Aaaaand: the rain is back. I suppose one day’s reprieve is better than nothing? It is raining hard this morning – I believe the technical term is ‘bucketing down’ or ‘pissing down’. That’s ok with me, seeing as I cancelled what would have been an easy paced 9.66km run this morning, as I am still resting my achey/sore legs (both of them feel very sore and tight up the back of my legs/hamstrings now, so the rest will continue, as frustrating as it is). So, it’s quite nice sitting here and sipping my coffee watching/hearing the rainy-season-esque downpour (it is reminding me of my time in a small Amazonian jungle village in Bolivia, where I visited during rainy season and subsequently got trapped there when I realised no planes could fly back out from their grassy ‘airport’/runway if it was pouring with rain. Which it was. Every day. It’s quite a nice, relaxing, lulling sound though).

This means the things and errands we had planned for today (which involved cycling to and from) may now be postponed due to the weather. (Yes, we could always take a taxi, but that’s no fun.)

 

I don’t often mention it or write about it on here, but I am a qualified nutritionist (before English-teaching-Lou!) however I’ve been travelling and doing other things with my life lately, so this has taken a back-seat (and I hope I haven’t forgotten everything that I studied so hard for!). Next year, I am aiming to go back to uni (in Australia) and complete a masters or post-graduate degree that will give me the extra credentials and expertise so that I’ll then be able to work as an accredited dietician. Anyhoo, I digress, the point I was trying to get at, is that I love all things nutrition related and about how we can thrive and live our lives to the fullest and happiest, and cure any ailments, just by good nutrition and being aware of what we eat. I mentioned yesterday that I’d be eating lots of healthy, healing foods, so I thought I’d expand a bit more on exactly what those would be.

 

The first thing that comes to mind, when thinking about healing your body, would be protein, and making sure you’re getting enough good quality sources of this. Such as: lean-meat and fish (if you are not vegetarian), eggs, tofu, yoghurt, nuts, seeds, pulses. A protein powder/drink can also be useful. Protein helps to heal and repair the body and build new, lean muscle.

However it’s not just protein that you’d need to ensure your getting enough of. Key vitamins/minerals to up your intake of would be: vitamin C (and antioxidants, to help with inflammation), vitamin A (acts as an antioxidant also, for inflammation healing, and also needed for new cells/tissue) , zinc (needed to repair and grow new muscle), along with a regular supply of B vitamins (for tissue regeneration and repair as well as daily general well-being, energy etc), enough calcium (from more ‘natural’, bioavailable sources if possible, i.e. dark green veg, almonds, eggs, tinned fish rather than bovine sources of calcium for their young, ie. Milk), an adequate intake of carbohydrate (even if not training), and enough ‘good’ fats too (for reducing/eliminating inflammation).

So, to up your vitamin C, people often think ‘oranges/citrus fruit’, but there is an abundance of vit C (and antioxidants) in potatoes (mainly the skin, so keep it on if possible), strawberries, kiwifruit, broccoli, capsicums, cabbage, and many other fruit and veg. So, aiming for a variety of different coloured fruit and veg will help increase your vit C intake (and usually your B vitamin intake too).

For making sure you’re getting enough vitamin A, initially look for orange coloured veg, such as sweet potato and carrots, but also be aware that there’s vit A in eggs, fish, dairy products (aim for eating less of these though), and dark green leafy veg.

Zinc is often thought to go hand in hand with your protein intake, i.e. if you’re getting enough protein then you’re probably getting enough zinc, but if you’re unsure, then aim to add in some: nuts, beans, seafood (i.e. oysters and crab), lean meat, dairy foods (but keep these to a minimum). A zinc supplement can be useful too (although it’s best to aim to get your vitamins and minerals naturally through bioavailable food sources rather than a capsule, but an extra supplement at times, such as when you are aiming to heal and injury or prevent an illness, can be a very good thing).

Good sources of B vitamins: cereals, beans, nuts, meat, fish, vegetables etc (found in many different foods, so aim for a varied and interesting diet).

Eating enough in general, and not reducing your carbohydrate intake is important for healing too. If you eat too few kilojoules or not enough carbohydrate sources, then your body will naturally start to burn your own protein for fuel instead, thus slowing the healing process. Good sources of carbohydrate foods to choose would be starchy, whole-grains if possible, and aiming for a variety of these and not just one type.

‘Good’ fat choices could be olive oils, peanut butter (or other nut butters), flax seeds, oily fish (salmon, sardines, tuna etc), and avocado.

So, these would be the main foods and items to focus on, but don’t underestimate the power of herbs and spices! I mentioned previously re: Husband’s turmeric habit, and turmeric is an amazing panacea that can assist with a number of ailments and issues. I really need to take his advice about this and incorporate it into my daily diet, along with more garlic, especially when aiming to heal quickly. (One of turmeric’s benefits is that it has anti-inflammatory properties).

I think I have most of this covered, as my daily diet anyway consists of a large variety of different coloured veg, a good amount of carbohydrate (from rice, bread, other grains in soups/porridge, potatoes), plenty of tofu, nuts, seeds and eggs, and a fair bit of olive oil and peanut butter. I have also added in some protein powder drinks too (courtesy of my recent prize of a giant tub of protein powder), and I have a zinc supplement (in theory anyway – for some reason I forget to actually go and find the bottle and take a pill out to take it! They’re around here somewhere…) so I will be adding that in too. Oh yeah, and GREEN TEA, loads of it (we drink it by the bucketload here), I will be continuing with that, for its anti-oxidant properties and for making me feel awesome. I will also eliminate any beers or wine and my usual ice-cream addiction for the next week (yep, you read that correctly!), as this will help no end too, I’m sure.

So, in theory: good nutrition + lots of rest/sleep + positive thinking = I will be fixed and have ‘new’ legs again in no time, yes?? That’s the plan anyway.

 

Here are a few links to articles re: healing and nutrition if you fancy reading more (theirs may well be more technical than my ramblings on here too):

 

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/01/nutrition-for-injury.aspx#axzz35nHbndUz

 

http://www.livestrong.com/article/303683-foods-that-help-heal-muscle/

 

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/foods-heal

 

http://www.fitbie.com/slideshow/5-kinds-foods-heal



http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/foods_to_soothe_sore_muscles

 
Oh, Ginger too! Fresh ginger is great for pain relief and reducing inflammation too. (How could I forget ginger?! Another of Husband's daily habits - hmmm, I really SHOULD follow his example more, it seems...)




Are you a fan of protein powders?? (This has been the first one I've really given a go, and so far, so good. It's not my favourite thing to drink though.)

Enjoy your day people! Wow, it's the weekend (pretty much) already, again! How the hell did that happen?!

I am back from my trip to the Wuyuezhai National Park, Hebei Province, via Beijing, and I have  lots to tell. So, grab a coffee, a tea, a wine, whatever’s your figurative ‘cup of tea’, and get comfy: this is going to be quite a long one.

Firstly: hell yeah! I DID it!! I completed this extremely beautiful, extremely hard (at certain times) 50km ultra running trail race and completed it in a faster time than I ever would have expected (7 and a half hours). I also came in the top twenty females (either 18th or 19th, according to different people) so got a prize and had to go up on stage during the big prize giving ceremony – more on that later. Not bad for a previously virginal ultra runner, and for a first attempt at a trail race?! Here’s a sneak preview of many many more photos to come of where this race took place: so beautiful don’t you think?

First things first, let’s start with the lead up to the event: the travelling, the race gear pick-up, the pre-race meeting and greeting etc. I flew up to Bejing from our little city of Yiwu, which took just over 2 hours by plane. The plane was delayed and there was shitloads of turbulence, but other than these two minor issues, I was reminded of how much I really LOVE to fly and travel. I love it. All of it. The getting to the airport way too early. The mooching about while it’s too early to board. The pre-flight beer and snacks (carb –loading hey). The miniature meal on board. It’s all good.

After having arrived at Beijing’s airport, some way out of town, I then spent the next two hours ish getting across town to my hotel next to Bejing West railway station. This was a bit of mission, and the day was so very hot. Initially I got the airport ‘express’ which is a dubiously named train, and by no means express (not after Shanghai’s airport express Maglev train which reaches speeds of 430kmph!) and maybe should be called the airport plodder or airport normal speed train or something. I took this photo of the ticket as it amused me. Hmm, Beijing is not really famous for its blue sky, and even the picture next to this little fibbing phrase showed no blue sky nor any green land. It’s got a nice ring to it though, sounding more like some kind of vertical, space-train perhaps?

After settling in and going in search of some tasty pre-penultimate race day treats, I predictably ordered too many dishes (being used to there being two of us sharing many plates of food), and continued to carb load by the means of another cold beverage.

I had a very quiet night and then left bright and early to meet the coaches and other runners the next morning. I was directed to coach number 7 and the real trip took off from there.

I slept a bit and chatted a bit to the other runners (lovely people) on board for the 6 hour ish it took to get to Wuyuezhai.

I have to say that this was the BEST and most well run and organised event I’ve ever taken part in. Names were ticked off upon boarding the coach, the race gear pick-up was smooth and hassle free as was the hand out of room key cards for the hotel (all went by coach number initially), with no queuing and no confusion.

Even during the race, this high level or care and organization was held up – markers clearly marking the course (so, no getting lost in the mountains as I was worried about), and the check points (where your bib number would be written down, to check you were there within the cut-off time) were laden with every different kind of refreshment you could want: water, sports drinks, bananas, cherry tomatoes, cakes, watermelon, noodles – it was great! (I ate a LOT during the race hey – had everything they were offering.)

 

So, back to the penultimate race day settling in. Once we’d found our rooms (I got lucky hey – for some reason I got a room all to myself! So, my fears re: sharing a room/glass bathroom walls etc, never eventuated) the other ‘laowei’ (foreigner) runners and I met up for some eats and carb-loading beers, in one of the restaurants in this picturesque little town, set into the mountain side, up a long, winding, fairly steep road (one that goes for about 4 kilometres that formed both the start and finish of the race – yes, that’s right: the last 4 kms were spent trudging up a seemingly endless tarmac hill, in the direct burning sun – brutal).

Then, later that day, there was a delicious (carb-loading?) dinner:

Followed by beers in a hill-side gazebo:

Followed by a pre-race safety briefing where I learnt that runners would be disqualified if they didn’t carry either a camelback or the designated drinks bottle we’d received in our race pack. So glad I invested in the camelback option! Even though I ran with the heaviest backpack I’ve ever ran with, it was worth it to have my hands free to steady myself at times.

 

The race pack was a GREAT one! Lots of goodies, check it out:

Ok, onto the part you’ve possibly come here for! The race day recap!!

So, the day started off with a twenty minute aerobic session courtesy of the head coach (I think) of the running group Hey Runners from Beijing who I booked through and who most of the other laoweis (all 8 of us I think?) belong to.

This was a lot of fun!

And, nicely warmed up, we then headed to the starting line, excitement and adrenalin kicking in now.

The race started on time, and we began our descent, down the steepish, tarmac, winding mountain road.

For the first 11kms or so, I was badly needing to go to the loo, but could see no appropriately private tree or bushy area in which to do so. It was getting pretty dire, and was actually causing me to run too fast I think, as I sped up searching for a place to stop and pee. Not good when all the advice you’ve been given is to watch your pace at the beginning and especially going downhill straight off. Eventually it got too much and I found a handy wall/billboard to hide behind. Ahhh. All being much better, I continued with the race.

After about 19kms, just before checkpoint two, I realised something about this race: I would not be able to run the whole thing, as previously imagined and how I thought I would be able to. I eventually succumbed to stopping running up the hills, and began to hike the hard uphill sections, along with everyone else around me. Before then, I had been powering up past others, but perhaps using too much energy too soon by doing so? I had it in my head that I would be able to keep running, no matter what, and come on, even the first hotel was rooting for me:

So, a new plan evolved and was established: hike up the steep/uphill sections, run the flat, downhill, and gently uphill parts. Seemed to be the go for everyone else that I could see too.

From 20 to 30kms or so, it was a very steep ascent, and reminded me of a hard day’s hiking, let alone a running race. This is where people’s poles came into play. Initially I was a bit confused as to all the gear people were carrying. I mean, how do you run with poles? And why?? Well, all was revealed when we were hiking up (in single file at some points), and later, scrambling down, this mountain.

 

Reaching the ‘top’, or so I thought, at the 30kms mark, I was then told we had to ‘just run over there’ to collect a rubber bangle and have photos taken beside the elevation marker. Hmm, maybe ‘over there’ in an ultra event is not the usual ‘just over there’! This bit was tough. But here I am, feeling on top of the world, quite literally:

I have never eaten noodles and then continued to run before, but all was fine. No nausea or spewing as feared. And on with the race:

 

I can see why people love trail running so much. There were a good many points during the race that I could feel myself grinning inanely and thinking to myself ‘I LOVE THIS!’, especially as I was running through some shady forest sections, with gentle up and downs. It was just such a beautiful course:

Coming back down the mountain there were some VERY steep, rocky sections, where I had a few near misses with twisting my ankle. Had to keep reminding myself to take these bits slower than I was trying to, as it just wouldn’t be worth it to have an injury out there hey. There were quite a few dangerous sections. I didn’t take a photo of the terrain here as I was concentrating on just getting down, but again, it was like a hard hike or climb down a mountain side, I though.

 

The route spread out again between 42kms to 45kms, and I still felt pretty good running. Actually, I felt kind of euphoric – this was the furthest I had EVER run before, and maybe the hardest too (although, I’m not sure –I think the Great Wall event may have been more challenging still, although was half the distance of this one – so, short and sweet/painful?).

The sun was quite intense though – it got hot quite early on in the day, so for the whole race we were running mainly in the hot sun. (Note to self: take sun cream to an event in the mountains where there is little to no shade! Rookie mistake.) The last 4 ish kilometres were tough. And not just because they were the last 4kms of a 50kms race – it was purely that they back up that hill. Nooooooo! Everyone struggled with this apparently. Most walked for most of it, it was practically impossible not to (not sure about the elite guys/winners though), and I did a mixture of hobbling/jogging/attempting to run before walking/hiking up most of it (I think it may have been quicker to walk?). It was the hill that kept on giving. Every twist and turn I’d think, ‘surely this is the last turn and I will see the finish line looming ahead soon?!’ Eventually, when I finally did see the finish line, and the markers marking every 100kms away from 500kms down, a fresh surge of energy came back to me and I managed to run the last 100kms feeling pretty strong and awesome. I had done it! Finished! And well under the 12 hour cut-off time too! (My time was 7 and half hours.) I was ecstatic!!!

Then they told me I was in the top 20 (and someone later told me I was either 18th or 19th place)! Wow. I was amazed. And thrilled. Here’s me with my medal, woohoo:

Later, there was yet more shared, delicious meals:

So, all in all, the race went great: I had a blast, I loved the course, the guys I met are lovely and everyone was very friendly/I made new friends etc, AND my legs seem to be recovering pretty well now, as this is the start of day 3 post-race and they’re feeling pretty good. The day after the race was a different story however: even standing up and making my way off the coach to use the toilets when we stopped at service areas was a huge, painful struggle, let alone having to attempt a full squat, courtesy of all the toilets being squatters hey (can you imagine the pain of this?!). However, when I got to my third and final hotel back in Beijing (after a mammoth 8 hour coach journey ,then 2-3 hour trek across town via car/subway/taxi) I dived into their (actually open, operational!) swimming pool and did a form of pool running (not sure if I was doing it right – had no floatation belt or anything, but just tried to jog up and down doing gentle laps) for about 30 minutes, and perhaps this has helped with active recovery? A little bit of walking (mainly through the huge terminal 3 of Beijing) and cycling yesterday too, and this morning: legs are feeling ok.

 

Ok, that’s enough from me. If you’ve stuck with the race recap thus far, thanks for reading! I now need to catch up on all the things I’ve missed on other running blogs since being away. I did think of all your amazing comments while I was running the race, and I was sending positive thoughts out to Amy over at Run Write Hike who was running a trail race relay over this same weekend! Looking forward to reading all about her event too.

 

So tell me, what have you been up to over this weekend? What was your high point? What was your favourite part of your weekend?

Wonderful Wednesdays begin with… a session at the track. Nope, I’m not kidding. Just got back from my final speedy session pre-race on Saturday, and wow, have I turned it around with my attitude towards the track! Was keen as to get out there this morning, and when I got there ran the following: 1.6km warm-up, 9.66km at threshold pace, 1.6km cool down. Had to slow down slightly around 7kms in as the security guard had come to find me and was waving me down with a package that had arrived in the mail for us, how’s that for service?! So, I ran half of my workout holding a small envelope, but anyhoo, a great run nonetheless.

Let me tell you about these friends I’ve made down at the track. They are definitely the silent type, and mostly they like to quietly cheer me on as I pass them, while they sit at the edge of the track in the long grass. One is a redhead and one has black hair, and they are pretty damn cute. Since I don’t take my camera with me when I go for a run, this is a photo I’ve stolen from google images, but you get the idea:

Just call me the Cat Whisperer. (Do you ever wonder if animals that have an affinity with you are maybe past souls/people you have known?) Shhh, don’t tell Puppy. She can be such a jealous bitch when we show love to other dogs, so I’m sure she’d be the same with cute, little cats.

 

Apparently blogging and writing posts on here are a lot like running for me: if I don’t do it bright and early in the morning, then there’s a good chance I won’t get it done at all, or it becomes a struggle making time for it later in the day, as things crop up and get in the way. For a couple who have just over ten hours of solid “work” per week (it’s in quote marks as it doesn’t really ever feel like work) our day can get surprisingly busy (yes, this always shocks me too). Yesterday was one of those days.

It started out all well and calm enough, and yes, although I was dog-tired, I still dragged myself out of bed early-ish (about half 5 I think) and nursed a couple of green teas for a while before heading out (in the already hot, humid day) for a 12km easy paced run. As soon as I got back from this is was rush, rush, rush, as I was trying to get showered, ready and leave it just long enough so as to hit that magical refueling period of time (refueling nutrition nirvana?? From 30 minutes to an hour after working out) yet still make it to school breakfast on time, or at least before they close for the day (there is a daily cooked breakfast as well as a school lunch here. Like I’ve said before: good gig). I made it (just), then shoveled down a breakfast of champions: vegetable noodles with added chilli and chives, boiled eggs, steamed bread, and some hot soy milk. However, this ‘rush, rush rush’ pace was then set in place for the whole day. Or so it seemed.

A ‘quick’ trip to some shops turned into a longer trip than first anticipated as apparently I had to wait for them to even open (at the, what seems, crazy late time of 10am!) so I killed time by mooching around in Starbucks with a strong, brewed black coffee, rather than cycle home again until nearer the time; it is now too hot for multiple, sweaty bike rides – we’re definitely back to multiple-cold-showers-a-day weather here.

From said (annoyingly longer than planned) shopping trip, the day then escalated into a busy day of organizing various things (offficial things to do with our apartment back in Oz, upcoming travel plans and reservations, and getting yet further red-stamped certificates for Puppy for our upcoming July China tour – and hence, an unforeseen afternoon trip to the vet’s yesterday too) before we had four back-to-back classes where we gave each student (about 44 in each class) their one-on-one final English oral exam. All of these exams took place in the hot, outdoor corridors, adjacent to their classrooms. Phew….

So, to now cut myself off from rambling about this any further: the day got away from me and therefore a new blog post just didn’t eventuate.

Not least because of something (which maybe simply by rambling on and having the written form of verbal diarrhea on here this morning, I have overcome anyway before ever getting to the point and writing about it?) which can only be described as ‘bloggers’ block’. I.e. Not having the foggiest of what to write. No inspiration. No original (or otherwise) thought for the day. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Hmm. Maybe some more sleep was all that was needed (finally got some awesome, quality sleep last night – I think due to having a total technology ban on myself from early in the evening – took myself off to a cool, dark room, and boom: loads of sleep ensued = success).

But, seriously. Anyone else experience this? Writers/bloggers’ block?

Sure, I could probably have dashed out a few sentences of how I went for a run / my legs feel great / I’m tired / It’s only two days until I leave for Beijing / yada yada yada…But to be honest, apart from the weirdly busy day that got away from me, I also just didn’t know where to even start with the blog post. So, umm, I didn’t. I left it. I procrastinated. I did other things. Then I went to bed extremely early with neither internet nor even an air conditioner turned on (I clearly wanted NO electrical lights or sounds at all hey. The only sound was a gentle whirring of the ceiling fan. Ahh, bliss…).

Aaaand, low and behold: you leave it long enough and your blank post turns into this: a sizeable chunk of a blog post (who cares that it’s been quite nonsensical for the most part?!) Ok, ok, sorry – I will reign in the weirdness now. The point is that I was drawing a massive blank in terms of writing, and more to the point, was aware of maybe boring you guys with what I had to write about (my run / the weather / our job etc). Surely, it would have been like every other post I’ve put out there thus far, and surely you guys reading it would be bored of that by now?? Hence you’ve got this weird ramble from me instead, oops… (Maybe I should have kept things simple after all, and short and sweet. Something like: Ran today. Tired. Busy. Started exams with students. Not much else to report. Oh: excited for Thursday….)

 

So, tell me (if you’ve stuck with me this far!) do you ever get writers’ (bloggers’) block??

 

Do you procrastinate with things much? (I am a huge procrastinator – very much a list maker and tea-break-er).

A very warm welcome to you all on this magical Monday morning. Ahem, ok, on this humid, overly polluted Monday morning here. But I hope wherever you are that you’re having a beautiful morning; one that’s hopefully sunnier and clearer (and cooler!) than here.

No post yesterday, as times just flies so fast after a long run. Somehow the day got away from me, and once I’d returned home, eaten breakfast and showered etc, there may have been copious naps throughout the day, punctuated with more meals/snacks whilst reading and watching some pretty mind blowing stuff (mainly Santos Bonacci yesterday: Australian dude, look him up on youtube, he is very informative and enlightening).

But, YES, got the run in, and it was great! 32km exactly, with the last 2kms spent running up and down the hill at the front of our school (about 100m up to the top; a gentle hill). Felt great to finish strong. Those jelly packs are fine as fuel (the squeeze pack is really handy and easier than fiddling with packets of sweets) but they are SO sweet and leave a nasty, sugary aftertaste in my mouth. So, will probably limit them and use them with other food and drink during the main event.

No running for me today, but I will aim to get some strength training in later today.

A few posts ago (last week maybe?) I wrote about the horror of too much cardio leading to fat gain. As David from Captain Speedy Pants (http://www.captainspeedypants.com/) pointed out, I should have posted the links to the articles too. So, sorry for the belated nature of these, but these are two of the links I found in the history (I read a lot more, but I have no idea where they went to?). Take them with a pinch (or handful?) of salt, as they are not specifically tailored to runners, nor to distance or endurance training, but can make for an interesting read nonetheless:

http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1138/Does_Cardio_Make_You_Fat.aspx



http://blogs.denverpost.com/fitness/2013/11/23/is-your-cardio-routine-making-you-fat/13461/

 

Has anyone else seen Santo Bonacci’s work? Anyone experience gaining weight during training for a race?


So, that’s all form me today. Short and sweet. Have a very funday-Monday one and all!

So, this race recap is just a little belated, but when trawling through some old photos the other day, when I got to the photos from my first ever full marathon in the Hunter Valley, Australia, I was taken back there and was caught up in my memories from this race. So, I thought it would be fun to go through more of the photos for this race and talk about that awesome (but painful!) weekend, as this race was way back in the day, way before I had this blog (yes, I know this blog is only about 6months old haha).

I went with my good friend Ruth (who sadly, we have kind of lost touch since then, but I hope we’ll meet up again in the future). She was running her first half marathon and I was running my first full. It was an exciting weekend for us both.

It is a great course: it takes you through and around various vinyards, and it truly beautiful. I had run the half marathon there the year before, so I was pumped to be back to do the full the next year. The full is two laps of the same half marathon course, and I think there is 10km race section too, if you are so inclined.

Now, I must have forgotten about how undulating this beautiful scenery was, as it was a surprise to me about those hills, one in particular, where it was quicker to try to walk/stride up rather than run, due to its incline. This hill you had to do twice if you were doing the full. Ouch indeed.

The race started off well, perhaps too well? I kept trying to tell myself to slow down, as I’d feel my pace picking up. I had my dad’s advice ringing in my ears about try to run the first half slowly and then you’ll do fine in the second half. He ran the London marathon back in the day and got a time of 4:11! So, I think I was definitely aiming for matching his time, or trying to get close to there anyhow.

The first half took me 1:46, so much too fast I think, on reflection, if I was aiming to run the first half slower than the second one. Oops. Hey-ho, on with the race. In the second half I was still feeling pretty good and was keeping pace with a couple of women who were incredible! One was running something like 6 marathons in 6 weeks and the other was using this marathon as a mere training run for another event. So, obviously I felt like a ‘proper’ runner as I ran and chatted with them.

Until about kilometre 36 or 37, that is. Hmm, here is where things went wrong. Very wrong. Or perhaps, they actually went wrong a lot earlier, but here is where I felt the effects. My legs kind of stoped working. What the?? Is this that famed ‘wall’ I’d heard so much about? Yup. It is a real thing. Was very frustrated. Had to sort of limp/shuffle/walk for the most of the rest of the way, and people who were running with me at the end where like ‘what happened to you? You were doing so well! Etc.’. Oh well. Wasn’t my day. I finished in 4:35, so if my legs had not given up the fight with just 6 little kilometres to go, I might just have got the time I was aiming for.

I gratefully limped/ran in slow motion across the finish line and Ruth and I found each other and hugged and celebrated, and I then got stuck into the post-race bananas and drinks on offer.

My legs were wrecked for ages hey. Had extremely slow, elderly ladies overtaking me on pavements as I limped along over the next few days. I remember going in to work (I worked in a pathology lab in a busy hospital) the next day and my boss congratulating me but laughing at me, kind of like ‘what are you doing here today?!’

I think a major lesson I learnt from this marathon is this: FUEL. Pre-fuel, and my fuel during the race were completely inadequate for a full marathon. I had run a few half marathons and one ten km race prior to this marathon, where I didn’t use any extra fuel during the race, so I think I wasn’t prepared enough on the fuel side of things. I think I drank mainly water at the aid stations for the first half of the race, and then would alternate water and sports drinks. However, by the time my legs had problems, and I was stuffing in jellybeans like there was no tomorrow, it seemed it was too late. Lesson learnt: re- fuel before you run out.

Apart from the pain and the slight disappointment of not actually having ran the whole way, as I had to walk for a few kilometres at the end, I was still euphoric and ecstatic at the end of the race. I had just ran a full marathon! And then promptly vowed never to do so again. Haha…

So, it was not my day for a PB here in beautiful Xiamen, but it wasn't due to my running or of that hitting the wall thing. Many things conspired to me ending up with a good 30 minutes added on to my first half of the race, which was apparently too hard to come back from to get a better time. I know, I know, it sounds like excuses hey, but let me talk you through them, as I ended up really surprised with my time being 3 minutes slower than my first marathon time, when I ran for the whole thing this time, didn't encounter 'the wall' (albeit a wall of people, but we'll get to that), and even finished feeling fairly strong and sped up for the last kilometre, and sort-of-sprinted across the finish line. So, when I crossed the line and then got my certificate printed out showing the accurate chip time of, wait for it, 4 hours 38 minutes, I was a little confused. Oh yes, then I remembered the start of the race.

Here's how it went down: about 80,000 people give or take (ok, not all in the full marathon event, but all squished in together regardless) trying to surge forward and commence a running race. There's music, there's excitement, there are the ever present cheers of 'jar yo!', and then: boom - everyone slows and stops completely and then proceeds to shuffle/walk VERY slowly for the next 1-2 kilometres. Major human traffic jam.

As soon as we were able to feel awesome and actually start jogging / prancersizing, I had my eyes out for a loo. A public one was located in the next 100 metres or so and I unfortunately had to leave the race so early on and join a big queue. Picture ten fun minutes of waiting. (Unavoidable, as apparently still suffering with a bug - almost didn't get up to even start the race this morning, but so glad I did, despite this story.)

So, it's kind of like I started running or the proper 'racing' about 20-25 minutes late. But anyhoo. On with the race. My fuelling strategy was going excellently and I was fairly confident that I was getting enough carbohydrate and water at regular intervals, but hey, you never know, especially with a stomach bug. But today, snickers were my main source of fuel, along with sports drinks at aid stations, and later, some coffee boiled sweets. I felt good running, felt like my pace was good - not too slow and not too fast (now that I could actually run).

So, no 'hitting the wall' as I was worried about, BUT at about 12 kilometres in, when the route takes everyone along an elevated underpass (one way in, no escape off the sides, sort of like a tunnel), disaster struck. Not joking here, was seriously worried for my safety. For some reason the front of the giant crowd had decided they had taken a wrong turn and were trying to force everyone back the other way, amidst more and more runners piling on in. You hear about people getting crushed to death and trampled on in concerts sometimes, and I have a fair inkling of how easily this could occur. Scary shit, I won't lie. But then, one lone soldier proferring a pointing finger gesturing us back into the melee of which we'd just escaped, signalled that we were going the right way in the first place and after some minutes (felt like 10, was prob nearer to five for the whole time, but who knows) we were free again and running along an amazing stretch of road that takes the runners over the sea and around to the Southern tip of the island. Seeing Xiamen from this beautiful angle soon got me over my near-suffocating experience, and it was on with the race.

Until disaster struck AGAIN. Luckily not too bad this time, but was probably worse for the ladies involved: Two women became entangled due to us having run on top of each other because of the numbers and they both went face first on the tarmac. Only ONE other runner stopped and together we helped them up. They said they were ok. Phew.

And then it was on with the race. The rest of the race had no hiccups, albeit my excellent new Garmin ran out of charge at about 30 kilometres. Damn. Must get used to charging it the night before a long run or race. Up until then, it was working like a dream, and it was fun (if a little distracting) to keep checking my pace and finally find what my comfortable pace really is. It ranges between 5 and 6 kilometres an hour, in case you were dying to know.

So, as I said before, I finished strong and felt great about the race, which is why I was surprised at the time, as in my previous marathon I spent the last 9 kilometres in pain and definitely the last 5 in agony and walked/limped to the finish line. So that versus non walking (except in and out of drink stations, oh yeah, and about 25 minutes plus at the start, lol), with a speedy finish? This is why this race is a running PB for me - not in terms of time, but in how I felt strong and good, and DID NOT HIT THE WALL! Yay! It is possible! So, very glad I did get out of bed this morning. Even better, I had this beautiful, amazing man waiting for me at the finish line: my beloved husband, coach and support team, what would I do without you H?! If you're reading this: thank you for all your support and love: I love you so much. (This is entirely appropriate too - all the banners along the route today said 'Run for Love'.)

Seriously, he went above and beyond to help me carb-load before the race last night. Check it out - was considering calling this post 'Fuelled By Jiaozi' (not sure if the photo's clear, but there were something like 64 dumplings that arrived at our hotel door - Champion H!):

The rest of the day pre-race yesterday was spent soaking up the beautiful beach scenes of Xiamen, riding around on a comedy tandem bicycle, and eating lots of rice, tofu and veggies and drinking a couple of carb-loading Tsingtaos of course:

Oh, and I better put a couple of race shots from today on here too, so here you go, enjoy!

This post, not the run, that is. Keeping it very brief today. Here's what happened: about 20 ish km long and slow run this morning. Riverside. Bit smoggy. Awesome run. Drank cold sugary lemon tea as 'fuel' along the way.

Quick question for those long distances runners - how often do you fuel during a long run, and by how much? Trying to work out what to do on race day, aka, the long distance of 42.2 kilometres, which I've only previously attempted once, back in 2008 (back in the day).

Cheers!

Ok no messing with the date today. Weird stuff - I posted a post yesterday (which I will copy and paste below, as per the link on facebook), but which does not exist here anymore? But exists on the link from facebook? What happened? Did changing the date make me go back ./ forward in blogging time? No idea. But anyhoo, here's the post from yesterday:




So, predictably did NOT do any ab / core work yesterday. BUT, I have received some excellent suggestions for doing so, and will be putting these into practise soon, I hope. I did plan on doing some abs at some point in the evening, but then somehow a long puppy-walk, shopping for toasty warm pyjamas to lounge about in (never to sleep in! You crazy pj-wearing-to-bed-folk you), eating too much dabao (takeaway), and lounging in said toasty pyjamas, all took a precedence. Plus, once those padded/quilted/feels like wearing a doona/duvet/quilt (take your pick depending on your cultural preference) babies were on, there was no way they were coming off to do a few minutes of abs. I would post a picture of these amazing pjs, BUT, I am hoping that Husband is going to get a similar, yet a bit more manly, pair today, fingers crossed that the Chinese's large size fits him (we have trouble getting normal 'larger' size clothes here - we don't know where they buy their clothes?! As there are loads of tall men here!). They are quite comedy, and the most unsexy, unattractive things you could imagine (stay tuned for that pic), but are so warm and so comfy. Sadface that I can't wear them to teach in. Although I do see people out in the early morning walking their dogs whilst wearing them, so maybe this would be ok?

Ok, that's enough pyjama talk yes? On with the post. Not much to report running wise today, as it is a cross-training day for me. I did these workouts: http://hasfit.com/workouts/home/advanced-high-intensity/advanced-workout/ (a 30 minute 'Warrior' workout - a mixture of strength, cardio, plyometric, ABS, and mixed martial arts), and http://hasfit.com/workouts/home/cardio-aerobic/cardio-kickboxing/ (30 minute fun kickboxing workout).

So, got some ab work in, BUT will attempt to get some more in this evening, in between some more cleaning (it is a daily battle here - you clean, the next day it's dusty again, grrrrr), organising some things, practising for that postponed speech, and coaching/teaching some students. Poor Husband has come down with a bad ganmao (cold/flu) so plenty of rest, TLC, and hot toddies for him today. Plus PJS! The healing power of toasty warm pjs hey.

OR, maybe Weebly was censoring me? As there may have been swearing in the title, as I enthused about those awesome pjs.




Now, here's today's thrilling instalment:




This morning's run was my long run of the week. About 20kms ish. Which I took nice and slowly, and used this as my opportunity to try THIS as fuel:

Yes, that is a Snickers bar. Yum. Still seemed slightly wrong to be eating chocolate at half six in the morning, but hey-ho. It's not junk food, it's FUEL. Seemed to work alright and didn't make me want to vomit on the run, so that's a bonus. Still prefer skittles though, as easier to eat those while running.

Ok, got to rush back to work now for a couple of lessons before we head off to catch a train to Shanghai this afternoon ready to meet my mum at the airport tomorrow morning. Excited!

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Never again, was one of the phrases I was heard to utter after finishing the Great Wall of China half marathon in May this year. Along with, oh my god that was so unbelievably hard, f&*k me that was insanely hard, wow we did it, that was amazing, etc etc. Don't get me wrong, it was the most amazing experience - running/crawling/climbing/hiking/edging along sheer and skinny crumbly worn away paths up and down the beautiful and majestic section of the Great Wall at Jinshanling (about 2.5 hours drive from Beijing). BUT, I remember feeling SO amazed, coupled with satisfied when it was over, and was so glad that I would never have to go through that again. (Plus, was PSYCHED to have won first place woman too, guess this added to the amazed feeling). The general consensus was that they should really change the title of the race, and instead of calling it a marathon/half marathon/10 km etc running race, they should label as an endurance/ultra hiking/climbing event, as the WHOLE thing is on the steps (and in some cases what's left of them) on the Great Wall. In the sun. On a public holiday (i.e. crowds of Chinese tourists and hawkers offering t-shirts, beer and chocolate when you're just struggling to breathe). Had I known this previously, I maybe would have reconsidered and would have entered the other race that is also run on the Great Wall, but organised by the Danish (I think! Don't quote me on this...) instead of the Chinese, as this one apparently has just 5km on the beautiful wall and the rest through winding countryside roads: ahh picturesque and not crazy-hard. But now that it's been and gone, am super glad for the one that I did of course.

Here are a couple of tamer shots (i.e. those taken by my excellent coach/Husband who diligently played cameraman for almost 5 hours while he waited) from the 'kinder' parts of the course:

So, to sum up = amazing and beautiful surroundings + insanely hard = a once in a lifetime, very glad it is over, experience, right? So, why oh why am giving serious thought to re-entering this race next year?! A friend (who has entered near year's race) asked me if I was going to do it again, to which I thought my response would surely be 'no never! But you have fun now...', BUT, it triggered a longing in me to actually want to go back and do it all over again! Crazy. Oh memory is a funny thing hey. Maybe enough time has passed so that now it just seems wholly nostalgic and a GREAT experience and all the ridiculously hard, painful, dehydrated and delirious memories have faded/been eradicated. So, watch this space. (However, more than likely time/money/life will prevent me from going up again next year to Beijing at that time of year, so may have to resign myself to running the race vicariously through my friend.)

Wow, can't really believe how fast that working week went (again) - got my longer run scheduled for tomorrow (18km endurance plus 4km recovery pace), and got my skittles all ready to go. Today was strength training - I did 10 minutes of legs, 10 minutes of back and biceps, and 10 minutes of chest and triceps (using Hasfit.com - a great website with heaps of different workouts that are all FREE, and you can mix and match depending on what you're after - added bonus is that Coach Kozak shouts encouraging things at you like 'there's no reason to stop'/''Keep going'/'I see you! Why are you slowing down?!'). Then I did 30 minutes of my own strength shizzle (lunges, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, dips) while I did a bit of 'lesson planning' for next week (i.e. rewatching that old classic The Lion King, before I use a clip in my lessons).

Yesterday I did my 12km endurance run in the morning, as planned. It was going great until about 9 or 10 kilometres in, when for some reason, legs felt heavy and things just slowed down altogether. Weird. Not like I'm not getting enough pre-running fuel (copious porridge and toast the night before hey, oh and yes, copious dark chocolate too), so maybe I'm just tired. Oh, and this had to have coincided with the only time a creepy stalker on a motorbike decided to pace me and stare (bore his eyes, very awkwardly) at me simultaneously and repeat (definitely an anomaly here in China, as it is the safest country I've been to/lived in!) - bit of a worry: would I have been able to sprint off if needed to?! Surely, yes? Survival would have to be a plus of marathon training? Anyway, all good. I mumbled a hurried expletive in his general direction and pretended I was going down a street that I wasn't. Win.

Off to eat tasty treats now. Zajian!