Running around Japan

I spent the last two weeks of May on holiday in Japan. Japan is somewhere my husband and I have always wanted to visit and this year we decided to take the plunge and go for it. We had a fantastic time and really fell in love with the country. We also managed to squeeze some running in, starting with a guided running tour of Tokyo for our first full day, aiming to shake off the jet lag and get a sense for this amazing city.

A quick google led us to the Tokyo Great Running Tours. The cycling tours arm of the company was well-established and had positive reviews on TripAdvisor, but the running section seemed to be new and as such we couldn't find much information about it.

The tour covered some of the main sites of Tokyo, including the Fish Market, the Kabuki Theatre and the Imperial Palace. Jogging through the middle of the enormous working fish market was quite surreal but nobody seemed to notice or mind! The pace was pretty tough for me -  definitely faster than I expected and it was also pretty warm, but the frequent stops to look at things meant that it was kind of like a 12km interval session, so once I decided to treat it like that rather than as a continuous run it was much more manageable.

Our guide was excellent - she worked in a bank during the week but led tours at the weekend and she was clearly doing it because she loved running. It made Neil and I wonder whether we could do something similar in Cambridge...

Tokyo initially seems like a very busy city that might not be great for running, but actually, running with a local meant we could head straight to the popular spots. We ran along the river and were
treated to lovely city views (and a photo stop gave me chance to recover!). One benefit of the
flexibility of running combined with being in a small group - just us and a Danish couple - was that
we could turn down any side street that looked interesting, or decide to stop off and look at a local
temple.

We eventually ended up at the Imperial Palace. You're not allowed to run in the grounds, but there is a path around the outside which is 5K long - you can guess where all the runners go! It reminded me a little bit of Central Park, with the leafy park area surrounded by sky scrapers.

All in all it was a great way to start our trip. We didn't actually end up doing much more running when we were in Japan, mainly because we spent our days walking round so much that our legs and 

feet were exhausted by the evening! We also hiked up a mountain and followed countless trails.

The Japanese are also big fans of the "sweat rag" which is basically a flannel specifically for mopping your brow. Check out my Hello Kitty version (much needed....)!

In lots of ways Japan is a runners' paradise - plenty of healthy food, beautiful scenery and natural hot springs. We particularly enjoyed treating our tired feet to the hot spring foot bath at an open air art gallery!

It you have ever felt like you might want to go to Japan then do so - you won't regret it. 

Becoming a Tour Maker

I'm just coming to the end of over two weeks off work and although by now the post-holiday blues would normally be kicking in, I've instead been distracted by my Tour Makers training event today. 

The Tour de France is this year starting in England, the first time it has since 2007 (it often starts in different countries and the route is different each year). The first two stages are in Yorkshire and the third stage is Cambridge - my home city - to London. I love being involved with sporting events and in recent years have become increasingly interested in watching the Tour (due to my husband being an avid fan rather than me just jumping on the Bradley bandwagon!) so once the call for Tour volunteers went out I was quick to sign up. 

Today was the first of two face to face training events. It was held in the Copper Box arena at the Olympic Park which gave us an opportunity to visit the Park. We watched some Paralympic events here back in 2012 and then last year we ran the 'Back to the Stadium' run which mostly involved running through a building site. I was keen to see what the public park was like and I wasn't disappointed. It was a sunny morning and the park was gradually filling up with families, people sunbathing, cyclists and runners. 

Right from the very beginning I have been pro London 2012 (I backed the bid!) and although I know that some people have concerns about the vast amounts of money spent, I think the current park is clearly helping leave the legacy that was so talked about. I spent most of the time we were wandering wishing I either had my bike with me, or my swimming kit so that I could try out the Olympic pool!

A perk of being a Tour Maker was 2 for 1 entry to the Orbit. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about going up as I don't really like the design of the Orbit but my husband was keen, so we paid our £15 (still pricey even with the deal!) and headed up in the lift. As it was a clear day, we were able to see right across London and actually I'm really glad we went up.

I'm not sure whether I'd recommend it at full price and the whole experience only took about 25 minutes - you get the lift up then walk down and there's no time limit so you could take longer - but if you're visiting the Park on a sunny day and like views then it probably is worth it as a one off. As we said, it's something we'd have done if we were visiting another city so it was nice to do it in our home capital aswell.

After a spot of brunch and a wander round more of the park, we arrived at the Copper Box. 

The event was more of an introduction to being a Tour Maker rather than a specific training session. The organisers were obviously keen to thank all of the volunteers and also to make us enthusiastic for the event itself. This meant we had lots of interesting guests - Perri Shakes Drayton chatted about how the Games Makers had contributed to London 2012 (and she encouraged us all to take lots of selfies!), Ian Stannard gave us a cyclist's perspective and several of the key organisers briefed us. We were also treated to a brilliantly funny live performance from Kate Fox, a comedian and poet who has written the official Tour poem, plus a live rendition of the (very good) official song, "The Road". 

All in all it was an excellent day and I'm really looking forward to being a Tour Maker. Is anyone else volunteering for a big event this summer?

Katie 

New beginnings

I haven't really felt like blogging since Brighton marathon. The whole focus of my blog for me had been to record my training and experiences leading up to my first marathon and since the highs of finishing have died down I've been a bit in limbo about what to do next, so I didn't want to blog for the sake of it. 

I had been looking forward to a #summerofspeed but since my 10K race things haven't gone to plan. My knee/hamstring felt niggly for ages and then I got a chest infection. I've had about 10 days off running and exercise and I'm off on holiday shortly so won't do that much when I'm away. A small part of me is worried that I'll lose all my marathon fitness but a much bigger part of me is enjoying relaxing - I think my body needed some proper time off and the chest infection forced me to provide it with just that. 

So what is next? Well I'm hoping that a holiday will reinvigorate me & that I'll come back desperate to run! Soon after I return I'm going to the Olympic Park for my training to be a Tour Maker when the Tour de France comes to Cambridge. I'm really excited about that & pretty sure it'll inspire me to focus on cycling again over the summer. Also in June, I should  run my 100th parkrun which will be awesome and will involve friends and cake. I may even try and PB into the 100 club if my legs and lungs are up for a challenge. Just to keep things interesting I've also signed up for a mini "try a triathlon" training event, so June is looking pretty good. I better carry on resting well in May! 

Running Naked

A month or so before my marathon I had entered Trowse 10K, a race that was on Easter Sunday. It was my friend Michaela's favourite race and apparently gave out the best goodie bags as well as having a medal. With little regard to whether my legs might be up to running again,or whether I would want to be up at 6am on Easter Sunday, I signed up.

I didn't prepare very well for the race. On top of the whole marathon a fortnight before, I did parkrun the morning before and then 2 hours of hot TRX and barre the afternoon before. This meant that my legs were sore and tired before I'd even started. As a vague nod towards proper preparation I did eat the traditional spaghetti bolognese the evening before, but couldn't face getting up early enough to have porridge so just had toast. Can you tell that I wasn't really that fussed about this race?!

I didn't bother to charge my Garmin and decided I would just run naked (without a watch) by feel. I was a bit worried that that might result me settling into the familiar marathon pace so set off quite fast. I regretted that by 3K when we faced a long hill and I started to feel a bit sick and had a few black spots before my eyes! Maybe my attitude towards the 10K (it's only 6 miles, I've done 26...) was a bit blasé. The sensible runner would have slowed down at this point but my competitive instinct kicked in and refused to- luckily the hill did eventually end and what went up did have to go down so I was able to recover on the downhill. It was two laps and after the first lap I shouted to Neil that I'd gone off too fast but I still didn't really know what pace I was running. I'm almost certain I slowed a bit in the second half but I had got used to running by then so was feeling, not exactly good, but a bit less sick. At 9K I think I slacked off a bit and decided just to ease in to the finish - my legs felt heavy and my arms were also aching; my body was just understandably tired. However just before the turn to the finish Neil shouted at me that I could get under 52 minutes...what?! Apparently I did have a sprint finish in me after all and legged it to the line for a new PB of 51.37 - almost a minute quicker than my previous PB. Running naked had worked for me this time but I'm not sure whether to risk it at my next 10K in a couple of weeks time. Either way, Project #summerofspeed is off to a good start!

(A comedy race number always helps) 

Bank Holiday Weekend

Since the marathon, I have slowly eased my body back into exercise. I didn't do anything for the first few days (I was still walking like a penguin so I didn't have much choice!) but after a restorative massage on the Wednesday, I was able to cycle commute for the rest of the week and to take a gentle Pilates class. I had hoped to be back running at parkrun last week but I was concerned about one of my hamstrings which was quite tender, so volunteered instead (whilst wearing my marathon finishers tshirt!). The following day I headed down to London to cheer on everyone in the marathon. I had a great day in the sunshine and came back really motivated to get training again.

This week I've cycled more, swum in my gym's outdoor pool & been to an energetic Pilates class. I tested out my hamstring with a short run on Thursday and decided it was fit enough to do parkrun this morning. I ran without my watch & despite my aching knees (marathon training seems to have aged them beyond my 29 years!) was pleased to finish comfortably in just over 26 minutes. 

Now that I'm not in training for a specific event I'm looking forward to doing some more non-running exercise. I was therefore excited to see that my local Sweaty Betty store was collaborating with a Hot Yoga studio to offer free classes. I'd tried Hot Yoga a few years ago at a different studio & was keen to give it a go again. The package I signed up for was 1 hour of Hot TRX followed by 1hr 15 of Hot Barre. The TRX was good - I want to improve my upper body strength & there was a lot of work for my arms, supporting my body using the ropes system. I struggled a bit with some of the floor based work because I didn't quite trust my (very sweaty) hands to hold on to the ropes whilst I did back bends etc! 

I enjoyed working in the heat and it didn't seem as hot as I thought it would. The Hot Barre was in a different studio though and was much hotter!

I enjoyed Hot Barre more than I was expecting given that I am not a natural dancer by any means and tend to struggle with any kind of choreographed routine that requires co-ordination. The mention of a routine to Bolero (think Torvill & Dean) panicked me but it ended up being very short and simple so I could just about keep up. The heat meant that we were all dripping with sweat (I was glad I had taken 2 towels) and even relatively simple movements got my heart rate up. This meant that I felt like I'd had a really good cardio workout from a strength/flexibility based class.

I'm not sure if I'll go back, partly because I have a regular Pilates class which I really enjoy and it's difficult to fit in everything I want to, but if I did it would be for the TRX. I loved how the instructor combined yoga with the ropes. Overall it was great to be able to try out two completely new classes. The studio (Ethos Yoga for anyone Cambridge based) was lovely and seemed very clean and fresh despite all the sweating! 

Tomorrow I'm heading to Norwich to run a 10K with my friend Michaela - I've been promised that there will be creme eggs!

How is everyone else spending their Bank Holiday weekend? 

The day I felt like a rockstar

Sunday April 6th 2014: My day in minutes and miles.

6.15: Wake up, gingerely test legs - think, they're not sore considering I ran a marathon yesterday.

6.16: Realise I haven't run it yet. Oh. Feel a bit sick.

6.20: Check twitter, notice a Happy Birthday tweet - oh yeah, it's my birthday. The marathon takes over everything.

7.00: Attempt to eat breakfast. Manage to force down half a bowl of porridge and a banana without throwing up & consider it an accomplishment.

7.45: Walk the 2ish miles to the start very slowly as a warm up (and because all the roads are closed so it's the only way). Both my hamstrings feel tight but tell myself it's only nerves.

8.20: Arrive at Preston Park and immediately join a toilet queue. It's just like any other race and that's a good thing.

8.45: Neil takes the obligatory "before" photo before heading off to his first spectator spot.

9.00: Head to the start pen. Huddle under a bin bag when it rains. 

9.05: Rain has stopped - maybe the running gods love us after all and the forecast "heavy rain and strong winds" might not happen.

9.15: Klaxon goes. We don't move.

9.23: Cross the line, high-fiving Paula Radcliffe in the process. 

At this point the concept of actual time becomes lost and it's all about minutes per mile. Some mile highlights:

Just before 3: First glimpse of spectating team with personalised signs. These guys rocked.

3: Spot Neil - exchange high fives. Let's do this thing!

5: Spectating team (now including Neil) whooping away

The next part of the course was an out and back along the coast- I knew I wasn't going to see the team until about mile 14 so I just concentrated on keeping my rhythm and getting on with it. Quite enjoyed this part - I still felt fresh and the pace was manageable. I didn't enjoy not being able to open my gels though - I ended up squirting one all over my face to the delight of a small child watching. Sticky gel mixed with sweat - nice. 

Mile 13: Back in town, amazing support. Putting my name on my vest was the best decision ever - I felt like the whole crowd was there for me! 

13.5: Spectating team out in force again.

Miles 14-18: The hardest ones for me. Another out and back and I was getting tired but knew I still had a long way to go. 

18: Stopped for a quick hug with Neil then it was time to head to the power station, on the "Road to Hell"

20-22: Round the power station which says it all.

23: Turned for home but the pier still looked a long way away.

24: Realised I'd either miscounted or lost a gel. Panicked that I was going to run out of energy. Stuffed my face with all the jelly babies I could find- thank you people of Brighton, IOU some sweets.

24: A very long mile. 

25: Saw my team again - now I really was "nearly there"!

25-26: Loved this mile, it was through crowds who were all shouting my name - I think I smiled for the whole mile (in between the grimaces - it hurt too)

26: Suddenly I was at 400m to go - wow! Sped up, or at least felt like I did and raised my arms in the air. The sun came out & suddenly I thought that there was no better way to spend a birthday.

Finish: 4:23, consistent 10 minute miling. Delighted. 

1 minute after the finish: Learn that a sprint finish + half sobbing = difficult to breathe. Manage to calm myself down before needing medical attention. 

Later that afternoon: Reunited with the best team of supporters ever. Discover that slightly damp pebbles are heaven for sore feet. Feel high on endorphins for the rest of the day (and it turns out, all night - I couldn't sleep!). I think this photo says it all. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me - I get the glory but so many people were there for me. Marathon running comes highly recommended. 

My first Expo

I have successfully arrived in Brighton and have already been to the expo to pick up my number. I wanted to get this over with as I was expecting to be queuing in a cramped space with lots of other nervous runners but actually there was no queue at all and it was all very smooth.

I had never been to an expo before - for the uninitiated out there, the first bit is like normal race registrations but then you get funnelled into nervous runner shopping dreamland. I managed to resist the running jackets emblazoned with the marathon logo (nice but £70!!), considered a tshirt but decided it was unlucky to buy a tshirt before I'd done the race, almost compromised on a towel but then decided to concentrate on breaking the "nothing new on race day rule".

The forecast for Sunday is pouring rain. This worries me but I've just got to deal with it. However the main issue is whether to go for short sleeves (preferred option as I've already put my name on my favourite race top!) or long sleeves. At the expo I bought some bright pink arm sleeves to hopefully solve that dilemma. I also bought a turquoise cap to try and keep the rain off. I might hate both items but I'll just chuck them away/to a supporter en route if I do, so I don't mind breaking the rule.

I also discovered that at an expo you basically get the goodie bag in advance. This one was pretty good - best item was a buff type thing, most random item was Worcestershire sauce sample!

All that remains now is to eat yet more pasta, rest & then actually race the thing.

Bring it on Brighton!