Hayfever blues

My last two runs have been a little disappointing. As it is now officially British Summertime my hayfever has kicked in, so much so that I've been waking up with a bloody nose (sexy, I know)! Because I'm generally forgetful, I managed to find myself without antihistamines for a couple of days- long story short, I found myself almost hyperventilating up a hill this afternoon and then having to walk a little way. Fortunately, I'm now armed with medication, so hopefully Saturday's 16 miles wont be too horrific!

I mentioned in my last post that I had ordered Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. It finally arrived (note to self: don't order things online at the same time as the Royal Mail has to deal with a national Census) and I must say that I'm extremely impressed. While it's not an easy read, it lays out the facts and backs up all of its advice with statistics from scientific studies. The most interesting part is the few pages where you can read what elite endurance athletes eat in a typical day. Some of the advice in it also just made me feel a little stupid for not thinking of it sooner, but then there is so much conflicting advice around, that it is easy to get into a muddle. It seems to be a lovely holistic approach to nutrition and I already feel happier about what I'm eating. It has also made me rethink my training strategy in general, and I feel that it's time to turn things up a notch. Tomorrow will be my first full day of eating according to Fitzgerald's advice, so I'll let you know how I get on. The main thing that I've taken from it is that I'm not eating enough carbs to sustain my workouts, so I'll be upping them significantly.

I plan to do two workouts tomorrow: a strength workout in the morning and some cross training on the exercise bike in the evening. I'm on holiday from work this week, so it's very nice to be able to fit these things in whenever I want to, especially with all of the extra snacks that I'm supposed to be eating now! 

We shall see how I can fit them in around work next week, but I don't want to think about that now!

New shoes!

Apologies to the hordes of people who read this for the lack of posts recently! I haven't been able to get to the computer much due to Mr. D. needing it to work on his thesis. I haven't taken a break from running though and have logged some steady mileage over the last week or so.

They say that you should retire your running shoes after around 300-500 miles. After 417 miles it was time to say a tearful 'goodbye' to my beloved ASICS Gel Stratus 3's and say 'hello' to these bad boys: http://www.activinstinct.com/sale/footwear-sale/running/ladies/saucony-pro-grid-hurricane-11-ladies-running-shoes-silver/

I took them for a little spin on Friday and they provided an extremely smooth ride... however taking them for a 13.5 mile run on Saturday was a little silly, and I have the blisters to prove it! The problem was that I had to choose between cushioning- as I'd noticed that my hips and knees had been hurting more the older that my ASICS got, or blisters from new shoes. I thought skin would heal faster than achy joints... and I think I made the right choice.

My bugbear at the moment is that I'm heavier than I was this time last year, but I have trained harder, so maybe I'm eating a lot more than I realise to compensate. I've ordered Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald though, so hopefully that will kick me into touch! I will post a review; I could do with losing around a stone in time for the marathon, so I really hope it works.

Positive Mental Attitude

Yesterday I ran around 4 miles and today I did just over 6. When I first started running, just over two years ago, I could jog for around 7 minutes before passers-by started dialling 999 and hovering their thumbs over the 'call' button. To build up, I simply kept at it and when 7 minutes, which conveniently took me around the block, felt comfortable I added a little extra distance and ran to the petrol station which was at the end of the street, and when that felt comfortable, pushed myself a little further again. Now I'm training for my second marathon, and while I'm not all that fast, I can (fairly) comfortably run for miles on a good day.


"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." -Oprah Winfrey


While I don't watch Oprah or even know a lot about her, she's got a bloody good point! I think that's what I find so addictive about running, that I mostly have control over it, if I put the effort in, I get stronger, fitter and faster.

On Sunday I was feeling a little down about running after a disappointing long run in which I *only* managed 11.5 miles. If somebody had told me two years ago that I'd be able to run 11.5 miles I would have laughed at them! Sometimes it's worth looking back in order to move forward.

I hope I read this post, along with my 'Inspiration Issue' of Runner's World next time I'm in a funk.

Oh dear, oh dear...

I feel like an old lady today. My long run was scuppered by an achey hip, which meant that I had to walk the last 2.5 miles home. I did manage to run 11.5 miles before it put me out of action, which I suppose isn't too bad. This is all due to an idiot driver going into the back of our car and writing it off last May...I'm still waiting for my cheque!

I will do my physio exercises tonight and hope that the ache goes away a little. If not, a trip to the doctors may be in order.

In other news, True Grit was fantastic, and I got a great grade for an assignment this morning.  Also, I've sold a book on Amazon, and will be donating the profits to the British Heart Foundation- it's not much, but it all helps. Keep an eye on the blog and the fundraising page (http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/fayedaly) as I will be listing a load of stuff to sell soon, either on ebay or Amazon, and all of the profits will be going to the BHF.

Back on Track (after a minor wobble)

Well I've had a few health problems this week (nothing too serious, but nothing I'd want to post on the internet either) which have prevented me from running for a couple of days, so because I'm feeling better today, instead of my cross training, I decided to go for one of the runs that I missed earlier in the week. So I did just under 4 miles and took it easy, and really enjoyed it after an initial tricky start.

I do absolutely have to update my running playlist though, I've got songs that I love on there that I'm starting to get sick of! Any suggestions would be welcomed!

I'm off to see True Grit now! :)

What a difference a week makes (and some sports drink and gel...etc)

Wow! I went for a gorgeous 12(ish) mile run this morning. I was a bit concerned about this after last week's 10 mile disaster. I was feeling tired when I awoke because I knew that I had to get up at 8 to go fit the run in, as there were two very important football matches on this afternoon. If I know that I have to wake up, my body tends to go into emergency mode which means that I keep waking up and panicking that the alarm didn't go off and that I've overslept by 2 hours. 

I was over in Staffordshire this weekend, visiting the Mother-in-law, so had to choose my route carefully as I was in a little village- I would have to circle the village around 5 times to cover the distance on pavement! Luckily I remembered that the old railway line has been sorted and the ground evened out, so it's lovely down there to walk the dog or go for a run or cycle. So I laced up my trainers and off I went.

I must say it was really lovely to be able to run surrounded by trees and fields and nature, and not having to worry about being run over. Nutrition-wise, I had some toast with marmalade before I went, and lots of water. I'd had gorgeous veggie lasagne with salad, potato wedges and olives followed by apple pie and ice cream the night before. But no wine! I took some SIS Go Electrolyte with me, which I sipped around every half hour and a SIS Blackcurrant Gel, which I had at around the halfway point and was just plain weird. SIS products aren't the most delicious things, but the gel certainly did the job and kept my energy up for the rest of the run; in fact I finished feeling really strong. When I got back to the house I took on some SIS banana rego recovery drink, which is by far the best tasting thing of theirs that I've tried. It's supposed to speed up the recovery process and I don't feel as achey as usual this evening, so perhaps it's working!

This has all left me feeling rather positive and given me a real mental boost, every now and then I fall back in love with running, and I'm deeply enamoured right now!

A catch up

I've been unable to get to the computer too much over the last couple of days- so I'm just posting a quick catch up.
I've discovered that electrolyte drinks are hideous, but I'm powering through with it. I ran 5 miles yesterday and cycled on my stationary bike for 16 minutes today.
I've received some more sponsorship too- yay! and I shall be doing 50 mins of fartlek running tomorrow morning.

I will post a much better and more interesting post soon-honest!

Faye

Ooh, that's better!

After much resting and stretching yesterday, I was almost ready to go for a little run this morning. And I did! It was a tempo run, so I did a 10 minute easy jog, followed by 10 minutes tempo and 11 minutes at the end to cool down. My cool down wasn't that effective though, as the last street was like running up Everest! I had to stop myself jumping around like Rocky at the top.

It was lovely to get out there and enjoy a run, as I thought I might be psychologically scarred for a while after Sunday's effort. I felt even more pleased with myself after I got home and checked my emails, as I had a wonderful message from the people at Virgin saying that I'd been sponsored! Thank you to the lovely Claire, you've made my day!

Speaking of sponsorship, here's a link to my fundraising page:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/FayeDaly

I'm keeping the post short today, because I've got an assignment due in for tomorrow, and unfortunately, they don't type themselves.