Ealing Half Marathon Race Report

I signed up to run the Ealing Half Marathon about a month after finishing my last full marathon – a delightfully flat course in Manchester. One of the very first things that came up in conversations about the Ealing Half was: hills. As someone who has never really liked running up hills, this was not reassuring. So in the last few months, I have made a point of attending as much hill training as possible, as well as sticking semi-successfully to a training plan.

And the result? Well, either the training has seriously paid off, or someone was overselling the hills!

The Ealing Half Marathon took place last Sunday, and I can only praise it. From the course itself, to the organisation, to the support from the crowds, it was brilliant. Not to mention that it was close enough to home that I not only got to sleep in my own bed, I also didn’t have to get up any earlier than on a normal work day – always a benefit!

We headed off under a slight covering of cloud just after 9am, and spent the next few hours visiting Ealing as the sun gradually burnt them away. Spurred on by my brother, I had pushed myself as close to the start line as I felt I could – a few feet behind the 1:35 pacers, with the purple 1:30 flags in sight. Working backwards from my last marathon time and trying to factor in my training, I felt that 1:35 was a realistic goal, with 1:30 an ideal.

As usually happens in races of any size, it took a little while – nearly a minute in fact – to cross the line. That done, the pace started to pick up, and I let the crowd around me carry me forwards. In my experience, this means that I end up going faster than I initially plan. Certainly, the quick glance at my watch told me that I was moving at sub-7 minute miles, which made me a little nervous. But the pace felt comfortable and sustainable, and I decided to follow my usual race plan and race by effort rather than numbers: if it felt like I could hold it, I would.

By the second mile marker, I’d caught up with the 1:30 pace group, just in time to hit the first significant hill. And don’t get me wrong, it was definitely a hill. It just wasn’t as terrifyingly steep as I’d been anticipating (which is almost certainly down to doing some hill training in Richmond park – the hills there are a lot more daunting!). It helped being with the pace group at that point, because they helped drag us up the hill at a nice steady pace.

Then we hit the downhill and something happened that I certainly hadn’t expected. I sped up and started pulling away. The speeding-up-on-the-downhill part wasn’t too surprising, as I’ve always liked running down. But pulling away from the pace group was. And it made me nervous. I seriously considered reeling back the pace and staying with them, but I still felt so comfortable that doing so would have seemed like a cop out. After all, this was a race and the idea was to run as fast as possible, right?

And the rest of the race went much the same. I was ahead of where I expected to be, and felt like I could hold the pace I was at, for most of the race. I started to feel it more in the last two miles, and that’s when I had to buckle down to hold the pace, and try to focus on my surroundings rather than how tired I was. One advantage of running close to home is that there were plenty of member of my running club out to support us – and the cheers made a big difference in the last painful minutes!

End result: a time of 1:28:32, which is significantly faster than I’d ever hoped. It’s a new PB (though as I’ve only every run the distance as part of a full marathon before, that’s hardly surprising), and it sets the benchmark for next time. Because yes, despite the hills, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back next year, as long as I can fit it in!

Running and Migraines

                                        

So this morning I went for a run. Just a short one, because it was the same day as my running club’s monthly handicap race, but I wanted to get a few more miles in now that I’m less than a month from half-marathon day. So a quick 3-mile dash early in the morning, followed by a relaxed day, then the handicap in the evening didn’t seem like too much to ask.

Except that within the first mile or so, something odd started happening to my vision. I started developing blind spots and lost the peripheral vision on my right side. They came on gradually, and at first I just put it down to a little bit of sun blindness (though that was maybe a bit of wishful thinking – the weather isn’t that great today!). By the two mile mark it was clear that wasn’t the case, and I had to resign myself to the knowledge that I was getting a migraine…

I’ve had migraines for years. My first was an unexpected and rather scary experience whilst sat in the canteen at school. Since then, I’ve had one every 4-6 months. I’ve never been able to identify a specific trigger, except that – slightly counter-intuitively – they tend to come on when I’ve just come through a stressful period. And usually, I stop what I’m doing as soon as I get the aura (the blind spots and changes in my vision), take some painkillers and curl up under my duvet.

But that’s not so easy when you’re more than halfway through a run. I’ve never had a migraine related to running before, so I don’t yet have a strategy for coping with the situation. And needless to say, I didn’t have any painkillers with me! The question was, should I stop running and walk home, or should I press on, get home as quickly as possible and then revert to my normal routine. Sensible or not, I went with the second option.

My migraines are relatively short, in the grand scheme of things. The headache itself usually subsides within 5-6 hours. What does drag on though is the post-migraine (or post-dromal) phase. As a rule, once I’ve had a migraine, I’m more or less out of action for the next 24 hours: it feels like being horribly jet-lagged (or having just worked a night shift). But I have always found that gentle exercise helps: though usually I do stick with just a walk! Today I decided I’d jog to the club run, then maybe offer to help out rather than race, and hope that does the trick. And it did make me feel a little less thick-headed, so goal reached.

Migraines are a pretty common condition – according to http://www.migrainetrust.org/, there are 190,000 migraines every day in the UK. There are several different types of migraines. The most common – referred to as “migraine without aura” or “typical migraines” are severe, one-sided headaches, which are usually throbbing or pulsating in nature and affect everyday life. They are usually associated with nausea, and can also be associated with sensitivity to light or noise. Most people who suffer from migraines (between 70-90%) have this kind of migraine. The next most common type, and the type I suffer from, are “migraine with aura”, which is the same type of headache but preceded by neurological symptoms – these can involve visual changes, numbness or tingling, speech problems or even weakness of one side of the body.

One of the big parts of treating migraines is identifying what triggers them. Lots of things can trigger migraines, and it’s different for everyone – chocolate, wine, exercise, stress… the list goes on. And some people, like me, can’t pinpoint anything (though I’m not sure I mind that too much. At least they’ve never stopped me eating chocolate, drinking wine or going running!). For that reason, one of the mainstays of diagnosis is keeping a headache diary. The diary is also helpful for treatment, because you can assess what works for you. Of course, this is all usually done in conjunction with a doctor!

So – who else out there gets migraines, and what’s your coping strategy? Any more specifically, for all you runners – what do you do if you get a migraine mid run? And when do you feel ready to go back to running?

Running in Brittany

It’s been a while since I last posted anything, rather shamefully. I do (sort of) have an excuse or two. Namely, a busy period at work and then a holiday – I finished an 11 day stretch with 4 night shifts, followed by a week in beautiful Brittany.

That has given me something to write about though: running on holiday. A few years ago, I would have taken the stance that, unless lasting for more than a couple of weeks, holidays are a chance to take some time away from running, particularly our traditional summer break to Brittany. In recent years, that’s changed, because now the idea of taking even a full week away from running is not particularly tempting. The change really came into effect in the run up to my first marathon, when I realised an Easter trip to Brittany coincided with the longest run of my training programme. And now, it’s just habit. Besides, going for a run whilst on holiday gives me a chance to explore new running territory.

And last week, that was the wonderful countryside around our cottage in Brittany. It’s an area I know well, having visited it every year of my life, but things look different when you’re running. Particularly the hills. Until last week, I don’t think I realised quite how hilly the area was! The last few times I’d run in Brittany, I’d done repetitions of a single lap, because it was the only way I could be confident I’d run whatever distance my training plan required of me. Now that I have my beloved Polar watch, I felt free to explore a bit more.

So, on three of the days I was there, I pulled myself out of bed before the rest of the family were up (not hard whilst on holiday – breakfast tends to start at 11am!), strapped on my trainers, connected to GPS, and headed out into the countryside. I stuck mainly to the small country lanes, which wind up and down. The weather was mostly favourable – some sun, some cloud, but no rain and not too hot – and the scenery was lovely. I managed a long(ish) run of 12.5miles, a shorter recovery run, and a speedwork session, as prescribed by my half-marathon training plan.

And the best thing about running whilst on holiday? It certainly works up a decent appetite for breakfast – best croissant in the world, anyone?

Runner's Need Event

I’ve spent a lot of time reading about running – both online and in magazines. And I’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing running and training with friends and family. As someone with a scientific background, and who can, I’ll admit, get a little obsessive about things I’m interested in, I’ve always liked to know the whys and wherefores of my chosen sport.

So when I received an email a few weeks ago about a series of events being help by Runners Need to talk about running, I’ll admit I was interested. When I discovered that one of them was on an evening when I was actually free to attend, I signed up straight away. Which is why I found myself heading against the flow of commuters towards Victoria Station yesterday evening.

The event I attended was being held in the branch of Runners Need near Victoria Station. It was billed as an ‘Excusive women’s evening’ to talk about running. We were greeted with a glass of prosecco or a freshly pressed fruit juice (anyone want to guess which I picked? Here’s a hint…I don’t really like fruit juice…), a goodie bag filled with different energy and rehydration products to try, and a nice Runner’s Need t-shirt. And who doesn’t like a free t-shirt!

The rest of the evening consisted of three speakers, talking about training, injury prevention and equipment, with plenty of opportunity for questions and answers. First up was Nina Anderson, an athlete and running coach. She’s the European 400m veteran woman champion, and coaches a lot of athletes at a huge variety of distances. She talked to us about having goals and the importance of strength training, and how to make the most of the sessions that you have, even when you have to fit them in around work. For more information on Nina and more tips, here’s her website: http://www.ninaanderson.com/

Next up was Naeve from Pure Sports Medicine (http://www.puresportsmed.com/) who gave us a run down on the importance of conditioning and strength training to help prevent injury. She also ran through some of the common sports injuries – like patella-femoral syndrome and ITBS. This was followed by some more Q&A time, during which I was reminded of the importance of foam rolling even when not injured…

Finally, a Nike rep talked to us about two vital pieces of running equipment: sports bras and running shoes. The main take-away from the first half of the talk was to remember to get fitted and make sure you’re wearing the right bra for the job – apparently a poorly fitted bra can cost you up to 10 minutes (I’m not sure what distance this is over, or where that figure comes from!). The second part was about the difference between running and training shoes, and about why it’s sometimes necessary to have more than one pair of running shoes.

I have to admit, the last bit did win me over. I’d been thinking about it a bit before anyway. I currently have two pairs of the same shoes – Asics Gel Nimbus 17, if you’re interested. They’re good running shoes, and their really comfortable over long distances. However, I’ve recently started going to track sessions with my running club (of which more later), and my trusty Asics feel a little heavy on the track. So, with the words of the experts ringing in my ears, and a lovely one-night-only 15% discount on anything in stores…I have bought myself a pair of light weight running shoes for track sessions and short distances. I will report back once I’ve actually used them!

In summary, the evening was, in my opinion, a great success. The speakers were interesting, informative and approachable. And whilst I probably didn’t learn that much which was brand new, it did give me a chance to ask direct questions and get answers more relevant to me. I like Runners Need – they’re a good chain of shops which offer good advice and a great selection of running products. Now that I’ve discovered that they do events like this as well, I’ll be sure to pay a bit more attention to their newsletters in the future!

10km is an interesting distance to run. Or perhaps a better way to describe it is as a particular form of torture. It’s not a short race like a 5k, where you can push yourself as hard as possible, knowing that there are only 20-odd minutes of pain to get through. And it’s not a long race, like a half or full marathon, where the focus is on pacing and strategy (as much as there is every strategy in running). No, a 10k is at the intersection of the two. Not long enough to settle, not short enough to sprint… what fun!

And it’s not as if I’ve never run 10k before. I often do - as a training run. I’ve used the distance for tempo or threshold runs, or as an easy recovery run. But today, for the first time ever, I’ve run a 10k race. And I still can’t quite decide how I feel about the distance, or if I want to go back…

The 10k race in question was a fairly low key one: The Fuller’s London Pride 10K for Cancer Research UK. The course follows a very familiar loop for me, over ground that I often use when training, which was both a blessing and a curse during the run itself (nothing worse than passing a landmark and knowing exactly how far there is left to go before you can stop running!). It was mostly flat, except for the two bridges we had to cross. And I ran it a lot faster than I was expecting to.

With Manchester marathon now just over two months ago, and having taken roughly a month to recover, I’d only devoted five weeks to properly training. And that, plus the low key nature of the race, and the fact that it was 10k instead of 42k, meant that the whole thing felt a little odd, somehow. More like a parkrun than a race. Which is probably not the worst way to approach my first attempt to run a fast time over that distance. On the morning itself I felt relatively well prepared – I’d slept alright, I’d eaten breakfast, I’d had a decent warm up jog to the start  - but I struggled to get the adrenaline up the way I do before a longer race. I was nervous, but only the way I am before a parkrun, because I know I’m going to run as fast as I can and that it’ll probably hurt.

After a little faffing at the start line (mainly to do with waiting for marshals to be in place) we were called to the start. My mum and brother were also racing, and, urged forwards by my dad, we were more or less at the front of the field when the order to start was finally given (a 3-2-1 count down, with no order to go and a slightly fumbled attempt to start the clock…). And then I found myself somewhere I’m not used to being: near the very front.

Whilst I know I’m relatively speedy for my age, I’m by no means fast enough to be at the front of most races. So when we set off, and I found that initially there were only two people ahead of me, I was convinced that I’d made a huge mistake with my pacing and was going to blow up spectacularly a short distance in. Glancing at my watch, I confirmed that I was running at a faster pace than intended – I’d been aiming for 7:13 minute miles, which would give me a sub-45 minute finish. I ran the first mile of the race in 6:45 – but it didn’t feel too fast. And, because I’m me, I decided to stick with it and see what happened.

What did happen? Well, the runners ahead of me pulled gradually further and further ahead (one, my brother, managed to finish a ridiculous four minutes ahead of anyone else!). I lost a couple of places on the overall ranking by the 5km mark, but then nothing. One other runner sat on my heels for a while in the last 2km, but I managed to pull away again. And I finished in a ridiculous 5^th place overall. And 2^nd woman. And in 41 minutes and 29 seconds. A time of which I am inordinately proud.

So with that result…I’m left with a quandary. I didn’t particularly enjoy the distance as a race. It hurt, a lot, the whole way round. I didn’t hugely enjoy the race itself, partly at least because I didn’t enjoy running on my own so much. I know that sounds silly, almost, but I think it made the whole thing a lot harder and a lot more painful. I love parkrun because I’m running in a crowd, and that pulls me a long. This felt like trying to do a long training run at race pace without much of the race atmosphere. On the other hand, I was happy with my time, and I feel like, in the right circumstances, I can go faster. And it was a challenge – and I do love a challenge. The question then: do I sign up for another 10k?

It’s not a decision I’m going to make yet. I’m sure, at some point, I’ll run another 10k race. Whether it’ll be this year – who knows. The next even on my calendar is the Ealing Half Marathon, which is 14 weeks away. I know I could fit in a 10k race as part of my training, if I decide to. Equally, I could wait and try and race one afterwards. We’ll see. If the right one comes along...

Oh, and just to make it clear - I'm aware that a local 10k is never going to be organised like a bit city marathon. And the organisers of the Fuller's Pride 10k did a great job. The atmosphere was great and really friendly. It felt like a local race, with people happy to chat to one another and cheer each other on, and great support on the ground. It's easy to see my parents convincing me to sign up again next year. And hey, it's always nice to pretend I'm winning material! 

The Dreaded Treadmill...

KL from above

I’ve just got back from a week-long trip to Malaysia, to attend one of my good friend’s wedding. The trip was amazing, and mostly spent relaxing, eating, drinking, and enjoying the warm weather. There was only one thing missing…exercise. Kuala Lumpur is an interesting city, like a slightly less rich version of Singapore or Hong Kong, with a lot of character and some really incredible buildings to visit. It is not, however, a city in which anyone walks very much. The lack of pavements, the high humidity and 31C weather, combined with taxis that cost less than the price of a tube ticket at home, meant we spent a lot of time driving places and not much time on our feet.

Which, if you’re like me, actually gets quite difficult to bear after a few days. I get restless, itchy to move properly, and it starts affecting my ability to sleep. So, after a night spent tossing and turning, and with nothing planned until lunchtime, I finally decided to bite the bullet and head to the gm.

Now, I am not a fan of gyms. I like getting my exercise outdoors, so I avoid gyms as much as possible. I also really, really don’t like treadmills, so when I did drag myself downstairs, my intention was to try and do some strength training. That plan fell by the wayside however, when it turned out the gym had only a few weight machines and they were mostly already in use. So treadmill it was.

The dreaded treadmill...

My main problem with treadmills is that, without the distractions of changing scenery, I tend to get overly focused on the numbers on the screen. And that makes the session feel much longer and more painful than an equivalent session on the road. It also frustrates me that I can’t alter my pace without jabbing at the buttons in front of me. And ultimately, I just find it incredibly boring. It’s the one time when having an iPod and some podcasts to listen to is actually pretty vital. Otherwise I’d never keep going.

In the end, I actually did a couple of fairly decent sessions. For all my distaste, I will concede that treadmills do have a slight advantage when it comes to interval-style sessions. If you can figure out the individual machine’s programming system (not always the easiest thing in the world), then you can push yourself to increase speed, or run up hills, and if you are willing to be a stickler, you can keep up a higher intensity of work out with a lot more ease than when your outside.

On my first visit, I did 30 minutes worth of 5min fast/5 min slow run with the fast sessions run at 6.54 minute miles – pretty good for me and a pace I’d struggle to stick to if I was running intervals outside. The second visit I just did a steady 40 minute run (there’d been a fair amount of alcohol the night before, so I wasn’t at my best). And on my third trip I tried a hill session, running at a steady pace with the machine’s pre-set varied inclines. I’m not sure how those compare to hills in the real world, but as I’m someone who does a very good job of avoiding doing hill session, it was probably a good place to start.

So I’ll admit, the treadmill does have some advantages, and  whilst I can’t see myself deciding it’s worth joining a gym for, and I certainly won’t be going out of my to use one (my parents have on in their basement which my dad uses on particularly rainy days…), if the opportunity presents itself, I know I can get a decent workout on one.

Music or silence?

Last week, my beloved, nearly-a-decade-old iPod shuffle took its last breath. The battery has been a bit capricious recently, and it finally gave up the ghost – 5 minutes after being unplugged! Thankfully, shuffles are no longer expensive, and the friendly folks at Westfield supplied me with a new one in double quick speed. It took me a little longer to get it up and running, but it’s now performing marvellously and the crisis has been resolved.

It got me thinking though. When I started running, I couldn’t go out without being plugged into some music. The idea of trudging along without a soundtrack of some kind was slightly terrifying. Over the years since, my attitude has done almost a complete about turn. Now, I use my iPod to listen to podcasts on my way to work, but I don’t often use it when I’m running. I’d much rather be listening to the world around me. Those around me – friends, family – are divided in their opinions too. My brother never listens to music when he runs. My mum always listens to podcasts. And I have friend’s who can’t imagine running without music.

The opinion in the wider world reflects this divide. Search for “running with music” and you’ll find articles on websites such as Runner’s world (here) or the Guardian (here) debating the question. And I can see both sides of the debate. Music, provided the tempo is appropriate, can help drive you on, pick your feet up and keep going when your legs start to feel heavy. Podcasts, on the other hand, are good for longer, slower runs, providing distraction when the miles seem too long. There seems to be some evidence floating around that suggests people do run faster when they’re listening to music, and indeed, that increasing the tempo of the music increases the effort they put in (some of these studies are quoted in the Guardian article, and it makes for interesting reading). And that’s something I can admit to having personal experience of. When I was rowing for my college, I certainly couldn’t have done some of the hard ergo workouts that I did (namely, the 2k time trials) without a pumping playlist!

For those on the other side of debate, there are two types of argument. The first is the safety argument, which is the one that has also seen headphones banned from some runs. When you’re plugged in, blocking out the world, accidents become more likely to happen. This is partly because you tend to be less aware of your surroundings – less likely to hear the car coming, or the dog barking as you pass by, or the child yelling before launching himself into your path. And if you’re focusing on what’s inside your head, you automatically become slightly more blinkered, and less likely to notice those around you. Those things can all be overcome, though, by paying careful attention to the volume of the music.

The other argument, and the one I’d use to explain why I don’t listen to music when running, is that you can focus more on your body and your workout when you’re running without. It’s easier to pay attention to things like foot-fall, heart rate, breathing and so on when you can hear them without the distraction of music. Certainly with interval sessions or hill sessions, I find it easier to feel confident that I’m doing the right work at the right intensity when I’m not listening to music.

Having read more of the debate, and some of the scientific studies, I wonder if it might be time to start incorporating some music back into my training though. I certainly won’t be listening to music all the time, but perhaps the odd podcast on a long run, or some pumped up music during a tempo session… We’ll see!