Me vs The Dreaded Lake Swim

1 month has passed since my super-sprint triathlon (I do feel a bit fraudy saying that as there was nothing particularly sprinty about my attempt!), but anyway as I said in my previous blog post it was a brilliant weekend for the whole family, and I was pleased to have improved on both my bike and run time. However today I’m going to talk about the bit of a triathlon which I think most novices worry about ... the dreaded lake swim which kick starts the whole event! 

I’ve always had a decent breast stroke, but never learnt to swim front crawl as a kid so that stroke is very new to me as I only decided to give it a go a couple of years ago. It’s been a slow ploddy/spalshy learning experience - basically I watched how my children were being taught to swim front crawl then had a go myself. 

I can now swim ok in a swimming pool, but it has proved to be a real struggle to swim front crawl in the lake. Part of this problem has been physical, my front crawl isn’t strong but it is getting better with practise. It’s the mental side to open water swimming which I’ve found tricky. In a pool I’m relaxed, I feel safe, my breathing is calm. In a lake I just can’t get my breathing under control, I’m thinking of the dark and the depth and the “oh my god was that a fish!”.    

It’s been getting better, the temperature has been good on my swims so far this season and I’m learning to take my time when I get in the water to try and sort out my breathing and be calm before I start swimming and I have had some great swims - much better than last year. It’s still very stop start but there have been moments where I’ve felt it is finally coming together and I’ve been enjoying it although still a bit frustrated that I can't really cover any great distance without having to resort back to breast stroke. 

So yes - so far this year me and the lake are becoming friendlier - not best buddies but we can make polite chit chat well enough. One week however the lake and I did have a major falling out! The hot weather had meant the weeds in the lake had grown a crazy amount - so whereas before I was swimming and looking down at them - one week I got in the water and found I was having to swim right through them. I’d never swam through weeds before and was totally freaked out by the feeling of the weeds wrapping around my arms and legs - didn't help that it made me think of the Harry Potter merpeople in the blacklake! Anyhow as I swam on the weeds were unrelenting and my panic grew and basically I ended up having a panic attack and had to be helped by a person on the side to calm down and swim over and get out of the lake. Game over! I was so embarrassed! 

I did wonder if that would be the end of my open water swimming, however I got back in the following week for a group training session I had already committed to before my panic attack. I think I knew if I didn’t get back in there was a good chance I might not go there again. There was a (very) wobbly moment to start and I could feel the freak-out beginning to build, but thanks to some amazing and calm support from the local tri coaches running the session I sorted my head out and got over my weedy-phobia. 

The weather in recent weeks has been really great and I’ve even braved swimming through the weeds in just my tri-suit. The water was toasty warm, and the cooler pockets of water were actually nice to come across, I did miss the buoyancy of the wetsuit though!

So all in all - progress has been made with my open water swimming. I know what I need to do now is improve my front crawl in the pool, working on all areas of breathing, technique etc. I need to get it right in the pool rather than trying to ‘learn’ front crawl in a lake. I wish I had learnt as a kid as I watch my boys (age 7 and 5) in their swimming lessons being fearless as they improve in all their swim strokes with each term. It really does make me realise how important it is for children to learn to swim. The weekly mum and toddler swim classes I attend with my girls (age 2 and 3) tend to involve them taking much delight in drenching me but I see they are also getting the start they need to be safe and confident in the water. Hopefully my children will never have the problems I’ve had with open water and one day it would be great to swim with them - although I suspect I’ll struggle to keep up!

Trying to be a triathlete 2017

Cotswolds Womens Super-Sprint Triathlon - Done & Dusted! Think that deserves a little WHOOP! 

It was a fab weekend, Tri day was on the Sunday so Saturday was a family day enjoying the beach at the waterpark. My 5 year old spent a solid couple of hours at the kiddies beach stood in the lake working on digging a hole - basically he created a trap to catch any unaware toddlers going for a wobbly paddle 😬!

The main things I'm taking away from this years tri experience are:

1. Swim: Despite making progress in training lake swims, I still cannot swim front crawl in open water during a triathlon. I started off in FC and to be fair did more FC than I've ever done in a race, however the panic set in and I ended up breast-stroking the bulk of the 400m in a panic like I was being chased by Jaws! But hey-ho it doesn't matter, it's something to work on, I need to sort out my front crawl in the pool then hopefully me and the lake will become better buddies!

2. Transition 1 from swim to bike: 😂 WTF?! 2 minutes 33 seconds - what was I doing?! Sitting down for a cuppa 😂 I DID lose a sock (flung it over my shoulder in my haste) found it after some hunting. Perhaps will go sockless in future if the run is a short distance.

3. My bike time: Yeeeesssssss! Chuffed with this, in my 1st triathlon I took 59 minutes on the bike - this time it was 48 minutes 😎 a cool 11 minutes faster, and on my trusty hybrid bike. Had some serious bike envy watching the road bikes whizzing along but think I held my own pretty well. Defo think I have the tri-bug as now pondering a road bike for my big 4-0 birthday!

4. The run: Shaved a minute or so off my triathlon run PB time. The effort I put into the bike stage however had left me feeling pretty depleted. I was slightly alarmed by the fact that during the run I was actually making a panting noise sort of like a dog left in a hot car ...

All in all - Yaaaaaaaay!! Really enjoyed it! Plenty (and I mean LOADS!) to work on but the hard work felt totally worth it especially when I sat down to sunday lunch + prosecco afterwards! 

Best bit - My 3 year old daughter in the playground after our sunday lunch was role playing a triathlon. She was pretending to swim, then jump on a bike and then run! It was so cute and awesome to know that she thinks her mummy can be a bit kick ass 😀!!

Swim, Bike, Run Mum

Over 3 weeks on and I can report Marathon induced levels of feeling chuffed are still at an all time high. However, moving on to my next challenge, with summer just around the corner (and with my wibbly wobbly winter bod still hanging around) it’s triathlon time. I’m signed up to do a super-sprint triathlon at the Cotswolds women’s triathlon event on June 11th. The super sprint is the middle of three different distances/levels you can enter.

400m open water swim, 20k bike then 2.5k run. There’s an easier option and there’s also a harder option but I appear to have chosen the triathlon for me in the same way as I approach buying wine, not the most expensive bottle not the cheapest but something in between.

Now this is actually my third triathlon - which makes me sound a lot more clued up than is actually the truth. My previous two triathlons were both very different.

Triathlon 1: 5 years ago aka “the winging it whilst hungover one”

My 2nd baby Walter was 4 months old when my friend Bec roped me and a couple of other friends into signing up for a novice level triathlon. 

I’m still not sure why I agreed to it - possibly with Walter being only about 16 weeks old I was sleep deprived and misheard “we should all do a triathlon’ for “we should all go and get cake” but hey ho - 3 months after signing up I was there at the start line.

Now my triathlon 1 experience would definitely be in the dictionary under ‘winging it’. With young children attached to us most of the time, my mum pals and I would go to a local park and take turns to jog round the playing field whilst the others minded all the offspring. I didn’t even have a sports bra to start with and my first run was in my lovely breastfeeding bra - which resulted in a bouncy leaky messy milky disaster. Invested in a sports bra that afternoon. Really my training never got off the ground other than the occasional jog - I wanted to open water swim before the day or do regular bike rides, but I just never got round to it. 

I only got myself sorted with a bike a couple of weeks before. It was a shit bike. A big heavy thing from Halfords where we had the worst customer service and as it turned out they also did a shoddy job building the bike for me as the pedal fell off on the training day the day before the triathlon. 

Given the lack of training and not knowing a thing about triathlons I did sign up for the training day which meant I travelled down to the campsite with my pal and her family to do the session, then camped over as it was an early start on the day of the tri. Mr F brought Arthur and Walter down the next morning to see me across the finish line. 

So Bec and I did the training session which was useful - it gave me my first ever dip in open water, were I realised that I definitely couldn’t swim front crawl and so I would have to breast stroke the 200m. Then we were taken for a ride along the 20k bike route - which is where my peddle fell off and I had to just walk back the way we’d come, luckily we had only gone a couple of miles, but by this point the realisation that I: 

1. couldn’t swim, and 
2. had a bike with only 1 pedal …

wasn’t making me feel too great about the whole experience. So with the training session over Bec and I pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon drinking Pimms, which flowed into a pub tea with wine, followed by Irish coffee. Not much sleep in our tent as it was pouring down and the zip on my sleeping bag was broken so I was freezing all night. So come the morning I was pretty knackered and hungover! Did the triathlon (a kind soul at the campsite fixed my pedal back on the bike) but yeah - the experience would probably be filed under ‘how really NOT to take part in a triathlon’.

Triathlon 2: bit more of an idea but none of the gear

Fast forward 4 years from that experience, to last year 2016. My family of four was now a family of 6 as we now had our two girlies to go with our two boys. 

Not really sure why I got the urge to try a tri again - but signed up and somehow persuaded a group of mums from school to join in the madness - they didn’t take much persuading but I think it was the promise of Sunday lunch and a bucket of wine afterwards with peaked their initial interest. 

Determined to be less of a shambles than with my first attempt we did actually train for this one. Not particularly hardcore/following a training plan but keeping in mind we were all busy mums with multiple offspring we put in a bloody good effort of regular runs and even did some open water swimming in preparation. 

I taught myself to swim front crawl however struggled to adapt to front crawling in the lake when the cold water takes your breath away. 

Cycling was the only area I failed to train in really. I want to love cycling, and I do enjoy it with the kids when in car free areas like at center parks, however a pretty nasty bike accident when I was younger makes me a nervous wreck when it comes to cycling on roads. 

Anyway - yep so this time round - there was actual training and I was in a much better place fitness-wise to do a triathlon! 

One thing I love about the Cotswolds tri is the setting at the cotswolds waterpark - with its beach and playgrounds and lakes - its great that we could make it into a family weekend away. We all travelled down to our apartment on the Friday after collecting Arthur from school. We had a self catering apartment with two bedrooms which overlooked a lake. 

The day before the tri I did do the training session again as it was so long since my last triathlon and the open water bit did scare me so it was good to get in the lake the day before the day and get some tips. 

The night before Triathlon 2 we had a nice family meal at the hotel restaurant, and wisely I decided against getting plastered this time around!!! 

Tri 2 went fine - transition from swim to bike wasn’t a problem for me as my wetsuit was way too big and actually a surfing wetsuit so not a snug fit and was easy to slip off - although very ‘heavy’ to swim in. 

On the cycle part I forgot to take the child seat attachment off my bike as well - what a numpty!  

One other mistake was I did not cycle and run in appropriate clothing. After removing the wetsuit I pulled on heavy tracksuit bottoms (which were also light grey so thanks to my damp swim suit underneath … I looked like I’d pissed myself). I should have worn a tri-suit or cycle shorts/vest combo - but due to having a bit of a hate-hate relationship with my bod and mummy tummy I couldn’t bring myself to run in anything tight especially with people watching(!) I only felt comfortable doing the the bike and run in baggy clothes. It was heatwave weather, I had way too many layers - so just felt fat and hot to be honest! The run didn’t feel good ….. until I crossed the finish line which felt amazing!!! 

Then came the best bit - a lovely lunch with my fellow triathlete buddies and their families to celebrate, followed by enjoying the sunshine whilst all our kids had fun in the pub playground. 

So yes, there was still a fairly shambolic undertone to my second triathlon kit wise but it really was a fantastic day!

Triathlon 3: 2017, watch this space!!

So that brings us to 2017. Training is now underway !!! 3rd lake swim this year tomorrow! I have since invested in a new wetsuit and goodness me the buoyancy is amazing, but it really is a bugger to get out of so I am fully expecting it to take me about half an hour to peel it off myself at transition this time round. I’ll be ditching the heavy layers for the cycle and run this time round too - feeling a bit braver about my bod, although probably not brave enough for a tri-suit …. oh and must also remember to take the attachment for the child seat off my bike this time round!!

My Marathon Day Story

Only bloody well went and did it - I ran the London Marathon!! Me!! Little old me!! Takeaway addicted gin lover, whose BMI likes to currently dance between healthy and overweight. Me - the person at school you would guarantee to find walking at the back chatting to her friends in cross country lessons. 26.2 miles - I am beyond chuffed and still buzzing and smiling about it 3 days later. So happy to have raised a good amount for my charity Acorns Children’s Hospice, to have reached and then passed my fundraising goal. Have got to get the day down in writing as it’s an experience I want to remember the details of. I may never do it again and even if I did attempt another marathon in the (far far far!) future, the 23d April 2017 will always have the most special place in my memory!

Friday 21st April: Travel to London for Expo - registration

Originally the plan had been that me, Mr F and our boys Arthur and Walter would all travel to London on the Saturday so I could get over to the Exel centre to get registered. Our girls Nancy and Clementine were staying home with grandparents as we felt they would be too small to move about easily amongst the marathon crowds.  

However, earlier in the week, I’d been reading how Saturday was the busiest day for registration and also that the Expo would close bang on 5pm & no number=no race. So we decided I would go down Friday and get the admin side of it all out the way and then we could enjoy a fun family day on Saturday when Mr F and the boys arrived. 

This meant Friday night - in a hotel - on my own!!! Massive bed, room service, uninterrupted nights sleep - I was not going to say ‘no’ to that!

Made it to the Expo - no queuing - got my race number and chip no problems, all really well organised. I navigated the hall filled with stands selling all things running, plus charities - found the shirt printing collection point (had sent my running vest in by post in advance to be printed) small queue, collected my shirt, had a bit of a wander around - felt a bit overwhelmed so decided to escape back to Canary Wharf where my hotel was. 

Spotted a nail bar and spur of the moment decision got my nails painted in the colour of my charity running vest. 

Back to my hotel and double checked I hadn’t forgotten anything major in case an emergency call to Mr F was needed.

Good nights sleep Friday night (which was great as Saturday nights sleep turned out to be, unsuprisingly, terrible!). 

Saturday 22nd April: One more sleep (aka one sleepless night) to Marathon day

Woke up in my hotel room and had breakfast in bed which was just lovely. I decided to have a very quick run on the treadmill in the hotel gym, only 12 minutes, took it steady - and then … as I stepped off the treadmill I twisted my knee slightly - as I stood waiting for the lift I could feel a slight twinge which triggered a whole bundle of marathon paranoia! (my knee was fine by the next morning - but spent the day completely obsessing and most likely just imagining twinges!) 

Met up with my family at Euston and had a lovely day (despite knee paranoia!) with them we visited the National History Museum and made a quick stop at Hamleys on our way to checking into our apartment for the night. Treated the boys and our girls back home to a small toy each and the boys loved exploring all the floors and watching the Hamleys peeps demonstrating different toy drones, cars etc. 

Our apartment was near South Quay in the docklands so we did a trial walk to the DLR from the apartment as that was were I needed to go Marathon day to get down the Greenwich. 

Then came the fun bit carb loading which may or may not be an actual thing but I decided to fully embrace the concept. 

We hadn’t booked so couldn’t get into one restaurant, but found somewhere else and oh yes we feasted! It was great! Safe to say anywhere selling pasta in the docklands/greenwich area must do a roaring trade the night before the marathon! 

Back to the apartment we got the boys to bed and I prepped my kit, number, chip for the morning. Had hoped to watch some TV before bed to take my mind of things as nerves had well and truly set in and I was aware I was making a regular 'huffing,puffing,groaning,sighing' sound. So tried to take my mind of the coming day with a bit of TV but all we could get on screen was some kind of message in Russian and despite much button pressing couldn't shift that to anything else. 

So an early night it was, which turned out to be for the best as sleep was not my friend. The noise of being in a block of flats was so bad. Twice I sat up in a panic thinking we were being broken into - we weren’t - it was just our neighbours coming home. Now I know we’ve become country bumpkins in recent years but we used to live in a flat so it was a bit silly how freaked out I was by the noises! Eventually I did doze off only to be woken sharply by a nightmare in which I had slept in and was going to be late to the start line and had forgotten my race number. I was very relieved to wake up and realise I had plenty of time till the start even though my sleep bank was running pretty low.

Sunday 23rd April: Marathon day

Dum dum duuuuuuuuuuuum! Nerves nerves nerves galore! forced myself to eat porridge even tho had zero appetite. Also was glad I was able to (so so sorry for tmi here….) have a poo (this was a big fear of mine that I would need one along the marathon route - and I do have a sort of phobia about doing a #2 in train toilets or portaloos, again tmi I know - sorry!)

Put on my running belt with my phone, jelly babies and a mini malt loaf for fuelling during the race. Had experimented with gels in training but they just gave me terrible tummy ache. 

It got to 8am so I had to hug Mr F and the boys goodbye and set off to the DLR. 

Thankfully bumped into another lovely marathon running lady as I left the hotel and she wasn’t sure of the way to the DLR so we walked together and chatted all the way to Greenwich which really helped distract me from the nerves. We walked up the hill through Greenwich park, but then I had to say goodbye to my new friend as we were at different colour start points. 

Walked a bit aimlessly around the red start zone. Joined a ridiculous long line for the loo, lost my water bottle, found a water station for a replacement bottle, decided to join the portaloo queue again for a last minute wee, and after that it was time to go to the start area.

Massive long queue of people, we all shuffled nervously along eventually exiting the park - turned the corner and there it was …. the start line. My shuffling turned into a jog and with a deep breath I crossed the start line unfortunately I think I missed running past royalty as I was busy getting my watch timer going!! 

My watch was great on the day - it does receive text and whats app messages and I can view a couple of lines of text on the watch face, I couldn’t reply but had messages of support from friends pinging in regularly throughout the whole race, which when you're running alone is a massive massive help and support.

26.2 Miles to go!

0-7 miles

I knew it was 6 miles to the Cutty Sark, and I was really looking forward to that bit where you run round the ship. This is the area where we used to live, so was looking forward to running around the familiar and the iconic landmarks. A message on my watch from Mr F said he the kids and a friend would be just before the 7 mile mark which I knew was between the Cutty Sark and our old flat on Creek Road. So I just had to keep it steady, looking forward to a first glimpse of Team Farrow at 7 miles. A bit of down hill running in those first 6 miles towards Greenwich - I had been warned by a more experienced marathon runner to watch my pace, so I paid heed to this and several times when I was running along easily at a 10 minute mile pace I made myself slow down. 

Approaching the Cutty Sark - the crowds, the atmosphere, were amazing, I took it all in running around the ship - it felt great - its one of the bits you always see on the TV and it felt amazing to be living it. Plus knowing I would soon see my family felt so good! I spotted the red and white balloon arch of the 7 mile marker as I made my way down Creek Road. I started looking along the left side crowd as I assumed Team Farrow would have exited Greenwich station on that side. I was trying to spot the big R2D2 helium balloon we’d picked up at Hamleys the day before. The 7 mile marker came and went, no sign of R2D2 or any faces I recognised. A few seconds later - my watch vibrated and the message from hubby said “wrong side! love you! we saw you!” Oops!!!!!!! After that bless him he was very clear which side of the road I needed to keep an eye on…here are a few of the messages he pinged me along the way “Right side!!!’ “Right side!!!!” 

Was feeling good, running was steady, easy, keeping my pace in check, not getting carried away, ignoring the people overtaking, running my own race.

7-12 miles

No real iconic landmarks along this stretch unless you count the Canada Water retail park. Great crowds - the BBQ smells along the way were a little bit of torture though! I was being mindful of my water drinking - had freaked myself out the night before by reading about people who die in a marathon from drinking too little and people who die from drinking too much. Wasn’t drinking at each water station but was taking on plenty of fluids - the pure sugar lucozade drinks went down well, and cooling showers along the way helped as the sun had really started to come out. 

I became aware that a stop for the loo was certainly going to have to happen soon, and I really didn’t want to get caught out and have to do a Paula Radcliffe. I went past one set of loos but the queue was huge! I didn’t fancy stopping for so long as was fearful it would be hard to get going again, decided to wait till the next set of loos … which turned out to be around 12 miles. This was a mistake as was bursting by that point and still had to join a long long queue - but stopped my watch timer and got in line. 

Feeling much relieved afterwards and actually a bit better for the break, I set off again restarting my watch timer, and there it was - goodbye Canada Water/Rotherhide/Bermondsey… Helloooooo Tower Bridge! What a beautiful sight that was visually, and mentally because I knew I was making my way to the halfway mark. The crowd had thinned a bit as I went over the bridge and I spotted a runner taking a speedy selfie - decided to enjoy the moment too - checked it was safe to do so then quickly snapped my own Tower Bridge selfie. 

It was another amazing moment right there running over that bridge - and I loved it! Spotted that bloke who won Strictly Come Dancing last year doing interviews on the bridge - he was interviewing some guys in a massive cardboard car - I kind of lingered running past in the back ground in case they showed it on the TV coverage (they didn’t!) 

12-17 miles

Passed the 13.1miles halfway point. Aware that I’d now run half a marathon and was still feeling ok-ish but a bit freaked out by the enormity of the fact I now had the same again to do. However a glimpse of Canary Wharf tower and the knowledge that Mr F and the kids were waiting at the 17 mile point spurred me on. Really wanted to see my boys - I knew it would help. 

16 miles it was getting hard, the Isle of dogs at one point just seemed to be a massive piss up. A guy who looked a bit like santa, drunk santa, bellowed at me half supportive/half angry sounding “keep running Rachel” I did run a little faster after that. And then suddenly I saw Mr F, I saw R2D2 bobbing in the breeze. So so good - hugs, kisses, my boys faces, them cheering me on - just the tonic!!

17-19 miles

Just after 17miles I was doubting myself - with so far still to go I was feeling it. My watch vibrated and a message from my friend Katherine simply said “you have given birth to 4 children you can do this”. Cheered me right up! Those messages sent by friends really helped me so much. It was feeling tough, hard, but it was still OK. Towards Canary Wharf tower. I got to see my family again yaaaay! Hugs and cheers are super fuel! It was a nice bit to run through - we used to spend a lot of time there in our London days. It’s where we would watch the marathon ourselves. I did enjoy this part - but it was starting to hurt. 

19-24 miles

This was rough. The toughest bit. My legs where still working, but my lower back was aching, and I was feeling headachy, fatigued with awareness that there were still miles to go. I had seen the 24 mile marker being set up the day before and had said to Mr F ‘I will be so happy to be at that point’. I was feeling weak - and mentally I was a bit of a mess. I was scared I’d have to stop running and it was still a long way to walk. My watch vibrated - Mr F: “Tower bridge, right side!” I knew this was just before 23 miles so I just had to get there. Adopted an approach of  ‘walk for 1-2 minutes after reaching each mile marker’ between 19 and 24 miles - good decision - it defo helped knowing I had a walking break to look forward to after passing each red and white ballon mile marker arch. 

24-25 miles

So good to see the 24 mile point. I knew then that I would be OK and that I would finish. With just over 2 miles to go - I knew it would happen. I was still fearful of my legs stopping working but with the end in sight it all felt possible again. I knew I had a group of girl friends waiting for me between the 24 and 25 mile point too, so looking out for them helped me not just think about how crappy I was feeling. A lot of people were walking, I was running but it was a sort of shambling wobbley jog. The crowd along the embankment were truly amazing - to hear people calling your name really does help you find that extra strength from goodness knows were. 

Suddenly I heard screams and my friends Zoe Manda and Sarah where there (wine glasses in hand - I was so jealous!!!) hugs and kisses - they gave me the best cheer and off I set again. Then came a complete surprise - a lady running next to me caught my attention, and I saw there under Embankment bridge with the 25 mile marker in sight was Ant, the boys and James - all shouting me - hadn’t expected to see them again. An amazing surprise and can’t believe I nearly missed them! I had just passed them but jogged back for a hug - I needed it. 

25miles - finish line

Passing the 25 mile marker felt great, just the 26 miles marker left! Relief, pure relief. I knew I had it then, and I knew I could run it all the way in. Turning by big ben - I made a mistake, after being so careful with pace I just wanted to get the the end and I picked up my speed thinking the finish line was a lot closer - I could see a marker up ahead but, oops realised it was 800m to go - still a bit and I was going too fast. Calmed down a bit an kept on going 800m, 400m, down towards the palace, then turned 200m ….. and I could see the bloody finish line!! Amazing sight!!! Ran it in waving for the camera man crouched by the finish line. So may emotions - crossed the line with a “thank god”/bit of a sob. Marathon done!!!!!

Straight after

Once over the finish line I stumbled along, joining a moving line and then there were medals. One was put over my head - heavy! Then a goody bag was collected - quite heavy too - medal and bag weighing me down I began what felt like the longest most painful limp/walk to the meet and greet area. Seemed to take forever, legs so sore and  feeling overwhelmed and desperate to see familiar faces. 

Finding them was such a high point! It’s a bit of a blur to be honest! I was feeling a bit sick (always happened on long runs in training) so pretty much leaning on my family and friends we headed through the crowds to a nearby McDonalds next to Charring Cross. I wanted to eat - craving salty fries and a diet coke with loads of ice. The only seats in there were downstairs, descending the stairs was just comedy. Fries and drink appeared in front of me and thank goodness they really helped make the nausea go away. Soon it was time for goodbyes, and seeing as he had one lame wife, two boys, luggage and an R2D2 balloon Mr F wisely agreed we should get a taxi to Euston. Going down the stairs in MaccyDs had been a challenge but climbing back up felt like I was scaling Everest!

The aftermath

Toenails seem to have withstood the ordeal surprisingly well. But, my goodness, Monday morning when it was time to get up I seriously thought I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. Had to sort of fall out, I had no choice as Mr F had left for work and I had to get the boys ready for back to school! Sort of limped and staggered around the house after them waving uniform in their direction pleading with them to get dressed. Lovely to see my girls for a cuddle as they had been fast asleep by the time we got home Sunday eve. My 2 year old Clemmie ran away mid dressing - I knew I would never catch her - had to pretend to fall asleep to get her to come back to me. Felt like I’d been hit by a bus, and good god squatting over the loo - legs felt horrendous, it took 48hours to squat without making a sound like a wounded beast.

I’ve also passed the point of becoming a marathon bore for sure!! Have got to the stage of telling random strangers I ran the marathon. In the queue at the supermarket cafe with my girls on Monday I was making ‘mummy small talk’ with the lady in front, she said “I’m going to resist the cake” I couldn’t help myself “I’m totally having a massive piece of cake BECAUSE I RAN THE MARATHON yesterday!!!” 

It just feels so good to have set my sights on a goal and reached it. I’m happy I did it for my charity, for my friends and family who’ve supported me and for myself - being a SAHM you can forget you can accomplish big things outside home and family life -  I wanted to run the marathon and I made it happen and that feels amazing.

Easter you've been a bit of a bitch to my waistline, and with 1 week to marathon - shame on you!

One week to go till the London Marathon. This time next week it will be done! At least I hope I'll have finished and not still be limping around the course becoming new best buddies with a chap in an antique deep sea divers suit. 7 sleeps (although I doubt much sleep will be had the night before). I am a bit of a shambles mentally and physically right now (yes Easter I’m blaming you for my tubby tum, you chocolate pushing feeder of a holiday). Who thought organising a marathon the week after Easter was a good idea, I’ve been living in a vicious circle of indulgence and guilt all bloody week. The kids being off school and the fact I have zero willpower around sweet treats makes me feel like I’ve piled on the pounds!

(Yep, that's rocky road with cream egg innit!)

I was warned the taper period is an odd time. So true! have been getting out for short sharp runs but am utterly convinced that doing the big miles again next Sunday will feel horrendous. The last long run I did 10 days ago was 17 miles, I felt properly sick afterwards, plus had to dash straight to parents evening after where it was touch and go for a while as to whether I would spew my guts up over my sons reception class teacher.

In the past week - I ran last Tuesday a good 6 miler, Wednesday did spin class and swim … but then I’m not sure what happened … I went into a weird denial/anxiety about the whole thing and have just been too scared and hidden from my trainers and refused to go running…no idea why. I woke up this morning and made myself go out at 7am, did 5k just to prove my legs do in fact still work, and they did. Kicking myself for the 3 day ‘running break/freak out’ now and hoping I haven’t set myself back too much. 

Have had to adopt my best ‘mum voice’ and have a stern word with myself. I am going to stop looking at just the negatives, I am going to ignore what I haven’t done in the last week. Ultimately on marathon day I really want to enjoy the experience, it’s most likely going to be the only time I run the London/any marathon. So I am going to focus on the following “Go Me! I’ve totally got this! Yay! Screw you self doubt!” thoughts:

• I set my sights on this goal 12 months ago and made it happen. I got a charity place sorted as I didn’t get in through the ballot, and I have worked my ass off to raise the amount I pledged to (and then some) for my charity, Acorns Children’s Hospice. As a stay at home mum, I don’t currently have many achievements outside of home/family life - so seeing something through from initial idea to making it happen feels pretty good.

• I have trained. Up until christmas I wasn’t following a plan but was going for regular runs and did the Birmingham half in October. Post christmas I’ve followed a proper plan, and despite the juggling it’s taken, I have stuck to my plan. (the nagging voice of doom whispers in my ear - yesssss but your longest run is only 20 miles and you where broken afterwardssss…. but I am not going to listen *fingers in ears la la la* !!!!)

• The day is going to be amazing! I want to take in all the sights and the London crowd. Running past places we used to go in our previous pre-children life, I’ll give a wave to our old flat, there’s going to be nostalgia and happy memories galore which will help a hell of a lot more than the monotonous canal running I’ve been doing.

• I still have a week, a final push for some more short sharp runs, keep my legs going and hopefully without a permanent belly full of chocolate I’ll start to feel a bit less sluggish!

• On marathon day I can help myself by: starting slow, take walking breaks - there’s no shame! Perhaps walk through water stations when drinking, even if I feel I don’t need a break. I’m not going to worry about my time, just getting around 26.2 miles will be amazing. I’m going to do what I need to, be kind to myself to stop pesky fatigued legs preventing me from reaching that finish line!

So bring it on!!!!! (had best finish off the hot cross buns and lindt bunnies and the red wine from dinner first). MUCH THANKS to anyone who has offered support and advice to me in real life / online - and GOOD LUCK to everyone running next week xxx

When your legs don't work like they used to before ...

The last month can pretty much be summed up with:

• running
• fundraising
• worrying about running
• worrying about fundraising

Which brings us to today, 3 weeks to go till London marathon. 3 weeks - what the actual?! I wonder, if I asked really nicely, if the marathon organising people would push it back a few weeks. 

The good news is I can stop worrying about the fundraising as I’ve hit the target amount I’d promised to raise for my chosen charity Acorns Children’s Hospice. 

I’ve managed a 20 miler run (mainly running but there was a bit of tearful staggering thrown in), one more long run to do, it should have been today but feeling full of the lurgy so opted for dragging the kids up the Malvern hills instead with last long run pencilled in the diary for Wednesday. 

Bless my youngest daughter, she turned 2 at the end of January, and today we left the toddler carrier backpack  at home so she walked the whole route to the top of the hill. I loved watching her method for dealing with tired little legs when descending the hills - I think she would happily have rolled the whole way back down. 

We had to stop her though as there are some pretty steep slopes so intervention was needed to prevent our family of 6 becoming a family of 5. She was pretty furious about that, which resulted in a wailing child being carried the final stretch of the walk. I mean seriously, what arsehole parents we clearly are wanting to keep her alive and everything!

Might have to try her rolling technique if my legs turn to jelly on marathon day!!

Marathon training week 7 - stuff I’m learning

So here we are, 7 weeks of training done! I feel like I should apologise to week 6 of the plan for not giving it enough love as I’m now recalling week 6’s 10 mile long run with a lot more fondness now that I’m feeling shattered after todays 12 miler. 

12 miles - that is now my newest and shiniest long run so far. I think now the miles are really starting to build there are definitely a lot of things I’m learning along the way, a handful of which are :

• I need to plan in advance when will be the best time to do the weekend long run. It’s not easy fitting in a couple of hours+ for running with all the stuff going on with my four little uns at the weekend. The weekends are also important family time for us, as Mr F works away during the week quite a bit. At the moment Sunday mornings work well for the long run as hubby takes the girls along to watch their big brothers play rugby so I can prep food for when they get back, then run out for a couple of hours usually arriving home at a similar time to the rest of my tribe returning. 

• I do need to start being a bit better when it comes to eating and drinking. Wednesday’s run after valentines eve wine and curry-fest was a real slog. Friday night I had a mums night out with reception class mums - drank a bucket of cocktails - Saturday was a running rest day - but I still think even 2 days later running today was harder than it would have been minus the gallon of cocktails drunk on Friday eve. I think biiiiiiiiig nights out need to be put on hold now till post-marathon. Going to try (again) to reduce the amount of crap I eat during the week as well, try to meal plan a bit better. I make sure the kids have a healthy meal - but when it comes to my own diet I seem to live on cheese toasties and the kids left-overs!

• I would really benefit from losing at least half a stone before the marathon. My BMI is still in the ‘overweight’ category and I know that to lose even half a stone would make a real difference to my running. Half term next week - but I have a plan to embark on a 9 day cleansing diet when the kids go back to school. 

• I need to keep my toenails short! Feeling the toenail pain after todays 12 miles!

• I need to start thinking about the actual marathon and what I’ll need on the day in more detail. Today I was very aware of feeling my energy levels tailing off from the 8 mile point. I have never carried snacks/water - but now the big miles are happening I definitely need something along the way. Need to figure out what snacks to take with me on marathon day and how best to carry them (guess nipping into McDonalds along the route isn’t an option).

Sorry if you started reading this expecting some more technical running related lessons learnt! I see words like cadence, splits, tempo, hydration strategy being chucked around when I read stuff by people who actually know what they are doing. Who knows, maybe over the next few weeks I will get my head round this running stuff properly too! So get me, this sh*t really is getting serious now !!