Team 9 Bar

August Bank Holiday weekend meant making the long awaited trip to Harlech Castle in Wales for my first Team 9 Bar Team Weekend!

I joined Team 9 Bar earlier this year but after the rest of the team had been selected so I already felt a little late to the party, and this had been compounded by missing a few planned 9 Bar races due to injury. Having been quite gutted to miss the 9 Bar events I had in my diary at the start of the season I was really looking forward to finally getting involved and meeting the rest of the team. I'd had to miss supporting some events as well because I couldn't even drive at the time, so I'd never actually met any of the team before this weekend! 9 Bar have been fantastic sponsors, providing me with a never ending supply of delicious 9 Bars. I must confess one reason I was looking forward to this weekend so much was that I wanted to try the new savoury flavoured 9 Bars...and they did not disappoint! The cracked black pepper 9 Bar is a new favourite, overtaking Pumpkin and Nutty at the top of my list.

The plan for the team was for everyone to take part in either the Castle to Castle 40 mile race (especially for the ultra runners in the team), or a lovely 14km run along the beach from Harlech. I had really been looking forward to this as I love new running routes, especially ones out in beautiful countryside and along the coast. However it's been taking me a little longer than I would have like to get over this irritating knee injury and having only managed 20 minutes a couple of days before the weekend, I decided not to stubbornly push on and instead I'd just do my best supporting and cheering off all the runners - especially those who did the 40 mile run! We had a lovely day sat in the sunshine, meeting the rest of the team and having a little paddle in the sea before we got ready for the 9 Bar meal and night out.

Enjoying the bank holiday weekend weather

The Team meal was sooo well organised by Alan & Liz who even arranged a complicated seat swapping schedule so we could all get to know each other without abandoning our partners at any point - I think this was much appreciated by all our partners who were bombarded with sporty chat for an entire day and night!
It was really inspiring to meet so many enthusiastic people who love their sports and train really hard to achieve what they do. From fellow triathletes and runners to BMX bikers and the GB white-water rafting team, there was a real mix of sports and a good number of fellow broccoli lovers (got involved in a great discussion about what meals were improved by broccoli - all of them!)

The evening included free drinks, delicious food, excellent red wine, presentation of awards to the team including many comedy awards and cartoon character trophies! Even better were the goody bags at breakfast next morning - now I have a huge supply of flapjacks and a great bag for putting my XC kit in this Winter!

Delicious & nutritious 9 Bar goodies!

I must say a huge thanks to 9 Bar for their support and to everybody for making me feel so welcome. I now feel super motivated to get back fit and racing again so I do some 9 Bar events! The 9 Bar Chilly Duathlon in November is hopefully an achieveable target and maybe by then I'll be fit enough to get a good result and do my sponsors proud - but regardless it'll be a great to see some of the team again.

Less running, more walking

Well it turns out it's pretty hard to write a blog about training and racing when I'm not doing a lot of training and definitely NO racing whatsoever!

I have kind of been doing some training. Most of it has been physio exercises - strengthening my hips and glutes to help me get back into full training as well as hopefully avoiding future injuries.
The rest of the time I've been doing short runs and feeling ridiculously unfit whilst doing them! I read some great advice from Lauren Fleshman on coming back from injury - that you shouldn't focus on individual days but instead on weeks, and then you'll see progress. So I've been keeping that in mind, trying to keep positive and hoping that it gets a bit easier soon. Whilst the running is currently tough, the cycling is coming together a bit better and I'm consistently managing 30 mins on the bike at 90+rpm without too much irritation to my knee injury.

The good news is that now I'm able to walk and drive (YAY!) after a really irritating period when both those activities were painful. So I've been making the most of my walking abilities and getting out into the countryside for some lovely walks with my other half.

Exploring the woods in Styal

At the start of a 3 hour trek round Tatton Park (can't wait to run there!)

We've been enjoying the Summer all over Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire & The Lake District. And whilst part of me has been thinking 'oooh this would make a lovely running route', I have actually been enjoying just walking.

Exploring Rivington - made it to the top but tough on my knee

When I'm training a couple of times a day, I don't have a lot of energy (or time) left over for long walks. I think I now understand what people mean when they say the enjoy being injured - it does give you a lot more time to spend with your loved ones.

Tempted to give rowing a go at Lake Windermere

As well as exploring and having some slightly less exhausting adventures, it's also been quite nice to have the odd glass of wine without worrying about getting up early to swim the next day!

When I get back into full training this Winter I'll definitely be trying to get a bit more balance into my training plan to make room for long walks - it is still exercise after all! Though I may be a bit less keen when it starts to snow!
That's all for now - hopefully more training to report on next time.

Continuing the comeback...

Comeback to training I mean! Unfortunately I'm not quite ready for the comeback to racing, that's still a few weeks off yet, no matter how keen I am to get back!

This week I made some serious progress and ran for the first time in 8 weeks!

Woweee it was hard. I might actually start listening to people who say running is hard now!  I managed a very slow half mile jog on Monday and it really was very slow. After not running for the best part of 2 months and with only a few short bike rides under my belt, I felt incredibly unfit and just the motion of running felt awkward and tough.

I got back from my run with every intention of completing my physio exercises focusing on strengthening up my hips and glutes, however I only just made it up the stairs before my leg seized up and was incredibly painful to move. I went to bed worried I'd done some further damage, but everything had loosened up the next morning and after a good session with the foam roller, by Wednesday I was able to attempt a 10 min run. This was much more successful and I managed over a mile in 10 mins and felt much more like a runner (albeit a rather slow one!)

Saturday should have been RACE DAY. World Duathlon Champs day. But instead I was limited to a  10 min run again. At least I can do some training now! I managed to go a little bit further in this 10 min run, enjoying speeding round some playing fields in the sunshine - but by the time I was done my lungs were burning and I felt like nothing like the athlete I was back in April when I qualified for the World Duathlon Champs. Ah well, at least the injury is finally healing and hopefully it won't be too long before the fitness returns.

I've now got the go-ahead to build up the training, including some 30 min bike rides and 15 min runs this week. I'm hoping the knee will hold up and I'll be able to progress nicely from here - fingers crossed anyway!

I'm still quite weak on single knee dips so I'll be doing my physio exercises twice a day for the forseeable future!

Training for the week was pretty much the same as last week.
I managed a massive 94 minutes of cycling and 3.4 miles of running - looking forward to building up the training from here on in.

Not my average training diary

If you've read any of my blog posts recently, you've probably gathered that I'm injured.

I've also officially withdrawn from Team GB for the World Duathlon Championships, which are this coming weekend in Ottawa, Canada.
I am absolutely gutted about this! At the start of the year I had a few targets - and given the way my training had progressed from Jan - April, I was hoping that by the time August came round I would be in shape to be in amongst it fighting for a medal in Canada. However things have worked out a little different...for 6 weeks I wasn't able to do any cycling or running - definitely not the best preparation! And having missed most of May with sinusitus and an ear infection I didn't feel like I had a very good base to fall back on. Eventually I accepted that if I went to Canada, I was unlikely to complete the race, never mind putting in a respectable performance.
I was not very happy about this!
But, it's not the end of the World, and there's always next year!

I'm feeling a lot more positive about everything now, which is hugely helped by being able to do some training, finally!

I've been focusing on doing all my physio exercises to strengthen up my hips and glutes to solve the weaknesses that led to the injury in the first place. I'm also building up my cycling, and hoping to do a 5 minute run this week - I have absolutely everything crossed my body is ready for this, because I really cannot stand not being able to run!

Knee accessory sponsored by Rocktape and Athlete Matters - thanks for the awesome tan lines!

Here's last week's training - a bit different to my normal schedule, but wow does it feel good to be doing something! And I managed to include a walk round a deer park, a picnic and some spectating at the Northern Athletics League in Saturday's training plan - well done to all the Altrincham athletes on a great performance, just sorry I wasn't able to contribute to the efforts to gain promotion!

Monday
am: 9 min bike steady. Physio exercises - Hip/glutes
pm: 40 min walk. Physio exercises - Hip/glutes

Tuesday
am: 10 min bike, feeling more like a cyclist! Physio exercises - Hip/glutes/core
pm: 56 min walk. Physio exercises - Hips/glutes

Wednesday
am: 11 min bike. Physio exercises - hips/glutes. Think core exercises are aggravating my knee
pm: 30 min walk. Physio exercises - hips/glutes. Knee sore, tape slipping off

Thursday
am: Physio exercises - hips/glutes. Knee sore so no bike & getting knee re-taped
pm: 40 min walk. 12 min bike at 80rpm, physio exercises - hips/glutes

Friday
am: 13 min bike at 85rpm, physio exercises - hips/glute
pm: 1 hour 10 min walk, physio exercises - hips/glutes

Saturday
am: Physio exercises - hips/glutes. 1 hr 45min walk (plus picnic!)
pm: 14 min bike at 85rpm, physio exercises - hips/glutes

Sunday
am: Rest - every good training schedule needs some rest time, especially after such a long walk yesterday
pm: 30 min walk, physio exercises - hips/glutes


I'm pretty pleased with that as a week's training - I've made good progress and my knee hasn't prevented me from building up my cycling. In total over the week I managed over an hour on the bike, managed to get my RPM over 85, which feels like actual cycling compared to when I started a week ago when I was doing 5 minutes and merely pushing the pedals round gently to try and get my legs moving again.

If things go well over the next week I should be doing 20 minutes on the bike and maybe a couple of runs...I can't wait!!

Top 10 Running Tips for Newbie Runners

Yesterday I received a very surprising message from my best mate.

“How long does it take to run 10km?”

Now she’s not a runner, and as far as I know she’s not harbouring a secret longing to become a competitive runner. I didn’t even know running was an activity she ever did! Last time we discussed exercise, it mostly focused on how boring it was, and how great it was that gyms have a lot of different machines as she gets bored after 6 minutes, so at the gym she can switch from treadmill to bike to cross-trainer to rowing machine and still have spent enough time working out to make it worthwhile.
So without really knowing where this was going, whether she was planning for a race, whether she’d just completed 10km, or this was a question at a pub quiz; I replied covering all bases.

An hour is a pretty good target if you’re running a few times a week, 50 minutes requires some definite training and then under 40 minutes is pretty awesome…

It turned out she’d just run 8km in about an hour – which I was pretty impressed with. If you just suddenly decided to go out for a run and cover that sort of distance/time then that’s a pretty good starting point. I mean, that’s definitely not power walking, that’s running! But of course, she was pretty tired afterwards, not helped by choosing to run on one of the hottest days of the year! And of course this tiredness led her to the conclusion I hear from so many people “running is hard.” Lots of my non-sporty friends ask me how I run so much, how I run full stop, isn’t running really hard etc. All this makes me think it would be worth putting the RUNNING = HARD myth to rest and laying out some of my top tips for getting into running...

Is running hard?

For me, some days running feels really hard, some days it feels really easy. Of course that’s got a lot to do with what my training schedule says and how fast I’m trying to run. To all the beginners out there who are looking at the glorious weather and wanting to enjoy the sun whilst getting fitter, I would say: NO running is not hard! However, you do have to approach it in the right way.

At Uni I ran a social running group for new runners and loved seeing everyone develop, improve their fitness, make new friends and get to know their new university environment. I loved helping newbie runners realise that running doesn’t have to be hard! Starting to run for the first time, especially if it’s been years since school cross country, isn’t always the easiest thing, but if you approach it correctly it doesn’t have to be so horribly hard that it puts you off for another few years. Bearing in mind that when I finally get back running after this injury I’m going to have to take a similar approach, I’ve put together my top tips for running newbies.

1. Start off slow and then pick up the pace. It is definitely not possible to sprint flat out for 20 minutes, although this is generally how young children try to run! You can always get faster if you realise you’ve been running for 5 minutes and still feel comfortable. However if you start off fast and then slow down, lactic acid builds up in your muscles making it seem a lot harder, even when you’ve slowed down.

2. Don’t be afraid to walk. After injuries before I’ve had orders from the physio to run for 1 minute, walk for 1 minute, run for 1 minute etc as part of a gradual build up. Recognise your own fitness level and work to this! You should be increasing your heart rate and your breathing but NOT to the level where you’re gasping for breath and considering whether you’re actually experiencing a heart attack!

3. Set targets. If you ran for 5 minutes on Tuesday, try to run for 6 minutes on Thursday and gradually increase your way up to 20 minutes. Don't forget to bask in the sense of achievement once you've hit that target!

4. Build up gradually! Once you’re feeling comfortable running, don’t suddenly try to run every day – your body won’t know what’s hit it and you risk overdoing it. Instead run every couple of days and as things feel easier move to running every other day. Give your body time to adapt to your new running regime and you’ll find it much easier.

5. Variation – the best thing about running outside instead of going to the gym is the scenery! Find a nice park, some woods, a canal or whatever your local area has to offer. And then mix things up – don’t do the same route every time. Try and explore a new park, or even just run your route backwards to keep things interesting.

6. Variation again – use your new found fitness to enjoy other activities. Cycling, swimming, new gym classes will all feel easier now and provide great variation as well as giving different muscles a work out.

7. Variation, yet again! Maybe you’ve been running on your own, or you’ve roped your best friend into running with you. Either way, there are hundreds of thousands of fellow runners out there and Run England have a great service that helps you find local groups to run with: http://www.runengland.info/

8. ParkRuns – these are fabulous 5km races which are free to enter and take part in hundreds of parks all over the country. Have a look at their website and you’ll probably find one close by. http://www.parkrun.org.uk/ Run by volunteers and full of super friendly runners these start at 9am every Saturday and usually have a social coffee meet-up arranged for after the race. From runners trying to complete 5km for the first time to super speedy regulars, these really are for everyone and they’re FREE! Just look at their UK map to see how many events there are!

9. Get some proper running shoes! I cannot stress this enough! Running is a high impact activity and requires trainers that can absorb the impact and make it a much more comfortable experience for you. Converse trainers don’t count, and those old squash shoes definitely don’t either. But don’t worry about trying to buy the gear when you’re a newbie and not sure what you’re looking for. Most running shops are staffed by runners who are normally delighted somebody else is discovering the brilliance of running and will happily guide you in the right direction. If you’d rather buy online, there are a multitude of retailers to choose from. Simply for the excellent prices, I regularly buy from Sportsshoes.com – look out for their free delivery offers and over 50% off Saucony, Nike, Adidas and many more brands!

10. Enjoy it! Running can be great “me-time” – it’s a great way to unwind from the stresses of the day, listen to music or mull things over whilst getting some fresh air. It can be a great way to meet new friends and build a new social circle. You can set yourself goals and challenge yourself and explore new areas. However hard you want to run, make sure you enjoy yourself. I always do!