Marathon training fatigue and BDL XC

Yesterday was a return to the Holme Brook BDL cross country race, our final one in the winter series. I must say that despite the weather conditions being much better the course was only marginally easier and it still ranks as my least favourite.  It certainly didn't help that I was running on very fatigued legs after completing my last long run for Belvoir on Wednesday and putting in a respectable time for the club handicap on Tuesday, it's safe to say that I was completely out of gas (that's definitely an Americanism) by the time Sunday rolled around.

Yes, that is snow in the background

Last year's weather was horrid: it was windy (25mph plus winds) and it was alternately sunny then completely overcast. If memory serves I think we even had a bit of sleet interspersed with rain and prior to the race we were all standing around inside the building shivering and postponing heading out for the warm-up run. This year it was debatable about whether the park was going to be runnable at all on the grass due to the heavier than usual snow and ice the previous week (one section still was ice covered yesterday) but the conditions on the day were almost perfect for a winter xc--bright sunshine and dare I say it, an almost balmy 42F/5.5 Celsius.

This course features a mean set of uphills, they are (mostly) fairly short but they are wicked brutal on the legs, combine that with ankle deep shoe squelching mud and it can be almost soul-destroying knowing that you have to go around it TWICE! There seemed to be an unusually high number of runners dropping out on the first lap after the first big hill, it would be interesting to know what the attrition rate is for this race.

Run-by wave on the 2nd lap

Abbreviated description of the route: Muddy grass, little bit of footpath, sharp right back onto the grass for a little downhill, sharp left to run alongside the football pitches, smile for the camera, more downhill, watch out for the low tree branches being whipped back into our faces, little more downhill into the trees and through the slalom course of earth mounds, start climbing, look at the cars driving by over to the right and wish you were in one of them instead of running xc (not really, lol), the uphill climb gets steeper, thank the marshall, and get a breather on the little downhill before you start running uphill again, still going up...still climbing, omg is this hill never going to end, notice with interest and a slight bit of smugness the number of guys walking off the route to call it a day right before you realise you still have more hill to get up, onto some footpath (ow that hurts with luggy cx shoes) and then in between the football pitches where you (read I) get passed by one of the women in your club like you are standing still, more footpath, right by the visitor centre which looks like a great place to take off the gloves and toss them to the side, left alongside the field where the start/finish line is just over there (cruelty), sharp downhill, back uphill, try not to fall on your arse in the iced over field, curve to the left, curve to the right, and curve back left while enjoying the slight decline and trying to catch your breath and not lose your shoes in the quagmire of mud, steep downhill, even steeper uphill, run by the finish line because you have to do all that over again! Ok so maybe that wasn't quite so abbreviated.

Not sure why I was looking so worried, the race was finally done

I would like to say that I didn't walk at all during this one but unfortunately on one of the hills on the second lap I succumbed to the screaming legs and the little voice in my head that was whispering "You can't make it, just walk already."  Thankfully the girl I encouraged to keep going that was right behind me returned the favour by getting me running again after a few steps.  This is where Caz from the running club also caught and passed me which is the same place that Catherine did last year, the old adage of history repeats itself comes to mind.

All in all, this wasn't one of my better performances of the season, I struggled far more than what I would have liked but I ended up bettering last year's time by over 2 minutes on a course almost a quarter of a mile longer and managed to place 2nd in my age category.  Not sure yet if I'm happy or sad that the woman who took 1st in our category was almost 5 minutes faster than me yesterday instead of the 9 second difference between us in the previous XC race!  Well done to everyone who ran yesterday, our club put in some VERY respectable performances, even getting around the Holmebrook course is an accomplishment to be proud of.

Holmebrook 2014--even the same shoes just much colder and muddier

Running fasted

Fasted running, I never realised it was such a hot button topic but there seems to be more than the usual number of articles going around about whether you should do it or not.  There are studies that say you burn more fat if you do the occasional fasted run/cardio and there is one published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport (2010) saying that VO2 max may be increased with fasted running (there are also differences based on gender).  

Personally most of my runs are fasted runs but it's not because of any of the potential benefits, it's because I want to get out and get it done first thing in the morning before my brain wakes up enough to start giving me excuses about why I shouldn't lace up my Brooks that day! The usual plan is to be dressed and out the door within 30 minutes of getting out of bed but occasionally the time will be stretched out to 2 hours. Part of the marathon training is teaching my body to be able to handle eating a small amount before the long runs and what will work the best (still a work in progress for the latter).  

Not the recommended pre-run breakfast!

I'm always curious about other people's routines though, do you eat before you run or are you a fan of fasted running as well? 

Some run stuff. Some expat stuff.

Bad tree!

I do love some of the imaginative signs that you see here in England--this one immediately had my mind racing making up stories about what the tree did to deserve it's outlaw status ;-) I'm also ignoring (or trying to) the fact that "of" was omitted. 

Another 20 mile marathon training run is in the books, this one while not exactly terrible, certainly wasn't the fun-fest of last week's despite having equally excellent company.  It was definitely an interesting one with the weather, I stepped outside and the skies opened up with a heavy enough downpour that I immediately went right back in to grab a water-repellent jacket. Not normally a huge deal but I was already running late so didn't take the time to shed the long-sleeve shirt. 3 layers up top meant that I should have just skipped going back for the jacket because I was soaked from sweat almost as much as I would have been from the rain!  A few miles in and we were treated to the most gorgeously blue skies for the rest of the run so I ended up faffing about with the jacket tied around my waist and it and my spibelt kept slipping around--extremely irritating to the nth degree (not the sunny sky, that was wonderful!).

Interestingly enough despite struggling to keep moving forward, today was only a couple of minutes slower than last week's 20 miler (9:28 versus 9:21 pace per mile).  I'm chalking that up to having people to run with because I'm pretty sure I would have thrown in the towel early on this one if I had been by myself. To keep things honest, I almost did text saying I wasn't going to be there and then thought about calling it good enough at 18.3 miles.  Stuck with it though and these sort of mental fights are as important to marathon training as the great runs are.  Oh yeah, do as I say and not as I do with this bit of advice:  Don't do a more intense than normal strength session the day before a long run!

Probably more excited about it than I should be but after being waylaid with horrible sinus pressure headaches the past few days finding Clarityn rapid melt tabs on markdown for less than half-price at the shop has made me very happy. This in turn made me think of another difference between the US and UK regarding OTC meds--you can't buy in bulk here. Most supermarkets limit you to purchasing 2 packages at a time and each packet usually only contain between 10-16 tablets (the Clarityn were in packs of 10).  However if you go to a pharmacy you can buy in packs of 32 and twice the dosage strength (up to the discretion of the pharmacist) but it is still nowhere near the packs of 50 or more (live large and go for the 500!) that can readily be purchased in the states.  More information about this is on the NHS site.

Thanks to Jennifer Z's post on facebook this is today's earworm! While perhaps Leon Russell's cover of "The Battle of New Orleans" isn't everyone's cup of tea I do quite enjoy the sped-up version.  Check out what History.com has to say about the historic battle if you're like me and all you remember about it is from the song (don't guess I should admit that I'm horrible about recalling history!).

The 20 miler

From Etsy (not my shop)

Not gonna lie, thoughts of 20 mile training runs strike a wee bit of fear into my heart...something about that number is incredibly intimidating (let's not even talk about that additional 6.2 miles yet!) and I have always dreaded when they started looming ever closer in the training schedule.  That of course was for my first marathon in 2009, I didn't get up to 19 miles in 2011 when training for the Marine Corps Marathon (bad Gabby, very very bad).

Looking back over the 2009 posts it looks like I had one great 20 miler and one that was horrible (recap here)--I also had blogged about peanuts causing me tummy troubles which is something I'd totally forgotten about and mentioned this past summer like it was something new (memory like a sieve).  

End of the bad 20 mile run 2009

Enough down memory lane though, yesterday marked the first 20 mile training run for the Belvoir Challenge and true to form I had quite a bit of difficulty relaxing and falling asleep the night before. When the pesky alarm went off at 5:30 am I just laid there thinking about how insane I was to be getting up to prepare to go running before dawn. Eventually I did drag myself out from under the covers because a mate was going to be knocking on the door at 7:30 and I'm sure he wouldn't have appreciated me telling him I had changed my mind about this running lark.  I did dawdle long enough that my planned 5 miles before he got there had to be shortened to 3, oops.  

Long story short, ran 3 miles solo, then 2 up to the club with Ian to meet up with two other runners, 9.4 with them, then back to my house which brought my total up to 18 (15 for Ian), said the goodbyes and straight up the street to finish up the final 2 miles to get the 20 done.  That was so hard going past my front gate and not stopping! Having to run the last bit solo was good for mental toughness though and the last mile ended up being my fastest (8:39).  

What I did right:

*arranged to run most of it with friends so I wouldn't be tempted to back out or cut it short

*remembered to eat a couple of bites of a 9bar around mile 7

*was able to eat and drink without stopping to walk

*had fun!

*foam rolled afterwards

What I didn't get right:

*didn't eat or drink anything after mile 7 (every time I thought of it we were either running up or down a hill or we were chatting, lol)

*neglected to re-lace the new trainers in the way that takes pressure off my toes--my left big toe was in agony for a good part of the run

*didn't take the time to properly adjust my Amphipod fuel belt before running so was having to constantly move it back into place

Accessories and fuel for yesterday

Overall it was a very good training run and certainly the fastest 20 miler I have done with an average pace of 9:21 per mile and best yet I wasn't totally wasted for the rest of the day--although there might have been a nap later on. Let's just keep the fingers crossed I can keep the feet issues under control! As for today, I didn't wake up hobbling around and my 30 minute recovery run was much faster than it should have been.  

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Gotta have the good...

Gorgeous sunrise

It's a well-known saying that you gotta have the bad workouts to make you appreciate the good ones and Saturday's relay race and Sunday's longish run were absolutely fanfreakingtastic. I ran up to meet a couple of mates yesterday and we set off on a nice little romp with no set route through the snow and occasional patch of ice, chatting most of the way about how crazy we were to be out there running in sub zero temps and how beautiful a day it was--perhaps that's something only other runners will appreciate.  By the time I made it back home I had ran 12.75 miles and was rocking the runner's high.

Post run goosebump picture

After all that it should come as no surprise that today's run was less than stellar.  I couldn't find my yak trax and spent 20 minutes faffing about trying to figure out where I'd stored them before giving up and getting out the door. Oh my gosh, it felt so much colder than yesterday, my socks wouldn't stay put, a shoe came untied, my hands ached and after 2 miles I was trotting back home for a natural break (to borrow the cycling term)--all minor grumbles of course but it was adding up.  I REALLY didn't want to go back out in the cold but knew if I didn't I would be grumbling at myself all day for wimping out so after a few minutes chatting with the partner I was off again.  Marathon training (any race training actually) is as much mental as it is physical so even though today's pace was slower than I would have liked it is still going into the success category because I did get myself back out the door into the cold when I could have been curled up on the couch with a cuppa.

One result of me not being able to keep a decent pace is that I didn't mind stopping to take pictures.

Ponies in the field

I felt so sorry for the ponies but especially this one

Taking care of business

"Lady, you are one crazy runner"

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Another wardrobe malfunction, perhaps I should have worn shorts and knee socks again today