I Am In Competition With No One

Swain's Lane Conquered!

In north London  you can find the (in)famous Swain's Lane, feared by cyclists and runners alike. This neat little lane has got a maximum gradient of a whopping 18%, is around 1.2k long and if you climb it 24 times you will have climbed the equivalent of Mont Ventoux!

Yesterday my colleague Debbie and I did our inaugural post work hill interval run. Having met up at The Flask (who I much recommend at this time of year for their lovely mulled cider!) we walked to Swain's Lane and started off our run with a warm up run down the hill. I had earlier done a gruelling bootcamp session with Shane the Slavedriver at Barry's Bootcamp and felt pretty spent even on the first run down, but running with a slightly less fit friend hid that fact. We didn't go fast, letting Debbie set the pace, but we did keep going the entire time. No walking, no stopping. Three times in a row I talked Debbie up the hill, setting the bar high for coming hill climbs in London's best lane.

#PMA

I'm well into my second week of my second month-long Barry's Bootcamp stint and I'm loving it. There have been plenty of times when I've thought about writing how Shane, in three months, have made me go from a top sprint speed of 10.5mph to running no less than four 12.5mph sprints in the same session. Or Sandy's hustle runs. Or Anya's crazy hard full body workouts. Or Olly making my sprint up a 10% incline at 11.5mph. But I haven't and that's partly because I've been busy changing jobs and partly because however happy and proud of my achievements I've been I've not really felt like I could do them justice in writing - '...and then I turned my treadmill up to 11.5mph and sprinted up that incline. It was hard but I made it!'. Yeah, I know, not exactly riveting reading.

Then yesterday I went to Faisal's class, Faisal who is a bundle of endless energy, encouragement and PMA - positive mental attitude. Before hitting bootcamp I was feeling a little bit 'meh' as I like to call it - you know that feeling when you can't be bothered with much and there's a slightly blue tint to your mood - but during the Friday 7 minute mile challenge (run a mile as fast as you can, aim to get under 7 minutes) something changed. Faisal was talking us through this mentally quite challenging run and basically infusing us with positive mental attitude, making us believe that we not only could but would and that no one could stop us from taking what we wanted on the treadmill in specific and in life in general.

I walked out of the gym feeling a little bit invincible, confidence boosted by my accomplishments in Barry's red room of pain (I did the mile in 6 minutes and 40 seconds and with relative ease) but also boosted by Faisal's positive mental attitude affirmations. Now, I know we can't solve all the worlds problem with only a positive mental attitude but I think that a more positive mental attitude could change most peoples' lives. I suggest you try it, it's free and with very few side effects....

Putting The Fun In Your Run

This weekend I ran my first 5k race. It was an untimed 5k race, I more ambled than ran and I absolutely loved it. I only ever entered this race because my friend Olly wants to get into running and this was his inaugural race - but I think it was one of the best race experiences I've ever had. My friend Julia was visiting from Sweden and we grumbled plenty upon getting up nice and early on Saturday but once the race kicked off and we got going it was pure enjoyment. Running, talking, laughing and rekindling your love of running. After the race we had a post-race beer and started planning for the next race....

Putting The Fun In Your Run

This weekend I ran my first 5k race. It was an untimed 5k race, I more ambled than ran and I absolutely loved it. I only ever entered this race because my friend Olly wants to get into running and this was his inaugural race - but I think it was one of the best race experiences I've ever had. My friend Julia was visiting from Sweden and we grumbled plenty upon getting up nice and early on Saturday but once the race kicked off and we got going it was pure enjoyment. Running, talking, laughing and rekindling your love of running. After the race we had a post-race beer and started planning for the next race....

Race Report: Royal Parks Ultra

Have you heard that song by José Gonzalez where he goes 'every step feels like a mile'? I've never grasped the full meaning of those words until the last 5 kilometres of my first ever ultra marathon, and every step felt like an actual mile. But let us not get ahead of ourselves, the race started way before that...

My alarm went off at 6am and as I was (trying/forcing myself) to eat breakfast all I could think was 'all my friends are still cosy in bed, yet here I am about to head off to run 50 kilometres'. I felt slightly mad and/or stupid but eventually I got myself into my kit and headed off to Hyde Park and the start. In Hyde Park there was a specific 'ultra' tent where you could drop off your bag, get some last minute energy and water and talk to the other runners. I didn't talk to anyone, I merely stood there and stared at this plethora of runners who all looked like they were semi-professionals. If I'd been scared sh*tless before, I was now terrified. As per usual I debated so long about going to the toilet that I didn't have the time and then I found myself standing in the starting pen. I struck up conversation with the only other girl who looked as lost as I did and we kept chatting until we set off.

The start was at 8.30am and my plan was to take it nice and easy the entire 50 kilometres. I knew that I hadn't done as much training as I'd wanted to but that I'd done enough training to get myself through the ordeal. The girl I'd talked to before setting off (you can see here on this picture) and I were running together and it was nice and relaxing to have a fellow runner to chat with - it made it feel like it was a good Sunday training run! We were running through a sunny, stunning, London (waving to the queen at Buckingham Palace) and after a few miles of running and chatting we picked up another guy in our chat/running group. We ran togheter and chatted amicably up to the 25k race mark where they dropped off on one of the feeding stations. As they stopped  for the loo I kept going, looking forward to the 35k mark where my friends were gonna stand and cheer me on.

Around this time the surface changed, from tarmac to towpath - gravelly towpath. My bad hip had started bothering me wat too early in this race, after only 10k, and once the surface changed it got worse. The whole leg (i.e. the leg muscles) were all sore and stiff and the five kilometres between 25 and 30k were long. After 30k I got a new little energy burst, knowing I 'only' had around 2 hours running left and getting closer to Richmond Park (and my waiting friends). It got warm in Richmond Park though, and I was looking forward to getting into the shade again. I reached the 35k mark and...no friends. Later on they told me how it had taken them some time to get to Richmond Park and that they missed me, but that actually worked in my favour. I spent the five kilometres between 35 and 40 looking for my friends thus not really noticing that I was running them. At 40 kilometres I had given up seeing the and instead focused on the fact that it was the last 10k ahead of me and that the 42.2k mark would mean that I'd become and ultramarathon runner!

But, the 42.2k mark didn't cheer me up. Instead I realised that while 8k is short in comparison to what I'd done, it's still pretty far - especially when your left leg and your shoulders are killing you. I aimed to get into a flow, listening to music and letting my thoughts roam free. When I finally got to Bushy Park I was ecstatic but those last 5 kilometres might have been the worst 5k I've ever run. Every step hurt. When I finally saw the finish line in the distance I was so god d*mn angry with Bushy Park that I managed a little sprint and finished the race in 5 hours 6 minutes. Once I had finished I got a text from a friends saying they were on their way (they had had a more eventful trip to the finishline than I!) and then I met a photographer that I'd promised a photo for a photo project. Eventually my friends came and after I'd had a quick shower we headed to Kingston, via the Railway Tavern in Teddington, and had a pre-birthday celebration on a riverside pub...a perfect way to celebrate being an ultramarathon runner!

The last ten kilometres I had a mantra in my head: 'I.Am.Never.Doing.This.Again!' but once my friend Claire had bought me my first post-race beer it happened....you know that thing that aaaaalways happens.... the 'I wonder if I could run a 50 mile race?' and the 'I want to get under 5 hours!'. So, here I am, sore but happy and looking for a new challenge. Just don't suggest I do an Ironman.....

This Photo.

This photo makes me forget all my insecurities, doubts and worries. This photo helps reminding me of the good things in life, and the strength of my character. This photo boosts my self-confidence and my self-esteem. This photo helps me realise that yesterday I became an ultra marathon runner. Yesterday I conquered 50k, on foot, and I will always be a better person for it. Yesterday I proved to myself that I truly am the master of my faith; and the captain of my soul.

Full race report to follow!

Nailed it!

With only a few days to my first ultra marathon I'm just doing the odd training session this week. I want fresh legs for Sunday but I still want to be a bit active so I've settled for a few Barry's Bootcamp classes and yesterday it was leg and butt day. Now, I've got pretty strong legs but when it comes to any kind of plyometric work I'm rubbish. Well, at least until yesterday....

Shane at Barry's had us working pretty hard, doing everything from plain ole squats to various jumps - including tuck jumps.... Normally that's one of my big weaknesses, as I seem to be very attached to earth - I just can't gain any height in my jumps! Shane set us off jumping yesterday, stressing how we should focus on the jump, not the little bounce inbetween, and to pull our feet up against our chest when airborne and voila! All of a sudden I was doing actual, good quality, tuck jumps. Instead of rushing them I took a few seconds longer and focused on exploding, landing softly and then re-chargw before doing the next jump. It was with almost childish pleasure I watched myself jump higher than the fit guy next to me and I left the studio almost as happy with myself as the first time when I hit 12.5mph sprinting speed.

So what's the moral of this story? Just because you've not been able to do something in the past doesn't mean that you will never be able to do it. Work hard, stay focused and never give up.

Don't Let It Take Over Your Life

Today I'm gonna rant a bit. I've been off work for a week and have plenty of time to catch up with my favourite fitness blogs and my exercising Facebook/Instragram/Twitter friends but it's all left me with a slightly sour taste in my mouth.

You see, I think way too many people are slightly obsessed. For some people their entire lives seem to revolve around training and food, and whilst I can understand having exercising as your hobby (hell, I have exercising as a hobby!), I think that people need to relax a little. People are training and eating/dieting like they were pro-athletes, their lives ruled by a rigorous training regime and a food diary thicker than the Oxford Dictionary - and you know what I find the most disturbing part of this whole malarky? I don't even know if they do it for themselves or if they do it to prove something. Way too many people seem to have a need to validate themselves and their training by always running longer, more races or more challenging races. I see, on blogs, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, people with such one-dimensional lives that all that make them, well, them is lost. All you see is a person seeking validation through their achievements in Lycra.

I do not want to become that person, I'd even go as far as to say that it's my greatest fear in life to become that person. Do I like running? I'd say I bloody love running. And cycling. And bootcamp. And a few other things. BUT I also love having a glass of wine at the rooftop cinema, eating a piece of chocolate at work when it's one of those days and I love going out dancing and drinking with my friends. I'm excited about running the London Marathon and I relish the challenge of my upcoming ultramarathon - but running and racing isn't who I am. It's a part of who I am, and I don't want it to be all I am. As some people might know I lived with an eating disorder for the majority of a decade and if it tuaght me anything it is that a one-dimensional existance is soul destroying.

So, what I'm trying to say with this blog post is....Don't Let It Take Over Your Life. You are more than your accomplishments in Lycra.

Knowing When Enough Is Enough

In ten Days time I'm meant to take on the Royal Parks Ultra and I'm scared witless. Logically I know I can do it but I still worry. Today I ran a little 13 mile run and I should really leave it be now. Do a fre short runs, some cross training and trust in the training I've already done. Yet I feel like I could fit in another long(isg) run on Sunday and will have to stop myself from heading out for a run. I hope I succeed.....

Stylish t-shirt! 

Beautiful Victoria Park

Regent's Canal 

That race t-shirt from when I was 63rd out of 3386 in a London 10k! 

London Marathon 2014

I'm in! I finally get to run the London Marathon, and I'm so excited that there no words for it.  Wooooo!

Running Really Is Cheaper Than Therapy

You could say it's exhausting running a marathon. As someone who's run several marathons I can confirm it is, but I can also say that there is nothing as exhausting than those few moments when there's a collective intake of breath as everyone realises that depending on what happens in the next few moments someone might live or die. Those few moments fills you with more adrenaline that anything I've ever experienced and pretty much ages you 10 years. As some of you may know I'm a nurse by profession, and without saying anyhing confidential I can say that sometimes I encounter emergencies. Full blown, life or death, kind of emergencies that make you realise how fragile and previous life really is. Yesterday was one of those days and I ended up staing a full 18 hours at work so when I finally got to bed around 3.30am I was exhausted yet twitchy from adrenaline. Around 11am I woke up, feeling more hungover than after a night of drinking, to a grey and cold London. I had, before yesterday, planned to do thousand and one things today but when I woke up today there was only one thing I wanted to do. I wanted to run.

By the time I'd had breakfast and gotten dressed it had started to raining, and not a Little light drizzle either - no it was proper pelting down. A part of me wanted to climb back into bed and pull the duvet over my head but logically I knew that I needed to get outside and do some running therapy. After the initial few miles when the rain annoyed me slightly I was soaked and had started to enjoy it. For every step a little bit of my worries seemed to slip away, alongside the remaining adrenaline. If you asked me what I was thinking I wouldn't know, all I know is that it was more cleansing than any therpahy session. Life, death, love and happiness seemed to make more sense than after two hours than before so whilst I was soaked and frozen solid post-run I was also more content and calm.

Admitting Defeat

Today I was meant to do the London Duathlon, but the last few days sore throat isn't budging and with only three weeks until my first ultra marathon I had to admit defeat. No duathlon and I'm absolutely gutted.

Over and out, people.

It's Getting Close...

Two weeks. Two weeks is all I have until I make my duathlon debut. I feel ridiculously unprepared, having put all my focus on surviving a month with Barry's Bootcamp and then the Royal Parks Ultra Marathon. Instead of rigorous preparations I'm following the Nike approach...just do it!

Get Fit Or Die Trying - A Month At Barry's Bootcamp

 

Before I started Barry's Bootcamp I thought I was pretty fit...running marathons faster than your average Joe, finishing 63rd out of 3386 in a London 10k, cycling 100 miles for fun and actually passing the press up test for the Royal Marines Fitness test (60 press ups in 2 minutes). Yeah, pretty fit.... But when I did my first Barry's class back in June I struggled. A lot. I left feeling tired and unfit, which for me is the equivalent of a red cape shown to a bull - I decided I simply had to conquer this bootcamp malarky. I set my sights on doing one of the month long membership options as a sort of 30 day challenge and August was the month it was going to happen.

 

I went into the membership feeling unconfident as a runner, after my slightly 'disastrous' July halfmarathon, but not too unfit after Ride London relay. I would now like to write that 'the first week it was hard, but then I could feel myself getting stronger...' etc., and while I do notice some good improvements in my fitness it hasn't gotten any easier! This is mainly to do with the fact that the fitter you get, the more you push yourself. Or rather, the more the instructors push you.... I've done a lot of cursing and complaining but the truth is that I've enjoyed myself a lot more this month than I previously have in a gym - this has well and truly been right up my alley. Do I like people shouting at me? I actually do, or rather I enjoy knowing that they care enough about improving my fitness to go round and push me. This has been a challenging month (it's a challenging workout!) but that's what's made it good, there's always been a goal to work towards and no stagnation

 

So what are the biggest improvements?

Core strength. I've never had a core of steel, and I probably never will, but this month-long residency at Barry's has really improved my core strength! I still have some major weaknesses but at least there are fewer of them than there used to be....

Sprint speed. When I first started Barry's my top sprint speed was probably 10.5mph, and even that made me think I was either gonna fall off the treadmill or die (probably both). But in the third week I managed to reach that elusive 12.5mph and now I can honestly say that 12.5mph is my top sprint speed....big achievement from your resident Captain Slow! I've also regained some of my lost confidence, big thanks to the Barry's crew for that.

Working when fatigued. I've done a fair amount of classes these last few weeks, in addition to my ultra marathon training, and some days I've felt tired, with legs like lead. Despite being tired I've worked through the fatigue and I now feel that my body now responds better to hard work despite being tired.

Challenging myself: I've gotten better at working until failure. Barry's have challenged me to try more reps, faster speeds, bigger weights - and occasionally I've failed or come up short. BUT, it's okay to not be able to do every single rep, or every single increase in speed on the treadmill, as long as you've worked as hard as you can.

 

A lot of people have asked me if I've lost weight but that's hard to know as I never weigh myself. My clothes fit better (or so I want to tell myself...) but since improvement in fitness and not weightloss was the goal I can honestly say I don't really care. Let's just say that I think the non-existant weightloss has got more to do with my love of cold beer in the sunshine than Barry's not being effective enough..... Would I do the 30 day challenge again? In a heartbeat! Despite all the classes following a similar format no two classes are exactly the same, you work different body parts on different days and you've got a plethora of great instructors that will give their all to make you give your all. If you go to an 'off peak' class you sometimes get pretty close to having a personal trainer.

 

Do I still think I'm pretty fit? Ask me in the middle of a Barry's class and I'll say no, but I do know I'm at least a little bit fitter than I was before I started....!

 

Runners, They (We!) Make No Sense

Keep Moving Forward

Today I did it again. I went home from the gym mad with myself for not performing as well as I wanted to.  I went home mad because I couldn't sprint as fast as I wanted. I went home mad because I wasn't feeling strong enough. Mad, mad, mad.

But you know what?! No more of this belittling myself, no more of belittling yourself. Today I was as disappointed with myself as I was after my half marathon in July, when I almost wanted to cry because I felt like I'd let myself down, but today I tried to stay and think logical. You can't be strong and fast everyday. Some days you'll feel tired, your legs will be heavy and your arms weak - and that's OK. Don't lose focus of where you're going because you had a bad day. Learn from it and then move forward, and progress!

That Elusive 12.5

So, this month I've been hitting Barry's Bootcamp hard (and done very little actual blogging). Sure, I've done a few longs runs in preparation for the Royal Parks Ultra I'm doing in October and a few good, hard spin sessions, but mainly I've been at Barry's getting whipped into shape by mainly the two  gentlemen Sandy and Shane. For someone who considers herself pretty fit it's been hard going, not to mention slightly shameful to realise that I seemingly only have one speed that I run at...slow. I mean don't get me wrong,  I've always known I'm no Usain Bolt, but I didn't think I was as firmly stuck in a comfort zone as I am(was?!).

It's been great having the people at Barry's pushing me on, getting me to challenge myself and try and break out of that comfort cage (as I've started referring to it as), as my next marathon goal is to try and qualify for Boston Marathon (eeeeek!)..... Having done three marathons with 4.10 - 3.59 - 3.44 as finishing times I know that I can improve, but knowing I've got to cut at least NINE minutes on my last finish time  feels daunting. I ran a half marathon in June at the Boston qualifying race pace in July but I don't know if that made me feel any better as I knew that to qualify I'd have to keep that pace for yet another 13.1 miles. Gulp.

Yesterday a glimmer of hope was lit though. Having done my normal morning class at Barry's I decided to go to another class in the afternoon when I got let out of work early. I felt a bit tired leaving work so I silently hoped that it would be a busy class where I could hide behind legions of other people - but no such luck! It was five other people there and Shane was not going to let anyone off easy, he made that clear early on. I decided to just go for it as much as I could and hope for the best (my standard survival strategy at Barry's...) and in all honesty I was doing fairly well considering it was my second class of the day. When we were on our last treadmill sessions and were doing the dreaded 90 seconds runs with sprint finishes Shane jumped up on my treadmill for the second to last and resolutely cranked up my speed to 11.5. Upon seeing my terrified face he just said 'I know you, I know you can run at this speed' and quite correctly I did manage to run at 11.5mph. For the last one I myself turned the speed up to 11.5 only to have Shane turn it up to 12.5  - and you know what, I managed that 30 second run too! It might have only been a short amount of time but at least I for that time I got out of my comfort zone, challenged myself and properly sprinted. For those 30 seconds I did feel like I would be able to reach that qualifying time and I left the class tired but with a big grin on my face. 12.5 mph has always seemed like an elusive speed and I've never believed that I'd be able to reach it but apparently Shane believed I could. Sometimes you need to have someone that believes you can do it, and you will be able to do it!

Caution!

Bring Sally Up, Bring Sally Down!

This morning Shane at Barry's Bootcamp was in his most sadistic mood. After a hardcore abs and core class he let us believe we were done for 30 or so seconds before he introduced us to Sally....Sally is the main character in a cruel, cruel push up challenge, a full three and a half minutes of pain. Moby's song Flower takes you through it, and on paper it's easy enough - when the lyrics go 'Bring Sally Up' you hold a high plank, when the lyrics 'Bring Sally Down' you drop down low and hold.....in reality it's not so easy. I am pretty sure the whole room was in absolute agony about halfway through and I don't think anyone managed to do the full 3.5 minutes....

If you've not heard of it before, look at this video  and take the challenge!