Confessions of a Running Freak

When you go the extra mile(s)

I know, I promised to write this blog post a long time ago and it’s massively overdue, but better late than never and so here it is after all.

Flashback to 22nd February 2020 when Corona hadn’t messed up all of our lives yet and races were still going ahead as planned.

The alarm went off very early in the morning.
Time to get dressed and have breakfast.
Double – no, triple – check that I’ve packed everything I need for the day: proof of registration, running rucksack, water, energy drink, energy bars, jelly babies, weatherproof clothes, first aid kit, sunglasses, safety pins.
Time to head off in the direction of Bamburgh, time for the nerves to kick in.
Yes, I put in loads of training. No, I’d never actually done the distance that I was supposed to do that day. Did I mention being nervous??

Once in Bamburgh, I collected my race number and timing chip. I had something to eat for extra energy and after having spent another 30mins or so in the car (trying to stay warm) it was time to get on the bus that would take me and the other runners to the start at Alnwick Castle.

As we left Bamburgh, we could see a giant rainbow just over the castle. It almost looked like a sign although I couldn’t think at the time what it would be a sign for. I dozed on the bus and was a little bit reluctant to get off when we arrived in Alnwick but the sun was out, so off I got anyway.
Just as we all stepped off the bus, it started to rain so before we set off, I put my rain jacket on to be on the safe side. The wind wasn’t in our favour either – it was so cold!!! The highlight was spotting my running buddy at the start, at least that gave me the energy boost I needed to get started. Only thing left was to dump the extra layer of clothes I’d worn to the start and had just taken off in a big bag (the crew would take that back to Bamburgh) and then it was time to start running!

I made sure not to set off too fast – better slow and steady than burning all my energy and blowing up before I’d only be halfway through the race. The first part took us from Alnwick Castle through fields and meadows over tricky stepping stones to Alnmouth which for some reason felt like the real start to me. Maybe because I’d done the stretch from Alnmouth to Bamburgh before in one go when I was training for Kielder Marathon and it had been my longest run ever at the time. In any case, the weather had cleared a little by that time, sun was out and spirits still high. I made sure to eat and drink at regular intervals. So far, so good.

The stretch from Alnmouth to Dunstanburgh Castle felt like the second part of the journey. I was joined by my running buddy only a short while before I reached Dunstanburgh and I have to say I was really glad to get the extra support by that time, knowing I didn’t have to go the rest of the way alone. Again: so far, so good.

Then . . . after we’d passed Dunstanburgh and got on our way further North, the weather started to change. We got even rougher wind, heavy rain and even a hail storm. It felt a lot colder, even in spite of the weatherproof clothing I’d taken along. I stumbled and fell once – didn’t hurt myself but it definitely didn’t help.

To top it off, the tide had come in by early afternoon which meant that on one of the beaches, we had to wade through a river to continue our route. The knee-high water was absolutely freezing and the very last thing my muscles needed by then. Well . . . not just my muscles but my motivation too.

I was cold, wet and tired but kept going although I have to say that the rest of the race was one big blur . . . until . . . we got to the beach leading up to Bamburgh Castle.
I started to suffer from hypothermia by then was worn out by the horrible weather conditions (why couldn’t it have been a nice day like it was the year before??). I really struggled but still continued. Just before we got to Bamburgh, I decided I’d had enough, though, and that there really was no point in doing the extra 10K loop around Bamburgh.

Let’s face it: what was that going to prove, exactly? And who was I proving it to? I was in no fit shape to go on, so instead of following the “ultra” arrows, I followed the “finish” arrows. The way to said finish felt like a never-ending path through the dunes and when I finally made it to the finish, it turned out that I’d done just under 46K, so still more than marathon distance. Did I mention how awful weather was? Really: Kielder marathon felt like a breeze compared to this! I honestly don’t know if I’d kept going this far if I’d been on my own, so am very thankful that wasn’t the case.

I collected my medal, T-shirt and goodie bag and headed towards the car to get changed into warm and dry clothes. Except, due to the hypothermia that kicked in, my hands were all swollen and I could hardly move my arms and legs which made changing clothes very difficult and painful. When I’d finally managed to change clothes and after I’d spent some time in the warm car, I started to “defrost”. Pain is an understatement but at least I was getting some of my mobility back – if only temporarily because the next day I was so sore I could hardly walk!

You’re probably wondering if I’ll ever do another ultra in the future? Who knows, I may give it another go one day. For now, though, I’ll be focusing on shorter distances – probably with the odd marathon thrown in – and I would also like to focus on triathlon. Nevertheless, the Ultra in February was quite the experience and I’m glad I did it. Even though I didn’t do that final 10K, I still ran some kind of “ultra” distance and the weather turned it into one of the toughest things I ever did. I also didn’t realise at the time how life would change due to Covid-19 and that I wouldn’t be doing any races the rest of the year, so in spite of everything, I am grateful to have been out there. At least that’s one thing I DID do this year and it’s one thing nobody can take away from me.

Lockdown blues?

We’ve now entered week 6 of lockdown in the UK and although I’m aware that many people are struggling, I have to admit I’m actually quite enjoying it. The biggest downsides are the inability to travel (even if only to the Lake District or Scotland) and the lack of social contact with friends and family (though Skype, Zoom and the likes are very useful). Apart from those limitations I have to say I’m feeling less stressed because there is more time for me to combine my job with housework, exercise and taking care of the pets.

Throughout these past weeks, I’ve managed to keep up a daily routine and it’s proven very useful. Instead of staying in bed longer now I don’t have to go to the office, I’m still getting up at 6am which allows me to get some exercise done in the morning, leaving plenty of time to sit down and do some work. When I need a break from work, I can get up and go for a quick dog walk or do some cleaning and then return to the laptop to continue working. I can go for a lunchtime walk, run or bike ride and do some more exercise late afternoon after I finish work. In addition, I’ve even found time to do things I never have any time for: reading, playing music (I’ve actually started learning how to play the guitar now the drum lessons are temporarily on hold) and like many others, I’ve taken up baking . . . and I’m baking a lot. In these past few weeks I’ve produced banana bread, brownies, muffins and carrot cake to only name a few. Of course that means there’s an extra need for exercise to burn off all those calories!

As my right knee has been playing up a little lately when I run (I think it’s because I had to give up swimming now the pools are closed), and the lockdown has resulted in the roads being a lot quieter, I’ve taken up cycling again alongside running and walking and I’m loving it! I love the feeling of freedom when I’m on the bike which is quite different from the feeling you get on a run, I love the fact that you can get a lot further in the same amount of time and it’s also so nice to see and feel the progress I’ve made in the past 6 weeks. From struggling with riding up hills (and I can tell you, it is hilly around here!) and post-ride saddle soreness, I’ve gone to managing those hills more easily, cycling faster and not feeling that sore at all. At the moment, I’m probably enjoying cycling more than running – not that I’ll be giving up on running any time soon, though, but I’ll definitely keep up cycling as well.

So yes . . . this lockdown situation is actually working quite well for me and I have to admit that in a way I’ll be a bit sad when the day comes we have to return to the office and I’ll be struggling again to fit everything I need/want to do into one day.

For those who are finding it difficult at the moment: it really isn’t all bad, try to see the upside as there is one for everyone. Don’t let the days go to waste but use them wisely. Try something new, do some of those things you’ve been wanting to do for ages but never had time for, start doing exercise if you haven’t already, make sure you do something that makes you happy and makes you feel better about yourself. Challenge yourself. This is a situation that probably will only happen once in our lifetime, don’t see it as a restriction, see it as an opportunity.

And then there was Corona

When I was making plans for 2020 at the end of last year, I planned for a year in which I’d complete my first Ultra, get more experience at running marathons, have a first go at a triathlon and take part in the Castles and Islands race – a combination of running and sailing along the Northumberland Coast.

Little did I know back then that those plans would be disrupted, not by injury or lack of training, but by a virus that goes by the name of a Mexican beer. Corona aka Covid-19 is taking over the world, forcing countries to go on lock-down by closing shops, restaurants, gyms and sports clubs. Races and other big events are being cancelled and people have to stay at home as much as possible.

I took part in the Endurancelife Northumberland Ultra (which I will be posting another blog about) at the end of February and right now it looks like that’s the last race I will have taken part in for the foreseeable future. With all these races getting cancelled or postponed I’ll have to re-think my plans for this spring and summer, also taking into account that a full lock-down is also possible in the UK.

For now, we’re still allowed to go outside and thankfully, sports & exercise are even being promoted so I’ll keep running and cycling either by myself or with my usual training buddy in order to keep from going insane and to stay fit.

Especially now that I’m working from home until further notice, I find it important to keep up a daily routine because it is not a holiday after all and it’s important to try and continue to live with at least a hint of normality in these strange times. For me, my daily routine looks like this at the moment:

6AM: get up, get dressed, dog walk

Check in with work and respond to mails while having breakfast

30mins strength training exercises at home (yes, those exercises that I should have been doing more often anyway but always kept putting off)

Work until lunchtime

Lunchtime run sometime around midday

afternoon work

Late pm: housework + afternoon activity (walk, tennis, housework, cycling)

dinner, sofa, TV/Netflix, jigsaw puzzles, reading

The weekend activities might get a mixed up a little bit too but I’ll still be going out walking, running and cycling. In fact, in a sense it’s even nicer to go out now because there’s so little traffic at the moment. I’ll do my best to keep updating Instagram and Facebook and now that there is some extra time to work with every day, I’m sure I’ll finally get round to posting those other blog posts that I’ve been working on. Watch this space.

This is a scary and unsettling time for all of us, we’re all in it together and we can only hope it will all be over soon. Until then, be safe, stay healthy and don’t stop being active.

Let’s talk about food

People who know me will probably know that I’m always hungry, I like food and I hate small portions. And although I’m a big fan of healthy, home-cooked meals I’m not going to deny that I also like the probably not-so-healthy stuff.

Just like undoubtedly many others out there, I’ve had my issues with food and calorie intake in the past and there are times when I still struggle. For me personally, it has always been about control: after spending years not feeling in control of my life, I tried to gain control over my life and my body by controlling the amount of food and calories I allowed myself to eat. Even now, when I’ve had a bad week (or even a bad day) with little exercise and too much unhealthy food – or even when there’s only the prospect of a series of restaurant visits in the near future, I’ll panic and the thought of all the food and prospective lack of exercise due to time limitations will cause me to freak out. It has improved a lot since I started running, however. Running helps me feel in control of myself in a different way and because I am working out and using the energy, I have a more positive relationship with food these days.

Just to be clear, I’m not a nutritionist or dietitian but with running automatically comes the need for a diet that will give your body everything it needs to keep going as well as to recover from all the hard work afterwards. A lot has already been said and written in terms of sports nutrition and I’m not going to deny there are specialists who know a lot more about it and who might roll their eyes at my food plan, but I just stick to what works for me.

Porridge
Probably my favourite breakfast ever and there are occasions when I will even have porridge for lunch or dinner. From hot porridge in winter with milk (or cream), jam, golden syrup or maple syrup to cold porridge in summer with fresh fruit and Greek yoghurt – it’s simple, quick, easy, tasty, healthy and good fuel for the body!

Carbs
There’s something to be said for a low-carb/high-protein diet, however, carbs aren’t necessarily a bad thing when you’re a runner. They’re actually a much-needed energy source, especially when you’re doing long distance running. So I will eat (brown) pasta and rice on a regular basis as well as potatoes (both “normal” potatoes and sweet potato) but I try to limit the amount of bread I’ll eat as I tend to have bread with cheese and for me, that combination is a guarantee for gaining weight.

Fruit & Veg
Fruit and veg are THE core elements in my diet and I will have some every day. I’ll usually have fruit as snacks while I’ll eat vegetables as part of my main meals. I don’t eat meat every day but will often use nuts, avocado, chickpeas or lentils on meat-free days.

Vegetarian/Vegan?
Even though I don’t eat meat on a daily basis, I’m not on a completely vegetarian or vegan diet. Mainly because I then have to take supplements to make sure I get all the nutrients I need, but it’s not always clear what the by-products in those supplements are (and so, how can I be sure they are healthy?) and I just feel in better shape on a diet that includes some dairy products and organic non-processed meat (mainly chicken and steak) or fish. I do try to be mindful of what I’m eating, however, and as with everything the key-word is “moderation”.

Cheat meals
It’s not all about being strict and being in control, sometimes you have to allow yourself to just enjoy life. After a long run or a tough race, I’ll be right there in the queue for a burger & fries, fish & chips or pizza. With an ice cream for dessert, please!
In addition, even though I monitor what I’m eating 6 days a week, I do allow myself a “cheat meal day” – usually on the Sunday. Partly because that is usually either long run day or race day so it balances out the cheat meal, but also because after the long run or race, it’s just nice to sit down and enjoy a big meal and a beer.

Fuel during runs and races
During longer runs and races it’s important to keep your energy level up by refuelling while you run. Now, I’ve never been good at eating while I run, so I have to be careful with what my stomach will accept. This is different for everyone and what works for me may not work for someone else. The things I use are:
– Isotonic energy drinks (I use High5 pomegranate but there are plenty of other brands and flavours available)
– Energy bars (Nakd bars or Nutella B-ready bars)
– Jelly babies, Haribo Star Mix or something similar

In addition, I’ve been seen to have a slice of orange or an ice lolly at races – especially in hot weather.

Even though I tried, I still can’t do energy gels – they just come back out the same way they went in . . .

Water
The key to staying hydrated before, during and after a run. In winter I find I’m OK doing longish runs up to 10 miles without really needing water while in summer I sometimes struggle to get through a short 5K without having a sip of water along the way. I struggle in hot weather anyway and much prefer to run in the cold, but again, this is different for everyone.

Rather than telling people what they should be doing, I think the bottom line here is that you try to have a to have a balanced, healthy diet while also allowing yourself something extra every now and then.

“Mens sana in corpore sano.”

If you have healthy mind in a healthy body it will have a positive effect on your performance in sports.

The road to Ultra

Agreed, I may not have thought it through as much as I should have when I signed up for my first ultra marathon. In fact I am starting to wonder if it was a good idea at all. Then again, I asked myself that same question after signing up for my first full marathon and I finished that without too many problems. No, I’m not the fastest – nor will I ever be, I know my limits – but that’s not why I’m doing it.

Like I already mentioned on my introduction page, I never used to like running. I thought it was boring and couldn’t be bothered. It wasn’t until I found out that actually, running can be so much more than just the same jog around the block by yourself that I really started to enjoy it. From joining Parkrun, meeting lots of like-minded people to discovering trail running and doing sightseeing while I run, all those things taught me to really appreciate how running can change your life.

When I started doing a couch-to-5K some years ago, I never thought I’d be running races, let alone 10K, 10 miles, half marathon distance or marathon distance. And now I’m registered for an ultra-marathon at the end of February.

I’ve come a long way (literally and figuratively) since I moved to the UK at the end of 2015. I ran in places I never even imagined I’d go – places I never even knew existed!

After a lifetime of being a non-runner, it sometimes feels like I’m playing catch-up all the time. I started way too late to ever be very good at it, but I accept that’s something I won’t be able to catch up with. I’m OK with being in the middle of the pack at races. For me, it’s more about challenging myself, getting out of my comfort zone and developing new skills along the way. And that’s what I have been doing – especially these past two years: from map reading and plotting routes over running in all kinds of weather conditions to learning how to run downhill on a rocky surface at a decent speed, they were all things I wasn’t very comfortable with but I now feel much more confident.

So after tackling marathon distance in 2019, there are a couple more marathons coming up in 2020. The two biggest challenges this year, however, will be the Castles and Islands race in June (which doesn’t only involve running but also sailing) and first of all: the Endurancelife Northumberland Ultra Marathon on 22nd February: 35 miles along the East Coast between Alnwick and Bamburgh.

These past few weeks and months I’ve gradually been building up by going out for runs on an almost daily basis. I spent most of the Christmas holidays running, doing a training run every day for 16 consecutive days, gradually building up distance. I’m planning to do a couple of XXL-distance runs in the upcoming weeks (mainly to build confidence) while also making sure I do some cross-training (strength training and swimming).

Fingers crossed it’ll all go well next month . . . Watch this space for further updates!

Hiking up Helvellyn

Ever since watching a TV show on the best walks in the UK which had Striding Edge as number 1, I’d been wanting to give it a try. I mean, it was the most popular walk in the UK, so how hard exactly could it be?

So one day in April 2019 I found myself in a car on my way to the Lake District to climb Helvellyn via Striding Edge. Not knowing what to expect, excited but – if I’m honest – also scared because this was something I’d never done before and I was completely out of my comfort zone.

When my friend parked the car at the foot of the mountain and we looked up, we realised there was snow at the top. We talked about what we were going to do but to be honest: I hadn’t come all the way to go back without doing what I’d set out to do, and so off we went, up-up-up, all the way up!

After walking up via mountain paths, we stopped at the start of Striding Edge and I have to be honest: I was asking myself WHY I’d ever thought it was a good idea. It had looked a lot easier on TV than it turned out to be in reality. It’s not a path, it really is a mountain ridge: rough, rocky and with up- and downclimbs to get to the other side. If I’d never been intimidated by nature before, I definitely was when I looked at the route ahead. But . . . we’d come this far so no matter how scared I was, I wasn’t going to back out now.

Don’t be fooled by the smile – it was scary!!

Striding Edge turned out to be quite a challenge for me as I’d never done anything similar in my life. Once we started scrambling over the rocks, there was no time to think about anything else except where to put your hands and feet without slipping and falling, which – let’s be honest – could have been quite catastrophic. Slip and fall and it could easily be game over.

Once we got past Striding Edge, we weren’t quite there yet. There was one last bit to go before we reached the summit – except that final stretch was covered in snow and ice. Now . . . if there’s one thing I don’t feel comfortable with, it’s icy surfaces, and if the idea of crossing Striding Edge hadn’t stopped me, the thought of scrambling up an icy, snowy slope definitely did. So, this was the point where I froze – only a few meters away from the top. I didn’t know what to do: I didn’t want to climb the slope to the top but I also didn’t want to go back down the way we came and cross Striding Edge again. Besides, I really wanted to get to the top now that we’d come this far. So for a number of minutes (I can’t even tell you how long exactly – I completely lost track of time!) I just sat there, having a conversation with myself in my head.

Until . . . I saw a guy coming across Striding Edge on . . . sneakers (I kid you not!) who then climbed the icy slope without getting into trouble. That was what I needed in that instant to give me the final push and I decided to find my last bit of courage, to stop thinking and to just go for it.

It was fine, I made it past the ice without any problems. In fact, looking back at it now, it even feels a bit ridiculous that I crossed Striding Edge but I was scared to go up that final slope. I realise that my photos of the snowy parts of the mountain aren’t very good but that was mainly because my mind wasn’t exactly on taking photos at that stage. It definitely looked quite daunting to me at the time.

The top was covered in clouds that day which made it extremely cold and windy and meant the view wasn’t as amazing as it no doubt is on a clear and sunny day. For me personally that day was all about conquering my fears, though, getting out of my comfort zone and doing something I never imagined I could (or would) do.

Now that I know I can, I’ll definitely give it another go – both Helvellyn as well as a couple of other places. It just shows that most of the limits you face, are in your head.

Believe you can and you will.