The test

Yes I know everyone's sick of these, but I like this one, so there.

If you've spoken to me about my training for Run To The Beat and the Royal Parks Half Marathon, you'll know that I haven't been loving it. When I signed up for these races I was still on my post-Paris high, and inspired by watching the London Marathon (which I also signed up for, but let's not talk about that right now). This time round, training has felt like a massive chore. Maybe it's because I was missing the camaraderie of Team Bangs, or because it's the first time I'd trained through summer, or maybe I just wasn't ready to train again. I expect it's a combination of all three, and along the way, I totally fell out of love with running. I still had that awesome feeling when I got back from a run, but it was soon replaced by a sense of dread as I thought about the next one I had to do, and I just wanted it all to be over.

I wasn't excited about the races. I've been bleated and whined 'But I don't waaaant to!' to anyone who was kind enough to ask me how training was going. And I meant it. I did. Not. Want. To. If I could, I would have gone back to my May self and stopped her signing up.

But then...

Tuesday. Run Dem Crew. My favourite night of the week. A short and sweet taper run for those of us doing Run To The Beat. Two miles in, I felt a sharp pain in my knee, but I ran through it. Turns out that was not a wise move - on Wednesday, I was in agony. It hurt to walk, especially down stairs. But here's the important part - instead of congratulating myself on my injury and rushing to Twitter to declare I'd have to pull out of RTTB, I was gutted. I mean, I know I'd been complaining about running, but I didn't not want the option, y'know? So I sulked, and didn't tell Twitter that I'd have to pull out because I was clinging on to the hope that I'd wake up the next day and my knee would be fine, and I'd be able to race.

So when I woke up this morning to discover the worst of the pain had gone, I decided it was time for an attitude overhaul (just in time, with three days to go before RTTB). No more moaning, no more hating - I've trained for these runs *ahem*, I want to run them and I want to run them well. And that's what I'm going to do. So thank you, Running Gods, for the test.

63 days later

I know this has nothing to do with anything I'm saying, 

but I'm hoping it'll make you forgive me. 

Is there a blogging version of Social Services? If so, you guys should have reported me for abandonment. Apparently I took an nine week long summer holiday from my blog without telling you. For shame. I won't bore you with excuses or the mundane details of the last 63 days, but here are a few highlights:

I joined Run Dem Crew. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love it.

I became a Boutique Sport Glambassador.

I celebrated something fabulous happening to my best girl.

I clocked up some miles training for Run To The Beat and the Royal Parks Half Marathon 

(but definitely not as many as I should have). 

I do have some real life blog posts planned, so stay tuned, I promise I'll be back! 

Back in training

It's been a little over four months since I ran the Paris Half Marathon with Team Bangs on the Run. Four months is a long time to give up running regularly. I know this because I'm finally back in training and it ain't easy.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know that I'm currently training for not one, but TWO half marathons. Two. Half. Marathons. Only two weeks apart. I realise this is small fry to the hardcore runners that hardly break a sweat running full marathons every week, but given that I started running a year ago and have been avoiding it for four months, the idea of an entire marathon in only two weeks is pretty terrifying.

Luckily, I've picked two of London's most exciting half marathons. First up, on 25 September is Nike's Run To The Beat - 'London's music half marathon', which the second Team Bangs on the Run are also running. Exactly two weeks later, it's the Royal Parks Half Marathon, which I've only ever heard amazing things about.

It was never my intention to run two more half marathons this year, but it's happening, and I'm taking the opportunity to push myself and my body further. I'm determined to beat my Paris PB of 2:03:21 and come in at under 2 hours in both runs, so I'm following a pretty hardcore Runner's World training plan, which has me running five times a week.

I missed Week One because I didn't count properly (I blame holiday blues), so I started on Week Two last week. Here's how that went:

Monday

• Plan said: Rest day
• I rested

Tuesday 

• Plan said: 5M speedwork
• 19:00 - I tried to brave the huge rain storm on Tuesday evening, but only got to the end of my street before turning round and going home

Wednesday

• Plan said: 5M (steady)
• 05:30 - 5.02M (steady)
• 19:00 - NTC in Hyde Park with the fabulous Joslyn of Fit Girl About Town fame

Thursday 

• Plan said: 5M threshold run
• I slept through my morning alarm, so missed my run
• 19:00 - PT session

Friday

• Plan said: Rest day, but I wanted to make up for Thursday's missed run
• 05:30 - 4.66M including 2M  fartleks

Saturday

• Plan said: Hills 5M (inc 6 x 150m hill)
• 07:30 - 5.62M including 7x sprints up Primrose Hill

Sunday

• Plan said: Long run 8M
• 08:30 - 8.15M (steady)

Plan total: 28 miles
Kaye's total: 23.45 miles (Target: 28 miles)

A little wobbly, but 0-23 miles in a week isn't too shabby. Wednesday's double session perhaps wasn't the wisest decision. As much as I'd like to continue the NTC outdoor classes (which you should definitely get to if you're in London), I should make the runs my priority. I've never really incorporated speedwork, hills, fartleks or threshold runs into my training before, so that's going to take some getting used to. If anyone has any tips on any of the above, I'd love to hear them!

Juneathon: Day 2

Flickr image from rp72's photostream

Oh dear lord, the pain. Yesterday's weight-tastic PT session has left me with a really painful case of DOMS - although there wasn't anything 'delayed' about it, I was achey-painy the minute the session finished. It's a bloody good thing that I did my Juneathon run this morning, because as of this afternoon, I can't move at anything faster than an injured snail's pace.

This morning's run was pretty pathetic - a very slow plod to Marble Arch and back = 1.75 miles

I'd like to say I'll be faster tomorrow, but it all depends on whether or not my muscles are still punishing me. If they're still bad, I'm thinking a morning gym session for some upper body/core work or a similar session using the NTC app, which I haven't touched in too long.

Dear diary: Day 2

Flickr image from Kirstea's photostream

Today was another successful day in the fight against the Desk of Filth! It was also my first morning run since before Paris, and it's safe to say I've lost my morning mojo. I'm kicking myself for not getting out there when the sun was up at 6am in those couple of weeks before the clocks went forward. Dear Timelords and Weather Gods, can you make it light and sunny for my morning runs please?

Day 2's food diary looks like this:

06:30 - 2x toast/peanut butter (post run)
         - 1 glass water
07:00 - Green tea
08:00 - Starbucks grande soy vanilla latte
11:30 - Plum
         - Wasabi peas
12:30 - Wrap with chicken breast, tzatziki, green salad and falafel
15:45 - Another plum (I'm bored of the plums now)
         - 1 litre water
20:00 - Spaghetti bolognese, 1 slice garlic bread
         - 1 glass water

The danger of doing nothing

Confession time. My name is Kaye and I haven't run since Paris. 22 days ago. Three weeks and one day.

Every day my worn in, mud-encrusted Asics lie on my bedroom floor, ready to pound the pavements once again. And every day, I've stepped over them, trying not to look directly at them while I squeeze my size 3's into my black heeled boots or lovely sparkly brogues. Is it just me or do they actually look sad? To borrow a sentiment from Friends, they're not fulfilling their destiny.

Here's how it happened: I got back from Paris desperate to sign up to another run. But obviously my body needed a recovery period, so I decided I'd give myself a leisurely week. 'You deserve it' people said, 'enjoy the fact that you've got nothing to train for', 'don't worry, you'll get back to it really easily, just take some time off'. So I thought it was ok that I was getting up at 6:45am and getting ready for work instead of 5:45am for my morning run and spending my Sunday mornings in bed instead of running somewhere between 10 and 18km around Hyde Park. IT WAS NOT OK.

It's not that I've done nothing fitness-wise, I have been keeping up my weekly PT sessions, but it's not enough. I trained for months to bring my body up to a certain fitness level, to the point where I ran for 2 hours (and 3 minutes) without stopping. I don't want to jump back into a hardcore half marathon training programme, but feel like I'm wasting all of that hard work by just stopping completely. Plus, that was never the plan - I was supposed to sign up for another event and keep training.

So here it is. This is the week I get off my (slightly wibbly) arse and get back into training. The next 10km race I've entered isn't till July, but I want to bring my PB down to sub-50 minutes (my current 10km PB is 00:55:42), so I'm going to work on speed, as well as distance. Get me my trainers, let's do this!

We did it!

After months of training, fundraising, tweeting, blogging and more training, Team Bangs on the Run finally pounded the streets of Paris on Sunday. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my certificate to prove it. 

My time: 2 hours 3 minutes 21 seconds

I was totally stunned when I found out my official time. As I said before, I was aiming to get round a) in one piece and b) in 2 hours 30 mins or less, so it's safe to say I am chuffed with my time and the fact that I ran the whole way round. Before Sunday, I'd never run that far without stopping for a drink/stretch/walk/pee/cry, and I am immensely proud of my body for being able to carry me that far without needing to do any of that. A testament to training, rest days, eating and drinking properly beforehand. 

The race was amazing. But that wasn't the case the whole way through. Here are the highs and lows (I'll update with pictures as soon as I can):

Highs:

• Bumping into Alicia, one of my best friends from secondary school as I entered the Parc Floral. We hadn't seen each other in years and there she was! 
• The beautiful (if chilly) weather.
• The amazing crowds (especially the adorable kids)
• Spotting Alicia's boyfriend Bruce at about 8km and running with him until...
• ...THE FIREMEN. FRENCH FIREMEN. FYI, this is where the hot firemen cliché comes from.
• The entertainment around the course - brass bands, rock bands, bongo players, ABBA tribute bands, drunks...
• Being cheered on by Jon and Michael (our amazing Team Bangs cheerleaders) at 16km - that really kept me going.
• Realising I was going to run the whole freaking way!
• The atmosphere of the final 500m.
• Crossing the finish line, bursting into tears and being reunited with some of the Team Bangs girls.

Lows:

• Not having time to go to the toilet before the race (6 portaloos? Seriously?!).
• The bottleneck for the first few kilometres.
• Trying not to break my neck running past the rehydration stations - orange peel and bottle tops everywhere.
• The cobbles.
• The hill at 9km.
• The even bigger hill at 17km - that one kept on climbing to the 18km mark. Not cool, Paris.
• Sticky tarmac - a result of hundreds of litres of Powerade being chucked away. 
• Getting my miles and kilometres muddled up (for some reason I thought I was running 20.1km, not 21km) and having to dig deep to get that final kilometre out of my legs.
• Not running with any of the Team Bangs girls.

Now, I'm going to try not to get too emotional (I can't promise anything, I still get a bit teary when I think about the race), but I want to say a huge THANK YOU to some amazing people:

All of you fantastic people who sponsored Team Bangs on the Run: We ran for you, for the money you'd so kindly donated to Refuge. Thanks to you, we've raised over £6,000, which will help women and children escaping domestic violence in so many ways. 

Muireann (Bangs and a Bun): Our fearless leader, hero and inspiration. It's because of you that any of this happened. Thank you for your support, encouragement and kick-ass attitude, and congratulations on knocking 25 minutes off your previous half marathon PB!

Team Bangs on the Run: What an incredible group of women. Without you, I wouldn't have made it through my training and to Paris. Love you!

Gemma (Jungle GG): I only signed up because I thought you were joking, but thank you so much for making me do it.

Nike and Shock Absorber: Thank you for the awesome t-shirts, printing costs and amazing sports bra - my tatas are forever grateful!

Check out Bangs' Team Bangs in Paris video to meet some of the team and see how we got on. Also, there's still time to donate on our JustGiving page for Refuge, so if the urge to donate takes you, don't fight it. 

PS: Sorry this post is late, I'm still having laptop woe. 

I'm back!

I am SO sorry. Where the hell have I been? Well, actually, nowhere, but my poor laptop is still dead and as much as I love my iPhone, it's no good for blogging. I've been having major blog withdrawl symptoms though, so I've hijacked my work PC (and my lunch break) for a quick catch-up.

There's so much I want to tell you about: the Love Run; my birthday; my fabulous new Shock Absorber sports bra; the fact that my boyfriend's started running(!) - but for now, I just want to concentrate on one thing:

THE PARIS HALF MARATHON IS SIX DAYS AWAY!

How did that happen?! It feels like it's been months away for ages, and now *wham* it's in six days.

Right now (and this changes on an hourly basis), I'm feeling confident and excited. I've been cranking out my long runs at a strong and steady pace, taking care of my legs and overall flexibility, and continuing my strength training to ensure my posture and alignment is what it should be. I had my last long run yesterday (8.8 miles), and today is my last PT session before Paris (we usually work out mid-week, but I should be winding down the exercise by then apparently). I'm planning to do a couple of short runs in the next couple of days, and then stop on Thursday to give my muscles a rest, so everything is ready for Sunday.

I've been getting really nervous too, and throwing myself a bunch of 'what if's - basically trying to drive myself crazy. What if I have a bad day and a really crap run? What if I trip over my own feet (it has been known) and injure myself before the run? What if I need the toilet half way through (I really don't want to spend 30 minutes in the toilet queue)? I'm trying not to let those thoughts get to me because, well, if any of them happen, they happen, and I'll just have to deal with it (I say this now, but you know I'll sulk like a muhfugga if I do injure myself).

When I started training for the Paris Half Marathon, I decided not to set myself a target time. Mainly because a) I'd never run anything over 10 km before so how the hell would I know when I'd finish? and B) I'd be so chuffed to finish the race, time wouldn't matter. But having done all the training, I want to come in under 2 hours 30 minutes (the average time of yesterday's run put me in at just under 2 hours, but I know I wouldn't have been able to maintain that for another 4 miles). If I come in under that, I'm going to eat a cupcake/drink a cocktail for every minute I had to spare. How's that for incentive?

I'm going to try and blog lots more this week - mainly because I need an outlet for the running anxiety, but man, I've missed you guys!

On a completely different note, I'm going to see Anna Nicole The Opera tomorrow night - what the hell do I wear to that?!

Run Sweeney Run: Take 1

Remember that VERY scary challenge I told you about? It happened on Saturday. Let me give you a bit of background:

[In the gym, about a month ago. I'm discussing my training plan with PT]

PT: "You know you can run the full distance? Do it a few weeks before the race then you can bring your long run distances down."
Me: "Um... no? No."

[A couple of days later. In between working really hard, I'm on messenger to Gemma]

Me: "So, PT said I should run the full half mara distance a few weeks before the race. Do you want to do a test run with me in February?"
Gemma:



Thankfully she came round to the idea in the end, and we set a date. Then the Timelords decided they hated us and that date whizzed round in the manner of bikini wax day (you know what I mean?).

I took my Nike+ Sportband for a run around the block to re-calibrate it (it was being a little generous with my distances, which is fabulous, but not fair). I don't have a running track near me, so I used RunKeeper to set the correct distance.

GG found a half marathon route which took us around the river from Barnes, across Kew Bridge, through Kew, Chiswick and Hammersmith to Putney, across Putney Bridge, and back to Barnes. That doesn't sound too long, but looky.

It was horrible. Awful. The worst run of my training so far. I'm used to running on the tarmac and pavement of Central London, not the uneven trail of the Thames Path. The track was hell on my calves, and I had to stop when we were only 3km in to stretch them out. I knew then that this wasn't going to be a great run. Thankfully it wasn't all trail, and we did come across some blessed tarmac, but even then, there were a lot of stretching stops and walking breaks.

If this were a film, I'd indicate the passing of time with a wee video montage. It's not, so I'll do it with pictures instead:

Don't worry, I won't talk you through the entire thing. But here's what I took away from it:

1. Boiled egg and soldiers is not a sufficient half marathon breakfast. EAT MORE.
2. Scoffing a handful of gummy bears behind the Chiswick Boat House then trying to run will give you cramp.
3. Tiny kids on bikes will not move out of the way for you.
4. There are no downhill sections on that route. Bad. 
5. I do not fancy boys who row. (Or, y'know, any boys that aren't you, Al)
6. Running with achey arms does not improve the ache.
7. GG makes an awesome bacon sandwich.
8. I CAN RUN A HALF MARATHON WITHOUT DYING.

We finished in 2 hours 37 minutes. Longer than I'd hoped, but we stopped a lot, and hopefully that won't be the case in Paris.

My efforts at re-calibrating my Nike+ Sportband clearly didn't work - it told me I'd only run 18.4km, and GG's RunKeeper had us at over 20km. I really need something with GPS to track my runs, the Sportband just isn't accurate enough for my liking. If anyone has any tips on how to sort it, please let me know!

Janathon: Day 1

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great night. I have a deep hatred of New Year's Eve, and as my boyfriend was working, I saw 2011 in with Mad Men and cheese on toast. Rock and roll.

I've never been able to stick to New Year's resolutions (if you've ever managed to keep one for a whole year, please let me know), but I figure I can stick to one for a month, so yesterday I signed up for Janathon.

If you've heard of Juneathon, you probably know what Janathon is about. If you haven't heard of either, let me explain. The aim of Janathon is to run every day, and blog every day. Simple, non? There are lots of fabulous prizes too, should you need an incentive (the best kind of carrot - next to cake).

Here are The Rules:

• You must run or do some form of exercise every day
• You must blog about it within 24 hours
• You must join the Janathon group at the Running Free website and log your runs/exercise
• You must visit other blogs and leave comments, giving your support
• You must link to the Janathon website and display the 'Janathon Participant' logo

This morning, with no hangover (smug much?) I hit the streets for the first run of 2011. 5k at a relaxed long run pace, including a detour to the Royal Mail delivery office to pick up the parcel that wouldn't fit through my letterbox yesterday. Obviously, the delivery office was closed, so the identity of the parcel remains a mystery (*please* be my Nike+ sports band!). You know how much I love early morning runs, and today's has been the best so far for people-watching. Walks of shame in fancy dress, people asleep at bus stops, more drunk cheerleaders, and a lot of abandoned high heels. Excellent work, Londoners.

In other news, if you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me mention a problem I was having with the arches of my feet after running. It's definitely getting worse, so I'm taking myself for a gait analysis this weekend to find the perfect shoes for my feet. In the meantime, it's shorter runs in my old trainers.

Best of luck to all the other Janathon runners - happy running!

Run Sweeney Run: Pace, Pace, Baby

With the excitement of Christmas over and 2 days off work, I did what I do best when boredom kicks in and ate everything in sight. Leftovers are devious little bastards. Let me tell you, there's nothing to make you want to train harder than your favourite skinny jeans pinching (this week's work wardrobe consists of tights and floaty dresses). So this week, I'm stepping it up.

I've always had a problem with pace when it comes to running; in the third minute of my SUPERchicks 10k I was running at 20.13 km/hr, in the fifth, I was running at 11.11 km/hr, in the twelfth, 14.19 km/hr - what?! One of the few things I like about treadmill running is that it allows me to keep a steady pace, something I'll definitely need for the Paris Half Marathon.

So when I found AudioFuel at the London Running Show a few weeks ago, I was very interested. AudioFuel provide music to accompany your training, with a beat to match your drive and stride. Their products fall into three categories (low, mid and high intensity), and there's interval training, long run training and timed sessions. And the best thing? They come with coaching. So, I picked up an interval training session and Run Free 1, an hour of mid intensity training. After the eating extravaganza that was Christmas, I've stepped it up to Run Wild 1, an hour of high intensity training.

I've been using AudioFuel for a couple of weeks and I love it. It's really helped me with my pace, form and stamina, and it stops me getting bored on the longer runs. I find the coaching really helpful too - it's not too frequent (a few lines of encouragement at the start of each track, plus some useful tips scattered throughout) and not at all shouty, plus you get a time check every ten minutes. The music isn't what I'd normally chose to run to (I'm an R&B girl if you must know) and it's not going to win a Grammy anytime soon, but it's so easy to listen to and it's not at all bad for what it is - expect electronic beats, with some fun percussion thrown in for a bit of flavour.  Take a look at the website for music samples.

Here's a snippet of the coaching from Run Wild 1, which I found really handy:

"You're probably aware that beats per minute is not an accurate indication of speed, because depending on your height and stride this will be a fast pace for some, and a relatively slow pace for others. The aim of these long runs is primarily to build distance, duration and stamina. The most important thing is to get miles under your belt, and to train your body to burn its own energy supplies."

The interval training is fabulous too - perfect for a high intensity session without having to worry about exactly how fast you need to go and how long for.

I could go on, but I don't want to bore you. Have a peep at the AudioFuel website to see what I'm on about. And let me know what you think - perfect pace keeper or another money-wasting training fad?

The early bird... goes window shopping.

It's so much prettier when all the pesky people go home.

Flickr image from Cristiano Betta's photostream

Alarm-clock issues resolved (alarm clock app makers take note: an app that flashes 'Please wake up', but doesn't make any noise, is useless) and bored of treadmill running, I rolled out of bed the other day at 5.45am for my first morning road run in a long time.

I live in Central London, and am a little extremely anxious about being murdered on my morning run. So, I figured a run up to Oxford Circus and back would be a safe route - main roads = more people to save me from the crazy hypothetical murderer.

It turned out to be one of the loveliest runs I've ever had. I'd been in Oxford Street the night before, picking up a few Christmas presents, and it was mayhem. But at 6am, it was just me, the road sweepers, and a few hardcore party-goers from the night before. It was the first time I'd really noticed the Christmas lights, and it was the perfect opportunity to do a bit of window shopping (I may have slowed down for a proper look).

A few other things I noticed on my new favourite route:

• There is a lot of vomit around. Must learn to spot before almost landing in it.
• People buy food from KFC at 6.20am
• The Marble Arch KFC is open at 6.20am
• The Selfridges Christmas windows aren't as good as they used to be - anyone remember the good old days of The Owl and the Pussycat windows?
• There's a slight incline between Selfridges and Debenhams - who knew? 
• Drunk people make great cheerleaders

So, Central London runners, if you're like me and you get bored quickly (please don't let me be the only one), you'll love an early morning run through the West End. Also, I'd like some other runners to roll my eyes at while I'm being shouted at by drunks.