2 weeks to go!

Just 2 weeks to go now until the London Marathon, it's all getting rather exciting. The medal was unveiled today, and it looks a beauty!

Bling!

Training this week has gone fairly well. After a frankly disastrous attempt at a long run on Monday in Blackpool (it was raining and I was tired so I went home after 5 miles!) I managed a 6 mile tempo run on the Tuesday; midweek runs are the sessions I've been missing from my training so it felt good to do this. I also got out on my bike with my children; it was probably the slowest cycle ride ever recorded. I could have walked faster than we cycled, in fact I had to push my bike most of the way because my daughter is still not very confident. The club run-walk on Thursday was really good, my group ran for a longer period and at a faster pace, which meant they covered more distance :) Finally, I squeezed two walks with my daughter into the week, 2 miles on Friday evening and 0.75 miles home from her football training on Saturday.

Today's long run was planned to be around half distance (12-14 miles) at a fastish pace. I'd read earlier in the week about how you should do some speedwork if you're feeling sluggish during the taper, and I've been feeling unwell the latter part of this week (sore throat and headache, nothing major!). What better cure than a quick half marathon? The first 6-8 miles were great, but I began to slow noticeably from mile 9 onwards. I didn't eat breakfast though, so that is probably why! I also tested Lucozade Sport (mango and passionfruit) during miles 6-12, because that will be the drink on offer during the marathon and I needed to see if it would affect me adversely. I had some slight stomach cramping almost immediately, not sure if that was just a coincidence, but otherwise I felt fine and tolerated the drink OK. I will feel confident taking it during the marathon.

Keeping it together: Janathon day 15

Halfway (almost) through Janathon and I'm still holding myself together, just.

This morning I had my usual Pilates class. We did a lot of stretching, which felt really good at first until the stretches progressed into a hundred with out-turning knees and "STRAIGHT LEGS SARAH, I know you can do it". I definitely know about my glutes, inside thigh and knee muscles, and shoulders. Not so much core work today so I will do something ab-focused tomorrow.

This evening was run club. I was prepared to do a run-walk with the beginners and then a run alone later, but Pete said he would run with the beginners so I could do my planned 5 miler (thank you Pete!). I ran with Tracey, Ed, and John, who are all much faster than I am but slowed down tonight so we could have a social run (for me it was a tempo run!). It was really good and we chatted the whole way about challenges for this year and events people are doing. My shins were hurting before we even set off (I desperately need new trainers and as soon as I have written this blog I am going to browse Sweatshop online) and I thought my knees were going to give way at one point, but I managed the run without feeling exhausted. Which I'm really pleased about. Apart from the leg pain. I think I need a massage or to get my foam roller out. Both those ideas terrify me.

The "nearly finished" training plan

Last week...


I made a triumphant* return to circuits on Monday. It was partner circuits, which means you work in a pair and one person does a number of lunges (for example) while you do sit ups, then you swap over. I was with Tracey, and we were quite evenly matched, but she decided to take her time choosing a resistance band to use for lateral raises, so I ended up doing over a minute of non-stop climbers. I will get my revenge...

*Sloth-like

On Tuesday I helped at beginners running club and took some of the run-walkers on a 2 mile slow-paced run (2 min run/1 min walk). I think I broke one of the ladies because she told Pete after that her shins really hurt. Oops. Pilates was hard on arms and core this week, with more lateral raises and lots of press ups. I think Zanna and Pete are collaborating :(

I intended to run either after the morning school run or at lunchtime on Wednesday, but work meant I was busy until 2pm. Giving myself 45 minutes, I decided to run up to Wilbury Hills/Standalone Farm. It's just over 5 miles, and I finished in just over 45 minutes (no time for a shower before the school pick up!). A very good tempo run that made me feel happy at the end.

I went to both running club sessions on Thursday. Ed and I took the run-walker beginners for an underpass session (fast up and slow down). I joined in on some of the sprints but didn't push hard. For inters we did a pyramid session: 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m sprints. Didn't do all that badly really, even though I hate doing sprints. 

I didn't do anything on Friday and Saturday in preparation for my long run on Sunday. Original plan was 14 miles as a cutback week, but after chatting to Lewis about long runs he convinced me to run another 20 miler. (Completely screws up my Jantastic plan for March but nevermind!) Ed suggested we run 2 mile laps of Stotfold (the route we take our beginners on), which meant other people could join us for one or more laps and not have to run too far. The aim was to run at marathon pace, which for Ed is 8:30-9:00. I stuck with him for about 10 miles but then started to tire. Lewis joined us at 10 miles and I ran with him for a bit, then with Pete. I thought I was running backwards at one point, perceived slowness. Anyway, finished the 20 miles in 3:03, which is 12 minutes faster than last weekend, thanks mainly to Ed and his fast first 10 miles.


Next week...

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Beginners running club (2 miles); Pilates
Wednesday: 9 miles, with 6 @ marathon pace
Thursday: Both running club sessions. I'm leading this week, so will be general runs out and back to Fairfield (for both groups). Will hopefully gain miles by looping back between groups
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: Bike ride, I'm behind on my annual target so I'm thinking of an early morning 15 mile cycle ride around the Greenway
Sunday: 13 miles, running with a friend on the Greenway from Standalone

A Challenge: Beat The Husband

My husband started running in January, just a mile or so at first, and now he's running 5 km. I'm very pleased he's enjoying running, but he's annoying the hell out of me because he's so damn fast. He won't take any advice about varying his runs and doing a longer slower paced run, and he won't wear my Garmin so he can accurately see what pace he's running. He's just irritating!

Tonight he was home late from work (so I missed run club). He went straight out for his "fast long loop" run, as he calls it, 3 miles in 22 minutes tonight. I'm impressed he has the energy to run straight away after a day working in (and commuting to and from) London, but he finds it best. Anyway, he got back from his run and challenged me to run the same distance in the same time after my Pilates class. Well, I do like a challenge.

I decided to break in my new Adidas Supernovas, since it's about time I started using them. I was feeling a bit sick at the end of Pilates, lots of getting up and down in the class had made me feel dizzy, plus I'd eaten before I went. But I set off on my first mile anyway. The shoes are so light, I was stumbling at first because I wasn't used to how they landed (they feel narrower than my old pairs), and I was able to lift my knees much higher to run, which unbalanced me too.

First mile completed in 7:54, not bad. The second mile started down Hitchin Road, which is downhill. I was flying at this point, despite not really being able to see properly. My jacket was flapping around and I had sweat dripping down my face. Lovely. But I hit Valerian Way at pace, and raced past some chap with his headphones in, who made a startled "hmmmph" noise as I passed him. Second mile in 7:18, which is my fastest mile for about a year! I was running out of steam and road at this point, so only managed another half mile (7:15 pace).

2.5 miles in 18:49 is pretty good for me. Extrapolate it to 3 miles and I'm only 30 seconds behind my husband. HR averaged around the high 150s (although it was at 165+ for the last 1.5 miles), which shows I might have been able to give more, but nausea, dizziness, and sweat-blindness didn't really help. Love the shoes though, I reckon it's down to them!

(PS, no knee pain!)

Ahhhhhh endorphins: day 23 of Janathon

Tonight was running club again. I took a couple of new beginners on a lap of the new estate in Stotfold, 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking. They did well for the first mile but the second mile was hard, one of the runners was really struggling. I tried a longer walk break but to no avail, so in the end I had to use landmarks to encourage her onwards. That worked better so if I run with them again I'll do that next time.

I was late back for intermediates, and the group (which was huge tonight!) were all ready to head off, but I had to take the beginners through leg stretches before I could join them. Thanks to Chris (@chriscrippspt) who took over the stretching session so I could head off for the run.

Earlier in the day, Ed had mentioned that he "needed" to run 8.5 miles fast (8:20-8:30 pace). My plan was to run 6.5 miles easy (I'm beginning to wonder if I used a random number generator for my midweek runs), and I was thinking I'd run 2.5 miles with beginners and then 6 miles (easy!) with intermediates. But I still have a tempo/interval run to do this week, so I decided to get it out of the way in the company of friends rather than alone in the rain on Friday. 6 miles fast it was then.

The first 3 miles felt good, and we were running about 8:30 pace or faster (Maca, Seb, Simon, Barry, Lewis, and Ed---the "fast group" that when I started running I never ever thought I'd run with, let alone keep up with). I began to tire after 2.5 miles because I had a stitch, so I decided I'd run back a touch slower so I could shift it. The majority of the group headed back at super-speedy pace, and Maca stayed with me so I wouldn't be on my own (heartless bunch!). We ended up running back faster than we'd run there, 8 min pace. At least it was downhill. I started to feel really strong at the bottom of Brook St, about 5.5 miles in, which is a good sign for long runs and my ultimate goal...

6 miles in 49:23, average 8:14 min/mile. Splits 8:17, 8:16, 8:33, 8:01, 8:13, and 8:01. Negative split!

Mud glorious mud: Janathon day 2

After I wrote yesterday's blog I remembered that I wanted to restart my daily plank. Unfortunately I remembered at 11:00 pm, as I lay in bed. So I had to get up to do it! This morning it was done and dusted by 11 am.

At about 3:30 pm today I'd had enough of staring at my laptop but not doing any work and decided to take my kids out for a walk around our local nature reserve. They were overjoyed and full of enthusiasm* at the idea. Because of all the rain I said we should definitely wear our wellies, and I wasn't wrong. Mud everywhere, and it was so deep it was coming over our feet. Lovely and squelchy. Although I discovered I have a hole in my wellies, so not all that good really. Anyway, we made our way noisily around the nature reserve (my kids don't do quiet) and saw lots of ducks and a couple of swans, and tried not to laugh at the people with their new walking shoes on trying to tiptoe around the mud.

Stotfold Watermill, viewed from the Mill Meadows Nature Reserve

*They moaned for the whole hour we were out.

This evening I ran with Stotfold Runners. The first 2 miles I ran on my own to test out my new headtorch on a local unlit lane (I have an LED Lenser H7R; it's superb, although I look like a minion when I wear it), then I ran another 2 miles with the club's beginners group, leading the way and shouting out hazards for the group following to avoid.

For the intermediate group run, I ran with some friends and hoped it would be a 5 mile plod, but it turned into a progressive tempo run. Oh well! We did an out and back route and the out lap was run at about 9:30 pace but the return leg was much faster (I was trying to catch someone in front of me). I definitely ran an 8:20 mile because I remember checking my watch. It was mainly downhill though ;-)

Training to heart rate: week one progress

Low and slow

Last Saturday I ran 11 miles as part of training for the Stevenage half marathon. The aim was to keep my heart rate low, under 140 bpm, throughout. This strategy helps to increase endurance because at this HR level your body burns fat (that we have plenty of) rather than glycogen (that runs out after a time). It's all about building new muscle fibres of the "correct" type. See my previous blog on this subject!

I had to take several walk breaks to keep HR low, mainly when I was halfway up a hill, but not as many as I thought I might. And my average pace wasn't as "slow" as I feared either, a respectable 10:30 min/mile. I hit a lovely flat section through Letchworth, and HR fell so much I was able to speed up.

I noticed some knee, ankle, and shin niggles while running, but these went as soon as I corrected my posture, cadence, and foot strike. Reading Born To Run has reinforced what I've been told previously about running style! I also read this week something Hal Higdon said about having to concentrate on running to do it properly, like you would at work (for example). One of the reasons I don't listen to music when I run, because I like to "hear" my feet and my breathing.

I finished the run in 1 hour and 55 minutes. I was very pleased with how I felt, apart from an aching right knee I didn't feel tired and could have carried on. I didn't take food with me, I'd prefer to avoid gels at the moment, now I'm training to burn fat. It would defeat the purpose to run slow but then take glycogen... I know I can tolerate gels so I'll save them for race day. 

This weekend I'm running between 12 and 14 (full Greenway route), nice and slow as before.

Fast peaks

Tonight I wanted to incorporate some speedwork into half marathon training. I ran 6 miles, but kept the first mile and a half and last mile and a half slow, with HR aimed at <140. These were my warm up and cool down periods, defined properly by HR. 

The mile after my warm up coincided with a Strava segment from Fairfield Park exit to Wilbury Hills roundabout. I wanted to see how fast I could run it, and where I would place in the leader board! Hit my max HR (175) during this mile, which was around 7:35 mile/min pace. And I was 3rd female overall on Strava :)

The mile return was kept slow and low again, then a final fast mile segment before my cool down. Hit 7:22 min/mile and placed 6th overall on Strava for that segment. OK, I'm a bit obsessed with those segments, but I don't like being down the bottom of the board!

Just over an hour run for the 10K, but I'm happy because I achieved everything I wanted to, high and low HR, in the correct training zones, and good pace. 

Bring on tomorrow's club run and my next long run! I'm (finally) enjoying running again :)