3 weeks until London Marathon

3 weeks to go to the London Marathon means the first week of my taper. The plan was to try to maintain the mileage but still do a longish run at the weekend.

For the first few days I was still recovering from Oakley 20, so I actually found my foam roller and used it on my sore legs. I had a gentle jog on the treadmill on Tuesday, which started as a brisk walk and turned into a bit of an interval session because I wanted to finish within 30 mins! On Wednesday I took my children swimming and I swam 800 m, another good recovery session.

From Thursday until Monday we were in Lancashire visiting family. We had two slow family walks on Thursday and Easter Sunday, keeping my mileage up! I wasn't sure when to attempt my long run, whether to do a tough 15-16 mile hill run around Pendle or an easy flattish 18 mile run in Blackpool. Knowing how rubbish the weather can be in Blackpool, and secretly wanting to run up a steep hill or three, I opted for the long hill run.

I ran my usual hill route, which is about 9 miles, but I tacked on the Whalley Nab climb that I have attempted before but failed at because the Nab is almost impossible to run up! I then planned to add on a loop around my old hometown.

The first 4 miles were constant climb, and I took some walk breaks, telling myself that I was not out to kill or injure myself. Looking back at previous attempts of these hills on Strava, I ran my quickest time on this route; good stuff! The next 5 miles were flat, with a quick descent at the end, and I enjoyed this section before reaching the Nab. Last time I attempted this run I walked as soon as I put my foot on the steep incline; this time I managed to run about 25 metres before giving up. Whalley Nab is truly impossible to run up! I walked on the road for the next mile, only starting to run again when I got chased by two dogs! If I ever attempt this route again I think I will skirt the Nab and take a local bridleway, which should be easier to run (albeit still hilly!). By the time I reached my parents' house I was shattered and in no mood to carry on for another 5 miles, so I headed home, 11.5 miles in the bag in 2 hours. Slightly disappointing, but I thought I would recover for a couple of days and then perhaps attempt a run of 10 miles on Monday along the prom in Blackpool.

Hill training with Ralph: Janathon day 26

I was busy at work this morning so couldn't go to my usual circuit training session. Instead, after I'd finished for lunch, I met up with my friend Ralph from running club, who had offered me the delightful option of running up hills together. (This session was payback for the 1 km intervals I "made" him do at club on Thursday.)

We ran about 1.5 miles to the first hill, which was a long shallow hill about 150 m long and 3% gradient (according to Strava). We ran as fast as we could up the hill five times, and I managed each repeat in 1 min 4 s (range 57 s to 1 min 6 s). We then ran over to the next hill, which was a lot steeper (5% gradient) but about the same distance (although the Strava segment is shorter than the distance we ran). My pace on these five hills was around the same as the first five, but with the steeper gradient I felt a lot more tired on them.

I showed Ralph a new footpath on the run back, always good to learn a new route! We ran 10K in total, a great training session.

The Hilliest Run I can think of, and MK marathon week 16 training plan

Northern hilly long run

The route for my long run this weekend has been planned for several months! I like to run at least once when I visit my parents in Lancashire, usually with my sister. I enjoy the challenge of running up some impressive hills: it makes a change from the relative flatness of Bedfordshire.

In 2011 and 2012, my sister and I used to run between 5 km and 10 km together. The 10 km route we run is a loop of Great Harwood, Clayton-le-Moors, and Rishton that is an undulating course; there are three distinct hills that are either steep or long. Tough, but good for training.

A few times in 2013, when my sister was training for her first half marathon, we started running a different route, a 9 mile hill loop through Great Harwood, Read, and Sabden that takes in the lower part of Pendle Hill. There is a huge climb at the beginning of the route, but that means there is a lovely downhill stretch at the end. We've never run it all the way though, my sister doesn't appreciate the fine art of running all the way up a hill ;-)  

I got chatting at a Christmas party with my sister's husband and his friend (who are both cyclists and fellow Strava fans) about creating the hilliest running route local to them. They both said that the Sabden route was hilly, but running up Whalley Nab from Whalley to Great Harwood (Moor Lane/Shawcliffe Lane) would be really testing, and I knew I wanted to try it next time I was up north.
This weekend I visited my parents, and I was really looking forward to finally trying out my hilly training route. I had to run about 18 miles, so I planned to warm up with the 10 km "undulating" route (with my sister), then to run the 9 mile route on my own (all the way up the huge hill without stopping!), and finally to add on a 3 mile home run over Whalley Nab. 

I was very happy that I ran up the hill to Sabden all the way, only having to stop for 2 cars on a narrow lane. The run down into Whalley was great, and I was feeling good (14 miles in). But I could see the hill I had to cross looming large. As soon as I put my foot on the incline I knew I would be crazy to attempt to run it as my 15th mile! Not crazy in that I would injure myself, or it was impossible to run, just that with 14 miles in my legs it would be as fast to walk it. So I walked up the Nab, and enjoyed the recovery time, then ran the rest of the way home. Including up one final hill (Bowley), which is steep but short.



Total elevation on the run was approximately 1700 feet! Total mileage was 17.7 miles (half a mile was run before my Garmin picked up satellites). I ran out of water on this run, but not until mile 16. I also tried SIS caffeine gels for the first time, pretty yukky compared to the High 5 gels that I'm used to, although they did the job. One happy Sarah.

At dinner that evening, my brother-in-law challenged me to run over Pendle Hill, rather than just the lower part of it. Perhaps he will cycle behind me :) I WILL run over Pendle sometime this year, and my sister and I have decided we will run to Whalley and back over the Nab, all the way NO STOPPING ;-)

Last week...

Lots of running last week, my weekly total was 36 miles, which I think is the most miles I've ever run in a week. I'd completed 10 miles by Tuesday evening, then I ran 8.5 miles on Thursday at run club (including 5 miles on the Greenway in the dark), followed by my long run on Saturday. Not much cross-training though, circuits was cancelled and I missed Pilates because it was half-term. I wanted to swim on Thursday while my kids had their lessons, bu work stressed me out and I finished too late to get myself organised. So I grumpily sat and watched them instead. 

Next week's training plan...

Monday: Interval run (5 miles, alternate 0.25 mile fast/slow)
Tuesday: Pilates
Wednesday: 8 miles @ marathon pace 
Thursday: Running club
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: NHRR First Saturday 5K
Sunday: 18 miles

Summer holiday training

My last training post was written in the middle of July, at the beginning of the school summer holidays, and this one is written at the end of August, when they are almost over. I find training in the summer holidays quite tricky. My children are home with me, so I can't run in the morning anymore (unless I get up at silly o'clock!), and my evening routine goes out of the window when we are away on our camping trips.

I've managed to continue to attend my weekly Pilates class, which has been a great help with healing my leg injury. I also continued to attend circuits, cycle, and swim whenever I could.

I restarted running in August with a training day for the Duck N Dash organised by Freedom Tri. We had an hour of swim training at 7:30 am, then we ran the First Saturday of the Month 5K around Norton Common. It was a good opportunity to see how it feels to do a dual event. I found the swimming really difficult, but the running went well, possibly because I didn't strictly race the event, I took the first mile "easy" and then began to speed up towards the end (26:27).

Because I've been away a lot over the summer, when I do get chance to run I've been trying to make it count. I've maintained my long run distance by running at least 10K once a week. On the other run day (I usually only managed two runs a week) I was focusing on speedwork, either hill sprints or intervals. It's been good to attempt speedwork on my own because I usually leave run club to organise my fast runs! On my last run (5.5 miles) I concentrated on maintaining a faster pace than usual (I aimed at 9 min/mile vs settling into a 10.5 min/mile plod). I also aimed to run fast up all the hills. It was a good run, despite the faster pace I felt comfortable (and wondered to myself why I'd never pushed myself before this day!). It's definitely given me some confidence that I've not lost too much fitness and I can get back something from this year (aim is still to achieve 10K and half PBs).

This week I'm taking charge of run club. My plans aren't too complicated because I'm not very confident on my own! Tuesday will be about negative splits, taking the beginners to Arlesey and back to see if they can make the return journey faster, and intermediates will be attempting to run a progressive 5 miles. Thursday will be speedwork for the beginners at the Norton Rd underpass, and intermediates will be running 4-6 miles depending on who comes (we might race the distances).

I don't really want to risk injury on Thursday, because Sunday is the Duck N Dash. I can't believe it's less than a week away. I need to concentrate on my diet this week, I need to lose some weight but I also need to keep my energy levels up. I'll be blogging about my diet on soggous.blogspot.co.uk.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday May 1: 10K to practise Greenway hills

Missed circuit training tonight so that I wouldn't be aching and sore for Sunday. Decided instead on a late evening 10K, to take in the start of the Greenway Challenge route. There is a steep hill about 1 mile in that I wanted to practise running up on tired legs.

Felt massively uncomfortable for the first 2 miles, terrible stomach cramps (basically, trapped wind!) and lethargic legs again. I said to myself "OK, just run 4 miles then", which would still take in the hill, but the 4 mile route was blocked by a car. I then compromised (in my head) with a 5 mile run, but I couldn't cross the road in the right place. I glanced ruefully at the gate I should've run through and carried on for the full 10K. By this point I was actually feeling OK, so I was really glad I carried on. The sun was just setting and it was still fairly warm.

I was glad I continued, because I had chance to then run the end of the Greenway Challenge route, and remind myself of the last hilly part. Not too bad really. The steep hill I approached on tired legs, but I pushed on and maintained my pace. What a feeling at the top! I was so happy with that. Nice gentle jog home and now I can look forward to Sunday.