A tale of two runs

Friday's run was meant to be a 9 mile marathon paced effort and it was but it was really hard work. Another early start and a very cold morning were not conducive to a hard, sustained effort. I was also stupid in not wrapping up properly so I got cold very quickly and my mojo was at a very low ebb. I got the session done but it was thoroughly unenjoyable. Saturday morning was my long run with the aim of getting 20 miles done and Simon was going to accompany me. He's still not feeling 100% but he has the remarkable ability to be able to go out and do a long endurance session on very little miles, but that said he has been very consistent with his biking over the winter which shows. I took was thoroughly wrapped up with time; full Lycra, snood, hat, gloves. The absolute works.  I looked like an extra from Ice Station Zebra.

We did a hilly loop that took us up to the back of Bocketts Farm and Denbeighs before running for a couple of miles out to Dorking and then back to Leatherhead, with a couple of  5km loops near Simon's house. The only fly in the ointment was the fact I had to stop at 15 miles for what could only be described as 'gastric issues'. :-(.

The good news was that my last 3 miles were comfortably my fastest and I felt really strong despite taking no energy on board for the rest of the run. Well, I felt strong until the afternoon when my nose started to run and a sore throat flared up, I presume brought about after my cold run on Friday. Thankfully, this week is a rest week, so I am hopeful that I can take it easy and recover.

A man on a bike

Today was my second ride out on a bicycle this year. After all the work I put into #Turbovember I have hardly turned a wheel and today it showed. I could reel off a myriad of excuses regarding rubbish weather, ill children needing dropping off at grandparents and lack of mojo, but ultimately I have enjoyed getting some running fitness back and with the London Marathon looming large, with the enticing goal of a 'good for age' time within my grasp, biking and swimming have taken a hit. But I need to start doing something now if I am to achieve a pb at the Dambuster tri and I would also like to get my tt times down as I have blogged before, so I need to get a a couple of sessions in to make that a reality.

When I arranged to meet Simon earlier this week the sun was shining and it looked like Spring was here. Que this morning; barely above freezing, a stiff wind and no sun whatsoever. Jeez... Simon promised me a steady pace. He lied. After 30 minutes I was humping all over my bike trying to keep some semblance of forward motion as we took in some of the less demanding Surrey Hills. Despite Simon still not feeling 100% from when we did the Watford Half, he still left me for dead. It was not made easier by the fact I couldn't get into the granny ring and no amount of twiddling the barrel adjuster could get it to shift.

We got lost on the way to Peaslake where we were going to defrost and have a cup of tea at the post office and ended up God knows where, before finding a road back to Holmbury St Mary. It was an embarrassingly slow 45 miles. Proof positive that run fitness does not equate to cycle fitness. This weekend I intend to get the commuter bike back up and running otherwise the tri season will be over before its really begun.

Still here

For the past six weeks I have consistently run five times per week as part of my #Jantastic running and my build to the London marathon. Last year it all ended at approximately five weeks when my foot flared up with  a vengeance and at times it has seemed that my old legs might let me down again, but this time it's been my hamstrings and lower back which have been wound tight. However, last week, a funny thing happened . The aches went away. I was disconcerted, sure in the knowledge that my muscles were due to tear themselves to bits, but they didn't. I had my best week's running in a very, very long time. I can only put it down to my body adapting somewhat to the training stress at last.

An interval session, a 9 mile tempo run and a few easy 5 milers were capped off with a 19 mile run on Saturday morning. Up at 6am and on the pavement by 6.15 I  was expecting my legs to be tight and sore again, not liking the early start, but instead of the awkward hobble-shuffle I was pretty fluid from the off. Running to an easy rpe I took it steady for 15 miles and then picked it up over the last 4, mainly because that was what I had planned to do but also because if I didn't get to the loo pdq then I was going to have a lot of explaining to do. :-/   I covered those last 4 miles at around 7.05 pace which was good, but the real positive from it and the 18 miles I had run the previous weekend was not a hint of me running out of fuel. Yes, I was tired but not the king of tiredness you get from glycogen depletion. It looks like the speedwork and threshold work is really paying dividends on my long run. :-)

It was the Kingston Phoenix Awards Dinner on Saturday night. I was given a couple of gongs for some handicap wins last year while Simon didn't have enough arms for the amount of trophies that he won. It dawned on me I have not turned a pedal in anger in 6 weeks *embarrassed face*. I've got a duathlon to do next week. Maybe I should think about dusting off the Van Nic.

Watford Half Marathon 2013

After having a rest week I was looking forward to this, my first race of the year and my first running race since Luton in November 2011. I was hoping that the really achy legs I had been suffering with would sort themselves out during my mini-taper and that I would enjoy the run and as it turned out, they did.  Having thought about it most of the week I was hoping to run a comfortable 1.35hrs, maybe with a negative split and finish strongly. That was the plan anyway. Simon was running too, although when he came to pick me up he looked like death warmed up; he'd had a cold all week and didn't look in any fit state to run but he was going to take it steady and see how it went.

My first, and as it turned out, only problem of the day was the fact that I had lost my race number and chip, which meant I had to go and get a replacement. This in turn meant that in the results I am listed as Deborah. :-/ The only blip (by my doing) on an otherwise excellent event. And the course was really pretty. Watford hardly conjours up images of rolling fields and rose covered cottages, but it really was. The course would be described as 'sporting' or 'honest'. Uphill to halfway and downhill from then on. A few short-sharp rises and some gentle rollers. It was a really good course.

It's funny how as soon as you pin a number to your chest you're able to work harder than you previously thought possible. I deliberately didn't look at my garmin for quite a while, wanting to get myself tuned into how I felt again, rather than relying on it wholeheartedly. I wanted to get myself into an easy cruise where I was working comfortably and within myself. After a couple of miles I looked up properly for the first time as the field thinned out a bit to see one of the flag pacers just ahead and I realised he was the 1.30hrs pacer. Doh, too fast and a check of my watch showed I was running 6.50 miles. What to do? I felt really comfortable so I thought I might as well go with it and see what happens. I was overtaking quite a few fast starters and some of the people around me were working much harder than I so I presumed their wheels were going to fall off long before mine.

At halfway I was feeling it a bit and I had a mile of 7.07 as I climbed the largest hill and over the next couple of miles I began to reel in the 1.30 pacer and caught him at 9 miles. We had a quick chat, (apparently the side winds were proving tricky) before pressing on. My 'comfortably easy' pace was now becoming a 'comfortable hard' one as I got into a small group that began to push on. My 11th mile was the fastest of the race (6.11) as I broke away with another fella as we entered the park for the final coupe of miles. This fast mile took its toll and I could feel myself beginning to tie-up, although still overtaking a couple of people towards the end.

So how did I do? Well much better than I could have hoped for.

The stats are 164th/1703. 1:28:14 (1:27:56 chip time) That worked out as a 2 minute negative split. I am, as the saying goes, like a dog with two tails. I thought I might be looking at 1:31 ish on a good day but to go well under 1hr30 is well beyond what I was expecting and to do it relatively comfortably  is a massive bonus. Two things to work on, however. Hills. I need to build some proper leg strength. As soon as the road kicked up I slowed more than I really should be doing. And two, pure endurance. While I was still running 6.50 miles at the end it was very hard work and I just didn't have the stamina in my legs, so it's really important I get my long runs in and address this. I am delighted, but I still have a very long way to go.

Teetering on the brink

Gotta have a plan.

So another solid week's marathon training bar one session, the most important one, the long run. Simon and I were due to run 2 laps of Richmond Park early on Sunday for a steady 15 miles, but within a few hundred metres I knew it was not going to happen. My left hamstring and calf were very tight and the early start and ineffective warm up were taking their toll. After 5 minutes I had to stop and stretch again but I could feel it was only helping so much. I found on the flat and downhill it was ok-ish but on uphills seemed to get worse. After another couple of stretch stops we got back to the car and stopped with 7.5 miles on the clock. Not a disaster, but not what was planned. The first seeds of doubt being sown. I felt guilty that Simon had taken the trouble to drive all the way over to pick me up and I probably could have struggled around, but that's what it would have been, a struggle, rather than a gentle aerobic long run.

I also had in the back of my mind that I had to run the following night to qualify for my London Marathon place and it would be pretty rubbish if I turned up and then couldn't actually run. Three of us from work travelled up from leafy Surrey to the City and ran with 20 others around the Thames path taking in some fabulous sights while dodging commuters and tourists. I took it very gingerly for the first 2 miles and my leg felt much better. So did I take it easy? Nah. Got my head down on the way home and caught up with the guys at the front. :-) 

So it looks like I am going to have to be careful and really focus on some strength, stretching and core exercises, so the rest of this week is going to be a rest week, still running but dropping the intensity of some of the sessions. I have my marathon programme on the fridge and the fact I can see a good few weeks ahead helps me to keep the bigger picture in mind. Best a rest now than a full blown injury in the near future.

I have the Watford half on Sunday, which will be my first race this year and my first real test of my marathon preparation so far.

And relax.......

Thankfully I got it wrong. I will be able to do the training run next Monday to qualify for the London Marathon team. Phew.

I celebrated tonight by going out and running some Yasso 800s. Bart Yasso found a simple correlation between an 800 metre track session and the runner's marathon time. If you want to run a 3 hour marathon then if you can do a track session that involves running 10 x 800, with each rep in 3 minutes and with a 3 minute rest interval, then you should have it in you to complete it (on the understanding that you are getting your long runs and mp runs in too.) apparently, this should work for any marathon time. Want to run a 4 hr 20 marathon? Then do your 800s in 4 minutes 20 seconds with an equal rest. Simples.

So some 20 odd years after last stepping onto the Kingsmeadow track in anger I went to run 7x800 in 3.10 with a 3.10 rest. The idea is that one works up to the 10 reps over a number of weeks. My times were 2.58, 54, 49, 51, 49, 52, 54. So, is this good or bad? Good, I guess in that my reps were considerably more speedy than planned but bad in that my pacing is obviously all over the place. I think it also confirms what I already knew. Speed work I can do, pure endurance which is needed for a marathon? Not so much. :-/
 I'll attempt the session again with 8 reps in a fortnight and try to even them out to 2.55 and shorten the recovery. Tomorrow will be a rest day and lots of stretching.

Damn you, snow

I've had a bit of a kick in the teeth today as I was meant to go up to the City to do a training run that would guarantee my London marathon place. Understandably the run was called off due to the icy conditions on the pavements, but I cannot do the rescheduled run next week which means I don't get my place. So it looks like I am going to have to try to find another spring marathon. Somewhat vexing but not the end of the world. If all goes to plan, and so far it is, then next year will be a dead cert with a 'good for age' slot.

In the meantime, today was a relaxed 5 mile run in ankle deep snow. It was good.

Winter running

I have had a really solid 2 weeks' training, albeit all of it running. #Jantastic is helping to get me out the door but actually my motivation has been very high anyway, desperate to get run fit again. Aiming at five runs per week, one of the reasons that cycling's taken a bit of a hit is that I am having a full rest on the other two days. Normally, there would be a relaxed bike or swim but for the time being I want to give my legs the chance to be as fresh as possible while loading on the training intensity and volume. I have started to discover again the sensation of running relatively fast while not feeling unduly fatigued. Turns out the training works.

I'm still getting used to my garmin, although I am enjoying using it as a training tool. On Thursday I went out for what was meant to be a marathon pace run for 8 miles. I am looking at 3hrs 10 at the moment which is 7.10 minute miling. The garmin 410 has a virtual training partner which can be set to a certain pace and you effectively race the partner. So, off I went with it set to 7.10. After a minute or so I checked the watch to see that I was too slow so I sped up. Another 30 seconds and still down; what the....? Before I knew it I was barrelling along thinking 'This seems a bit fast.' It was. All of a sudden I was 20 seconds up on the watch, running along at 6.50 pace. :-/  I was enjoying myself and it felt good, so I kept with it, slowing up slightly in the last 2 miles. 9.5 miles done feeling better than I have had in a long time. That contrasted somewhat with today's run. I had to be up at stupid o' clock to get my run in before the forecast snow materialised but with it being so cold, so early and so slippy, it was just about ticking off some miles safely. With 5 miles of the 14 to go I thought about upping my pace, but couldn't. My legs and in particular my hamstrings were still in bed.

The man dressed as a banana

I really enjoy listening the the Marathon Talk podcast. I have always found it entertaining and informative and I particularly like the interviews. I am usually plugged in when on the turbo while doing my lower intensity sessions or I listen in the evening before going to bed. During part of the podcast this week Martin Yelling was talking about having a reason to train and get out of the door and this was quite timely as one of my reasons for getting my head down and doing some hard work towards a spring marathon is the man dressed as a banana. I have actually been thinking about him quite a bit over the last week or two. Let me explain.

I have always considered myself a serious runner; not a jogger. Most of my runs have a purpose. I do a warm up, I run, I do a warm down. Most of the time I know what I am doing and I am confident in my ability to coach myself. I may not always do the right thing as my ego sometimes gets in the way, but in the main I know what I am doing. And when I race, I run as hard as I can. I may languish in mid-pack mediocrity but I try hard and enjoy racing when my body allows. So in 2008 when I last did the London Marathon,while it was my first attempt at the distance and my build-up had not been perfect I felt confident enough that 3.15 would be well within my grasp. I got it horribly wrong. The wheels fell off, the wall was hit, whichever metaphor you want to use, and while I was hobbling, walking and barely jogging the last 7 miles, that was when the man dressed as a banana overtook me.

I cannot even begin to convey the depth of my despair when this bandy-legged bloke, dressed as a giant fruit went past me like I was standing still ( I *was* virtually standing still). Me, a serious runner and for many years a club runner being left for dead by a comedy fruit. It was compounded some minutes later when another man dressed as a cannibal, complete with a giant bone through his nose and rubber spear went past, swiftly followed by a celebrity chef. (Gordon Ramsay, if you're interested, although he detonated himself some 3 miles later and I was able to overtake him at a walk just before the line)

So , the man dressed as a giant banana is my motivation. I really don't want to be behind any comedy running fruit or vegetable in April. I don't think that I could handle it and therefore my running motivation is high and running has been going pretty well. I am back on track after the blip of my cold over Christmas. I am mixing it up with some speedwork and longer runs, although still only at 10-12 miles so not excessively long. This morning I had a good ride out with Simon and I ended up doing 42 miles including 4x10minutes tt efforts with a 3 minute recovery. Simon and I took it in turns to take the front. I was quite weak when the road kicked up which is something that no amount of turbo work can improve.

Onwards.

*Not* a good end to the year

'What could possibly go wrong?' I spoke too soon.

A fab Christmas day with the olds and the Outlaws was followed by waking up on Boxing day feeling utterly rubbish with a full, streaming head cold. Also, while playing around with my new Garmin 410, my gps watch that I had bought for myself that Mrs Wheezy dutifully wrapped up for me to open at Christmas, I only went and dropped it into a mug of tea while I was playing around with it. I could not have done it if I had tried. Thankfully I fished it out fairly quickly and it seemed to work ok. My ineptitude knows no end. So I am necking vitamin C like it's going out of fashion in the hope that I can be healthy enough to start the Marathon Talk #Jantastic Spring motivation challenge again. The good news is that up until my cold, running was continuing to go well with some half decent speedwork sessions. So it looks like a few days off while I let this cold run its course and then I will ease back into some regular run - bike stuff.

A good end to the year

A much better week feeling back to normal. I'm just bloomin' loving running at the moment. The rain and wind's been lashing down but it's been so good doing some regular running with a bit of confidence. Mid-week I even did a fartlek run. Nothing too heavy and I was sloshing through a waterlogged playing field, slipping and sliding about in my trainers and the very soft ground lent itself to staying relatively injury free. Perfect. I think that I have finally got the better of my feet but I guess I will not know until I start to do some harder and longer speed work. But at the moment it's all good.

I suppose I should look back at this year and see what went right and what didn't. What did go right was the DW. I'm glad Adam and I nailed that one on the head. The culmination of a lot of hard work and effort and still a great race to do. The other thing would be my 10 mile tt best time coming down completely unexpectedly. Still nowhere near fast enough for my liking but a pb's a pb. I Also got an e-mail to say that I had won a total of £18 in race winnings during Phoenix tt races. That makes me a professional athlete, right?  ;-) Other than that, this year's been pretty poor with my foot injury colouring everything and I think that led to the major mojo dip which other than the few tt races saw me not competing at all. I am pretty confident that next year will be different.

So, what about next year? I guess I need to nail some targets to the mast.

1. Marathon PB. Currently 3.18. Realistically, sub 3.10 should be doable, sub 3 on a stellar day, sub 3.15 for a London marathon 'good for age' time as a minimum.

2. Olympic tri; sub 2.20. Qualifying for the World's is very unlikely but sub 2.20 may well be within my grasp if I can....

3. PB my 10 and 25 mile tt times. Ideally 23.30 for a 10. I'll probably need to invest in some aero help to achieve that, but you can never own enough bikes.

Ultimately, I just want to race a bit more and be fit enough to do so. I know I was pretty much saying the same thing last year but I don't have an excuse now. I've sorted my feet, I'm enjoying my training and I've entered some events. What could possibly go wrong?  ;-)

Last week managed to turn itself from a potentially solid week's training into a very mediocre week. The bubbling stomach that had given me some discomfort during #turbovember showed its true colours. On the first weekend  Little Wheezy had her second dose of the vomiting bug going round and then four days later Wheezy Junior had a dose which had him off of school for 2 days. With a guaranteed  inevitability, on Saturday afternoon I started to feel more and more crappy until I eventually had my head down the porcelain telephone and then it was a solid 24 hours in bed feeling r.o.u.g.h. So a weekend long run with Simon and  a turbo session was obviously canned. I feel so much better now than I have for a couple of weeks though and I don't think I realised just how much I was fighting off. I still managed 2 turbo sessions, 2 short runs and a swim so  it was not all lost but hopefully I can kick on a bit towards Christmas. And my feet are still behaving themselves.  :-)

Speaking of Christmas I have bought myself my present. Sue didn't see any point in going out and buying it as she was worried about getting the wrong one so I was allowed to buy it for myself and I got one of these;

Garmin 410

I have not run with a gps watch properly before. I have used Strava to record my runs in the past but it only gives a record post-run. I want to be able to run my intervals, marathon pace runs and long runs at the correct pace to get the maximum training effect and use heart rate zones properly. No more guessing and running by feel; it's time to get scientific and hopefully this small investment will take me a step closer to sub-3. The only problem is I've got to wait until Christmas day before I can use it, so between now and then it's more steady running building leg strength.

I've also entered another race, the Watford Half Marathon which I'll use as a gauge to my marathon fitness. Onwards.

Running and stuff

While I am glad that #turbovember is over I am also glad of the kick start that it's given me. It was a shame that a chunk of it was conducted while I was fighting something off but it got me spinning the wheels regularly and made it a habit and I need to keep that habit going. The cold snap that we are having has made the prospect of long, slow bike miles not a pleasant prospect so having read some threads and websites and with a change of focus to shorter racing next year, I have also decided to change how I do my bike miles. I am going to cut out the 'junk' miles and focus on shorter sessions either on the turbo or a weekend road interval session on the local tt routes that I know are accurately measured. No more than 2 hours with tt paced intervals and short rests after a warm up. I know I can ride a bike slowly for a long time, but that's not what I am trying to achieve for next summer where I am going to have to ride really hard for 60-80 minutes then get of and run hard. Except for weight loss, slow miles are not going to help with that kind of racing and in the last 4 years I have only made small gains on the bike, through lack of consistency and not training effectively enough when I do. The more technically minded might call it 'reverse periodisation'; I call it being race specific. It's not going to make me slower...

Another run this morning for 75 minutes, I think Simon and I covered about 15kms, a fast start, a slow middle and a fast end. I just felt that little bit stronger than last week and I was running much better at the end. I absolutely frickin' love running at the moment, much helped by the glorious conditions that we have had for the last three Sundays. Please, please let it continue. Still taking it easy, stretching, wearing the right shoes, padding my shoes, running on soft surfaces where possible. I cannot see what more I can do and it seems to be working. I will be taking part in the #Jantastic Spring motivation challenge next month which will be when I really kick-off my marathon training but at the moment the aim is to run 15 miles comfortably by the end of the month, which looks pretty doable at the moment.

So at the moment, I have the following events entered for next year;

Votwo Duathlon in March - 5k/20k/5k

London Marathon - April

East Grinstead Tri May - 500m / 26k / 5k

Dambuster Tri in June - 1500m / 40k / 10k

I'm going to look for an early half marathon and another half or 20mile race before London and another tri in May. I am going to need the race practise before the Dambuster to sharpen up a bit Hopefully, all being well I may have a tt bike to race on as well. I admit it; I am going to buy some speed but I'll need every bit of help that I can get and you can never own enough bikes.