Bye, bye February *waves*

I'm Still feeling quite giddy as I write! Having completed 17.32 miles (not quite the 17.5 'map my run' declared!) Lisa and I were positively excited in quite a juvenile manner! Jo was a little more reserved having turned up feeling a little below par she still insisted on going the full distance which was raising her mileage more than necessary but as she and I groaned in unison as we descended back to Apperley Bridge I joked with her that we could make it into a song! The start this morning was 3 hours behind us and it felt great, painful but great! Just where one pulls such elation and excitement from after covering such a distance is beyond me but believe me it felt good. I'm sure Jo felt the same even if she didn't show it.

If I had to hazard a guess some of it may have spawned from the fact that we didn't get the soaking we were expecting as the weather forecast had been for a downpour, high winds and a storm, the reality was overcast, at times a cold breeze but nonetheless pleasant conditions in which to run, also the time, taking into account that the route we had just covered was quite a tough climb up to Guiseley, through Menston, down into Otley pause by the river for a photo (above) and then uphill back to Menston, up through Whitecross to Hollings Hill, down through Baildon, up to Fox's Corner at Shipley and then back up Leeds Road to Thackley, along to Apperley Lane back down to Woodhouse Grove School, we dared to equate our time with the marathon and came to the conclusion that realistically - dare I say it - we should be able to do our respective marathons in 4 1/2 hours - that makes my heart miss a beat but I'm still sticking to my statement 'I will be elated if I can go under 5 hours' - oh ye of little faith!

Never mind the weeks, there goes another month, bye bye February!

Fundraising is going quite steadily thanks to those who've handed over their hard earned cash - Mick, Scott, Mick & Dawn, Sarah, Kyoko, Tom & Gemma & Linda x
If you haven't visited yet, please do: www.justgiving.com/julie-steele

Here there and everywhere

Au revoir to another week! Following our mammoth run in the snow last Sunday I thought maybe I might ache on Monday but that was not the case. Off I went to club for our regular speed and hills session, this week was the Co-op pyramid so with that under my belt and still feeling fine, Wednesday's mid-length run to Saltaire and back seemed like a walk in the park. I took it nice and steady running back occasionally to the back runners, chatting as we went then getting slightly ahead before returning to the back and so on putting just over 8 miles in the bank. The apprehension I felt in the early weeks of my training plan seem very distant now as I look forward to the big day, 8 weeks on Sunday....

The start to Thursday's distance training was marred slightly by heavy rain, we were all soaked to the skin even before we had finished our warm up. Undeterred we headed off down to Gain Lane to start this week's long tempo, no explanation needed! A slight change to the route took away the feeling of dejavu, we headed down to the dual carriage way but instead of taking a left up Woodhall we went under the subway and headed along Galloway Lane to Pudsey centre, Sophie and I ran it together chatting where possible! We found ourselves getting all the way down to Swinnow before the 35 minutes were up. "About turn" and we were heading uphill back the way we had come, Pudsey Pacers runners were frantically running in pairs, in all directions like buzzing bees! "Well done Ladies" - I'm sure they thought we were some of their members and do hope they weren't missing us when they got back to base!! Finally getting back to the start point I was once again delighted to have completed the exercise in 72 minutes. A jog back to the cricket club followed by cool down stretches and drills ended another brilliant session. Mick is looking into the possibility of us training at Cliffe Castle, Keighley next week. I'll look forward to it!

Tonight's club run was thankfully a short run, Westfield Lane loop from club totalled just over three miles in 36 minutes, a perfect recovery run ahead of a rest day tomorrow and a planned 17.5 mile run to Otley and back via Shipley on Sunday - in addition this week I have run through Guiseley, Horsforth, Adel, Bramhope, Yeadon, Rawdon, Idle, Shipley, Saltaire & Pudsey!

Return of the White Stuff!

A rigorous stretching session and a much longer warm up jog preceded the planned short tempo at distance training on Thursday. The short tempo turned out to be a shorter (surprise, surprise!) tempo session than last week and much faster. Together with the sleet blowing at us we really were treated to a tough workout! Friday's Carr Lane run was much tougher than I had anticipated. I had hoped to get up it in one go but this was not the case, the hard session the night before really showed. I had a much needed and, I thought, well earned rest day on Saturday in preparation for our long run on Sunday.

Opening the curtains on Sunday morning I was shocked to see a white blanket of snow and it was still coming down. I immediately thought this would put paid to our long run. However, a few hours later Sophie texted me to say 'is nowt we haven't seen before. See you at 2 pm' I was delighted! Acting like a small child I demanded Martin take a photo in our snow covered garden before I set off, just in case it had all melted by the time I returned!

Off I went to the meeting place at Apperley Bridge Lisa was there too - perfect! We set off with the intention of seeing how it was under foot and making a decision as to whether to stick to our planned 15.7 mile route or just run 7.5 miles along the canal towards Rodley and double back to make up the 15 miles. After last week's long haul from Silsden on the canal I didn't much fancy that but needs must.

After 3 miles or so Lisa announced that now was decision time, follow our route or carry on along the canal? Sophie very nicely asked a lady if she would take a photo of the three of us before we agreed to go along with the plan and so turned off the canal up towards Horsforth, continuing through to Adel, Bramhope, Yeadon, Rawdon and finishing off with a gruelling downhill to Apperley Bridge, by this time we were all weary but I couldn't help feeling great satisfaction at sticking to our plan even though the white stuff had tried to scupper our best laid plans......

Hills, hills & more hills

We have had quite opposite extremes of weather this week. After a lovely sunny but cold Sunday run the week has been getting steadily worse! At club on Monday I completed a nice short recovery run with a few friends whilst the rest of club did a pyramid hill session. Tonights longer club run of just over 8 miles was completed from start to finish in a flurry of snowflakes. Linda and I stayed together whilst the faster ones sped off ahead, having got from the bottom to the top of Gaisby Lane at Shipley without stopping I was elated!

Thursday is nearly upon me again and this week on the menu is 'short tempo' so we'll see how that compares to the 'long tempo' of last week.
Fundraising is still quite slow but very steady and if you haven't already, please visit my donation page and pledge your support:
www.justgiving.com/julie-steele

I now have Carr Lane to look forward to on Friday with club and for those of you who are not familiar with Carr Lane it's a really long, steep hill in Shipley, even the buses have trouble getting up Carr Lane!....

Miscalculation......

My Silsden to Rodley run on Sunday with Sharon & Lisa turned into Silsden to Apperley Bridge! The train journey turned into a car journey and dropping Sharon at Saltaire put the tin hat on it! So.... Lisa miscalculated the mileage which meant we didn't need to run to Rodley as this would have raised our mileage by a bigger percentage than necessary, Gill (good friend and fellow runner who works at Bfd Interchange) informed us that the train from Shipley wasn't until much later than we'd planned to set off so we had to get a lift by car, not nearly as exciting (it's years since I've been on a train!) but very much appreciated (thanks Steve)!

The run went very well, the sun shone on what was essentially a very cold and frosty morning - the canal had a thin covering of ice which provided much amusement as I watched the swans bobbing up and down trying to 'swim' through it. What seemed no time at all we arrived at Saltaire where Sharon was to depart as she hadn't wanted to do the full distance. I think this played some part in the depletion of my morale during the final 4 or so miles, I now know how those runners felt at Nottingham when they described what it felt like when the people completing the half marathon turned off to their finish and those doing the Marathon had to carry on! I felt more and more tired as I approached Apperley Bridge, I have never been so happy to get back to the car park at Rawdon Meadows!

Once back though I was happy with the realisation that I had completed my longest run to date and am now looking forward to raising the game further this coming Sunday!

Thanks to this week's star donaters - Helen, Sue and quite a few customers at work filling in my sponsor sheet - it's all good!

So far, so good : )

Another week nearly done, they are flying by :O Training 5 times a week is extremely time consuming but so far so good. Being used to training for the Great North Run late in the year emphasises how early in the year the marathon really is!

Incidentally we learned this week that neither I nor Martin have gained places in the GNR ballot :-(

However, undeterred I have had another great week of training, managing a speed & hills session on Monday with club, a 7 mile steady run on Wednesday, again with club, and week 3 of my distance training course was again another fantastic session. I had been apprehensive of the subject matter of this weeks session, long tempo, erm...long tempo? Well it turned out that Mick had calculated what our pace should be in accordance of what race we are training for, so mine being London, mine was marathon pace, jogging down to Gain Lane and then setting off towards Woodhall Lane (big downhill!), the plan was to keep the set pace and after 35 minutes turn around and go back i.e 35 minutes there and 35 minutes back. I had thought there was no way I would get down to the bottom of Woodhall Lane in that time, however, sadly mistaken I was at the New Inn in Calverley before the time came to turn round and go back up the big hill! I surprised myself by getting back to the start point in 72 minutes. Just 2 minutes outside the set time! I had also not faired too badly with the minutes per mile either! Result!

Fundraising hasn't really taken off despite my efforts but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve so fingers crossed! Apparently I need to wait until my Justgiving page catches fire!

So to finish off this week I have club run this evening, REST on Saturday (yay!)and a field trip to Silsden on Sunday, with the intention of running back along the canal to Rodley - just over 14 miles apparently. Bring it on......

Going up....the mileage that is!

Everything went to plan last week except for the reappearance of snow on Wednesday! A great session at distance training on Thursday, a steady run with club on Friday, another 10 + mile run on Saturday with Lisa & Jo and the Dewsbury 10k on Sunday. The little hiccups inbetween are now a distant memory, the long slog all the way up Hollings Hill, sampling carb gels which were positively horrible as I continue the battle of working out how to fuel my increase in mileage (I'd lost 4 1/2lb when I got on the scales midweek), going out Saturday night and not getting home until the small hours then having to get up at 6 am to be in Saltaire for 7.15 to get to Dewsbury for the 9 am start - at least that's what I'm telling myself!

The start of week 5 on the training plan and I'm now feeling really positive as I've got the races I had entered out of the way and can stick to my training plan more rigidly. Now looking forward to being able to get back to Saturdays being rest days and long runs on Sundays - two more races of 20 miles and 17 miles will not be anything like races as these are intended to assist in raising the mileage nearer the marathon distance.

Slushy Snow? No deterrent!

I was extremely pleased that distance training wasn't cancelled due to the weather tonight after the disappointment of nobody turning up to club last night, although we didn't stick exactly to Mick's programme.

We began with our warm up drills and dynamic stretches then a steady jog to Peel Park which turned out to be too dark to see anything! He then decided we would do Lister Lane hill reps- phew! A longer way back to the club totalled up to 6 miles finishing with cool down dynamic stretches made for a really enjoyable if slightly slushy session.

Looking forward to a club run tomorrow night, a long run with the Girls on Saturday and the Dewsbury 10k on Sunday!

Donations are going well considering my Justgiving page has only been up and running for a few days,thanks to Martin, Sophie & Chris, some customers have also sponsored me on my sponsor sheet which I have put out at work!

Wii Yoga

Yoga on the wii fit+ last night was all very new to me but I really enjoyed it and I'm going to try and stick to doing it two or three times a week.
Alas a little snow on the ground tonight and not a soul turned up to club except Helen who wasn't running anyway : ( I took myself off home with the intention of going on the treadmill and I'm still sat here at 8.50.....I hate the treadmill......

Hello Sunshine : )

Well here we are in February already! Training went well last week and I was able to complete exactly what I set out to do. Friday's club run was nice and steady, it was freezing but had a nice run with club members old and new. Saturday was a lovely sunny day and I ran with Lisa as planned - we set off from Apperley bridge up through Woodlands drive out to Horsforth then down to Rawdon and Guiseley, through the woods to Esholt Village and then out onto Baildon Bottom to take a rocky path down onto the canal to take us back to Apperley Bridge clocking up nearly 10 and half miles. Sunday was again a lovely sunny day but the frozen ground made it difficult under foot for the 4th of this year's Peco XC league races. I finished the course in a respectable (for me!)43:44 How a little sunshine makes you feel on top of the world even though it's still cold.
Whilst I have been sticking to my training plan loosely - I have entered the Dewsbury 10k on Sunday which means another long run on Saturday meaning that I am running 5 days in a row again, due to a meeting last night Monday and Tuesday are set to be rest days. Whilst that felt ok last week I'm not sure that it's the right thing to do. Tonight I am going to try cross training on the Wii fit+ Hmmm Yoga me thinks.....