Park Run number 19 for me, getting slower, walking and struggling on through.

This weekend saw me attend my 19th Park Run at Lanhydrock National Trust Estate near Bodmin in Cornwall and It wasn't one of my best. It wasn't horrendous and I wasn't the slowest but for myself I am annoyed.

Having started Park Run back in December and this really was my first introduction back into running for many years. I plodded, jogged and walked around the course in a respectable time of 35 minutes and 48 seconds and for a very gruelling 5km run with a large amount of up hill sections I was really pleased.

Move forwards 6 months and I've joined the local Newquay Road Runners group and I run with them most Tuesdays, I've entered two races now both 5 miles in distance. The first being the Wadebridge to Padstow 5 mile event for the lobster hatchery and the second being the much more serious Cubert 5 mile event. I have then decided to enter my first ever half marathon in October this year! From a complete couch potato to 10 months into my running, I'm going to attempt to run 13.1 miles!

My weekly visits to the road runners group and the weekly visits to Park Run help to push me to gain faster times, better fitness and push and compete a little against the other runners whereas my one other run per week is a slightly longer distance and this feels good each week. But the week just gone I failed to run at all since the last weekends Park Run event. The whole week I had been feeling knackered and although I had got out on my bike and accomplished a little 6 mile bike ride I hadn't managed anything in my runner shoes.

Waking up on Saturday morning for Park Run I felt tired, even though I hadn't done anything the night before and had had a reasonably early night. I walked to the start line yawning my head off. Usually I will jog to the start line but this week a walk was all I could manage. Not wanting to give up before I had even started I said to myself 'at least i was here' I think I would have been even more grumpy had I have missed that weekly run along side all the others that week.

Umbrellas at Lanhydrock drying out after the previous day's severe weather warning

The race director got things underway giving an introduction to newbies and tourists and the 117 runners were on the start line and ready to go. I put some music on, LOUD in my headphones and zoned into my pace of running and tried not to get carried away with the pace of the faster runners.

I picked off a few runners at the start and overtook a few more on the fast downhill section but as soon as the terrain turned and I had to work I had nothing in me. With a stitch on my right hand side and pretty breathless I was wondering why I had run quite so fast on the downhill section? and why didn't I warm up at all?

As I approached the first of the uphill sections I began to really struggle, mainly with the stitch and the breathlessness. I didn't want to give up just yet and managed to make it up the first two up hill sections but the third which is the biggest of the three I just had to walk. I tried power walking up the hill but even that was a struggle. People started to over take me, and I was struggling to even push on and walk up this horrible hill. A few regular Park Runners cheered me on and said well done to encourage me but I was already annoyed with myself. I had nothing in me at all, no amount of encouragement would get me through, I felt like I was running on empty.

At the top of the steep hill I turned onto the field which although Is still uphill it is very much more gradual and feels a lot less gruelling and managed to run across this but as the field reaches the woods and the steepness of the hill increased, yet again I was walking.

As I reached the gate I was getting over taken by even more people and I knew that this was the last section, it was a little bit more uphill before the downhill to the finish. I started to jog again and tried to keep up with the ladies that were in front of me. To little avail I couldn't keep up at all, I managed to maintain a steady ish (slow) jog up the hill and as the two ladies in front of me took off down the hill to the finish I was doing well to manage to keep my legs going one in front of the other and not collapse.

As I reached the finish line, I struggled for breath to muster the words to thank the volunteer for my finishing token. After a few minutes I had recovered enough to get my bar code scanned in and start the walk back up the hill I had just come down back to the car park.

I was utterly and thoroughly shattered and now I had to get my bum over to the Electric Beach Festival and dance my socks of for the rest of the day!!!

A very warm morning for a run

Already I'm thinking about the next one and hoping for a better time.... Park Run is addictive but I guess there are a lot worse things to be addicted to in life than exercise!

The Cat Empire at Electric Beach Festival - Fistral beach - Cornwall

When Electric Beach first made a name for itself I have been in attendance and this weekends festival was to be no different. Starting in 2013 at Watergate Bay with the likes of The Next Men and Del La Soul playing this one day festival was an interesting night.

When the festival first began it had teething problems from running out of beer and many unpaid guests watching the festival for free from the beach and the cliff top. 

The following year things improved at Watergate with Electric Beach 2014 with the stage swinging it's direction around to face out to sea and the alcohol flowing a lot more freely all evening and they certainly did not run out.

Move on three years from their humble beginnings and we welcome the 2015 Electric Beach festival and what can I say. They have learnt so much from the early days and made sure that the intimate festival is a success. Not only has the festival moved from Watergate Bay to Fistral Beach the whole event seemed a lot more successful. For example you didn't have to leave the festival walk back across the beach and up into the car park to use the porta loo's like you did at Watergate.

This year they also had the alcohol choices bang on. With local beer Korev, and local cider Rattler on offer and this year they didn't run out! Although the queues for the beer tent by the end of the evening were a bit of a nightmare and we chose not to bother with getting a drink as the queues folded out threefold and reached the coffee camper van!! For anyone at the festival will know how long the queue was! Now I don't want to be negative about the festival at all but it did feel smaller than when held at Watergate or maybe it was just more successful and their were more people there?

I had weekend tickets but sadly with the severe weather warnings and an afternoon of torrential rain on Friday I decided to not venture out of the house and go over to the festival even though I had tickets. I wonder how many others gave the Friday night a miss due to the weather and I really do hope that the event organisers didn't loose out too much.

I understand that Electric Beach is a new venture and the first year it was simply a one day festival and the second year it moved to a weekend two day festival which was great. However this year although they kept things to a two day festival this year the event was held over the Friday and Saturday and being at work on a Friday until 5pm meant that I had missed most of the day whilst working so the choice to miss the few evening acts wasn't so bad especially as I have seen most of them before.

When Saturday arrived I was excited as the weather felt warm and the sun was breaking through the clouds. It wasn't even 10am and the temperature in my car was reading a balmy seventeen degrees. However this wasn't going to last and was certainly a totally different story by the afternoon at Fistral Beach.

We arrived at the beach to really strong, cold winds and typical Cornish drizzly. The first band we saw were the Big Sets who as always were amazing playing their funky soul and blues music.

The music just kept on coming with bands like the Renegade Brass Band, Backbeat Soundsystem and even the mighty Dreadzone. The wet weather was made bareable by the amazing people from Korev beer supplying us with knitted hats and ponchos to keep warm and dry before the highlight of the evening with the wonderful Cat Empire.

The festival was amazing this year, much much better booze on offer and some really great bands I'm just not sure whether the Friday/Saturday combo worked as well as the previous years Saturday/Sunday festival but only time will tell and fingers are well and truly crossed that the organisers had a successful festival and will be putting on something bigger and better for next year.

 

  

Thank you for a great weekend Electric Beach.

Park Run, My 18th Run at Lanhydrock House - Bodmin Cornwall.

After last weekends trip up to Essex and completing my fastest Park Run yet and gaining a time of 27:32 at Chelmsford Park Run I was full of confidence that returning to my regular Park Run at Lanhydrock In Cornwall that I was sure to gain a new PB.

Arriving to the Park it was a bright and sunny morning, there was a chilly wind but I was feeling strong and full of confidence that today was the day to get a faster time.

As the crowds arrived at the start line the sun was shining and the sky was blue and I couldn't wait to get going. I started off very strong on the downhill section as to be honest I normally do, I felt strong on the flat and then had the usual struggles up the hilly sections.

 I was really pleased when I finished, still feeling strong and had achieved a sub 30 minute time which is now always my goal if not to gain a new PB. When the official results came through later on in that day I had recieved a time of 29:14, I was pleased with that but it was still 34 seconds off that PB that I had somehow set 3 months ago!!!

It just keeps fueling the need to keep going week after week to compete against myself and try and achieve a faster time each week. Maybe the next one I will finally beat that pesky PB!

Running in the Cubert 5

At the six month mark of starting running it was time to enter my second proper race, The Cubert 5.

 I have recently been attending an "intro2running" group held by the Newquay Road Runners and since joining them my confidence and stamina has increased so much. The run itself was put on by the Newquay Road Runners so I had no excuse not to take part. 

On Tuesday night I entered the Cubert 5 mile road race alongside some of my fellow intro to running friends. I had recently completed the Wadebridge to Padstow fun run which was also a 5 mile run but the emphasis on this previous run was that it was a fun run and it was for charity. 

However Tuesday night was a much more serious affair. Putting on my crisp new Newquay vest, this would be my first event also associated with a club. 

Lining up at the start of the race the streets were filled with proffessional looking runners from clubs all across cornwall. There were runners from clubs including Bodmin, Hayle, St Austall and even Saltash. This was shaping up to be a serious event, people warming up, stretching and preparing to run a very fast 5 mile race. 

I however, with some of my intro2running buddies were huddling nearer the back of the pack. Not wishing to get in the way of any of the fast elite runners and not wanting to be continuously overtaken we started off to what we believed to be a nice steady pace. 

I usually run at around the 10 minute mile pace but with the excitement of the crowds of people I had started off a lot faster. The course went off in a square out of the village of Cubert out into the countryside and back to the village. It did this twice and the support around each loop was fantastic. As my first race for the Newquay Road Runners the support was just epic!! 

At every turn you would hear someone shouting and cheering you on and this really helped to get around the course. Arriving at the finish line I was really pleased to have gained a time just over 45 minutes and had completed the course with an average of 9:04 minutes a mile, quite possibly one of my quickest runs yet!

I had an awesome time at Tuesdays race and it all helps to fuel my passion to run again after dropping out of the running scene for over fifteen years. 

If there is one slight negative of Tuesday nights experience, that is that I felt shattered plodding around the 5 mile course and the dread is really starting to sink in about having signed up to run a half marathon. At the moment I'm still running relatively for leisure, I attend the Tuesday night intro2running and attend a weekly ParkRun event but both of these evenings are between 3-5 miles of running and no where near the double figure distance that I will be running in October. 

I know that I will soon need to up the pace and increase the distance but until July hits and I reach the three months prior mark I think I will stick to running for leisure and then really start the training next month. 

If you would like to sponsor me to complete this epic mission of attending my first ever Half Marathon then you can using the Just Giving link at the top right on my blog. https://www.justgiving.com/Amanda-Panda/

Thank you and wish me luck!

Park Run number 17 at Central Park Chelmsford

For anyone that has joined Park Run they will understand what a tourist is and this week I was super excited to be a tourist for the first time. I was going to be leaving the comfort of my regular ParkRun in Cornwall and head up country to attend my first ParkRun in Essex.

On Friday evening I jumped in the car and started the five hour journey to Essex to visit friends and family for the weekend and utilise the opitunity to attend a different ParkRun. Sadly over 7 hours in the car later and stuck in ridiculous amounts of traffic and being redirected all the way up to Oxford and back we were finally in Essex even if it was the very early hours of the morning!

With just a few hours sleep it was soon time to get up and head over to Central Park in Chelmsford for my first ParkRun as a tourist. Arriving at the event I was rather shocked at the scale and the size of the event. My regular ParkRun in deepest darkest Cornwall attracts between 100 - 150 regular runners. However this morning I was welcomed by twice that many runners and twice the usual amount of volunteers.

The volunteers were fantastic and so well organised as well, splitting the runners into two groups and two different starts. With below 25 minutes to complete the 5km course and over 25minutes so that the faster runners could get off to a quicker start and join up the route further around the course. With a loud mega phone the run briefing was completed and the race was underway. To a resounding beeping of GPS watches and mobile phones on armbands, we were off. It felt absolutely fantastic to be running in such a big friendly group, in the city centre early on a Saturday morning. Even though I was exhausted I was excited to be involved.

Sadly after the first mile I started to realise just how tired I was feeling after the previous days long journey and the lack of sleep and began to really struggle around the course. Even though it was a chilly morning the sun was shining and the course was beautiful. We ran out of Central Park and under the road and into Admirals Park. The course was relatively flat, however there was a little hill up and around a field that took my breath away. Heading back into the second half I was breathing heavily and wishing the course to be over. It was nothing like the gruelling up hill section at Lanhydrock and I didn't need to walk any of it, it was however, a shock on the completely flat faster paced course.

As I pushed on around the course to the finish I was feeling absolutely shattered and really glad to see the finishing funnel in the distance. As I went through the gate and received my bar code I was impressed again with the organisation of the bar code scanners all lined up behind rows of cones to filter the runners through. 

 

 

As quickly as everyone arrived in the park and ran the 5km course they had all finished and disappeared again. It is like a flash bomb of runners that all turn up in Lycra and run and disappear all within the hour. One minute you can be in the park full of hundreds of people, runners, volunteers and supporters and then just an hour later the park is empty. Blink and you'll miss ParkRun.

Just a few hours later I got my confirmation e-mail through from ParkRun with my time for the mornings 5km run. I was delighted when my time came through as it is now my fastest ParkRun result. I'm really pleased to have achieved my fastest ever 5km time of 27:32 however I need to be honest and point out that Chelmsford Park Run is VERY flat compared to the gruelling Lanhydrock ParkRun in Cornwall and i'm a long way off getting that time in Cornwall.

I'm now looking forward to getting back to my home course in Cornwall and trying to get a new PB there and maybe one day I'll be able to get close to my personal 5km record that I set this weekend at Chelmsford!

Another 8 mile run completed!

After a week sunning myself in Portugal and doing a great deal of relaxing by the pool in the sun and drinking lots of local beer, getting back into my running seemed incredibly hard.

My first after work run of just 4 miles was a real challenge and for the first time since I started running I had to walk sections of a route that I've managed to run several times without walking before. The worry really started to hit me that day whilst struggling to get around a four mile route.

I had just entered my first half marathon and although I have 5 months to train I was struggling really badly to complete just 4 miles!

Trying to not get too deflated the following week after another Park Run session and another running club I went to attempt a 5 mile run. I didn't want to be beaten by that days 4 mile disaster so decided to increase the distance but chose a much flatter run that I felt more confident that I could achieve without getting down hearted. I chose to run in the city of Truro and ran a route along the river to Malpas and back. It was beautiful and I didn't struggle.

With the confidence of my run in Truro I decided that with a bank holiday Monday looming it would be the perfect day to attempt a longer run again. As I was beginning to feel fitter I decided to attempt another 8 mile run and again I chose a route that was relatively flat this time following the river Camel out towards Wadebridge. The great thing about Cornwall is that there are loads of options, flat river runs, beach runs and coastpaths or diserted country lanes.

I first ran 5 miles of this Camel trail route back in March as part of an organised run for the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow and it really is beautiful so increasing the distance to 8 miles was something that I really wanted to achieve.

The Camel trail was really busy with cyclists, dog walkers and other runners so I had plenty of people around me to keep me going and avoided any walking. I'm really pleased that I have now run the distance of 8 miles twice. Next challenge is to run those 8 miles on a more undulating course as well as increase the distance again.Hopefully the next time i'm on the Camel Trail I'll manage to run all the way to Padstow and back and get my running up into double figure distances.