Yeah But....No But.......Yeah But...

Hello bloggees,

I could so have easily have wasted this day tucked up in my bed and not moved till dinner time! I had no little urchins to look after today, and Smarty Pants littlest urchin had kept her up all night, so she wasn't up for a run this morning.

After I had made sure Big Son had got up and made it out of the house to get to college on time (better than last week!) I just........turned over and slept for another 30 minutes or so.

There was nothing for it, a good telling off after I had woken up, straight into jogging clothes, so no excuse that I am not dressed right, and then potted about a bit. Tut. Motivation where are you?!

Eventually I got out of the door, the wind blowing quite hard. I was thinking "This is going to cause me to go slow" That's it Old Girl, get the 'REASONS' out there first for going slower today.

A chat to the neighbour while the Satellites found me, (unlike yesterday when it thought I was over the road a bit, but it did look good on my stats in the 'Best Pace' category) Then it was off.

My sprinting yesterday was still in my legs (more excuses) and I felt every move of my muscles as they tried to warm up. "Just slow your pace down Old Girl, this is not a race" I had decided to try the Old Boys tactic of just running and see where I end up, but making sure that I can get home of course. I was heading down Southborough Lane, and I knew that Turpington will be my next turn left. There is no way I am going on any further up this road today. But there is still potential for going somewhere different and putting in an extra few yards or so. But did I do it.....of course not. Such a lazy mare!

I was in fact slower today than I was yesterday! But I did have yesterdays 3 miles still in my legs! And I had my new water bottle to carry, (did I mention it was rather warm out as well as windy) But there was no excuses for the walking stops. It was purely down to me being...........bloomin knackered!

I enjoyed it today, and I feel as if I can run a bit later with the Old Boy as well. He is still not feeling 100%, all sort of snotty and headachy, so 2 more miles or so later will deffo have my motivation back on track, either that or me flat on me back exhausted!

Geeky stats for this run (lets see if I do go out again later)

Sunday Blaster - Sort of!!

Hello blog lovers.

Well today is my sons birthday. Which of course means cake! Chocolate cake, as the lad is just a choco fiend, (just like his mum!) I knew I wouldn't be able to run after church, as I had promised him I would cook him a Sunday roast. And some of the other members of our family will be here as well.

There was only one thing for it. Get up early, before church, and go for a run! I haven't done that for a long time. In fact, I haven't been running on my own for a long time. I wonder it I can nag myself as much when I'm alone!!

I put on my new running top, and hat! and set off. I was doing one of my old routes, up to Turp and down Greenway. But also I am adding in a few sprints, as suggested by one of my club buddies, he is the club physio as well. In fact, he said that its not really necessary to do hill work to get fitter and stronger, (just as the Old boy persuaded me that I need to do more hill training!) but doing these sprints between lampposts, or trees, and then do a recovery jog, will help to get my body used to running faster. And then do it all over again, not full out, mind, I don't think my body could actually run full out, just faster than my usualy pace. This will help me, says my club buddy! He did say I might feel as if I want to stop and hold on to my knees, but I should just keep going till the end of the sprint! Boy, he wasn't joking. My recovery jogs were more recovery walks than jogs!

But it was good, it felt good, and I'm not sure yet, because I haven't downloaded the geeky stats yet, but it could be a personal best on this route! We shall see. After I got to Oxhawth I was bloomin knackered! I tried to keep up the sprints as best as I could, but Faringdon was creeping up real quick! I want to be able to run the whole of this road, maybe with a sprint or two in there as well.

I had a little left over for a sprint up to the house from the begning of my road. Not a fast sprint, but it was faster than my usual pace (at that time after a jog!)

So now, moment of truth, time to download geeky stats! And Yes, it is a PB as far as I can tell!!!!

Again A Mud Bath!

Hello blog readers.

Me and the Old Boy was up for another short run today. Next week we shall get back into our stride and head off for longer runs, we are even talking about doing a 10k together. Obviously I won't be able to keep up with the OB's pace, but I just want to be able to run 98% of it, (Or is that too 'pie in the sky for me right now?)

Any way, there we were, ready to go running, looking at the bottom path, mind thinking about Goss hill already. Then the OB starts on his 'Safety brief'. He has taken to giving these safety briefs as a bit of fun, lighten the mood. As he started though I just ran off, down the bottom path. I could hear him saying something like "You cheater!" as he started off after me.

He soon caught up with me though, and this time there was no shoe lace incident. I kept on running all the way to the little bridge before Goss Hill. We had decided not to stop before going straight up the hill. I didn't know how long I was going to run for before my I can't do it self took over my thoughts, but I was damn sure I was going to do as well as I could before she did enter my thoughts. I so wanted to stop at the bottom, gather my self together and then go as far as I could, but I also wanted to attempt to run at it after doing almost a mile.

Needles to say I didn't manage to get up it. And I think I stopped more times this time round then I did yesterday! but I have noticed that my push harder self has taken up running for the last bit of the hill, the bit that I used to always walk up because its just slightly steeper on this bit! And besides, it looks good when the OB sees me running to the top!

We had a minute stop there, and then it was back to the running. Next stop, the end! I was hoping anyway! The little hill got to me again, tut, I was so annoyed with myself! But from the top of this hill I was determined not to stop. It was downhill for goodness sake! And guess what?........go on, guess......... I didn't stop. Not till I got to the bottom.

Turned off the Garmin, and found out we were quicker this time round. Bonus!!

p.s.

Me and the Old Boy fancied a quick pint of the amber nectar, so we decided to go to our usual haunt of the Tigers Head, and guess who we see, on the way, in bright yellow shirt, looking up the trees or something, but deffo not running, It was Mr. S! Hope your run went well Mr. S. If I had seen you quick enough I could have given you the nod of where we were going, (We were in the car, not running to the pub you understand)

Geeky stats.

A Short Muddy Jog!

Hello Bloggees.

I know I missed my club run yesterday, but I was just too yucky to get my motivation going, especially after the horrendous day of wind and rain! Wasn't it awful? But I did hear that it had stopped by the time the runners went out. Thing was, someone at the club was bringing some Turkish delight for afterwards, seems I may have missed out!

Today I was feeling a bit better, but the Old Boy wasn't feeling brilliantly. He has caught my cold, and has a bit of a headache, but maybe the it was the 19 miles he had run last week...........(over the entire week mind)

We talked about, and thought about and cogitated about the route we would take, just a short one, to keep the legs from thinking they have retired from running. And we decided on the route that we done.

In through 'Dog Poo' ally and turn left. We are doing the bottom path first. Best get that over and done with. Mind you, there is always the danger that we will pick up enough 'gunk' and top soil on shoes to be able to plant out next years Kew Gardens. Extra weight on the shoes, now that must be good for toning up saddle bag thighs.

We got about 25 yards before I had to stop and re-tire my shoe laces. I must remember to double knot these laces, don't know why they come undone, but hey ho. Then it was back to the running. My thoughts on the path being muddy were right though. The most stickiest mud puddles, I am sure I saw a reservation sign on one of them for 'Harry Hippo' to chillax in later! "You're not going to blog this run, are you" the OB said, "Yes of course I am, I am here, running, heart rate monitor and Garmin on" He then said I should entitle todays blog a walk in the woods! Just because he is running 10k's now in just under an hour! I shall be doing that one day! (Its good to think big)

Heading down to the little brook now, and turning left. This is going to be a bit of a mud bath too, But I shall try not to think about that, as thoughts of Goss hill start to filter through. Will I be able to run up the hill in one go? How far before I stop? Cant the OB make it to the top today? Am I going to tell myself to run to the top? We shall see.

We had our first minute break just at the bottom of Goss Hill, being as the OB was in front of me, I don't think he realised that the mile bleep hadn't gone off yet! But I needed that bit of stop, get my mind ready and sorted, and a quick pep talk to my new 'Got to push harder' self, and then away we went.

I jogged up and got further along this time before I stopped for a very quick breather, and then pushed on again, up, up, "Think of how you felt about Goss hill when you were running down it, Old Girl" I said to myself. "How it didn't look that intimidating standing above it" I managed to run it three chunks! the walking wasn't as much as it has been. I am getting there! I will conquer this hill! Even if it kills me!

The OB was waiting at the top, (He overtook me on the hill, he lets me go up first, but now he has taken to overtaking me and waiting for me at the top" I rested at bit when I got to the top, I was quite pleased with my effort today, and I did think about Mr.S comments about looking at the old heart rate, I knew I could push it further and not keel over! "Right" says the OB after I shoved my lungs back into place, "Next stop is......" "No, I'm not saying when, in fact I want my next stop to be 'Dog Poo' Ally" I says. Blow me, can you believe I said that! "Thats good, he says thats where I was going to say" I have been talking about positive thinking with Smarty Pants, about her going further and further, so I must start practicing what I preach! Think positive, think 'I can do this' and then just see how far I get before I quit, and start nagging myself (along with the Old Boy)

So thats what we did. We must have looked professional at our running because people were standing aside to let us run past before we even got to them! I knew the hill was coming up soon, and I tried desperately to get up it. The OB was in his zone, cold bug or not, he was in the zone, albeit a bit slower, as he is running with me!, he kept running up the hill. I, of course stopped again, and walked up some of it. But from the top of this, and because it was all down hill from here, I was running! No more walking, all the way to the ally! I even put a bit of a sprint in the end, I could have gone on! I should have gone on, the Old Boy could have taken the car and met me at home! But, I think 2 and half miles, after a bit of a cold, should be enough for today, maybe do the same tomorrow, until I am feeling fit as the proverbial fiddle, and then start to increase the distance again.

Geeky stats (take the notice of the straight line, I kind of accidentally pushed the start button while checking on my resting heart rate! (Which by the way is 53 bpm!)

An Assault Course, She Says!!

Hello blog lovers,

Yes, I did have enough energy to meet up with Smarty Pants today, after all, yesterday was only a very leisurely 30 mile or so round trip. And Smarty Pants was looking forward to it, (not sure if my legs will manage the route that I have planned for her), but we can only do our best. I noticed that Smarty Pants and commented on her facebook page about todays course being like an assault course. Mmmm, Maybe we can arrange an assault course to do one day!

The weather was good, a bit breezy, but hopefully that won't hinder our jogging today, and even give us a bit of a boost up the hills. Before we started our run today I said to her "So, you think you can do the whole of the route I planned last time" And she said "Yeah, lets go for it!" So, 3 miles......and a tiny bit more..... here we come.

As you all know, it was raining yesterday, so I am expecting a few sticky muddy puddles to go through, round or whatever means we need to get passed them. But of course the first bit, being uphill, it wasn't too bad. This is a good bit of the route, I have decided, because it takes me till the end of this uphill section to get my breathing in a good rhythm.

I could hear Smarty Pants behind me, keeping pace. Its hard to believe that only last year, she was tearing off in front of me, totally focused, totally in the zone. It just shows you, that if you don't keep going its so easily lost. And then you have the struggle to get it back to where it was, and then start to improve!

We get to Botony Bay, and, being the nice kind person that I am, I asked her "So, do you think you can manage a little bit longer, or we could do the same route as last time" Again, Smarty Pants said, "lets go for it". When it's in your head to do something, I'm sure that is such a mental help to keep you on track! Maybe if Smarty Pants hadn't said at the beginning to go for it, she may have been tempted to head down to Botony Bay and head on home.

I was still being a little kind, and chose to run down Goss hill rather up hill, just so that she could have another choice a bit later on. We were running along the path to the start of Goss Hill and I heard Smarty Pants coughing and spluttering. "You ok" I said to her, worried that maybe we should have gone straight down "Yes I'm fine" she told me "I just ate a bug!" One of the drawbacks of running through woods, but if you want to see the positive in 'bug eating' the apparently there is protein in bugs.

The start of the hill. I showed SP (Smarty Pants) the seat where I crash out after running up the hill. "Shall we take a break then" she says, "Oh no, we're going down, that's all the break we need" I said.

Goss Hill don't look too intimidating when you're the boss of it. When your standing at the top looking down "yeah, take that Goss Hill" I thought to myself as I flew down the path. But then I remembered, the little trip hazards that Mr.S remarked on, and told SP about them. I can just tell that little Old Goss Hill would love it if I went flying arse over tit now!!

At the bottom, I didn't really give SP an option of going on road, I'm sure the distance is much the same, and beside running through fields and woods is so much better. We got to the little bridge over the brook, and this is where I gave the choice. Up, up, up and then the way we came earlier until we get to the right turn path, or straight down, with just a few gentle ups. And SP was still on for it. I could tell she was really thinking about it, but in the end the will to 'go for it' was stronger, and so we headed up Botony Bay to go along the new path that me and the Old Boy used. I just hope I can remember which way to go at the bottom of it!

It was a struggle for me to get up the hill again. I think the 30 miles yesterday is taking its toll, that's my excuse today folks, and a blooming good one! but SP was doing real good. she managed to run to the gate, and even some of the path after that. But after passing Coopers school again and looking up the path where we needed to go, she said "I am not running that" I don't blame her! Its a tough bit of hill, all roots and steps type of hill. Very steep! but once at the top I assured her it was all down hill till we get the the railway lines.

We turned left and headed on back to dog poo ally. A brilliant run, We both were looking like beacons glowing brightly! "That was hard" said SP, "Yes but you did it" I said to her "Well done Smarty Pants, well done!"

Geeky stats.

An Introduction to Running In the Woods

Hello blog readers.

As I said yesterday, today I was taking Smarty Pants through the woods, to show her what running in His great creation is all about! The weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was dry, and not too hot at 10 this morning. The ground I knew was going to be nice and dry. Smarty Pants was looking forward it, even as much as sending me texts about it, the day before!

We side skipped and knee jerked our way into the woods to warm up, much to the amusement of the poodle dog walker, and then we started our ascent up the hill. I didn't tell her that we would be running up hill first off, well I didn't want her to get all worried about it. We even stopped off to look at the stone erected by National trust, (Can you believe people wanted to build houses on these woods) Well, why not take in all that these gorgeous woods have to offer.

We were running quite well, not breaking any speeding records, we were both concentrating on our breathing techniques to help us get up the hills, although Smarty Pants hadn't a clue what hills I had planned! We Turned left at the top of the uphill path, and we ran on the level for a while. I could hear Smarty Pants behind me, she was doing really well, especially after coming up the hill. "The breathing is good" she said to me. I had told her about an article I had read on breathing, breathing in for two steps and out for two, which is the technique I was using, Smarty pants was doing 3:3 and she was feeling pretty good. The down hill bit before the next up hill and we just kept on running and running. I still didn't quite make it up to the top, but I can always think to my self I am saving myself for Goss Hill.

When we popped out of the path that runs along Coopers an army type just over took us and headed down Botony Bay with a rather heavy looking back pack on. "That will be us soon" I joked with Smarty Pants. From this point though I gave her the choices of routes. Four different routes from here,

1. The same route that me and the Old Boy did yesterday,
2. Run down Goss Hill and the through Jubilee, over the three bridges,
3. Down Goss hill and then back along the brook and up to the railway, or
4. Straight down Botony Bay to the railway and then back to the beginning.

Smarty Pants decided that number 4 would be just what she needed right now, she was feeling every step, but after having over a year off from running, and having a baby, I said to her that it was perfectly fine, and that she was doing well so far. Its hard getting back into something after you have stopped doing it for a while. It's so easy to lose all the fitness that you had gained before, but such a struggle to get it all back again! I know, from personal experience, which is how I have pushed myself so hard to keep going, even through the winter months, and joining a brilliant club to keep my motivation going. It feels good to be able to get Smarty Pants motivation kicked started again, and to encourage her.

Running up pass the railway lines, and pointing out that the bridge that we were passing now would have been the third of the bridges. I can hear her breathing, and she is doing very well. It has been a lovely run. A nice relaxed pace for me, and a lovely introduction to trail running for Smarty pants. A little further on the army dude passed us again. He was forced to take out his earphones and say "I'm sure I passed you two earlier, you must know a short cut" he said bemused. Now I could have said, "Nah, we were just faster than you" But I did confess in the end, that in fact we did take a short cut.

Also a little further on, towards the end of the run we bumped into 'The Whippet' Those of you who have followed my blogs will recall that me and The whippet went running earlier on in the year, in the cold, and she just totally blew me away, she was fast!, running ahead and then back to me, and the ahead and back to me. It was good to catch up again, even only for those few short minutes that we said hi.

A great, lovely, easy paced run today. I'm sure I have converted her to the whole 'running through nature at its best' running!

Geeky stats,

A Most Perculiar Route!

Hello blog readers.

There is just no stopping this Old Girl now. I really do think that I have become a proper runner now, not that today's run was anyway near a fast pace run, there were no PB's from this evenings little jaunt, but it's just the fact that I am out here, running (or jogging, depending on if you want to go into how fast a jog or run should be) and I have a bit of a cold! I am out here thinking that a run will do me good. Even last year, if I had a bit of a cold I became a slave of the sofa and duvet in the evenings. But, after a hectic day with my gorgeous grandson, I was woken from my snooze by the Old Boy and told to go get ready!

There was no hesitation, even though there were some tiny little voices in my head saying "Go back to sleep Old Girl, you have a cold" I chose to ignore that and got myself ready.

The Old Boy had this figure of 8 route in mind. He wanted to go down a path that we always look at as we run past, and today he decided to run it. It will be interesting, its always nice to find out where paths come out at, a little mystery tour.

Also today's run was a little tester to see how the land lies, because I am taking Smarty Pants out for a run tomorrow as well. I have told her the virtues of running through the woods, the peace and quiet, the smells, just enjoying nature, and the fact that really, you don't quite realise how far you have run! But this route has several ways to shorten it up if Smarty Pants is finding it difficult. (Just like I did today!, but I won't tell her that bit!) It's a great route!

I was feeling good, my lungs were clearing of all the yucky stuff, and I was feeling better. The Old Boy did suggest if I didn't feel up to it then we could cut the route short, but I told him to carry on with the plan. I know we have ran further than what we are doing today, so I felt I could carry on with the plan.

When we came to Goss hill the Old Boy said that if I slow down then I am to step aside and he will continue up the hill and wait for me at the top. I felt ok with that, I will be able to be less hard on my self than he does. But I found that I was nagging myself more, I did walk up the hill, but I did more running than usual! And same again on the next hill!

The new path soon came, and we looked down it and the Old Boy said "New Territory, lets see when it spits us out" We didn't know if there was going to be any uphill sections, or if it was going to be totally muddy and puddles everywhere, but it was very nice! I knew we were heading in the right direction of where we needed to be, I could hear the trains! When it popped out on to a path that I knew, then I felt even better, because I knew it wasn't that far to the end!

A great run, I'm glad I went! And I am sure that Smarty Pants is going to just love this run!

Geeky stats, and note the route, it's not a figure of 8 at all, more like the scales of justice! Judging how well me and the Old Boy have been getting on with our running! He even said that he found today's run a little hard!