We all know you're soft cos we've all seen you dancin

We all know you're hard cos we've all seen you drinkin from noon until noon again.....

reliving the nineties this week and that lyric stuck, dunno why!

So this week, yeah been ok. Did my bike stuff which is actually preferable to running right now cos it's indoors! Missed my interval run, not even sure why now though it was a bit hectic at work so when I take stuff in to do a run at work there are a million reasons why it doesn't get done and then I am too tired. Roll on lighter evenings when my brain is tricked and each day has at least 4 more hours in it.

Was supposed to do the National XC champs yesterday, but woke not feeling great, bad headache that just got worse until I was feeling really sick and had to put my head under a pillow. As a teen I had proper problems with migraine but as an adult it is much improved, still doesn't make it any better when you get one! Went to bed early and almost got up to tell Mr H that I was really worried my head would break but then I pulled myself together. I'm a grown woman and he has no medical training so THAT would've been a pointless exercise :-D Anyway, I did wake up much to my surprise so I had no reason not to go to my second planned xc of the weekend at South Weald, the last fixture in the competition my club Barking Road Runners takes part in. Was still feeling quite sick but its only 7k and I would be first or second scorer for the ladies so I couldn't not go.

Anyway Mr H drove me and my friend Vicky there which was fine and then WE WAITED FOR AN HOUR IN THE FREEZING COLD. Really enjoyed that bit, obvs! but the course is actually really nice, actually Brentwood park run with 2k added. Wore spikes which were fine apart from the stupid laces coming undone twice. Yes of course I bloody double knotted them! Anyway I finished in a better position than any of the other races this season, which pleased me, we won the division which pleased me and I won the ladies club xc title for this year. Oh yes, that pleased me too :-)

Have spent the rest of the day trying to fight the headache away as it is still lurking. I may have won though now I think (fingers crossed)

Anyway, work was alright last week, got some stuff sorted as the boss was over. Always good to do face to face, no misunderstandings then, the next week should be good too. Got a day off on Tuesday to see friends, one of whom is just about to have heart surgery, it will be good to see him before he goes under the knife. Then a stats course on Wednesday, which I am DETERMINED to find useful :-D

That's the team there in case you wanted to see it. Always nice to break up the boring text I think.

Swim out to the ocean.....

drown your thoughts out at sea, dip your hands in the water, same deep water as me.

Oooh that's my calm me down song right now, chills me right out :-) And of course it mentions swimming so technically means I am actually doing some swim training even though I haven't been near a pool in months. BONUS! Although *whispers* I did take my cossie and goggles to the gym on Friday and left them in my locker just in case I get the urge.

I have swimathon 5k in April, I bloody had better get the urge soon :-O

It may be that I havent blogged in months, it may be that I have been insanely busy, it may be that actually I am less than happy with my running ... actually there is no maybe about that one. But there are undeniable facts to be faced.
1. I am too fat to run well
2. I am too fat to run well
3. I am too fat to run well.

Unanimous that really innit! I could be kinder to myself and say I weigh too much to run well but I really do need to kick myself up the bum and do something about it. Not diet, that's stupid and doesn't work, no, just eat properly, stop treating wine like water and stop raiding Mr H's chocolate drawer! (Heh, that's not funny AT ALL)

Anyway as always I have insight, just got to focus on wanting the athletic me to beat the alcoholic fat me! Actually as I say that Suzy our little barrel cat has walked in, she really needs to come running with me, but full kudos to her, she has the drinking under control. She can be my sponsor, I will work with her on the cat biscuit addiction.

Anyway, I am training, this year to do a half ironman which I start having actually trained on the bike, I know! Proper novelty. So it goes like this -

2 watt bike sessions - 1 with short max watt intervals, 1 with lower watts but still hard and longer. Whichever session it is I end up with a pool of sweat surrounding the bike. Luckily I am not at the gym to pull eh?

Then 2 or 3 runs. 1 interval session (love these, they make you feel properly alive) 1 tempo session which currently I have at 5min per k as half marathon pace. For some perspective here a couple of years ago I was looking at 4.35 as half mara pace, so I am way off. Last run usually some sort of race, currently xc which I am doing just cos it hurts, and I want to win the xc trophy at club this year :-D

Then I do a strength session and or see Russ for a coached session.

Obviously I listen to swimming songs too.

Ironically the half IM I had targetted actually wont take place this year so I need to have a think on it and choose another but I am in no rush, the training is enjoyable enough and in April I get to go to Majorca on a training camp with friends which is something I have always wanted to do so if that is what this year is about then that's fine!

I appear not to have mentioned work. GOOD! I am an AL today just so I dont have to be there because last week it drove me so nuts, so nuts that I found a flea on Suzie on Thursday and I had a complete meltdown. I briefly considered burning the flat down but wasn't sure what insurance we had so I have shelved that until I have my facts straight and all my trainers and bike and mac somewhere safe. Obviously the cats will be out and Chris will be at work. Obv!!!!

Better stop now before the evidence is too compelling :-)

It's been a while....

But I have a target so time to blog again.

I'm going to do Chelmsford marathon in October. My target? I want to run it well. That's woolly enough isn't it 😀

I've been mucking around for ages not really achieving anything with running, which isn't bad, I mean it's not my career or anything but still, it's important to me to do stuff well.

I think that work is going well, at least I couldn't be happier doing anything else right now (apart from rescuing all the animals, ALL of them) and I have been concentrating on that recently as it's been full on. This week was tha AAIC conference. I got the amazing opportunity to speak AND co-chair a session. I was a bag of stress in the week leading up to it, but once the session started I felt really calm. It occurred to me later it felt similar to getting in the lake at IMUK in 2009 having been in floods of tears cos I was so scared of what I was about to do, but once I was in I felt really calm, because there was nothing I could do except what I had trained for. And I did. Mind you when I finned the IM I didn't drink ALL the wine like I did at the welcome reception on Monday night 😂

Anyway I got really good feedback and had lots of good meetings, in contrast to my first visit to the conference in 2014 when I knew nobody and wandered around feeling like a complete fraud.

Did a bit of outreach stuff as well today meeting with an undergraduate student doing work experience who is possibly interested in what I do, though to be honest it is quite hard to describe what I do, as it's a team thing. So I invited her back to the lab in a few weeks when we have some other students in to do some wet work, should be fun! Or will scare them all away, one of those 😀

I'm working at home tomorrow to catch up with admin and go through all the projects I have promised things to, then off to Nottingham to do the 3.8k swim on Sunday for a relay team in the Outlaw. I was entered for the whole thing but reassessed earlier in the year because of work. I know I can do it on minimal training but I don't want to and I think that's fair enough. I will do another IM and I fancy Bolton but know that won't be next year. My dream would be wales. But sharks.

Anyway, shall report back on the weekend, which MUST include an 18k run which isn't even that long is it?

Shortest sportive ever, and Heslegraves on tour 😊

Last Sunday Andy P and myself travelled to somewhere in the Chilterns (I dunno where it was) for the Chilterns 100. I have done the medium route twice before and survived it, and we had decided that if we needed to turn off at the split point that was fine.

Much much bigger than it used to be, we eventually set off and I was in good spirits, it was going to be hard but that was a good thing. I was enjoying the scenery, and the weather was getting nicer all the time. We came to a fairly steep downhill, which was fine. At the bottom round a corner though the road was really bad and you couldn't avoid it so had a bone shaking few second going over that, thinking 'phew, nothing fell off my bike' and was freewheeling up the hill that went under a bridge glad that I had some help from the downhill. Then I needed to pedal again so stood up to pedal down and the chain came off and I was quickly on the floor. Andy and another guy stopped to get the bike off me and I got out from under it thinking, 'I'm going to be sick, need to get to the hedge' but I wasn't I was just shocked I think. My knee took most of the fall but my hip didn't do too badly either and I was so shaky I really didn't want to go on. The motorcycle marshals were ace and waited with me whilst Andy cycled back to HQ to get the car to pick me up. A few people stopped to ask the marshals when all these bikes would be gone so they could ride their horses 😊😊😊 one lady gave me her phone number in case I needed anything....or maybe she fancied me, not sure, I must have looked pretty damn ravishing 😂

Anyway, got seen by St. John's when I got back, or rather cleaned up and talked to as if I was 7 by the  old lady in a St. John's outfit, which was funny, then a bit annoying, then just....I need to go home.

We set off home but via the Olympic park so I could get back on the bike on the road track, however Andy rode it up and down the car park and it seemed the chain didn't want to stay on, no way I was getting on it so we took it to cycle surgery in Romford and left it there for exploratory surgery and a service. I then went home and laid on the sofa having cycled all of 5 miles 😀 iron woman me!!!!

I didn't run Monday and Tuesday as my knee wasn't keen on bending, and since I don't like being told what to do I know my limbs don't either so I didn't force it (this is my favourite knee, don't tell the other one!). Then, WEDNESDAY 😊😊😊😊

We flew to Lisbon, a short break I had booked to see Bruce Springsteen at the Rock in Rio festival. Seeing Bruce this year has special meaning. When I first met Chris I was actually going out with someone else, we will call him, er, Loser to protect his identity. One work night out me and Chris were talking about Bruce and the fact he was playing Wembley soon, and he said (maybe half joking I dunno) that if I got bored of Loser then I could go with him to the gig. I pretty much ditched Loser the next day, well I say that, I just never contacted him again.....how bad is that! Then I got tickets to the gig and 28 years later we are still together , but more significantly this year is our 25th wedding anniversary, so seeing the man that made it all possible twice this year is ace! (We are going agin next month)

So we arrive in Lisbon, had a bit of a pickle getting metro tickets but eventually worked it out, then got out of the metro right in front of our hotel!!! The hotel was ok but there was no need for the frosted door on the toilet 'pod' being able to see out whilst you are ahem, on the loo is most off putting and I can say I was severely inhibited by this and it's as well we were only there 2 nights 😐.

First thing we did was go off to find the venue....it was about a 3 mile walk and Lisbon ain't flat! Also the pavements are like, those little tiles....I can't think of the bloody name, but slippery and uneven, so I decided I wouldn't run there. Anyway we found the park up the top of a bloody big hill and then walked back. Actually quite enough exercise for the one day. We sussed out a nice restaurant for dinner and chose a random wine which was lovely, and then went to bed shattered.

Gig day I laid in til 7.30 then left Chris with some privacy 😀 whilst I went and used the treadmill in the gym on the 9th floor. The view was awesome but also the treadmill was ace, you could watch anything on it and I ran round some lake with loads of dog owners waving at me. How nice! There was a pool but it was about 5 meters long, there was also a sauna and that but I wasn't sure if Portuguese people did the starkers thing so I gave that a swerve. We then went off to a lovely park we had found near the hotel and sunbathed for a few hours, was bliss and my resting heart rate for that day was 34bpm. Proper relaxed, or I'm in the sixth sense and I will find out soon......but only at the end of the film when everyone else knows 😀

The festival opened at 4 so we decided to walk there again and got there around 4.30. No queues, easy to get in, no queue at the bar and proper toilets, get in! Also loads of room to sit and get comfy. Sounds ace doesn't it? Well it was but that was because nothing happened til 7 when some Portuguese glee collective came on for an hour. No idea what they were acting out but the singing was not great, ok we can deal with this. Sure Bruce will be on by nine. Then a notice came up on screen showing timings. Bruce was due to come on at 11.45 😊 ha!!! We are so English we are used to being chucked out of concerts at 11. Also my bedtime is waaaaay before that. Ah well, not like we were going to leave. Stereophonics came on at 8.30 and they were ace, mind u I might have had a few beers by then. I'm not sure many people had gone to see them though judging by the funny looks me and Chris were getting for having a jump around to them. Or maybe they were thinking we are too old for that sort of thing....

At 10 some Portuguese heavy rock band came on to lots of crowd support....I didn't like them cos the lead singer looked sinister to me, I always have good reasons for stuff.

Finally Bruce came on, and it was as we knew it would be ace (though Wembley will be letter as its his own show). The time flew and by the time he went off at 2.30 my throat was raw and my legs were very tired. So we followed the sign s for the metro so we could get back to the hotel along with loads of other people....only to find it locked. Why they had signs out I don't know, maybe to taunt us? Anyway, we had maps on my phone so we were able to navigate back but boy that bit was hard work. We finally got to bed around 4 and so my planned gym session in the morning was binned in favour of sleep in order to make the journey home more bearable 😊 a fab few days though.

Was super tired this morning still though, so I didn't swim and I didn't parkrun. I did go and get my bike though which is looking all shiny, and then did some intervals in the park which felt slow but I did them.

Now my fingers are getting bored. I expect you are too if you got this far!!!

Every day's a school day......

Alternatively, will I ever fucking learn?

Did my 6th London marathon last week. Hated it. Which is in complete contrast to last year. Why? Hmm not sure, but I suppose a shaky few months training and no real idea of what I wanted to achieve were contributing factors.

Lesson 1........ Always have a plan and know why you are doing what you are doing.

I did finish it though, even though I could happily have walked off the course many times....well I say that, I would have had to be some sort of martial arts guru to break through the crowds but you know what I mean 😊

Didn't do much all week really, except go down to the leisure centre and run a tiny bit of 401 marathon challenge mans 230 somethingth marathon. Really nice guy, and a bit of a chat with some Dag 88s which made me miss being a member 😐

Oh I did work of course and have realised that if all the projects that are lined up got their shit together and wanted to start the next day I would just have to change my name, my appearance, and dissapear. Still I'm sure loads of people have jobs like that. You just juggle and try to appear competent until you can be promoted out of harms way 😝

Anyway, yesterday was a trip to the Isle of Wight with some mates for parkrun tourism and a ride round the Island. My alarm was set for 3.30 am so I woke at 2.15 and was unable to go back to sleep. Eventually Thundercat who was trying very hard to sleep on my legs which kept tossing and turning, told me to 'just fucking get up and feed me or something, you are doing my head in!' So I did. I was being picked up at 4.15 and the time just dragged! Seriously if I worked in the small hours I would get so much more done cos those hours are loooonnnnggggg.

But eventually I was picked up, bike racked and a little trip round Dagenham to pick up Paul and Mark who were along with Andy the driver, car buddies for the day.

Conversation was surprisingly lively for that time in the morning, though I had to intervene when the blokes started discussing whether a fish would use its gills or its fins to operate a walkie talkie.

Lesson 2....... If you give men long enough in an enclosed space they will start to talk complete bollocks very quickly. 

(Fins of course, it's bloody obvious isn't it?)

Anyway, arrive at the Isle of Wight and drive to Shanklin, where this weeks parkrun is, along the esplanade. It's a lovely venue in the sunshine, with toilets available and a sizeable crowd gathering. Mark introduced himself to all the locals 😃

What followed was the longest parkrun intro I've ever heard which included a warmup and me giving my name and address to a lady who knits erm, egg cosys for barcode scanners (nope, me neither) anyway, Barking should be getting 2 soon. 

The course was literally an out and back with a bizarre first 200m loop which meant you saw the leaders coming at you about 5 seconds after you started! But settled in nicely with Mark who said he thought 27 minutes but was actually running comfortably at 5.15 ks. Finished in 25.07 albeit a bit of a short course. We then got knitted up for bike and went back to the cafe we had been running past minutes before for brekkie.

It was fine but we waited ages for a couple of the orders and all the while I was looking up. Looking up at the hill we had to climb out of Shanklin. Now, I know hill climbing is hard, but I also know I can grind them out, what I was worried about was the new pedal/cleat combo and turning a corner then not being able to clip in when you've suddenly got a massive bloody hill in front of you.

Still, you won't know if you don't try. 

Got on my bike in the car park, clipped one foot in went to stomp the other one round and nearly fell off cos the chain wasn't on. Great start! Paul put it back on for me, he was carrying gloves just for that purpose 😀. 

Rode round the car park for a while trying to get clipped in before I turned up the road cos it was most definitely up, finally did it and slowly span up the hill only almost co pletely stopping when I change the front ring by accident 😳 so you get to the top of that hill then a relatively flat bit for about 100m to a set of traffic lights that of course turn red as I get to them. Unclipping is dicey mainly because with my old ones you turned your foot in, these are out and it's not wired in yet, but I get there.

Lights turn green and I turn left scrabbling to clip in only to see just what I feared, a hill. So I stop. Get off and walk up it. I'm thinking here, 'ffs is this what it will be like all day? ' I'm feeling incredibly anxious and this isn't helping. But I carry on, and it's ok, until a few miles later in going downhill fast and see a line of cars in front of me on a narrow road. Oh I think, they must be parked but. Realise as I get closer they aren't, and have to do an emergency unclip, which almost undoes me. It's a temporary traffic light, on a steep downhill around a bend that I can't see. At this point, Andy, who must be the most patient friend I have says 'do you want to go back and not do this?' And he's quite right, I'm done with this already, I can't cope with riding 50 more miles shaking like a leaf. I don't really argue much, I know when I'm making the right decision, I don't want to hold everyone up and if there a part of ironman Andy won't struggle with it's the bike. So he informs the others and we head back to Shanklin, plus David who also had decided he wasn't in the right place for the ride round the island. 

We ride back and have a tea in the cafe, then head out for a few loops, lots of clipping in and out practice which is what I need, with at times someone behind me telling me I need to flip the pedal 😅

So the afternoon was spent round that area cycling around and it was fun. Less fun was not being able to get any warm clothes because Andys car key was in Pauls rucksack but never mind. It meant we were super pleased to see the rest of the group return about 5.30 😊

Oh yes Lesson 3...... Putting new pedals and cleats on, and trying them once in a traffic free environment is not really prep for an ultra hilly ride round the Isle of Wight.

Anyway, it was still fun and I'm glad I went.

I learnt a new lesson today.

Lesson 4...... Always double knot your laces before a race you fucking idiot!!!!!

365 days......

That's how long 2015 has lasted. Thought it would though so I am not suprised :-D

Has it been good? Um, yeah, think so, lets see....

Work - been great actually. Co-ordinated and co-wrote a grant application (my first) for a new bit of equipment and we were successful yay! Been co-author on 4 papers that have been accepted and first author on one that should be accepted any day. Presented a poster at AAIC to a lot of interest...oh that meant I got to visit Washington DC which was great. Ended year with being asked to take on team leader role, got to redo CV and stuff for extra race tokens.

Running - bit mixed really. Started year a bit meh.....got GFA at London and then just ran rubbish for a while. But did a few tris that I really enjoyed including the new Stafford Half. Concentrated on shorter distances for second half of year and have really enjoyed 10k racing. Won v45 prize for the summer olympic park series and have got official PB to 43.55. Also doing xc again and yeah I am enjoying it even if I need to be careful of my knee for a few days after. From struggling to get my 5k under 23 in the summer I am now able to sub 22 again. Maybe because I have lost a bit of weight. Still want to lose a bit more.

Family - good! Had holiday with sister, her husband and my niece in Devon, was lovely, then my brother got back in contact after a long time and has visited a few times, he was here xmas day and is coming round tomorrow for dinner. Happy me. Mr H is well and happy and we now seem to have 3 cats. Mr Fluffy is an older gentleman who was so sick over the summer (stray) that we took it upon ourselves to see if we could make him better. Tbh I am not sure that we can but he now spends most of his time in the flat - he is currently in the wardrobe- at least he is fed and warm and he is soooo affectionate, well he likes to get on your lap and hump you............that's affection right? :-D

Friends - I still have some. Result! 

So yeah, all in all a good year. Lets see if I can live up to expectations in 2016, it should be a good year because it's an even number of course.

The best laid plans....

which are properly laid out and executed will give you the best results.

Which will be why I didn't PB on Saturday at Kent. I can't complain, I'm the only one that can do it there is no one else to blame. I'm not even upset about it. I think achieving the GFA at London made me not that bothered. PBs are nice but not the be all and end all.

Couple of points. About 4 laps in I got the most amazing pain low down on my right side. I think I know what it was but bloody hell I nearly stopped at the first aid place. It slowed me obv, and made me scared to pick it up again, but did pass off in a couple of laps. I could have picked it back up.

When I got to halfway in 1.50 I knew I wouldn't PB and kind of stopped caring. I will be honest I was looking around for someone to run walk with, but Caroline C told me to bugger of and start running again :-D

Then at 16 I got a stitch, I never get stitch. Made it hurt to breathe and pray for the end. Which did come, it always does if you keep moving forward :) 4.05.43 I think. Another one done. Ground out I suppose. Was a nice day though and saw lots of friends.

Oh and yeah, the pain in my calfs at the end. WTF was that about. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself, was horrible. Body certainly didn't like that one.

Anyway, Sunday I rode down to Barking and got on the district line to Sloane Sq, then cycled (wooohooooo) to Hyde Park. Was great hardly any traffic. Met up with Steve and Suze to be in their team for the Olympic tri. I was bike. Sadly I hadn't taken enough clothes and was freezing in the wind and rain but eventually Steve was off on the swim and I knew it wouldn't be too long. After 40 or so minutes I was off. I LOVE this course, it's so much fun with bits where you can push it, then corners where you have to practically stop. 5 laps round where I averaged 17.3 mph in pouring rain and came in 6 minutes quicker than last year, albeit without doing the swim first :) Suze who has been injured did a great job on the run and we finished around 3.05.

The journey back  seemed to take forever. I walked the bike to Sloane Sq. (me finding it is fucking awesome if you know anything of my navigational skills) was too scared to ride, so much traffic with millions of taxis just haring  about across red lights and pulling up unexpectedly to pick up rich people shopping in fancy shops with no price tags. Decided against a browse :-D

Got on tube no probs and it was quite quiet which was good. Only problem was I was desperate for a wee. Had to concentrate really hard for 45 minutes on other things, then do the ride home really carefully so I didn't jog everything about too much!

Made it though and then proceed to hoover all the food in the house up. Wanted food at the event but had only taken a tenner and after buying a tea and a coffee couldn't afford anything :-D

All in all a good weekend. I am of course deadly tired now but I will catch up during the week, and prob do a bit of swimming to give my legs a little rest before the weekend.