Taper Time/ Park run

I am now well and truly into the taper, 12 days to go, and I don't think I've gone mad yet.  But I also don't feel raring to go yet.  Did 12 miles on Sunday and legs felt pretty tired afterwards.

I was going to do an easy 4 miles this morning, but I went to bed quite early last night, and slept really well, and when my eyes opened at 6:10, having forgotten to set an alarm for 6am to run,, I felt sooooooo cozy, and I was thinking about getting up, but then I slipped into a dream about a bouncy castle being part of Colchester Castle parkrun course, and it collapsing as I was running through it... by the time I escaped, it was 7am and I had to get ready for work :-D
My whole being feels better for the sleep, though I am starting to suffer hayfever, and although have been on the tablets for 3 days, they don't yet seem very effective...

12 days to go eeek!!!   i need to get more energy.  I need to remember to take my nighttime recovery shakes....
I need to remember not to drink alcohol, or eat bad fats!!! argh, will I keep it up for 12 more days???

Faux training camp

Well, I'm back from a week with family in the south of France. They live about an hours drive from the Pyrenees and as a result the terrain is quite hilly, so all my runs were hill runs. I manage to do an 8 mile progression run the night before we travelled, and despite being the first run since my half marathon race the last 2 miles at marathon pace ended up being at half marathon pace. I really must focus on being controlled at my chosen race pace when I have loads of energy to go faster. Only a couple weeks to learn this now.

I ended up doing my 5mile easy on Friday and my 5 mile pace on Saturday- I managed to maintain the slow end of my marathon pace despite the hills, which bodes well for Halstead once I have extra energy from the taper.

I was fairly apprehensive about a 20 miler in this terrain, especially when my cousin drove me around the route. There are some hills that I just couldn't manage to run and took easy, mainly to avoid injury and burnout- didn't want to run the 20 miler perfectly to find that I couldn't race in 3 weeks time. I sweated a LOT even though it was around 14 degrees, and certainly lost salt- I did feel this for a few days after, so I will need to be sharp after Halstead to rehydrate properly.

On the whole run i only came across 16 cars, 4 cyclists, a tractor, but no other runners! Mile splits are as follows and there are some amazing views:

Mile 1: 10:37
Mile 2: 10:25
Mile 3: 11:24
Mile 4: 11:21
Mile 5: 11:52
Mile 6: 10:11
Mile 7: 10:01
Mile 8: 9:44
Mile 9: 9:56
Mile 10: 10:11
Mile 11: 10:46
Mile 12: 12:02
Mile 13: 10:53
Mile 14: 10:58
Mile 15: 10:42
Mile 16: 10:57
Mile 17: 10:32
Mile 18: 10:21
Mile 19: 10:21
Mile 20: 10:52
Mile 20.17: 9:40

Summary:
Time: 3:35:43- this is fast as I stopped so often to take pictures and gels etc
Distance: 20.17 miles
Avg Pace: 10:42
Elevation Gain: 1680ft
Elevation Loss: 1654 ft
Min elevation: 1296ft
Max elevation: 1966ft

Praying for Boston

Its been a couple of days since the awful scenes in Boston.  I immediately found out that my cousin and her friends who live in Boston are all safe- they were planning on going to the finish, but were too lazy and hadn't gotten around to it yet.  Thank goodness for laziness!

There are many reasons why I run, and why I admire runners.  I think some of the courageous stories that have been told about the reactions of runners immediately after the explosions tells you something about our character.  If you think back six months to NYC marathon, and how runners ran to Staten Island or NJ to help people who had lost their homes you can see it again.  And we will see a great festival of it when we watch the London Marathon this Sunday.  Almost 40,000 runners, raising around £50million for charities-  the single largest fundraising event in the world.

We run because we care - about our own health, about our charity, about the earth
We run because we can - why not use our bodies to see the world rather than sit around doing nothing
We run because we're disciplined - whether you run a marathon in 2hours 4mins or 5 hours 50, you have dedicated yourself to a training programme which means getting out the door sometimes when you don't feel like it.

I do almost all my running alone.  The only exception is the races.  What has been quite remarkable in these last days is the strong sense of community amongst us runners.  Wearing race T-shirts yesterday, both VLM and my local Parkrun are hosting a moment's silence before the race starts this weekend.  running clubs in BOSTON- we will not be discouraged - going on to do their regular routes to show solidarity.

We run because we are part of a community that cannot be destroyed because its global and because our power, positivity and strength is bigger than anyone trying to break it!

East London Half Marathon

So today was always going to be tough. The anniversary of my father's death, and the night before I spent the night with him in the hospital. So. Of course I had a fairly sleepless night. Didn't help that the hotel was full of what seemed to be teenagers running up and down the corridors.

I figured one bad night wouldn't hurt the race and I really wanted to try for a pb, even though the sensible people on the forum had suggested marathon pace.

When I got to the park, there was an almighty queue. I couldn't believe this! This was for baggage drop. Having done VLM I didn't think bag drop was supposed to be a hard thing. Took half an hour to drop mine off. The guys behind me were doing the 10k that started 10 minutes earlier. They were still queuing when the gun went off!

I managed to just about drop my bag off before the start- 8:40, the same pronounced time of death for dad. I needed the loo, but there was a great big q at the portapotties too- often when I need to pee befor a race it's nerves and goes away, so thought I'd chance it, but I had consumed about a litre of fluid in the 90 mins before, so probably would be wise to go.

The race started late! According to my garmin 8:54 is when I crossed the line.

So, by the time I crossed the line I was already grumpy that I'd queued and got cold to drop my bag, I didn't go to the loo, the race started late, meaning I would be late to meet my family for lunch, and didn't have a chance for a warm up.

I started off at what u thought was a conservative pace, but when I looked down it was in the low 8s... I slowed through the course of the first mile, but was still significantly faster than marathon pace, so I thought why not take this at half marathon pace and see if I can get a good time, after all its a pretty flat course. Mile 2 and I was even faster... Mile 3 and the clouds went away, wow, I was getting hot, but luckily there was a water station. Well there were tables with packs of water bottles piled up behind and no marshals to be seen 'you've gotta be f***ing kidding!, I decided to help the other runners by lifting a case onto the table so at least they didn't ALL have to crouch down. This was the last straw in my mental resolve to go at half marathon pace, as I lost a bit of time again, so I decided I would drop down to mara pace. Miles 4-5 and I was feeling liquid sloshing around- I had to stop to pee- got to the second set of portaloos on the course and stopped to wait- thought it odd with a relatively small field that there would be a queue. A girl standing there said she hadn't seen anyone come out of them- someone else was asking the marshal and we quickly deduced they were all LOCKED! Seriously, could anything else go wrong with this race?

I decided that I would hold it in a bit longer and hopefully I would be able to go when I passed on the way back. Luckily I could, and well, there was a lot of liquid, so glad I did go, and I don't think it lost me too much time.

Aft this I got a new wind and thought I would do another 3 miles at half pace, but it got so hot I just couldn't cope at that speed, and to add insult to injury, or to add injury to a crappy mental state, I started to get chaffing between my legs. I thought I'd seen St. John's ambulance, my next focus was to find Vaseline.... Clearly I had been spoilt by London marathon again, expecting this... Alas it was nowhere to be seen. The pain of the chafe brought me to a walk several times- important lesson, no matter how warm it is I always need Lycra on my upper legs- this has happened to a lesser extent before, and I wouldn't want this to happen at all during the marathon.

As time went on, the pain seemed to ease, and by about 18km I thought I can deal with this to the end and ought to speed up a bit, I did want to go at marathon pace but I didn't want my second slowest half marathon time because of it! Should speed up here. I decided I would set myself some medal challenges, given we had a brief glimpse of the Olympic park. Bronze was to pass 10 runners, silver to pass 20 and gold to pass 30. Rules: people who stopped to walk didn't count, and if someone overtook me that didn't mean a negative. This seemed to work as I didn't stop to walk again and gave me a focus aside from the chaffing.

I managed to pass 30 With still half a mile to go. I don't remember if I managed to pass anyone else.

Crossed the finish in 2:05:33 according to the results. Got my medal and a mini bottle of water and a banana, and YAY another 30 minute queue for my bag! Nightmare!

Anyway here are the splits:

Mile 1: 9:08
Mile 2: 8:45
Mile 3: 8:55
Mile 4: 9:15
Mile 5: 9:17
Mile 6: 11:08 (maybe this was toilet break)
Mile 7: 9:16
Mile 8: 9:18
Mile 9: 9:56
Mile 10: 10:17 (ow chaffing hurts)
Mile 11: 10:04
Mile 12: 8:58
Mile 13: 8:58
Mile 13.2 well not a mile but pace: 8:54

Average pace 9:29mm

As you can see my pacing was really erratic. Secretly happy that I managed that many sub 9mm a week after my 20 mile run, but I don't think I used this race the right way, though I guess I did test myself in the heat.

My first magic mile

I bought a book by Jeff Galloway a few months ago - How to qualify for Boston. After reading it, I thought it kinda oversold the idea that u can just follow a 30 week plan and qualify. There were some good bits though. One which made sense to me is the magic mile. After a warm up, you run a mile as fast as u can. That time multiplied by 1.3 becomes your fastest potential marathon pace.

I went out for a 6/7 mile run today- lately, as my fitness has increased and I spend more time on the runners world forums, I can't help thinking I'm doing too many junk miles. Especially as upto 10 miles at easy pace is a relatively easy ask for me these days. I tried to go out easy today, but for some reason I kept hitting my marathon pace- a comfort because it felt comfortable but annoying as it showed I wasn't in control. Given my legs were asking for speed, I decided to do a magic mile, but instead of a 10 minute warm up, I had 4 miles, and instead of a track, it was the river path in castle park, which isn't quite a mile long. There were a fair few hazards along the way, mainly dogs and their walkers, and the path wasn't completely flat. I also didn't know quite how to pace a mile, so I may not have reached my potential. Nonetheless I managed it in 7:18. When you multiply that by 1.3, you get 9:29 as a pace per mile. I'm targeting to start at 9:33, so I think we are in the right place here.

Afterwards I struggled to run the rest of the way home, so I stopped after another mile to walk. I'm noticing the tightness in my lower leg again, so I might do a gentle jog later before having a proper stretch.

This workout also got me thinking I should go ahead and race the half marathon on Sunday aiming for sub 1:55...

Planning Week 14

After 20 miles yesterday this is a step back week.

Monday: cross train (I did a 6 mile bike ride)
Tuesday: 5 mile easy
Wednesday: 5 mile
Thursday: 5 mile
Friday: rest
Saturday: 8 mile run
Sunday 14 mile LSR

I can't run Saturday and am doing east london half marathon on Sunday, so I think I'll do 8 on Wednesday, perhaps an easy 5 on Saturday and I'll do the half marathon at marathon pace.

First 20 miler

Sunday morning ready for my first 20 miler of this campaign. Did it as race prep, so up at 7am for porridge with banana, beeple and a cup of tea followed by 500ml Sis go and generally getting ready to run at 10am, the same time my race will start.

The 20 went really well- I think chia seeds are the key. I've found shorter long runs a lot harder without chia...

I set easy pace as between 10:15 and 11:00 and marathon pace between 9:30 and 9:45. The second marathon pace section was harder but still manageable, and I think my pace came down a lot in the last mile as for the first 3 the garmin was constantly beeping at me to slow down. Anyway, this is how I ran:

Miles 1-6 10:29
Miles 7-10 9:32
Miles 11-14. 10:34
Miles 15-18 9:33
Miles 19-20. 10:42

The last 2 miles were pretty tough but I think this was becaus I was nearly home and knew I was nearly done. Certainly at mile 17/18 I was feeling exceptionally good and like I had the stamina to run 26 miles. I did this in just under 3:23. This would give me 1 hour 10 minutes to do 6 miles and still come under my marathon pb. That being said this run has given me confidence that my starting pace should be 9:33. Whenever I was n a MP section the garmin was beeping at me to slow down. If I can maintain 9:33 for the first half and allow myself to fade, or even hold on, I'll be more than comfortable with my 4:15 goal.

What's more with my recent half marathon time I think I just need to do some more of these long 20 milers to get under 4 hours in the autumn.

It was a lovely run along the river Colne toward the coast. I came off the river at Alresford where I grew up and did a run around the playing field and the rest of the village. It's amazing, when I was little it was huge and I would have to get on my bike, or beg my parents to drive me to go to the local shop... Probably took me about 3 minutes to run that distance on Sunday. It was really nice to run along the Wivenhoe trail in the sunshine. I spent a lot of time thinking about my childhood and all the walks/bike rides I would do with my dad back then. It really was a lovely day for a run! The proof is in the pictures :-)

I'm such a klutz!

So I set off on my 8 miler in London tonight, I was a bit cautious given my last few runs, and my bruised knee. Less than half a mile into my run, my phone flys out of my bumbag because I forgot to zip it- now it has a gazillion scratches on the screen. Carried on, and was going at marathon pace, rather than easy, but it felt easy so I didn't mess with it. A few miles in, I started to feel the familiar tightness in my lower legs which was quite worrying. I focused on my form- I've been a bit rigid lately, and so I focused on running, even if it was too fast.

At about 3.5 miles looking ahead, it looked as if the path was ending, but I figured I could find the extra half mile, then, my toe hit an uneven paving stone and I was mid air. It happened in slow motion and I thought this fall could be the end of my marathon campaign, especially after falling off my bike. I hit the ground, braking my fall with my hands. My water bottle went rolling across the road, and I banged my knees. There were 2 or 3 other runners around me and they just continued on their merry way, as did the cyclists on the cycle super highway. It was like that catwalk show in sex and the city where Carrie falls on the runway and the other models step over her. If that happened around here, someone would have stopped to help, but in London, all out for themselves. I'm glad the warmth of the London marathon redeems them!

Having banged my knee I was worried to continue, so I waited a few minutes for it to settle. Eventually, it did. This was the turning point in my run, so annoyed that I'd tripped, I concentrated on picking my feet up so I didn't trip again, this seemed to help.

I hope the rest of my runs this week are completely uneventful...

I thought cross training was supposed to prevent injury?

So I went for a cross training bike ride today... Cycled to a friends parents for lunch- hadn't seen her for a few months and her parents for years! They're both into running so it was good chat, however, was quite disappointed that they were only 3 miles away, so not much of a ride. We took a different route home, which involved a cycle down north hill- top speed 25 mph. Even if a silly 4x4 driver cut me up after making such a point of over revving at the top of the hill to overtake us. It bothers me when drivers are that silly- don't they know that bike brakes aren't as strong as car brakes and even so, a car going into Another car is a lot less dangerous than a cyclist going into a car... I yelled abuse at him and shook my hand... With only the half a mile climb to go before we got home we were stopped at a traffic light and the road was uphill. I tried to stay in my toe clips, as its such a faff getting them on, especially uphil... Yippee the light turned green, I could peddle, so i did, but my front wheel was turned such that I couldn't peddle any further..... BANG, I fell onto the road! Very hard.... Grazed knee, grazed elbow, and totally bruised hand... Now sitting here with ice on everything hoping it doesn't affect my running this week!
But, it was quite funny! Both times I've fallen off my bike have been from completely stationary! How dense am I?!?