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Tag Archives: racing

Race Report: Frenchay 10k – A Return To Racing

22 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by elladuv in Running

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Tags

Bristol, comeback race, event reports, Frenchay 10k, racing, running

After a year out of racing I planned to do the Frenchay 10k on Sunday 15th of April. It was spur of the moment as I registered last Sunday.  I spent the first half of the weekend exploring humid and sunny Nottingham doing six miles of walking each day.  Then travelled back down to Bristol for the race.  I woke up to a typical cloudy (and later on, drizzly) Bristolian weather Sunday feeling rather groggy.  Two days of six mile walks had indeed caught up.  Yet that night my mantra had been, ‘I will not find an excuse to cop out today. I will not.  I will not.’  I couldn’t let another race pass me by due to my own nerves and horrendous levels of self-doubt.

FrenchayStartline.jpg

I made the decision that if I could manage a few runs per week perhaps I could switch up those runs into a race on the weekend.  I’d run what felt good training wise during the week, most of my runs ended up on weekends recently anyway due to having more time to get out.  I’d try not to obsess over plans that would see me exhausted and beat before I got to the start line.  With CFS and a slipped disc I need to be very aware of my body when doing fitness.  I only had one new medal to hang up last year.  I needed a comeback race.

Since I was 7lbs over my old race weight I tried to carboload by not necessarily adding in any extra food.  I just changed the proportion of carbs in my snacks and meals.  For weekday lunches I made a ridiculously hot veggie chilli as I find rice less stodgy than pasta and left Italian type meals to the evening.  I ordered a new set of Gaze boxes in bulk to try out to keep snacking controlled.

It was a great choice.  A race ran by a local club for charity.  The registration, start and finish were in the Glenside Campus, only about a mile from home.  This meant that travelling was no reason to cause any anxiety.  Inside race HQ it was completely packed out.  It was quick and easy to get my race number. I’d forgotten how long the queues for toilets get at racing!  I’d forgotten to bring spare pins and had to run with two pins due to a lack of them.  Next time I’ll remember to bring my own pins, something I used to always do when running races was a frequent habit.  I even have a small decorative pot of them somewhere at home just for races.

Despite not being at events for so long I could still recognise a lot of faces from local running clubs past and present.  This was a nice feeling.  Things hadn’t moved on so far in my absence that the field was completely unrecognisable.  I wore my Southville colours to shouts of ‘Go on Southville!’. There were wonderful pockets of support.  The race looped the Glenside campus, went down to Oldbury Court (where I’d done a lot of my winter training long runs) through the fields to Frenchay and back down to then finish with Blackberry hill in the last mile, a beast of a finish.  I only stopped to fix my race number in the field after it got too hot in my waterproof jacket.  Throughout I kept a steady pace with no walking to manage 10-12 minute miles.

Frenchay10kcup.jpg

Incredibly I even managed a sprint finish to lots of cheers at the end.  The race gift was a red Frenchay 10k mug.  It’s not always about the medal. I’ve had all sorts of things other than medals in the past like coasters, bottles of signature beer, ice creams.  Those moments will always be in your head regardless of what you get given afterwards.

Perhaps, I needed this time out to give myself a year’s rest.  After battering my body with a schedule in three years that included nine marathons, multiple halfs and 10ks with no prior fitness base. 1 hour 5 mins. 7.19 mins over my last 2017 flat Bristol 10k race and only 10 minutes over my 2016 10k PB, I think if I try hard on the day for the Bristol 10k in May I might be able to beat my PB set in 2016.

Afterwards I ached but only in that I needed to take breaks to walk around and have the odd paracetamol.  It didn’t completely destroy me.  I walked in the drizzle which promptly turned into torrential rain to Grounded for a lovely lunch of Spanish Potatoes.  Then I slept for a solid two hours.

SpanishPotaoesGrounded.jpg

I’m looking forward to putting more races on the calendar across the distances.

PS: Remember to stretch and foam roll!

PSS: Try not to go off too fast in the first mile!

Happy running,

Xxx

Eleanor

Trial Race Day For Portsmouth Marathon

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by elladuv in Running, yoga

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Tags

Adventure, Christmas training, marathon, Portsmouth, Portsmouth Marathon, racing, running, Sweets, travel, Winter

Evaluating other attempts at running marathons I decided to change things up a bit and throw in a trial race day.  Not just a long run.  Basically, just a long run in which I pretended it was the Marathon.

It was the last long run before Portsmouth Marathon.  The morning of December 3rd (yeah, this blog is late).  It was the second longest run of 2017.  The run totalled 9.11 miles.

It went like so;

24068044_10160032766960001_966192014098185000_n
Woke up at 8am to breakfast and drink coffee,
9am volunteering as time keeper at Junior parkrun,
9:30am set off from that start line of sorts to run along the Snuff Mills trails,
2.5 miles in turned back due to a steepass muddy as fudge decline at a tremendous height that made brain nope,
5 miles in stopped at the fuel station known as the house for hydrate,
7.5 miles in best run snacks of Jelly Beans by the mega handful,
8.6 miles in … 8 point … 6 … fudge 8.6. Keep at it!
9 miles in. 9 miles. Sprint finish home. HELL YES.

I felt fantastic.  When I got home for a cup of tea, a hot lunch and a steaming bubble bath after showering all the mud off it was a relief having done it.  I know it wasn’t 26. miles.  Nearly 10 is a good bench mark of how I will feel on race day.  I felt like I could do more, indeed I considered a second lap but didn’t want to over do it too soon.

JellyBeans

I found Jelly Beans as a running snack worked better than gels with my stomach so I’ve stocked up on lots of these.

Now to rest and carboload before Portsmouth Marathon.  I’ve done nothing but walking and yoga in the evenings.  I’ve bulk bought soups and healthy snacks for my workday lunches.  Of course, the odd Cherry Bakewell is unavoidable this time of year.  However, it’s still easy to eat balanced and just add the Minced Pies in as your afternoon snack instead of because of it.

As I write this Portsmouth looms at the end of Sunday.  I haven’t chickened out yet.  There are no health excuses worth cancelling for.  The weather might be a bit of mischief.  Yet, adventure calls.  The coast and it’s gales, the roses and their dew, the Pyramid Center and it’s Expo.  The runners and their lycra.

This will now be a staple before any race taper going forward in 2018.  It’s helpful to find the zone that gets missed sometimes with ‘just another long run.’  Make your long run work for you.  Make it special.

Happy running,

Eleanor

xxx

The sound of hard work

14 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by elladuv in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

10k, 5k, marathon, medals, Olympus Marathon, racing, running, running bling, training, wind chime

This is the build up of two years of running at the end of February.  I moved house last month and only just got round to putting up my plaque that I bought a year or so ago for displaying my medals.  I had my window open at the time which let the air in through the room.  As I went about tidying I heard the medals chiming away.  I was proud that my hard work not only created health and fantastic experiences but a sound I could listen too in the present even if the events are considered in the past.  It reminded me of wind chimes and it sounded beautiful.  Hard work makes a soft sounding music for something so tough.
IMG_20150214_110730Step 1: Watch an insane video where Kilian Jornet runs up Mount Olympus along the wrong route and still breaks his record.

Step 2: Think positive, ‘I can do that!’ start running every other day one cold day in late February.

Step 3: Run the Bristol 10k. Convince your other running buddies Liam and Matt that Olympus Marathon is a good idea whilst they’re recovering from the shock of their 10k victory. Whilst on a race high anything seems possible.

Step 4: Buy a fancy running medal display with a funky slogan on it to hang your bling on. Attach it on a wall between a cross breeze created by the window and the door. It doesn’t look like much now but you just wait!

Step 5: Continue to run races around the local area and the Athens Classic Marathon to collect medals. Pile them on the hooks one on top of the other.

Step 6: Open the window.

Step 7: Listen to the beautiful sound of your hard work as the wind catches the medals and chimes them together. Your dedication to your running is making that sound. Your alarm at 6 am telling you to get up and run. Your choice over what to eat and when in regards to how it will benefit your training is making that sound. Your experience whilst running 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, Marathon and Ultra distances are making that sound. Your memories are making that sound. Your sweat is making that sound. Your success is making that sound. Remember that at the Start line of your next race. What tune will it make to you? Will you like its sound? There’s only one way to find out. Ready. Set. Run!

xxx
Eleanor

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