5 weeks until Frankfurt...or is it?

Those of you who know me/ put up with me will know that I have been refraining from committing myself fully to the Frankfurt marathon. Without meaning to sound pessimistic, if I say: "The weather's nice today...", it'll start raining.So, given my slightly jinxed year or so and the fact that I have come to accept that, for now, when I run something is going to hurt, I have been casually sitting on the fence...

So, I am not going to say that I am doing Frankfurt because I don't want to jinx it. However, I shall say that after my performance last weekend at Bristol, I will be 'training for Frankfurt with a view to doing it'. 

I ran the Bristol Half Marathon in 77.48. This was a personal best for me by over a minute and a half. Given the injury issues I have had since last May, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, massive credit to my coach, Nick Anderson, and my physio, Mark Buckingham.

Other than that I have been loving the marathon training. Long runs and long tempo efforts suit me and I am definitely not made for speed! One thing I have had to get used to with marathon training is having one major goal race rather than a racing season. One thing is this meant is that after Bristol, I was pretty much straight back into the training! I was surprised at how well my body has held up to this, although I do seem to be ridiculously hungry this week! 

This is what I have done this week:

Monday: 60 mins easy

Tuesday: am - 60 easy, pm - 30 easy

Wednesday: 15 mins marathon pace, 5x1k @ 10k pace, 15 min marathon pace

Thursday: 90 easy

Friday - REST

Tomorrow, I have a rare 5k planned...but perhaps I will keep that quiet too in case the gods of running hear me!

I promise to write a blog post again soon. Until then, keep on running and racing! And if it starts raining when you head out on your run, you can probably blame me...

Follow me on twitter @HayleyJane4 and please ask me any questions about my training in my Ask the Expert column on The Running Bug site.

It's Me or the Bike...

Whilst I am gradually, albeit still painfully, transitioning back to running, I thought I would write about something I now hope to be doing less of...cross training. I can appreciate having done it; cardiovascualrly I feel like I have hardly lost any fitness at all despite not running for months. However, I am not going to lie and say that I have enjoyed it. In fact, a lot of the time, I have hated it! I think a lot of runners can empathise with this; after all, we are runners, not aqua joggers or cross trainers (if there are such things). The tv screens in the gym are poor substitues for the visual stimulation of the outdoors and the endorphins released by pool running are nothing compared to the high of flying around a track...

During, my period of not running, my attitude to cross training has undergone a bit of a makeover. One thing that got me thinking a bit more about my approach to cross training is what Bryn does when injured. My boyfriend cycles at a pretty moderate effort whilst playing on his video games. At first I was outraged by this. 'What's the point?', I thought. 'His heart rate must hardly be above walking!'. But somewhere along the way the penny dropped and I got it...

When we are able to train running takes up a big part of our lives. And that's fine with me because I don't mind making sacrifices to do what I love. I will turn down the pub if I have a session the next day or miss out on a lunch out with colleagues if I have a run to do. However, at some point I realised I am not prepared to make these same sacrifices for cross training. I could spend hours and hours in the pool or on the bike but injury is also an opportunity to experience a more 'normal' life for once. If only to remind myself it isn't what I actually want. So, sometimes I will choose my social life over a cross training session and that's okay. Sometimes, if I really can't face a solitary aqua jogging session or cross training workout, I might sign up for a spin or pilates class at my gym. It might not work quite the same energy systems or be as transferrable to running fitness but that's okay too. Because, injury is depressing enough without boring yourself to tears on the cross trainer.



So, I admire Bryn and his playstation cycling sessions. It's better than doing nothing because you can't face another gym session. Exercise is supposed to be fun. Do what you enjoy and you might not come back quite as fit but you will be a lot happier. And theres nothing like positive thinking for helping you recover from injury...So be kinder to yourself during your downtime. Use it as an opportunity to try a new sport, meet new people at a gym class and be a bit less disciplined. Have a bit more of a social life and do things you wouldn't normally have time to do when injured. Of course, thats only if you want too...



And any cross training is better than no training at all!



Running Resolutions

Apologies for lack of updates recently. I would like to say I have been ridiculously busy but that would be lying; in all honesty, in the three weeks following my surgery I just wanted a bit of a mental break from running as well as the enforced physical one.

As Bryn will testify, I was the worst patient in the world. Despite instructions to stay on the couch with my foot up, by day 2 I was attempting to see how far I could make it without crutches. Anyone who knows me will also know that sitting still is something I would normally never do. My borderline ADHD personality meant that having to slow down drove me crazy and I was not a particularly pleasant person most of the time.

Happily, the surgery went well and i'm now walking around with minimal pain. This week I have been able to get stuck into rehab, which has given me a focus and improved my mood. So far this has been based around aqua jogging and walking, which I hope will progress to running in a couple of weeks. I have also had some help from a rehab specialist in order to correct my biomechanics, which I believe have contributed to my problems. I will post another blog about my rehab at the end of this week with more details but as a new year has just started I wanted to talk about the things that I want to improve this year based on my experiences in 2012.

I was given what is now one of my favourite quotes of all time a few days ago; "life is like photography, you need the negatives to develop". This was a reminder to me that every injury should be made into a positive. What can you learn from the experience that will help you to be more successful in the future? Here are my running resolutions for the coming year...

My Top Five Running Resolutions of 2013

1. Be more positive

Too be successful you need to remain upbeat in the face of adversity and always look at how you can make the best of a bad sitution. I am very guilty of getting into a negative mindset and this is something I really want to change.

2. Improve strength and conditioning plan

I have always done bits and pieces but I think there is massive room for improvement in my 'prehab' plan. This year I want to put in a place a plan that I do on a consistent basis. A good strength plan needs to be specific both to your sport and your weaknesses. It also needs to to be progressive and the reps/ weights or exercises need to be changed every couple of weeks to provide a stimulus for improvement. I will apply these principles to my plan with the help of my physio.

3. I will spend more time working on my flexibility

Like most runners I am embarassing inflexible. I've said so many times before that I will start stretching more but it hasn't actually happened yet. For me to actually do something, I have realised it needs to be part of a structured written plan. So this year I am going to also put in place a flexibilty and mobility plan that involves short daily sessions with a couple of longer sessions each week.

4. Do more cross training



When cycling its important to own a bike. Pink barbie hat optional...

I used the time I couldn't run to do more swimming and cycling. Well, I actually spent most of this time learning how to swim and cycle and obtaining appropriate kit...By keeping one swim and one cycle session a week I will keep in touch with these other sports so I can easily substitute at the first sign of an injury. Not to mention having different sports is definitely good for both my mental and physical balance...

5. And finally, to not be afraid of taking a day of cross training instead of running when I have a niggle...

Taking 2-3 months off of running sure puts into perspective one missed day.

I hope that my running resolutions might inspire you to make some of your own. They are probably some that can be applied to most runners! Lets hope 2013 is a more injury free/ illness free season. And if this isn't true (because somethings we just can't control) - we can atleast look on the bright side of it! And always remember the words of my sister; "The darkest hour is only sixty minutes long"...





The quotes in this blog are kindly provided by my sister
(who often wears a bunny suit...)