The cold really bothers me anyway

I have a problem with cold. See, when it gets cold, my hands go like this:

 This, I am told, is Raynaud's phenomenon. All I know is it's bloody painful and my fingers can stay like that for ages if I don't warm them up again properly. And, once the blood starts coming back to my fingers, it burns like hell. Like, a hell with chilli sauce and extra wasabi.
Since I am currently working at home (hooray, my old work sent me stuff to do for freelancing!) I get to spend my entire day in a very cold house. I've had to take to turning the heat up otherwise I find that at lunchtime I've got really cold. I've started having to have hot drinks instead of cold water just to try and warm myself up. Plus we have laminate floor so my feet are cold and I have to find myself a spare bit of rug or the table leg to lean my feet on!
The problem with exercise is it's supposed to warm you up. Unfortunately I've discovered that you have to be warm to start off with, otherwise it's infinitely more painful. As doing exercise involves changing into more sporty-appropriate clothing (read Lycra, and no, I'm not going to wear it round the house all day to make sure it's warm), I end up putting cold clothes on to an already cold person. This appears to create a chain cold reaction where I'm cold to start off with, then make myself colder by changing and, just to top it all off, go outside to do the exercise. The average temperature over the last few weeks has been close to freezing. So I start running with frozen hands. Eventually, they will warm up, but - did I mention the burning pain when the blood returns to my fingertips?
Cycling is almost worse. I can get away with more padding and fluffy clothes, so I can start off OK. However, I nearly came a cropper the other day by cycling up Cudham (it's a famous hill near here) whereupon it started to rain. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but the combination of cold and rain meant, when I stopped at the top and started to cycle back down again, I almost froze to death. See, cycling downhill meant I wasn't exercising as much and the cold air was going straight into my damp gloves. Bad times. I had to stop at the bottom of the hill and had a funny five minutes where I had to get any extra layers I might have (small pac-a-mac and bonus Buff) and find some food for myself to eat. It almost felt like the cold in my hands had spread into my core and I could feel its icy fingers round my stomach. It taught me a valuable lesson in keeping local, especially if I'm out on my own in the cold. Since then I haven't really ventured outdoors on my bike, apart from to show a friend the way into town.

So, how do I "fix" or solve this problem? I'm still not sure. I've bought some new shoe covers for my bike shoes (as well as new shoes, but that was a different problem of overuse!). I also wandered into an outdoor shop the other day (as you do when you have a random desire for Kendal Mint Cake...) and found some heat pads. I am going to try these out and see how I go. They even had ones that stick in your shoes. If they work, then I'm sorted. Perhaps I should find my hot water bottle for my feet when I'm working as well... now that's an idea!

I need to start writing again

I keep reading all these running and triathlon books, and I get filled with the urge to exercise and write. So why aren't I writing? It's time I put down the Candy Crush Soda and took up the keyboard again. Plus I've just discovered Blogger has an app for that. Brilliant (although, not so much now, as I discover it doesn't work all that well. Grumph).
 So, let me take you back to late last year. It was a cold Sunday, the last before Christmas, and I'd signed up for the Greenwich 10k merely because there was a Christmas pudding medal and mince pies at the end. Many of my Triton friends had signed up for the same reason, so I wasn't alone in wondering exactly what I was doing. I'd never really done a 10k properly before, the standard distance triathlons I'd done earlier in the year fell a bit short at 9.3 k. I'd also done a 70k bike ride the day before (why not?) .
So there we were, freezing in our Santa hats (there were others in reindeer, snowman and even frog onesies!) being assaulted by Maria Carey telling us all she wanted for Christmas was you, hoping that we could start soon before we froze to the spot. Caroline was having her now usual moment of panicking that she'd be really slow. I did keep telling her I'd be behind her all the way but she didn't seem to believe me.
We finally lined up - a little nearer the start than I would have liked - and set off. I tried for the first few km to keep up with Caroline, and we even had a comedy sing along to Fairy tale of New York, but soon it became obvious that I was holding her back, and I started to think that she was wasting energy checking I was still behind her! Eventually she listened to me encouraging her to go on ahead and I ran on my own. It really helped that Greenwich Park is where we train during the summer so I knew most of the paths we ran along. Plus the big hill I ran up thinking, if I can do this on my bike with loaded panniers I can bloody do it on two legs! I'd also picked up the technique of swearing at the hill after a hill repeat session a week or so before. What I said to the hill in my mind would probably burn this blog and is completely unwriteable!
I couldn't believe that we would have to do another circuit of the hill after the first one and worse that members of my tri club were coming back down the hill when I was only coming up it! I came round the 5k mark just after 30 min so I reckoned I wasn't doing too badly for me. I'd managed to offload my hat and gloves after warming up over that lap! The second lap was hard. There were so many points I wanted to walk, but I managed to convince myself to just keep running, otherwise I'd be disappointed. I tried to cheer everyone I saw from the Tritons on. Even some others who looked like they were suffering up the hill.
Somehow I managed to keep running up that last hill, swearing all the way, promising I'd never complain about it again. I made it up and ran for the finish. There was a bit of a mad sprint off with another runner but I just didn't have anything left. I'd made it! I looked at my watch and had finished in 1 h 3 min. I was overjoyed, I was sure that was faster than anything before and a new PB for me.
The next hour or so was a bit of a blur for me - we found the medals and eventually some mince pies, said our thankyous to the great supporters who had cheered us on, and finally I could get on a bus like a creaky old lady and go home to my sofa.

Me after the race with my pudding medal! I'd managed to put my Santa hat on as well...

When I got home, not only did I discover I had done a PB, but I'd managed to beat my previous time (which I'd inadvertently set a couple of weeks before in training) by a whole 3 minutes!

Running and my first foray into cross country

This was never intended to be a blog post, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to say, so you can have the whole story... or you can go away, that's fine too.

I've never been a runner. My story is not going to be one of "never ran, then did a sub-3 h marathon two years after picking it up" which I find so annoying. I have no natural talent for running and every time I had a choice at school I'd disappear off to the swimming pool. I would be relieved when athletics wasn't running but shotput or discus. I've discovered over the last two years that my running story is going to involve a lot of hard work and effort on my part to even shave a few seconds, let alone minutes, off my time. And it's not going to take weeks or months.

Last year, I was asked if I wanted to do cross country. Faced with the memories of school and how horrible it was back then I declined. However, over this year, a few of my Tritons friends have said that it improved their running and helped their speed. I had a rethink, and then a few more of my friends said they were going to sign up for this winter. So I duly signed up with everyone else. I went out and bought my first pair of spikes (after the lady brought me some trail shoes, I had to carefully explain to her again what I wanted!) and I got myself a cross country vest with the Tritons stripes across it. My name didn't appear on the first list, which worried me a little, but Sarah (the organiser) assured me she had my name down.

The day arrived, and I had a terrible blocked nose. My office colleagues as well as my husband had been coughing and sneezing all week so it was no surprise that I'd caught my first winter cold. I had my day planned so I wasn't going to let the grogginess get in the way, and with the aid of a bit of max strength cold sachets I started getting ready and trying to tidy up the house in preparation for Stuart's friends arriving next weekend. They'd predicted heavy rain, but the weather didn't look too bad that morning. Jim called me to ask if I could go and pick up one of the girls from the tea hut, so I left the house and drove up to collect Sophie. Sophie told me she'd been out the night before for a leaving do so was feeling a bit groggy herself! It started raining as we left Blackheath, both of us realising we hadn't brought any raincoats, oh dear. As we got to the park, the heavens quite literally opened! Both of us yelped and I slowed down. We finally found the car park in a little lane which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We decided to wait in the car until the rain calmed down, then braved the walk to the start. I decided to leave my hoodie in the car to keep it dry, but that meant that I was very cold! By the time I got to the start I was cold, and my middle finger had gone white - lovely Reynauds. I still wasn't sure whether I would wear my spikes until we slid to the bathroom and back. All too soon it was time to go!
I started at the back with Thea and Mel. Mel asked me what time I was hoping to finish in and I said half an hour. She said she'd stick with me, but I knew she'd disappear into the distance ahead of me. And it was the case. I did try to keep up but the uneven ground and their fast pace left me at the back. I found the course a bit confusing. Where were we going? I was glad for my spikes as it did get quite slippery at times!  Coach W was there to cheer us on, as well as Simon and of course the girls going the other way. I even managed to pass a couple of girls who'd clearly run the first lap too fast. I found a pace I was comfortable with and tried to stick to it. The last hill came, and there was the finish! I'd done it in 32 min, which was a bit rubbish really, but I blame my cold and I think maybe a rest day before the next race might help.

I can definitely see why cross country will help me. Having to race regularly gets your legs used to working fast and the uneven ground makes me lift my legs, plus going through the mud is a bit like going through sand, which is supposed to be good training too. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm looking forward to the next one!

My Asics

I've been trying to get myself motivated into training for the last bit of my standard distance triathlon in August - the 10 k run. If you've been reading my blog ever you'll know that running just doesn't agree with me. The furthest I've run is 9 k and I was getting worried that I'd never make the 10. Especially after swimming and cycling. So I was discussing this with the guys at the cycle shop. Luckily for me they are ironmen so they also have lots of running experience as well as cycling. So one of the guys recommended My Asics to help with my training. So I duly headed over to the site. This gives you lots of options, letting you set your goal and suggesting a training schedule. You can set the number of days you can train and which days you can train on. The site reckons I'll be able to do a 10 k in 1 hour 10 minutes given a 5 k time of 30 minutes. Which sounds good to me.
This week is meant to be easy - the next few runs are meant to get my body used to training,  which is good for me. So this morning involved a slow and easy 8 k. I'm up in Blyth for the weekend so I left my husband asleep while I trotted off to the riverside. Lovely morning and I was supposed to run about 9 min/km but managed at least a minute faster. Feeling shattered now but happy with that.

Training for a Triathlon

So someone asked me the other day whether I was blogging while I was training for my triathlon. I haven't touched this blog since I gave up half way through Janathon (my trainer did try to warn me that exercising every day wouldn't work out so well).
Hold the phone... Did I mention previously I was planning on doing a triathlon? Well yes I am. I heavily suspect that I got the idea from my friend and my sister doing one. I then decided that, since I could swim and cycle a bit it was the challenge for me.I even started and completed the couch to 5k plan as I couldn't run for peanuts. So, after watching people swim over each other, crash their bikes and dress up as Big Bird, I decided the London Triathlon was the thing for me. Probably. I also decided to sign up for a training day to help me with my preparations.
Round about a month ago, I went off to the other side of London. I spent a day being taken through my paces, running techniques, nutrition and race tips, swimming and how and where to get on and off the bike in transition. That day I spent some time talking to the other participants. I realised that my swimming really wasn't my strongest sport after all (although I'd been swimming for all my life, front crawl is not my favourite or most natural of strokes). I also found swimming in open water with my head down totally disorientating. This was not good. I had eight weeks to my triathlon and for the first time I was worried I wouldn't make it round the swim. One of the other girls on that day mentioned they'd joined their local triathlon group. Now I'd thought about doing this several times but had been put off by the image of super-fit people who were really hardcore and far more able than me to swim, cycle and run.
I had contacted my local club, the Greenwich Tritons, previously. I was put off at that stage by the fact that the lady had come back to me to let me know that "We usually swim around 2800 in an hour" - I'm guessing that means metres, and given I normally "stroll" through about 30 lengths (round about 750 m) in an average session this seemed a lot!
My next post will be about how I got on at my first session and how I'm progressing now...

Couch to 5k: End of Week 2, Beginning of Week 3

So when I started doing the Couch to 5k plan, I was hoping this might encourage me to post more often on this blog. But, as always, I seem to be spending far too much time actually training in my spare time to have the time to write stuff as well!
To be honest I found week 2 really hard work. It didn't help that I was feeling particularly run down and a bit dizzy during my runs - not good. But I started to feel stronger with my 90 second runs by the end of last week. Then I discovered that the London cycling group had their 'easy' ride on Sunday. Easy being 20 miles and I would bike it on my old hybrid bike that is made of steel and weighs a TON. No joke. And not easy! But I did it, just about, but it made me so nervous I hardly slept the night before.
That has been the theme of this week - bad sleep and a load of training. I finished my week 2 of Couch 2 5K on Tuesday, getting to 3K according to the running machine, so I started week 3 today. Week 3 starts you off on 3 minute runs. Yes, a lot harder work, especially when your quads are screaming gently. But I got through it, mostly with the encouragement of Laura, although I've come to associate her voice when running with slowing down, like some kind of Pavlov reaction, I wad very disappointed when she broke through two minutes through my last 3 min run and told me to keep going!

Couch to 5k

So, after several years of thinking about it, I have finally started doing the Couch to 5k. The reason why it took me so long I think was for several reasons. My main problem, given that the plan consists at the start of several 60 s runs followed by 90 s walks, how was I going to time myself? I didn't have a timer, so I thought about getting one. Secondly, how was I going to calculate how many runs I had done? I've never been the best counter. Thirdly, how was I going to fit all three runs into one week? I'm busy enough as it is!
Luckily, to my rescue came the NHS (to my amusement my phone just tried to autocorrect that to bus - I don't think the bus would help much! Hang on a sec, why am I using my phone in the first place to update this?) with their Couch to 5K podcasts - what a brilliant idea. So, the training sessions are all ready set up for you to start going. No worries about stopwatches, having to count how many runs you've done, and, as an added bonus, you have Laura (the commentator) and some ahem, groovy, tracks to push you on and tell you what to do next.
So what about the having to fit 3 runs into an all ready hectic schedule? Well, I've decided to replace my swimming (well, I can all ready swim) with a training session every week. I will also try going out at lunch times or squeezing in half an hour before pilates on Thursday. If I'm away at the weekend I guess I could try getting up a little earlier and going out before everyone else is up and awake. But the point is I don't feel like I have to squeeze it all in. So what if it takes me a bit longer, as long as I keep going up the sequence and don't get stuck, I don't have to do three runs a week, that's my aim but if I can't, then I can't.

So the first session went well I think. It was hard to guage how fast to pace the runs. I could only manage 20 minutes before pilates but I managed to finish off the last two runs afterwards. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but at least I did it. And I'm looking forward to the next session, which will probably be on Monday.

I've even bought some new running trousers - I swore I'd never wear Lycra! And I have a new heart rate monitor to see how fast my heart's beating. So if you see a slightly mad-looking tall woman attempting to run in Central London, that'll be me...