Folksworth 15: MK marathon training run

I've just got back from this race, and while I wait for the water to heat up for my bath I'm writing down my thoughts about the race and how it went.

First, I went into this race with it in mind as a training run for MK marathon. My aim was to run at 9 min/mile pace and not to get dragged into a race with myself.

I'd planned to wear my water carrier backpack and treat it as a proper training run, but on the day the weather was really lovely, plus as we drove to the car park I spotted they had bottles of water at the water stations, so I decided to leave the back pack in the car and run with just my gel belt. I was a bit unsure whether to wear long tights and my long-sleeve top, because the course looked very open and I suspected a cold wind could whip across and make the whole thing quite unpleasant. After much discussion with Kate and Ralph, I went with my short sleeve top and 3/4 tights, with gloves (because I'm a miserable sod when my hands are cold).

Began to regret the lack of long sleeves and long tights as we walked to the start, because it was a bit windy, but I had my gloves and decided as long as my hands were warm I'd be OK. Set off down quite a narrow lane, and I knew I was doing OK/it was a bit crowded because I was still running with my friend Ralph after a third of a mile ;) Had to stop to re-tie my shoelace, so then I was at the back and playing catch up. Managed to maintain about an 8:50 pace and it felt very comfortable, so I carried on like that thinking that I could slow down if I needed to.

Before the race, the course had been described as very hilly, "comprising three hills", which we would run up twice. After the first "hill" I began to wonder just how difficult the other two were going to be, since I'd hardly noticed it. The second hill was a touch harder, and reminiscent of that hill during Flitwick 10K when you run through the wooded bit. If you've run Flitwick you'll know what I mean. Anyway, it wasn't as bad as that one, although it was definitely hard. Possibly as hard as the Baldock 10k/Ashwell half hill, but steeper, but not as long. If you get what I mean. It was definitely a hill. But not a Northern hill.

I'm going to shut up about the hills now.

At mile 6, and again at mile 8, just as I re-entered Folksworth to start the second loop, I managed an 8 minute mile, and I was quite surprised at how comfortable it felt. I decided I'd try to run sub 9 min/mile if I could for the second loop, a good marathon test. And I did manage it, although I needed a slower mile up that big hill again. Anyway, all good.

The marshals were excellent, very cheerful and providing excellent vocal support, and one lady had jelly babies, which I thought was a very nice gesture (I took one!). I think this is one of the best races I've ever run, from an organisation perspective. The race HQ was in an infant school, and we used the classrooms as changing rooms. We got a bright orange T-shirt at the finish, and a bottle of water and a choice of chocolate bar or cereal bar. Superb! (I took a snickers because it's "healthy", it's got nuts in it!).

I can't remember what else I was going to write. Oh yes, I met my twitter friend David (@tuffers3) before the start, which was really great, we've been virtual friends for ages now so it was fab to finally meet. Also, big thanks to Ralph for driving us to the race, and for the homemade brownie :) Ralph finished in 1:51 something, and Kate was bang on 2 hours. And I finished in 2:08:23, average 8:36 pace :)

I might finally admit openly to my sub-4 hour marathon ambition.

Letchworth Greenway: Janathon day 11

My long run this week was a planned 14 mile run along the whole Letchworth Greenway. This route passes all around Letchworth Garden City, through beautiful countryside near Norton, Baldock, Willian, Hitchin, and Stotfold (and through the scenic Letchworth Industrial Estate, past the council tip, and alongside the railway line and the A1M...). It's a great trail for long runs and I feel very lucky that it is so close to where I live so I can use it for training runs (and cycling, when I can be bothered).

I have always thought of the Greenway as a 14 mile run; the Greenway trail is 13 miles but I have to run to it and back home again, and that works out as 14 miles. However, yet again, I failed to remember the run to the shops to meet my friends, which adds on 0.6 miles altogether. I am a noob.

I didn't need the hat either...

I was a touch more prepared for this run this week, unlike last week when I had to walk home because I'd run out of energy. I had my new running back pack with me, which has a 2 L water carrier inside, and I packed it with my homemade cookies, a gel, my phone, and my headtorch (although I didn't need it). I've also been careful to eat a bit more this week; last week I was focussing on trying to lose my Christmas podge, and I suspect 6lb in a week was rather an excessive amount of weight to lose. I've eaten plenty of biscuits this week to compensate.


I met everyone on Stotfold High St just before 7:30am: the usual group of runners (Ed, Tracey, and Paul) and some new faces too (Andy and John). We ran the towards Baldock and set off at a comfortable pace; there was some yo-yoing going on when Ed was trying to make me run at 9 minutes a mile, but I resisted and he eventually slowed down ;-) ("It's a marathon not a sprint" etc etc).

We were running really well and chatting too, which is a good sign the pace is comfortable for a long run. I love hitting that pace when you feel you can run forever (knees permitting), and I reckon I nailed that today. We had a bit of a walk up a long hill in Hitchin to get some energy back (around mile 9). By mile 10 I could tell John was struggling with the distance; Tracey and Paul had raced ahead, so Ed and Andy carried on the Greenway to try and catch them (taking a shortcut!), and John and I took the road back to Stotfold, which I knew would cut a mile off the total run. We ran-walked the last 2 miles, and I broke out my homemade choc chip cookies to see if they would help! We got back to Stotfold around the same time as Tracey and Paul, who had both run 15 miles! Whoops (sorry!).

The back pack was really good, it didn't get in my way while running and didn't rub anywhere. I even managed to work out how to drink from it (note to self: I don't need to fill it with 2 L water!) I'll be taking it on all my long runs in future.

This was my last long run before the Folksworth 15 next Sunday. I'm feeling a bit more confident about running that race now, after this run. It's going to be a training run, so I'll be carrying my back pack I think, but I'm aiming to run it at my target marathon pace, which is 9 min/mile (which is why I didn't want to run at that pace today!)