water bottle out of my bag for ages, but used an uphill walking section to sort it. Water tastes soooo good when thirsty.
Mile 7: Ran along a dam across a reservoir. Nice and flat and road like. Ahhhhh. Not for long! Back to the hills. I'm wearing too many clothes. Something strange has happened to the weather - it's hot. I've got dressed in the wrong way, need to take off hoody, but it's under my vest, so basically need to strip. I have been looking out for places to hide to do this for a good few miles, and I swear that every time I see somewhere I can hide, someone appears! First it was a race photographer, then a family having a picnic, and now I have just seen a good hiding place by a tree, and the guy who fell in the bog who is just in front of me suddenly stops and starts walking behind me! Argh!
Mile 8: I come across a jelly baby graveyard - several brightly coloured jelly babies lying face down in the mud, drowned. Such a waste! I learn from Chris at the end that these were his. Sad times.
Mile 9: Are we there yet?
Mile 10: The top of a deep gorge, the slides are so muddy and slippery and it is a long way to the river the the bottom. Make it down mostly by lurching between tree branches and holding one for life. 
Mile 11: Water stop! A little group of us had gathered. A man giving out water enlightened us that there was "only one more little hill and then the killer at the end". Half way up the "little" hill I could see grown men further up crawling up the top section on their hands and knees. If this was a little hill, I forbade myself to think of what that man meant by "killer", or I would stop dead and go no further. On the plus side, by the time I reached the steep section, an elderly couple walking down the hill shouted out to me that I was "amazing, and to go show those fellas how it's done!". They were so nice, I could have cried.
Mile 12: Shortly after this, I showed everyone just how it's not done, by misjudging the route markers, running through a bog rather than round it, falling into it, and hitting both knees on a wooden walkway that I was supposed to have run along, not into. For a moment, I sat in the bog, cried, swore at the surrounding countryside, and pulled fistfuls of grass out of the ground. Then I realised someone was catching me up behind me, so stopped behaving like a child and exited the bog situation pronto.
Mile 13: Oww. Everything hurts. 
Mile 14: Everything hurts more. Surely we are near the end? Where is the end?! "A mile away" said a marshal. Huuray! "You just cross the road, and follow that track" he said.
Mile 15: He omitted to mention that the track was vertical. The Killer Hill had raised its ugly head. It took several minutes to get up it, and all the time I could see other runners at the top and they were literally right above my head it was so steep! Mad. What am  I doing here? I kept climbing and climbing, and the top stayed just as far away. 
Mile 16 (I think - the route was longer than 15 and I did an extra bit): I saw my parents at the top of the very last hill! I started running so as to try to impress them. They gave very kind words and pushed me (actually pushed me) on to the finish.
The end: Tea and flapjack in the field. Soup and homemade bread back at the pub. Food makes everything better :-)

Proof that I did sit in mud: 

And some geek stats: I finished in 3.15.13 and came 11/27 in the ladies (and 162/206 overall).

And well done to Chris who did 2:56:31 in his first ever race!

The end (fake smile of pain):

Hurrah! I am already beginning to forget the pain, and now all my clothes and shoes are washed, I think it wasn't all that bad, and I may do another. Or maybe not :-)

I have hurt the back of my right leg. I ran 6 miles today and it was really sore. I think it is just a pulled muscle, but am quite anxious as only 11 days till the big one! :-S On the advice of Andrew and Catherine, I should have complete rest and hot baths and massage and stretch it. So, I might just do that and go to the gym for a couple of days and see if it helps it. 

The Heptonstall Fell Race...is tomorrow...argh!

Since getting home I have.....been for a run, had lunch, done washing, tidied my room, prepared for Mother's Day (everything is under control), rung the hairdressers, checked out train times for tomorrow, packed my bag for tomorrow, looked at the route for tomorrow, rung the doctors (OK, reeeeally running out of things to do now).... I guess there is nothing for it, there are no distractions left, I have to do my coursework.

Oh no wait. I could write a blog! Ha.

I am worried about tomorrow. I am doing a 15 mile fell race. I have never done a fell race before. I am worried because:
1. Of the hills
2. I have never done one before, and well, you never know if you can do anything until you've done it.  So maybe I won't be able to. But I guess I won't know until I try it. 
3. Because you need to be able to map read and use a compass. I struggle reading even the tube map. But, you learn these things best under pressure, right? And, obviously I'm not going to be at the front, so my plan is to map read perfectly (of course), and my back up plan, is to follow the person in front.
4. What if I'm too far behind the person in front to see them? I suppose it's been raining so it's muddy, so I'll follow their footprints.
5. What if the person in front went the wrong way? Then I'm lost. But I suppose I'd be lost with the person whose footsteps I followed, which is better than being lost on your own.
6. I might break an ankle. Or a leg. Or anything really, it looks quite dangerous. And I don't think 2 weeks is long enough for it to heal before my ultramarathon. I am assuming it's called a fell race because of hills, not because people fell over.
7. I need to catch the 2.38 train to get home in time to go to my Aunty's birthday party, so I HAVE to finish in 3 hours. Which I think is doable, if only I don't get lost.
8. Fell runners scare me. They're all tall and wiry and bendy and fast looking. They're going to laugh at me.
9. The hills.

I think that's it. But on the plus side, this is my first race since the Spooky Halloween Challenge, over 4 months ago! It will be good to pin a number on again and get in the race spirit I suppose. Yes. Positive thoughts, positive thoughts.

And now I'm anxious as well because I haven't done any coursework yet. Better go.

This is the race:
http://heptonstallfellrace.wordpress.com/

Please keep your fingers crossed from 10.30 to 1.30 tomorrow. Thanks :-)

Last long run...done!

Last two weeks training:
Mon 10th March: 5 mile run
Tues 11th March: rest (Pizza Come Dine With Me and pudding extravaganza at Mel's...practice of carb loading)
Wed 12th March: 3 mile walk, 7 mile run
Thurs 13th March: gym (1km run, 20 min cross trainer, 10 min bike)
Fri 14th March: 13 mile run (inc. 9.5 on Ilkley Moor)
Sat 15th March: 10 km run
Sun 16th March: 10 km run
Total: 48 miles

Mon 17th March: 45 min spinning class
Tues 18th March: 7 mile run
Wed 19th March: 6 mile walk
Thurs 20th March: rest
Fri 21st March: 35.5 mile run, walk 5 miles
Sat 22nd March: Andrew is back! First run since injury! :-)
Total: 53.5 miles

The first week was a bit of a low point in my training plan to be honest (apart from Mel's pizza night, which was epic!). At the time I was totally fed up with everything, felt really intimidated by the race, but at the same time a bit disconnected from it, and felt that all the training I was doing really boring and it was all pointless. I think though, this could have been from all the training which had built up by that point that can make you feel a bit tired, and the race was still a bit too far away to feel excited/really scared about yet, and everyone else was off doing nice stuff at the weekend, and I had to stay in Leeds and do work, and everything all felt DULL! So, I remember this poem that I saw somewhere once, I really like it, and even though nothing had gone wrong, I guess it's relevant (especially the road being uphill part - true, roads are all uphill

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow,
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit"

                                                                                       - Edgar A. Guest

OK OK don't quit! Be motivated! 

This week has been loads better. Only 3 weeks today until the race! Did my last long training run yesterday, the same route as last time along the Thames to Richmond, 35.5 miles and I felt good again :-) Weather was good again too - good times!

                                    

Tried out a new snack routine too:

Made up some bags of....Haribo, jelly babies, mini eggs and fruit and nuts....mmm mmmm!!! One bag every 10 miles. Seemed to work OK. I lasted 10 miles between each OK, although I was pretty hungry by the end and feeling a bit dizzy, so I guess I should either have had more food, or had it more regularly. But I guess on the race the checkpoints are more frequent than that, and there are snacks at them, so that should be OK.  Also, due to being starving at the end, I remembered chocolate milk which people always used to say was good to have at the end of a long run and I always used to love it, but had forgotten about it. Down in one! 

Finished the run in 6 hours 20 which is pretty close to last time I did it. I outran the watch (well, I kind of forgot to charge it) - it only lasted 20 miles, and I did 35, hahaha!

Also, I was proper hungry all the rest of the day and today too, which I didn't really feel last time I did this run, but is more normal for me after a long run! So, after I got back and had a shower and more food and felt better, I walked back into town to meet some of my old work friends for a drink, so good to catch up! Tried walking, because I've found walking after a long run helps to help the old legs feel less stiff the next day. Didn't even get to town before was hungry again...argh! So had to stop and get a snack. Also, sooo thirsty! So, after drinks was starving AGAIN, Andrew is at home...what to have for dinner??! Am in Sainsburys....they have Indian takeaways which I always wanted to try....treat time!

I there is one thing that is really really rubbish, it's disappointing food! And Sainsbury's takeaway is really rubbish! :-( Bah! I was thinking about a good dinner for at least 20 miles today! Huh :-(

But today has been a good food day! Cheese scones for lunch:



And banana bread for afternoon tea:

And now spaghetti bologanse for tea :-)

So, that's it for long runs now before the race. After all that...I think I'm going to miss them! So, I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to do now before the race. I'm doing a 15 mile fell race next Saturday, which I think is going to be really tough, but good hill practice (and navigation practice, or failure, I'm not sure), and apart from that I guess just keep it ticking over for a couple of weeks, and then ease off for the last week. Starting to get excited about it now!  

I did my longest run EVER!

Last weeks training:
Monday 3rd March: 45 min spinning class
Tuesday 4th March: 1 hour circuit training, 5km run (gym)
Wednesday 5th March: 10km run (running club, home from Headingly), 3 mile walk
Thursday 6th March: rest
Friday 7th March: 35.5 mile run (Thames Path and Richmond) Wooooooop!!!
Saturday 8th March: 1000m in Olympic swimming pool
Sunday 9th March: 4 mile walk (Lee Valley)
Total: 51 miles

Forgive the excessive punctuation and capital letters, but I'm quite EXCITED!!!! (sorry, enough now). 35.5 miles in one go is 5.5 miles longer than I've ever run before, and I loved it and honestly felt good all of the way. Also, to be honest, that was a surprise.....

Up until now all long runs I've done I'd kept quiet till after I'd done them, just in case I couldn't do them, and then no one would know, so I wouldn't be embarrassed. But several people had been asking me lately what the rest of my training was like before the race, so I'd kind of mentioned that I was going to do a long one this week, as it's only 5 weeks away now till the race, and I thought it was time to get serious.

So I was slightly nervous when I woke up on Friday! But excited, like I was about to do a race, I've really missed that feeling since not doing any since the last marathon last Nov, 4 months ago now!!! Breakfast = a bowl of porridge, and a bowl of Cheerios, for good measure, some coffee and plenty of water. I borrowed Andrew's GPS watch, because mine is fixed but is stranded far away in Chorley for now. This is a MASSIVE gift....35 miles on the clock for free! 

It's a beautiful day! As I walk to the Boris Bike stand with Andrew so he can get a bike to work and I will start running, I feel like we're walking to the start line of a race! Slightly less glamorous than all that once I get started, but maybe it's the weather, or being back in London, or the thought of doing something I haven't done before, but I feel a little bit electrical inside, if that makes sense, like today is a day when something is going to happen.

It's so warm that I ran in only a vest. Well, trousers too, obviously, but what I meant was no hat, gloves, jacket malarky. You have no idea how happy that made me! 

So this was my route:

It was 35.5 miles and took 6 hours and 17 minutes. And really honestly I felt really happy for every single minute and enjoyed the whole run. That's never happened before on a long run! Although I genuinely love running and get a huge buzz out of it, if I'm completely honest there are usually at least a few miles during each marathon where if you ask me what I thought about running, I would say it sucks big time, and I want to stop. Now. And forever. Hey, sometimes it even feels like that the whole flipping way. But I think that's important though. When things are tough, it forces you to figure out what it is that keeps you going. If every run in your marathon (or any race) training was easy, well that would all be great and lovely, but what happens if you get to race day and you have a bad day, how will you know how to deal with it and keep going? Also, realistically, you probably aren't going to cover the whole of the distance of your race in training, so on race day you're going to have to run further, and probably harder, than in training. That will be tough, and of course you can do it! But it might be difficult, and you need to be able to cope with that. So, in summary, after that lil' old pep talk there, it's great to run well, but having a bad run is useful too! I have had, in my opinion, plenty of those already this winter, and so I shall relish enjoying a whole run in the sunshine.

In a scientific experiment I have plotted my moods (in pink) from this run, and compared them against my moods from my last 30 miler in February. That must be an improvement, right?!

 Ilkley 30 miles (Feb) 

London 35 miles (March) 

I am, however, aware that London is flat. Yorkshire isn't. London is sunny (sometimes). Yorkshire isn't (at least, not since I've been there). Which may account for it feeling easier. Shame the race isn't in London hey. 

Food (always at the front of my mind) stops:
6 miles (Battersea Park): 1 x packet (2 biscuits) Morrisons milk and cereal breakfast biscuits
12 miles (just after passing Putney): 5 x jelly babies
17.5 miles: HALF WAY!!!! Had a sit down for a few minutes on a handy bench by the river just before Richmond: 3 x oat cakes with peanut butter, 4 x jelly babies
23 miles (Richmond Park): 1 x packet (2 biscuits) Morrisons milk and cereal breakfast biscuits
29 miles (on Thames Path on way back to Putney): 1 x strawberry Nutri-Grain bar
Plus, 1.5 liters of water

Am getting used to eating 'proper' food while running, rather than just sweets. It seems that eating around every 5 miles stops me from getting really hungry, and I've read that you should have something even more frequently than that in an ultra. So I'll try that next time. It's just a faff carrying stuff in a rucksack and having to stop to get it out, but I know it's important, and I can really feel the difference in recovery if I've eaten quite a bit during the run. Peanut butter oatcakes don't travel too well though while running. But hey, at least it wasn't an onion bagel, like last time. Big improvement. 

Other things that happened this week..... I went to a lecture by Malcolm Brown who coaches the Brownlee brothers (the triathletes) with Kath and Liga from running club, then we did a 10km run back home, around all of the hills in Leeds! I swam in the Olympic swimming pool at the Aquatics Center with Andrew. Amazing! What it must feel like to be a champion! 

There's a spring in my step!!!

It's March! It's March! It's officially SPRING! Good times are coming! You know when something in the air changes around this time of year, and it's like the heaviness of winter lifts, and the air feels fresher and lighter? This has happened! Granted, it's still bloody freezing, but maybe not even for that much longer!

The last week of winter training was:
Monday 24th Feb: 10km run at home (to White Coppice and to Anglezarke)
Tuesday 25th Feb: circuit training
Wednesday 26th Feb: walk 3 miles, run 9.3 miles (with running club, last few miles with some of the people who are doing the Woldsman in July, go go go Team Woldsman!)
Thursday 27th Feb: run 13.5 miles (6am, Leeds, rain, ouch)
Friday 28th Feb: gym for core exercises (argh)
Saturday 1st March: run 6.2 miles, walk for a couple of hours
Sunday 2nd March: rest, and eating

Highlights: my Mum and Dad did a 25 mile race walk near Bolton Abbey in the Dales on Saturday. Went to watch, although failed in role as a supporter because they beat us to the meeting point and then I didn't have a phone signal to find them. Epic fail :-( But they did amazing anyway! So Andrew and me went to look around Bolton Abbey and went for a walk along the River Wharf. So pretty! You can walk across the river on stepping stones but the water was so high because of the rain they were totally submerged! 

So, didn't quite walk 25 miles, but still an ice cream was in order. You have to celebrate your successes, however small. 

Other highlights of the weekend included food. Lots of food. Made pizza and cheese scones and roast beef and rhubarb and custard tart......so this week I compensated by having some salads, until today (only Tuesday) when it was Pancake Day, of all days, so all that went out the window.....

Why do we only have pancakes on only one day of the year though? They are really very good, pancake day should be regular, like Monday mornings. 

Lowlights: 
13.5 miles around Leeds in the early morning while it was still dark was quite depressing, to be honest. I've added it to my list of 'character building' runs, which people always harp on about as being important, and which is becoming quite a long list.  

I've also been complaining lately (a lot, sorry) about being tired and everything is so much effort, and it's so hard to run, etc etc etc. Have self-diagnosed myself as anaemic, which of course, I know, you shouldn't do by yourself. But, I know if I go to the Drs the following will happen 1) they will say, what do you expect if you suddenly started running a lot more than you used to, of course you'll feel tired, 2) OK, if you're going to be awkward, let's do a blood test....and I'll have to have a blood test and it will be awful and I might faint, and then I'll have to wait for ages, and try to call the Dr to get the result, and get put on hold for ages, and then I will get the result, and it will be a bit low, so I'll have to go to the chemist and get some tablets. Or......I could try taking them anyway because I have loads of times before, and see if it helps, and if it does I will save the Drs time, and will feel better sooner. So, I did, and I do. Yay!

Final thought. I have been focused on bridesmaid shoe shopping this week for Katie's wedding, and have shoes on my mind.....

Correction...

....taking back previous comment about my trainers....

The mud has won :-)