Anna writes:
Having made the decision to run I now needed to attempt some form of training. Mainly just running some more miles in my case without changing too much else given the time left. The next two weeks were still busy ones with some evening working and dinners so it’s still a bit of challenge fitting the miles in. The week began with street orienteering. Here you get a map that has about 55 controls. At each control you have to write out the clue be that a house name, sign, fire hydrant number etc. The controls are worth different points so you have to be strategic about what route you take to get the most points and everyone only has an hour to get round. You lose a lot of points for being late as the deductions are for every two seconds late. For some reason, the last three or four street orienteering’s have coincided with work drinks but they start with a late enough starting window that I’ve managed to get there post drinks and canapés. This week was no different and I hurried off to West Hampstead after showing my face at drinks. I’ve done a few of these now and it’s been my token intervals each month, it’s quite good fartlek as you slow down to read the map, stop to write something, sprint back to the pub at the end. I keep intending to make track for some more intervals but despite good intentions I haven’t managed it for a long time so orienteering is currently my only nod at even attempting any speed work. Even if it is post drinks, I might have to try it without sometime and see the difference!
A few of the orienteering locations have also been quite hilly and I knew Hamstead would fall into that category. I set off with Olivia and Nick and we covered 5.5 miles in the hour and a decent number of controls. The first half was pretty solidly running uphill and we discovered Sigmund Freud has connections to that part of Hamstead. Afterwards the organiser emailed me about the results to say well done as I’m 19th in their series results and the fourth woman. Might have to actually join the orienteering club at this rate! The downside of keeping on running from work is carrying a lot of clothes back and forth and I managed to leave a single boot behind where we ate food as I had multiple sets of shoes I’d worn into the office and then ran home so needed to carry them all home that day.
I didn’t manage to get out and run again till Friday where I only managed time to run two miles on the treadmill in the morning before a day in panel reviews. Most of my mileage this week was back ended on the week on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Even though I just look at my mileage across the week from a Monday, a lack of schedule does mean my mileage is often higher in any given seven day period when I’m back loading and then front loading weeks. I find the last seven days feature on Garmin a useful reminder of that as the week before I was hitting 34-36 miles in the seven day period which is a handy reminder of jumping the mileage too quick.
I did 6 miles up the canal and through long wood on Saturday. On the Sunday I ran the Kingston breakfast run 16 miler. It was super wet and rained pretty solidly the whole way round. I stopped to drink some water at the start of the second lap and Kat ran past me. I ran after her and we ran the next 4.5 miles together. I was thankful for the company as that coincided with the heaviest rain, a head wind blowing rain in our faces and the sandy part of the towpath which was flooding around us. Kat mentioned this always happens when she runs in Kingston as it chucked it down on the club champs Kingston half she ran too. I really enjoyed your company Kat but maybe next time stay away so the rest of us can have a dry run!
I ran this run much quicker than I’d intended, partly because I didn’t want to hang around in the rain and partly because I tend to get carried away in race settings. If I zone out a bit running I find I’ve always sped up. Only two of the sixteen miles were the pace I’d planned to run so I decided during this run that I needed to defer Reading half marathon which I’d entered before getting the London place and is the weekend before. Knowing me this run convinced me that I won’t run it gently in a race setting so I’d be better off deferring.
I went for a well deserved breakfast after with Becky and Dan. Becky had run the 8 mile run and we bumped into Janet, Edwina, Jackie and other eagles having breakfast too who had also done the 8 miles. This run also reminded me why I hate running in the rain as my hair gets so knotty I had to cut some knots out. Must remember to do something different if it looks like rain on race day.
The next week I ran home again from work with the run commute group. It’s just light enough now that we can run our “summer” route. I started this route as I hate running on polluted routes if I can help it and running through the parks is a lot less people dodging then we have to do on Kensington High Street or through Sheperds Bush. We didn’t quite make it through the last parks of Ravenscourt and Chiswick backs but it was great to be lighter before the clocks change. The sky was also gorgeous and I snapped this picture en route in Hyde Park:
We headed back to the main roads at Hammersmith. Stopped for a group picture whilst some headed into the tube and others carried on for a few more miles.
I did another commute run on Friday, running from hospital treatment along the river to Hammersmith.
Saturday was the Queen of the suburbs ultra. Rachel had asked if I’d take pictures at Horsenden so I headed to Northala parkrun first and then over to Horsenden to do that. Saw lots of Eagles completing it and had fun cheering the runners along. I decided to be nice and not take any pictures of people walking up hill but to capture them running downhill, over the top and on the canal instead.
These two weeks have been weeks when doctors have decided to change the long term pain meds I’ve been taking. It’s been a very quick one week only taper as they’re looking to change not remove them meaning I’ve had quite a few side effects over the last week in particular. One of the most common ones from starting what I have this week is feeling tired and sleepy. I slept for nine hours Saturday but woke up feeling even more tired than the day before. I wondered if it was from running more miles but my muscles felt fine running Sunday and the brain fog and fatigue keep getting worse so it seems to be drug induced. I realised the 17-18 miles I’d planned was probably not possible. I found a 16.5 mile route thinking I’d do 15 miles then get the bus home.
When I was training for my first marathon (which never happened due to Covid), I found quite a few routes which went down to various points of the river then up into Richmond park, through the park and Sheen and back to the river at Mortlake. I decided to do this route again. It’s a lovely route, I came off the Thames at Ham common which is a bit like stepping back in time and through Ham woods which I’ve always found deserted and peaceful.
Annoyingly within a couple of miles of starting though I could feel that a pressure point I had on my foot was turning into a blister. I’d taped it up but couldn’t find the right tape in the morning and it was moving. Despite stopping a few times to try and retape it unsuccessfully the blister was growing down the arch of my foot. I did stop on a bench at 8.5 miles in the sunshine and wonder about carrying on at all.
Once in Richmond park, routes through the park also have the benefit of passing toilets and water fountains. I went up and through the Isabella plantation. It’s famous for azalea displays but they aren’t quite out yet. I headed off to pen ponds and decided that I should probably head back through the park to Richmond and bail out onto a bus route to avoid making the blister worse in case it stopped me running next week if it got even worse. If I carried on to Sheen I’d have no choice but to run 15 miles as there’s no public transport back to Ealing. This also meant I wouldn’t go past the water fountain at Sheen gate. I stopped in an annoyingly long queue to buy some water at Pen ponds then diverted past the ponds back to Richmond, this also meant going back over the hill in the park and running into a headwind both of which I could have done without 11.5 miles in. I hit 13 miles at Richmond and stopped for some food in the sunshine. I felt a bit annoyed at myself as I could definitely have plodded on for two more miles and it’s very unlike me not to run what I intend to. I did hobble back to the bus stop so it was probably the right decision to avoid aggravating the blister more but it’s hard when I only had a very limited number of long runs in the plan. Both these weeks were 30 miles, one slightly under and one slightly over. I’m hoping the drug side effects wear off and next week is a bit easier. I’m finding it hard not to panic at how much more training everyone else running London seems to be doing. Fingers crossed I can get round on the day without the last six miles being too painful!