Event Review : Polesden Lacey 10k

One of the things I really wanted to do this year was to race at a National Trust property. I've been a member of the NT for years and admire the work they do. Heck I've even been on working holidays with them (although making cider and learning to surf and turf didn't really feel like "work"). The grounds of the properties they own and the swathes of countryside are stunning and it just seemed like a lovely thing to do, given the opportunity.

My friend and RunFitter, Rachel, took part in the Polesden Lacey 10k last year and hearing her description of the event, even with mention of the huge hill, was enough to get me signed up. Polesden Lacey is a National Trust property with a beautiful 1400 acre estate with stunning views across the Surrey Hills. It was owned from 1906 by the famous Edwardian hostess, Mrs Greville, who entertained royalty, politicians and the cream of society. The route takes in the grounds and some of the woodland walks that surround the house. The 10k only cost £18 which gets you a fine medal, chip timing and chocolate at the end of the race. There is also a 2k fun run for those who don't want to tackle the whole thing.

It was a grey and drizzly sort of morning as we set out to make the hour drive to the event. As we stepped out of the car I regretted my choice of attire; vest, shorts, thin long sleeved top. The wind bit through and I could feel the rain seeping through to my skin. A brisk walk to the shelter of registration tent to collect my number and then to the woods near the start line to eat a picnic breakfast. Overnight oats for me and mum, sausage sandwich for dad.

On the way we stopped at the Hoka tent to eye up the brightly coloured trainers. The guy there said that I could try a pair of trainers for the race so ignoring the rule of "no new things on race day" I promptly ditched my beaten up old Salomons and laced my feet into a bright new pair of hokas. After breakfast when I found Rachel and the rest of the Tool Station Posse (as we now call ourselves at RunFit) it didn't take much to persuade Rachel to try a pair too. So kitted out in fresh kicks and snazzy visors to keep the rain out of our faces we huddled into the crowd on the start line, bracing ourselves for "the hill".

It wasn't a huge event, around 400 people and so there wasn't too much jostling at the start. The route quickly lead out of the main grounds and into the woods. The terrain became progressively gravelly, then muddy, first down hill then up hill. For a mile. I am not ashamed to admit I broke and walked. My legs weren't fully recovered from the previous week's marathons and I'm not strong at hills at the best of times. Spirits refused to be dampened by the rain, although the trees offered respite from the down pour, and soon we were tackling another, shorter uphill through meadows back towards the property. The steps up and through the pagoda must have been someone's idea of a joke but the views before we turned into a dense wooded area were stunning, even in the rain. My legs found a sprint finish, thanks to the cheers from parents and friends.

Soaked to the skin and a time of 1:03:35 could have left me feeling deflated but instead I felt a sense of achievement and wellbeing. It was a joy to cheer Rachel over the line as she finished in a time 12 minutes faster than the year before. Well done! Medals and chocolate bars collected, hugs all round and tags snipped from our now not so new-looking trainers. Regrettably we did have to return the shoes but the consolation was that our own trainers were nice and dry!

So without further ado it was a quick dry and change and to the cafe where we partook of tea, cake and other various lunch items. If the sun had been out we would have stayed for a picnic and made a day of it, but alas, t'was not to be. We will be back though, to visit the property and to race again no doubt. We're also talking of trying a night run at another NT property in the autumn.

My thoughts? The marshals were all cheery and genuinely helpful, the organisation good, too few toilets but an excellent medal. The rout, although slightly challenging was not beyond most and very picturesque. Having the fun run was a great way to make it more of a family day out and an extra marque for shelter (mainly for spectators) would have been nice. I'm adding it to the list of "would do again" races.

Less Training, More Self Preservation

My clients are getting used to me grimacing every time I demonstrate a leg exercise. With Cakeathon on Bank Holiday Monday and the Stour Valley Marathon the Sunday after, my legs seem to be permanently sore!

In the days between events I'd foam rollered like never before, stretched a LOT and even got the most painful sports massage I've ever had. I survived thanks to copious amounts of compression wear and actually making myself take part in warm ups and stretching throughout the week did help, I'm sure of it. I wasn't able to get booked in to yoga last week but I did make use of my new Virgin Active membership to try a Pilates class. It helped. That and a gentle swim, followed by a jacuzzi, sauna and steam (well why not).

Amazing Stour Valley Marathon bling! 

I didn't run at all last week apart from the marathon and for once I didn't miss it or feel guilty. Even when I was marshalling for the Dinton Pastures 10k on Thursday night, although given the size of the ice cream I had (which was effectively dinner) I probably should have done! Dinton is always fun. I know a good proportion of the participants these days and it's always a good atmosphere. It was a dry but hot evening with blessedly few insects around. The water station didn't stand a chance and the ice cream van did a roaring trade!

As a bit of a treat to myself I ordered a new pair of trainers. I had to ditch my bright blue Brooks Glycerines earlier in the year and went back to my Ghosts which are tried tested, but frankly a little boring in the colour department. This year's Glycerines are squint-inducingly bright which is really all the excuse I needed. That and a 50% off deal for sweatshop.

They've not been taken out for a test run yet, I'm waiting until the weather dries up and I'm not running trail. I think a gentle saunter later this week may be on the cards. I'm not out of the silly season for races yet, still two more to do before a break, but it's all shorter distance now thank goodness. You can have too much of a good thing...

My activity diary, or lack of it, last week reads like this:
Saturday: Rest day
Sunday: Stour Valley Marathon
Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Pilates
Wednesday: Long walk around Virginia Water
Thursday: 1km Swim
Friday: Rest day

Swayed by bright kit? In the throes of too many races following overly enthusiastic race booking earlier in the year? Share your latest!

Event Review : Stour Valley Marathon

It's 6am on a Sunday. I'm awake, cup of coffee on the go and somehow in my running gear (have you any idea how difficult it is to get into lycra before 7am?). I have an hour and a half drive ahead of me, but I've allowed for two hours, to get me to Nayland which is on the Essex / Suffolk border about 10 minutes from Colchester. All this because I read a race report last year that made me want to run a marathon through the countryside.

The Stour Valley Marathon is a trail marathon through Constable Country following parts of the Stour Valley Path, Essex Way and St Edmund Way. It measures slightly short of 27 miles on Garmin devices and so could be classed as an ultra. It certainly would if you got lost, which is a real possibility as the course isn't marked. Instead participants are given a narrative route or can choose to download a GPS track for their Garmin devices. As my Garmin isn't fancy enough to handle that I was to be following the narrative version, not unlike that which I followed for Gatliff, my first ultra.

Parking and registration was a breeze and so I milled around with a cup of tea, wondering how quickly I'd need to lose the long sleeves and how my legs would react today, it being less than a week since my last marathon. There were only around 200 participants, so a small field, but many from the local running clubs. The advantage of being local is that you can try the route before hand, something that I appreciated not too far into the run. We started fairly promptly at 9am, heading out of the village and towards the first stile (thankfully there weren't as many as Gatliff). The first couple of miles were a bit bottle-necky as you might imagine, but we soon spread out. The plus side to this was that after the first mile I was roasting my my long sleeves and someone very kindly offered to hold my race vest while I peeled it off. Temperature was a big issue that day, rising quickly throughout the morning to hit around 25 degrees in the afternoon. The event has a seven hour time limit and as a slower runner I knew I'd need a lot of that time, so was running during the hottest part of the day. Beautiful, but hard going.

Pretty but no shade

As we wound through some enclosed footpaths I started to lose the people in front and had a mild panic about the instructions. As I stumbled through some undergrowth near a church thinking to myself "surely this isn't right" I glanced sideways to find a fellow runner taking a comfort break. Apologising profusely I stumbled on but as happens on events like this she caught me up and we started chatting, running together with another lady for at least half of the event. Being a local she was able to keep me on the (not very) straight and (very) narrow path, pointing out the footpath signs we should be following as well as views I shouldn't forget to look at.

A view. At the top of a hill. I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have.

Challenges on the course included the aforementioned stiles, footbridges, kissing gates, brambles, stinging nettles (how I came away unscathed from that I don't know) and rabbit holes you could lose a leg down. In addition there were crops to avoid trampling, ploughed fields that necessitated leaping from furrow to furrow as if on the moon, and hills. Oh the hills. In fairness there weren't that many but I took my ultra strategy of walking them all very seriously. Oh and cows, quite a lot of cows, with young, and a field with a bull in it. Mostly they moved out of the way but one seemed intent on guarding the gate I was trying to get to. I was never good at vaulting at school and I didn't have a sprint in my legs at that point so was glad it stood its ground rather than charging me.

I checked in with my parents at each check point, sending a quick text message home. They weren't with me today but amused themselves and cheered me up by sending me videos and pictures. Unfortunately I had barely any signal most of the time so didn't get them until afterwards but I appreciated them all the same.

Helpful photo from mum

There were four check points in total with an additional two water drops towards the end of the course. The checkpoints were attended by wonderful volunteers who plied us with lemon and orange squash, tortilla chips, biscuits, jelly babies, nuts and jaffa cakes. I had my own water and gels but wasn't going to turn down lemon squash or jaffa cakes, even the melty ones at CP4!

A local lady was standing outside her house, somewhere around mile 15 I think, with plates of orange wedges and chic chip cookies whilst some other kind souls had left a huge bowl of jelly babies outside for runners to help themselves to.

Looking at the scenery, deciphering and following the instructions and avoiding rabbit holes served as good distractions, stopping me from thinking too much about the distance I had left to go. In fairness I don't think it was until the last 6 miles that I started to get a bit fed up with it all, which sort of coincided with a mile stretch of very sloppy, muddy footpath that I just couldn't run on. That was hard going. But I was still managing to jog and my knee and hip flexors weren't painful, which had been my main concern. The between event massage, skins shorts and CEP calf sleeves clearly helped.

The hilarious tan lines you get when wearing shorts and calf sleeves.

The last two miles were the hardest. I wasn't tired as such, just weary, hot, achey, and in need of a lot of wet wipes to get rid of the grime and sweat build up. Oh yes it's all very glamorous this running malarkey. My Garmin also died around that point (I hadn't charged it fully) and so I wasn't able to check how far I had left to go. I started to recognise landmarks as I neared Nayland again. There were more spectators cheering and being very encouraging. I turned the corner back to the village hall and the finish line. Most people had already finished and were lazing on the grass with cold drinks, picnics and friends and families and on any other day I would probably have joined them but I'd had enough sun so after collecting my ridiculously huge meal (unexpected) I headed inside to find food and fluids. A huge spread was laid on for free for the runners and volunteers including sausage baguettes, salads, scones and cider. I nigh on inhaled my plateful! While I thought I was struggling in the last few miles it seems I was actually helping others. I was approached by a woman about 5 minutes after finishing who said she'd been following my blue socks for the last 5 miles as she couldn't focus on her instructions any more. I'm mighty glad I didn't get lost!

Post race meal. Cider was saved for later.

Once fed, semi clean and in fresh clothes I started the two hour drive back to my parents'. Tired, happy, sun tanned. I reckon I finished in around six hours, which isn't great but it's not dreadful. I had always intended to approach this as an experience, which it certainly was, and so finish time is somewhat irrelevant, especially in that heat.

Huge bling

Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe - although I'm sure there are others out there that would be just as cool to do rather than running the same route again. For £28 you really can't go wrong with this event. Small, friendly, special. Entries for 2017 should open in August...

Learning the Differences Between Boxercise and Boxing

Teeth are important. I've still got all of mine and I'd like it to remain that way, especially since I had so much work done on them in my teens (jaws broken and re-set, wired together for weeks, that sort of thing). And so I will no longer be taking part in the UWCB match on June 25th. This was not an easy decision to make but it is the sensible one. Let me rewind a bit...

I started my training with UWCB at the beginning of May. I'd only ever done Boxercise before which doesn't include much in the way of defence and no contact apart from between gloves and pads, so this was going to be new ground for me. I was really excited. The first session I went to was actually the second of the free training sessions we were given in return for taking part. There were two a week, Thursdays at 8:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30am and I was determined to make them all. The first Saturday saw us outside on the astro turf pitch. We started with a warm up along the lines of what I do with my RunFit group, but longer, then were put through some HIIT training including lots of press ups, burpees, twinkle toes, tuck jumps and air punches. Only three lots of three minutes but we were sweating buckets by the end. It wasn't easy but I held my own. Cardio I can do.

Then we were paired up to practice our stance, moves and jab punches. Remembering to keep my guard up was hard work, and I felt as though I was tripping over my feet the whole time. Another side effect of Boxercise was getting into a rhythm. It's all very well punching to a beat in a cardio class but no one's going to come at you in a choreographed fashion in the ring so that was another habit that needed breaking.

Our Saturday and midweek sessions were taken by different instructors although the format remained the same. I much preferred the midweek tutor as he was less "blokey" and managed to give us a "beasting" without resorting to picking on people. The Thursday night sessions also felt more educational and I felt able to ask questions without feeling daft. I started to get a bit more comfortable with faux-hitting my partner (although we were both still apologising to each other) as we learnt hooks and upper cuts as well as how to slip, roll and block without hitting ourselves in the face.

I started to see a bit of a change in my figure. I felt fitter and more confident in myself but I was still nervous about fight night. Chatting to the other girls in the group helped, finding out what their motivations were. After a couple of sessions I think we were all sizing each other up, figuring out who we'd like to be paired with. We would get no say in that, our opponent would be chosen by the coaching team. Of course there were far more guys than girls in the group but there was a definite split between those who wanted to test themselves and those who just wanted to hit stuff.

 Every week someone would ask the question "when will we start sparring?" and after three weeks the answer came "next week - so make sure you have your mouth guards". I had been given one in my starter pack but it was too big. I couldn't wear it without gagging. One of the other girls told me that they were inexpensive from Sports Direct so I bought one, only to discover that none seemed to be suitable for use with braces. I've got a fixed brace on the back of my upper front six teeth. It's there for life. So what to do? I couldn't spar without a mouth guard and a standard one wouldn't do. There was one online specialist who claimed theirs were suitable but failed to reply to my query about front versus back braces. The other option was a specially made one from the dentist at £180 and a week wait *after* the appointment to have the cast made. Although technically affordable, it was ultimately a question of time. At best it was a loss of two weeks training, giving me another two weeks before stepping in the ring. Not enough, in my opinion.

So I threw in the towel. I didn't really want to but it was the sensible option. I was really enjoying the training. I was enjoying seeing my fitness level go up in a different way and learning new skills. The thought of getting in the ring was somewhat exhilarating but it wasn't the be all and end all. Good news for my parents who were all for me getting another motorbike rather than fight (a sentiment not expressed lightly). My housemate has just started kickboxing so maybe that's something I could try instead, although I miss the goal element of training. So for now, boxing is put to one side. For now.

Last week's training was as follows:
Saturday: parkrun
Sunday: Rest day
Monday: Marathon
Tuesday: Rest day
Wednesday: 1km swim
Thursday: 3 mile run
Friday: Rest day

Any suggestions of a replacement activity? Something not requiring a mouth guard but involving similar fitness elements?

Inactivity as Harmful as Smoking?

I'm currently studying for a qualification in Fitness Coaching for Older Adults, as well as helping to provide more opportunities for the older population to get active in the Bracknell Forest area, so the area of study around the Wellderly population is of real interest to me. I've been heartened to see the difference that taking up exercise can make, at any stage in life, and regrettably I've also seen what can happen when a person doesn't stay active.

Part of the issue is that many people feel daunted by the idea of taking up physical activity, especially in later life. But it isn't about punishing gym sessions, uncoordinated zumba classes or "nifty fifties" sessions. Building more activity into day to day living is ideal, walking the dog a bit further, swimming, cycling, walking with friends, anything that is enjoyable.

Recommendations are that we do 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week. That's 30 minutes on five days and that could be in bouts of as little as 10 minutes at a time, yet 2 out of 3 adults in the UK fail to achieve this. And so researchers are starting to refer to the harm caused by inactivity rather than promote the benefits of staying active.

The burden on health care brought about my physical inactivity is huge. It is estimated that inactivity is responsible for almost as many deaths per year as smoking. Shock tactics, perhaps, but it starts to bring the message home.

Exercise doesn't only help with weight loss but can help improve mood, strengthen bones, manage insomnia and compliment treatment for a whole host of medical conditions such as COPD, diabetes, asthma and arthritis.

It's never too late, or indeed too early, to start building more activity into your life. Your health and well being should be a top priority (although even I don't always make it so). Making the time and finding something you enjoy doing is possible for all of us.

What's one thing you can do differently this week that can help you achieve your activity target and achieve a healthier lifestyle?

Event Review : Cakeathon

I'm a big fan of running, a bigger and of bling and am almost convinced that I'm genetically wired so as to be incapable of refusing cake. So the perfect event for me was of course something called Cakeathon!

Organised by Saxons Vikings and Normans, Cakeathon is a time challenge event; participants have 6 hours in which to complete as many laps of the course as they wish. You only need to complete one to qualify as a finisher, making it ideal for all ability levels but giving scope for more serious runners to compete against themselves. On completion of each lap your lap card is punched and you decide whether to continue. If you've had enough you just ring the Bell of Doom to receive your medal and goody bag. SVN events are renowned for their bijou events, amazing goody bags and awesome medals. Seriously, I've never seen anything like them before, and this was no exception. In addition, as this is CAKE-athon after all, there was a substantial amount of cake on hand over and above the usual aid station.

Set in what used to be known as Foulmead Country Park in Deal, Kent, the lap on this occasion was 4.37 miles, so each loop burned around 400 calories. A modest sized bit of cake per lap! Participants were encouraged to bring their own cake creations. There were prizes for the best cakes of the day, in the categories of:

1) Best cake

2) Best cake featuring marzipan

3) Best marzipan creation

4) Best cookie/brownie

5) Best vegan cake/creation

Vegan Turkish Delight cake. My favourite!

I rocked up around 8:30 for the 9am start. It's a small event in terms of allowed numbers so there was no trouble collecting my number and working out what was going on. Race briefing was amusing and informative. Amongst the regular Joes we had people running their 50th, 99th, 100th and 200th marathons that day! We started a fraction after 9am. It all felt very chilled out and relaxed. The first lap felt like the longest as I wasn't really sure what to expect but I soon settled into things. Run a lap, get my card punched, pause for squash, cake and cheese straws, set off again.

The course was stunning and traffic free (although not public free) all on gravel surface with a few "slopes", which I chose to treat as hills (i.e. walking up them). There were lovely woods to run by, ponds, grasslands and wet lands. It was pretty windy in the middle section of the course and I deliberated for ages over whether to ditch the base layer. In the end I didn't. I wasn't uncomfortably hot and I cooled down quickly after each lap. I didn't spot an awful lot of wildlife other than birds but I did hear a cuckoo on every lap. Although for once, you could wear headphones on the course and I had mine with me, I didn't feel the need to plug in. I was kept distracted enough by the course and also by greeting other runners on the out and back part of the course. By far one of the friendliest races I've ever done, "well done" was the catchphrase of the day, and sincerely meant.

My parents arrived to support me as I came in from my second lap. It was a joy to see them and my end of lap routine now included a chat with them. In the 45 minutes or so I was out on the course they   have a cooked breakfast at the visitor centre, chatted with the event team and supped cups of tea. After a couple of laps they discovered a half way point they could as get to so I was greeted part way round as well.

Dad napping. Was I taking that long?

I'd set out with the intention of attempting 7 laps, and achieving ultra marathon distance but my hip flexor started to ached and after my 6th lap I decided I probably couldn't run another and wasn't prepared to walk so I rang the bell. Better to finish on a high and besides 6 laps was marathon distance and I was delighted with that. Five hours 22 minutes on the course (including stops). Not bad. I'd only managed a couple of slices of cake as I just couldn't face it after a while but I did leave with several pieces in a takeaway container!

My ankles pre-clean down

We retired to the visitor centre for tea, warmth and, in my case, a bit of a clean up. Pretty dusty out on the course! As well as cake I got a super special finishers medal, custom made and designed, not a generic one, plus a goody bag containing actual goodies, not a bunch of adverts. Best of all, nothing healthy! Chocolate, crisps, cola... that sort of thing. 

It was a really enjoyable day out. I talked to people who ran 10k, half marathons, full marathons and every thing in between (and over). I am already eying up other SVN events to do and my mum was so impressed by the medal she was actually moved to say she would do it next year (maybe just the one lap). Highly recommended.

Have you done an SVN event? How do you feel about lapped events or time challenges? 

Travelling, Tapering, Treats

Last week was a week of much travelling (something that has continued into this week too). At the weekend I travelled down to Kent for a family get together for my cousin's son's first birthday. Very lovely indeed but with perhaps one too many buffet visits. To break up the homeward journey I stayed over at my parent's and succeeded in getting dad out for a walk around the park. He's a loyal customer of the ice cream truck that stops there but the threat of an extra lap upon purchase seemed to be enough deterrent!

I was back with my parents on the Monday after work to make a dental check up more enjoyable with the prospect of one of mum's wonderful garden lunches. I'd been putting off the check up for a while but knowing it would earn me some Vitality Points was enough incentive to get booking. All's well folks, no incentive to stop eating cake from a dental point of view at the moment!

Garden lunch, Roberts' style.

Talking of Vitality I also joined Virgin Active last week. I get 50% off their rolling monthly membership fee and points every time I attend. I was lucky enough to be able to try one of their yoga classes for free. I'd decided that if I didn't enjoy the class I wouldn't join, as it wouldn't be worth my while, but I'm now armed with a timetable and picking up my card this week. Looking forward to trying some new classes and getting my swim on.

It was a pretty sociable week too. I went to a book club in the village and had a film evening with a friend and a coffee date. "Me" time consisted of an impromptu lunch at Costa (thanks Bounts for the gift card) and a cinema trip on possibly the nicest day of the week. Weather tip - I'm going again on Thursday night so it's bound to be a warm evening... BBQ's at the ready!

Free lunch!

Tapering thankfully coincided with some of the hotter days of the year so far. Even a 9am run proved a bit too toasty for my liking and leafy trail routes are very much in vogue for me as a result. I am still mostly sticking to the out and back routes, not wanting to get lost, but I will explore little by little I'm sure. Club runs will be good for that.

Boxing training was still on the schedule last week and so in a snapshot, my training looked like this:
Saturday: Boxing Training
Sunday: Rest day (2 mile walk around the park)
Monday: Yoga
Tuesday: 5 mile run
Wednesday: Rest day
Thursday: Boxing Training
Friday: 4.5 mile run

How do you like to spend your "me" time?