Extreme Knitting Redhead: Marathon Training & Pottery

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Marathon Training & Pottery

Asthma & running update

I'm writing this update because I've noticed a lot of people searching my posts about asthma and running.

It's been a challenging few weeks with some days where I've just had to accept that I won't be able to do the level of training I would like. This, of course, has resulted in feelings of inadequacy and frustration. especially as I'm entering the really high mileage weeks of my schedule.

At first I thought that it was largely the cold weather that was the problem but this last week has proved otherwise. There have been some very cold days and yet I have run really well and felt very satisfied with my training sessions. For example, on Wednesday I intended to run 10 miles at marathon pace. However, in reality although I managed the 10 miles I just couldn't find enough breath to maintain my chosen pace and spent most of the run coughing and wheezing. The next day I did an intervals session and it was the best session I've had in months - how does that work then?!

Today I ran 18.5 hilly miles comfortably in sub-zero temperatures and with a biting wind. The only hint of asthma was in the last mile, a long uphill climb, when my chest felt a bit gunky and my breathing was laboured.

So what's going on?

I have a theory - food. I am already a vegetarian and have been for nearly 20 years but for Lent each year I go vegan which means I eliminate dairy products and eggs. Now dairy products are notorious for producing mucus within the body and I'm wondering if this could be one of the reasons I've had some good runs in the last few days.

It's just a theory at the moment but watch this space.

Pottery update

I finally collected my pottery pieces following their glaze firing and I was very pleased with how the owl and the leaf turned out.

Owl slab pot front

Owl slab pot back

Fatsia Japonica Leaf dish

French Knitting

I forgot to include these photos from West Dean. Suzanne produced this little machine from her bag of tricks and proceeded to turn the handle vigourously.

This is what she produced - French Knitting!

Last time I did any French knitting was when I was a child and my mum gave me a cotton reel with 4 nails in the top and I had to use a crochet hook to create the cord! What a nifty little gadget. I found something similar made by Prym here on eBay.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.