Music to make you run further and faster

8 MILES!!!

Let's just repeat that.....

8 MILES!!! I ran 8 whole miles yesterday. And, I am not crawling on my hands and knees, begging for mercy from my running hell but can actually walk normally today. Now that is an achievement that deserves a cake if ever there was one. Actually I've had two cakes in celebration: a blueberry muffin yesterday and a raspberry and white chocolate one today. Ha! Well the fandangled Nike+ app reckons I worked off almost 900 calories during those 8 miles so I figured I'd earnt them. Plus they were homemade by me so I'd definitely earnt them. (The weight loss still isn't going terribly well. Can't imagine why....) 

Earlier this week I had a brief conversation with a colleague who reads this blog from time to time and she said to me something along the lines of "I am a bit concerned that your runs only seem to be about 3-4 miles. Are you actually going to manage this?". I also get quizzed regularly at work by various people about the running and they give me furrowed brow expressions of doubt at my responses. And truthfully, I share your concerns. I'm not really sure that I can run 26.2 miles in one week let alone in one day. But this weekend has heralded the start of the long, long runs. By that I mean a proper long run. Before, 4 miles was a long run to me and now 4 miles is a short mid-week effort. This is new view of 4 miles is quite extraordinary to a cake-loving settee sloth.

Here's a few highlights of the 8 miles.

Discovered this incredible graffiti in an underpass about a mile away from where we live. I've never run along there before and was so amazed by it that I had to stop and take some quick pics on my phone. Stunning detail with all the little faces in the lockets too.

Ran around Wollaton Park which is a great park (apart from the hills!). It was perfect running weather- cold but bright and sunny and with not even as much as a breeze let alone evil wind to take my precious breath away. The view around the lake is so good that I ran round it twice!

Now I know this doesn't look like a hill on the photo but it really is a horrible hill of pain and doom. I, of course, walked up it. (Hence the ability to take a photo!) I'm banking on there being no hills at all in London. If you know information to the contrary, please don't tell me- blissfully ignorant is best.

So that was yesterday's run. I also fitted in a short 3.7 miles on Weds and a swim on Thurs so a pretty good week back training.

Next week should hopefully be:

Monday: Swim

Tuesday: Short run- maybe evil threshold

Wednesday: No time to do anything!

Thursday: Matt out so can't go out unless home from work early.

Friday: 4 miles short run

Saturday: 9-10 miles (aaaaaghhhhh!!!)

Sunday: Crawl from bed to car etc, no exercise.  

Now then, I've got a confession. When I'm running, I have a playlist that I listen to. It currently features the fairly shameful selection of the following:

Rhythm is a dancer- Snap

Do it like a dude- Jessie J

I kissed a girl- Katy Perry

The Edge of Glory- Lady Gaga

Umbrella- Rhianna

Jump- The Pointer Sisters

And a LOT of Glee songs. Over half of the playlist is Glee in fact. Tragic, I know.

But I'm getting a bit bored of it and I need your help: can you please suggest some good tracks for me to run to?! I'm not really up there when it comes to music prowess and often the cheesier the better but I'm open to all suggestions.

This is an interesting website:

http://jogtunes.com/jtc/index.php







It works out beats per minute for tracks and then recommends tracks that have the right sort of bpm for your chosen running speed. I reckon I need between 160-165bpm which should help me bop along at about 10-11 mins/ mile. I presume that if I listen to 180bpm tracks I'll fly along at 8 mins/mile with my feet a blur below my solid bottom and passers by will marvel at my running skill and endurance. Excellent plan.

Anyway, either comment below or on fb or send me a text with your suggestions and I'll give them a try during next week's 10 miler. Oh joy.

A sprained ankle, a lost car key and a boy called Charlie

Well. What a week. It all started so well with an hour swim on Monday, a 5 mile run with Jenny on Tuesday, a rest day Wednesday and then came Thursday. I dutifully set my alarm on Weds night for silly O'clock in the morning, set out my running clothes and psyched myself up for an early Thursday morning run.

Before we continue, here's a pics of me and Jenny from Tuesday. It was fr-fr-fr-freeeeezing.

Yes, that is ice on the ground.

The lovely Jenny- she's a marathon expert!

Thursday morning arrived, I drove up the road and parked in Strelley village and set off in search of fields and open countryside whilst the sun broke through the cold, grey night clouds. I trotted off up the road, turned onto a track and was jogging along bopping to my iphone Running tracks when it all went wrong. Mud, it turns out, is slippy. Really blooming slippy. I slid like a hippo on iceskates, my left foot went under me and my ankle REALLY hurt. I then burst into tears! Literally. A muddy path, some birds merrily singing, my iPhone blaring out Queen's completely inappropriate lyrics of "Don't stop me now, I'm having a good time" and me stood on one leg crying. What a sight! I was so upset as I was just tolerating my run (all half a mile of it so far) and feeling good about my training being on track and suddenly it was all looking very bad.

I rang Matt, snivelled down the phone something about coming home and started to hobble off back up the half a mile to the car. The more I walked, the easier it felt as the initial shock wore off so I jogged slowly back to the car. Then it got worse. No blooming car key! I'd tucked my car key into my running trousers earlier and suddenly it wasn't there. Expletives uttered and decision made to jog back to sight of the incident. Stumble my way back to the mudfest and still no *insert expletive* car key. Cue second tears of the morning. Jog the same half a mile back to the car again (not such a pretty view after my 4th view of it within half an hour) and resume unhappy, rubbish game of hunt the key. After quizzing several passers by and giving my phone number to a bemused teenage boy who lives by where I'd parked in the hope his family might find said key, I call Matt again and he came to the rescue. We swopped cars (he had a child in the back of his) and when Matt went to drive off in mine he found the *insert repeat expletive* key tucked under a windscreen wiper where a kind passer by must have hidden it for me. Thank you kind stranger for not stealing my car and returning my key!

Here's a couple of "highlights" from the morning:

Fields are boring after you've seen the same one 4 times.

Slippery scene of doom

So that was the last time I ran.

Completely. Utterly. Gutted.

Ankle then swelled up, hurt more and made me sad. We went to Centre Parcs this weekend and I'd been looking forward to doing a long run round there. I say "looking forward to" but it was going to be a change of scenery, my longest run yet and it was going to keep me on track. Now I am most definitely off track again and very disappointed.

Swollen left ankle - bad times

But there is a positive. The disappointment surely translates into meaning that I actually really, really, really want to do this. I want to run this chuffing marathon even if it does nearly kill me because it'll be such an achievement for a settee-loving sloth like me and will hopefully raise lots of money for BHF.

Which brings me on to Charlie!

This is Amie and Simon....

Amie and Simon.

When Amie was pregnant with her lovely twin babies, she found out that baby boy twin had a serious heart defect. I think you can imagine that this was pretty rough news. Happily, a few months later these two arrived......

Twinnies!



Welcome to the world Phoebe and Charlie.

Throughout the pregnancy Amie and Simon had to go for repeated scans, detailed cardiac scans and meetings with paediatric cardiologists at the Glenfield General Hospital. Charlie was diagnosed with what's called an atrio-ventricular septal defect or a pretty big hole in his heart in other words. During this time specialist nurses, funded by British Heart Foundation were at every appointment with Amie, Simon, the bump and subsequently the twins.

This is Charlie more recently.....

Charlie

As you can see, Charlie is a healthy, happy boy who's the same as any other crazy toddler and likes to run around, throw his toys about, follow his Mum to the loo (why do toddlers love watching their parents wee??!)  and is particularly fond of his dummy. Except he's not quite the same as any other toddler in that next year he'll need to have major open heart surgery to close the defects. Over these last couple of years, the BHF nurses have been there for Amie, Simon, Charlie and Phoebe. They interpet all the doctor speak, remember their names, take the scariness out of the appointments by being a friendly, familiar face and as Amie put it, are just human, kind, normal, reassurring people.

So that's Charlie and his family. They need British Heart Foundation's support. At the risk of sounding cheesey, you can help BHF continue their good work and enable them to continue to support Charlie and thousands more children like Charlie with major heart conditions.

So, for a sprained ankle, a lost car key, the prospect of being behind on training and a gorgeous cutie called Charlie, please donate!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/longrunlizzy

Thanks.

Next time: back on track?? 

10 things that worry me about the marathon

Quick training update- stuck to the plan and have survived.... just. Didn't manage to fit in a run today but as I'm on nights I'll let that go. Threshold runs on Friday with the lovely (and irritatingly much fitter) Matt Elsey were fairly hideous but apparently it's good for me so I just have to stick at it. Here's proof of just how red my face gets and this was taken after a 10minute warm up jog. Imagine how much worse it is after 40+ minutes!

Check out my BHF running vest!

Plan for this week:
Monday: (finish night shifts at 09:30 ish), go for a post nights swim
Tuesday: Run 6 miles
Wednesday: Rest day
Thursday: Shorter run ?3-4 miles
Friday: Go to centre parcs!
Saturday: Run- probably attempt threshold again
Sunday: to be confirmed- I suspect a rest day spent happily at centre parcs.

There are lots of things that worry me about the marathon and I thought I'd share them with you. Not that I'm expecting any sympathy- more that you'll all settle down on your comfy settees, with your nice, relaxed, not at all aching legs and laugh at my self induced misfortune.

1. I might die.
Seriously! 8 people have died trying to run the London Marathon- all from previously undiagnosed heart disease (another reason to run for BHF....). Just in case, this is being read at my untimely funeral I'd like to pass on a message..... I told you so and all you lot did was laugh. humph.

2. My toenails will probably fall off.
My friend Jenny has told me that she always loses toenails after running the marathon. Sounds a bit careless and not good for all those London street cleaners. There's about 37,000 people that run the marathon each year. That's 74,000 feet. If each foot loses one toenail each that's a whopping 148,000 toenails that will be scattered along the finish and surrounding streets. Ewwww.

3. What if I don't lose any weight or look any better for it?!
There have got to be some benefits to running all this way and as far I'm concerned a big benefit is fitting into some of those elusive size 10's that haven't fitted since I had my daughter. Or for quite a long while before that if I'm honest. All this running should surely burn loads of calories and mean that I will resemble some kind of svelte athlete soon. Or maybe I should stop compensating for my running with cake? I will be so cross if I don't lose weight!

4. What if I get lost on the day?
I am rubbish at finding my way and have literally no sense of direction. I get lost trying to drive out of Tesco's carpark (this is actually true) and frequently get lost in hospital. I once spent 40minutes wandering around the QMC trying to get out and landed myself in some kind of locked area near the mortuary at night. Not my finest hour. Now I know there'll be lots of people around but what if I get lost?!

5. I won't be able to walk the next day.
This is more fact than a concern. If you have a spare motorbility chair, I'd like it for Monday 23rd April please. And possibly the two weeks following.

6. What if break a leg or something disastrous the week before the marathon?
This would be awful. All that training and no getting to actually experience the day with all the crowds cheering me on. Genuinely concerned this might happen.

7.  How do I drink and eat whilst running without spluttering and choking?
Stand clear crowds near the water/lucozade stations.

8. What if I give myself hyponatraemia?
Hyponatraemia is a real problem for marathon runners. Especially idiot, have-a-go amateurs like myself who drink too much water and drive their salt levels too low. It can lead to selling of the brain, fits and ultimately death. Eeek.

9. What if I don't enjoy it on the day?
I'm assured by people that have run the marathon that the day itself is incredible and the crowds really carry you along. This would be amazing if it's true. However, when I cheered Matt on a couple of years ago, there were marathon runners crying at mile 20, limping along with blood running down their tops from where their nipples used to be before they were rubbed off by their tops. Again, this isn't an exaggeration! Someone was stretchered past me and it was awful. I cheered one random stranger along with an encouraging "Well done, keep going" and he flicked me the V's!!! I think he was in quite a dark place at the time and certainly wasn't enjoying the experience.

10. What if I don't raise enough money?
I have pledged to raise over £2000 for British Heart Foundation and that is a LOT of money. Times are hard and purses are empty. But I know a lot of people and they all know lots of people. If everyone gave up their Starbucks/ Costa treat for a week or didn't buy their newspapers for a week or decided to go without something little and gave £5 then I'm sure it's manageable. Please help! It really is a good cause.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/longrunlizzy



Next time: A little boy called Charlie who needs BHF

New year, new start??

Hello!

So it's been a while (again.... sorry about that) but I have at least been for a couple of runs. And by "a couple" I mean exactly that- two runs in three weeks. This is definitely not good enough and is not going to help me drag my ever-expanding bottom that sits all too comfortably at the top of my pillar-esque thighs around twenty-six miles of London's finest sights. Eek. Not sure there's much to say other than I know what I need to do. I need to get out running. Do I want to? No.

I told Matt last night that I must go for a run today and that he must make me do it even if it meant throwing me out of the house, locking all the doors and chucking my trainers at me through a top window. He seemed to think this sounded quite fun. I thought it sounded as fun as feeling like you're gasping for every precious oxygen carrying breath whilst your heavy and increasingly painful legs force themselves forward with a little hop between steps. Oh yes- that's exactly how fun it was. I managed 2.9 miles and it wasn't pretty. I think it was the hardest run I've done in ages. Urgh. But at least it was a trip out with my trainers. My trainers visited Felixstowe with us this Christmas but seem to be having a strop with me as they didn't actually get to see anything other than the inside of my bag. I think it's my evil trainers that were holding me back today as they made my feet feel likes blocks of concrete.

The problem is that I still really don't enjoy running. There's all this talk of "natural highs" and wonderful endorphins flooding your bloodstream and making you feel that running is a glue-sniffers paradise. Frankly I can only assume these crazy individuals have run so far that they've deprived their brains of vital oxygen and the hypoxia is causing severe confusion and delerium and that they should seek urgent medical attention. Running making you happy? Pah!

However, despite my hatred for moving faster than walking, the fact remains that in 3 months, 13 days, 13 hours, 10 minutes and 24 seconds, the starting horn will be going off to signal that I must start my 26.2 mile journey and everyone will be expecting me to run it. So there we are. Better get training again.....

Plans for this week:
Monday: Long shift at work, no run
Tuesday: ditto
Wednesday: Run 4.5 mile usual loop
Thursday: Try to find a local public pool that actually has public swimming sessions and swim
Friday: Run 5-6 miles before start weekend of 3 night shifts
Saturday: Sleep after night shift
Sunday: Consider short 3mile run if night shifts not too awful (but definitely not committing to this one!)

Oh good. Pray that my endorphins decide to pick me up.....


PS. Remember vaguely when I was running relatively regularly and went to that training day at BHF in London? Well there's a bloke also running for BHF who's making a video journal of his training. Check this out and look for me- I'm wearing 3/4 length black running leggings and a bright pink top (that matches the colour of my face). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=092_CKXK7y8&list=PL5C5B028B2169B83E&context=C30b481bADOEgsToPDskJ1rQBAmqgZ4U4ckDWUcqPd

PPS. Marathon website has countdown clock on it. I'm not that much of a geek. Yet.