Sunday 30 June 2013

57 mile ride

After finishing my Parkrun director duties, we headed out for a 60 mile bike ride. The weather was ideal for cycling- I often get cold when cycling, so it was nice to be able to wear just the short sleeved jersey and be warm enough.

After getting in from 57 mile bike ride, david fell asleep on the sofa, ashamed at his bad route planing that lost us 3 miles despite 2 detours! We did a lovely round trip, starting off through constable country- Dedham, Stratford-St-Mary, Lawford then toward the coast, Manningtree, a funny village called Beaumont cum Mozze... I giggled like a school girl at this one... cycled some more, ended up at Holland on Sea, and then Clacton - David wanted to stop for an ice cream... then we took a wrong turn toward Jaywick, then back the right way through Thorrington, Brightlingsea, Alresford, where I grew up- bumped into one of my mum's friends who had rescued me when i fell of my bike as a youngling and banged my chin on the pavement, biting through my lip and creating a bloody mess,... then down to Alresford creek, back up to the main road to get to Wivenhoe... stopped for fish an chips and beer... bad idea, meant the 7 remanning miles home were rather uncomfortable!

That said, I felt really good on the ride yesterday, I think the 10k training is actually helping me stay strong on the bike, so dual benefit. Now have confidence that completing the 100 miles in a semi-decent time is possible. I'm really feeling the benefit of my endurance now fully recovered from the marathon, I could easily have done another 10 miles, but decided not to push it due to my race today...

Tuesday 25 June 2013

The next 10k session

After my dithering last night, I picked another 10k session from women's running magazine. 8-10x800m with 75-90s jog/walk recovery. I mostly walked the recoveries and they were all 90s due to setting up the garmin- also, the distance was 0.5 miles, but I'm pretty sure that is exactly 800m. This session is almost like yasso 800s- the difference being the recoveries are much shorter- after much marathon reading last night in prep for one next spring, I decided my target time for that should be 3:55, so I would be surprised to find I could do these intervals at that pace. Indeed I was pleasantly surprised as I wasn't that far off, and given my dinner last night was a Greek salad and I only had a cup of beeple juice before I set off, I think this was a pretty good one again.

Interval paces and times as follows:
Interval 1: 8:07mm, 4:04
Interval 2: 7:42mm, 3:51
Interval 3: 7:57mm, 3:58
Interval 4: 7:58mm, 3:58
Interval 5: 7:54mm, 3:56
Interval 6: 7:33mm, 3:46
Interval 7: 7:54mm, 3:56
Interval 8: 7:48mm, 3:54

I forgot to mention that the session dictated that odd number intervals should be done at threshold pace and even number intervals at target 10k pace. Clearly interval 6 was a bit gangbusters! But sub 8mm for the 10k should be fine again based on this session. After this weekend where I have a long bike ride and a 12 mile race, I'll see what effect these speed sessions have had with some tempo runs before tuning up pre race with some faster intervals. And what does this mean for marathon pace? We'll see for sure when I begin marathon training again, but I think that these speed sessions are possible at this level because of my fitness from training for the halstead marathon. Perhaps if it strictly followed yasso 800 format, with a longer recovery time, I might have done each at 3:50- that's an experiment for later in the season though.

Monday 24 June 2013

Uncertainty in running

So, due to a super busy weekend, I didn't get a chance to rejig my running schedule for the year and I also didn't train, and I bailed again tonight. I'll become a lard-arse pretty soon if I'm not careful.

Given I have loads of time to prep for a spring marathon now, I'm thinking of following Jeff galloways plan from the book qualifying for Boston- it is over 29 weeks, so I would be starting late September. Probably quite a good time after the disjointed nature of my running in the last few weeks. I think on the most part, other than when Ill, I've managed 3 workouts a week, but I do feel I need to get a lot more organised.

So here is the next dilemma, which spring marathon do I go for. I've entered the ballot for London. Paris is on the same day and I could probably just buy a place for that right now, then there's Brighton the week before, or I could do Halstead again, though I do think this is just too close to my wedding...

Tomorrow, a 10k training session- 8x800m with 90s recovery... Whoop whoop...

Friday 21 June 2013

10k training is frickin awesome!

So after the upset of not being able to do Bournemouth Marathon because of scheduling conflicts, and not being able to find a suitable alternative, I decided I will stick with speed and shorter distances for the rest of the year. This means the days and weeks I spent devising my training plan for the next 4 months were a little bit wasted...

I was supposed to do a 5 mile hilly run last night, but when I got home was starving and convinced my fiancé to take me out for dinner- we went to one of the local pubs and I had a super healthy dinner of gammon egg and chips! Sooooo salty! I decided I could do a more 10k specific session in the morning. One I'd seen in Women's running. I set it up on my garmin when I got home and went to bed early.

The session was 6x 5 minutes with 90 seconds jog/walk recovery. Intervals 1-3 at tempo pace and intervals 4-6 at 10k pace. I figured tempo would be my half marathon pace at 8:50, and 10k would be somewhere around 8:20. Turns out the paces I ran were about 30s per mile faster than this, which gives me some confidence my next 10k will be a pb.

Here are the paces:
Interval 1: 8:20
Interval 2: 8:19
Interval 3: 8:04
Interval 4: 7:52
Interval 5: 7:48
Interval 6: 7:48

I was really trying to push the last interval, but couldn't get it any faster, and in my cool down I had to give up running after about half a mile as I was just too tired. I think this is pretty good going given I didn't eat before, but I'm not sure how realistic 7:50mm is as a pace for a full 10k.

To get into BQ territory, I would need it to be sub 46 minute 10k. My pb from 2008 is 52:50. Pretty sure I could replicate that today. 7:50 pace would give me sub 49 minutes, so almost 4 minutes off my last pb. I think my next 10k will be Felstead on 14th July, so that's 3 weeks of training. Is that enough to make 49 minutes achievable?

Tuesday 18 June 2013

What to do for the rest of 2013

So unfortunately, family events will mean I can't do the Bournemouth marathon this year. Initially I had thought, oh well I guess I can just focus on shorter distances for the rest of the year, especially as there is likely to be another event in October or November which could stop me being able to do a marathon on that weekend too. However, my wise fiancé reminded me of my goal, and now I have a few options of other marathons. Sensible ness would say I should just go for Brentwood: we are saving for our wedding after all, but, well, the list is quite exciting, I sorta want to try something more exotic. Does anyone have any views/ experiences on any of these?

Brentwood
Dublin
Lausanne
Lucerne
Ljubljana
Venice
Athens
Valencia
Turin
Florence
La Rochelle
San Sebastián

Or, not a marathon but the Cyprus international 4 day challenge.

Please comment if you know about any, or if u know of others late in October or in November I could consider. Ideally looking for a fast flat course after my undulating challenging one in Halstead...

Thursday 13 June 2013

Karrimor great trail challenge- 22km, what was I thinking?

The day started early with some porridge and another drive. As usual, the older people of the population- the rellies i was staying with suggested we would need 2 hours to get to Keswick, which was 40 miles away straight up the motorway. Of course we didn't, it took us just over an hour which meant loads of time before what was a relatively small race field. We walked around the town in search of coffee and toilets, and I actually had a cappuccino from costa. This was silly, but I had chosen to take a fairly lax approach to race prep, in keeping with trail running ethos, and had even had a couple glasses of wine the night before.

When we got to race hq, the morning was really heating up, and there were numerous warnings about these not being pb conditions, and that we should ignore the king of the mountain challenge, which is cudos awarded to the person who had the fastest run up lattrig fell, this was followed by demon descent, which is the same challenge but on the way down.

I'd done a fair bit of hill running in previous months, with the Halstead and Essex marathon and my week in the Pyrenees, so I thought I'd be ok running it all, even for 22km.

The race started with a couple of laps around the field. Even then, the ups and downs were beginning to sap energy. I found a lady who seemed to be going a similar pace to me and decided to stick with her, we were doing around 9mm, however once we got out of the sun and onto the trail proper, she started pushing it to more like 8:30mm so I let her go. Lots of people overtook me in the early stages. I would see them later.

In this heat, what I was focussing on was the first water stop, which would be at 5km. The route was fairly flat until just before when an ascent brought most people to walking. I continued running at first, but my breathing and my heart rate told me to be sensible and walk it. It was a bit long for a proper attack. At the top of this mini ascent you were rewarded with water, and then the course began to slope downwards. The path started to get quite rocky, and this is where I really appreciated my trail shoes, they protected me, and I could go flying down the hill at quite a pace. I overtook lots of people here who were doing the classic braking their stride downhill.

At the end of this descent, there was a bridge to cross, a small ascent, and then the timing mats for king of the hill. On the first time around I was still running here, on the 2nd lap I didn't bother. It was a really long ascent of latrigg fell and by the time we were out in the open, everybody was walking. Some stunning views though. Got my phone out to take a pic of derwent water.

After what seemed like forever, and contemplating why I was doing the 2 lap version of this race, there was another water station and timing mats for the descent. This descent was quite scary because at this stage the elite 11km runners started to pass me, and they were going really fast and the path was very narrow. Added to which there were a few runners ahead of me blocking my path and how fast I wanted to go down hill.

Eventually I reached the bottom to begin the second lap. Was quite thirsty now, and I stopped at a high 5 station to take on a few cups of the yellow drink they were serving, then it was back to the forest trail. I had urges to walk here, my legs were getting tired, but I managed to find a lady who seemed to be going a sensible pace, I kept here about 5meters ahead of me. In doing so, I managed to pass quite a few people who had passed me in this sort of area in the first lap. I kept going and was really appreciating my endurance base at this stage. Not only was I still running, but I was already passing people at the second lap, who had gone off too fast. I kept going until that first ascent, and I stopped at the water station for quite a bit gulping down water-'was very thirsty by now.

On the second ascent of latrigg I caught up with a couple of ladies dressed as Minni mouse taking pictures of themselves-they were doing the 11km race. I offered to photograph the two of then together and managed to loose myself about 2 minutes as they were swapping cameras around, and I was pressing the wrong button! Turned out they were raising money for a charity who sends terminally ill children to Disney land. One had lost her son last year and the day after the race would have been his birthday. Wow, what an inspirational mother!

That breather had given me a second wind, I marched up the mountain, and then went flying almost all the way downhill. I was starting to feel the impact in my legs. On the final bit of the descent. My garmin was reading bellow 7mm! Very close to the end now, and on the home stretch, I saw David with the camera just as I got back to the field. There were about 200m to go and I thought I was pushing as hard as I could, I wasn't going to catch the ladies ahead so I held back, but then a man started running beside me and shouting lots of encouragement, and somewhere I found a sprint finish :-). 2:38:04

Stats:

291st overall
64th woman
115th in the 0-34 age group

King of the mountain:
Lap 1: 15:17
Lap 2: 19:44 (shouldn't have stopped to take pictures)
Average: 17:30

Demon descent:
Lap 1: 19:27
Lap 2: 17:45
Average: 18:36

Mile 1: 9:29
Mile 2: 9:16
Mile 3: 9:13
Mile 4: 11:25
Mile 5: 15:20
Mile 6: 8:54
Mile 7: 10:40
Mile 8: 9:55
Mile 9: 9:48
Mile 10: 11:49
Mile 11: 13:04
Mile 12: 19:53
Mile 13: 8:55
Mile 14: 8:29
Last 0.28 miles in 2:26 which is 8:50 pace.

Juneathon day 8: bike for a service and a mammoth drive

Well, on day 8 I had to drop my bike at the shop for a service and drive north to take place in the karrimor great trail challenge on Sunday. We'd borrowed my future parent in laws car as its newer and more powerful for the long drive- unfortunately it's too small to fit my bike in, so I cycled it to the shop- 4 miles, easy.

Then 7 hours to reach the southern tip of the Lake District national park, and we were still nowhere near Keswick for the race!

Friday 7 June 2013

Juneathon Day 7: a bike ride and race nails

So today I decided I would run my errands by bike- first to mums to feed her guinea pigs- got there in record time- 4 miles in 19 minutes- fastest I've done that trip before is 22 minutes- I think this is due to pedalling and not braking downhill.
Then cycled to church to play piano for the teenage choir, and then home.

Now I'm filing my nails, wondering how to paint them ready for my trail race on Sunday....

Total distance cycled 9 miles

Thursday 6 June 2013

Juneathon day 6

Well as soon as I get back home I'm going to have to go to mum's to feed her pets as she's away.  Doubt I'll fit in a run or a cycle, but I have been breathing all day,so that counts....

Juneathon Day 5

Forgot to blog in time, but skipped up north hill on my way to pizza express, then skipped back to Strada when pizza express was too busy because of Orange Wednesdays...

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Juneathon day 4: bit of a cop out really

What did I do that was active today? Hmmm, well I certainly didn't run, not one bit. I did walk to the train station in the morning, and home in the evening. Probably total walking of 1.5 miles in the day.
I did have a sports massage this evening- very important for my training so not a complete cop out, but yes, no running particularly.
I'll do 20 crunches before I go to bed.

Monday 3 June 2013

Juneathon day 3: this blogging thing really does motivate me

So when I woke up this morning my quads were soooore... Really really sore. Ordinarily this would be a reason to lie about icing them and feeling sorry for myself,but not today, instead at lunchtime I took a 1 mile gentle jog, for juneathon. It was wonderful. By the end of it I was running with a normal gait and my legs felt much better. Unfortunately they're sore again now. Time for a hot bath :-)

Sunday 2 June 2013

Juneathon day 2: not quite a run, but a pootle on the bike

So, I have run today, I ran to the shop to buy a twister after my bike ride.... My 54 mile bike ride.

We did a lovely route exploring north Essex and Suffolk. The sun has worked it's magic, we saw a gazillion other cyclists out today, and almost all of them said hi. Other than riding, there was nothing particularly eventful during the ride. We stopped every 15 miles to have a fuel stop. At the first we found a lovely park meadow thing and I had a banana and a Jaffa cake. On the second stop we were in earls colne, so we got some ice cream. I had a twister, and I think this is possibly the best mid ride fuel. Chased it with an SiS energy gel tropical. On the 4th stop, I had one of the things that was in my goody bag post Halstead marathon- a cheap imitation of a mars bar. On this particular stop, I was lying on a grass verge at an intersection, as a car was driving past the passenger called out to check I was ok- clearly I looked worse than I felt! Getting back on after this stop was hard- saddle sore had kicked in. But wow, 54 miles- the furthest I've ever cycled. It was so nice to see so many other cyclists out, and I really wish it was a means of transport that people used more often, like to pop to the local shop for teabags and such.

When I got home, I wanted another twister, so I ran to the petrol station to get one :-). About a quarter mile before I decided my legs had done enough work today

Saturday 1 June 2013

Juneathon day 1: 9 mile run

So, despite still having a bit of a cough, I decided I would go ahead with my 9 mile run, and that I'd do it on a hilly route as I have a 14 mile trail race in the Lake District next weekend.

I set out at an easy pace, and was flying. Was at the pace I was trying to keep for my recent marathon (see earlier post Halstead and Essex Marathon). I decided I would slow down if it felt to hard, but my legs kept taking me along at around that pace, so I thought I'd enjoy it after being made to rest. It was as if my body had decided after the marathon that it would make me sick so that it could rebuild my muscles to that higher specification to be able to run a marathon at that pace easily. Isn't the human body amazing?

The paces jump around a bit, but it was hilly:
Mile 1: 9:50
Mile 2: 9:23
Mile 3: 9:46
Mile 4: 9:19
Mile 5: 9:30
Mile 6: 9:18
Mile 7: 9:33
Mile 8: 9:51
Mile 9: 9:15

The last 3 seconds were at 7mm pace too. I'm glad that this speed felt easy today, but not sureif it's because I'm faster or because I've had so much rest.

Does this mean I can do my sub 4 marathon in the autumn?