pain

Short n sweet…

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It was two days after the Epic Pedal for Scotland 110 mile sportive cycle and I felt the stress of knowing that I had a marathon to complete in just 3 weeks (29 September). Despite feeling tired I knew I had to get out and put some training in!

My training schedule had long runs on a Sunday and so the Tuesday run should be a short challenging one with lots of hills.

I headed down into the fields with the dogs and turned left towards the mill. Moving over the uneven ground was quite a challenge with my tired legs and then Candy ran off for a while chasing rabbits! I was enraged by this as I really needed to get on with my training and the light had started to fade… if she hadn’t turned up soon I’d have had to abandon the training session. Fortunately my phone had a dog whistle app and I used that for a couple of minutes and she reappeared… I quickly put her on the lead so I didn’t loose her again! I deleted this segment of the training session and restarted Strava!

Through the fields we continued and then down past the mill and through to the show grounds where Winnie, who was still allowed her freedom, went racing off after lots of rabbits! Fortunately she came straight back and I popped her on the lead til we crossed the road and headed along the river and up Midgie Glen. There is a significant hill here and I could tell my legs were still very tired from the cycle. Once at the top of the footpath we turned right and went round the square mile on the road. I could tell my splits were slow but I was just glad to be putting in the effort of going out for a training session! The road evened out and I felt much stronger then I turned left down hill past a lovely cottage, over a stream and up a very steep hill back to the main road. I slowed right down near the top but was pleased that I’d managed to jog up slowly. I turned right and jogged up to the summit of the road before heading back down the rollercoaster road back into Neilston. It was amazing, I went from being extremely tired to feeling strong and fast as we descended back to the village. All in all not a bad training session considering all the energy I’d used up only 2 days before!

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Mind over matter….

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Some days you don’t get up when the 0630 alarm goes off… and you don’t feel like going for a run in the wind which is howling past the open window…   and when you nip to the loo you peek out to see the dark clouds looming heavily on the horizon threatening rain in heavy showers before you dive back under the warm duvet for a heat! (September brings with it autumnal temperatures in Scotland!)

But then, I remembered why this training was important!  Not only was it essential to get a 3 hour / 18 mile run in before the marathon scheduled in 4 weeks but the whole reason for doing it in the first place came to mind.  It’s all about helping raise awareness of domestic violence and other problems faced by vulnerable women and raising money to allow them to do activities which will improve their self worth and confidence and ultimately to help provide funding for a safe house for those in desperate situations.

So I changed my attitude, sang to the dogs as I got ready (they loved this and tilted their heads from side to side to get a full understanding of the meaning – generally lyrics such as “are you ready to join your mum? in the park to have some fun, we’ll all go for a little jog, and the dogs can swim after a log!) then we all (me and the dogs) headed out to the car and drove to Pollok park via the garage for supplies of pain killers and Mars bars to add to my carbohydrate and electrolyte (SIS Go Electrolyte drink) I’d prepared earlier.  I’d had bran flakes, strawberries and raspberries for breakfast but I knew that 18 miles ahead would require more sugar so I forced myself to eat a Mars bars at 0930… yuck!

Having a great reason to run didn’t make it easy!  It took me a few minutes to get my running iPhone arm band on (with the Strava app) and another couple of minutes to get the dogs out, lock the car and stash the iPod in my back pocket with the car key. [NB -the iPhone 4s battery life is a stretch at the best of times never mind playing music at the same time so two devices are required to sustain the whole distance].

As I headed off at a slow marathon paced jog, my legs felt tight and tired.   I jogged from the cricket car park along the river to Pollok House.  The the wind wasn’t too fierce to begin with so the path was fragrant from the delicate lilac flowers next to the water.

I certainly didn’t feel as good as I had the week prior but I managed to get up over the first couple of hills reasonably strongly, then headed past the pond, through the woods, along the Burrell Collection exit and up the path past the main exhibition building then down the road and back to the cricket car park.  The first lap was painful, the last mile of it made me think I should give up and go home! I stopped at the car ditched the water bottle, put the dogs in the car boot and lowered the windows as I didn’t want them doing the whole trip.  Then a quick cry for help to my mum “I don’t think I can do it!”

With some encouraging words I set off again on lap two, I was about 5 miles in and spotted my sister-in-laws best friend with a new baby and was glad of another excuse to stop!

Off running again, I had a quick drink back at the car at the 6 mile mark then changed direction and went the other way for the next 3 miles passing a small group of people walking in aid of leukaemia.

When I reached the car at the 9 mile mark I really was for giving up – my right hip and my left knee were really sore!  However, I knew I wouldn’t get the chance to make another attempt on 18 miles so it was then or never…  I ate another Mars bar and took some painkillers with aspirin, paracetamol and caffeine and resumed my original direction of running as the steep hill seemed to be easier to deal with than a longer lower incline.

At 12 miles I thought I’d better extend myself past the previous weeks achievement and there were only 2 more laps to do, so against my will to stop, I forced myself on.  I couldn’t face another lap and the hills after that so I jogged out and back along the river with only one short hill up and over the M77.  It was a real struggle to keep jogging as my left knee felt very sore by that point.

But in the end I did it! At my lowest points it really helped when other people jogged past and I tried to follow them at a distance as they kept my focus.

I’m really looking forward to jogging with other people on the day of the marathon and I know from doing 10K’s and half marathons, race day really lifts your game and your spirit.  Here’s hoping it goes to plan!

Fragrant flowers along the river path

Fragrant flowers along the river path

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Head Wind, Heavy Rain Heaven!

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“Fancy a 60+ miles cycle Lorna?” my brother asked me on Saturday.  So it was agreed that we would have an 8am pedal-off from his house on Sunday morning. (Weather forecast was great – white clouds and sunshine all day).

Intent on being on time, I packed the bike and my accoutrements into the car and arrived dead on 8a.m. ! Well done me!  However, in my haste I’d put on my trainers to drive and had left my cycling shoes avec cleats back at my house along with my sunglasses… Fail!

David had breakfast and then did a quick check on my tyres.. both front and rear wheels were low on pressure so he pumped them up to 100 psi as recommended.

Both bikes packed into the car and back over to my house we had a quick pit stop then headed off up the Rollercoaster road in a head wind i.e Kingston Road out of Neilston past fields, the Commore Dam and out past the motorcycle trails academy.   As we pedalled down towards the turn off for Fullwood, the dark clouds brought a quick shower so we headed for the cover of the trees by the side of the road and took the opportunity to plan the amended route in a bit more detail.

Phone, safely stashed into the plastic zip-lock bag along with the Wiseman Dairies poncho and then stuffed back into my rear pocket for dry keeping and we were off again.  We turned right along a hedge lined road and into Dunlop, wet road, slick tyres and tight bends meant we went at a slower pace than normal.  We went over the Railway bridge through the roundabout then turned right towards the A736 and Burnhouse.  When we met the main road we turned left and followed it for a couple of miles to the Blair restaurant, Auchentiber then turned right and headed to Kilwinning.

The headwind was brutal so we agreed to just stay in our middle gear ring and pedal it out… after all there was no point exhausting ourselves only 10 miles in with 50 – 60 to go!

We reached Kilwinning and followed the signs for Ardrossan which led us through Stevenston, round the back of Saltcoats and passed the turn off for the Arran ferry from Ardrossan.  Out of the town we were now cycling along the coastal cycle path and on through West Kilbride where we rejoined the road again.

This stretch of road was very busy with fast cars so it was a welcome sight to turn left off the main road and on to the cycle path past Hunterston Castle: 20130819-181713.jpgand through the estate passing the access road for Hunterston B nuclear power station.  The quality of the path was a bit more suited to a mountain bike than road bike for this section and the knobbly pavement from there to Fairly where we rejoined the road.

As we came in to Largs, we turned left and went over the humpback bridge over the railway line and into the Largs Marina.  Here we turned right and followed the park path  alongside the rocky outcrops then the beach before rejoining the main road and turning right up past Nardini’s.

The next section of the route from Largs to Kilbarchan was exactly as we had done on our ‘3 Peaks Loop’ a couple of weeks ago on the 6th August however, the main differences were firstly that David was on his new Specialized Allez road bike and so we went faster and secondly that it bucketed down with rain as soon as we got 3/4 of the way up the Loch Thom road!   David choose the moment we reached the top to stop for 3 minutes to stop his app because his phone was nearly out of power and to stash his phone in a dry part of his ‘fanny pack’ as the American’s would call it.. we call it the essential tools and spare tube pack! honest!

I decided it was a good time to put on my free ‘Pedal for Scotland’ Wiseman’s Dairies Poncho… yes I looked like a plastic black and white Holstein-Friesia cow flapping in the wind but it did help to keep me slightly warmer than the cold rain would allow.  It did however make an incredibly loud flappity flap noise and acted like an air brake so I had to stop at a layby to tuck it in under my top!   As we descended down towards Loch Thom we passed a couple cycling uphill in their rain jackets and they did make me think maybe I shouldn’t have travelled so lightly!

Down by the loch side it was a relief there weren’t as many flies as last time but we did spot a steamed up car just before the police passed us in the opposite direction so if there was anything untoward going on I’m sure the law enforcers were about to sort it out!

There was another short climb before the rain went off again, we stopped and I folded my poncho badly before tucking it under my back to look like a hunchback (thanks David for your description) and then deciding it needed putting away properly in the small pocket, we wolfed down our last mars bars and had a quick drink before we descended down the slippery steep road into Greenock.  We were doing a lot of braking before the bends this time – David especially has realised that versus his mountain bike disc brakes, the road bike is like a 1960’s mini versus a new one!!  In fact he had a couple of stories of the lucky escapes he’s had in the last week since he has been out on his new bike, misjudging the braking distances!

We went the naughty ‘Road Closed for maintenance’ way round the road works then up to the start of Auchmountain whereupon my poncho leapt from my back pocket and I thought I’d lost my phone too.  Safely stowed we granny wheeled it up the 2 mile very steep hill and then on to the great fun back road and on to the cycle path outside Kilmacolm.  It was evident the road bike was a great purchase when David was able to zoom along all the way through Kilmacolm, Bridge of Weir and on to Brookfield where he said his farewells, 59.7 miles clocked with another half a mile to go.

I carried on along the cycle path to Paisley, left it at the Paisley Canal train Station and cycled to Barrhead, where I couldn’t be bothered waiting on lights so went via Tesco car park.  I was dreading the hill climb home so I stopped to make a call to my mum to pick me up!  Plan foiled!  Sadly my phone had died and I had to spend the next final 8 minutes of the ride cycling up the big hill and back to my house.

Safely in the door I had a few air punches and a few muted ‘YEAH I’ve done it!’s before stripping off and finding I’d lost my bank card!  Showered and dressed I headed back to Tesco car park where I found the bank card! YASSS!  Here’s the proof of the ride up to the point where i last checked my phone successfully at Brookfield.  The phone died and it missed out the Paisley, Barrhead, Neilston part of my journey so I estimate it was 70 miles in total:

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