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A/R/tist in the Spotlight - HelenAnne
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28-09-2018 1:42pm#1It is a pleasure to introduce our next A/Rtist HelenAnne.
Thank you for accepting my invitation.
HelenAnne is a super runner and regularly contributes and is always positive and with help and advice.
She doesn't have her own log but has mentioned in the past that she does use pen and paper to track her training. So, I want to know how a week in the life of HelenAnne looks on paper for training.
1. You runmute to work I believe, daily?
2. What sessions do you do?
3. Long run solo or with company?
4. You love parkrun and especially tourism, best one so far?
5. How many parkruns to date?
6. Regular volunteer I hope?
Thanks very much, we're off.20
Comments
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Another great choice.
1. How long have you been running?
2. What are your PBs?
3. Favourite type of session?
4. Favourite holiday that you've been on?
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
6. Bucket-list race?
7. Apart from running, what are your hobbies?
Thanks
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Hello ...
- How/when did you start running?
- Volume or sessions, what is most important: discuss.
- Northside or southside?
- Dream career (if you have to give up what you're doing now)
- Lottery win (let's say just the national lottery around 2-3 millions, not euromillions), what will you do with it?
- Inspiration movie/book?
- Bad boy crush (yes, I did nick that from previous spotlights, but we need to know ...
)
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Thanks again so much for asking me to do this. Sorry, everyone, that it's taken me so long to start replying, but I was on holidays in America for the last two weeks. Now I'm BACK, jet-lagged & ready to be questioned
As aquinn mentioned, I don't have a log, so v brief background for anyone who's wondering: female, O40, running since 2010.
Thanks for your questions, aquinn, hope you're off enjoying the final wedding prep!
1. You runmute to work I believe, daily?
I don't do it daily, but I run either to or from work at least once a week - usually twice. I commute Northside to Southside for work, and I started running it a few years ago when city centre road works, plus more late evenings in work combined to make getting to Raheny for 6.30pm group runs nearly impossible. I never minded heading out for a run with a group after my bus commute home, but once I'd missed the group, I found myself not wanting to head out on the dark evenings on my own after schlepping across the city on 2 buses, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and just run home. I can make my run home 6+, 7+ or 9 miles depending on the route, so that's handy. I always take the short 6-ish route if I'm running into work though, as I always seem to be against the clock in the mornings
2. What sessions do you do?
None!! Ah no, I do some, sometimes. I'm just very lackadaisical / inconsistent.
Raheny have 2-mile races on a Tuesday in the summer and 1, 2 or 3 on a Wednesday in winter, so if I do a midweek race, I don't do a midweek session. If I don't do a race I used to do the club session up at the track in summer or grass in winter, but I haven't done that in well over a year. This year I've done Mick Clohisey's session in St Anne's a few times and I love it - it's handier to get to than Santry, and I feel under less pressure than at the full club session, where I'm often struggling to hang on to my group. I really want to get some consistency going, though, and get back to doing club session regularly, as I know they would benefit me.
In terms of what I do AT the sessions (sorry, that was all a bit of a tangent about WHERE I do them), usually 6 or 8x400, or something like 2x300, 1x400, 1x800, 1x400, 2x300.
I didn't know my paces, I just try to do it at the effort level Mick suggests. I don't use my watch for them.
I never do sessions on my own.
3. Long run solo or with company?
Definitely with company! I'll do it alone if I have to, but I love either doing the club LSR on a Sunday, or running with my friends and / or husband. Eoin (husband) & I have done a few nice long runs recently, like through the nature reserve on Dollymount, or the Howth cliff path, or Phoenix Park. I love runs like that, and I love going for coffee etc after. A couple of months ago I bullied my runners' Pilates class into coming for a long run with me (Howth cliff path, then coffee, of course) and I really enjoyed that (hope they did too!) - I love chatting to people on the run.
4. You love parkrun and especially tourism, best one so far?
Well, Eoin is the really committed tourist - I love doing park run on holidays, but he'll travel especially for park run, he's trying to do every Irish one, and I think he's up to nearly 60 different ones!
When you say, 'best one', do you mean tourism-wise? I think my favourite park runs are my 'locals': Malahide, St Anne's & Lough Key, as they are the three I do most often, so I know the course, know the competition (sorry, I know it's not a race) & also know what I like in the café (v important). Tourism-wise, my favourites in Ireland have been Oldbridge, which I did on a freezing, icy day - I wore spikes, it was a real cross country day, and there were three of us racing for the female positions. Just loved it! Bere Island is spectacular too, and it's so special to be on the island with nearly everyone there involved in parkrun. I also loved Portrush, it has a really beautiful beach setting. Outside Ireland, I loved Praga park run In Warsaw - (blizzarding snow, and hot black tea from a flask afterwards), Toyen in Oslo, which was really friendly, really snowy, quite hilly (I was the only runner in shorts in both of these), and on my most recent holiday we did Renton parkrun, just outside Seattle. I really loved that one - it was along a beautiful river / forest trail, nice and flat, and people were so friendly. Also, I didn't have to worry about bears as I ended up running in convoy with two men with buggies, so I decided they could fend off any bears or cougars we saw.
5. How many parkruns to date?
140 runs, not sure how many different events.
6. Regular volunteer I hope?
Yes, mainly in Malahide. I've volunteered 'officially' 51 times, but before the t-shirts came in I used to do set-up a lot and not put my name down as volunteer, so it's probably a bit more (that was back when there was a points table, and you could only have run or volunteer points per event, so I always chose my run points.)
Phew! Was that overlong? Will try to be more succinct in the rest of my answers. Thanks, A!
ETA: Eoin says that every parkrun is equally good, and I should say I like them all equally!0 -
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Favourite books?
Oh no, this is too hard! I definitely didn't have 'a favourite book', and I think even the kinds of books I love has changed over my life. When I was in my late teens / early twenties I read loads of American Gothic stuff, and early-mid 20th C stuff like Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald (& weirdly loads of Orson Scott Card sci fi) and while I still remember them really fondly, I'm not sure if I'd enjoy them as much now ... conversely, I recently re-read The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I loved at about 19, and was afraid was tied to that time in my life (I was studying Classics in Trinity / the book is set in a Classics dept etc) but I still loved it.
I read a lot of fiction (general fiction, not super-literary - I really love Kate Atkinson, Maggie O'Farrell, Curtis Sittenfeld, Anne Tyler), and I love Victorian novels, the longer the better, some historical fiction. I love crime fiction, but find it quite hard to find authors I like, and when I do like them I read them voraciously - I'm addicted to serieses; I like Val McDermid, Karin Slaughter, Susan Hill, Robert Galbraith, Ruth Rendell, George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehabe etc etc). I love Golden Age crime too (especially Dorothy L. Sayers.)
I like non fiction too, mainly pop science, pop psychology etc, but also investigative-type stories, like John Krakauer's books about cults, Everest, expeditions etc. Some non fiction books I've really, really, really loved lately have been Tara Westover's 'Educated' about an Oxford academic who grew up in a fundamentalist home in Utah, 'Notes to Self' by Emilie Pine, which was just so searching and insightful and 'I am, I am, I am' by Maggie O'Farrell about brushes she's had with death / danger and how they shaped her. Loved those three!
If you meant what sports / running books, then apologies for all the above. I love and have re-read 'Running with the Kenyans' by Adharanand Finn; it really brings Iten to life and gives an insight into the personalities etc of the Kenyan runners. I also love 'Feet in the Clouds' by Richard Askwith, about fell running, and 'Dr Sheehan on Running' by George Sheehan (I love him, he has so many great turns of phrase and tips and insights).
I also really rally enjoyed 'Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell (sort of about sport) and 'The Sports Gene' by David Epstein (SOOOO fascinating -- all about how different body types have come to dominate in different sports, and about the cultural aspects of sport etc).
Anyway, the short answer to your question, Ray, is - 'lots of things, mainly fiction, lots of it by women. But it varies!'
I loved that question, thanks!0 -
Another great choice.
1. How long have you been running?
2. What are your PBs?
3. Favourite type of session?
4. Favourite holiday that you've been on?
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
6. Bucket-list race?
7. Apart from running, what are your hobbies?
Thanks
Hi Huzzah,
Apologies for skipping your question and going to Ray's. I was thinking about the books question on my flight home, so it was quick to write. I need to check my PBs etc and then I'll come back to yours. Thanks so much for asking one.0 -
Hi Huzzah,
Apologies for skipping your question and going to Ray's. I was thinking about the books question on my flight home, so it was quick to write. I need to check my PBs etc and then I'll come back to yours. Thanks so much for asking one.
No problem and definitely no need to apologize. Your answer to Ray’s question is one I’ll be bookmarking ~ I’m always on the look out for book recommendations 0 -
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Another great choice.
1. How long have you been running?
2. What are your PBs?
3. Favourite type of session?
4. Favourite holiday that you've been on?
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
6. Bucket-list race?
7. Apart from running, what are your hobbies?
Thanks
Thanks so much for the questions! I've a feeling loads of my answers are going to be disappointing 'I didn't know! I like all holidays / sessions etc' types
1. How long have you been running?
Since 2010. My friend (kyomi on boards) decided to run the WMM for the DSPCA in 2010, so I said I'd do it too. I didn't think I'd keep up running after, I was just doing it for charity, but I found I loved running straight away (even though I was not good at it AT ALL - it took me ages to get to running a continuous mile, and the WMM took us over 90 minutes (can't remember our exact times - but we were running, just very slowly, and weaving around people as we started at the back). I joined Raheny Shamrock in Feb 2011, and have been running ever since.
2. What are your PBs?
Well, these are all from 2015-2016 (a good chunk of 2017 was a bit of a write off for me, and I've been 'running happy' & not worrying about PBs in 2018 (well, TBH, I've been getting back to thinking about times since the summer):
1 mile: 5.55 Raheny Mile (can't remember which year, 2014 or 2015?)
2 mile: 12.31 (Raheny Summer Series 2016
3 Mile: 19.17 (Raheny Winter league 2016)
5k: well, I ran 19.19 in the Grant Thornton in 2016, but it was SHORT! So my proper PB is 19.47 in Jingle Bells 2016
5 miles: 33.04 (Raheny 5 2017)
10k: 42.35 The Lakes 10k 2015
10 mile: 71.14 Frank Duffy 10-Mile 2015
1/2 mara: 1.37.04 Race series half 2015
Marathon: DCM 2013 (my one & only - didn't go well) 3.54.26 (I was aiming for 3.40, but died in the last 10k!)
Anyway, that's where I was. I took a bit of time out last summer, and am still in the 'comeback PB era', so comeback PBs (from this summer onwards) are:
1 Mile: 6.05 (Raheny)
2 miles: 12.38 (Raheny)
4 miles: 26.22 (this is an actual new PB - my only one this year) (Liberties)
5k: 20.08, St Anne's parkrun
5 miles: 33.52 (Terenure 5 mile)
10K: 43.24 (Rock n Roll 10k)
3. Favourite type of session?
Hmm, I didn't know! I didn't do them enough. I prefer slightly longer intervals, like 400 or 600s (I hate 200s, I just can't go that fast!), and I love running on the track.
I haven't done any hill sessions, but if you count running up Howth as a session, of sorts, I do love that - I love looking at the view from the top etc.
I like the warm up and cool downs after session too - I know that sounds stupid, but I love the camaraderie.
4. Favourite holiday that you've been on?
Oh, that's hard to choose. But I'm just back from Seattle, and Oregon, and I really, really loved the Pacific North West, the cities, towns and countryside (forest / coast etc) were all really brilliant in their own way. The lifestyle seemed lovely too, and people were really friendly.
I go to France quite a lot too, and I love it there, and I had a brilliant time in Wales (near the Brecon Beacons) this year too.
5. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
There's no one specific place I want to go (though I had wanted to visit Oregon for years before we went), but if money was no object I'd love to take longer holidays - I'd love a month somewhere, and I'd love to stay in somewhere fab - not necessarily a 5 star hotel, but somewhere like a lighthouse, or a luxurious yurt, or a treehouse! I'd also (if money was no object) love to go on a really brilliant running holiday - I know there are loads of running camps in the US where you stay somewhere beautiful and trail run and have talks and yoga and delicious food, or maybe a yoga or Pilates holiday.
6. Bucket-list race?
I'd really like to do the Great North Run someday. Also, if 'bucket list' can also include everything going right for me, as a runner, my dream race would be to be running well some spring, to get selected for a road relay team, to run really well on the day and for my team to win a medal. That would be the perfect race for me!
7. Apart from running, what are your hobbies?
I didn't really have many others - I don't do any other sports, for example. The only other exercise I do is Pilates, which I love!
I like reading, watching tv series, listing to podcasts. I really like music (listening to it and going to gigs, not playing it), I like seeing my friends, having dinner in each others houses, going away for weekends. I suppose going to parkrun and having coffee after is a hobby! is drinking coffee a hobby, because I like doing that
I quite like walking, but I don't do it with a group or anything. And I love hanging out with my niece and nephew.
All my answers are so long!! Sorry!!
Thanks for the questions.0 -
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Hello! Great choice, love the answers so far.
Here's a few I have but will be back with more I think.
1. XC or track?
2. Aside from any you might already speak, if you could be fluent in another language what would it be?
3. What does being in a club mean to you?
4. What book would you be intrigued to see made into a film/series and is there any you wouldn't want to see adapted?
5. Would you ever like to do coaching?
6. Aside from the obvious (don't race training runs, increase mileage gradually etc) what tips would you give people looking to improve?
7. Injuries allowing, do you see yourself always running either just for your own headspace or competing at the O70 category say?
Cheers 0 -
Hello! Great choice, love the answers so far.
Here's a few I have but will be back with more I think.
1. XC or track?
2. Aside from any you might already speak, if you could be fluent in another language what would it be?
3. What does being in a club mean to you?
4. What book would you be intrigued to see made into a film/series and is there any you wouldn't want to see adapted?
5. Would you ever like to do coaching?
6. Aside from the obvious (don't race training runs, increase mileage gradually etc) what tips would you give people looking to improve?
7. Injuries allowing, do you see yourself always running either just for your own headspace or competing at the O70 category say?
Cheers
Another one based on an answer above.
8. You mentioned studying Classics - I did as well in school and college. Which interested you more, the Greeks or Romans??0 -
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hillsiderunner wrote: »Hello ...
- How/when did you start running?
- Volume or sessions, what is most important: discuss.
- Northside or southside?
- Dream career (if you have to give up what you're doing now)
- Lottery win (let's say just the national lottery around 2-3 millions, not euromillions), what will you do with it?
- Inspiration movie/book?
- Bad boy crush (yes, I did nick that from previous spotlights, but we need to know ... )
1. How/when did you start running?
See above (I think I covered this in reply to Huzzah)
2. Volume or sessions, what is most important: discuss.
(I know these are just my answers and my opinions, but if anyone more plan-focused wants to jump in and say which is more important, please do!) From my own experience, I think building up a proper base and a certain level of fitness before even thinking about sessions works best. Maybe if you’re already fit from an active job or you’ve been sporty since childhood, you can jump into structured training, but I came to running at 35, not quite from the couch, but from a base of walking places, sometimes cycling to work etc; I had no sporting background and I felt the most important thing was getting fit and getting 'good at running’.
I just ran regularly, and increased my distances a bit as I got fitter. I still remember my first 8-mile run and first 10-mile run – they felt like such achievements! I’m quite cautious, so I always wanted to do enough mileage to feel comfortable in a race. My first mini marathon (& the marathon obviously) is the only time I’ve run a race without having run over the race distance beforehand.
I was running over a year and a half before I felt my mileage was high enough to consider a ten-mile or half marathon race, and I ran a long run of 16 miles before my first half. I’d run several halfs and a marathon before I did a club speed session, so I suppose that would indicate that volume is more important to me than sessions?
Also, I think my 5k time fell from 27.xx to 22.xx on the basis of just running more and doing races – I’d definitely run well under 23 minutes before I tried a session, so I suppose getting fitter and running more did help my speed?
What do other people think? Mileage? Sessions? Both, used judiciously, I’d say would be the experts’ answer
3. Northside or Southside?
Northside born and bred! But I like the Southside too (I love the Dodder, and the Dublin mountains. I can see 3 Rock from my desk at work!)
4. Dream career (if you have to give up what you're doing now)
I probably wouldn’t change career, but in a dream world I’d never have to work on projects I didn’t think were great, I’d never be under time pressure, and I’d work a 3-day week :rolleyes:
5. Lottery win (let's say just the national lottery around 2-3 millions, not euromillions), what will you do with it?)
I always find this really stressful to think about – because I start subtracting my mortgage, my family and friends’ mortgages, charity donations etc etc from it, and then I‘m left with nothing!!
So, dream world: let’s say I have the 2 million AFTER I’ve done all the above. I think I’d give up work for a while, and go on a 3-month holiday (see dream holiday in answer up thread), and maybe buy a bigger car or a cool camper van with room to change out of running gear / dump parkrun paraphernalia / leave dirty spikes etc in. Also, if I didn’t feel bad about being frivolous and wasting money on my appearance, I’d get my hair cut every month and pay someone to do my nails every time I felt like wearing nail varnish
6. Inspiration movie/book?
Can I come back to this, I’m all book-ed out after my earlier LOOOOONG answer.
7. Bad boy crush (yes, I did nick that from previous spotlights, but we need to know ... )
I’ve never gone for bad boys. Even as a teenager, I liked the nice boys, like David in ‘Roseanne’.
If I had to pick a ‘bad boy’, I always had a soft spot for Spike in ‘Buffy’, and I do kind of love Jonny Lee Miller, especially as Sherlock Holmes in ‘Elementary’ (I am a LIFELONG Sherlock Holmes fan, and JLM is my fave TV version) – AND he has a marathon time of 3:01:40.
My guilty pleasures are Michel Roux Jr (also a marathon runner!) and … Gilfoyle from ‘Silicon Valley’!!!! I can’t help it. I know he’s not conventionally handsome, but I love his saturnine ways and his manly computer-hardware-building abilities …0 -
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1. Will you do another marathon?
2. Fave restaurant in Dublin?
3. Ever had the urge going to the other side of the book publishing process? (Sorry if this is a sensitive topic )
4. What's your fave running gear? Any particularly nice or preferred tops/shorts/etc.?
5. Top 3 concerts you've been to (festivals count!).
6. What keeps you coming back to boards?
7. Do you have any treasured running paraphernalia, like old race numbers, your first pair of running runners, Raheny 5M plaque etc.? Or at least hang on to any of it? Or is it straight into the bin?
8. Any claims to fame?
9. iPhone/Android/I don't like smartphones?
10. What podcasts are you listening to right now?
11. Do you run with music/podcasts/etc?
12. What about running do you like the least?0 -
Also, I think my 5k time fell from 27.xx to 22.xx on the basis of just running more and doing races – I’d definitely run well under 23 minutes before I tried a session, so I suppose getting fitter and running more did help my speed?…
This is what I like to hear
And yes, Michel Roux is lovely (and not "bad" at all).0 -
Hello! Great choice, love the answers so far.
Here's a few I have but will be back with more I think.
1. XC or track?
2. Aside from any you might already speak, if you could be fluent in another language what would it be?
3. What does being in a club mean to you?
4. What book would you be intrigued to see made into a film/series and is there any you wouldn't want to see adapted?
5. Would you ever like to do coaching?
6. Aside from the obvious (don't race training runs, increase mileage gradually etc) what tips would you give people looking to improve?
7. Injuries allowing, do you see yourself always running either just for your own headspace or competing at the O70 category say?
Cheers
Hi Laura! Thanks for the great questions.
1. XC or track?
I'll have to say XC, because I've only done one track race. Ask me again at the end of next summer - if I've done a few more track I'll be in a better position to answer. What about you?
2. Aside from any you might already speak, if you could be fluent in another language what would it be?
I'll say Russian, as it would be great for reading Russian books, it sounds really cool, and I'd like to know the Cyrillic alphabet.
3. What does being in a club mean to you?
I like the feeling of belonging to something. I never played team sports, and being on an xc team gives me that team feeling without the fear that someone's about to fling a ball at me!
I've made a lot of really great friends, learned a lot about racing and training, and I've also met people who I may have nothing in common with but running, but on a run that's enough.
I don't run with the club during the week as often as I did, due to timing issues etc, but I still feel very much part of it, and I feel proud of the club and proud to be a member.
4. What book would you be intrigued to see made into a film/series and is there any you wouldn't want to see adapted?
Would you believe I can't think of one? TV & film adaptations of books I love have been pretty much 50/50 (eg I LOVED Lord of the Rings films, and Brideshead Revisited with Jeremy Irons, and I love Morse and Endeavour and Strike, but I was very disappointed in The Alienist Netflix series, and with 'Anne with an E' (the Netflix Anne of Green Gables). The only one that springs to mind is the Cazalet chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard - she was this really interesting woman, she'd been an actress and was married first to a wildlife artist and later to Kingsley Amis, and she wrote this 4 or 5-book series, covering decades, about a family called the Cazalets fro just before WW2 onwards. I think that could make a fantastic TV series (if it hasn't already been made!)
5. Would you ever like to do coaching?
I think I would. But it would have to just be the encouraging 'learn to run' type - I don't have coaching knowledge like someone like Testosterscone. But I think I'd be unintimidating and encouraging to people just starting to exercise, because I'm not gym-honed or elite, and I can remember what an achievement running a mile etc was for me.
6. Aside from the obvious (don't race training runs, increase mileage gradually etc) what tips would you give people looking to improve?
If you leave aside all the sensible advice you mention above (because I'd say all the above first in an encouraging way, obviously), I'd say (& I know this may be controversial because a lot of posters on boards do the opposite, and maybe they're right & I'm wrong ...) RACE ALL YOUR RACES!
I feel that if people get into the habit of treating races as training runs, then they get too relaxed, and always have the option to turn a race into a training run if it gets tough.
I know there are exceptions (I've jogged parkrun the day before XC myself (but I think parkrun is different anyway) and when I was coming back to racing last year I was trying to get back in racing mode, but was holding back a bit). I know there may be a charity race you want to do, but you're injured, or you may be pacing a friend, and I'm sure Mo Farah and people have tune up races where they run them as tempos to practise picking up bottles (or Mo SHOULD have practised that, anyway!), but I just feel (exceptions aside), as a general rule, when you toe the line, race. Pat Hooper in Raheny says the best training for racing is racing, and I agree.
Disagreement welcome!!
7. Injuries allowing, do you see yourself always running either just for your own headspace or competing at the O70 category say?
Yes! Hopefully competing in the 070s, and if I can't compete, hopefully getting over that disappointment enough to keep it up just for the fun of moving and for the camaraderie.0 -
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I'm going to do more tomorrow, but just a quick one - Murph D - you're a MUCH stronger runner than me - as evidenced by your much better marathons! I think being faster at the longer distances is proof of being a 'stronger' runner. you're basing your praise of me on one race, I think, where I happened to look very calm and happy as I passed you (Ballycotton 2017) - that just wasn't your day! (Many races haven't been my day) 0
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I'm going to do more tomorrow, but just a quick one - Murph D - you're a MUCH stronger runner than me - as evidenced by your much better marathons! I think being faster at the longer distances is proof of being a 'stronger' runner. you're basing your praise of me on one race, I think, where I happened to look very calm and happy as I passed you (Ballycotton 2017) - that just wasn't your day! (Many races haven't been my day)
Well first of all this thread is about you, not me or anyone else, so apologies for the way that question was phrased.
But anyway you are doing yourself an injustice - you regularly outperformed me, and the rest of our section of the mid pack, at many Dublin race series events between 2013-2016, often passing on the Upper Glen Road (or much earlier) - you just didn’t know me or notice me! And yes, Ballycotton, easily. Recall seeing you in the distance at Jingle Bells too one year. No doubt about it. And I’ve no doubt that strength would extend to marathon if you returned to it. That’s why I wanted to ask you about the source of your strength - I’ve witnessed it close up, and besides as well you are one of only a handful of women to make the Round Numbers table over the past few years (a feat that is arguably much harder for women than men, especially for 5k).
So don’t sell yourself short! 0 -
Hi Helen,
You and I have clashed swords more than a few times at this stage, with very similar PBs from 2-10 miles at least. I've always felt you are a much stronger runner than me, especially in the second half of the race.
1. Where does your 'engine' come from - what do you think contributes most to your mental strength?
2. How do you manage pain during a race?
3. You had an involuntary break from running last year - how did you approach getting back to full fitness?
4. Favourite film?
5. Favourite Irish film?
6. Which of your clubmates do you most admire?
I'm getting so behind with my answers! Is it OK if I just answer 1 & 2 first (that's all I got done at lunchtime)? Thanks for the great questions!
1. Where does your 'engine' come from - what do you think contributes most to your mental strength?
2. How do you manage pain during a race?
I don’t at all mean to sell myself short (referencing your reply upthread), but I don’t really think I have much of an engine, and I’ll tell you why (just so you don’t think it’s self-deprecation) – I know you say my times are quite good, and reference the boards table etc, but in my club, and in the parkruns I do etc, there are LOADS of women – my age and older – faster than me over every distance. So I know that I’m not naturally super fast – because some new people join the club and straight away run a mile faster than my pb, just because they have natural speed – and I’m not an endurance machine – because nearly everyone in the club has faster marathon times than me, and I have friends who I’m on a par with for 5k, but they can break 1.30 for a half!! So I'm not naturally gifted at either end of the spectrum.
I think coaches and experienced people on boards would agree with my self-assessment – I’m sort of a mid-level club runner, who might make a team (if they were stuck!), but wouldn’t be a stand-out (which is fine, because tbh I don’t put in the level of training and variation in training etc that would help to make me a better runner).
And I don’t say the above to be negative about myself – I think the main thing that gives me confidence and inspires me to try to run faster is being surrounded by other people who are doing it. You think, ‘If so and so with four kids and a job can do it, why not me?’
So, back to what keeps me going in the second half of a race (which I suppose also is what helps me manage pain): I think it's talking to myself!
I think so much of racing is mental. For me, in the shorter races, the mental challenge is to keep running fast, keep trying to catch people, pass them, etc. In longer races (10k to 10 miles say), I find it helpful to keep reassuring myself, so that I don’t panic that it’s too long and there’s too much still to come. I just keep telling myself, ‘I still feel good, I feel fine, over halfway and I’m still fine etc’, so when I get to maybe the last three miles of a ten-mile I’m like ‘Hurray, look where I am! Three miles from home and still running!’. I also feel that the last mile always looks after itself (my last mile is usually my fastest, over most distances (except the marathon )), so the last three miles of a ten-mile is really just 2 miles to hang on for. Does that make sense?
Basically, I suppose I’m saying my ‘engine’ is a kindly voice in my head
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And racing regularly helps me too, because I can deal with pain by saying ‘You felt like this in xx race and you hung on and felt better later in the race.’0 -
Hi Helen,
Great answers above and some fantastic tips for racing and training.... thanks!
A few questions for you, apologies if I missed these above and feel free to refer me to the answer if answered already:
1. What's your proudest running moment? A race/result/performance....?
2. I know you're very encouraging of your sister, who it seems is a recent convert to running...? Do you think she'll catch you over any distance and are the two of you competitive with each other?
3. You have perfected the thousand-yard stare during races... you always look in the zone at the business end of a race... is that when you're talking to yourself?
4. Do you have a running nemesis? Someone you would really love to beat? (You don't have to name names)
5. Have you set any running goals or targets for the near future? What are they?
Thanks!0 -
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