Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  It has been yet another chilly week on the training front.   There is however light at the end of the tunnel, we are beginning to notice the longer days and hoping the warmer weather will soon follow. What a difference running in the daylight hours will bring to us all – we cannot wait!

On Monday, I had an overnight stay in Manchester.  Storm Imogen played havoc with train services, more high winds and pouring rain which meant that it took me 5 hours to get there.  I didn’t get to eat until 10pm and went to sleep on a full stomach which was not ideal. What a tiring start to the beginning of the working week.

Conscious that I needed to run on Tuesday, I was up with the lark and managed to squeeze in a 5K run around the Salford Quays as daylight broke, prior to work at an exhibition at Old Trafford.  How righteous and alert you feel when you workout in the morning, it really does set you up for the working day ahead.

On Wednesday, I met with some good friends in the gym which was an enjoyable way to pedal away 11 miles and get 2000 metres in on the rowing machine. Thursday back to the running club for a great tempo sub 9 min mile tempo session over 5 miles.  It has not been the perfect week for getting in the mileage but I have tried to train as much as I can around work commitments. I have in myself been generally feeling quite tired.

This week’s long run on Saturday was designed again by Graeme on Viewranger #@viewranger.  It really is excellent, if you have not tried it you should.  Decide upon where you want to go and the mileage you want to do and voila you can design the route from there.

It was another cold, wet and windy Saturday, as we set off on our way to Avening for our 12 mile afternoon run in the car the ice alert warning came up on the screen showing 4 degrees.  This was to be my first run with my Marathoner Camelbak and jelly babies.  I was a little nervous about carrying the extra weight and certainly noticed it but I know it makes sense to try and master the art of drinking and eating from now onwards.  This is not something that naturally I find easy at all whilst running.

The first 6 miles from Avening out to the picturesque of Cherington were undulating, we took in part of the Stroud AC Cherington 10K course for those of you who know it.   Not one of my favorite’s for sure. There seemed to be quite a few hills and when we got out to the other side of the village, once again we were battling with a headwind and rain.  My legs were cold and felt like lead. Here’s an interesting article about tired legs I found today http://www.runnersworld.com/ask-coach-jenny/why-do-my-legs-feel-like-lead-when-i-run

I didn’t have enough layers of clothing on and Graeme started to pull away from me.  My music wasn’t working, the pace on my Garmin which we thought we had mastered prior to leaving the house was also not working.  I felt like everything was going wrong. Total negative thoughts ran through my mind, but in true fighter spirit I pushed on through it.  When we turned the corner to make our way back with the wind behind us for the last 6 miles I felt so much better.

It certainly is mind over matter with these sorts of chilly and challenging conditions.  The race was on to try and avoid getting splashed by cars as you can see.  We had some fun and games puddle jumping. There were lots of floods to contend with around the lanes.

 

Graeme enjoyed tracking down a new wartime pillbox on the way today which he had to capture for the photo collection! Those of you who know Graeme and have run with him over the years will know about his obsession with visiting these historic relics.  Somehow, on the occasion we managed to run on by without exploring inside!!

On another positive note,  I managed to drink some of my squash on the way and as for the jelly babies, I had about 4 of them.  I was worried they were going to choke me but somehow managed to eat them.  We finished strong, not much left in the tank though but I feel we have achieved something. This is my longest run for about 3 years and aches and pains wise I feel fine today.  I just need to get my head around negative thoughts when running.  Time to look out the running mantra’s for the next run and have a serious chat with myself.