1 week to go...

It's my last week of training before I run the London Marathon. I plan to do very little this week. On Wednesday I will be at the Expo with my friend Ralph, to pick up our race numbers and see how much free stuff we can blag. I also have a leg massage booked for Wednesday evening.

Last week I did a lot of walking and had a great midweek swim while my daughter had her swimming lesson, followed by my return to Pilates after 2 weeks (I felt so stiff so it was great to have a stretch). The cross-training I've done these past few weeks is definitely helping keep the injuries away.

I ran with my son Tuesday evening, a very slow first mile (run-walking) followed by me chasing him home after he decided to run back "at his own pace". My son needs to learn about pacing (or run with someone faster/not me).

Thursday was a mish-mash of fast short runs on my own to and from and around club, and 2 miles very slow run-walking with a new starter.

On Sunday it was my last "long run" before the marathon (I like how I no longer view 8 miles as a long run...). I decided to run in the afternoon while my daughter was at a birthday party in Letchworth, and I hit the Greenway for some off-road running. I took a bottle of Lucozade Sport with me again to make sure I can stomach it, and I was fine throughout the run, which is great news! Unfortunately my shins and calves felt tight and sore after only a couple of miles; I'm hoping the massage on Wednesday will help ease this tightness, and I will do a lot of stretching daily too.

After the 8 miles/birthday party, I joined some club friends up in Langford to film a promotional video for an event we are organising. So that was a 2 mile walk (up a hill) to the location and another 1.7 miles of running around.

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.

Febathon

Just joking, there is no such thing as Febathon. I'd have failed it by now anyway since I did no exercise on Feb 1st. I had planned to do a 14 mile long run, but I was hungover in the morning after a 40th birthday party on the Saturday evening, and I was scuppered in the afternoon because some friends came round with wine and taunted me until I gave in.

On Monday I decided to complete the 14 miler out of sheer stubbornness. I dropped my daughter at school and then planned a route in my head. Initially I thought I would run two laps of the Standalone 10K route, with a loop of Mill Lane/Malthouse Lane added on to make the distance 14 miles. However, after stopping to make a phone call (I suddenly wondered if I'd booked myself onto my regular circuit training class and had to check) I decided I would do a loop around Astwick, then perhaps run to Arlesey, cut through Fairfield Park, and then perhaps run around Letchworth.

As I ran around Astwick I wondered whether I really wanted to run all the way to Letchworth, thinking about possible injury or school emergencies. I had almost decided to do three figure-of-eight loops around Astwick and Stotfold Mill when I bumped into my friend Becca, who is training for Brighton Marathon. I tagged onto her heels and we ran around Astwick again for 4 miles. After that, I just decided to run laps of Astwick with the odd Mill loop added on, until I'd done 14 miles. It was tough after Becca went home (I'd run 7 miles at that point), my legs felt really stiff, and the temptation to call it a day after 12 and 13 miles was strong. But I did it! A great mental and physical workout.

I resolved to book a leg massage when I got home, and I'm off to see my friend Jane tomorrow evening, should be relaxing/painful.

Tonight I ran with my son around Stotfold, just 2 miles, like we did last week. He did a lot better, and would've been much quicker than last week if it weren't so icy on the last stretch. Still, it's a nice habit we've fallen into, and I love running and chatting with him.

Run-walk to collect the boy from school: Janathon day 28

Today for Janathon I had planned to do a Sworkit workout but my husband needed the car all day and my son needed picking up from school after rugby club (because it finishes at 4:45 and it's going dark).

So today for Janathon I ran-walked to school while my daughter cycled. We covered 2.8 miles (there and back) and it was freezing :(

Run with my son: Janathon day 27

My son is a lovely boy, he doesn't mind accompanying his sad old mum on a 2 mile jog around town, even if it means delaying his tea by half an hour. What a gem!

We jogged over to the Scout Hut so we could drop his sister at Beavers, then we set off at a nice easy pace (10:15 min/mile to start with!). While I warned him about kerb edges and approaching pedestrians/cars, he told me about his plans for developing his Scratch games, how much he's looking forward to his school trip, and what he's been writing in his diary. He didn't pause for breath for the whole run.

We had one short walk to cross a main road, but otherwise he ran all the way. He even managed to get over a stitch. He has vowed to "run the whole way" the next time we do the FSOTM 5K (which is next weekend). The only downside was me getting very painful shins, which I have put down to running slowly and concentrating on someone else.

bike ride with my son: Janathon day 24

Today my daughter is playing in a football tournament in Ware and her dad has taken her. We only have one car and unfortunately my son has a karate workshop in Arlesey too. So he and I cycled to karate in the cold.

It's 3 miles to Arlesey on flat roads, so nothing too taxing. My son complained from about a mile in that his legs were hurting him. I've never seen someone put so little effort into an activity, I spent the next 2 miles telling him to hurry up and to at least look like he was trying. We should've set off 15 minutes earlier in hindsight but I figured 30 minutes would be long enough!

After dropping him off I continued for another 5 miles or so to Letchworth at twice the speed and up some hills. I would've gone further but I was on my husband's bike and the gears were slipping.

End of the holidays: Janathon day 6

I was planning to take my children along to circuit training this morning, but the class was cancelled. Instead, I took them out for a walk in the morning, as soon as the weather improved.

They've not been out on their scooters since school finished in December, so we dusted them off to check they're still working OK before they go back to school tomorrow. Also, letting them scoot while I walk means they don't moan half as much as usual about having to go outside and walk somewhere.

We walked along the Kingfisher Path, which passes alongside where we live, until we got to Stotfold Mill, then carried on along the lane. There were lots of puddles to avoid, and plenty of mud, but they were very careful to avoid getting dirty/told off.

As we scooted/walked along, I was testing them on road signs. The one for humpback bridge took a while longer than expected for them to get. I was even pointing at the bridge and saying "what's that?"!

We walked home past their school, and I think they're ready to go back tomorrow! Both made sort of whining noises to go in. They've been really quiet this holiday, playing on their computers or reading alone, that I've not seen them much (useful for work). So it's been quite nice to get out during Janathon with them, if only a couple of times for an hour at a time, to spend time together and for them to get some fresh air.

I'm on day 6 of plank-a-day now too, starting on 1 minute full planks, but only managing 45 second(ish) ones for the past 2 days. Please to say I managed a full minute this lunchtime.

Why I love Lycra: day 3 of Janathon

Today is a rest day on my marathon training plan, and usually I would do just that. But this is Janathon and I can't blog about lounging on the sofa. (I probably could do, but only if I also did a plank on the sofa, in my PJs perhaps...)

Short of ideas, and being too stubborn to just do some squats and be done with it, I searched my blog for the Tabata workout I did last year at circuit training. This session consists of eight exercises:

1. bicycle crunches
2. skipping
3. press ups
4. jogging on the spot
5. squats
6. ab curls
7. star jumps
8. lunges

Each exercise is done eight times, for 20 sec, with 10 sec rest in between. After every exercise I get a minute rest before the next exercise. Finally, a use for the interval timer app on my phone.

The largest area in my house to exercise is my front room. Blinds closed, big glass of water, ready to go. First exercise starts; I'm doing bicycle crunches in my jeans and t-shirt. By the end of the eight I'm sweating and definitely feeling my abs. Ouch! 

Next up is skipping (I used an imaginary rope). I removed my jeans and double-checked the blinds one more time. And then I regretted removing my jeans, as my Christmas podge started to jiggle and flop around. Holy moly, now I know why I clad myself in Lycra to exercise. It's not for speed or efficiency, it's to protect my face. I'm grabbing onto everything until the first 20 sec is over. At this point my daughter arrives. "What are you doing mummy?" I DON'T KNOW!

Time for press ups. I can do these. I managed 5 full press ups before my arms decided they were not cooperating. I got onto my knees for 3/4 press ups and managed about 5 sets of them. I then fell back to the wall and did the remaining sets against it. My arms were screaming!

Jogging on the spot was similar to skipping except I was trying hard to pull everything in (and I was wearing my jeans again). Plus my daughter had decided to join in at this point, so we had the giggles. She joined in with squats too, but I made her count my ab curls because she's too little for sit ups. I managed 29 in one 20 sec interval, which I'm really pleased with.

By the time we reached star jumps, I was feeling OK about the jiggling (jeans were back off), although I wasn't noticing it as much, so perhaps the ab work had had some minor effect. Who knows, maybe I've done some nerve damage and I just couldn't feel anything.

Lunges at the end were rather sedate, I was attempting to teach my daughter the correct way to lunge, while concentrating on making sure my legs were lunging equally and my knees were behaving themselves. At the end, my daughter asked me to do "one more exercise', which turned out to be side leg lifts. Very elegant indeed, her ballet lessons must be paying off.

And that was it for day 3, 45 minutes of circuits. And I'm knackered. Tomorrow will be interesting, I'm running (Lycra-clad) in the rain. I'll probably moan a bit.

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 ;-)

Juneathon day 25: running with my kids

Last Sunday my kids nagged me for hours to take them out for a run. I very reluctantly obliged, and we ran-walked for 1.5 miles. Today, I decided to test their enthusiasm and take them out again, after school. 

We ran-walked as we did before, and covered the same distance in the same time. But we also had time to say hello to the ducks and have a few goes on the zip wire. Yay for the park :)

In the evening I took the run-walking beginners group at club, we covered 2.5 miles and ran for about 7-8 minute stretches, with a minute walk in between. 

Then the quick dash to Pilates. Tonight was "back to basics" and it was so relaxing I almost fell asleep. My favourite exercise tonight was the shoulder bridge with squishy ball between my knees. If you do Pilates (and are female) you will possibly understand why that's enjoyable. Or maybe it's just me. *ahem*

It's the last Pilates class for 2 weeks, so next week I'll be back at both running club sessions :)

Juneathon day 23: Scarecrows

I was up early this morning to accompany some Stotfold Runners on a 10K. Six runners turned up, and we grouped ourselves nicely into run-walkers (who ran 5 minutes and walked 1 minute) and runners. My group were two of our faster runners, so for me it was a bit quick (for a Sunday morning anyway!).




Several hours later and I'm getting the bikes out of the shed ready to cycle around Stotfold to look at the Scarecrow Festival. We saw some really good displays this year, hubs and I liked the hospital operation one best, and the kids preferred the Despicable Me minion one (will be winning the "topical' vote there).


Now it's time to cook roast lamb and drink wine. The bonus of exercising in the morning!

Saturday May 4: Stotfold 5K Fun Run

This race was rescheduled from a very snowy March. Today was hot and sunny, with the possibility of a rain shower. I ran with my 5-year-old daughter, and my 7-year-old son ran with my friend Gill and her son.

The run was chip-timed, which for a school-organised fun run was rather unusual! I expect they got it for free. Despite some shoddy communication, the race was well organised on the day, and the route clearly marked out. 

We set off running, and probably managed 3 minutes before I enforced a walk break. This continued for a few km, then we walked for about 5 minutes because my daughter had a stitch and was flagging (it was very hot at this point of the run). I gave her a piggyback for about a quarter of a km, just to keep us moving. It's very hard to run and give a piggyback when your windpipe is being squashed! At 4 km she got a second wind, and ran for quite a way. I then gave her another short piggyback ride, with the rule that she had to run when we got on the road again. With the finish in sight, she gave up completely! I had strict words with her about the Stotfold Runners sprint finish, and that you definitely didn't stop with the end in sight, and holding hands, we crossed the line together.

I'm so proud of her for running and walking all that way, despite the two short carry breaks. We finished in 41:39, which is faster than the time I ran when I did Race for Life in 2006 (which was about 48 minutes I think!). 

My son finished just ahead of us in 38:18. He'd have done better if he'd not drunk all his juice before the start, or eaten all the Haribo, which were for during and after, not all during!

Me and my daughter at the start of the Fun Run