My first DNF and I’m OK about it

Everything seems to have been going so well recently. My running has been going well, I achieved a new PB for distance swimming and I’m starting to work with a nutrition coach, so I’ve been feeling positive. However, my home is a bit chaotic as I’ve not kept on top of the housework. I’m so grateful that this is a bank holiday weekend.

Bank holiday weekend parkrun

The weekend started with parkrun. I’d had the option to go for a run with Teri and James beforehand, but I decided that I needed a bit of a lie in, so I turned down that opportunity. After dithering about what to wear as I couldn’t be sure what the temperature was, I decided to wear my new Team SOAS shorts and vest. I’ve worn the vest before, but the first pair of shorts that I received was too big. The new pair fits well, but I generally prefer to keep my chunky legs hidden a bit more. Hopefully, I’ll lose some weight from my thighs to make running in shorts more comfortable.

I’d forgotten that the Southampton parkrun route has changed at the moment, so I spent a while chatting with a former colleague at the finish funnel and then had to jog towards the start. At this point, I realised there was a problem.

The background to my first DNF

On Wednesday evening, I helped Ben to lead a Lordshill Road Runners training session. One of the runners is having problems because she has very tight hips, so I explained some stretches that might benefit her. She wasn’t sure about all of them, so I demonstrated some. Unfortunately, I was quite cold as I had been coaching and not running, so I managed to pull my hamstring whilst demonstrating pigeon pose. It wasn’t too much and I didn’t think any more of it.

Yesterday morning, as I jogged across the grass, my right thigh started hurting where I had pulled it on Wednesday evening. I hoped it would ease off, so I met up with some friends and the run started.

An optimistic goal

I had been feeling quite confident that I could manage a 25-minute run, but I started feeling in pain on the way up the hill. Tim and I continued chatting, but the pain increased instead of easing off. At about 1.5km, I decided that the sensible thing to do would be to quit.

I pride myself on not being a quitter. I’ve never DNS’d or DNF’d a race or event before, but I have such big plans for this year that I don’t want to struggle with injuries. I’ve pushed on in races where I’ve felt exhausted and have even collapsed at the end of races, but finishing a parkrun is not about proving something to someone. It would have been my 149th run, but I’m OK with that. I’m trying to discipline myself to train smarter and I think this is a step in the right direction.

Likewise, there has been a lot of peer pressure this week to enter a marathon, but I’m not going to. I have other goals at the moment and I need to remain focused. I’d love to have a chance to do the London Marathon, but if it doesn’t happen next year, that’s fine. This year will be my year of swimming and 2016 will be my year of cycling.

Walk of shame?

The walk back to the start/finish area at parkrun was tough because my leg hurt and I started feeling cold, but I was heartened by the huge number of runners who stopped their run to check that I was OK. This to me embodies the spirit of parkrun. It’s just a run and there’s always next week. Also, Southampton parkrun had over 760 finishers today, which is a new record (perhaps they were all inspired by Southampton Half Marathon last weekend), so maybe my presence next week will help to create another new record!

Getting my bling in order

I spent most of yesterday desperately trying to get my house in order as housework has taken rather a backseat recently. However, under coach’s orders, I’ve been doing the tidying in compression tights and have been trying to rest my leg whenever possible. I took this as a reason to do a bit of DIY, instead of going up and down stairs with laundry.

I’ve never been particularly bothered by medals, but as I have them, I feel I should do something with them. A while ago, I bought some Bygel rails in Ikea, with the intention of using them as medal hangers (I can’t afford fancy medal holders), but I never got around to doing anything with them. Then I saw a photo of Julian ‘King of Bling’ Porter‘s medal display and it spurred me into action.

I can’t claim that my medal display (or more correctly Team Smith’s medal display as the medals on the left were earned by Stu) rivals Julian’s, but it’s a start. Unfortunately, I’ve run out of screws and rawl plugs. I can’t put up the 4th rail at the moment, but it will get sorted by the end of the weekend. 🙂 [OK – all sorted now!]

Meal planning

I’m hoping to spend a bit of time planning my meals for next week and making a shopping list. I’ll be meeting with my nutrition coach tomorrow and on Wednesday, Stuart and I will have a delivery from Gousto:

• Lebanese Halloumi
• Posh Burger ‘n’ Chips (not vegetarian, so Stuart will eat this!)
• Asian Nutty Noodles

We were persuaded to sign up at the London Marathon Expo. As my cooking repertoire is quite limited, we thought it would be fun to try it. If you’d like to try Gousto, visit www.gousto.co.uk and enter TAMSY54389. This will get you £20 off your first box (and I’ll get £15 credit).

My predicted Ironman time

I read an interesting article today that explained ‘How to predict your Ironman time‘. The formula is:

186.3 + 1.595 × (PB for Olympic-distance triathlon) + 1.318 × (PB for marathon)

so for me, that’s

186.3 + 1.595 × (220) + 1.318 × (270) = 893.06 = 14:53:06

Which isn’t far off my HIM PB x2 (7:24:54). I’d love to know how accurate people have found this calculation to be. I’d be delighted with that kind of time!