Butterflies

Last week was very nearly a complete write-off;  by Thursday evening my foot had swollen considerably and I could barely stand on it, let alone walk or run. But I hit the rehab as hard as I could and by the weekend I was able to do a couple of short runs on the Saturday (15 mins max) and then two more short ones on the Sunday. Being involved with the rest of the Tritalk team helped to get me out the door, which is precisely what the #Jantastic challenge is all about. Yesterday and today I increased the duration again and it seems that everything is back to normal, although I will wait until next week before starting some serious speedwork.

The focus is now firmly on our DW preparation and I am getting that excited feeling you get with an impending big event. We were due to do the Luzmore Race from Elmbridge to the Royal but with my foot playing silly beggars it seemed highly unlikely that we'd get on the start line. As it was, we could have ended up doing it but on Saturday night Adam and I paddled up to Hampton Court for the first time this year. A solid 8 mile paddle in the Laances, again focusing on technique. That was backed up with another short paddle on Monday night; a quick 45 minute paddle to Raven's Ait and back and on Friday night we will be finally paddling the Mystere down to the Royal from Walton. I think both of us are going to try to paddle more independently in order to get hopefully, three paddles in per week.

Unlike last year where we did quite a few tempo and interval sessions, I think it'll be better to focus much more on steady, DW paced paddles. I think that will help us to learn to paddle properly with the most efficient technique possible, rather than paddling like madmen with rubbish technique. Bob has offered to help us with a training schedule so we can discuss that with him and see what he has to say about that. Paddling fast(er) is more fun but it might not actually help us to get to Westminster.

We're hoping to do a few races in preparation, but I know that Adam is not as keen as I am to have another go, but I really do think that we should. It's just actually fitting it all in. We should be able to do either the Waterside B and/or C and the Runnymede to Royal race in March. Ad's not around for the Waterside D, so we are going to have to do that on our own. We are both keen to paddle the nighttime section again in training runs, i.e. Marsport to Shepperton and I think that is going to involve some very late night Friday paddles. We just can't see a way to fit them in at any other time at the moment.  There is however one other big stumbling block; we found out a couple of weeks ago that we do not have any support as Phil will not be available. That's a pretty big headache that we have to resolve but I am sure that we can find someone who can throw the odd hot cross bun at us.

85 days to go. Bollocks.

Tadworth 10

I have issues with this race. I did this event three years ago and in the aftermath of if, I then spent the best part of eighteen months injured and I attribute it to my race that day. It's a particularly hilly affair with a long one mile drag up Ebbisham Lane on a muddy horse track, but harder than that it has a short, fast descent through Tadworth which puts a lot of stress on weak lower legs and hamstrings. I blame the race, but of course it's my legs and my lack of care of them in the past that led to that 18 month spell with an injury cloud over my head. Actually, I only have myself to blame. But this year, I want to race more, because I know that I will push myself much harder in a race than I ever would in a training session and racing is fun. I have always enjoyed ten miles as a distance; it combines the need for speed (quoting Top Gun) with real endurance and therefore in my mind, it's a perfect race / fast tempo session for an up-coming marathon. This is no pb course with its hilly route and sections of off road track, but it's local and friendly and a good way to kick off the year.

Ideally I was looking to aim to beat my previous time in this race (69:xx) and while my training had been unfocussed over December I had been getting three to four runs in per week so I felt confident that I could beat that time. It was a big field and once again I was too far back. The klaxon went and I immediately ran into the back of a girl who didn't hear it at all because of her ipod. Grrr..... As we dropped down and then back up Ebbisham Lane, trying to hop over enormous puddles from the previous day's downpours that I found myself overtaking a steady stream of runners and it was a good 2 miles into the first lap before I was where I should have been. Most of the first lap was run at an extended but comfortable pace and towards the end of the lap I found myself running on my own, with a small group containing the lead female some 50 metres up on me. I resolved to try to keep them in sight and then if possible work my way to them over lap two. As I hit the descent in Tadworth I felt the first twinges in my left foot, signalling my plantar fascia was working harder than it would have liked  but soon enough we were on the next hill over the back of the downs to start lap two.

Lap two!! Again, another small hill to run over as we followed to road around Tattenham Corner but this time it was the wind that slowed me up but I gathered myself for the next long climb up Ebbisham. I got about a third of the way up and just imploded. My form disintegrated and I began shuffling. The group in front didn't seem to be pulling away but as I reached the steepest part of the climb I was overtaken by three runners who looked strong. The rest of the climb was damage limitation and while I felt pretty rugged at the top I was able to regain my composure as we hit the flat section out the back of the loop and tried to keep the three runners in my sights. Again, the fast descent had my foot aching but I was determined to use the hill to keep me in touch. During the rest of the loop as I climbed back over Tattenham Corner I felt I was gainimg on two of them but I just coundn't reel them in before the line. It was annoying to find out that all three were in my age group, which dropped me from 6th to 9th in the MV40 (39th/554 overall) with 68.22mins. A good run, but it highlighted my lack of strength when running up hills.

Since the race I have had two day's rest. My foot is extremely sore but I know that it'll get better soon enough, with plenty of ice, stretching and rest. It is vexing because I have been looking forward to the #Jantastic Marathon Talk challenge. When I posted on TriTalk to see if we could put a team together I thought that we would get maybe 10 or 20 people sign up, but to have over 50 members, all encouraging and bantering with each other, and helping each other to achieve their run goals has been really nice to be a part of. I even managed to rope Adam into it, so he's comitted to three runs per week. (currently ahead of me, the swine).

Only 92 days to the DW; where did that time go!!?

Onwards and upwards.

Gotta have goals

December has been a rather slack month. In terms of swim (what's that?), bike and run I have been very much in recovery, doing sessions as and when, with very little in the way of any structure. It's no coincidence that with the major race on the horizon being the DW, that's where my focus has mainly been. The really good news for Adam and I is that there is now a small group of us who are preparing for the DW and who can meet up to go for a paddle. Last Monday was one such paddle with Adam and I being joined by Rob, who is hoping to crew up with someone for the race in 2013. It was a perfect night for a paddle; not cold, beautifully clear and with very little traffic on the river, except for an unusually large amount of geese and swans. Normally my high powered Petzl headtorch and a rather eccentric  high pitched squeal is enough to get them out of the way. As the three of us paddled up to Kingston Bridge in Laances I found myself plunging into a group of Geese, one of which ended up bouncing off the front of the boat. Thankfully, the combined mass of 85kilos or so of boat and paddler didn't seem to do any lasting damage and it honked noisily away into the air. As Adam and Rob chatted I kept on with my 3 stroke pause drill to accentuate the catch and was slowing the stroke down again. On the way back after we had looped around Raven's Ait I was passed by a rowing four; I was completely distracted by them and there followed an almighty clang and the K1 came to a complete standstill instantly. I had run straight into a  floating mooring, but instead of it being a lightweight plastic ball it was a floating metal beer barrel. Oh s##t!! A quick check revealed that the boat didn't have a scratch on it, let alone a hole, but with two collisions in one paddle, it was time to get off the river before I hit something more substantial, like a bridge, pontoon, floating home, fisherman etc. Once January hits though, Ad and I are going to have to start getting some solid miles in the boat. Technique focus is still really important but we will also have to get those two hour paddles in. I will have to build up my tolerance to Ad's sense of humour, extreme flatulence and generally rubbish jokes.

So as I said, December's been slack. I have lost fitness but I have done just enough to make the decline relatively small. More importantly, I feel ready to get back into some good quality training and one of the things that's going to help me with that is the Marathon Talk podcast's, #Jantastic campaign. Basically, you sign up to do a certain number of runs each week (in my case 5) and you accrue points for meeting it and lose them if you don't. There's no prizes to be won, but as I found with the TriTalk's  October of Running Challenge, it's enough to make me take that first step out of the door, which is always the hardest one. This will give me the impetus that I need to start my preparation towards the Edinburgh Marathon in May and a sub 3.10 time. In order to give me a triathlon goal I have entered the Cotswold113 half ironman. Slap bang in the middle of the season it should give me the springboard that I need to work towards an end of season Ironman. My feeling is that if I can get down to sub 5 hours at Cotswold then that will give me the base I need to realistically go sub 11 on a long course. Both big asks, but you've gotta have goals.

Seeing how it should be done

I spent an hour yesterday sorting out my paddles. I was galvanised into action by Adam receiving his shiny new blades a couple of weeks ago and I realised that I had never set my blades up properly. I had been given some basic advice along the lines of  "You should be able to grip the top of the paddle when they are standing up, but make them shorter than that for marathon paddling" and "reduce the feather angle" (from what, to what I wasn't exactly sure) . So, I stripped them down and started to muck about with them. I had always felt that they were rather too short, almost stopping me from getting my hands high enough, particularly the lead hand and I believed that extending them would allow me to ensure that I got my hands placed on the paddle correctly and I ended up extending them by 30mm. In order to help my rotation I increased the feather to 60 degrees as I had them set to a very shallow angle. My paddles had a large plastic locknut which had jammed on very tightly, this being one of the reasons why I had never reset them, so a copious amount of WD40 and a hefty pair of mole grips got it off, to be replaced by a jubilee clip that will now let me adjust them more easily and allow me to break them down for transportation instead of the kids having to climb over them in the car. My Kynysa paddles had a grip on them which I had been told by more than one experienced paddler I should get rid of, so a couple of minutes hacking at them with a stanley knife removed that, then to be followed by the addition of electrical tape on the shaft to show my optimum hand position (then to be covered up with pogees; doh.) At least now I can make some quick changes to them and find out if it will help my technique.

With that in mind, Adam and I went out in a couple of club Laances with Bob and we were joined by Laurence and Lesley who will also be doing the DW next year. It was the first time in the two and a half years that I have been paddling that someone has paddled alongside me and coached me on my technique and it made such a difference getting some simultaneous feedback from Bob. The main point that came of it was that I was leaning forward too much and not getting my torso upright. My lower back was quite tight and interestingly Bob asked me if I had problems with my hamstrings. Yep, they're a mess, so that's something I need to continue to work on. I worked on the catch again, doing the 3 stroke pause drill Bob had shown us on the ergos and I even had a go at a one sided drill to develop the catch further. I was a bit wobbly for that one but if I can master it then it will help me be more attacking during the catch and pull.

My paddles felt a lot better. I just felt like I was gripping the water more and applying more force and impulse to the boat; my hands were higher, although I still tend to cross the centreline, particularly with my right hand.

Adam looked so much better and more confident and we both probably got more out of that one hour of paddling than doing another 20 on our own. Despite it being a very cold night, paddling with others and genuinely feeling that we had made some real progress meant we came off the water happy and quite excited about the next few months training. Bob's being a star and is keen to keep paddling with us which is fantastic and will only help and improve our chances of success.

Ergo Drills

It was raining stairods tonight so Adam and I took the soft option and spent an hour on the ergos. I felt somewhat better than on Wednesday night and seemed to be getting a bit more rotation and generally felt  I was producing more power (all relative for a weedy little runner). I spent most of the second half trying to get my recovery elbow and hand in the correct position ready to 'spear a fish near my feet', as Bob was prompting us to do. I was almost, almost enjoying it at one point.

Adam's focussing on the whole hip rotation thing and like my efforts on Wednesday he was struggling to get one side forward and the other side back and was getting pretty hacked off with it. At least it's something we can work on at home.

Going to spend this week running and we have a paddle planned on Wednesday evening. Then, Christmas.  :-)

Phil - Many thanks for your extremely kind offer, but not at the moment. London to Brighton however......

Best hip forward

On Wednesday night I headed off to the Royal for a coached session on the kayak ergos. For some time, the Captain of the club, Bob, had been in contact to try to arrange a few sessions whereby he could look at Adam's and my technique, and finally I managed to get away in time for a session. Bob is one of those talented swines with broad shoulders and narrow hips who is just a natural and talented paddler (with a lot of hard work thrown in as well, I'm sure). he came second this year in the four day race in a stupidly fast time so I felt pretty confident that he'd be able to iron out a few bumps in my technique. Also in the session were a couple of relative newbies who are planning to do the DW next year and Stephen, the club President.

I had this idea that Bob would take one look at me on the ergo, give me a big thumbs up and congratulate me on the magnificent self-coached style that I had developed. Not for the first time do I find myself typing 'how wrong was I?'

I know about hip rotation and thought that I was pretty good with this; it turns out I'm not. The first thing that we sorted out was the angle of my legs in order to ensure that when pressing against the footbar my leg would almost straighten, but not quite. I had not realised how critical this is to the stroke and my hip rotation. What I was able to do was get one side of my hip back but I was really struggling to get the other side of my hip forwards. It was to frustrate me for the whole hour, with me instead rocking my torso to compensate.

We moved onto the catch and spearing the paddle at the correct angle by my feet. I have always known that my recovery arm has not been doing the right thing, but unfortunately I didn't really know what the right thing was, but it turns out my main wrong-doing is that I was bringing that arm through the stroke too quickly. So Bob got us doing a drill whereby we delayed at this point to get our hands in the correct position before we started the catch. For the whole session I tried to get my hips and recovery arm in the correct position and got increasingly frustrated at my ineptitude; everything felt out of synchronisation. Bob was very patient and was kind enough to say that he felt I had made progress but I am not sure that he believed it. I know I didn't. I went for a run afterwards. That requires very little thinking on my part. :-)

I have a LOT to work on.

Adam and I will be paddling in the Frank Luzmore race in January; a 12.5 mile paddle from Elmbridge down to the Royal at Teddington. I am quietly confident that we will be last.

In other news...
My triathlon season next year is in a state of disarray. My main race for next year was going to be the Outlaw but I did not get an entry in on time. With Christmas fast approaching I had to make the choice of presents for the kids or getting my entry paid. I quite like my family, so the thought of ending up being divorced because we had no money left because I had decided to spend in on 12 hours of fun was not appealling. But what now? To be honest, I have not got a clue. Challenge Henley falls on a bad weekend, and Ironman Wales, while being a race I would really enjoy seems too far away. I even found myself straying onto the Tritalk double Ironman thread for a few minutes (that's your fault Wilson; thankfully, I came to my senses). At the moment, all I want to do is run, paddle and ride my bike to work. When I want to do more, I'll think about it some more.

The winter plan: part 2

I have been jotting down what my winter training is actually going to look like and this is what I have come up with so far.

Running. Following my really enjoyable run at Luton I want to build on that so in a fit of madness I went and entered the Edinburgh Marathon. It falls nicely at the end of May, meaning that I would have had a clear 7 weeks or so to get over the DW. I'm going to run 4 times per week, doing one long run up to 2 hours, a tempo run of about an hour and then whatever recovery or speed sessions I need to do. I don't think that this will be a problem as I am bloody loving running at the moment and I am extremely excited about Edinburgh. I will be aiming to get under 3.10 before having a crack at another marathon in the autumn. My immediate goal is the Tadworth 10 mile race on January 2nd.

Cycling. It's time to turbo. I did my first turbo session of the winter this evening and it was as rubbish as I feared, but thankfully I have all winter to improve my lactate threshold (lucky me!). Two of those per week and a road or mtb ride of about 2-3 hours at the weekend should see me right, plus a lot of commuting.  I've bought myself some mtb shoes and cleats which should arrive from Wiggle any day now (bday pressie from parents-  :-) so I might have to put my money where my mouth is and enter some mtb races. I will be rubbish but I am assured that they are fun. Hmmm.....

Kayaking. Adam and I are paddling again at the Royal and the aim will be 2 paddles per week. Up until Christmas it will be all K1 stuff in Laances. We've done a few already and so far all good, trying to slow down our stroke. We did a stroke counting drill which I nicked from swim training, trying to use as few strokes as possible to get to a distant landmark to try a glide the boat more and get our stroke higher. I have absolutely no idea if that's what we should do but it makes sense to me. It seems that the lads at the MPCC are kindly going to let us have the Mystere again to use for the DW, which we are extremely grateful for. We'll start up again in that proper in January, when we will start to think about the Waterside series. Yes, you read that right; the races that we swore we would never do again. I just think we need an interim goal between now and the DW and while the Watersides are not particularly DW specific, except being on the same course, they will give us something to train for. Also, with our level of ineptitude, completing them in their own right will be a considerable achievement.

GAME. ON.

The Luton Marathon, or....

how I finally learned to pace a long run correctly.   :-)

As this race drew closer and closer my confidence became a thinner and thinner veneer, but in many ways this was a good thing. Rather than me going out with the intention of smashing a big time, London 2008 and the last 7 miles of that run are still very fresh in my mind, so being conservative became all important. Get round in one piece at a low rpe and take whatever time was given to me. 3.30 or under was going to be nice, but not critical on what is generally considered a fairly slow course. I just wanted a positive experience. The day started well, travelling up to Luton with Simon and the thick fog gave way to blue skies and luke warm November sunshine; perfect running weather. A porridge and banana breakfast had been consumed and I had no aches or pains to worry about so I felt that everything was falling into place for a solid run. Simon and I placed ourselves in the 3.30 area and waited for the gun to go.

As soon as we started, Simon was off and ahead. I should state that he's a very good runner but had not done much specific marathon training in the lead up to Luton and there was a small temptation to go with him but right from the start it was important that I ran my own race. Luton is three laps, so while the first is slightly shorter, it meant that doing the maths was pretty easy; 3 laps, doing each lap at about 1.10 would see me home in 3.30. The lap is in three general parts. From the leisure centre at the start it winds out the back across a large playing field before hitting the 3-4 mile hilly section and then finally turning onto the main road which brings you back into the town centre. This bit is quite dull, eventually looping around another large playing field but the hilly country section was actually surprisingly pretty. As we went through the first couple of miles I could just see Simon pulling out ahead, already some 2 minutes up. I settled into a group and encountered the hills for the first time.

If I am honest, they really were not that bad but knowing I would be doing them three times I knocked it right back, conserving myself. I was really focussing on myself and quite simply, if I was breathing hard I was pushing too hard. In spite of this, I found myself passing a few runners who had gone out too hard early on and with only 6 miles or so done looked pretty tired. I came through the first lap and checked my watch to see 65:xx. If I am honest, I was a bit confused. I felt very, very comfortable but yet, hear I was, again going out faster than I had planned. I thought back to 2008 and I remember I was pushing harder than this, so I felt confident that I was on the right effort level and the right pace, but I made a mental note to slow up sooner rather than later if things looked like they were going to turn ugly. As I started the second lap I had a little wave of runners go past me who obviously had finished their warm up and were now going to push on. A wizened old runner went past with a painful yet economic gait, followed by another large bloke who went past me up the big hill. He was breathing hard as he went and I was impressed at the pace he had suddenly found but I felt confident that he probably would not stay away. On an open part of the course I could just see Simon up ahead, probably now some 3-4 minutes up on me and therefore running at around sub 3.10 pace. This was actually the lap where I had to exert the most self control. I was feeling very good and I wanted to start to pick up the pace, but for once I listened to the voice in my head and kept myself in check. If they were that much faster than me then I probably wasn't going to stay with them, and if they were not that much faster then they'll probably come back to me. Time would tell. The wind picked up a bit on the second lap and with the field strung out it was hard to shelter from it, but I found myself gradually pulling in those ahead of me, bit by bit. At 16 miles, towards the back end of the second lap there is a small narrow path that rises and it was here where I first started to feel some aching in my legs; nothing major but it made me keep a lid on it and not get too carried away.

So, I started the third lap and saw that my elapsed time was 2:11, so I had paced it exactly the same as the first. Woop woop me. I still felt really good and now I had another 8.5 miles or so to do and it was really important to me that I ran them well and didn't lose the mental game. Remember, the wall doesn't exist, it's only a badly paced run and I knew that I had paced it right. As the final lap started, I encountered more and more people who had blown up and were walking. Been there; done that; won't do it again. But also, there were other runners who were still running but their pace had slowed drastically, including wizened runner and the big bloke. As I ran around the first recreation ground I caught sight of Simon and I saw that I had almost halved the distance between us in the space of the second lap and I could see that I was catching him with every stride. I caught him at 20 miles as we approached the village of Streakley and the largest hill on the loop. This was where it started to hurt but I was still running at my goal pace whereas everyone else around me seemed to be slowing down and the fact I was overtaking people gave me the encouragement I needed to forget about my legs ('Fooosh my legs' as any Marathon Talk podcast listeners will be aware of) and to keep picking people off. At 24 miles I caught another runner. I had stupidly hit the stop button on my stopwatch at the end of lap 2 instead of the split button so I couldn't work out what sort of time I might be on for, so as he had a Garmin on I asked what finish time we were looking at. He said he thought we would finish in about 3.16. Crikey! While I was running much better than I could possibly have hoped for I really wanted to try to get under 3.15 and so upped my effort level. I felt like I was running quite fast but I had reached that point in a marathon of ever diminishing returns. My arms and legs were going as fast as possible but it didn't seem to be getting me anywhere. I ran into the finishing chute pretty spent and beginning to cramp up and saw 3.18.xx on the clock. Simon held on to finish in 3.23. A great run, on frankly, very little marathon training by him.

So, I am a very happy bunny. I feel that I paced it perfectly. On the day I do not feel I could have gone any faster or better and checking the results I worked out that I overtook 40 runners during laps 2 and 3. I am delighted to have finally laid the marathon ghost of London 2008 and knocked a very healthy 24 minutes from the time I set that day, but I am not satisfied, not by a long chalk. I now know that sub 3 is achievable. 18 minutes is still a lot of time to take off and I envisage that it will take me another 3 or 4 marathons to get there; but get there I will.

Cramping up at the end; ouchy!

I am pooped. I want to sleep most of the time so the next couple of weeks is going to be some rest time, but over the next 6 to 8 weeks I intend to get back into a boat and do some proper all over body conditioning. Running will continue after this week, but very gently along with commuting on the bike and a turbo session once a week. I am basically looking at it as active recovery with a strength and conditioning focus. Then onwards and upwards.

There is no such thing as 'The Wall'.....

.....only a badly paced run.

That will be my mantra tomorrow. :-)

I don't seem to have developed a cold so things are looking pretty good all considered. There has been some additions to the Winter plan which will involve a lot of getting wet. I'll fill you in next time.

See you on the other side....

November's finally arrived

Ad and I were out for a quick paddle and run last night, going out in a couple of Laances from the Royal. It was proper woolly hat and pogee cold, but we had neither. Adam did however have his new shiny paddles, Canoesport 4's. Very nice they are to. Westminster is now a certainty.

The Winter plan

I am on eggshells at the moment as I am definately fighting something off and I am fearful that this could really put the kybosh on my Luton Marathon run. I want it to either break so I stand a chance of getting rid before next weekend or to just magically dissolve away. It is very frustrating but with the run miles that I had put in recently it is not altogether unexpected as I was feeling quite run down and everyone and their mother at work has had a cold. I suppose the only good thing to come from it is that it will be another factor to force me to be conservative in my pace. Every cloud.......

I have finally finished building the mountain bike that I started last month. As expected, Mrs Wheezy blew a gasket when she saw the multitude of ebay and bike shop purchases but she calmed down eventually and my bruises have started to fade. It's a real mongrel of a bike with a mix of old and new equipment and at about £250 not too bad cost wise (best bargain was a set of Shimano SPD pedals for £10 and the frame for £15)  I just enjoyed tinkering and putting my own machine together and I'll be able to upgrade further as time goes by. I took it out for a little spin this afternoon along the bridle path to my parents' house and other than the need to tinker with the front mech, all was good.

My main reason for putting it together was to give me another opportunity to get on a bike over the winter and to get out outside when the weather is bad. I just need to mix my riding up; road, turbo, mtb, commuting. The more I do, the more likely that 5.30-40 IM bike split will be next year. There are quite a few off road duathlons in the winter months so they are the main races that I would like to have a go at as they just look like they've got a high grin factor.Add in a lot of bike commuting, the odd long ride and a paddle or two a week, then that basically constitutes the Winter Plan.

Off. To. Bed.

The magic bullet?

After a couple of really full run weeks I was pretty pooped by the time I got to this weekend. At some time in the weekend I was meant to fit in my last long run before the Luton Marathon, but as the weekend drew nearer I was getting more and more tired, grumpy and rough feeling; I just didn't want to do it. In the meantime Adam and I had arranged a paddle and I also arranged for us to meet Jamie and Jo at Elmbridge. We paddled the Mystere down there and then bimbled around the island. Jamie and Jo looked really good and pulled away from us easily. If they decide to do the DW next year then I'm sure they'll do really well. Adam and I did an hour but Adam was finding his position uncomfortable and we think that it's more of a core strength issue. Between now and Christmas it's just going to be a case of getting out on the water little and often and to hit the swiss ball. We are a lot further ahead when we compare ourselves to last year but we've got a long way to go also. Being mowed down by the Elmbridge club on our way back showed us how much more work we have to do on our technique.

After another busy weekend it got to Sunday night and I couldn't put it off any longer, so headed out for this run. It was a slow start running at 8.10 minute miles for the first 8 miles or so before picking it up to around 7.30 minute miles for the rest of the 18 miles. Two things stand out from this. One, proper hydration with nuun beforehand really helped.Even though I didn't take on any gels I did not bonk at all at the end of the run and I feel that ensuring I was properly hydrated with electrolytes ensured that I finished the run strongly. Two, my hamstrings are in a terrible state; they really began to protest and as I begin the taper over the next three weeks I am going to really focus on stretching and strengthening them as much as I can.

In terms of what pace / time to aim for I feel that 7.45 miles should be suitable, which would give a finish time of around 3.23. If I'm honest, this is slower than I would want but I need to keep my ego in check, finish the run strongly and use the experience to improve next time. Slowly slowly catchy monkey.

Tempo running is fun, but it hurts

Last week was a recovery week in my marathon buildup, with no major long run to have to get through, but I ended up putting more stress on my body and my lower legs in particular, than I intended. The weekend was packed with family and friend stuff, the culmination being a Medieval banquet for a friend's birthday. A flagon of mead is a rubbish pre-run drink. :-/

Anyway, early Saturday morning I had a spare 35 minutes so I went out for a run. It was meant to be a steady run, but as I was under pressure to get it done in time, I went out and smacked it pretty hard. Very hard. I was dying by the time I got back to the car, but I had enjoyed it so ticked it off as a run well done.
The next day, after the effects of the mead had worn off I went for a 20km marathon pace run. Again, I went too fast. I started off steady and built into it, but I kept building and with about 5km's to go I found myself pushing on pretty hard. I was really enjoying it. After the long 20 milers I have been doing recently where I have had to constantly keep myself in check and running at a pace that I don't think is doing me any favours biomechanically, I was enjoying the feeling of just letting myself run at a pace that was testing but I felt I was maintaining relatively comfortably. 19km's in 1hr25mins. :-)

The next morning I paid for my ill-discipline. My lower legs were more tight and sore than they had been for a long time. Stupidly, I didn't listen to my body and have a rest, but I decided to try and run instead, as I'm on holiday and have a bit of free time. Sitting on the sofa watching 'Homes under the hammer' isn't going to take me to a sub 11 IM time next year. So I ran, and then regretted it. My run was barely above a walk and at halfway my painful hobble did become a walk. More walking ensued as I gingerly turned for home. Instead of running on elastic and supple muscles and tendons I looked more like I was trying to sprint on stilts. Douglas Bader would have looked more fluid.

It had a positive effect however. That night I iced, stretched, rolled and heated my muscles into submission and finally ordered myself a new pair of trainers that I had been promising myself for the last week or so and by this morning things were much improved, with an easy 43 minute run, restoring my confidence a little in my own body.

Tomorrow will be some long intervals at marathon pace, so nothing too heroic. The lesson has been learnt. And ten on Friday it will be another long, slow, fat burning run in the hills. I might even get on the turbo.