Adverse Camber

I started this blog to get me through the London Marathon 2011. It was quite a challenge as I only started running on the 3rd of May 2010. I finished the marathon with painful blisters and quite a lot of money for a great charity!

This blog is now taking me on a new journey - to a fitter lifestyle aided by running.

Sunday 27 March 2011

Hay Fever

For me the official hay fever season has kicked off.  During the winter I always seem to forget how annoying this is only to be hit with it almost by surprise.

I went for my 'long' run Saturday, but sans sunglasses as I had mislaid them since I hadn't needed them for a while.  I also made the mistake of only taking one tissue with me.  It's not terribly attractive running around the park with eyes and nostrils running like a tap.  I meant to do 20 miles, but with the sniffles and my boredom threshold reached I called it a day at ten.  You see, the other thing with hay fever is that it completely wipes out your energy and I was being pitifully slow (even for me).

This year I have stocked up on cetrizine hydrochloride aka the generic non-brand version of Piriteze and hope to save some money.  Thanks must go to my yoga teacher for reminding me there is always a generic to buy cheaper at the chemists (I should've known as I used to work in one).

It takes a few days for the anti-histimanes to kick in so hopefully I will feel more energetic by the end of the week!

Sunday 20 March 2011

Time management and the Marathon

Okay, confession time.  I have been away too long.  This training for a marathon malarky is rather time consuming, you see.  This week I had one day off training and that was because I was driving to Swindon for a Fforde Ffiesta meeting.

After being a little bit slack for two weeks I was finally shamed by the groups of obviously-in-training-for-the-marathon runners that kept running past my flat at about 7pm.  It is now mild enough to go outside again so I can bid adieu to the dreaded treadmill and get back out into the evening air again.  It is still hard to get away from work at a decent time (I know - you all think we teachers work 9 - 3 not 7 - 6), but I know I owe it to myself after all this hard work to prioritise training.

Since I last posted I have done several 18 milers although this is hellish boredom as it does take me about 5 hours and I have the attention span of a flighty goldfish.  I alternate between listening to music, the radio and audio books, but nothing quite gets over the fact I seem to be wasting every Saturday pounding the streets.
Mostly I run into London, I did try Hatfield once but it was the dullest route so I shan't be trying that again.

What have I learnt since I last wrote?  Here's just a few nuggets of my running *cough* wisdom:
  1. A personal trainer is an investment and not an extravagance
  2. Just when you think you've made every muscle in your body ache a new one seems to pop up that you didn't even know existed before
  3. It's right what they say about breaking in new shoes BEFORE the marathon, my new ones still make my feet ache
  4. Burger King milkshakes are a perfect recovery food (or so my friend Ros claims)
  5. Paula Radcliffe wasn't letting off clear liquids in that marathon gutter (I'm never going to claim to do a 'Paula' again now I know it wasn't my equivalent of peeing in a bush)
  6. Aspire have somehow managed to fit 'Elizabeth' on my race tee-shirt for which I am grateful as I was dreading the loathed 'Liz' popping up when they ran out of space
  7. It is normal to feel exhausted
  8. You CANNOT diet and prepare for a marathon