Food glorious food...

As my distance runs have lengthened, I have started to experiment with sports energy gels. I have tried 2 different brands so far.
The first:

High5 Energy Gel - orange flavoured.
HORRID!! Though in defence of the gel, I did not take this in the correct manner - i.e. with water. I might revisit this gel at a later date.

The second, which I have tried twice:

PowerBar Gel - Strawberry and banana flavour. This, when taken with water, was just bareable. I haven't felt a huge surge of energy as a result of taking them, but perhaps as I extend my runs still further I might feel some measureable effect...

Today I bought 2 new gels (Organic Mule bars, two flavours), and some JellyBelly sports beans...I'll report back... :-)

A breath of fresh air and breathing to talk...

As I have mentioned, I have been struggling a bit to keep the momentum going in my training, and before my holiday in June I was struggling to get out three times a week. In fact, my runs had dropped to about one every 5 days. I took my running gear on holiday with the idea of going running a couple of times with Mr Taffi (with Mummy and Daddy Penguin looking after the little monkeys) but I felt no enthusiasm to get my running shoes on. This might have been a good thing - a break from the grind of running, and then back with gusto.

I think it has worked too. I have managed 3 runs per week for the last few weeks, and part of this is thanks to a bit of variety.

I have started running once mid-week with an old friend who has also entered the Cardiff half. This has multiple benefits:

• I run with her in the morning (Mummy Penguin looks after Monkey2 while Monkey1 is in nursery) so I don't have to struggle out in the valuable busy evenings,
• I get a variety of routes - my friend and Mummy Penguin both live in a small town in the Vale with quiet roads and lanes and lots of hills.
• My friend frequently runs with other runners, and runs at a pace that allows conversation, and by running with her, and doing the same, I am learning a whole new skill - more on this in a minute.

I've actually really enjoyed these runs - there have only been two so far as time constraints meant this week's had to be cancelled (I really missed it). It has been great to catch up on gossip, moan about various things, and just chat. Whilst I enjoy the audio books I usually use to while away the time and block out the pain, talking is better. The miles pass faster (even though we are travelling slower) and it hurts less (and I don't attribute the lower pain to just the lower pace).

I has also been a lesson in reigning myself in. I am overly ambitious, and that is part of the reason of my aforementioned disillusion - I am always striving to do better, with EVERY run, and that is just not possible. As Mr Taffi is always saying, sometimes your body or your mind is just not up for the run on any given day. It has been good just to run for runnings sake, and not for the time or distance or pace target. And it also means that finally I am doing the mid-week "Easy" run prescribed by the training plan. That "easy" run has always become a "pace" or "interval" run until now, because I am always pushing myself. It has been good to switch off the pace alerts on my Garmin watch and just enjoy without the nag nag nagging...

Comparisons over time...

I've been using SportTracks to try and gauge whether I'm improving my pace over my distance runs as time progresses - this in part to try and alleviate some of the disillusion mentioned in the last post.

As I have varied my runs it was not easy to find comparable distances to compare, particularly distances with similar challenges. I found one run from mid March and one from the end of May, and plotted 1/4mile splits. These runs were not identical, but essentially 10km down and back up the river Taff.

The trends are quite similar, but I hope it is not wishful thinking to say that my splits have improved over this period. The first shows my splits rapidly approaching 11 minute miling and then being largely maintained. In the second my splits are well below 11 minute miling throughout. The overall time 1.07:15 for the first, and 1.03:28 for the second seem to corroborate this.

I intend to repeat this run soon for comparison again - and in my striving to conquer the 60minute 10K!!

Disillusionment

My blogging has been fairly scarce of late (read as: non-existent!)...this has been in part because of the hectic nature of daily life (running around after 2 little monkeys, a holiday, and work that does not stop even when on maternity leave), partly because, as is common with all but the best blogs, or the most savvy bloggers, this blog goes largely unread, and partly because I've hit another little bit of "runners-block"...

The first problem isn't going to go away, but with a little juggling, I should find a bit of time to write.

The second problem...I always knew this would be the case, and actually made a conscious decision not to pimp my blog around on the likes of Facebook or Twitter...and anyway, this blog is for me, and if anyone else does read it, and gets anything out of it, then all the better. If you do, then please let me know! ;-)

The last problem is one which Mr Taffi says I will overcome, and after all, this is what the journey towards the Cardiff Half is all about.

I'll get the blog up to date with a series of posts over the next few days.

But one bit of news... I'm a fully paid up entrant to the Cardiff Half!! I've paid my entry, considered my charity, and finalised a plan of action... :-)