Mrs.B

I was going to write a post on why I run, but then I thought that I have written about this a lot already and instead I asked myself another question: “Why have I only been running for the past 2 years?” …

Last Saturday morning J and I drove over to Richmond Park for a 10km race. We have never raced there before so my first panic thought when we arrived was “I don’t see any portaloos!! Where are the portaloos???”

There actually weren’t any but there were real toilets nearby so I was ok :) Next issue: it was cold and windy. Brrrr…

I have been running now for 2 years. Somehow even though I didn’t do much exercise between having two kids, starting to run was not difficult for me. My first run was 6.6km and I’ve been increasing the distances ever since.

The trouble is, however, that for 2 years I have been essentially running at the same pace. …

Why does running have to be so complicated?

Cycling for 6 years was easy – padded shorts, a top, a good helmet and shoes with cleats. The only injuries were those from falling or crashing into other cyclists :|

Running, however, is starting to look very complicated.

First I tackled my dietary habits to ensure that my digestion could handle long runs (no sugar now and limited gluten).

Then I got a sore knee that required a few sessions of physio and require ongoing strengthening and stretching.

NOW I have a freakin’ burning heel problem – the balls of my feet just feel on fire after about 7km. …

I had my last physio session this morning. This one felt like a nice little massage because my knee is no longer painful :D

I ran 8km last Saturday and 8 again on Sunday; yesterday I did almost 10. I can still feel that the inner quadricep of my right leg is tighter than the other one and therefore pulls on the kneecap a bit, but I have been doing a lot of stretching and a lot of quad massage, and it seems to be working – the knee feels a LOT better than it did 10 days ago. [...]

I so totally love London!

A colleague of mine told me about a very cool FREE initiative to help people run as part of their commute – your bag is carried for you, all you have to do is run!

Running groups meet either at 6 or 6:15 pm. I am trying it out next week! [...]

I didn’t get much out of the house yesterday, it rained and rained and then rained some more.

It was a perfect day for some indoor exercise though. So far I haven’t really properly worked out at home – I have always wanted to, but we have one tv in a room that is just too small to swing body parts around.

Enter iPad – my Christmas present… [...]

I went for a slow 8km run on Saturday afternoon and the sore knee didn’t feel bad at all, in fact for the rest of the day after the run it felt fantastic and I was sure that I had been healed.

Sunday morning, however, I woke up and totally limped down the stairs. Ouch. The pain got a bit better once I moved around a bit, but I decided to skip the 15km race anyway. It was raining and I did not want to run on grass, which would soon turn to slippery mud, with an already bad knee. [...]

At the end of January I managed to trip on my run home from work and I landed on my hands and knees.

The bruises healed and everything seemed to be fine, but after the Brighton Half Marathon I started feeling a bit of a niggle in my left knee. [...]

Brighton Half Marathon was hard.

Although the weather had improved from the day before and was sunny, it was still quite windy and running on exposed seaside was a challenge.

In addition, I had left my earphones in London so my run was only accompanied by the sound of the crowds cheering, which was very nice, and the sound of my feet pounding the pavement, which was not that nice. With music I’m able to tune out the pounding and just move with the music. Without music, however, my body felt so heavy and my legs so stiff. [...]

On Sunday I’m running my first half-marathon for this year. I would love to run a PB (personal best) at anything less than 1 hour and 50 minutes, but considering how long it takes my muscles to warm up in these temperatures, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Instead, I will just take this first race as the opening of the racing season and a ‘warm-up’ to what’s to come in the spring and summer. So far I have registered for two 10k runs, three 15k runs and two more half-marathons. [...]

I have really hit the ground running since 2012 arrived – I’ve clocked up 10 runs this month and a total of 137.80 km (85.6 miles). That is at least 20km (12miles) more a month than I’ve done so far during my best running months (mostly summer).

My average monthly pace is still hovering anywhere between 5.30 and 5.50 min per km, but I’ve always known that I’m more of a long distance/endurance runner than a Speedy Gonzales. [...]

For almost two years now I’ve been a runner. I’ve been slowly increasing my distance and am now doing two 15-18km runs a week.

I have found that running for more than an hour at a time requires some changes in what I eat:

a) To avoid getting runners diarrhea (lovely thing, let me tell you :), I absolutely cannot have any coffee before I run and I need to limit sugar and yeast in my diet.
b) To keep me from getting dizzy (which I tend to have a problem with) I need to drink a lot of water throughout the day, every day, and to avoid sugar.

I almost have my dizziness and digestion under control with a diet that doesn’t include any refined sugar, has limited wheat and yeast and lots of water.

However, in order to understand why I tend to have these issues in the first place, I sort of found an answer in the place I didn’t expect… [...]

This morning I decided to run to Putney a different way and coming back the way I usually do, through Putney Heath and along Wimbledon Common. I headed off after looking at the map and started making my way towards the Thames. I ran through Southfields and Earlsfield and Wandsworth but all of a sudden found myself in Clapham Junction.

Hmmm… I didn’t think Clapham Junction was on the way to Putney. [...]

I’ve discovered that December really isn’t one of my favourite months. I mean it starts out all nice:

- in the beginning we have our wedding anniversary which we tend to spend in a spa all loved up;
- then school finishes with all the lovely Christmas plays and fairs and general excitement;
- then when double digits start it’s J’s birthday, which the kids love as they get to blow out candles on a bday cake;
- but then when the double digits start rolling on, the weather gets nastier, windier and is still snowless, everyone starts getting sick one by one and no one in the household can no longer sleep through the nights AND the kids ask every darn minute of their waking moments whether it’s Christmas yet… [...]