Xmas Is Early

My new kit arrived safely, delivered by Mr Complete Runner personally. A boxful of goodies included lots of great summer gear to keep this Runningbear training cool but also some more racers and trainers; T6s and Glycerin 8s which are my all time favourites. Brooks seem to be the only brand of shoes that keep my feet free from blisters, sore spots or calluses however many miles I race or run. They've also got a great shoe advisor online, check it out here.

A new addition to my fine collection this time is a pair of Brooks' Cascadia Trail shoes. I've had my eye on these for a while and am looking forward to trialing these on the trails this weekend...

Other than pressies from Brooks (thanks Martin), the week's been a tedious one with too much going on at work and no time for owt else. Training runs have been a rush to get out and back before the evening light disappears so I've just been hanging on for the weekend and space to breathe and relax again. I'm now very glad its Friday; two full days ahead with space to run, breathe, eat and sleep, all in that order. Tomorrow is track work again, accompanied by my trusty M; we'll be flogging ourselves with 400s. Yay.

Kit-tastic Day

Have just received notice from Mr Complete Runner that a big box of kit is coming my way... Brooks are ace! I am SO excited; I'll have the new T6s just in time for next week's 10k race!

 @~@Sent from my BlackBerry@~@

Woohoo!

@~@~Sent From My BlackBerry~@~@

Top Kit

The winnings from Thirsk have been burning a hole in my pocket. Before spending the whole lot on Xmas and bills I thought I'd go for some special kit treat to remember my victory properly. I've had my eye on a fine waterproof for over a year now but couldn't bring myself to cough up the cost of a Haglofs Oz pullover. I daren't even type how much these things cost in case my laptop implodes. I overcame the guilt and shame of the massive spend and pressed the checkout button (with my eyes squeezed shut) on Pete Bland's site, probably whilst still woozy from my relay run on Sunday night. That's my excuse anyway. It must have been the lack of pie 'n' peas that brought on my dizzy, spending spell.

These guilty justifications include the fact that I haven't bought running kit in a while and such a treat might make running in the rain 'fun', especially with a marathon plan to kick off in the New Year. The beauty arrived this morning... I'm now a proud owner of a piece of true kit-art.

I cannot believe how gorgeous and fantastic this piece of kit is. I know that sounds very sad & is all materialistic of me but I have never loved a waterproof quite as much as this. Its a perfect fit, a girly 8 is wonderfully loose for 'high pulse' running and still slim enough a cut to not feel like I'm wearing a bin bag with arm holes. The things is truly wonderful and tissue-light, like a vest of the angels. Santa won't be coming to visit for another ten years mind but its worth the sacrifice. I've been out in Oz for a bit, a test of 9 miles in the rainy dark. I came back dry as a bone as well as feeling very stylish. Its a fantastic fit, with great breathability and very weather resistant. Best decision I've made all year. Lucky me. Important note to Haglofs reps, I love your kit. Any running kit donations in exchange for reviews would be very happily received ;)

XC Is Back!

Well, its the night before the night before and M is readying himself for his big relay tomorrow, the BMAF XC relays at Mansfield. Its a stunning boys team and they will no doubt do some damage on the loveliest of of XC courses at Berry Hill. This is my favourite ever XC course, usually multi-laps over undulating and soft, grassy terrain with a very fine patch of woodland for some good chasing, particularly in team relay competitions.

I'll be standing at the sidelines feeling a tad jealous, mixed in with a few guilt pangs for not running with our ladies team & of course trying to put those red pants to the back of my mind. M is fit and hungry for racing so can't wait to see what he and team mate Tricky can pull out of the bag for the team performance tomorrow.

Then its a hurry back up the motorway for my overnight bag and a last cuddle with the furry feline kids and then back in the car for the trip to Warrington & the team meeting at 7pm. Another night in a Premier Inn, counting down the hours in a strange bed until race day. Its a 9am race start (yuck) so am hopeful I can swallow some breakfast early enough to avoid any repeats of the Nottingham experience. Wish me luck. I may nor may not post some race pics depending on the state of me in an England 'bikini'. Until Sunday then.. all pinkies crossed.

Some pics of the Relays... Results here.

No Knickers Please

Cheeky title I know but have just got the squad info through for this weekend's HM race and have read rather happily that I'm getting a bit of new kit as part of the deal. This includes the Puma England outfit for the race itself. However, as M helpfully joked, I might be required to wear those skimpy running pants that all the elite girls wear. I've not been asked to request my preferred style of shorts and fear that I'm gonna be running in what are effectively bright red knickers. I know its a bit of a girly thing to fret. I'm just a bit disconcerted at the idea of.. well.. running in my pants basically. I'm sure girls will understand. But boys out there, just imagine having to race in your undies. Not a nice thought is it? It has a bit of a whiff of school days and P.E. teacher cruelties to me. It might detract from this girl's performance too. Or perhaps I'm just a very shallow person.

I ran out the anxiety about pants with a nice and easy 5 miles on the grass tonight. These legs are really feeling the change in season and the switch to road miles rather than trail during the week. I'm eager to build in a softer option (underfoot that is) when I can. So a few rather dull but nicely soft and springy loops around the hockey pitches tonight gave me chance to calm those panicked thoughts about pants and think nice calming thoughts about shorts, capri pants, leggings and other longer leg coverings.

Ruby Slippers & Chocolate Bears

Wow. What a glorious day. Feeling a bit guilty that I didn't post yesterday but was wasted after a terrible night's sleep, (very weird dreams Thursday night). One bonus was the arrival of a belated birthday present (yes, I am a spoiled princess). My new ruby slippers are here - I love these trail shoes so much I wanted another pair. Was also suffering from a general end of week poopedness that led me to feel an early night to bed was the better option. Glad I did as needed all the shut eye I could get for this morning's trip to the track at Nelson.

76yudes (Dilly just typed that walking across my laptop! He's a little boy genius cat - just have to work out what it all means; no doubt some feed me/stroke me type cat hint). Anyway, I planned a sort of half a speed session for today which I hope to maintain in my weekly routine for those non race weeks to try and get the zap back in my stride - I feel like a great Yorkshire pudding on the track at the moment. The session was tough in the warm weather and the usual wind blowing up the back-straight made it hard work but there was great company in the vicinity. Was very surprised and chuffed to see club mate Mary W. She is looking awesome fit at the moment; she seems to have a 12 pack compared to my pudding and is clearly fit, fast and strong. Had a good catch up and hope we might collide (not literally) at the track again soon. Also had nice chats with some local guys from Blackburn, one vet who was particularly awesome to watch running his 200s. Made me feel like I was walking my efforts as he repeatedly soared past me on the final 100 straight. Nice bloke and clearly very speedy.

Anyway, ran an easy couple of miles warm up and warm down and completed a set of 12x300 with a jog 1min recovery. Ran pretty hard but controlled; reps ranged from 54-60 though the slower times were the earlier reps which fits with my usual pattern of needing a bit of a warm up at the beginning. The nice Blackburn bloke took pity on me and ran the last one pacing me round so I squeezed a good final finish though no doubt slowed him down a bit. Nice gesture though - this running lark can be very friendly and supportive. I came away glad I'd made the effort and called by Lidl on the way home to pick up some German treats for M; he's been recovering well but was feeling a bit under the weather today - hope it's temporary and am sure the mountain of Bratwurst I bought home will cheer him up. Also had a treat buying frenzy and stocked up on choco softies and came across a new treat; some chocolately bears. These were a heavenly accompaniment to the special sporty science drink I've formulated; my chocolate milk which I guzzled like a greedy guts in the car journey home. A demain.

Toys 'R' Ace

Just a quickie following my 14 this morning with the ever chatty Josie H. Have been dying to post after loading up from my new toy. Have access to new software and it all happens without wires! I've now found a widget to give readers access to the Garmin Connect data, (see the widget on the right if you're geeky enough to be interested - I'm still a bit short of runs to load up there but no doubt it'll soon fill up). Felt surprisingly good this morning despite the tiring tempo run yesterday so feeling relieved I've still a bit of my old RB strength, the speed is another story.

Have however been shocked to find that the new Garmin is much less generous in its measure of calorie burn. I know the 305 is renowned for its lack of accuracy but according to my super accurate 405 CX I burned only 598 calories this morning over 14 miles. Surely that can’t be!? I’m also out for a big tea tonight and am now feeling less than relaxed about my initial plans to gorge myself. I need to check this out further, that just can’t be right, can it? Just when I thought it was safe to enjoy my food again...

Consumerama

After my fleeting moments of clarity yesterday and my vows to purge my soul of the cloying, covetous claustrophobia that is consumerism I thought I'd call into a Sportshoes Unlimited in Bradford after an early finish from my meeting today. Readers, I must confess I was indecently eager to sell my soul down the river in purchasing 3 (eek!) pairs of new trainers...yes all at once... I spent £150! Though I did get a great deal mind, (or so I told myself and explained to M on the way home-it was a bargain that had to be had). I’ve been in desperate need for a shoe purchase as am clocking up the miles in my old road shoes and as my spreadsheet mileage calcs tells me I'm touching 400 miles in all my shoes (always have 3 or 4 different pairs on the go). I'm clean out of tokens which is my usual guilt free mode of acquiring shoes (tend luckily to win enough to keep me in footwear) but have sadly run out since Miss Mojo went on holiday. So, a good range of excuses there don’t you reckon?

I can justify the investment further on the back of a nice swift 9 tonight. I decided to risk a run with M and have a go at something other than an easy plod; just to check how heart rate and how the legs would cope. I pulled on my new and embarrassingly glinty white pair of Nimbus; they were the snuggest little pillows tied on my feet. I bounced my way to Ilkley and back on an undulating but scenic loop from home. The run felt great, a steady pace (7.20 with frequent hills) and heart rate seemed to be back to normal - no weird leaps on the inclines for a change. Dare I hope that little Miss Mojo is back from her travels...? Or perhaps it's been the shoes all along. I knew the deal was too good to miss. A demain.

Perfect Parcels

Just a quickie tonight. Got home very late after being pummelled by Maggie for my monthly massage till 8pm. Despite easing down I still have calves like concrete. Maggie did her best to make me howl but I was a brave soldier and managed to bite down hard on the towel and not give in. Got home to lovely parcels on the doorstep. A new bread book - will be sampling its inner delights this weekend and make sure readers get an eyeful of what it yields. I'm also the proud owner of a restored Garmin 305 after getting my new Velcro strap through. It's a winner thanks to Julbags whose post on the new quick release strap was inspired. It's snug, comfy and a huge improvement on the rubber effort that I had to wrestle off after every run. A good buy.

Did an easy 3.5 this morning to squeeze a run in with the massage scheduled for tonight. Ran easy and felt frisky though still another week of recovering to go. RHR was 43bpm this morning so still not back to normal. This week has really dragged and can't seem to wind down tonight having missed out on my post work run. A good book and bed, thank god it's the weekend.

Sturdy Straps

Frustrating day today. My second Garmin 305 wrist strap snapped leaving me with the giant size spare that came in the box. I've already snapped my own short strap so this was the scrounged shortie from M which has now also snapped. The pin thingy at the end of the strap is molded with a rubber seam that doesn't seem to be very robust; certainly not strong enough to withstand Runningbear type wear and tear!

I've rather small, girly wrists so have used my giant spare as a temporary measure and the flippin' thing just swings about like a very ugly rubber bangle. Anyway, have been online and spent £14.99, yes, you read it right, £14.99 on a bit of plastic wrist strap! Am now thinking this was rash and could have found a cheaper substitute on the high street but was kind of panicked thinking I'll be without my GPS (shock of horrors) for a day or two. Not sure how I'll cope. To add to my annoyance I set out for my evening run and after only a mile I suddenly suffered a very dodgy tum and had to stop and walk home. So have stayed in, stuffed my face with everything I could find in the naughty cupboard - serves my tummy right - and topped it all off with a bowl of home made popcorn. I'm such a lardy hog.

So, managed a rubbish recovery run of only 4 today at a leisurely 8min/miles. Really could do with running all this blubber off but don't really trust my tummy to hold out. Must try harder tomorrow...

Top Kit

This week of easing down to Wilmslow continues. This is such a difficult discipline for me as I love running every day and struggle to settle without the buzz of a good session to wash away the residue of the working day. Not coping too well with easing down for this next race as tend to want to do more than I should but have tried extra hard to be well behaved tonight with only half a VO2 session; 5x600m. Managed to escape the office early today so went straight out to do reps. I'd planned to make the journey to Nelson but the wind and rain and the thought of the buffeting I'd get circling the track all alone caused me to wimp out. Instead opted for efforts around a local playing field as a second best and hassle free option.

Not the best spot underfoot but ran 5 efforts with a good warm up and cool down though pace slowed as the windy gusts took me by surprise. Intervals are grim without company but hoping to have some club mates for company at Nelson in the next few weeks.

Spent my recent £100 race winnings on some new kit. I'm pretty taken with my purchases so thought I'd share one of my top buys for anyone interested in lady kit...

Montane Featherlight pants: though perhaps not an essential now spring is approaching these ultra-lightweight and weather-resistant bottoms are ace and essential kit for any outdoorsy type girl (also available for boys, M loves his). Great for running & recommended for cyclists I've hardly taken them off since the purchase (except for baths and weddings). Got mine at Helena & Sue's website:

http ://www.beoutdoors.co.uk/featherlite_pants.php

Take note any loved ones of lady runners, these are top pressie tips. Comments on your top kit also welcomed, including any bargains to be had.