Surrey Half Marathon - here I come!

Today was the Hampton Court Palace 10k, and decision day for the 2023 Surrey Half Marathon. So how did it go?

To be honest, I wasn't feeling particularly optimistic before the race. Although I've lost over 3kg since my last blog (which means my jeans keep falling down!) I have had a cold for the past week and have been getting out of breath walking up the stairs, so not a promising start! Also, my left knee has been grumbling since I foolishly ran up some hills in the Lake District last weekend. I definitely need to work on my mobility and start taking my stretching seriously if I'm going to up my mileage.

Although I suppose the benefit of having a cold is that I have had a few rest days so my legs were at least fresh. I was Run Director at Guildford parkrun yesterday so hadn't even done a parkrun, so as long as my lungs and my energy held out, my legs should be fine.

One question concerned me this morning, road or trail shoes? A no brainer you might say, have you seen the rain we have been having? But I hate running in trail shoes and love running in light and bouncy road shoes so road shoes it was.

If you haven't done the Hampton Court Palace 10k, I highly recommend it. You start in front of the iconic Anne Boleyn gateway, with Henry VIII himself starting the race. It is a one lap course, the first half goes along the river and the second half through Home Park so it is a pretty and varied route. And, best of all, it is mostly flat! Oh, and the medals are awesome!

As usual, I started with one goal, don't walk. And actually, it turned out that wasn't too hard a goal to achieve! I actually didn't want to walk! I wanted it to end, of course, I haven't transformed into some kind of elite athlete! But walking didn't cross my mind! So this must be progress! Even when, at around 8k, I started to question my shoe choice, when the course got very wet, muddy and slippery and most people chose to walk in the hope of staying upright. So I would have had every excuse to walk, but I still didn't!

I said in my last blog that I would enter the Surrey Half Marathon if I felt that I could keep going at the end of the 10k, and I did! Not for another 7 miles of course, possibly not for more than another kilometre, but I could have kept going for a little while. Probably helped by having to run kilometre 8 quite slowly due to my desire not to go splat into the mud, but it still counts.

So I have been looking up half marathon training plans. The Surrey Half is in 16 weeks and most 10k to half marathon training plans take 12 weeks so it appears it is quite doable.

I mentioned to my osteopath that I was thinking of doing a half marathon and he was completely in favour of it - I guess he'd like more of those foreign holidays!

However, I have not yet found an online training plan that incorporates parkrun so I have decided to make one up! Something along the lines of:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: cross training

Wednesday: intervals or easy run

Thursday: cross training

Friday rest

Saturday: parkrun

Sunday: long run

I might refine it but I think it is a reasonable starting point. Any comments or suggestions would be welcome!

In addition to the above, I will incorporate mobility exercises, stretching, and use the massage gun that I bought a few months ago and is gathering dust on the shelf.

And of course, I will continue to work on losing weight. But not today, today is a day for post run wine and pizza. Yum! 🥂🍕😋

10k challenge completed - what's next?

Two weeks ago, on 9 October, I completed the Worthing 10k, without walking and faster than expected, fulfilling the commitment the I made in my blog on 2 August.

It was a beautiful day for a run. We got there nice and early, it was easy to park and there were plenty of toilets so the queues were short. A pre-race glimpse of the medals showed them to be satisfyingly shiny and impressive, always excellent for that little bit of extra motivation! I was a little concerned about my energy levels as I had knocked over 2 minutes off my time at Edenbrook Country parkrun the day before, but other than that, all was good (well, apart from my left knee feeling weird after the parkrun, but I chose to ignore that).

So my race strategy was, as always, keep putting one foot in front of the other until someone stops you and gives you a medal - basic, but effective! With the added goal of NOT WALKING.

I started between the 65 and 70 minute pacers, with no expectation of staying there. Based on my training runs, I could reasonably expect to take 75 minutes.

Off we went, the sun was shining, there were lots of colourful runners, and the route was flat - all in all, very pleasant! It is an out and back race and I reached the turnaround point without incident. I prefer not to look at my watch in a race (if I'm doing well I feel under pressure and if I'm doing badly I get demotivated) so I had no idea of my time but I was running and that is what mattered. Around 6k I got overtaken by the 70 pacer which was a surprise, how had it taken them so long? I must be doing quite well! I briefly contemplated trying to stay with them and then remembered that all I had to do was keep running and the time was irrelevant so told myself not to get carried away. Around that time my left knee felt weird again which was a worry and put all thought of times out of my mind. Should I walk? No. I wasn't allowed to walk. I tried running strangely for a while to take the pressure off my knee but my right calf soon started making itself felt so I decided to just run as normal and hope that I wasn't doing my left knee any lasting damage. (Having a client like me means my osteopath will always be able to go on nice holidays!) Then I realised that I could still see the 70 pacer - that was odd! They should have been long gone by then. But no, they stayed there, just ahead of me for the rest of the race, and I did indeed finish in 70 minutes. I won't say the end looked pretty, I expect a few people were concerned as I passed them on the last few hundred metres, but it was done - 10k, no walking, shiny medal, 5 minutes faster than expected. Happy days!

I definitely think that this blog helped me to keep going, particularly when my knee was giving me every excuse to walk. So thank you to the people who said encouraging things after the 2 August blog - you really helped!

So what's next? Have I gone from strength to strength in the last two weeks? No. Some brutal gym sessions, as well as Covid and flu vaccinations, mean that I'm feeling pretty knackered!

Which means I need another goal. The day before the Worthing 10k, my brother and sister-in-law mentioned entering the Surrey Half Marathon on 12 March 2023. Despite the fact that I hate half marathons, I am tempted. 5 months is a long time and it would be a good goal. But is it crazy? Will I break? Will I hate it? These are all good questions.

One thing is sure, if I am to run 13.1 miles I need to weigh less. Otherwise it will be a grim experience.  OK, it might be grim anyway but being heavy definitely won't help!

So here's the plan. My next 10k is Hampton Court Palace in 4 weeks. I will spend the next 4 weeks eating a clean diet, with maybe two "cheat meals" a week, in the hope of dropping a few more kilograms. I will then see how I feel at the end of the 10k and I will make a decision.

If I feel that I could keep going at the end of the 10k, I will enter the half. If I feel that 10k is absolutely all I could have done on that day, I will not.

I would also be interested in people's thoughts. My trainer at Patch PT said definitely do it! But he is a personal trainer so it's pretty much his job to challenge me. Other people I have mentioned it to have said that half marathons are really long - thanks for pointing that out! But then I guess that's kind of the point, no point in having a challenge that isn't challenging!

Right, time to buy some super healthy food and hide the wine ...

250 parkruns and an update

On Saturday I finally completed my 250th parkrun, about 14 months later than planned due to the pesky pandemic but worth the wait!

When I ran my first parkrun on 23 May 2015, I had no idea that it would become a huge part of my life, and that Saturday mornings would never be the same again. I had just completed a Couch to 5K programme and parkrun seemed like a good way to mark the end of the nine weeks of training. But as soon as I finished, I was hooked. After learning to my disappointment that I was too old to earn a 10 parkrun t-shirt, I resolved to earn my 50 t-shirt as soon as I could, which I did 14 months later on 23 July 2016. 100 parkruns followed on 25 November 2017 and then 250 on 10 September 2022, around 70 weeks later than planned due to parkrun pausing during the pandemic.

Over the last 7 or so years, I have consistently taken around 14 months to complete 50 parkruns. Even with the "Julie parkrun law" of never missing a parkrun (either running or volunteering) unless I cannot physically get to one, I cannot do it any quicker. Although I do take every opportunity to find a parkrun if I am away, and my 250 parkruns were completed in 52 different locations in England, Scotland, Wales (well, it started and finished in Wales), Canada, France, Poland, Germany, Italy and Denmark.

So, after so many parkruns you'd probably think that I'd have got hang of them by now?  Well, you couldn't be more wrong! 😂  I thought I had, when I got my PB of 28:13 in Guildford on 19 November 2016, but then things went downhill, and then uphill, and then downhill ... in fact, it would be fair to describe my parkrun performance as "undulating"!

To demonstrate the undulations, I made a little graph:

It doesn't take a statistics expert to see a correlation between my parkrun times and my weight! But right now my times and my weight are both reducing so let's focus on the positives!

The next t-shirt is 500 and is a beautiful blue colour. Based on my past progress, and absent any more global pandemics, I hope to reach 500 in around six years. Hopefully by then the above graph will look less like a mountain range and more like rolling meadows - fingers crossed!

Which brings me to the update part of this blog. Around 6 weeks ago I posted that I had entered the Guildford 10k and that I was planning to lose weight so that I could run the whole thing. An excellent plan, what could go wrong?

Erm, well, the Guildford 10k got cancelled. What a relief, I thought! No more having to lose weight and run further than 5k, I can go back to eating all the food and drinking all the wine - happy days!

Actually, that is not what happened - did you really think it did? Instead I scoured the internet for an alternative 5k, and settled on the Worthing 10k instead. The downside - it is a week earlier than planned. 😨 The upside - it is flat and by the sea! 😎

Since my last blog, I have lost over 3kg, my parkrun times are reducing, and I have completed a 7k training run with no walking and no breaks - it wasn't pretty but I did it! So I think I'm on track, not for a PB (not even close!) but hopefully to be able to run the whole way.

I don't know what the 2022 medal will look like, but the 2021 medal looked pretty great! #bling

With three weeks to go, I have an 8k training run planned tomorrow, incorporating my 251st parkrun - just another 249 to go!

In my next blog, I'll let you know how I got on in the Worthing 10k. Hopefully knowing that I have to write a blog will keep me going when the going gets tough!

Just keeping on!

I almost called this blog “Here we go again!”. But that seemed a little negative, if also rather accurate!

It’s been a while since my last blog in April 2021, when things were going so well! After an early lockdown weight gain, I had turned things around and even managed a sub 28 minute 5k! Oh, those were the days …

Fast forward 16 months and I’d be pretty pleased with a sub 34 minute parkrun. So what went wrong? Well, the pesky pubs and restaurants re-opened and life has pretty much returned to normal, allowing me to pick up again all those pre-Covid habits:

• Cheeky pub visits mid week after an evening dog walk.
• There’s nothing in the fridge so let’s go out for dinner.
• Snacking on the treats in the office kitchen.
• Not taking lunch to work then making “poor” choices at the sandwich van.
• Being freely able to access crisps and chocolate at pretty much any time.

Lockdown and all those restrictions weren’t fun, but they certainly made it easy to stick to a healthy eating plan!

So the lockdown weight loss has been undone, and then if I’m being completely honest, there has been a bit of weight gain as well.

Those who have known me a long time will not have been surprised by this, most will probably have expected it. And some will wonder why I even bother to try if it is just going to go wrong again.

But that is the point of this blog – the only thing that matters is to just keep on trying! What is the alternative? Give up? Accept that I will always be overweight and a slow runner? That, to me, is unthinkable.

And, whilst running might be pretty hard right now (you have no idea how hard) at least I’m doing it. I still obey the “Julie parkrun law” and never miss a parkrun if I can physically get to one. I also run in the week. I have joined a new gym and am strength training three times a week. (Ladies, if you haven’t tried lifting heavy weights – give it a go! It is the best fun! Maybe a blog on this later.)

So whilst I am living proof that “you can’t out train a bad diet” at least I am keeping on training.

But it is time to fix that bad diet. So I need a goal. Being overweight isn’t stopping me running 5k (even if it is grim and a slog) but it is certainly stopping me running 10k! So that is what I will do.

The Guildford 10k is on 16 October, just over 10 weeks and 4 days away. I did that race in 2019 and loved it, despite the first half being all uphill, as that meant that the second half was all downhill!

10 weeks is enough to make a difference. 10 weeks of not doing all the things I listed above. 10 weeks of making good choices. 10 weeks of portion control. 10 weeks of putting my health and fitness first.

I mentioned before that my excess weight is my running “super power” – as I can just keep getting faster by getting lighter. Well, I certainly have a lot of super power now! And I’m going to use the next 10 weeks to unleash some of it.

Accountability is the key to success so I will report back! Watch this space …

I did it!

When I started this blog two years ago I said I would lose weight and beat my parkrun PB of 28:13 within a year. COVID-19 may have put actual parkruns on pause but last week I completed a (not)parkrun at Littlehampton in 28:01! Strava even kindly recorded a 5k time of 27:57, thank you Strava!

A windy morning at Littlehampton

I admit, Littlehampton is a flat course, but a PB is a PB! And there was quite a headwind!

As I have previously admitted, although I had made good progress, it was not looking likely that I would beat my PB at the end of the first year, even if parkrun had still been happening. And whilst I have loved running throughout the pandemic, for the first 7 months or so I mostly got slower.

The reason? The usual one of eating all the food and drinking all the wine! Like so many, I used the stress of the situation to justify the indulgence. After all, what harm could come from a few weeks of pigging out? Probably not much, but by October it was clear that the pandemic was here for some time yet. It was time to take back control and get into shape! So back to MyFitnessPal - after trying many different approaches, I find that counting calories is the easiest way to lose weight. It might not be new or trendy or exciting, but it works!

As a runner, there are many benefits to losing weight. The first, of course, is that running gets easier! And you get faster without even trying. The second is that when you see people you know out running they say lovely things to you! Then there is the reduced risk of injury, I am certain that my joints appreciate the lighter load. The final benefit is that some of my running clothes are now too large, so I shall have to buy new ones! Luckily, the shops are about to re-open - quite serendipitous!

As I write, it is hoped that parkrun will return on 5 June, just 8 weeks away. It would be awesome to manage a good time in that first post-pause parkrun, although as I hope to be in the Lake District (not very flat) I doubt it will be sub 28 minutes!

That first parkrun is going to be emotional, when it paused I don't think anyone expected it to be over a year before we could return. The current (not)parkrun count is 58, so we will have missed 65 by the time it returns, assuming the 5 June return goes to plan.

Before that I have an actual race coming up in four weeks - the much postponed Jigsaw Run - a flat 10k round an airfield. I ran this race at about the same time as my parkrun PB, so it will be a good test of how I am doing. I think I shall be so over-excited at running in a real race with real people that anything could happen!  Hopefully that excitement will result in a good time rather than in starting off too fast and running out of puff!

So, two years into my blog and things are looking good. I would like to lose some more weight - I call my excess weight my "super power" - until it runs out I can just keep getting faster by getting lighter. To my slim running friends, who do not have this "super power", you may need to watch out! I could be about to catch you ...

A busy few months!

When I wrote my last blog post we had just entered lockdown - it was all new and scary and everyone was figuring out their own way through.  I naively wrote about staying (getting?) fit to compete in all the races which were rescheduled to take place in September.  Well, today, the last of those has been cancelled.  To be fair, my lockdown has not been one of getting faster and lighter, so there were no PBs on the cards, but it would have been lovely to be able to run in a race again, even if I came last!

So, for me, 2019 was the year of races, and of course the bling.  So what was I to do when all the races were cancelled?

Well, I have been busy!  It turns out that there are loads of fantastic virtual challenges out there and I have replaced my love of (obsession with) races with virtual challenges!  This is what I have been up to so far.

(not)parkrun

Every Saturday at 9am(ish) since parkrun was paused I have completed a 5km run, mostly at our home alternative course at Witley and Milford Commons but I have also done some (not)parkrun tourism at Merrow Downs parkrun.  I highly recommend the cafe at Merrow Downs although the capacity is extremely limited at six socially distanced people.

Waverley Harriers Chain Relay

From 1 April to 28 April we kept a member of the running club running at all times between 6:30am and 8pm.  It got hairy at times but the chain didn't break until 28 April although it was definitely showing a bit of wear and tear for a day or two before that!

Harriers Go To Spain

We all missed the Chain Relay so much that we decided to run to Spain to have a party on the rooftop of the apartment of Alexandra, a member of the club who was stuck in Spain.  We arrived in Spain after 12 days for a Zoom party, then decided to run back again.  The return leg took a lot longer, possibly due to a few detours in the French wine regions!

Virtual Spring 10k

I will be honest, I only entered this to get a medal!  I combined the run with the Fitstuff Scavenger Hunt so it was pretty slow!

Virtual Endure24

One of the races that was cancelled was Endure24, an event I was both looking forward to and dreading in equal measures, a 24 hour team relay with 5 mile laps, described as Glastonbury for Runners. This usually runs from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday meaning runners camp overnight and most get to do a nighttime lap.  The lack of sleep scared me almost as much as the running, but only almost.  This was replaced by a virtual version where I was in a team of twelve with two one hour shifts to do and the luxury of sleeping in my own bed.  It was such good fun that I now cannot wait for the real event next year!

There followed an aimless month or so of just running and walking although a relaxation to lockdown did allow me to meet my friend Jane for a run - funny when you think of all the things we used to do that we just took for granted!

Then I discovered two new challenges:

Operation Bletchley

This 100 mile codebreaking challenge kept me happily occupied throughout July.  I flew to France aboard a Halifax bomber where I parachuted into Nazi occupied France.  My mission was to make it to Paris on foot, decipher codes and deliver a message to Winston Churchill.  I am pleased (relieved) to say that I was able to solve all the codes although some had me scratching my head for a day or two!  Throughout the mission I was prone to quoting from 'Allo 'Allo - how could I not?!

Great North Run Solo

This seemed like a great idea at the time.  The Great North Run had been cancelled but a shiny medal could be earned by just running 40 times in 78 days, how hard could that be?  For me it simply required the addition of one run per week, so instead of running 2-3 times per week I have to run 3-4 times per week.  The problem is that does not allow for niggles or injuries.  As I write I have completed 21 runs and am about 3 runs behind where I should be with less than a month to go.  I guess I had better start stretching and foam rolling a bit more consistently if I am to get through this in one piece!

Now the Great South Run has been cancelled there is also a Great South Run Solo starting on 1 September - this one is 25 runs finishing with a10 mile run on 18 October.  I am trying really hard not to enter this.

Lands End to John O'Groats (LEJOG)

After the end of Operation Bletchley I again felt a lack of purpose so thought I'd tackle the 1,084 miles from Lands End to John O'Groats.  Both running and walking count and I have given myself 40 weeks to complete the challenge. After 15 days I am in St Austell and about a day behind where I should be - I need to pick up the pace!

Zombies, Run!

This is my latest discovery and I am loving it.  I now run whilst being chased by zombies and doing heroic deeds for the people at Abel Township as Runner 5.   Luckily the zombies run quite slowly so sometimes I even outrun them! 

How am I not broken?

This is a mystery to me.  Before lockdown I saw my osteopath every 3 weeks and had a sports massage most weeks and thought that was the only way I could keep doing the running that I wanted to do.  I now run more often than ever before (if a little more slowly) with nobody fixing my niggles!  I really hoping I can keep getting away with it - Scotland is calling!

Over the past few months, I have felt more like a runner than ever before, albeit a slow one. The joy of running and not looking at the clock has been a wonderful thing to discover.  I shall have to make the most of it as, once parkrun returns, there is that PB to chase!

What a difference a year makes!

I started this blog just over a year ago with a clear plan for what I was going to achieve - which was to beat my parkrun PB within 12 months.  At that time, I was frustrated with how my running was going and felt I needed a goal and some accountability (that's you lovely people who are reading this) to help me improve.

I could never have imagined that one year on not only is parkrun not happening but that I am so grateful every day just to be able to run.  Worrying about times and personal bests has become completely irrelevant.  Instead I worry about tighter restrictions being imposed on our daily exercise and, of course, about getting sick.

One of the reasons that I wanted to get better at running was so that I could enjoy the social side of it - after all, most of my friends are runners - and again this is something that has gone out the window, if only temporarily.  The technological wonder of Zoom may allow me to take part in my weekly Pilates class and post "not parkrun" coffee but I have not yet seen anyone successfully leading a club run over Zoom.  Although both my running clubs are being very creative and setting challenges for people so that we all still feel part of a community.

For Fitstuff this has included a timed mile (to help keep track of the effect of lockdown eating maybe?), sprint intervals and a hills session.  Waverley Harriers has set up a virtual chain relay.  This is a competition between two teams and is now into its 6th day with teams running consistently from 6.30am to 8pm each day.  I am in the Blue Team and, aside from the impressive running, there have been some very creative virtual baton hand overs.

An added and new challenge to running is having to stay at least 2 metres away from anyone that you pass.  There has been a bit of criticism of inconsiderate runners on social media and I am determined not to be thought one of them, even if this means scaling banks and running in the road - a kind of extreme interval training!

About that PB ...

So how did I get on with my 12 month goal?  Not bad, actually!  I have lost over 10kg and brought my parkrun time down from 35:39 to 29:11, just 58 seconds slower than my all time PB of 28:13.  I also managed a parkrun pace which would have been a sub 29 minute 5km so all was looking promising.  However, as the last two parkruns of March were cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis, we will never know if I would have hit my target ...

After my fastest parkrun in three years!

Being brutally honest, it wasn't likely, and would have required a downhill course, a strong tailwind and a lot of luck, but I am still very pleased with my progress.  I am hoping to beat 28:13 later this year although right now we have no idea when parkrun will be back.  On the one hand, that means I have a lot of time to get lighter and faster.  However, without my weekly parkrun time to keep me focused, I may well get slower!

That said, pretty much all of my Spring and Summer races have been rescheduled to September so this is no time to slack off.  I shall have to think of all the bling that is to come!

The medal for my "virtual" London Winter Run - this one cancelled by Storm Ciara!

Stay safe everyone and keep running!