At some point in late 2012 I think, I decided it was mentally not good for me to keep going to Edinburgh parkrun, so I started going further afield, and visiting other parkrun events within an hour's drive. It opened my eyes to the true parkrun community feel you can get at events that aren't as big as Edinburgh, and I never looked back. I now regularly mix up which parkrun I visit, and have made some good friends across the central belt, as a result. So this weekend, I decided to go back to Tollcross to celebrate their 2nd anniversary, and to see how my fast flat parkrun time of two weeks ago would translate to one of the toughest Scottish parkrun courses. It's one of my favourite parkruns, for the community spirit and supportive friendliness they have created, plus the course is "interesting", albeit very hard!! Tollcross has a lot of hills, relentlessly so, and is nothing like the flat Edinburgh route where I got 33:18 two weeks ago.I had chance before the run to catch up with some of the regulars there, I always feel welcomed there and it's great to catch up. It has been 5 weeks since my last time there, and at that point I ran it in 37:14. Before this weekend, I've ran it 10 times, and the average time for those 10 attempts was 39:35. My course PB, from September 2013, was 36:13, so I set 35-something as a goal for this week. No warm-up, due to the chatting, and as soon as the run begins you basically hit a hill, so... yeah, no matter how many times you run there, it never gets easier!
Except, it kind of did. It did. I ran the first hill, and as people were passing me, there were still plenty of people behind me, and I realised as I reached the top that I hadn't felt it as much of a struggle as other times!! Buoyed on by this, I kept pushing on. A nice gentle short downhill, along a bit, then you hit the second climb. Not as steep as the first, it's still there, then a good downhill before a right-hand turn to a long steady climb. Then along again, down a bit, round the corner, and a big steep downhill to let loose on. At this point, I was still running, and about to hit the 4th hill, the tough one by the rose garden, which takes you back up towards the start line for the second lap. All I could think as I plodded (running) up this hill was that this was the first EVER time I had completed a single lap without walking on a hill, and I was focussing entirely on keeping something back for the top of the hill, to help me run back round to the start line.
Ecstatic to reach the end of the 1st lap without walking, approaching the first big hill again filled me with apprehension, and sure enough halfway up I slowed to a brisk walk. I was still feeling pretty buoyant and keep the walk speed up, as some people passed me (I'm normally dead last by the end of the first lap, so that in its own right is fabulous!) - then Morna turned as I reached the top and said she would run with me. Oh fuck. Mentally, this is a whole new challenge I didn't really know if I was ready for. I struggled through the latter part of 2013, and all of 2014, with people thinking they could "help" me, by running with me, which created panic, pressure, and anxiety in me every time. Trying to run to other people's expectations is one of the things I struggled with massively, and it felt a bit early in 2015 to be addressing this. I tried the "no, no, I'm okay, you go on ahead..." - but as with every single time I've ever tried that, it didn't work. I told myself this was just another wee test, how I would mentally handle this, and quickly decided that I was going to NOT focus on that, and just run my own race. No offence to Morna, because she was lovely company, but I absolutely resolutely ignored everything she said about when/where I should start running after my walk breaks, or when she said I should pick up speed, etc. etc. - I just let it wash over me, and focussed on my own run.
The second lap, I ran a lot more than I'd thought I would, and as we started the last lap (Tollcross is 2.5 laps) with the big climb, I got my head down and pushed with a brisk walk, focussing only on keeping my average km pace under 7 minutes if I could. Morna started telling me I could get 34 minutes with one last km to go, and I laughed to myself, aye right!!!! I briefly looked at my heart rate, gasping out "it's 195, I just need to get it down... *deep breaths* .... Oh fuck, it's not going down.... Okay, sod it, let's get this finished..." - and just kept on going. Halfway up the last incline, before the big steep downhill, I walked one last time, then Morna stepped aside a little as I started running, and from just behind me she told me I needed to switch up a gear for the downhill, then up one last gear for the sprint finish across the grass... I laughed to myself, "I don't do gears" - as I picked up my speed to, yknow, the next gear, and flew (for me) down the hill. lol!! Across to the finish line, pushing hard, and collapsing to the ground at the end. Official time... 33:36.
I couldn't quite believe it, I still can't, but I'm thrilled to bits. On a course like that, just 18 seconds slower than the flat parkrun 2 weeks ago, and no speed work training done since then either. With two weeks to go until the 10k race, it's a huge confidence boost, and a great indicator of my improvements this year not being a fluke. :-) In 5 weeks, I took the course time down by 3:38, but also absolutely smashed my PB to pieces. On top of that, 5 weeks ago in pushing myself to a 37:14 time, I had an average heart rate of 185, with max of 200 - this weekend, pushing myself to a 33:36 time, I recorded an average heart rate of 175, with max of 197. So getting faster, but getting fitter too?? Marvellous.
After the run, and a little party in the park for the 2nd anniversary celebrations, I headed into Tollcross International swimming centre for a swim, and a long relax in the steam room. I didn't swim too long - my legs were sore from pushing on the parkrun hills with DOMS from Thursday's leg-heavy gym session, so I just relaxed a bit, stretched out for a few laps, and so on. In the steam room, I did some focussed box-breathing exercises, for meditation but also to help train my lungs/diaphragm for future running etc. It was really restful, and on a high from a great run, I generally felt pretty contented. Drove home singing loudly to cheesy songs on my playlist, and had a really tasty dinner of piles of mixed salad leaves, with goats cheese, slices of chicken breast, and chunks of bright fresh avocado. Back on track... even including the bit of parkrun "birthday cake" that I ate in the park after my run!! It was delicious, and I was proud of myself for not even remotely thinking about going back for seconds or thirds. The times they are a-changing. x
Wow, it's extraordinary what you are achieving on the running front, 33:36 for a hilly park run is great going. It really isn't going to be long before your can run a 5km averaging 10min/miles, a flat course and a few more weeks at your current rate of progress.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the biggest progress is the chessy singing in the car after going after all that physical activity!!! Means you're having fun doing stuff that no long ago was a chore, that's quite a transformation and we're just one third the way through the year. Health and happiness, what more could one want? (Apart of a 10k and half marathon PB of course ;-)
Thanks Robert - I'm really pleased with how it's going, I think looking back on old records, I beat my previous best run over 2 miles, on Saturday too. I haven't tested myself on a 1 mile time trial for a long time, but maybe I will, see if I can get close to 10 mins. :-)
DeleteThat said, yesterday (Monday) I tried to go for my long run in the afternoon, and after the first decent 20 minutes, everything just fell apart for me, and the next 20 minutes were awful, absolutely dreadful - so I cut the run short and chalked it up to a 'bad run', and I'll get back on track today. Well, today's plan is a gym session, rather than a run, but still. :-) Can't let one bad run dictate anything else, so got to keep positive. x
We all have off days when everything seems like hard work, I've had a few of those since the Fling!! :-)
DeleteSome days there is point is pushing on even when your body is screaming feck off, wanna sit down, go to sleep, but having the conscious mind battle the subconscious systems that are trying desperately to be listened to is tough, this battle has to elevate stress levels and there is good chance that it'll be counter-productive on most occasions.
I guess this issue is harder to tease apart if it's the mental side that is holding your back rather than the physical, here the body might be capable and willing but the mind finds excuses, reasons that the body isn't capable. I very much doubt that this type of negative thinking is at play though, might have been in the past, but you've put away so many good days of diet, training and racing that the normal template looks to be body and mind both capable and willing, and doing some pretty awesome things along the way :-)
I've found my heart rate monitor can be another input on working out whether the body is fine or not. An elevated HR is usually a sign of physical and/or mental stress, sometimes I can feel OK, but the HR is elevated so I know that something is amiss, be it the onset of a cold, or just work related/pre race stress creeping in. My hunch is that If you are doing some kind of physical activity most days a week then missing a day, or dialling it back because you feel not quite up for it is probably better for you than pushing on through it.
Yes, I think it was the mental side more than anything - I'd dressed in too warm clothes, because it was windy, but when I started running whenever the wind died down, the hot sun was warming me up too rapidly, and even at around 8 min km pace, my heart rate was up in the 180s, and it felt a struggle. Then a drunk girl pushed another drunk girl into me, in peals of laughter, and as I stumbled and cried out, they started laughing louder and mocked me as I ran off. (This was 1pm, I live in a wonderful neighbourhood, sigh.) Then because I was struggling after about 20 mins, when I hit 4kms at just over 30 mins, I put a walk break in, but then my mood just descended, I felt hot and flustered, and I just didn't want to be there. When I started trying to run again, I felt like I couldn't keep going for more than 20-30 seconds. I haven't uploaded the data to Garmin yet, I kind of think it won't look as bad as it felt, but I just knew there after 40 mins was no way I was getting a 9-10 mile run done that day, and that was that.
DeleteStill. One bad run does not make a bad week. Onwards and upwards. :-)