Friday 28 August 2009

Running in a new world

We went to Norfolk last weekend, did a bit of walking, some seal watching, lots of geocaching, too much eating and running in accordance with my half-marathon schedule (which unfortunately didn't counter-balance the eating thing!).

Arrived at our hotel Friday evening and not knowing the area were pondering where to go for a run. I loosely suggested to Mr W that there was a geocache local to the hotel that maybe we could try and find whilst out, then before I knew it he'd taken charge of the GPS and plotted out a whole route for us to do incorporating 4 caches.... Ok, so we only actually found 2 of them - one was in too busy an area and appeared to be in someone's garden and the other one was a rather complicated puzzle - but it certainly added some spice to the first couple of miles of our run and then we settled down and did the last couple without any stops. A good evening's work!

The next day for a run was Sunday and so after a day out and about we returned to our hotel somewhat lacking in enthusiasm for an 8/9 mile run. Mr W didn't seem to keen on incorporating geocaches so we just headed off towards a park the hotel staff had told us about armed with the Garmin for navigation purposes. Didn't find the park but after a while we did make it to the large campus and grounds of the University of East Anglia and then the lure of the little green boxes flashing on the map screen became too much and we made a short diversion to hunt for a geocache! 3 caches, a couple of aborted searches and lots of stings and scratches later we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. 'Let's take the road' said Mr W so we can see on the map where we are. 'No' I said 'I'm sure there must be a way back through the woods - that will be much nicer'. I really must learn to listen to Mr W more as we then spent half an hour or so running up and down paths in the woods before ending back at the point where we first considered the road option! We'd done almost 6 miles, the light was starting to fade and then Mr W announced that it was still another 3 miles back to the hotel! Eeek! We finally made it back about 8pm after having completed 8.9 miles - quite possibly the longest run I've ever done. So all in all we had a lovely weekend of running in a new location, however as a post-note I would say thank goodness for GPS to guide us!!

Thursday 27 August 2009

Mob rule

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything but fear not I have not been slacking off my running as well, in fact I have been out six times since my last post including one early morning run, twice whilst we were away for the weekend and once in the rain. But more of that later, first the ORR vs. PWR Mob Match contesting the 'Laces' (think 'Ashes' but on a slightly less charred theme) last Tuesday....

It was a warm summer's evening when around 90 runners, wearing an assortment of bright yellow and white shirts depending on affliation, gathered at the Rec in Petts Wood to register before heading into the woods en masse. A quick word about the course and we were off - I hope there were no dog walkers out on the narrow path at that point as they would definitely have been knocked down by the stampeding throng of runners. It didn't take too long for natural order to assert itself though as the fast runners disappeared into the distance and those of us at the back spread out into a colourful ribbon winding along the woodland paths. A lap and a bit of the woods and then we were directed out onto the roads as the daylight started to fade. For a small town Petts Wood seems to have a lot of long roads, but eventually we made it back to the Rec - the finish line was in sight but then some bright spark announced that actually you needed to do a lap of the field before you could stop! Got there in the end, checked my watch and discovered to my delight that I'd completed the 3.8 mile course in 33.5 minutes. Ok, so in the grand scheme of things I was about 2/3rds the way down the pecking order and nearly 10 minutes slower than the first runners but I was pleased and overall Orpington Road Runners retained the 'Laces'. A good evening's work by all and well deserving of a post-run drink in the pub with our neighbouring running club!

Tuesday 18 August 2009

I Conquered the Clash

Well it was a very successful weekend all round - a PB on Saturday and my longest training run to date on Sunday!

We got up early on Saturday morning and headed off to Eltham College for this year's Clash of the Tritons aquathlon. Being quite a slow swimmer and unable to do 500m of front crawl I had an early start time to enable me to go in the nice wide lane they set up at the beginning for those doing breaststroke. The swim went well and I got into a good routine of one length front crawl followed by a 'recovery' length of breaststroke. I also managed to overtake the two other swimmers in my lane which is always a good feeling! Then it was out to the transition area to get my trainers and number belt on for the 5k run. Always difficult to gauge how well you are doing in these things when you're not wearing a watch but my legs felt quite tired and it was quite windy and overcast out - decided half-way round the first lap that I had probably been a bit over-optimistic in grabbing my sunglasses after the swim! Fortunately the marshalls on the course offered great support as I was running round with lots of clapping and cheering, especially the ones just after the bottom of the playing field who were very enthusiastic with their cheers! And so after 20 lengths of the pool and 2 laps of the park, I was finished. But what of my time? Well, the event used chip-timing and very efficiently there was a computer set-up at the end where you could type in your number and get your results immediately and joy of joys, I'd done it in 37 minutes - nearly six minutes faster than last time! :-) Mr W also got a PB and oddly our swim times were identical, although he ran somewhat faster than me. Finished the morning with a post-race sports massage (ouch!) and some yummy cakes.

And so, onto Sunday's sporting efforts.... we were rather late up on Sunday after going to see U2 the night before and so we opted for an early evening run when we were hoping it would be a little cooler. Unfortunately that ploy didn't really pay off but we did have a lovely run from home through Farnborough, past the church, across the fields to Downe, through High Elms and up the horrid steep hill so that we could run down the long footpath along the side of Cudham Lane South, before returning home along the A21 with a short detour along Shire Lane bridleway and past the church again to make up the mileage. Total distance covered was 8.3 miles in just under 90 minutes - the furthest I've run in a long time (probably since the Grim in December 2007, which was as the name implies and took me considerably longer than 90 minutes!)

Haven't run since then but decided I should probably have a rest last night after a race and a long run, plus tonight is the Orpington Road Runners vs. Petts Wood Runners mob match so I wanted to be on fine form for that or at least with enough energy to get round the course without being last!

Friday 14 August 2009

Countdown to the Clash

Well I have been very virtuous since my last post and have done some sport every day, ok so I only ran on three days, but I do think there is value in cross-training plus I needed to get a swim in in preparation for the Clash of the Tritons aquathlon that we are doing tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the running - had two lovely 4-mile runs with Mr W on Sunday and Monday evenings. The routes were similar through the fields and along the bridleways local to our house, although on Sunday we took the car up to High Elms and did a bit in the woods as well. We also ran through the fields and the woods when we went out with the running club on Tuesday night, although we went a bit further (~6 miles). Felt a bit sad though as we were coming back on Tuesday as the light was starting to fade around 9pm meaning that our days of evening runs in the countryside are rapidly running out for this year. Such a shame as you can't really beat running across the middle of freshly cut field in the evening sun....

I haven't run since Tuesday but I did swim 24 lengths at the pool on Wednesday evening and went to Bodybalance last night. Part of me fancies a run tonight but my sensible side is saying 'don't do it' as we'll be up early tomorrow for the 'Clash'. This is a local aquathlon featuring a 500m pool swim followed by a 5k run. I'm really looking forward to it! We first did it in 2007, then I had to miss last year's event because I was ill , so this is my first opportunity to try and improve my previous time of 43 minutes. I'm hoping it will be possible as I think my swimming has improved over the last two years, even if my running hasn't, but at least since I can't wear my Garmin in the pool I'm not going to find out until the end and so that's one less stress to worry about during the race! I'll let you know how I get on! :-)

Sunday 9 August 2009

One down, nine to go!

Well, it's almost the end of the first week of my training schedule and I'm pretty much on track although I still need to squeeze one more run in before the end of the weekend, trouble is it's quite hot out and I am full of pub lunch...

I started the week well on Monday evening with a four mile run in my shiny new trainers out to Farnborough church, across the fields and back home along the bridlepath, all completed in 40 minutes. Then Tuesday evening was running club, where we did around 6.5 miles in 65 minutes, with several re-grouping stops - did make a slight error though by wearing my old trainers, because I didn't want to get my new ones dirty in case we ended up somewhere muddy, which then proceeded to rub and gave me a blister. :-(

On Wednesday I decided to have a rest from running and went for a swim instead - good preparation for the 'Clash of the Tritons' aquathlon which Mr W and I are doing next Saturday morning. Thursday started off fine but by home time from work it was looking decidedly grey outside and thus I ended up having a very wet and short run with a friend who's just getting back into running, before going to Bodybalance. Have been doing the latest release of this for about a month now and really enjoying it - some of it is quite challenging but the music this time round is great and helps you forget quite how much pain you are in as you stand in Warrior poses for what seems like forever!

No sport though since Thursday as we've been entertaining the family, instead we've been eating lots, enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of geocaching. Can't put it off much longer though and will have to put on my lycra and head out shortly....

Monday 3 August 2009

The Charity Bit


As promised I have now set up my fundraising page and the link is as follows: http://www.runningsponsorme.org/zoecakes

Cancer is a horrid disease and affects so many people - according to the stats 1 in 3 people will get cancer at some point in their lives - so if you haven't been affected by it in some way then you should consider yourself very lucky. Having had cancer 3 times I guess I should consider myself 'unlucky' but actually I consider myself 'pretty lucky' really, as I am still here to enter running races, harass my family, friends and passing acquaintances for sponsorship money, bake cakes and enjoy all the other wonderful things that life throws at you!

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to cancer research. Their groundbreaking work on all aspects of cancer is helping more and more people beat the disease - the overall death rate for cancer has fallen by 10% in the last ten years. I'm hoping to raise £500 by running the Royal Parks Half Marathon, here are some examples of what this money could buy:

£61: 500 petri dishes - sterile dishes that are used to grow cultures of cells for experiments
£125: Enable one of Cancer Research's cancer information nurses to work for one day. These nurses provide a confidential service for anyone with concerns about cancer
£210: 14 lab coats to protect scientists from harmful chemicals, and their experiments from contamination
£300: Enable one of Cancer Research's Senior Research Nurses to treat and monitor a patient on a clinical trial for around two days
£443: 40 digital timers - crucial as experiments often require precise timing

and if I manage to exceed my target, then £528 will buy 20,000 glass slides for studying cells and tumour samples in detail under a microscope.

I will be off out on my first training run tonight, all I ask of you is that you visit my fundraising page....

Thank you for your support!