Sunday Catch Up

Training: So its the end of my first 'proper' week of marathon training; here's what I've been up to - the first entry for each day is the training plan, the second - what actually happened!

M - Rest / Rest

T - 5mi @ 12:45 / 5mi @ 13:02
First run for 3 weeks - lots of calf tightness and stretching involved!

W - Rest / Rest

T - 4x800m @ 9:45 with 200m recovery, 1mi wu & cd / Rest
Not home from work until 8:15 :(

F - Rest / Rest
Not home from work until 8:30 :(

S - 7mi @11:45 (marathon pace) / 7.7mi @ 12:01
A bit slow, but much better than Tuesday, having a pace to aim for really helped me to push it towards the end, whereas I'd usually start slacking off!

S - Rest / Rest
I thought about doing the missed speedwork session today, but I could feel yesterday's run in my legs and didn't think speedwork was a good idea! Nor do I want to overdo things in the first week.

Total Distance: 12.7 miles

Weight: 2.2lbs down :)

Summary: Overall, not a great week, but its the start of some structure back in my training, and also getting into the habit of doing a long run on Saturday rather than Sunday, which will allow for extra recovery time when the runs get really long!

Thought: Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.

Follow Friday: Hyperbole and a Half

Those of you on Twitter may be aware of 'Follow Friday', so I thought I'd follow a similar idea and each Friday, tell you about an interesting blog or website I read. There are so many blogs and sites I read on a daily or weekly basis (if only I could work out how to get paid for it I could quit my job!); some are diet or fitness related, some introduce new ideas or companies and some are just downright funny.

This first blog defintely falls into the last category! Hyperbole and a Half tells stories through hand-drawn Paint-style pictures, which I defy you not to laugh at! :D

Image Source: Hyperbole and a Half

I should warn you not to check this blog out whilst eating, drinking or sat in a busy office - you may splutter/snort/fall of your chair! Here a couple of posts to get you started:

- The Trouble with Coupons
- Cake Versus Pie: A Scientific Approach
- Things that Can Make You Feel Like an Idiot Almost Instantly
- The God of Cake
- The Four Levels of Social Entrapment

Enjoy! And let me know what you think :)

New Year, New Goals and, um, the M word...

Wow - its been a long time since I posted on here! Mainly due to a lack of races leading up to Christmas, followed by a lack of running over the holidays!

I've really got to step my training up a gear though, as I'm (attempting) to run a marathon in 13 weeks! Running a marathon has always been on my 'list of things to do before I die', long before I even thought about taking up running. I thought it was on everyone's lists, but having spoken to friends and family, it seems that's not the case! Having taken up running in 2009, and completed two half marathons in spring 2010, I thought now seemed as good a time as any to run a marathon; I can cover half the distance and I run (reasonably!) regularly, why wait 5 years when I may be out of the habit and have to start from scratch (couch to 5k again?!).

I've entered the Sussex Marathon with two friends (one of whom has run a marathon before and both of whom are much faster than me!). It'll be the first time this event takes place, so there are no reviews to rely on. Its going to be hilly and quite small, but its also possible to get there in a day (unlike Edinburgh), not sold out (London, Brighton) and not going to entail expensive travel costs (Paris). I'd have really liked my first marathon to be a bigger event, but you can't have everything! It just means I have to accept that I'll be very near, if not at, the back.

My parents were very generous at Christmas and bought me the Garmin Forerunner 405CX, which I'm hoping will help spur me on! You can set up workouts, track mileage and pace, train with a virtual partner to pace you and analyse workout sessions online. I'm using the Runner's World Training Plan (its set up to download onto a Garmin, but you can also view them online). Which brings me to...

Marathon Goals
So what are my goals for this race? Perhaps surprisingly, I'm not really thinking about my time; its my first attempt at this great distance and I don't really care how long it takes. Taking into account my current weight and fitness levels, I'm probably looking at around a 5:30 finish time (although this is a guestimate at best!) So my goals are:

1. Finish the race - it seems straightforward, but this can be a tough goal in a marathon

2. Start strong - I want to start the race feeling prepared, knowing that I've trained well, this means I'm aiming to run 2-3 x 20 miles in training and am also hoping to lose 14-20lbs before the race

3. Finish strong - I want to finish with my head held high and, since I'm aiming to run at a comfortable pace and not bust a gut, I'm aiming for the second half of the race to be as strong as the first

So there you have it! There are, of course, other running goals for 2011 including 10km PB, Thunder Run, mile PB, some half marathons and a distance target, but they will be ticking over in the background for the first 4 months of the year as I train for, run, and recover from my first marathon! So I'd better get my head down and my legs moving :D

Thought: What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

Race Report: Datchet Cross Country

Sunday saw the first event of this year's cross country season, held on a grey, wet and misty Remembrance Sunday in Windsor.

The misty view in Windsor

About Cross Country
My club competes in the Thames Valley Cross Country League (TVXC) where 13 clubs run at 8 events (each event is hosted by one of the clubs). Cross country results are a bit different to normal races - you are given points based on your finishing position (first place = 1 point and so on) and the first 7 men and 3 ladies score points for their club, the team with the lowest score wins that event. But as scores are position based, if the 4th female runner for one club overtook the 2nd female runner from another club, although the first lady wouldn't score points for her club, she would add a point to the second lady's club total, moving them further down the ranking list. Confused?! All the event scores are added together to find the season winner, which last year was Sandhurst Joggers! Not that I contribute in any way, as I'm too far down the rankings to be of any help! :D

The Course
The first event, hosted by the Datchet Dashers takes place in Windsor. This is the longest of the cross country courses (6 miles), but is also 100% flat! Rain the day before meant that all the fields were suitably muddy for a cross country event.

Just before crossing the finish line

The Race
The race started at 11:02 after a two minute silence. The race wasn't great for me, a niggly/tight calf was causing me come pain and I considered dropping out at more than one point, but once I got to half way, I figured I might as well finish and that the quickest way back to the start was to run the rest of the course! I was a bit disappointed to finish about 3 minutes slower than last year (official times haven't been released yet)[edit: times have now been released, and I was only 1:20 slower than last year!], but glad I got through it.

The Castle

The host club put on a great spread - the hot drinks were most welcome! Along with cakes, crisps, scones, sandwiches and lots of other food that was quickly gobbled up!

The next event (in just under two weeks), is my club's home events, so I shall be marshalling rather than running. All the marshalls were great yesterday - cheering on everyone as they went past - even in the rain.

Race Report: Great South Run

On Sunday I ran the Bupa Great South Run - a flat, 10 mile race with around 20,000 runners taking part.

Following on from last year’s race report, which ended with “Would I do it again? If you'd asked me two minutes after finishing I would've said no, but I think I've got to try and beat 2 hours haven't I..?”, I was back for my second time of running this race. I knew I was better prepared than last year (when my longest training run before the race had been 8 miles!), but I also knew that I hadn’t been putting in lots of distance training over the past few months. With those in mind, my goals for this race were;

A) Beat last year’s time of 2:03:11
B) Run under 1:55
C) Run under 1:50

With A being a very realistic target and knowing that C would be quite a challenge!

Some of the thousands of people running the Great South Run (source)

I wasn’t apprehensive about the race at all - I knew I’d be able to get round the course, and (for once!) the weather was good - bright and crisp - perfect for running. But it’s fair to say that I didn’t have the best of races - you know you have an ‘off’ run every so often? Sunday was one of those days; it was just unfortunate that it happened to be a race. I struggled mentally and physically for much of the race.

Miles 1-3: It took me a while to get into a decent rhythm, but I told myself I wasn’t stopping until at least the 5km marker. I found it hard mentally at the beginning - I just couldn’t motivate myself to get excited about the race.

Miles 3-6: The middle section was probably the best for me; I’d found my pace, had some water and some Shot Bloks and was feeling more refreshed and optimistic.

Miles 6-8: At this point I started to get bored, it’s the dullest section of the race, with few supporters, no bands etc. I could feel a couple of blisters on my feet that were starting to bother me and my right hip kept twinging (not an area I’ve ever had problems with in the past).

Miles 8-10: By now I was feeling tired (looking back, it may have been an under-fuelling issue - the race didn’t start till 11 and I’d eaten breakfast at 7:30!), and the twinge in my hip was bothering me almost constantly. The last two miles of this race are along the sea-front, I kept telling myself that the quickest was back to the start was to run the last two miles, despite the discomfort, I also knew that the more I ran and less I walked, the quicker it would be over!

I crossed the finished line in 1:54:14, so I managed goals A and B :)

After finishing the race I realised I felt quite light headed (again - probably due to lack of food, by now it was 1pm). I sat down for a while and hobbled the half mile to the pub, where I had a yummy and much-deserved veggie Wellington roast dinner.

Some of the amazing support on the way round (source)

I know this post is quite negative, but I also realise that it was only due to my issues that it was a bad race. The Great South Run is one of the biggest, well-organised and popular races I’ve been too. There’s support on the majority of the route, bands and music as well, it’s a completely flat course and the goody bags are well worth it! There was a ‘Bupa Boost Station’ at mile 9, which I thought was a really nice touch - they were blasting out cheesey, motivating music and handing out jelly babies and Vaseline - it helped to push through for the last mile. So please don’t let my whinging put you off this event!

Now I just have to figure out what to do about this hip pain, that still hasn’t gone away, and definitely feels like more than DOMS. I think I’ll rest it for a few more days and hope it passes. What do you do about niggles/twinges/discomfort? Do you seek help straightaway or try resting it first?

Length: 10 miles
Time: 1:54:14
Pace: 11:25 min/mile

Race Report: Mortimer 10km

This is only going to be a short report as it was almost 2 weeks ago now! Mortimer 10km is a nice local race, cheap entry (£6!), which still included a medal :)

I wasn't aiming for a PB in this race, but had heard it was flat with a small incline at the end, so was hoping for a reasonably good time. Up until around 6km, I was actually on course for a PB, then the 'small incline' arrived! It was a 2 mile long hill that wasn't overly steep, but seemed to go on forever! The longer it went on, the more I was looking forward to a fast, downhill finish - which never arrived! I was so confused as to how I could be back at the start/finish line having gone up and up and up, but never gone down! Looking at the course profile after the event, it appears that the downhill came before the uphill, but was much more slight and not noticeable.

I finished in 1:05:58 (about 3 minutes behind my PB). I'll be back next year - its great value and the marshalls and organisation were great! :)

Length: 10km
Time: 1:05:58
Pace: 10:38 min/mile

Race Report: Fetch Berkshire Mile & 100 metres

The Fetch Berkshire mile is, bizarrely enough, organised by members of the running website Fetcheveryone. It held four times each year, on an athletics track near Newbury (there’s other ‘Fetch mile’ events held at various locations and times around the country). Its free to attend, but its encouraged that you bring cake for afterwards!

At the start of the mile
Picture (C) Rachael Elliott

This was the first time I had been to this event, and my first attempt at running a mile! I had no idea how fast to go, what pace I should aim for etc. I decided to aim for around 9 minutes (my quickest pace in a 5km race is 9:26 minutes/mile).

On my way round the mile - are both feet off the ground?
Picture (C) Rachael Elliott

There were three groups for the mile (there were too many of us to go at once), the fast runners (sub 6 minutes) went first; I was in the third group. Many people, who had run before, had specific time targets, so the faster runners paced people in the other two groups. Although I didn’t have a goal, I ended up with my own personal pacer! I told him my goal and we were off! After 100 metres or so, I realised he wasn’t even wearing a watch, let alone a Garmin! I asked him how he was pacing, and he said he just knew from experience! After the first lap (a mile is 4 x 400m), he said we were going slightly faster than 9 minutes/mile, but if I felt okay, we should keep it going. The third lap was tough, but he counted me down from 500m to go, and I picked up my pace for the last 100m for a sprint finish. My final time was 8:40, which was well below my target time. :)

With about 150 metres to go, with my fantastic pacer, who was not only on his
third mile, pacing without a garmin or watch, but also ran barefoot!
Picture (C) Rachael Elliott

Most other people collapsed on the side of the track after running their mile, and I felt pretty much okay, so I realised that perhaps I could’ve given it a bit more! My pacer said that when I get to the point of running a mile without being able to speed up at the end, then I know I’m getting close to my fastest time!

Many people brought their children along, and there was one boy, of about 4 who ran the whole mile - very impressive! Then there was a 400m race - mostly for the children followed by several 100 metre races. I thought I might was well have a go - another distance I hadn’t attempted before!

Running the 100m (in white) - almost all of us with both feet off the ground!
Picture (C) Solitude Fairy

It was an odd distance to run - didn’t really have time to think! But I was aware that neither my lungs nor legs were sore/tired, but it was the fact that I couldn’t get my legs to move quicker that slowed me down! I ran it in 18.45 seconds - which, as someone told me, is quicker than Usain Bolt can run 200m, so I’m happy with that! :D

The running was followed by lots of cake, crisps and goodies, and much chatting about local events, upcoming races and PBs :)

I’ll definitely be back in December for the next event - with my sights set on a sub 8:30 mile :)