Blue Runnings

Race Reviews, GPX files and more from North-East England

Feb 25

Winter Blues!

by Sarah J.

cold 001This is how I feel right now – what started as a throat tickle on Sunday has been getting progressively worse, and has today become a full-blown cold; snotty beak, headache, harrumphing elephantine cough and buffalo-esque sneezing (I am LADYLIKE in my malaise!). I’ve had my buff on all day trying to keep my throat warm, and even slept in it last night, and am on the paracetamol and hot squashes in an attempt to get this shifted asap!

This is not proving a good week for running at all. Monday’s run, while faster than previous (hurrah!) was shorter than I was aiming for – and that made it REALLY short, I missed my Run England session for the second week in a row due to massive machine problems at work, and those same machine problems are making it increasingly likely I will miss my 10k run at Bamburgh on Saturday that I’ve been really looking forward to – which will make it the second event I’ve missed this year due to other stuff taking over my diary, and it’s only February. Poopy.

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Feb 23

23-02-15 – 3.2km

by Sarah J.
Image courtesy of Digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I left home this morning with the intention of repeating the 2.5 mile loop I did the other day in an attempt to get mile 1-2 down to below 10 min/mile, and the average time for the full route down to below 10:30min/mile. The good news? I managed this 🙂 I even managed to knock 50 seconds off the pace for the first mile with the long uphill! Similar weather conditions to the 18th when I last did this route – high headwinds up the hill at the start, but instead of being dark it was lightly snowy (and then when I got back, heavily snowy!). The bad news? I didn’t finish the route. I’d wrapped up warm having gone to bed last night and woken up this morning with a tickley throat, and got FAR too hot. I do not deal well with being too hot. I’d been in two minds whether to bother wearing a t-shirt over my thermal before covering up with my wind-proof shell – and going for this in combination with a buff, which I don’t normally wear, I started to cook. Walking back after I’d stopped my watch, I was actually a very comfortable temperature in all my layers, I was just wearing too many for running in!

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Feb 22

Workout 22-02-15

by Sarah J.
Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My new hand weights have arrived! I picked them up from the delivery office yesterday 🙂 They are pretty and blue, and also neoprene covered which I really prefer to the shiny rubber stuff my USA Pro weights are covered in – they can get a bit slippy if one has worked up a sweat, or so much as looked at them if it’s summer!

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Feb 21

J Hits 10k!

by Sarah J.
Image courtesy of Digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

J & I had mentioned earlier in the week about doing a run on Saturday morning ‘about 11ish’, but after a nightmare few days (and nights!) at work I phoned her at 08:50 this morning and told her I was going for a run, possibly a long one, and sooner than 11 as I desperately wanted to clear my head and not ruin my long weekend off carrying a load of work-related agitation around. So, we both got our running gear on and went down to the river at Wylam to see how far along the route to Newburn and back we could get – it’s approximately 5k each way from bridge to bridge in a loop.

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Feb 20

Motivation Musings

by Sarah J.
Image courtesy of Master Isolated Images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Master Isolated Images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Getting the motivation to go out for a run is really difficult sometimes – maybe I’m feeling tired, or full, or just lazy, the weather’s iffy, maybe it’s just too hard to take that first step out the door because it’s been a while since I did. There are a few things that help me kick my butt into gear again.

Motivator One: Have something to work for.

My first ever running event was the Great Women’s Run in Glasgow in May last year – and I signed onto the race as a challenge for myself before I’d tried going out running. I used to work out a lot and walk miles and miles a week, and when that filtered out when I finished uni and started work, it didn’t really occur to me how much my fitness might have deteriorated after 2.5 years… I sounded like a dying asthmatic the first time I went out – and 100 yards was a struggle. My youngest sister F was out with me for my first run and can vouch for what a terrible breather I was. But, I had committed to doing it. 10km when 0.1km was looking like a struggle. I’d put sponsorship forms up at work and all sorts. I was in for it. It was either admit to everyone I was baling, or just get on with it and get round that course if I had to be dragged on a bungee rope by my other sister who’d agreed to do it with me – and runs all the time.

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Feb 18

Run 18-02-15 – 4km

by Sarah J.

Image courtesy of Digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s 29mph winds outside at the moment, and was a very lovely sunny evening so I had dinner and faffed around until dark before going for my windswept run rather than enjoying the rarely seen evening sunshine! The sky was fantastic though,  it’s one of the things I love about not living so near to Newcastle – actually getting to see the sky as a huge high dome full of stars, both because there’s less light pollution and less high buildings – it literally just opens up above you.

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Feb 16

Workout 16-02-15

by Sarah J.
Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tonight was a repeat of the workout I did last week from the Feb 2015 issue of Women’s Running – this is the start of the second week I’ve been doing this one and I’m intending to continue it until the end of this week before having a rummage for another one in one of my other magazines to start alternating with.

I’m finding the first set of reps in the session comfortable to easy with the 1.5kg, though by the 3rd set particularly for the arm exercises the weight is a bit more of a work-out level push. I’ve ordered a set of 2kg hand weights from Amazon with the intention of using them for at least one set for the arm exercises, and the full workout for the legs ones. I may decide to order a set of 3kg hand weights for the squat type exercises but we’ll see how we get on with the 2kg ones.

Equipment: 1.5kg hand weights

Time: 20 mins + warm-up/cool-down

  • 10 reps – 3 sets of each
    • Dumbbell Bent Over Row
    • Dumbbell Lunges
    • Dumbbell Triceps Kickback – each side
    • Crunches – straight and each side obliques
    • Dumbbell Shoulder Press
    • Dumbbell Squats
    • Kneeling Side Leg Lift – each side
    • Toe Taps

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Feb 15

No Ego Torch Challenge – Wallington – 6.7km

by Sarah J.

torch-challenge

Having done a torch race the night before at Gibside, I thought I knew what to expect from this one. I was wrong. I can see now why this series is called ‘No Ego’! J & I had booked in on this one as a push distance for her, and as an intermediary between the 4km J can now run comfortably and the 10k No Ego Trail in Otterburn we’re booked in for in April. There is a strong possibility that the Trail race, despite being further in distance, may actually be a step down in difficulty just because you should be able to actually see where you’re putting your feet! This one had the terrain I would expect from a muddy trail race, with the added complication of being done with the limited visibility offered by a headtorch…

The race started through the courtyard of Wallington hall and then we were off out over the grounds – slightly bumpy and soft-grounded grass which was more effort than roads to run on, but not per-say difficult, with only about 50m you were better off walking for some half-buried masonry. From here we moved onto a well-trodden woodland trail with a few minor tree roots and then onto a proper laid-down path along the river. So far so good! Next up were the woodland tracks – tree roots and tree-stumps a-plenty! Progress through here was patchy – depth perception is much harder with a torch in the dark, as the shadows are on the opposite side to you and we nearly ended up in an inelegant heap more than once!

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Feb 14

National Trust Night Run – Gibside – 6km

by Sarah J.

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I’ve done the Gibside Great Run Local 5k route a few times, and I knew this was not going to be a flat course at all, but with it being on the doorstep – I had to give it a go. This is probably the closest organised event to my front door I’ll ever find without moving house. My suspicions about the hills were correct. I did not find this an easy course. The downhills were greatly welcomed but I confess to walking the steep or long uphills, at least partially. Not anything like a personal best but I’m really pleased I went out there and did it. I was right at the back for the first half, but was able to gain some ground and overtake some people on the hills around the 4km with my pat-pending power-walk-up-hills-instead-of-even-attempting-to-run!

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Feb 12

Workout 12-02-15

by Sarah J.
Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Naypong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m trying to balance a couple of running sessions a week with some core strength training, and last week started using some hand weights to try the exercises in the Feb 2015 issue of Women’s Running. This was my session for tonight:

Equipment: 1.5kg hand weights

Time: 20 mins + warm-up/cool-down

  • 10 reps – 3 sets of each
    • Dumbbell Bent Over Row
    • Dumbbell Lunges
    • Dumbbell Triceps Kickback – each side
    • Crunches – straight and each side obliques
    • Dumbbell Shoulder Press
    • Dumbbell Squats
    • Kneeling Side Leg Lift – each side
    • Toe Taps

Playlist: Home Playlist 1

Song of the workout: Rock This Country – Shania Twain

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