Miles To Go

Ultra Training 101

2012-01-26T11:14:00.001Z

So I'm doing this little small ultra in March, a mere 33 miles, just a jog around the block really *cough* Actually, being very local, it kind of *is* a jog around the block and back for me, except that "the block" goes on for 16.5 miles...

Anyway I have put together a wee training programme, cobbled together from various others and drawing heavily on the 50k one in Bryon Powell’s book “Relentless Forward Progress” (a useful read even if the author can’t spell Brian ;) ). It basically involves 5 runs a week, building up to a longest single run of 26 miles *eek* and some back to back days.

Yesterday I ran 20 miles, which is the furthest I’ve run since the Edinburgh Marathon last May. Knowing a run/walk strategy will be needed during the race, I’ve decided to practise this in training as well and for my last two long runs, have adopted a run 30 mins/ walk 5 mins technique, which seems to work well. The 5 minute walk break is long enough to eat, drink, readjust my clothing, check my phone for messages, etc, and breaking a long run up into 30 minute segments feels psychologically very helpful. I set my watch to show elapsed time only rather than distance or pace, only checking distance occasionally, and with the walk breaks making every third mile slower, seemed to fall naturally into an overall average pace of 11 min/miles, with the run segments being about 10:30 pace and the walk segments about 15:00 pace, which seems OK.

The thought of adding on another 13 miles is scary though. Legs felt very tired by the end. And 30 minutes running did start to feel a lot longer than it had at the beginning! The only problem I’ve found with walk breaks is that it can feel difficult to get going again by the end of the 5 minutes as my legs can stiffen up a bit. This usually resolves very quickly, though, but I wonder if it would get worse on longer runs?

I really enjoyed this run, though, on the whole. I’d been a bit iffy about going out at all since I woke up with a sore throat and blocked up nose, and consulted the wisdom of Facebook where I was basically advised to HTFU and get on with it ;) Started with a few miles bug- and coin-collecting around the local area, then headed out up the North Deeside Road towards Peterculter. I’d been planning to divert onto the old railway line for the bulk of my run but decided not to do that and instead ran through Peterculter, out along the main road till I ran out of footpath, and then down some previously unexplored country roads for a few miles until it was time to turn back and retrace my steps, running the last few miles home from Peterculter along the railway line as initially planned.

So far so good, I think, but I'm getting scared about what I have taken on....

Race Report: Fraserburgh Half Marathon

2011-11-22T17:18:00.005Z

First I was going to run this race and then I wasn't and then I was again and I'm really glad I eventually did because it is a really great race :-) Basically I went off half marathons a bit after failing to get a PB at Crathes (not the race's fault, it was lovely) but I didn't enjoy it much on the whole, and first I thought I would target Fraserburgh for a PB, then my training went a bit to pot, and I thought sod it, I won't bother. Then my friend Maz said why didn't I run with her and try to pace her to a sub-2:15 (her PB being 2:17:59), and that sounded like a good idea so that's what we did.

We headed off on the Fraserburgh road trip in the Maz-mobile complete with Scott aka Tall Loon aka Mo Bro who was doing his first half, and Annie who wasn't running it but was going along to support and do a 4 mile run around Fraserburgh while we were racing.

We made good time to Fraserburgh and went to register in the manky pavilion with the horrible non-working toilets (the only downside of the day really, and not much of one all things considered), and met up with various folk.

The race started in a field and then headed out along the road and doubled back on itself for the first wee bit, which was a bit odd but gave us a good chance to survey the rest of the field as they ran back! Maz, TL and I all set off together and were very near the back at this point. TL got a "go mo bro" shout-out :-) Then headed off along the main road for a dull but short slightly uphill drag, and after that we were into country roads, parks, trails etc which was lovely. It was quite flat, but with some up and down undulations but nothing long or major.

(I am actually in this picture, just hidden behind the extreme tallness of Scott!)

I was supposed to be pacing Maz but she didn't need that much pacing really, so my pacing mainly just amounted to the occasional "Are you sure you want to be running this fast Maz?" :-) and boringly regular updates on how far we'd gone and at what average pace. Between us however I think we paced it pretty much perfectly and had the satisfying experience of picking off runners one by one over the whole second half of the race, I don't think anyone overtook us the whole way except for one girl at a water station and we soon caught her up again :-) We didn't walk at all apart from a short bit at the top of a hill for Maz to catch her breath, and a short stop at a water station in mile 7 (when my Garmin went onto auto-pause which perhaps thankfully put the kibosh on my pace updates! Note to self: turn off auto-pause for races!). And we actually managed a negative split :-)

At 9 miles TL went ahead a bit and we shouted at him to go on, he protested a bit but was soon persuaded and zoomed off into the distance never to be seen again (well, not till the end). We last saw him as a tiny fluorescent speck way up ahead. He finished in 2:08 having made up loads of time in the last 4 miles.

The last few miles back into the town were great as we kept a good pace, continued overtaking folk (lots of whom seemed to be really struggling by this stage), as soon as we saw anyone in the distance we knew we would be passing them. Back down the hill we had gone up early in the race, across some roads and roundabouts, bit of confusion at this stage about exactly where to go but we made it back into the field, saw 2:13 on the clock and ran for the finish (nearly missing the funnel in my case but let's draw a veil over that). :-)

Maz had a little cry at the finish line, and who wouldn't after 13 miles of my company ;-)

Lots of PBs and lots of fantastic running from all concerned. Maz ran really well and was very strong and great company throughout, I have no doubt she would have managed a PB anyway but it was nice to be a part of it :-)

Mile splits:
# 10:25
# 10:03
# 10:11
# 10:02
# 10:24
# 10:07
# 10:25 (this was actually 11:25 due to stopping at the water station)
# 10:07
# 10:19
# 9:55
# 9:57
# 10:20
# 9:27

Final time was 2:14:06 although it wasn't chipped so probably should've been several seconds less!

Fraserburgh Running Club who organised the race really pushed the boat out and it was the most amazing value for money, for my £14 non-affiliated entry fee we got: a long-sleeved technical t-shirt (admittedly my "small" t-shirt was more the size of a small tent, but hey), a massive spread of unlimited gorgeous free food and drink after the race, a goody bag with medal, sports drink, banana, crisps and chocolate bar, loads of fantastic high-quality pics on the website and Facebook which were free to download, etc.... Hats off to Fraserburgh Running Club, you are brilliant!

I might EVEN go back next year to try for a PB :-O

Pictures courtesy of Fraserburgh Running Club.

Book Review: The Ghost Runner by Bill Jones

2011-11-07T10:43:00.002Z

The mystery man threw off his disguise and started to run. Furious stewards gave chase. The crowd roared. A legend was born. Soon the world would know him as "the ghost runner".

Bill Jones first heard of the "ghost runner" in 1984, nine years after John Tarrant's death; researching a documentary about the Salford Harriers, an interviewee pushed a slender, battered paperback into his hand. The book, an Athletics Weekly publication, was John Tarrant's hastily written autobiography, also entitled The Ghost Runner. Unfortunately John's literary talent did not match his running talent and the book was not well written, but the story was absolutely compelling and Bill Jones quickly became haunted by this "ghost", determined to learn more about him, and ultimately to tell John's amazing story as it deserved to be told.

Subtitled "The Tragedy Of The Man They Couldn't Stop", it is a moving and inspiring story, yet the character who emerges from this book is not always easy to like - "self-centred, destructive and lacking in emotional intelligence", driven by anger and a burning sense of injustice. But John Tarrant had much to be angry about. Born in London in 1932, due to his mother's illness and later death and his father's conscription in 1940 he spent much of his childhood in a brutal children's home, his only companion and support his beloved younger brother, Victor. It wasn't until 1947 that the brothers, now 15 and 13, finally left the home, moving to Buxton in the Peak District with their father and newly-acquired stepmother.

There wasn't a great deal for young men to do in Buxton and when a new craze for boxing swept the town, John took it up with alacrity. Although he was never destined to be a particularly successful boxer, his years of surviving the harsh regime and defending himself and Victor against the bullies in the children's home had toughened him up and taught him to fight, and he participated in several matches over a couple of years, receiving a total of £17 for his trouble. This paltry sum was to prove his downfall. Discovering on the fells around his home an abiding love and talent for running, when John wanted to join a running club and enter races, dreaming of the success he was sure he was capable of, he was forbidden by the authorities to do so. Thanks to that seventeen pounds, honestly if naively declared, his amateur status had been compromised; he was banned for life, at home and abroad.

Confident that reason must eventually prevail, John embarked on a campaign of letter writing to the relevant authorities, only to be met by rejection after rejection. By this time married (in 1953) to the unswervingly supportive Edie, and working as a rather inefficient council plumber - the first in a succession of jobs which always took second place to running - John, aided and abetted by his brother Victor, embarked on a drastic course of action. If he wasn't allowed to run officially in races, he would run them unofficially, heading to the start line in disguise aiming to jump into the race at the last minute, where he would quickly speed to the front and stay there until he either won or collapsed of exhaustion. His intention: to show the powers that be just what he was capable of, and his genuine desire to run for the sake of it rather than for reward. Thus the ghost runner was born, quickly seizing the imagination of the nation.

Though officialdom refused to recognise his existence, John was welcomed and warmly supported by his fellow athletes, most of whom understood and sympathised with his predicament. (Former international athlete and main rival, Arthur Keily, even wrote repeatedly to the AAA pleading John's case, without success.)

The Ghost Runner is an incredibly good read, following John's running career from his first "ghost" outing at the Liverpool Marathon, to setting world records at 40 and 100 miles, and to South Africa where he ran the Comrades Marathon - a race which became an obsession for him - as a "ghost" and later defied apartheid as the only white man running alongside the black and Indian athletes who, like him, were barred from official races. In the process he earned himself the love and respect of many who were battling for equality in South Africa.

Although Bill Jones never, of course, met John Tarrant, in researching his life he received full and warm co-operation from John's family - his long-suffering, ever supportive widow Edie, son Roger, and indispensable brother Victor, all of whom deserve medals of their own - and found that many others, including John's running contemporaries, were only too happy to talk to him, and indeed believed the telling of John's story was long overdue. Hence, a clear picture of the man and his remarkable, if all too short, life emerges from this gripping book.

You would need a heart of stone not to be moved by this story (the last few pages had me in tears), which can also frequently make the blood boil. John may have been "the man they couldn't stop" but he was also engaged in a fight he could never win, constantly knocked back by the intransigent authorities, who refused to accept that £17 earned as a not particularly good teenage boxer did not render him a money-tainted "professional" for ever after. (Ironic, when money was the one thing John never had.) John wasn't the only person to fall foul of the elitist "cult of amateurism" which was unforgivingly enforced by the upper echelons, but he was probably the most determined to resist, and became a constant thorn in the side of the AAA.

The Ghost Runner is a great read, packed with fascinating incidents and characters, and extremely evocative of the post-war social and political period it describes. There are some extraordinary descriptions of races, including an attempt at the 50-mile world record which took place on a dilapidated Durban track periodically illuminated by flashes of lightning while rain lashed down flooding the track knee-deep in places, fighting broke out between rival gangs, and a local band continued playing regardless.

I would recommend anyone to read the book; it’s a terrific and thought-provoking story of a man whose life and achievements deserve to be more widely known.

Traffic

2011-10-14T12:02:00.004+01:00

Not the kind that threatens the lives of innocent runners minding their own business at the extreme edge of the public highway, although I could easily write a blog about that too. In fact just the other day I was thinking how entirely the roads now seem to belong to the car (and the white van and the giant articulated lorry), except for the one near us which currently seems to belong to the students who blithely mill about in the middle of it at all hours of the day and night having never, apparently, been taught the Green Cross Code.

Anyway, I didn't mean that kind of traffic, but the quieter, if no less dangerous, sort which takes place on this here internet. Much to my delight, I have just discovered the "Stats" section on my blog account, which tells you, among other things, from whence my visitors are coming. The blog isn't widely publicised, since my posts are sporadic to say the least, and I'm always vaguely amazed when anybody apart from me reads it, but evidently a few occasionally do, and this stats thing tells me how they get there. Quite a lot are from other blogs who have been kind enough to list me in their "blog rolls", and a surprising number are from Neal Jamison's ultrarunning blog on which he kindly linked to my review of his book, which is quite exciting, though I didn't realise until I looked at the traffic thing and noticed how many hits were coming via Neal's blog...

Most interesting however are the Google search terms which (often mysteriously) lead people in this direction. These include "prom sport" (okaaaay), "bad run before half marathon" (fair enough), "for her new wellies" (????), "giant inflatable Nessie", and my personal favourite, "people walking out of river" (??????). It also shows, along with really awesomely interesting stuff like which browser they use, where readers are from, with the UK unsurprisingly topping the list, the USA in second, and honourable mentions for Germany, Russia, France, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Australia and Japan! I had no idea I was so international.

In other news, it's Aberdeen parkrun number 2 tomorrow... I wonder if we will get more or less peeps than last week's inaugural 99? And equally fascinating, to me at least, I wonder if I can (a) beat my PB, and (b) retain my coveted crown of first over 40 woman at the Aberdeen parkrun?

Not exactly my name in lights on Broadway but...

2011-10-12T18:44:00.002+01:00

.. something even more exciting... a mention in the back pages of Monday's local paper under Local, National & International Athletics Results, admittedly in very small print and thanks to a somewhat undistinguished 5k time in a field of 99 runners, but hey, first over 40 woman at the first ever Aberdeen parkrun, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, innit? :-)

A small thing but it has made me happy today.

Thanks to Vikki for pointing out my brief moment of running "fame". :-)

It's a mad world inside my head

2011-09-21T10:53:00.003+01:00

I was looking forward to the new-this-year, National-Trust-organised Crathes Half Marathon, as it had the potential to be (a) a lovely race on country roads, starting and ending at Crathes Castle, and (b) a reasonable PB opportunity. It was allegedly flattish, unlike any other half marathon I have done previously, and weather permitting, I thought I had a good chance of taking a few minutes off my PB, maybe even achieving the coveted sub-2. I'd trained assiduously and I felt in reasonably good form.

Rocked up to the castle about 11am and caught up with various Fetchies, including Ultracat, weekatiepea and family, Mother Duck, Nywanda (resplendent in skull print leggings) and family, AngusClydesdale, JohnRitchie, and Corrah and Duckinator who were on Fetchpointing duty.

The weather was pretty good, certainly compared to the previous day and night when it had bucketed down ceaselessly. Maybe a smidgen warmer than would have been ideal, but certainly nothing to complain about (or use as an excuse).

Everyone milled around the start line and the pipers piped and the announcer announced and we were off. I set off with a determination to stick to my pace. The beginning was fairly narrow and congested, but soon spread out and I ran the first mile in a pace-perfect 9 minutes. The second one was 8:32. Oops. But it did contain a fair bit of downhill. Third and fourth were 8:50 and 8:48, and I was ahead of where I needed to be for sub-2. Maybe I'm going a bit quick. But I felt comfortable enough and was thinking (oh fatal error!) that a bit of time in hand may stand me in good stead for the later sections of the race.... Thinking, I might actually do this. Just got to keep going at 9-and-a-bit mile pace. I can do that.

However. Miles 5 and 6 were getting slower - 9:20 and 9:46. Mile 7 was slower yet at 9:52. I was still just about on target overall, but no longer ahead of it, and the splits were deteriorating. Maybe I set off too quick. But it wasn't that quick - it's not like I was doing 7-minute miles. I know I can run at that pace for longer than that. Still, something wasn't right. Mentally, I didn't feel good. I had half the race still ahead of me and it felt like a long way. Why? I can run 13 miles - I can run considerably further. But I was bottling it. I knew if I started to take walk breaks, it would be fatal. I started to take walk breaks.

The remaining splits make painful reading: 10:10, 10:35, 9:29, 11:17, 10:54, 10:17. Not only was I way off sub-2, I wasn't even going to get a PB. I needed to HTFU but neither brain nor body were co-operating. Around 10-11 miles I started thinking Dark Thoughts, along the lines of "Why am I doing this when I'm clearly rubbish at it? I can't run fast and I have no endurance. I should give up trying to do half marathons and marathons. In fact I should just give up running altogether and concentrate on something I'm actually good at. Tetris, or crosswords, or something. I'm never doing another race." I did snap out of it somewhere between mile 12 and the finish line. But quite clearly, I need to work on my mental toughness.

That said, it was a lovely race in many ways, even if I spent a lot of it head down, just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. It was well organised and the location was fab. I spotted various local landmarks en route, eg Claramac in multiple locations, MikeR on his bike at mile 3, and Duckinator and Corrah Fetchpointing just before mile 10! I didn't register till later that Duck was videoing throughout... Also heard someone bellowing from behind at me to get a move on at around the 11 miles, which turned out to be Sophster! She came breezing past shortly after. Chatted with various folk in the second half, mainly about the not-quite-as-flat-as-we-were-led-to-believe-ness of the course, although to be fair, looking at the elevation profile afterwards, you could hardly call it hilly. I got a rather too late second wind at about, er, 12.75 miles, spurred on by the proximity of the finish and the final downhill, and coasted back to the castle with a disappointing 2:07:03 - over a minute outside my PB, which was set earlier this year on a hillier course and hotter day.

Everyone else did well - PBs for Mother Duck (2nd lady), JohnRitchie and weekatiepea, and much all-singing all-dancing entertainment was evidently had en route by Nywanda (doing it as a marathon-training long run) and AngusC (doing his first half in 20 years).

All in all, this would have been a great race if I'd just been doing it for fun and not worrying about a time, but given that I was hoping for a PB, it was a bit of a disappointing day for me. People keep telling me it's mental. (Or maybe they're saying "You're mental".) Either way, they're probably right. However, it's made me more determined to crack it next time, and my plan of campaign is, in a nutshell, "train like mad" ahead of the Fraserburgh Half on 20 Nov. I'm thinking a lot more race-pace runs to give me confidence....

And I have no doubt I will be back to Crathes next year for another crack at this race and another very nice t-shirt :)

Ballater 10 Mile Race Report

2011-08-01T13:27:00.004+01:00

A quick Ballater blog while it's fresh in my mind and before I go on holiday....

This was my second attempt at this race, after a fairly horrific effort last year. (It was a warm day. There were hills. I was slow. I finished in 1:43:47 and swore never to run it again.) Oh.... Well, I had one more PB to get to complete a clean sweep of PBs in 2011, and in the absence of any other handy 10 mile races, it looked like it had to be this one. Anyway, the horror had faded slightly in my memory and I was very confident of a PB this time round, even if not a huge one, given that the hills were likely to be still there.

We managed to get there on time (always a challenge) and I even managed to get registered and go to the loo without too much of a rush, although the little one then decided to have a fit of "Mummymummymummy" clinginess and I wondered if I was going to have to run the race with a four-year-old attached to my leg. Finally managed to disengage her and head to the start, where we lined up and were sent on our way at 12pm.

It was still warm, and the route was still undulating (very little of it seemed to be flat), but in a direct reversal of my experience at the Stonehaven Half a few weeks ago, the hilly bits weren't as bad as I remembered them. The first 6 miles is on country roads, and yes, they undulated. There were up bits and there were down bits with rather more up bits in the third mile (9:36) and rather more down bits in the fourth (8:44), but none of it was dreadful. Having spent the first few miles dreading a remembered hill at around 5 miles, which had achieved Everest proportions in my mind, the reality was less than I feared. I still walked a bit of it, but managed that mile in 10:02 compared to last year's, er, 11:45. The 6-mile marker took us off-road onto a rutted track, another bit of the race of which my memories had not been fond, and I was starting to feel a wee bit tired at this point, but decided to hang on to the back (not literally) of the guy in front of me who seemed to be going at roughly my pace, although his occasional groans of anguish were a bit off-putting. At about 7 miles, actually I can't remember where it was, we had to cross a bridge, which everyone walked across, I'm not sure why, perhaps we were not allowed to run it? Soon after, we were back on to the road again, and the anguished groaner decided to have a little walk, at which point I went past him.

The route is a pleasant one, quite varied, shame about the number of squished rabbits, or rather ex-rabbits, along the way but I tried not to look at them too closely, though narrowly avoided treading on, or in, one. I also seem to remember a "Caution - Squirrels Crossing" sign at one point, though I may have hallucinated that.

I was quite glad I'd decided to take water with me in my Camelbak waist thingy, although I normally wouldn't bother for 10 miles, but it was warm and thirsty work and there was only one water station at about halfway. I got through most of my bottle. The 8th mile, on a busy-ish road where several vehicles seemed to come perilously close, felt quite tough, but the 9th was largely downhill and I ran this in my second fastest split of the race - 8:54 - though it probably should have been quicker. By the 10th, we were heading onto the narrow path amid long grass which I remembered from last year, and I was flagging considerably, but the sums I'd been doing in my head all the way round assured me I was on for a good PB and on I plodded. Heading back into the field, I saw husband and daughter by the playpark, and a few moments later Mother Duck, who naturally had finished some hours earlier, shouting encouragement. The final lap of the field (having already passed behind the finish line) was painful, but I managed to put on a sprint at the end and overtake the woman in the blue top who'd been close to me for most of the way.

The result: 1:33:52 - a PB of very nearly 10 minutes. I was very happy with this since I had predicted 1:38. Would have liked to have finished a bit stronger, but I ran every mile significantly faster than last year, which is satisfying. It's a challenging course, but it felt easier to me this time despite being another warm day, which reflects my increased fitness (I hope). I may have to go back next year and try to knock a bit more off.....

Goody bag was OK, with a humongous blue cotton t-shirt, bottle of Lucozade, banana and the ubiquitous cereal bar, but sadly no chocolate this year, much to the disappointment of the little one who last year had polished off the lot in the car by the time we got home.

Mile splits, with last year's splits in brackets just for the hell of it - what took me so long last year, especially in miles 4 and 5???

* 9:01 (9:34)
* 8:58 (9:45)
* 9:36 (10:49)
* 8:44 (10:00)
* 10:02 (11:45)
* 9:04 (9:51)
* 9:47 (10:53)
* 10:20 (11:07)
* 8:54 (9:25)
* 9:24 (10:41)

Mile Magic

2011-07-28T11:20:00.002+01:00

When I first started running (run-walking, if we're being precise, back in those long-ago days of, er, 2009), a mile seemed like a long way. Running a whole one seemed like a distant dream. Nowadays, of course (now that I'm a super-duper experienced runner *ahem*), a mile sounds like nothing much, but it can still on occasion feel like a long way when you're in the middle of it, and it certainly looks like a long way when represented by four laps of an enormous outdoor track at the Aberdeen Sports Village.

The third Aberdeen Fetch Mile was chilly (where is the summer?) but had a great turnout, with several excellent newbies attending (many of them lured in by Mrs Shanksi, who wasn't even there!) and PBs galore. Due to the numbers and the logistical issues of having enough people to time, etc, we finished up having three mile races. (That's "3 x mile races" not "three-mile races", obviously.) Having knocked 49 seconds off my previous time at the last mile for a PB of 7:30, I knew there was no chance of doing that again, and was hoping just to more or less equal my PB or, hopefully, shave off a second or two. I haven't been doing a lot of "fast" running lately, though, and having attempted some 400m intervals on Thursday at 7:30 pace, had found it pretty arduous, so I wasn't very confident of a good time.

After some cracking running in the first and second miles, we were off in the third one. I got off to a hesitant start as I fiddled with the button on my Garmin. Hamster 1207 and Nywanda were off like rockets, with the rest of us a bit slower - I slotted in behind weekatiepea and plodded along the first couple of laps at around 7:15-20 pace, I think. Woodland Warrior came zooming past at one point quite early on - no idea what took him so long! The wind was strong along the back straight and it did slow me - and everyone - down a bit. I managed to get past Katie near the beginning of the third lap, then noticed my shoelace was partly undone, oops. Well, I wasn't going to stop and fasten it, and I wasn't actually tripping over it, so it just had to stay that way. Nywanda was slowing down by now (no wonder, as she'd done a hellish sounding hill race a couple of days earlier) and I managed to overtake her around 100m into the fourth lap. Hamster and Woodland Warrior were way ahead! Although I was huffing and puffing and generally feeling like I was about to drop dead, I managed to finish the final lap strongly and clocked a time of 7:11 - a PB by 19 seconds - which I was delighted with. It also boosts my WAVA up to over 63% - pretty meaningless really, yet strangely satisfying.

The 100m relay which we finished up with was fun, although my baton-handling skills clearly left a lot to be desired. Mother Duck did manage to get it off me in the end.

A successful morning all round, with lots of excellent running, but special mentions for Duckinator who logged the fastest time of the day with 5:41 (a big improvement on his previous time), Halfpint who knocked an astounding 1 minute 9 seconds off her previous time to win the "most improved" trophy, and Corrah who deservedly won the prize for the best sprint finish with a heroic final 50m.

Now turning my attention exclusively to HM training..... well, after Sunday's 10 miler at Ballater... I have a score to settle with that race.

Sub-2 RW schedule experiment, week 2...

2011-07-17T17:06:00.001+01:00

Week 2 of my RW sub-2 half training schedule experiment is done, and I've been following it to the letter... well, kind of. I've been doing the speedwork and the long runs (oh, and the other runs) slightly quicker than designated, but I'm hoping that's OK, as long as the long runs and easy runs are at a conversational pace, which they are, or would be, if I had anyone except myself to converse with.

Tuesday's 5 miles easy was OK, but I really didn't feel like going out to do some one-mile intervals on Thursday night, because I felt tired, so tired in fact that I fell asleep while putting the little one to bed and only the discomfort of being squashed into a toddler bed unable to stretch out my legs forced me to get up again. Even though I didn't want to go, I followed the time-honoured tactic of putting on my kit anyway and of course it worked, as it always does, and I headed out of the door at 9pm to run 5 miles including 2 x 1-mile intervals at 8:25 pace. Actually at 8:06 and 8:07 pace. I was quite pleased with this, particularly as the second one was on a slight uphill gradient.

Friday we took the little one swimming and I ran back 4 miles from the pool, which felt like much harder work than it should have done, given that I did far more splashing around pretending to be Nessie (under instruction from the little one, I should add, not by choice) than actual swimming. My swimming is hopeless anyway. I can just about manage the world's slowest breaststroke but I'm not even sure I'm doing it properly. "Learn to swim better" is on my to-do list, but if I'm honest I've never liked it much, although maybe that's largely because I've never learned to do it properly...

Sunday's long run - a mere 8 miles at this stage - was much better. I got him indoors to drive me to Drumoak and ran back along the old Deeside line. It was lovely, if a bit hot in places. I barely looked at my watch and just tried to keep my pace at a slow, comfortable level and later found I had done the 8 miles at 9:53 pace rather than the plan's 10:30. Oh well. The first mile was the slowest at 10:19, but by about mile 4 I was well and truly warmed up and had that lovely feeling of being able to run forever. I had to stop once, on a narrow bit of path when a whole load of cyclists came past, but otherwise plodded on very happily with remaining mile splits of 10:00, 9:38, 10:00, 9:58, 9:49, 9:43 and 9:36.

I will get this sub-2!! Although even more than that, I want to get the coveted 60+ half marathon WAVA to go with my 5k and 10k, which in my case I think is about 1:58:something. Hmmmm, better check that....

RW sub-2 half training schedule experiment

2011-07-10T17:07:00.001+01:00

I'm running my 4th half marathon, the inaugural Crathes Half, in 10 weeks, and, as if by magic, this month's RW has a 10-week sub-2 training programme which is, it assures me, failsafe, foolproof and WILL get me to 1:59:59. (Faster would be nice. But 1:59:59 would do.) I'm not sure if this plan will really work, but it does look eminently doable so I might as well give it a go.

So, my cunning plan is to stick to RW's allegedly failsafe foolproof sub-2 schedule to the letter and see if their claims prove true. Place your bets now. (Not literally, it's obviously far too early....)

The same article has a little table with indicators as to what you should have already achieved to stand a good chance of breaking 2 hours... a current PB of 2:04-2:06 (favourable conditions) or 2:08-2:12 (not so favourable conditions), a 10k time of 52:51-53:56, etc. With a HM PB of 2:05:50 set in March on a warmish day on a hillyish course (we'll draw a discreet veil over my most recent attempt at the distance in Stonehaven) and a 10k PB of 53:16 set in June, I should, in theory, be on track.

Anyway, that's the first week done and dusted. Two easy runs of 4 miles each on Tuesday and Friday (Friday I went to the gym first and ran home), 5 miles on Thurs with 3 at 8:54 pace (I did them just slightly quicker in 8:52, 8:49 and 8:38) and an 8 mile "long" run today at 10:30 pace. I was determined to stick to this pace as best I could, because I do often tend to go a bit quicker than I probably should on long runs, and accordingly set up my Garmin to show average pace only. After a slowish uphill first mile, I pulled it back to 10:30 in the second and tried to stick to that, finishing with an average pace of 10:24, so not far off.

It being the first Crathes Half, I don't really know what it will be like, though they maintain it is "quite" flat. Of course, "quite" flat could mean almost anything. There are also a couple of off-road bits, apparently. So it might not be the absolute perfect choice for a PB, but then again it can't possibly be worse than the others I've done so far (Stonehaven twice and Garioch once). Fingers crossed.

Personal Worst

2011-07-05T17:27:00.000+01:00

Before running the Stoney Half for the second time (the first having been last year), I was blithely telling anyone who asked, or even didn't, that it really wasn't that bad and the hills weren't as awful as they were cracked up to be. I was hoping for a PB, but at the very least I was hoping to beat my 2:10:20 from last year, when it was my first half marathon. I'm a good bit fitter now than I was then, so it seemed a reasonable ambition.

I should have known that misplaced confidence would come back to bite me on the backside. I can only assume that either the hills have grown since last year, or (and this may be the more likely explanation) that my memory had conveniently blocked out the reality. Rather like childbirth - if you actually remembered what it was like, you'd never do it more than once.

The day was a hot one, which did not bode well. However, I told myself hopefully that I'm better at running in the heat than I used to be, having forced myself to do it on the rare days when we get the sun. I was a bit worried, but not that worried. After all, there's nothing you can do about the weather. Apart from apply sun lotion in plenty of time. Oops.

I reached the park about 10.30 for an 11.15 kick-off, and met up with lots of Fetchies, including the Shanksis on the organisational side (Mrs S was doling out the numbers), Torry Quine, Halfpint, Maz 1974 and Erin on the Fetchpointing side, and Holburnmum, Redwinerunner, Woodland Warrior and MikeR on the running side. (Sorry to anyone I have missed. Brain may be suffering sun damage.)

We lined up for the start and once again the gun going off took me by surprise, but I set off fairly smartly and ran the first two miles in a not quick, but not too bad given the undulating-ness 9:45 and 9:15. The only "issue" I had at this time was that I was still carrying the water bottle I'd set off with - it was nearly empty and it was getting on my nerves, but I couldn't find anywhere to dump it. I disposed of it at the first water station, though only to replace it with a full one. Actually I was lucky to get water from that station, as apparently they ran out shortly after - I can only surmise that either there weren't enough bottles for all the runners, or thanks to the heat some people were taking more than one.

The hills proper started around this point and things began to go a bit pear-shaped. I did a bit of walking. Actually I did a lot of walking. I palled up around this stage with a girl in a red top called Susie, and we ran together for a bit until I decided to do a bit more walking and she went ahead. I kept her in sight for most of the way but didn't quite manage to catch up. It was REALLY HOT, and flies were buzzing around my head - very irritating. A man came past in a van checking people were OK and asking if anyone needed water (given the lack at the water station) which was nice. By this stage I was going so slowly that I knew unless I made up a hell of a lot of time in the second half, there was no way I was going to PB or even beat my last year's time. I got to 10k in 1:06:10 - that's the slowest I've run in quite a long time!

The 6 mile point was however enlivened by arriving at Fetchpoint :-) with water sprays (heaven), jelly babies and Eye of the Tiger! It gave me a boost but unfortunately all too quickly receded into the distance and I was left to my own devices again! However there was a bit more shade for a while, and running felt easier when I wasn't in the full glare of the sun. We then turned onto the main road and a long downhill stretch, where I didn't manage to make up quite as much time as I'd hoped (I ran even this stretch quicker last year). The road was open to traffic and quite a lot seemed to be coming past. I got to 10 miles in 1:43:58 - pretty slow. There was downhill but also some uphill (nothing major, but it felt like it) and the Run Walk Strategy again came into play.

Finally we were heading back into the town, past the Academy and across a roundabout. I began to feel slightly better and overtook a few people who had overtaken me earlier. At last we turned a corner to see the sea ahead and a kindly marshal assured me it was all downhill from here. "I've heard that before!" I said. No, she promised, it was true this time.

I caught up with Susie with about half a mile to go. She was struggling a bit, and we stuck together to the finish, managing to encourage each other to keep going! We ran into the park and along the path and when the finish line was in sight I said "race you to the finish" so we both managed to put on a bit of a spurt. I think I finished one second in front! And promptly got my medal draped round my neck by Mrs Shanksi :-)

My chip time was a disappointing, but unsurprising, 2:14:01 - 4 minutes slower than last year, and 9 minutes outside my PB! However my hopes of sub-2 had evaporated in the heat very early on, and even sub-2:20 was starting to look unlikely at one point, so I was relieved the time wasn't worse! I think there were a few DNFs and I know at least one person who collapsed after 10k and had to be taken off in an ambulance (she's OK), so I'm glad I finished.

My next attempt at this distance will be in 10 weeks time at Crathes in September (since we'll be away for Dyce in August) and as luck would have it this month's RW has a "10-week sub-2 hour half marathon plan" in it so I might just give that a go....

Well done everyone :-)

2012

2011-06-25T10:14:00.002+01:00

Kind of wishing I'd signed up for Loch Ness Marathon this year, though it's too late now. I loved it last year and I keep getting little pangs when I hear about other people doing it, like, "that's MY race!". Next year, for sure. Running Edinburgh in May kind of reinforced for me the things I liked about Loch Ness, because it was a... DIFFERENT experience. Not an entirely bad one, and many of the things that were bad were not the fault of the organisers, but Loch Ness was just - better. It was smaller, the route was nicer, the finish was much better. My husband and daughter were there to cheer me on a few hundred metres from the end, and I was able to find them straight away afterwards. People handed you things/said well done/hung your medal round your neck, as opposed to the whole mill around aimlessly/rummage in boxes/not know what the hell was going on experience which is what I mainly remember from the finish area at Embra.

Admittedly, LNM does have that whacking great hill just exactly where you don't want a whacking great hill, and I'm sure if I do do it again I'll be swearing at (a) the hill and (b) myself for having conveniently forgotten how bad it was, but hey, a hill's a hill, get over it. There were compensations. Going downhill, for instance.

I suppose you could argue that going back to the same event denotes a lack of adventure and that would probably be true, because the other big thing I have my eye on next year is D33 :-O a race which practically runs through my backyard. The route may be (is) familiar - I've run it, or sections of it anyway, many times, yesterday for instance - but the distance, 33 miles, certainly isn't. Familiarity may breed contempt in some cases but there's also a sense of reassurance, for me, in knowing what lies ahead - in terms of terrain, if not how I may be feeling at 26+ miles. I guess I was at the back of the queue when senses of adventure were being handed out. Admittedly, the temptation to take a detour to my house and a nice cup of tea on the sofa at around 29/30 miles when my legs will doubtless be in bits may be strong... can only hope the lure of the finish line/medal/beer/ability to say "I've done an ultra" will be stronger.

But when a race you really want to do is right on your doorstep, it would be rude not to. Wouldn't it?

Blowin' in the wind: The Running Shop Aberdeen Beach 10k Race Report

2011-06-15T15:41:00.002+01:00

It’s always, always windy down at the beach. Or “Es ist windig”, as we would say in our house, since for some mysterious reason ever since son did his German Higher, we always have to converse about the weather in German. Es regnet. Es schneit. Es ist neblig. Etc.

Anyway, last night was, as ever, a windy night down at the beach, though a warm and sunny day in general. (Es ist sonnig. We don’t get to use that one much.) And I was running a 10k, and I was determined to get a PB, not least because a whole load of points had been bet on me to do so :-O My PB was 56:55, but I was aiming for sub-55 – a 25:02 5k last week indicated that this should hopefully not be beyond my powers. I think this is the fourth time I have run a 10k along the prom and the weather has been uniformly horrible every time, but last night was actually pretty nice apart from the aforementioned wind, which I’m sure I shall be mentioning a few more times before the blog ends.

These 10k along-the-prom races are fairly low key affairs with the start and finish lines being slightly nebulous concepts. None of your fancy timing chips or anything like that. However, it was the fullest I’ve ever seen it (the first one I did, in Dec 2009, only had about 80 people, probably because the ground was covered in snow and ice...). I’m very bad about estimating numbers but there seemed to be a few hundred people all milling about last night with loads of people I knew running – lots of people from Fetch, two of the mums from nursery, etc.

I positioned myself near the back and the race unexpectedly started before anyone was ready. Oops! Off we went along the upper level of the prom. Very congested for the first 100m or so but it quickly thinned out and I settled into a slightly-too-quick-probably 8:10-ish pace. The two mums from nursery were just ahead of me – one, Nicola, I knew to be slightly faster than me (sub-2 half marathon, and she ran 54 mins at Balmoral 10k when I only managed 59 thanks to That Hill). I figured I would try and keep them in sight for as long as possible.

The route consists of a lap and a half of the upper and lower prom, so obviously it’s very flat. The first 2k felt fine and I went through the first mile in 8:11. I thought this might be a bit quick, but actually I was quite glad to have gained a bit of time as when we ran down the ramp and turned onto the lower level, the wind hit me full in the face and running suddenly became much harder work. Second mile was 8:33 and third, which was all on the lower level, a lot slower in 8:50. It was a relief to turn onto the upper level again (and out of the wind) at the 5k mark. I’d got to 5k in 26:31, though, so was well on target for my sub-55 goal.

As I ran up the ramp to the upper level I passed one of the nursery mums who had slowed to a walk, having probably gone off a bit too quick. I gave a few encouraging (I hope) words and managed to pick up my pace a bit now the wind was behind me. I could still see Nicola up ahead. I went through the 4th mile in 8:34, passed TQ and Corrah who were cheerleading opposite the Leisure Centre, got a bit of a second wind and ran the 5th mile in 8:11. I passed a few people at this point and caught Nicola up at around the 8k mark, and had a wee chat. She later said I had spurred her on as she had been tiring at that point! I was feeling quite good at around 8k but I knew we were doomed to turn back onto the windy lower prom for the last 2k and sure enough, down the ramp we went and into the gale again. I really struggled in the last mile, and it was my slowest in 8:54. Nicola was coping with it a bit better and had gone ahead. However having got to 8k in 42:04 and to 9k in 47:32, I knew that short of a complete disaster I was definitely going to get a PB and be well under 55 minutes.

The last bit always seems really interminably long, when you can see the people at the finish but it seems a long long way to get there (even when it’s only a couple of hundred metres). I was going pretty slowly, but could hear shouts of encouragement as I got nearer and one of my speedy Fetch friends then ran alongside me for the very last bit, shouting at me to get a move on as everybody was waiting! This gave me just the kick up the backside I was needing to get to the finish! I didn’t notice the official time on the clock but I had 53:16 on my watch :-):-):-) so not a bad PB, three and a half minutes off my last one (set on the same route in January!). Think official time will be a bit higher as I started near the back and started my watch when I crossed what I thought was roughly the start line rather than when the gun went off.

I was happy with my time, a bit disappointed that I faded badly in the last km – the wind certainly didn’t help, but I was tiring by then also. However I don’t think my pacing was too bad all in all. I had initially thought I would aim for around 8:45 miles but now think that was unambitious as without the wind factor (sorry to keep going on about the wind factor) I would have been below that the whole way. My overall pace was 8:33. Conditions are very rarely ideal though, this is a flat but windy course, other times the weather might be perfect but the route hillier, it’s not often everything comes together to provide dream PB conditions. I’m happy to be steadily reducing my 10k time! (And to have achieved another WAVA of over 60%.) Maybe one day I will run a 10k time beginning with a 4, you never know…

There were lots of PBs last night, wind notwithstanding, but good running (and supporting) all round, well done folks :)

Getting technical

2011-06-06T13:42:00.004+01:00

Well – by my standards, i.e. Not Very :-) However I had bought the Pfitzinger & Douglas (henceforth to be known as P&D) Advanced Marathoning book, which is a bit of a joke really as I am far from an Advanced Marathoner, but since everyone on the Edinburgh Marathon (Fetch) thread was raving about it and I am never one to eschew a bandwagon, off I trotted to Amazon. It duly arrived and turned out to be a very good read, even if some of the higher-mileage training schedules are downright scary. I don’t think I’ll be running 100 mile weeks any time soon, but the up-to-55 miles-a-week schedule looks distinctly more achievable when I do decide to bite the bullet and enter another marathon.

Since I'm not planning another marathon this year, the book purchase could be seen as being a bit redundant really, but what it did do was get me thinking about the pace I'm doing my runs and the reason I'm doing them and that if I want to improve, which I DO (two half marathons and a 10k coming up and I really want to knock spots off my previous PBs) maybe I should be a bit stricter with myself about what I'm doing and how fast, rather than just going out and doing whatever I damn well feel like.

So what I have done is to put my recent 5k time of 25:02 (my most recent, and so far best in WAVA terms, race time) into the McMillan Running Calculator, and this is what it came up with -

Endurance Workouts Pace/Mile

Recovery Jogs 10:49 to 11:19
Long Runs 9:49 to 10:49
Easy Runs 9:49 to 10:19

Stamina Workouts Pace/Mile

Steady-State Runs 8:50 to 9:06
Tempo Runs 8:28 to 8:50
Tempo Intervals 8:21 to 8:39

Speed Workouts

Middle Distance Runners Long Distance Runners
400m 1:47.8 to 1:52.4 1:49.9 to 1:56.3
800m 3:39.9 to 3:50.0 3:49.7 to 4:00.3
1000m 4:47.1 to 5:00.4 4:54.2 to 5:05.5
1200m 5:44.9 to 6:00.5 5:53.0 to 6:10.9
1600m 7:50.7 to 8:08.8 8:00.7 to 8:18.4
2000m 10:00.9 to 10:18.2 10:11.0 to 10:23.0
(sorry about spacing, I can't seem to figure out how to do it in blog)

which once I had recovered from my head exploding, looked about right to me. Assuming that my HM pace is 9m/m (I haven't actually run this pace in a HM but it's my goal pace for a sub-2 and should be achievable), that means doing long runs at what works out as very close to that pace plus 10-20% which - hurrah! - is what P&D say you should be doing. Admittedly with marathon pace rather than half, but I figured it would still work.

So yesterday I headed off for a 9 mile run (my longest since Embra a fortnight ago) with the intention of sticking to the suggested range, i.e. 9:49-10:49, and aiming to do what P&D suggest and make the last few miles closer to 10% than 20%. And it worked :-)

Splits:
10:28 10:03 10:02 9:50 9:51 9:58 9:56 9:56 9:41

Fairly flat route except the first half mile is uphill and the last 3 miles a very gradual uphill, a few other inclines along the way but nothing drastic.

This felt like a comfortable pace and I wasn't too knackered by the end. OK, it's *only* 9 miles so hardly qualifies as a P&D style long run, but gets my HM training off the mark.

Planning some 1000m intervals on Tuesday at 8m/m pace, ahead of the Beach 10k on the 14th June.

:)

A plod along the prom: Aberdeen Disability Sport 5k Race Report

2011-06-03T12:16:00.003+01:00

In retrospect I'm actually quite pleased with last night's 5k performance down at the beach. I was gutted at the time to see 25:02 on my watch at the finish (no official times yet, but it wasn't chip timed or any fancy stuff like that). If the official time comes up lower I will definitely be claiming that one, since I started at the back, and as ever with these races, both start and finish lines seemed fairly nebulous concepts. (And I clocked 5.05km on my Garmin too.)

Anyway sub-25 or no, it's over 30 seconds off my previous 5k PB which was set less than a month ago at the Dunecht Dash, and given that it's only 11 days since the Edinburgh Marathon (about which the less said the better) and yesterday was one of the hottest days I can ever remember round here (a bit cooler by 7.30 in the evening, admittedly, but still very warm), I don't think it was too bad a result. And it has boosted my WAVA up to over 62% Geeky, moi?

Most importantly, I did manage to salvage some pride by finishing ahead of the wee girl in the club vest who kept coming past me for about the first 2.5k. (And I do mean a wee girl. She was about 9.) And yes, there was a point when I thought, here I am, struggling to get past a 9 year old, maybe my running is not quite as fabulous as I would like to pretend. But mainly, good for her, I wish I'd been doing that when I was that age instead of waiting till I was over 40!

A nice race on a lovely evening, which (unlike some despite their claims), really did cater for all abilities with several people still coming in around or after the 40 minute mark.

Chickens, cheers and a painful second half: Embra 2011

2011-05-23T19:11:00.003+01:00

*sings* Where do I begin...

Brace yourselves, it might be a long blog. Warning - contains scenes of "digestive discomfort" :-O

Edinburgh was to be my second marathon, and I was very hopeful of a PB. My first was Loch Ness last October, a lovely marathon but not what anyone would call flat. I managed to squeeze under 5 hours with a time of 4:55:07. This year, I'm fitter and faster than I was then, and with Edinburgh being a much flatter course, I couldn't see what could possibly go wrong.

We headed down to Edinburgh on the Saturday, and took the little one to the zoo on Saturday afternoon. I was a bit anxious about the weather, since everyone I spoke to seemed to be predicting meteorological horrors of one sort or another, but it actually held out quite well - quite windy at times, but nothing too drastic. We had a nice afternoon during which I tried to do as little walking as possible, not entirely successfully, and played "spot the marathon runner". Then went to our B&B in Colinton (very nice, I can recommend it) and out for a meal at a local trattoria recommended by the B&B proprietor. I had a larger-than-usual meal of bruschetta followed by some lovely pasta followed by stranoffee pie (like banoffee pie, but with strawberries). All very delicious.

My plan was to get the bus into town in the morning, which since I don't know Edinburgh I was a little bit worried about, but I did a recce of the bus stop, double-checked the times and everything seemed to be in order. Got to bed early and had a reasonable sleep, though I woke up at 5am (bit early considering I didn't have to leave till after 8) and couldn't really get back to sleep after that. I did feel nervous, but not excessively so I don't think. Dressed, pinned my number on, checked I had everything I needed, hoped the Sellotape on my Garmin strap would hold out (it did) and went down for breakfast about 7.45. I met another guy there who was doing the marathon - his first one. His girlfriend was there too but she wasn't running. I ate a bit of porridge, a small bowl of rice crispies and a piece of toast, couldn't really manage anything else, then said goodbye to husband and daughter (who were planning a trip to Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World), and off I trotted to the bus stop. The weather wasn't bad. A bit cool and showery, but those are probably my ideal running conditions!

I made it to the start without incident - I'd been a bit doubtful which stop to get off at, but lots of runners got on the bus, so I just followed them - and arrived at Regent Road to see the baggage lorries, the starting pens (purple at the back, gold - my one - second back) and loads of people already milling around. I headed straight to the Portaloos, where the queues weren't yet too bad, then drifted about a bit, chatting to a few people and generally soaking up the atmosphere. At about 9.20 I thought I'd better take off my warm outer gear and put my bag on the lorry, but no sooner had I done so than the weather turned cold, windy and rainy and I spent a miserable 15 minutes or so huddled under some trees trying to keep warm! Found I was needing the loo again and went in that direction, but the queues were very long by then and since the announcer was already asking people to go to the pens, I didn't feel I had time. Probably a mistake.

We gathered in the gold pen (all this pen business is a new experience for me, since Loch Ness is a lot smaller and they didn't have them there), while the weather changed from sunny to cold and windy and back again several times, and finally we were off - on the long shuffle to the start line. I reckoned it took about 10 minutes to reach the start line, but I didn't actually check the time when we crossed it - also a mistake, as it turned out. I was surprised at the speed with which most of my fellow gold people took off after the start! - given that they had all, presumably, put down similar time predictions to me, but were going off way faster than that. I was determined not to do that, though, and in fact didn't feel particularly tempted to, as it took me a while to feel I was warmed up and into my stride. I'd had a loose plan of aiming for 10 minute miles and seeing how I got on, but the first mile was a bit slower than that in 10:28. Then picked up a bit and ran the next several miles mainly just above or below 10 mins, apart from the 3rd one which was a bit quick in 9:38 (though largely downhill).

To be honest my memory of the surroundings is a bit hazy! We ran through city streets where spectators were applauding, and then along the seafront. There were Portaloos a few miles in and I did consider stopping, but the queues put me off. However, by 8 miles I couldn't postpone it any longer and dashed across a grassy bit to where there were about 5 Portaloos with a small queue. This obviously wasted a few minutes, but because my Garmin went onto auto-pause I wasn't sure how long, and this proved to be my next mistake because after that (and not having checked the exact start time) I didn't really have a clue how long the race had been.

Things went along OK for the next few miles - followed my fuelling strategy (tried and tested in previous races and long runs) of Shot Bloks and the odd gel, and up until about 17 miles I was on course for a good PB. Passed Fetchpoint at about 10 miles (? - can't quite remember) which was awesome, the red and yellow balloons were unmistakable! I was wearing my Fetch top and really enjoyed the calls from spectators as well as at Fetchpoint.

We were into the out and back section and I think the turn into the Gosford House grounds was about 17 miles. It was around this point that I started to feel quite unwell (though the chickens pecking away at the side of the path did cheer me up a bit). However I was developing quite a sore stomach and by the time we emerged from Gosford House I was on red alert for the next toilet! I think I must have made about 4-5 loo visits after that :( Every time I saw a Portaloo or a public one I was heading towards it like a homing pigeon. Even so my stomach was really sore and no sooner had I been than I wanted to go again :( My legs were also pretty tired by this stage and since I didn't dare take anything other than water, my energy levels must have dropped a lot. There was a fair bit of walking, especially around miles 22-23 which was a low point. I seriously wasn't sure I could keep going at this point - I was feeling sick as well as having a sore stomach, and felt like I was going to throw up a few times. My husband texted me at about 23 miles to ask how far I was, and I texted back to say I was struggling! I think he was worried I wouldn't finish! By this stage though even though I didn't feel like it at all, there was no way I was not going to finish even if I had to walk the rest of it. The massive headwind wasn't helping though! Still lots of encouragement from spectators and people going the other way, which was great, and Fetchpoint again gave me a lift (not literally although I could have done with one by this stage!). By this point I was doing a run a bit/walk a bit more "strategy" (ha!) and counting down the fractions of a mile to the finish.

I'd long since given up on my vague target of 4:40 or less, which I'd amended to 4:45, then 4:50, then a PB of any description, then just to finish in under 5 hours! Because of the time I'd lost going to the loo I really wasn't sure how long the race had taken. I thought I should manage under 5 hours but that I had blown my chance of beating my 4:55 PB. I was determined to finish with some semblance of dignity though and somehow managed to pick up the pace a bit in the last half a mile, especially when the noisy-spectator-lined final stretch approached, and even managed a sprint finish. Well, it felt like a sprint finish. It was actually about 9:15 pace but by that stage it felt very fast indeed! The clock said 5:06, my watch said 4:47 (and that I'd run 26.38 miles), I knew my chip time would be somewhere between the two but I had no idea what it would be.

There wasn't really any guidance or information on where to go at the finish line - or if there was I didn't see it - I just followed everyone else, met up with a Fetchie who had finished a couple of minutes before me and joined the crowds milling around for medals, goody bags, t-shirts, baggage reclaim, etc. It was all quite confusing, especially in my already confused state! The "Reunion Area" was nearby but looked like mayhem. I also heard someone saying that the big screens, supposedly for spectators to watch the finish, weren't working. My phone also wasn't working ("network busy") but a text came through from my husband saying that he hadn't managed to get to the car park, although we had bought a car park ticket, and the little one had fallen asleep in the car. He had managed to get a space on a side street some distance down the road. I couldn't phone him so I set off walking among the throngs of people hoping to find the right place. It felt like miles and I wasn't even sure I was going the right way! I think if I had found I had gone the wrong way, I would just have sat down at the side of the road and burst into tears. I wasn't far off doing that anyway. Luckily just as I was about to collapse in a weeping heap, I spotted what looked like the right road, and another runner kindly pointed me in the right direction. My mood was also lifted when the text with my official finishing time finally came through, and said it was 4:52:02 - much to my amazement, I did manage to get a PB :-):-):-)

I was very happy to make it back to the car, where daughter was fast asleep after a busy time at the Butterfly and Insect World where she got to hold a snake and a tarantula :-O

I don't know what caused the problems I had in the last 10 miles or so. I hadn't really eaten or drunk anything different from what I have had on other occasions. I didn't dare to take any more Lucozade or gels etc though, and that obviously didn't help my energy levels towards the end. I just felt terrible that whole way and I can't honestly say I enjoyed the race as a result, which is a shame, as I'm sure I would have otherwise. My stomach still felt bad all the way back up the road to Aberdeen, although I feel OK today.

Very relieved to get a PB, but also disappointed that I didn't do better. By the end though I was swearing never to do another marathon! I'm sure I will eventually, but I'm not sure these big races are for me. The finish was a logistical nightmare! It just seemed like mayhem, especially given that I was already dazed and confused! It was just as well husband and daughter didn't come to the finish, since they wouldn't have seen anything and would just have had to mill around in a big crowd for no reason. The Edinburgh course itself was OK, and the support was great especially at the end and at Fetchpoint, but I think if I do do another marathon, it will be a smaller one. (Unless my VLM ballot entry comes good, of course :-O)

Well done anyway to everyone who ran and thanks for the support :)

The awful statistics:

10k: 01:03:06
Half: 02:16:16
30k: 03:17:13
Marathon: 04:52:02 :(

Nice weather for ducks: Dunecht Dash 5k race report

2011-05-09T10:38:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I ran my first 5k in quite a while, the Dunecht Dash, and despite it being two weeks till Edinburgh Marathon I had high hopes of a PB here. My PB of 26:45 was set last year (although it was at the Big Fun Run which I still maintain was short of 5k). I'm a lot quicker now than then so I was hoping I could knock a bit off even that overly flattering time. Sub-26 was a theoretical target but I thought that was unlikely, but would have been happy with any sort of PB. Dunecht Dash is a smallish race held within the grounds of Dunecht House, pretty flattish although with a bit of undulation and a slight uphill incline at the end.

We had been organised into Fetch teams of five - Fetch-tastics and Fetch –Defenders, just to compete against each other for a bit of fun, and I was in the second lot. Teams were led by the very speedy Mother Duck and Duckinator, who were also battling among themselves for 5k supremacy. (Please note all names used here are Fetch forum names rather than real names!!) The weather was, it is fair to say, absolutely crap. It was raining and cold and misty and generally rubbish. I couldn't find anybody to begin with as they were all huddled inside waterproofs and therefore well disguised. I didn't have my glasses on so short of going up to each person individually and peering under their hood, identification was a problem. I managed it eventually. The pre-race hanging about was not a lot of fun weather-wise – I don’t mind running in the rain but I do mind standing around getting cold and wet!

Finally the call went out for the 5k. There was the inevitable 5k jumping-about-to-music warmup, and I embarrassed myself jumping about idiotically for a couple of minutes, though more to avoid freezing than to actually warm up. Then we shuffled along to the start line, where Nywanda told me off for starting too far back, which was probably right enough as when the gun went off I had to run up on to the grass verge to pass people. Did the first kilometre in 4:58, which was probably a bit quick for me, but there was quite a bit of downhill. Second and third kms were both in 5:04, so I was doing a bit over 8mm pace. I managed to pass a few people. Looked back a couple of times and saw that Nywanda was just behind me up until (I think) about 3km when she must have slowed a little. The fourth kilometre passed in 5:03, while I wondered when the uphill was going to come, then finally I was into the last stretch with the finish line in view and a slight uphill gradient. I was quite tired by this stage and my pace dropped off a fair bit with the last km being in 5:21. I finished in 25:35 on my Garmin (with a distance recorded of 5.04km) so I was very happy with that, a PB of over a minute, although I would have liked to have held the pace a bit better in the last kilometre It wasn't chip-timed and my official time came in at 25:41, but since it took several seconds to cross the start line, I’m sticking with the Garmin time on this one. Overall pace of 8:10, anyway, and a sub-25 target to be aimed for...

Also pleased to gain another WAVA of over 60% (61.29 to be precise)

I worked out later (how sad am I) that I had finished 20th out of 63 women, so in the top third of women even if in the bottom half of the race overall. This made me happy. (It doesn't take much.) I was 10th out of 24 in the FV category.

I finished 2nd in our team, woo! (although well behind the first placed people/ducks and the 2nd person in the other team, who was Thistle with a fantastic time of under 21 minutes, which also gave her the prize for 1st FV, yay! and was also 4th woman overall!). The battle of the ducks was won by our team captain Duckinator although Mother Duck was 2nd woman overall and first FSV.

We cheered all the others back in - Nywanda who was less than a minute behind me (with a new PB), BrianJ, mol, Maz, TQ and Corrah (both with great PBs). Corrah had a Fetch mobile guard of honour for the last bit! I'm sure we had the most supportive teams - hurray for the power of Fetch!

Well done everyone :)

Close encounters of the bird kind

2011-05-03T18:13:00.001+01:00

So there I was, 13 miles into a 20 mile run, plodding along a quiet country road minding my own business and pondering the true meaning of the word "undulating", when suddenly something hit me hard on the top of the head.

In the ensuing split second, while emitting a girly shriek, the following thoughts passed through my mind:

1) Ow
2) WTF?
3) Maybe it was a branch falling off a tree
4) Maybe it was a homicidal maniac who loiters around quiet country roads on the lookout for lone female runners to bash on the head.

Before I could pursue this worrying train of thought, however, a flapping of wings and a swooping away into the trees revealed the culprit to be a large bird of unidentified species. An avian assassin, in fact, which apparently thought it would be a good idea to dive bomb my head.

Having confirmed that there was no-one around with a camera, and recovered from the shock of this Hitchcockian encounter, I was able to continue my run. Top of head is still slightly tender to the touch, however. Who knew our feathered friends could pack such a punch?

Distance: 20.01 miles
Time: 3:30:15
Average pace: 10:30
Weather: Hot
Unprovoked assaults by wildlife: 1
Splits:
* 10:53
* 10:23
* 10:21
* 10:13
* 10:16
* 10:13
* 10:13
* 10:09
* 10:07
* 10:19
* 10:20
* 10:49
* 10:04
* 11:54
* 9:44
* 10:39
* 11:22
* 10:35
* 10:47
* 10:48

Fun fun fun in the sun sun sun

2011-04-27T11:49:00.003+01:00

Well - kind of :)

My heart sank when I saw the bright sunshine yesterday morning, not because I'm some kind of vampire with an aversion to sunlight but because it was the day of my 20 mile long run, and I had to do it then because I'd booked time off work specially, and I really don't like running when it's hot. But I'm telling myself that it's all good training for Edinburgh Marathon which will no doubt once again have tropical temperatures.

Got myself all togged up in all my fab gear: new Balmoral 10k t-shirt, Camelbak bottle belt (containing Nuun-enhanced water), sunglasses, dodgy HRM, sellotaped-together Garmin, MP3 player with latest episode of Marathon Talk on it for entertainment purposes, etc. My plan was to do the same 3 mile loop as last week and then head off along the Deeside Way (mainly off-road). Basically the same as last week's 18 miles but going a bit further before turning back. I am a creature of habit. (An added incentive was the prospect of seizing some Conquercise zones.) I took with me a packet of Shot Bloks and, rather warily, an out of date Lucozade gel (Best Before End Dec 2010). I can't really imagine them going off, but they taste crap enough when in date so heaven knows what horrors an out of date one might unleash.

Legs felt heavy for the first couple of miles, and although I know it usually takes me this long to get properly warmed up, I was thinking oh no, this isn't going to be good. But I did get a bit more into my stride and the first few miles were shady enough not to be too uncomfortable. Then emerged into the rockier and less shady section of the run, thankfully there was a cooling breeze.

HRM was all over the place, particularly in the first few miles, going way up high, even though I didn't feel I was exerting myself unduly. I don't think it's working properly. I kind of hope it isn't, because if my heart rate is really like that it's a bit alarming. It suddenly shot up to around 200-220 at mile 4 and stayed like that for about a mile, for no apparent reason, then went down again. It wasn't uphill and I wasn't running faster.

I got to the point where I had turned back last week and had to push myself a bit to keep on going, especially since this involved going uphill a bit before emerging on to the main road at Drumoak and running along that for a short while. Not my favourite part. Marathon Talk was evidently an extra long episode, because Tom and Martin were still talking in my ear (interviewing Louise Damen at this point). I was feeling quite tired and hot, had been taking the occasional Shot Blok and regular water, considered the gel but couldn't face the sugary gloop and was a bit concerned about it upsetting my stomach, so I gave it a miss. I maybe should have had it, though, because after turning at 11.5 miles I started to feel I was struggling a bit and "adopted a run-walk strategy" (ha!) for some of the remaining 8.5 miles, but split times were still reasonable albeit a bit slower than in the first half.

Felt completely knackered by the last mile, though, and wondered how I am ever going to manage 6 more miles in Edinburgh, especially if it's hot. I will, though.

On the positive side I managed 20.03 miles at an easy pace in 3:32:22, knee was OK, and legs actually feel fine today. Though the dreaded DOMS yet be lurking ready to pounce! Oh, and I gained 2 Conquercise zones, the Deeside Way WILL one day be mine :)

Mile splits:

11:03 10:13 10:20 10:50 10:14 10:13 10:37 10:38 9:43 10:00 11:02 10:05 10:47 10:52 10:49 10:38 11:11 10:58 10:29 11:27

Training/panicking update...

2011-04-25T17:42:00.004+01:00

So, my Edinburgh marathon training, having got off to a good start following Dave Kuehls' programme (not that I'm aiming for 4 hours, I don't think that's realistic for me at the moment), then faltered a bit due to dodgy knee problems. I'm still not 100% confident about knee (it isn't twinge-free yet), but running doesn't seem to aggravate it unduly and physio says I'm OK to run, so I'm kind of back on track (as opposed to back on "the" track, where I haven't been for ages).

I managed an 18 mile run last week with relatively little problem, and an 8 mile tempo run at 9-minute mile pace last Tuesday, which is the fastest 8 miles I've ever done by loads, but I'm a bit anxious, for some reason, about tomorrow's planned 20 miler. It's been quite warm today - hopefully tomorrow will be cooler. I'm going to have to do it anyway as I've booked the day off work and it's the only long-run opportunity I'll have this week. Assuming I survive it, I'll hopefully do another 20 or thereabouts the following week and then start tapering...

Not feeling as well prepared as I could be, or had hoped to be, but fingers crossed by marathon time I will have done enough to get me round in a reasonable time. I know I'll be disappointed if I don't get a PB, and I think a PB is very doable given my current one, but I know some factors (the weather, mainly) will be out of my control.

Haven't even started thinking about the logistics of the whole thing yet - B&B is booked, but travelling there, travelling home, seeing people before/during/after the race, etc etc is all still in the realms of mystery at the moment.

Balmoral 10k: The good, the bad and The Hill

2011-04-24T10:03:00.008+01:00

Mixed day out at Balmoral 10k yesterday...

Bad Things:

* Arrived late, stuck in traffic at 1.40pm when race was due to start at 2 and I knew there was a long walk from the car park (field) to the start. Hopped out of the car as soon as we turned into the car park (field) and ran to the start (along with many others, I should add), arriving a couple of minutes before 2, then immediately had to stand in the queue for the Portaloo as I was desperate. Heard the announcer starting the race while I was in the Portaloo and tagged on to the end of the luckily slow-moving crowd. I fully accept that this was all entirely avoidable and My Own Silly Fault for not setting off earlier.

* Spent the first couple of miles really struggling to settle into any kind of pace as it was SO crowded. Was weaving in and out of runners, up on the grass verge, etc. First mile was 9:41 and second 9:33 so it could have been worse, but I know I can run faster than this in a 10k.

* THE HILL. Not a Bad Thing as such as I knew it was coming. I saw two Fetch tops ahead of me near the beginning and caught up with TQ and Nywanda (who was looking very splendid in kilt, socks and face paint). I walked up most of THE HILL, but fast(ish) and managed to overtake a number of slower walkers. The few people who were running weren't doing so significantly faster than I was walking, so walking seemed the sensible option. Managed this mile in 12:38.

* Not being able to find husband and daughter for ages at the end of the race. Mobile networks not working for ages. Gah!

* The long long walk back to the car park in the rain with a tetchy four year old.

Good Things:

* Managing to pick up the pace in the last three miles (once the crowds had thinned out). Did miles 4-6 in 8:35, 8:39 and 8:37, and overtook loads of people, which was quite satisfying. I was relieved to finish under the hour in 59:21, having thought at the halfway point that I would have come in well over the hour!

* Took more than 6 minutes off my Balmoral time from last year, and confirmed that I am MUCH fitter now than I was then, as (hill excepted) it all felt much easier this time.

* Gave the skort its first public airing (see pic), and no-one laughed. Or if they did, I didn't hear them. It was v comfy to run in.

* Wore my Fetch top and was encouraged by a few shouts of "Go Fetchie!".

* Lots of support towards the end, high-5s from kids, friendly marshals.

* Saw various people at the end, sorry I was a bit distracted due to husband and daughter being AWOL! I promise I will be better organised for Dunecht in two weeks.

* Got a nice new t-shirt (see pic).

Having done this race two years in succession I'm not sure if I will do it again. It's a nice run but it's just too crowded (there were more people this year than last) and the last-minute panicked dash from the far-distant car park (field), not to mention the long walk back at the end, stressed me out. Admittedly some of this is entirely avoidable if we were only more organised, but we never are when travelling en famille.

Well done everyone :-)

Comparison of 2010 and 2011 split times:

2010: 2011:
# 9:55 9:41
# 10:17 9:33
# 13:32 12:38
# 9:27 8:35
# 9:53 8:39
# 10:26 8:37
# 2:12 1:45

Long run, and other people's long runs

2011-04-17T19:01:00.004+01:00

I had a busy schedule of VLM-watching and Scottish cup semi-final watching on Sunday (not that I managed to see much of either in the event, just as well in the latter case) so I did my long run - 18 miles - on Saturday. I was a bit worried about this since last week's hot and bothered 14 had been such a struggle. As it turned out, though, Saturday was a good day for it as it was much cooler, Sunday turned out to be hot, as people who were racing that day may possibly have noticed. I did a short 3 mile loop from near my house and then headed off along the Deeside Way towards Banchory, turning back towards home at the 10.5 mile point to make it up to 18. Felt a lot better than last week, tried to take it really slowly, stopping to walk for a minute or so every 2 miles and drink a little water/eat a Shot Blok. The "walk breaks" did increase a bit over the last few miles, but I managed to run most of it, certainly a lot better than last week and was happy enough with splits of

* 11:03
* 10:14
* 10:26
* 10:30
* 10:20
* 10:20
* 10:16
* 11:09
* 9:57
* 10:36
* 10:32
* 10:28
* 9:58
* 10:19
* 10:32
* 10:32
* 10:34
* 10:13

18.01 miles in 3:08:03, average pace of 10:26. Knee fine. I think it twinged twice later on in the run, but it never came to anything.

Actually really enjoyed this run, lots to see, deer, horses, loads of rabbits scampering around the place, some Jemima Puddleduck-lookalikes round a pond, oh and about a zillion cyclists, and a few other runners too.

I did manage to watch a fair bit of the women's race and again pondered the eternal question of why (some of) the elite women run marathons in their knickers. I was so impressed by the winner, Mary Keitany (wearing shorts, incidentally) who looked so comfortable the whole way round and made it look easy! Jo Pavey did really well too. An awful shame for Liz Yelling though who didn't have the race she must have hoped for at all, but well done to her for seeing it through. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of "the masses", had been hoping to spot a few people I know but unless they were dressed as a giant nurse, camel or Puff the Magic Dragon there was no chance. I did glimpse a couple of people in Fetch shirts though.

Well done to everyone who ran :-)

Book review: Running Through The Wall

2011-04-14T10:48:00.003+01:00

Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon - Neal Jamison (ed)
(Breakaway Books, 2003)

I’ve never run an ultra – I’m not sure if I ever will. To be honest, the idea of running that far fascinates and alarms me in equal measure. 26.2 miles remains the furthest I’ve ever run, and I’ve only done that once (soon, hopefully, to be twice). I’m very intrigued however by the idea of what it’s actually like to do an ultramarathon, so this book, consisting of 39 first-person accounts of running various ultra distances, immediately appealed to me.

A huge variety of people have contributed their experiences – from the Type 1 diabetic (Tim Morgan) to the guitarist in a rock band (Michael Dimkich); from the people who win races (Ann Trason, Tim Twietmeyer) to the ones who plod along at the back, hoping only to finish within the cut-off time. Some are veterans of dozens of ultras, others have only run one, some DNF. All are included here. Ultrarunning often seems to be a family affair, with husband/wife pairings and a father/daughter combo (Ed and Lisa Demoney) sharing their experiences and many runners paying tribute to their support crews of family and friends..

I hadn’t originally heard of most of the races, which range from 50k upwards, although by the end of the book I felt quite familiar with many of them. A number of races, such as the popular Western States 100, the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 and Hardrock 100, among others, make several appearances, and Blake Wood and David Horton recount their experiences of the ridiculously impossible-sounding (and eccentric) 100-mile Barkley Marathons, an event which very few have ever completed, and if you read the description of it in the book it’s perfectly obvious why. (It also incorporates a 60 mile “Fun Run” (!) which sounds like anything but.) One event which didn’t feature, but which I would have been interested to read about, is the Badwater ultra – I guess I’ll have to go elsewhere for that.

There's also an account of a 24-hour event which Kevin Setnes describes how a run-walk strategy helped him to win, running over 160 miles and setting a US record in the process.

I was interested to learn that a number of the races described seem to follow a lap format – typically around 4-5 laps, but in one case (the Umstead 100, recounted here by Tim Morgan) as many as 10. My immediate reaction to this was quite negative but on reflection I suppose it could have its advantages in long and difficult races, particularly with regard to the frequency of support crew/aid stations. Familiarity of terrain after the first lap could be a good or bad thing. I still think 10 laps of 10 miles sounds a bit deadly boring, though. Having said that, there are of course 24 hour track races (and Kevin Setnes in this book ran multiple 1.1 mile laps of a small lake to set his 24 hour record) so I guess it’s not necessarily an issue.

Most of the races covered are American, but we also get to hear about a women’s team taking on – and hoping to win - the Hong Kong Trailwalker 100k, and Jurgen Ankenbrand’s account of his experience at the Marathon des Sables.

Some of the stories are quite emotional and I was particularly struck by Catra Corbett-McNeely’s account of running and racing after the death of her mother, and Tracy Baldyga’s experience of how running ultras helped her deal with severe and enduring mental illness. There’s also an honest and affectionate tribute to Joel Zucker, who tragically collapsed and died in 1998 after completing his third Hardrock 100.

Most of the stories are well written and very interesting to read. Admittedly there’s only so many times you really want to read “I got up at 4.30am and ate my cereal before heading off to the start”, but on the other hand the logistics of such things are an important component and it is good to know how people go about their preparation.

By the end of the book I found I’d lost most of my perspective on how far 100 miles, for instance, actually was. After reading so many accounts of running scary distances, they had started to seem normal. 50 miles sounded quite short, really. A mere marathon sounded like the equivalent of a gentle stroll to the post box and back. I needed to go on a long training run to bring me back to reality…. There are some amazing achievements described herein, from Stan Jensen’s completion of the “Last Great Race” of six 100-milers in 4 months, to the people who overcame incredible odds to run at all.

All in all I found this a very interesting read. As each story is short and self-contained, it’s easy to dip in and out of, and there is lots of interesting and inspiring stuff. Great when you are needing a bit of extra motivation.

So will I ever run an ultra?… well, maybe…

Upping the tempo

2011-04-13T10:28:00.000+01:00

I’d fallen behind a bit with my marathon training programme due to the old knee issues *yawn*, but although its royal knee-ness is not back to 100%, running doesn’t seem to be aggravating it and the physio said I was good to go so I’m trying to get back on track. Sunday’s hot and bothered 14 miles wasn’t a great start (although I did manage it at a reasonable pace considering the heat of the day) and I wasn’t feeling very confident about yesterday’s scheduled 6 mile tempo run.

I’ve kind of given up on the 4 hour schedule (that was never more than a pipe dream anyway) but thought I’d have a go at doing my tempo run at the pace dictated by the 4:15 schedule i.e. 9:20 to 9:25 pace. (I think the 8:45 tempo pace of the 4 hour schedule is a bit beyond me – I can manage that OK for 3 miles, maybe 4, but I didn’t think I could keep it up for 6 miles.)

I’m still lousy at pacing however and the first mile was too quick in 9:05, the second even more too quick in 8:54, oops. I was afraid I would slow down a lot in the second part of the run, particularly as that has a few more (slightly) uphill parts and the weather was still quite warm. Third mile was 9:09 and the fourth, which included a shortish but steepish hill where I was running at over 10 minute pace, was not surprisingly a slower 9:27. Back on the flat however my pace picked up to 8:57 in the fifth mile and a rather surprising to me 8:30 for the sixth – an overall average pace of 8:58. This is well speedy by my non-exacting standards and in fact gave me my fastest 10k time ever: 55:47, over a minute off my current PB! The pace felt OK, not overly difficult for me, although my heart rate was an average 169bpm which might tell a different story! (And up to 221bpm at one point, although I think that may have been a blip as it was just once, went straight back down again and was at a random not particularly demanding point of the run.)

Obviously I’m not going to be running anywhere near that pace in the marathon, though I’m still, as ever, befuddled about pacing and what time to aim for – maybe a few more long runs will give me a better idea – I know it’s the long runs I really need to be getting under my belt (what a weird phrase!) at this stage, and I’m behind where I should be in that regard. I still have at least 3 weekends before thinking about tapering, though, so I’m planning on a 17/18 and a couple of 19/20s. Hopefully that should be enough to set me up not too badly for 22 May.

Distance: 6.29 miles
Time: 56:27
Average pace: 8:58

9:05
8:54
9:09
9:27
8:57
8:30
2:25 (0.29 miles)

Hot and bothered on the Deeside Way

2011-04-11T12:52:00.000+01:00

After a couple of light-ish knee-related weeks I wanted to do a long run today, and accordingly got the other half to drive me out to Banchory so I could run back along the Deeside Way (the first time I've ever done the whole thing). I'd figured out that Banchory to my house would be about 14.5 miles, so had formulated a half-baked plan to extend the run a bit and make it up to around 17, given that the longest run of my marathon training so far has been 15. This didn't happen.

I'd been listening to Jeff Galloway extolling the magical virtues of walk breaks on Marathon Talk (he made them sound like the best thing ever in the history of the world, bar nothing), and although I wasn't entirely convinced, given the weather today (HOT) I thought it might be a good opportunity to give it a try, so decided that from the start I'd try walking for one minute in every mile. I suspect this may be less than Mr Galloway recommends, but it seemed worth a try. I kept this up for the first few miles (using the walk breaks to drink some water and scoff a couple of jelly beans) but from about mile 6 I started to struggle with the heat and the lack of shade (though to be fair, there was at least a slightly cooling breeze much of the time) and found myself wanting to walk more often I also probably set off too quick for a long run and suffered for it later (though on a cooler day that pace would have been more maintainable).

This route is most of the return leg of the D33 ultra which I was entertaining romantic notions about running next year, and I still might, but after running a bit less than half of it today I'm certainly under no illusions about the difficulty. Not that it's a difficult route - it's largely flat, with a nice bit of variety of terrain - but 33 miles out and back.... well, hats off to those who've done it

There were LOADS of people out along the path today, mainly cyclists (including a group of elderly people who were cycling barely faster than I was running) and several points where I had to dodge cyclists/walkers/dogs all converging on me. First time this year I have seen lots of people out in shorts/t-shirts/strappy tops (female)/no tops (male). Hardly any other runners, though. (Although I did see a shirtless one [male] at one point.) Was slightly annoyed by the people who walk three or four abreast on a not-that-wide path and show no signs of moving over just a little bit to allow me through. Not that I think I have right of way or anything, but it seems a bit rude to not even bother to acknowledge the approaching person.

I did get lots of smiles and nods from other cyclists/pedestrians though, probably amused by my bright red face and general air of knackeredness.

By the time I got to the familiar territory of "within a few miles of my house" I was feeling pretty wrecked, running out of water and finding it hard to get going again after the walk breaks (my knee seemed to stiffen up slightly while walking) and basically there was no way I was going to keep going for another 3 miles or so, so 14-and-a-bit it had to be. Will definitely do the 17 next week, though, as Edinburgh is starting to feel perilously close...

Distance: 14.19 miles
Time: 2:32:38

Splits:

# 10:07
# 10:09
# 10:14
# 10:05
# 10:25
# 10:41
# 11:08
# 10:36
# 11:50
# 10:23
# 11:23
# 11:47
# 10:51
# 10:48

Average pace: 10:45

*mops brow*

Keep on keeping on

2011-04-05T10:31:00.001+01:00

I was quite taken yesterday by this clip of 91-year-old Canadian athlete Olga Kotelko. I love the way expectations are challenged by seeing white-haired old ladies doing things you don’t really expect white-haired old ladies to be doing – running, jumping, throwing hammers, hugging each other in a celebratory fashion. Why does society assume sport is only for the young, or at least, the not-old? Olga is clearly remarkable in her achievements, but there are plenty of older people out there being far more active than the commonly-held beliefs might lead you to think, when we are largely inclined to view “the ageing population” en masse as a burden, unable to contribute to or participate in society. Admittedly, old age tends to be accompanied by physical and/or mental decline to a greater or lesser extent, but nonetheless many people do remain remarkably healthy mentally, physically or both.

I also like the way Olga says people keep asking her what her secret is and she says she doesn’t really have one, she just carries on from day to day. It seems to me that whenever someone over a certain age achieves, well, anything really, including continuing to exist after a certain point on the calendar, people always want – understandably I suppose – to know what their “secret” is. You see it in the paper, when there is an amazed piece about someone becoming a centenarian or running a marathon in their 80s or whatever, and usually it’s obvious that the person in question doesn’t really know how to answer. Because there probably isn’t one, really. Good genes tend to help, as may particular lifestyle choices, and avoiding being run over by a bus is generally a good tactic to employ, but none of those things are exactly well-kept secrets.

My lovely nana, Elsie, who died in 2009, two weeks short of her 102nd birthday, used to get quite embarrassed when people asked her what her secret was, because she never knew what to say. She wasn’t exactly an athlete, given that pie-making (she spent many years working in a bakery), tea-drinking and telly-watching never became Olympic sports, though she did pride herself on her ability to touch her toes when many people 20 years her junior could barely get out of a chair. Admittedly her toes weren’t very far down, as she was well under 5 feet tall in her later years. But anyway, she herself didn’t know what the secret of her long and mainly very healthy life was. Rather like Olga Kotelko, although less dramatically, the only thing she knew how to do was keep on keepin’ on*. It took her strong heart three days to finally give up on life after suffering a heart attack, and she died the way she’d always said she wanted – during the night in her own bed, her family (my mum and I) around her.

Age is a number, it doesn't have to define you.

*with apologies to Zimmerman, R.

Garioch Half Marathon Race Report

2011-03-20T19:06:00.006Z

I was a bit unsure about whether to run this, what with the dodgy knee-ness of the previous week or so, but on the other hand I really wanted to do it and the knee seemed a bit better on the Saturday, so I did. And yes, I am an idiot and yes, I am suffering for it now, but apart from a couple of sore spells the knee held up pretty well during the actual race.

It's put into perspective anyway by the horribly sad news that a 34 year old man collapsed and died after running the 10k which was also held on the same day. There's nothing really to be said about this which doesn't sound completely futile, but thoughts are with his friends and family.

The race itself was the first running for the half marathon, although a 10k has been held for several years. I did the 10k last year (only the second one I'd ever done) and it was a hot day then but yesterday was, I think, even hotter with several people apparently suffering from dehydration. Met up with various pals and people I knew from different places (Fetch/work/nursery), some of whom were doing the 10k and some the half. The half marathon started first and followed the same route as the 10k for a couple of miles before diverging at a junction. My fears about going the wrong way were unfounded as it was pretty clearly signposted even for someone with my legendarily poor sense of direction.

The race was mainly on country roads and was pretty hot and undulating, especially in the second half (killer hill at about 10 miles!), and there didn't seem to be a lot of shade. Given the temperature I decided to carry a water bottle with me and was glad I did. I later heard that quite a few people had suffered from dehydration. Knee held up pretty well until about 5 miles when it suddenly launched an unexpected attack and I had to stop and walk for a minute. This eased off quite quickly though and I was able to carry on running. The same thing happened twice more (downhills seemed to aggravate it which was annoying as I normally struggle through the uphills looking forward to the downhills, but I couldn't really do that!) but the pain never lasted long and apart from a couple of miles I managed to make quite good time for most of the way, finishing in 2:05:50 - a PB. Hopefully on a less hot and hilly course and without a sore knee, I could manage a quicker time, given that I ran the first 10k in not far off my 10k PB, and the first 10 miles seven minutes quicker than my current 10 mile PB! Shame I can't count it as an official PB.

I think the heat and difficulty of the course knocked a bit off everyone's potential times, but nevertheless everybody did really well.

Splits: 9:27 9:04 9:27 9:00 9:37 9:52 9:45 10:43 8:51 10:44 9:43 9:22 9:27
Average pace: 9:36

Long run reflections

2011-02-09T15:12:00.000Z

Week 3 of Edinburgh marathon training and longest run so far yesterday – still only 11 miles, but that’s the furthest I’ve run since, well, the last marathon (Loch Ness in October). It turned out I picked the right day for it, since on Monday it was snowing and today, while not too bad, it’s pretty damp and drizzly. Yesterday was cold and dry and not too windy, pavements OK apart from a couple of minor icy patches, good running weather for me and I really enjoyed the run. News Quiz followed by Marathon Talk on the MP3 player for entertainment purposes, and I was pleased to manage the distance without stopping (apart from at traffic lights a couple of times) or really being tempted to do so.

Points from today’s run:

- I have still not got to grips with the concept of a long SLOW run, as despite consciously trying to run more slowly I actually seem to be running faster (average pace of 9:44 today when the schedule says 10:40-11:20). I know I’ll almost certainly have to run more slowly when the miles start increasing to HM distance and beyond, though. Does it matter if I'm running "too fast" at the moment, if I feel comfortable at that pace?
- I need to get decent gloves! Since accidentally leaving my old gloves at the side of the road a few weeks back, I’ve been wearing some grey woolly ones and spent the entire run taking them off because my hands were too hot and putting them on again five minutes later because my hands were too cold.
- New batteries probably needed for HRM since it was all over the place again, up to 200 (?!) at one point and down to below 100 for no apparent reason. I really don't believe my heart rate is fluctuating that much when my pace was relatively consistent. Or if it is, there must be something wrong with me.

I was having a think while I was out about reasons for running (listening to a bit about "motivation" on Marathon Talk). There are lots of reasons why I’ve taken to running in a big way since first starting in 2009, enjoyment being the main one, but one I’ve never really put into words before is something to do with being an "older" mother. I’m not *that* ancient – 43 with a 4-year-old daughter, as well as a 19-year-old son – but equally nobody would refer to me as a young mum any more. I want to stay fit and healthy, and as young as possible for as long as possible, for my children/future grandchildren (!) and also hopefully provide a positive role model in some way, especially for my daughter. If I can give her the message, as she gets older, that sport and exercise can be enjoyable and positive pursuits for women and girls (even if you’re not particularly good at them, like me), that you can achieve something satisfying and worthwhile through persistence and hard work, and that there is far more to life than shopping, television and what you look like (because I’ve seen girls even at primary school for whom these are their major preoccupations), then I will be a happy mummy.

Distance: 11.01 miles
Time: 1:47:13
Average pace: 9:44

Splits:

10:12
10:10
9:48
9:51
9:55
9:29
9:28
9:42
9:38
9:30
9:25

Back on the track

2011-02-03T17:57:00.001Z

My second ever interval session on the ASV track today, and my first one on my own... I was literally on my own, as except for a couple of magpies and the odd seagull, the place was deserted! Marathon training schedule today dictated 8 x 400m intervals in 2 mins each with 2 mins recovery. After a mile's warm up, I did the 8 laps slightly quicker than the schedule said, though slightly slower than last week:

* 1:55
* 1:51
* 1:52
* 1:50
* 1:53
* 1:52
* 1:49
* 1:47

I was just aiming for under 2 minutes per lap so that was fine.

It was cold and very wild and windy especially on the "home" straight where I was running directly into a very strong wind! I have to say running laps of a track is not the most exciting activity. I had to distract myself by pretending I was a top affleet secretly training for a major event. Maybe next time I'll take my MP3 player for more realistic distraction. How does anyone manage to run a marathon on the track?! I worked out that on a 400m track it would be 105 laps... I did 16 in total today.

Then I did a timed mile just to see how fast I could manage it, I'm not letting on how fast that was though :P

The End.

2011-01-31T13:13:00.003Z

It's the end of Janathon! (Boo!) And the beginning of my marathon training! (Yay!)

Janathon has been an enjoyable and enlightening experience. I've loved reading people's blogs and have learned many new and interesting things, particularly about squirrels. I've marvelled at the amazing mileage achieved by some people. And I've loved running every day. It's been easier than I thought, actually, although there have been a few late nights hitting the treadmill when I couldn't get out during the day. But I've managed without *too* much difficulty (admittedly the last couple of days of feeling ill haven't been great) and I definitely feel stronger (even, maybe, very slightly faster) as a result of running every day.

I won't be continuing with daily runs - long-term, they're hard to fit in, and I think once I get well into my marathon training I'll be needing the rest days - but I can honestly say I'll miss them. Even the treadmill ones.

A million thanks to Cathy for superb Janathon organisation, especially as it has expanded so dramatically from previous Juneathons! I think Janathon can definitely be pronounced a success :)

Because I am an idiot, I looked at my marathon schedule this morning and immediately noticed that rather than being for 16 weeks as I had previously thought, it is in fact for 17 weeks. Oops. After a moment's panic I figured out this problem is easily solvable by simply beginning at week 2 instead, especially as week 1 called for a 7 mile run and an interval session, both of which I actually did anyway last week. Phew. Got off the mark today with a 30 minute easy run.

Today's stats:

Distance: 3.18 miles
Time: 30:24
Pace: 9:34

Dull Janathon statistics:

Total miles run: 131.07
Total running time: 21:12:05
Average pace: 9:42
Races: 2
PBs: 1
Calories burnt: 14,340
Elevation gain: 4,762ft
Longest run: 9.09 miles
Shortest run: 2.22 miles
Janathon days completed: 31/31 yippee!

Still lurgified

2011-01-30T16:09:00.005Z

Still not feeling fabulous today (sore throat, runny nose, blah blah blah) and was hmming and ha-ing about whether to go for a run. I had 10 miles planned for today and I kind of wanted to do it because it was bright and sunny out, though cold, and a lovely day for a run, but on the other hand I kind of didn't feel very energised what with the sore throat and blah blah blah. But then I thought well, it's the second last day of Janathon and it would be a shame to break the streak now, and I don't have to do 10 miles anyway since marathon training hasn't even started yet so I decided to just head out and see how I felt and maybe just do 2 or 3 miles.

Felt OK initially but I noticed my heart rate was right up and thought ooh, maybe that's because I'm not well, only then during the second mile it dropped right down and was much lower than usual, so I thought either I'm so ill I've actually died or else my HRM isn't working properly, and the latter seemed more likely (since I still haven't replaced the battery). So I disregarded the HR info after that and trundled along feeling not too bad really, along the road and up the hill and along the railway line (where I saw LOADS of other runners) and onto the main road and along the main road and down the steps back onto the other bit of railway line and thence home, and finished up doing 7 miles.

Day 30 stats;

Distance: 7.07 miles
Time: 1:09:38
Splits: 10:44, 9:46, 9:49, 9:53, 9:50, 9:3, 9:23
Average pace: 9:51

Total Janathon miles so far: 127.89

Lurgified

2011-01-29T19:42:00.004Z

Quick gallop (OK, trot) around somewhat undulating local 5k route today, as that was all I had time for due to impending tea-time visit of mother-in-law - am hoping to get out for 10 miles tomorrow, though. I woke up with a sore throat and runny nose this morning (I blame last night's red wine, which has clearly poisoned me), which has got slightly better over the course of the day but is still there. Felt OK during run, but very tired and lacking in oomph this evening. Am hoping missing energy has returned by the morning.

Day 29 stats:

Distance: 3.23 miles
Time: 30:16
Splits: 10:22, 9:09, 8:58, 1:46
Average pace: 9:22

Total Janathon miles so far: 120.82

Eat, drink, run

2011-01-29T17:18:00.003Z

Janathon day 28 was a day of much eating and drinking and not much running, since I went out both for my lunch (to Nando's) and my tea (to the local hotel) which is practically unprecedented in one day, and also during the latter had the biggest glass of red wine I've ever seen, which may not sound much to the hardened Janathon drinkers out there (I know you exist) but I am exceedingly poor at drinking these days and felt quite peculiar as a result. Anyway in between these mad whirls of social activity I managed to squeeze in a trip to the gym, which was quite busy, probably because I was there in the early evening rather than at dead of night (10pm) when I usually go, and ran yet another 5k-and-a-bit on the treadmill.

Day 28 stats:

Distance: 3.29 miles
Time: 30:17
Splits: 9:35, 9:07, 9:00, 2:34
Average pace: 9:12

Total Janathon miles so far: 117.59

Incidentally have now surpassed previous highest mileage month of 116 miles which was, amazingly enough, during Juneathon last year.

Wintervals

2011-01-27T12:14:00.008Z

Ah, Winterval, that eternal bête noire of the tabloid press, despite never having really existed, or at least not in the way they pretended it did. I have decided to reclaim the word and apply it instead to "intervals which take place when it is cold". Which today was.

We headed off to the outdoor track at Aberdeen Sports Village, which we had very much to ourselves apart from a couple of guys who were there at the very beginning and another one who came later and did a few terrifyingly fast 200m intervals. Oh, and a load of schoolchildren who all trooped through on their way to something else. But basically the track was ours. Felt very important and professional-affleet like, having a massive track all to ourselves, except when the fast guy was running about three times faster than we were.

I'd vaguely planned to run some 400m intervals at my goal 10k pace, which is currently about 8:45/mile as my goal for the year is to get under 55 minutes, but when we got there this seemed a bit unambitious particularly as we have another mile race coming up in Feb so after the first couple of laps I decided to aim for around 7-7:15 pace.

After a couple of laps warm up, I managed 8 x 400m intervals all in well under 2 minutes, as follows:

Time Pace
1 01:54 07:47
2 01:54 07:52
3 01:47 07:14
4 01:43 06:56
5 01:49 07:17
6 01:43 07:03
7 01:46 07:08
8 01:43 06:56

Now if only I could run at that pace for longer than 400 metres...

Had plenty of recovery time for the first 4 as we were chatting in between, but tried to do the second 4 a bit quicker with much less recovery time. Pace felt manageably hard, not flat out but pushing myself a bit. I really enjoyed it and am going to make more use of the track from now on, I think - v reasonably priced for off peak hours at £1.90 per person for an unlimited time.

Total miles today including warm-up: 2.54
Total Janathon miles so far: 114.3

New shoes + mud + no sense of direction

2011-01-26T15:54:00.005Z

Day 26 and hurrah! a new pair of trail shoes arrived in the post, courtesy of I Run Because I Love Food. Well, strictly speaking they arrived yesterday, but I was out at work, so the postman put a card through the door. Also on this card was a confession that he had accidentally put two other, smaller parcels through the door of a neighbour on the next street. Who happens to be on holiday. Grrrr. I'll have to do without my Graze box for a while then, and it was a particularly nice one too.

Anyway, I picked up the shoe parcel from the post office this morning in great excitement, and very nice they are too. I'm planning a longer trail run at the weekend to try them out properly as I'd only planned a short run this morning, but the shoes and I went on a little jaunt together up a muddy hill and along the path and then I departed from the path slightly to have a look at some building work (where there didn't seem to be much work going on but several men were sitting around in vans) and unfortunately like an idiot got slightly lost and finished up doing 2.87 muddy miles rather than the intended 2. Will write a detailed shoe review later once I've been on a longer run, but can report that they seemed to cope well with the churned up mud around the building site where no building was being done.

Day 26 stats:

Distance: 2.87
Time: 27:26
Pace: 9:34
Splits: 9:16, 10:13, 7:57

Total Janathon miles so far: 111.76
Plank record of the day: 45 seconds

Into the final week

2011-01-26T10:35:00.003Z

Lovely 6.6 mile day 25 run along a route I haven't done for a while - down the hill, over the roundabout, along the river and back up the railway line. It was a beautiful afternoon for a run and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Was quite pleased also to do the first 10k in under an hour, which I thought wasn't bad (a) for a training run which (b) included some (OK, slight) inclines, and (c) also included some stopping to cross the road. My 10k goal for this year is sub-55, though I need to find a race where that might just be doable, since the Balmoral 10k (best known as "the one with that bloody hill in it") certainly isn't going to be it.

It's the last week of Janathon! Though I start my marathon training on the 31st, so I'm not exactly going to be getting a rest from running, even if I won't be doing it every day. I think I'm going to miss running every day, actually. What will I do with all the free time? Well, there's always planks.... I'm now up to a mighty 40 seconds.

Day 25 stats:

Distance: 6.62 miles
Time: 1:03:18
Pace: 9:34
Splits:
* 10:16
* 9:21
* 9:30
* 9:40
* 9:31
* 9:28
* 5:33

Total Janathon miles run so far: 108.89

Core strength

2011-01-25T11:48:00.002Z

I’ve been forced to conclude that I don’t have any. Well, not much. Well, none, basically. I know this is bad. I just haven’t made much effort with it up to now. For the last couple of days I’ve been doing planks till I’m blue in the face (literally, almost) and I can hold them for a bit longer before collapsing in a quivering heap, though still not for long at all (I think 30 agonising seconds is my record so far, which is an improvement on the 5 seconds I managed the first time I tried) but blimey, they hurt. I think it’s doing me good, though. Even now, sitting at my desk, I can feel my stomach muscles aching, so something must be happening there.

Maybe it’s time to dig out and maybe even remove the plastic wrapper from the Core Fusion DVD I bought, er, over a year ago.

Weird treadmill run last night. Felt as if I was working really hard (and my HRM concurred) but only covered just over 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. Maybe they’ve changed the calibration of the treadmill. Or maybe, and admittedly this is the more likely explanation, I’m just knackered.

On the plus side, I’ve now done over 100 miles in January.

Day 24 stats:

Distance: 3.06 miles
Time: 30:08
Average pace: 9:50
Total Janathon miles so far: 102.27

Quiet heart

2011-01-23T15:36:00.005Z

I had 9 miles planned today, which would represent my longest run in quite some time. I dug out my heart rate monitor, also for the first time in ages, and made the decision that today I was going to do my best to not think about pace at all and just concentrate on keeping my heart rate at a manageable level. This is because while I *know* I should be running slower on long runs especially during marathon training, that it's not so much about pace as about time on feet, I have an awful habit of continually looking at my Garmin and thinking I was quicker than this last time and I really should speed up a bit.

To this end I set my watch to show heart rate only and set off along the railway line, my intention being to check distance only occasionally (so I knew at what point to turn back) and to check pace not at all. This worked pretty well, actually (with another episode of Marathon Talk on my MP3 player to provide distraction) and while my heart rate did drift very gradually upwards as the miles went on, I managed to keep it at a reasonable level most of the time. Had a really pleasant and comfortable run (if wet, muddy and still icy in places), enjoying views over the fields and later the river, never felt particularly tired or inclined to stop, and was quite surprised to find at the end that my pace was still a fairly respectable (for me) long run pace of 10:12/mile.

Today's stats:

Distance: 9.09 miles
Time: 1:32:42
Splits:
* 10:32
* 9:54
* 10:00
* 10:23
* 10:17
* 10:23
* 10:39
* 10:00
* 9:50

Average pace: 10:12

Total Janathon miles so far: 99.21

Podcasting

2011-01-22T17:45:00.002Z

Today's run was soundtracked by the latest episode of Marathon Talk, a podcast by Martin Yelling and, er, another bloke whose name escapes me, which I had heard of but never listened to before. Was quite interesting, featuring a long interview with Liz McColgan (former Commonwealth gold medallist, winner of various marathons), whose place now is just over from where I used to work a few years ago in Carnoustie. (Sometimes known as "Car-snooty" due to it being quite an affluent area.) There are 54 episodes to listen to and they seem to go on forever, over an hour anyway, so that should keep me going for the foreseeable future.

I'm hoping to get out for a longer run tomorrow but today's was just a quick 4-miler. It had been intended as an even quicker 3 miler, but I decided on the spur of the moment, because I'm just such an exciting and spontaneous type, to do something which I for some reason never normally do and turn left up the hill (that'll be the reason) rather than right at a particular junction, and that added a bit more onto the distance. So it finished up as

Distance: 4.19 miles
Time: 39:02
Splits: 10:06, 9:24, 9:22, 8:45, 1:26
Average pace: 9:19

Total Janathon miles run so far: 90.12

(21 days of) Janathon

2011-01-21T11:05:00.004Z

Thought I would do a little end-of-week-3 Janathon review.

Running every day has been going quite well, really. I don't feel unduly tired. I don't ache. I think I have more energy, in fact, and am warming up into my runs more quickly. Admittedly I haven't done any particularly long runs - 8 miles has been the longest so far - but I'm thinking I will have more than my fill of long runs once my Edinburgh Marathon training starts at the end of January, so it's just a case of ticking over at the moment. I haven't done any runs of less than 2 miles so far in January and most have been 3 or more, which is an improvement on Juneathon last year when quite a few runs were a mile-and-a-bit.

Running every day hasn't felt especially arduous, although there have been mornings like this one when I felt lethargic and disinclined to head out of the door - but it's always fine when I get going. Finding the time is a bit of a challenge, and blogging every day is definitely a challenge! I'm in awe of the people like Shazruns who get up in the wee small hours of the morning to go out for several mile runs and then come back and blog it. I don't think I could ever run at that time of day, and if I did it would probably wipe me out for the rest of the day. At least.

Today did a quick out-and-back 5k (and a bit) along the railway line after dropping daughter off at nursery. Ran the 5k in 29 minutes, which I was quite pleased with given that the first bit was uphill and I had to pick my way slowly across a few still-icy bits. Did not see any wildlife apart from a couple of dogs taking their owners out for a walk.

Distance: 3.16 miles
Time: 29:27
Splits: 9:43, 9:19, 9:11, 1:14
Average pace: 9:19

Total Janathon miles run so far: 85.93
Total Janathon running time so far: 13:58:13
Average Janathon pace: 9:45
Juneathon day 21 equivalent distance: 80.37 (running time 13:10:27)

Parklife

2011-01-20T14:34:00.003Z

Very pleasant trot around Hazlehead Park with running friend today. Sunny, but very cold. We are thinking about possibilities of getting a parkrun started in Aberdeen (which would be ACE) although there are a few hitches. Hazlehead would definitely be my preferred location, though, as there are miles of trails over a variety of terrain, a few up and down inclines but nothing too terrifying, and it's widely used by runners. In fact we saw lots today, including a bunch of unenthusiastic looking teenagers who looked like they were on a PE lesson and didn't think much of it.

I usually run on my own but it's nice to have company for once and not have to think about how fast I'm going. We did just over 5 miles at a pretty (well, very) slow pace, but it was fine. And Maggiee will no doubt be relieved to hear that we saw NO SQUIRRELS. Not a single one.

The campaign is working!

Day 20 stats:

Distance: 5.15 miles
Time: 58:20
Average pace: 11:18

Total Janathon miles so far: 82.77

Another day, another 5k on the treadmill...

2011-01-20T09:24:00.003Z

Back in the gym for day 19 Juneathon effort. It wasn't as busy as Monday, in fact there weren't many people there at all. I'm starting to think I should make an effort to pick one treadmill and try to use it every time, though, since I swear all six of them are calibrated differently and 5k on one bears little relation to 5k on another. Of course, if I do do this, sod's law will inevitably dictate that every time I go, my chosen 'mill will be occupied by somebody walking very slowly for ages. Bring on the lighter nights when I won't have to go to the gym in order to run in the evening and can use it for cross-training like wot I intended when I joined. Having said that, though, I'm kind of enjoying the dreadmill when I use it, although I wouldn't want to be on it every day. I'm doing around 5k of intervals (including a warm-up), at between around 6.6mph and 7mph for the intervals and then down to 6mph for the recovery.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to do more cross-training, but I've been very poor at sticking to that one. Have done a bit (and I mean a bit) of weight training in the gym, and an even smaller bit of "Yoga for Runners" from my book, and, er, that's about it. I even bought some weights to use at home, but I haven't used them much so far. When I start my marathon schedule at the end of January, it dictates 1 or 2 days cross-training per week, so hopefully that will give me a bit more motivation to actually do some. Hopefully.

Day 19 stats:

Distance: 3.3 miles
Time: 30:06
Average pace: 9:07
Total Janathon miles so far: 77.61

Current weight: 9st 11
Total weight loss: 8lb (but am ravenous today for some reason)

Happy runner

2011-01-19T08:34:00.002Z

Day 18's Janathon effort was a very pleasant 6.5 mile run around a loop I haven't done for a while - down the old railway line (now largely ice-free, though there were still a few dodgy patches) to Duthie Park, and back up the main road. I took it easy, but was pleased to find that the "hill" (not much of one, really) around halfway which used to terrorise me and send my heart rate skyrocketing when I ran this route as part of my marathon training (even when I was only a few miles into a long run) now seemed like no big deal whatsoever. I did run slower up it, but it didn't feel like particularly hard work. So maybe I am getting fitter. Generally felt good today, particularly in the last couple of miles. I love running on days like this.

Must get my HRM back into action, though. Last time I used it, which was a while ago, it was all over the place and recording silly figures (I seem to remember 240!) and I figured it needed a new battery, but have yet to get around to replacing it. Mission for this week: buy new battery for HRM. ("Putting the battery in" might be too ambitious, I'll settle for buying it...)

Day 18 stats:

Distance: 6.52 miles
Time: 1:04:41
Splits:
* 10:49
* 9:56
* 9:57
* 10:32
* 9:56
* 9:08
* 4:22

Average pace: 9:55

Total Janathon miles run so far: 74.31
Janathon days completed: 18/31

Running on the spot

2011-01-18T08:25:00.002Z

Just a quick blog post this morning, as I didn't get around to blogging after the gym last night. Yes, it was back to the dreadmill for me, as I had no chance to get out during the day, so off I went to the gym to investigate whether the January influx continued apace or whether they had started flagging yet. There were still quite a few people there, not as many as last time, but more than usual for 9pm on a Monday... The only other person on the treadmills, though, was the same Chinese man I saw last time, still wearing loads of clothes (shirt, warm-looking sweatshirt, long trousers). If I tried to run for even 5 minutes in all those clothes, in the already warm gym, I would probably faint. It didn't seem to bother him though.

Ran 5k-and-a-bit on the treadmill. I know it's not what people usually say, but I find the treadmill much harder work than running outside. I think it's a combination of there being nothing to look at except my own increasingly beetroot-like reflection in the mirror (why do they have to put mirrors there?), it being hot in the gym with no breeze to cool you down so you sweat more, and the fact that I'm convinced those treadmills are not accurately calibrated... Whatever the reason, running at a similar pace to outside feels like much harder work.

I quite enjoyed it, though.

Day 17 stats:

Distance: 3.34 miles
Time: 30:11
Average pace: 9:02
Splits: 9:26
8:55
8:48

Total Janathon miles so far: 67.79

Eight miles high. (Or not)

2011-01-15T14:35:00.003Z

I decided to have a go at 8 miles today, since I haven't done any runs of longer than about 10k since [checks back] November *gulp* and it's about time I started building up my distance again if marathon training isn't going to come as a complete shock to the system. To be honest I already can't remember how it felt to do 18-20 mile runs during last year's marathon training, because a measly 8 today felt like hard work. I did get into more of a rhythm after the first few hillyish miles and started to quite enjoy it around half way, but I wouldn't say it was one of my better runs. Legs felt heavy for a fair bit of the time and I just didn't have that much energy. Maybe Janathon is finally catching up with me. Or maybe it's just one of those days.

Had a look at last year's Juneathon Day 15 for comparison purposes and it was interesting to see that on that day I ran 11 miles, my furthest ever run at that point, as part of my half-marathon training. Amazing to think I've run a whole marathon since then. I also tried my first energy gel on that day, and they didn't taste any nicer then than they do now.

Have signed up for a half marathon in March - I ran the 10k there last year, but have no idea what the half will be like. It should fit nicely into my Edinburgh Marathon training, though. Even if after today, the thought of running 13 miles - let alone 26.2 - seems quite far away.

On the positive side, most of the ice has gone :)

Today's stats:

Distance: 8.11 miles
Time: 1:20:37
Splits: * 10:40
* 10:52
* 9:47
* 9:43
* 9:16
* 9:47
* 9:42
* 9:54

Average pace: 9:56

Total Janathon miles run so far: 62.23 (which is already 20 miles more than I ran in THE WHOLE OF January last year despite being only halfway through!)

Thinking ahead

2011-01-14T11:16:00.001Z

The end of Janathon (though at just under halfway through, that's still feeling like some time away) should segue nicely into the beginning of my marathon training, about which I have been doing some thinking. Suddenly 22 May doesn't seem *that* far away, all things considered, and I need to decide which 16-week schedule I'm going to follow. Although at the moment I'm worrying more about transport and accommodation arrangements than the actual race itself.

I'm seriously considering attempting a sub-4:30 schedule. This may sound foolishly ambitious given that my current PB (in my only marathon so far) is 4:55:07, but bear in mind that (a) that was on a hilly course and Edinburgh is fairly flat (though heat may be a problem); and (b) my 10k and half-marathon PBs (the latter also on a hilly course) suggest that sub-4:30 shouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for me. I've had a look at a schedule, and it looks doable for me in terms of the suggested paces and distances. Any thoughts would be welcome!

Just an easy 3 mile run today, along the road and back, due to limited time. Not too much ice apart from that which seems to extend in a half-mile radius from my house in all directions.

Distance: 3.02 miles
Time: 28:07
Average pace: 9:19
Splits: 9:59, 9:19, 8:38

Total Janathon miles so far: 54.12
Juneathon Day 14 equivalent: 51.49 miles

Unlucky 13

2011-01-13T13:46:00.003Z

[rant]
Why is all this ice still here? Why? Why? It's not even *that* cold any more but there are still great bloody lethal sheets of the stuff exactly where I want to run. GRRRR. I blame David Cameron. And Nick Clegg. I'm sure I can find some way of making it their fault if I try hard enough.

I thought I would venture on to the old railway line path today because the last time I attempted a run there was a few days ago and the ice seemed to be retreating slightly and I thought it might have retreated a bit more. But no. It was worse. I was skidding about all over the place, grabbing onto branches, barely managing to stay on my feet, barely managing to avoid bursting into tears at the sheer frustration of the whole enterprise. Saw one other person, a cyclist who was going even more slowly than I was and cursing all the way.

GO AWAY ICE.

(Note to the weather gods: this does not mean I want more snow instead.)

[/rant]

Stats:

Distance: 2.26 miles (had planned 3 or 4 but thought "sod this, I'm going home" after two icy miles)
Time: 22:10 (included much slipping, stumbling, skidding and swearing)
Average pace: 9:48
Total Janathon distance so far: 51.1 miles

Twelfth night

2011-01-13T08:29:00.005Z

No chance of getting out during the day yesterday, and running over black ice in the dark sounded like an even worse idea than doing so during the hours of daylight, so it was back to the gym. Which was fuller than I've ever seen it. The fabled January rush at last? I counted 12 people in the cardio room at the same time as me (it's not a huge gym) which is, in my experience, remarkably busy. Luckily there was only one other person on the treadmills, so I was able to get my run in, overlooked from behind all the while by a line of people on bikes. By the time I finished, though, they had all mysteriously vanished, perhaps sick of looking at my backside?

It suddenly occurred to me that it would be interesting (or maybe not) to compare Janathon's statistics with last year's Juneathon statistics, so I went back for a look at last year's day 12 blog, which was a very dull one, rather like today's in fact, and I learned that after the 12th day of Juneathon I had run 44.4 miles in 7 hours 15 minutes and 20 seconds, so it looks like I'm ahead for the moment, though not by much.

Today's stats:

Distance: 3.26 miles
Time: 30:14
Average pace: 9:16
Total Janathon miles so far: 48.84
Total Janathon running time so far: 7:53:08

Slip sliding

2011-01-11T15:39:00.004Z

A very pleasant, if cold, 6 mile trot around the local area today, apart from the bit where I slipped on some ice, nearly fell into the path of oncoming traffic and had to hang on to a wall to save myself from potential death, and the bit when I rounded the corner onto the bottom of our road, slipped again and had to grab onto a parked white van (luckily empty of white van men). Managed to avoid death but not embarrassment. Yes, there is still ice around. Most of the pavements are OK but then you get bits which are just terrible. The big piles of ice aren't too bad, at least you can see them and take evasive action, but the patches of black ice are lethal.

Apart from that, an enjoyable, undulating run incorporating a couple of minor hills and some nice downhill stretches.

Stats:

Distance: 6.23 miles
Time: 1:00:28
Splits:* 10:47
* 9:59
* 9:29
* 9:17
* 9:34
* 9:27
* 1:54
Average pace: 9:42
Total Janathon miles so far: 45.58

Gym'll fix it

2011-01-11T10:08:00.003Z

A late day 10 blog for me – was unable to get out during the day yesterday, so it was back to the gym and the treadmill in the evening. When I went in I could see loads of people in there through the glass wall (plus a glamorous looking young woman in full makeup and brand-new-looking gear having an induction chat in reception with one of the staff) and I thought ooh, this must be the January influx, I hope I don’t have to wait for a treadmill. But by the time I had changed, most of them had mysteriously evaporated and the treadmills were empty except for two women at the end having a gentle stroll and a nice chat. They quickly disappeared too and I had the place to myself apart from a bloke on the cross-trainer at the other end, oh and one man who came in, walked on the treadmill next to mine for 0.05 mile then clearly thought (probably understandably) “I can’t be bothered with this” and left again.

I thought I might be a bit tired following the previous day’s 10k (I know 10k shouldn’t tire me out too much but most of my recent running has been shorter distances) but actually I felt fine. Didn’t want to push it though – as I think the key to Janathon completion, as it was with Juneathon, will be not overdoing it – and ran just over 5k in 30 minutes.

Hope to get out for 5-6 miles later today, although have already found the pavements to be perilous in places (bit of alliteration for you there, partially perilous pavements) so hoping I can find a reasonable stretch and get my run in without fracturing anything.

Official results still not up from Sunday’s 10k.

Day 10 stats (a third of the way through, just about!):

Distance: 3.27 miles
Time: 29:59
Average pace: 9:10
Total Janathon miles so far: 39.35

Aberdeen Beach Front 10km Christmas Canter: Race Report

2011-01-09T17:54:00.009Z

Another Sunday, another 10k (the second of the year so far, and it's only the 9th of January) and today it was the postponed "Christmas" Canter in aid of MENCAP which was supposed to take place in December, but was prevented by the weather. It's basically a gallop, canter or trot, depending on your speed, along the upper and lower proms of Aberdeen beach, which is flat and quite boring but good for PBs (I got my last 10k PB of 57:43 there in June last year). The weather was still very cold and icy today but luckily the race route was fairly ice-free.

I woke up with a sore throat this morning so wasn't expecting to do tremendously well but was looking forward to it anyway as I was planning on meeting a few pals there (some running and some supporting). It's a pretty small and low key, no-frills event and there was not a huge field of runners (especially given the weather) but I am rubbish at estimating numbers so won't attempt it. I set off near the back at a reasonably easy pace - there were no kilometre markers (I said it was no-frills!) so I was relying on my Garmin for pacing. Did the first mile in 9:24 (bit slow), the second in 9:03 and the third in 9:02. Spent most of the way trying to work out in my head whether I was on course for a PB! I thought I probably was. During the second 5k I found myself gradually overtaking people (the field had thinned out greatly so we were fairly widely distributed) which was satisfying and I was happy that except at the very beginning, nobody overtook me the whole way. There was one woman who I was more or less level with during the 3rd and 4th km but I managed to leave her behind at around the 5k mark. I was also greatly cheered by the presence of our 3 supporters at 2 points along the route, it's amazing how motivating a bit of encouragement can be!

Did the 4th mile in 9:09, the 5th in 9:17 (flagging a bit by this stage)and the 6th in 9:04. It seemed an awfully long way to the finish line, or rather red line on the ground which I couldn't even see so I didn't actually know where the finish line was, though all the people standing around gave it away a bit. I was delighted however with a PB of, according to my watch (no official results yet and no clock at the finish either) 56:55.

One of our number, who is in the F50 category, won the entire women's race in an amazing time of 41:39, which wasn't even a PB for her, just brilliant!

My goal for this year is a sub-55 PB which would entail taking 20 seconds per mile off my time... doable? Not sure. My longer term goal is a 10k PB which is lower than my age :) Currently trying to figure out in how many years this might be possible....

Stats:

Distance: 6.2 miles
Time: 56:55
Average pace: 9:10
Total Janathon miles so far: 36.08

Would you like more ice with that? No thanks.

2011-01-08T15:11:00.004Z

Had planned an easy few miles today ahead of tomorrow's 10k (assuming it's on) - well, it was a few miles (3 and a bit to be precise) but it wasn't easy, thanks to underfoot conditions which were even worse than yesterday! Another load of snow last night didn't help. I set off along the same route as yesterday, then turned the other way along the railway line, intending to extend my run a bit before turning round for home. However, after half a mile of ice during which I continually felt my feet slipping under me, expended more energy staying upright than moving forward and frequently had to run on the grass verge which was also far from ideal, there was no way I was retracing my steps so I decided to keep going to the point where the path meets the road and run back home along the road instead. So that's what I did. Unfortunately this involves a big hill - well, not that big really, but it looked big and it felt big to me today - and the pavements still weren't great so I often had to run in the road. Made it home alive, somehow.

Just for interest, I've been thinking of having a fitness assessment done at the plush new Sports Village. I thought it would be enlightening to see what it comes up with. Anyone had something similar?

Today's stats:

Distance: 3.19 miles
Time: 33:14
Average pace: 10:25
Janathon miles so far: 29.87

Slippery people

2011-01-07T09:23:00.004Z

Janathon day 7 - first week completed!

Since I was doing intervals on the treadmill less than 12 hours ago (and have a 10k race on Sunday), I decided a short and gentle plod would be in order this morning. Or, given the state of the pavements, possibly a not-so-gentle skate, or, if I'm unlucky, a decidedly ungentle fall on the behind. I dropped the little one off at nursery, put on all my luminous gear again and headed out into the freezing cold with some trepidation.

First bit didn't seem too bad, but it rapidly got worse, and I had to go very slowly indeed to avoid the risk of an unplanned bum/pavement encounter. When I got to the relevant point, and on the basis that it couldn't possibly be any worse, I decided to run up the path past the allotments and see what the old railway line path (usually one of my favourite routes but a no-go area in recent weeks due to the weather) was like. It wasn't too bad at first sight but I soon discovered that large stretches were fairly lethal. I managed to keep going and remain vertical by running at the very edge of the path where the ice was slightly - though only slightly - less treacherous. (Incidentally this description of roads as being "treacherous" always amuses me a bit, as if the roads had promised not to do something and then gone and done it anyway. Kind of like the Liberal Democrats, really.)

After a mile or so on the path I left it to run down a steep road (that bit was VERY slow) and back along the quiet road which luckily was OK to run in the middle of as you can hear any cars coming from a distance, and home to complete a very slow 2-and-a-bit mile loop. On the positive side, my legs felt fine, and it was lovely and peaceful out without a soul around. Clearly nobody else is foolish enough to go out in these conditions when they don't have to!

Stats:

Distance: 2.14 miles
Time: 23:06
Average pace: 10:48
Total Janathon miles so far: 26.68

Weighty matters

2011-01-06T10:17:00.004Z

Janathon has come at a good time for me (weather conditions notwithstanding) because not only does it get me off to a good start for my planned 1000-in-2011, but I’m also properly trying, for pretty much the first time in my life, to lose some weight. I’m not overweight – 5’7 and 10st 5, BMI of about 22.7) but I am, or was, about a stone over what I used to be and what I would like to be . (That’s what having a baby at nearly 40 does for your figure… the weight just didn’t come off the way it did when I had my first child at 23, regardless of how much breastfeeding I did. Which was a lot.) Anyway four years on the extra weight is still there, mostly around my middle where it seems to have settled in and made itself comfy. I think it’s definitely time for it to go. Plus I might run faster if I was a bit lighter… well, you never know.

I started a couple of weeks before Christmas (yeah, I know) logging my food intake and exercise on www.myfitnesspal.com . I don’t think my diet generally is that bad – I don’t really have a taste for sweet things or (much) junk food - but I probably eat too much. Especially bread. I love bread. I make my own and I find it very hard to resist scoffing it in large quantities. Running, even when I was marathon training, hasn’t had any effect, so I could only conclude that my calorie intake was too high.

Finding out for the first time how many calories are in things has been an interesting experience and logging what I actually eat has definitely made me think before reaching for a snack. I’ve cut down (without drastically changing) what I eat, and so far have lost about 6lb, taking me below 10 stone for the first time in four years! Of course, the extra running necessitated by Janathon won’t do any harm, either…

Anyway, I had planned an outside run today but (a) pavements like sheets of ice and (b) the little one's playgroup not being on meant I was back in the gym instead, where they must have got well and truly sick of the sight of me over the last couple of months. Ran for 40 minutes on the treadmill and felt good. In fact, around the third mile I actually started to feel quite euphoric, not an emotion I normally expect to experience on the treadmill. I do love running.

I hope the ice is gone tomorrow though.

Stats:

Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 39:58
Average pace: 9:31
Total Janathon miles so far: 24.54

Learning to love the dreadmill

2011-01-05T20:15:00.002Z

Didn't manage to get out for a run at a reasonable time today so instead I went to the gym in the evening to pound the treadmill for a while. I'm having a disorganised day and I didn't realise till I got there that I'd forgotten my Garmin. You might think a Garmin would be unnecessary for running on the treadmill, what with being indoors and all, and you would be right, but I like to use a footpod when treadmilling and it's interesting to see how the distance measured by the footpod compares with the distance measured by the treadmill (they're not identical). However I am not a sad person who cannot run without a Garmin attached to my wrist, no no, definitely not, and I didn't even consider going home to get it... well, only briefly.

Actually I really enjoyed my run on the treadmill and I didn't even look longingly at my left wrist very often. When I got there the gym was pretty quiet (I don't know where all those January people are, maybe they have already given up?) and only one of the 6 treadmills was in use. It was occupied by a big beefy guy in a singlet who was (and I swear this is true) running while leaning forward and literally hugging the front of the treadmill. I mean literally. His arms were around the front of it and his legs were running. Maybe this is some new treadmill technique in which I am as yet unversed, but it looked very odd. He carried on like this for about two minutes, walked for about 10 seconds, then scooted off out of the room. Maybe he thought I was giving him funny looks, or admiring his singlet, or something. Then another bloke came in and ran for five minutes while holding on to the side rails. I don't know what the experts have to say about this but it doesn't look right to me. It's not as if you have side rails when you're out running in the great outdoors, after all.

Anyway apart from these small diversions I was alone in the gym and I did some (not very fast) quarter-mile intervals for 35 minutes, and covered 3.53 miles by which you may deduce that my intervals were indeed not very fast, but that did include a warm up and cool down, and rather to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then I did a little (and I mean a little) on the weights machines, which I really don't use enough because I'm not very good at them. My legs are reasonably strong from all the running but my upper body is pretty feeble. I know that's a reason to do more strength training rather than less, and I do plan to start doing more.

Garmin-less stats:

Time: 35:00
Distance: 3.53 miles
Average pace: 9:55
Total Janathon distance so far: 20.34 miles

Whoops there goes another year...

2011-01-04T18:16:00.004Z

Day 4 of Janathon today, which takes us, um, about an eighth of the way through? (Disadvantage of Janathon over Juneathon: 31 is much less easy than 30 to work out percentages of.) It's also, though obviously far less importantly, my birthday. Yay! I'm 43, which sounded a bit depressing, but then I thought that if I live till 86, which seems perfectly feasible looking at the rest of my family and the great ages they tend to achieve - the women, anyway - I'm still only halfway through my life and not even halfway through my adult life, which was a much more cheering thought. Also takes me one step nearer to my grand plan of continuing running until I'm so old I'm the only person left in my age category at races and might therefore actually win a prize.

Anyway I had planned 6 miles today but what with the need to entertain and dole out cake to visiting relatives (I wasn't allowed to make my own birthday cake, so had a pink Disney Princess one from Sainsbury's instead, chosen by guess who), time was short and I only managed 5-and-a-bit. I did get to use my nice new birthday Brooks hi-vis gilet from Run4it though, which I was quite impressed with, though I did initially feel a bit as if I was about to go and dig up a road. It will certainly get me seen, though, which I guess is the main idea. It was very light and comfortable to wear, has pockets which is always nice and even a little inner pocket for your MP3 player, although I didn't discover this until I got home and hence didn't use it. I did look a bit like an explosion in a paint factory with my blue long-sleeved top, purple gloves and fluorescent gilet, but never mind. I didn't overheat, which was my main concern as I do tend to warm up very quickly when I run and hence hate wearing too much. I'm always amazed by the people I see out running in big jackets etc.

Also a word of praise for Run4it who had exceptionally fast delivery (ordered in the afternoon, arrived by courier the following morning) and even threw in a free packet of jelly beans. Good service.

After yesterday's icy experience I decided to do a loop starting by running up the hill and leaving the icy bit till last. The icy bit wasn't quite as bad as yesterday, though still hazardous in places, and it was an enjoyable (and highly visible, just as well given the dark and drizzly weather) run.

Stats:

Distance: 5.1 miles
Time: 50:18
Splits: * 10:51 (up the hill!)
* 10:04
* 9:17
* 10:00 (up another hill)
* 9:15
* 0:50
Average pace: 9:52

Just bimbling along

2011-01-03T15:45:00.003Z

What with having done a 10k yesterday and, more to the point, the fact that it has rained all day today, I decided to opt for a leisurely 2 mile out-and-back bimble along the bottom road to Garthdee. This turned out to be a less than amazing idea as that road seems to be the only one where the pavement is, despite the rain, still extremely icy, resulting in pretty hazardous running conditions. Well, it was either that or run in the road, which is hazardous for different and obvious reasons. I managed to totter precariously along on the pavement for most of the way, with the occasional foray onto the edge of the road when it got too un-navigable. Also got drenched twice by passing cars, I prefer to assume accidentally.

Hope tomorrow is a drier day.

Stats:

Distance: 2.12 miles
Time: 21:59
Splits: 11:11, 9:49, 0:59
Average pace: 10:23

Lumphanan Detox 10k: Race Report

2011-01-02T16:29:00.004Z

Was looking forward to this race, which is billed as Scotland's first road 10k of the year, which I presume it is, not that I've conducted any research to verify it or anything. Had a bit of a mass turnout of people from Fetch who live vaguely locally, either running or supporting, which was fab. *wave*

Being on 2nd January it's called the "detox" 10k, though having had a fairly sedate New Year I wasn't particularly toxed in the first place. I was more worried about the hill and what with that and not having done any runs longer than 5 miles for a while, I wasn't expecting a good time and was happy to be within or just over the hour. Due to the conditions underfoot because of recent weather, the route was changed slightly to remove the off-road section, which had the unfortunate side-effect of resulting in having to run up another hill back into Lumphanan at around the 8k mark. Boo!

Even more unfortunately, it turned out that Lumphanan had no water :-O presumably due to frozen/burst pipes, which must have been a nightmare for the organisers and resulted in the obvious problems for the usual pre-race toilet visits. Flushing was, shall we say, somewhat occasional. There was some discussion about whether the race should have been cancelled as a result of the water issue, but it was either too late for them to cancel or they just decided to go ahead anyway.

The race kicked off at 11.30, and was immediately uphill, which continued for nearly the first 2k - the first kilometre was the steepest, though, and I was pleased that I managed to run the whole thing as I was totally expecting to walk some of it. Still, thanks to the uphill the first mile was a pretty slow 11:52! The gradient eased off a bit in the second kilometre, but was still uphill, then began a much pleasanter long descent! (At the top of the hill someone shouted "It's all downhill after this!" which as usual turned out to be a big lie.) I managed the second mile in 9:04, the third in 8:54 and the fourth in 8:56 (hurrah for downhills). The view over the snow-covered fields was lovely, and the underfoot conditions weren't too bad apart from a few icy patches where you had to watch your footing, but mostly it was fine. Then came the climb back into Lumphanan, courtesy of the changed route, resulting in a fifth mile of 10:08, though I managed to regain a little bit of time with a sixth mile of 9:07.

The kilometre markers were a bit dodgily positioned, especially the 10k mark which for some mysterious reason was about 200m before the finish (thanks for that), meaning that you passed it, ran on, turned a corner expecting the finish to be right there but it was still what felt at the time like ages away (it wasn't). I was neck and neck at the corner with another woman, but managed to find a burst of speed from somewhere to burn her off at the finish :) and finished in, according to my watch, 59:16 - about a minute and a half over my PB, but I was glad to be under the hour. (My watch also said it was 9.91km rather than 10, but everyone else seemed to find the distance to be correct if not slightly long, so I don't know where the other 0.09km went - I swear I didn't take any short cuts.)

The soup in the village hill after the race was welcome, even if the toilets still weren't working! And we got a nice t-shirt with a picture of an exhausted-looking detoxing runner on it, though no medal.

All in all a fab morning out and a nice start to the racing year.

Stats:

Distance: 6.16 miles (see above)
Time: 59:16
Average pace: 9:37 (mainly thanks to the slow first mile!)
Best pace according to Mr Garmin: 6:08 (gulp)

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

2011-01-01T13:29:00.005Z

..Or a few thousand steps. I'm planning on completing 1,000 miles in 2011, so the journey starts here.

Happy New Year everyone! Had a pretty sedate night last night and got Janathon off to a good start with a really enjoyable 3 and a bit mile run this morning, ahead of tomorrow's 10k. I've been treadmilling a fair bit lately what with the weather (snow alone can be manageable off road, but the ice which has prevailed over the past couple of weeks has rendered most surfaces unrunnable). However most of the pavements - though not the paths, which are horrendous - are now largely clear apart from a few isolated icy and slushy patches, and I managed a satisfying, if cold, out-and-back run along the main road. Would happily have gone further, but my training hasn't been that great lately and I didn't want to overdo it before tomorrow, which I suspect is going to be a bit of a struggle anyway (there's a big hill at the beginning, although lots of downhill thereafter). But since I haven't done more than about 5 miles in nearly a month, I'm not expecting a great time.

I did feel really energised and positive today, though - probably because I was running outside in the fresh air rather than in the hot and sweaty gym with the crappy music and nothing to look at but my own hot and sweaty reflection in the mirror - so the month, and the year, feel like they're off to a good start.

Today's stats:

Distance: 3.43 miles
Time: 32:41
Average pace: 9:32

Happy Hogmanay, and Janathon thoughts

2010-12-31T16:44:00.005Z

My first full year of running (only started part-way through 2009) is nearly at an end and it's been a pretty good year all in all - first marathon, first half, first 10-mile race (that one didn't go terribly well), and PBs at all distances. Still not fast, but not last either, and hoping to see some improvements in 2011.

Recent weather conditions have forced me into the gym, where I've been learning to love the treadmill... well, "love" is putting it a bit strongly. "Hate a bit less" would be more accurate. It's not my first preference, and contrary to what many people seem to find, it always feels like much harder work than outside, but it has its plus points, a non-slippery running surface being a key one.

Gearing up now for Janathon and I think this is going to be a challenge. Having successfully completed and enjoyed Juneathon last year (I came 3rd! I won a prize!) I signed up for Janathon without too much thought, basically thinking it would be more of the same. But it won't be more of the same, because Juneathon was in June when the weather was OK and the evenings were light and I could fit in some shorter runs late in the evening, and Janathon is in January when it gets dark half way through the day and the weather is uniformly horrible (not necessarily a problem in itself, except when outdoor conditions are actually unrunnable in, which has been the case for much of December). So given that running on the spot while waiting for the kettle to boil probably doesn't count, fitting in daily runs could well prove to be an even greater challenge.

I like a challenge though.

Happy New Year, however you choose to spend it.

Goals for 2011

2010-12-29T10:36:00.002Z

I don't know how realistic these goals are, but you’ve got to have a target in mind, right? :-) I got PBs across the board in 2010 (not that difficult since it was the first time I'd done some, OK most, distances) so it would be lovely to do the same in 2011.

So here are mine for 2011:

* Sub-55 10k (current PB 57:43. I’m not sure how plausible this one is, to be honest.)
* Sub-2:05 half (current PB 2:10:20 - I would love to say sub-2 hours but I think that may be beyond my reach at the moment)
* Sub-4:45 marathon (current PB 4:55:07 - I think this is definitely doable… I hope. The 4:55 – set at Loch Ness in October, which was my first marathon – is a bit of a soft PB, I think. Hopefully I can reduce it at Edinburgh in May. As long as it’s not too hot, as it apparently has been in previous years. I'd much, much rather run in the freezing cold than in the heat.)
* Lose about half a stone in weight in addition to what I’ve already lost – around 4-5lb so far. (I think this is achievable. My eating habits are definitely changing, although my weight seems to have stalled for the moment. And I know this isn’t exactly a running goal, but it’s related. )
* Complete 1000 miles in 2011 (Currently on 852 for 2010. 1000 in 2011 should be doable, all being well.)
*Increase my cross-training. (That would be "increase" from the "next to nothing" which is currently my cross-training. I am very bad indeed at cross-training. I'm a crap swimmer and I don't have a bike, but I do have access to a gym, so I really should start making better use of it than just running on the treadmill when it's too snowy and icy outside.)

To be reviewed...

Race Review of the Year

2010-12-07T08:27:00.001Z

Things got off to a slow start in January/February, with the cancellation (twice) due to snow of the Lumphanan Detox 10k. By the time it finally happened I was already thoroughly detoxed plus it was still snowy and incredibly cold plus there was tennis on the telly and I didn't feel like driving umpteen miles to get there so I bailed :( Plan on doing it this year, though.

March was the Garioch 10k, my second ever 10k following the extremely snowy and icy beachfront Christmas Canter in December. It was a warmish day and a hillier course than I'd anticipated and I found it a bit of a struggle, not helped by getting a stitch half way through (after drinking a cup of ice cold water) which refused to shift :( Still managed to PB in 1:01:51 but had hoped for better.

April saw another 10k over at Balmoral, and I knew this was going to be tough due to the famed Balmoral Hill, and sure enough it was tough, although I'll have another shot at it next year now that I'm slightly (very slightly) better at hills. Finished in a Personal Worst of 1:05:40 :-O My performance was probably not helped by having to trek what felt like miles from the car parking area to the start with daughter on my shoulders (husband was recovering from a hernia op and hence excused carrying duties). Did enjoy the bacon roll afterwards, though.

My 2010 10k series continued in May with the large Aberdeen Baker Hughes event on a drizzly morning. I'd had sub-60 min hopes for this one but had a bad run on the day and finished in 1:01:09, still a PB though.

The quadrology (?) of 10ks concluded in June with another beachfront event when again the weather managed to be atrocious. It took place on a Tuesday evening and was wild, windy and very very wet. However, I somehow managed to smash both my PB and my sub-60 target, finishing in 57:40 :-) :-) :-) Probably because I was in such a hurry to get out of the rain and get home!

July saw my first half marathon attempt in the Stonehaven HM, which everyone kept warning me was Very Hilly. It was another lousy day (the joys of the NE Scottish summer) and the largely uphill first few miles were difficult, but I surprised myself with a 2:10:20 finishing time (having been mainly concerned to beat the 2:45 cut off and avoid getting swept up by the sweeper vehicle). A week later I ran the Big Fun Run 5k in a time of 26:45. But I still maintain the course was short.

August and September were focused on marathon training, which went reasonably well on the whole, culminating in October's Loch Ness Marathon, which was just a fantastic experience :-) I'd aimed for sub-5 hours so was very happy to finish the hilly course in 4:55:07, though of course I immediately started thinking about how I could have been quicker... Plan on hopefully improving on my time in Edinburgh next year.

I struggled a bit to recover post-marathon, feeling quite fatigued for a while and also nursing a niggly calf problem, but was well on the road to recovery by the time of the inaugural Aberdeen Fetch Mile in November, organised by the dynamic Nywanda. This was a great event which was enjoyed by all and it was brilliant to get the chance to run on the track at the new Aberdeen Sports Village. I ran the mile in 8:19, which hopefully I can improve on next time.

Due to the snow'n'ice and hence postponement of this year's Christmas Canter, December is a non-racing month. Looking back though I'm quite surprised at how many races I actually did in 2010 including: first marathon, first half, first mile, and PBs at every distance :-) (Not difficult given that I only ran three races in 2009, which was my first year of running, but gratifying nonetheless.)

Will think about goals for 2011 in my next blog post...

"All the way is far enough": Baxter's Loch Ness Marathon 2010 Race Report

2010-10-04T10:44:00.010+01:00

Really didn't know quite what to expect from my first marathon... I'd done most of the training (although circumstances had interfered a bit over the last few weeks), I'd read every bit of advice I could find, some of it contradictory, I'd packed and unpacked my bag several times, tried to positively visualize myself crossing the finish line, studied route maps and elevation profiles and weather forecasts, and although I was wildly excited I still didn't feel a bit ready.

Got to Inverness, found our B&B more or less by accident, then walked down to registration in Bught Park, though the B&B turned out to be further away from the park than it had looked on the map and the little one was complaining of tired leggies. Registration was straightforward enough, got my race number and chip (strange loop thing) and got the little one registered for the Wee Nessie pre-schoolers' race which she was excited about and very pleased with her free Nessie t-shirt. She was also enthralled by the giant inflatable Nessie which greeted us on arrival at the park.

We were pretty hungry by this time and hadn't booked tickets for the pasta party, and I was a bit worried that everywhere would be full, but we managed to find a place to eat without much trouble and despite looking longingly at various other menu items I decided to do the sensible thing and opt for pasta, which happily turned out to be delicious. Then met up with some friends we hadn't seen for ages who were doing the 10k and had a pleasant few drinks before heading back to the B&B where I had a pretty restless night thanks to pre-race nerves.

Got up at 6.20am, put my gear on (rummaging about in the dark so as not to wake the little one, couldn't find my socks for ages even though I'd laid everything out the night before) and went down for breakfast, which I could hardly eat any of although the B&B lady had kindly provided me with a big bowl of porridge. I managed a few spoonfuls and then just couldn't eat any more, but took a banana to eat later. Said goodbye to husband and (still sleeping) daughter and headed off to catch the bus - it was a really pleasant early morning, not cold at all, I had my jacket with me but didn't even feel the need to wear it.

We were on the bus for much longer than I'd anticipated - nearly an hour and a half, reaching the start at about 9:25. The guy who sat down next to me didn't seem inclined to chat, enabling me to proceed with my planned programme of staring out of the window feeling sick. At one point we passed a garden centre which declared itself "Scotland's Best Garden Centre 2010" on a huge banner, which sounded good (though I don't know who had appointed them Scotland's best or whether they had just decided that they were) and I wondered if we would have time to visit it before we left before deciding that no, we definitely wouldn't. A bit later, one guy on the bus persuaded the driver to stop in a layby and a whole load of men piled out of the bus and stood in a line at the side of the road having a pee next to a fence. Since by this time I was desperate for the loo (despite having visited a Portaloo just before getting on the bus), this left me musing, not for the first time, on the unfair advantage enjoyed by the male anatomy in such situations.

We finally reached the start area, by which time the formerly pleasantly balmy morning had turned cold and wet and horrible. Dumped my bag at the baggage vehicle and headed off to stand in the queue for the Portaloos, shivering. I'd taken an old jacket to wear and discard but was still cold and actually looking jealously at the people who had fashioned stylish items of clothing out of bin bags and thinking I really should have done that too.

Thankfully it wasn't long to the start, and I congregated with my fellow tortoises near the back of the throng while the sound system blared out music and encouragement, oh, and the pipe band was a nice touch. The gun fired and, to the sound of Scotland the Brave, we were off - well, kind of - it took me a good 3.5 minutes to shuffle over the start line, but then I really was off, and downhill too, and already feeling quite emotional ("I'm finally doing it! And I've got to keep doing it for 26 miles!").

I was very conscious of not going off too fast and had a rough game plan of aiming for 11 minute miles, but also was aware that the first half has a lot of downhill and the second half more in the way of uphill, so although I know you're not meant to do this I also had in the back of my mind the idea that it might not be so bad to make up a bit of time in the first half, given that like many people I find downhills easier than uphills. I decided to stick to what felt like an easy, manageable pace for the first half (had decided against wearing HRM, which might have helped). First few miles were fairly undulating with a sharp uphill at around 5 miles - I did the first 5 in 51:48, hit 10 miles at 1:45:03, and 13 in 2:17:22, and that was the end of my sub-11 miles. To be honest though I can't remember much about it - it's all a bit of a blur. Stuff I remember: first glimpse of the misty loch; the person in front of me dropping their mobile, which broke; spectators at Whitebridge and Foyers; getting a text from husband at around 8 miles to say the little one had done her race and got her medal, and then trying to work out how far I still had to go when I'd done 8 miles. (My maths isn't usually that bad!) And the guy playing Scottish music from his car at the bottom of his lane - I can't remember at all at what point that was, but it was a nice boost.

Managed to stick to my fuelling/hydration plan with a combination of Shot Bloks, gels, plenty of water and Lucozade Sport, and I think it worked because although I was very fatigued later in the race I never hit the dreaded wall or felt that I couldn't carry on. But predictably enough the second half was much harder, especially when I reached The Hill At Dores (which had already achieved mythical status in my mind) in conjunction with the weather started to feel quite hot. I don't do well in the heat - I'll take rain and wind any day, for running in at least. I fast-walked up a fair bit of that hill and the one after (so did most people around me), and hit my worst point at the next uphill which didn't look as if it was ever going to end. That was the only point where I really felt like stopping for a breather, but I knew if I did I would struggle to get going again, and kept run-walking to the top. Saw the guy who had collapsed at the side of the road - I didn't stop, as there were several people round him, but was glad to hear subsequently that he was fine.

Marshals and spectators were fantastic, really encouraging, with cries of "You're looking good!" (not true) and "the worst is over!" (also not true, but a nice thought).

By the time we reached Inverness my legs felt really, really tired and my pace had dropped considerably - I was doing 12 minute miles by this stage, just trying to keep going, and spent the last few miles doing mental calculations as to how much leeway I had to make it to the finish within my target of 5 hours. Although I'd told everyone my aim was just to get round, I knew I'd be massively disappointed to be over 5 hours. Running through Inverness when I could hear the finishers on the other side of the river was tough and it felt like an awful long way to the Ness Bridge, though it really wasn't! I was barely noticing spectators at this time, apart from looking out for husband and daughter who were there somewhere.... finally saw them at the entrance to the park, ran into the park, saw the finish ahead of me and someone shouted "100 metres to go!" which by this point felt just as difficult as the previous 26 miles, but kept going, even managed a smile for the camera, saw the 4:58 on the clock, and finally stumbled across the finishing line in 4:55:07 on my watch (and official chip time), 4:58:59 on the clock, suddenly bombarded from all sides with goody bags, medals and bottles of Lucozade, shared an emotional moment with the girl who'd finished a few seconds ahead of me (another first-timers) and emerged into the muddy quagmire of Bught Park, very tired, achey and already thinking about the next one.

In summary.... although a lot of it is a blur, I had the most fantastic time. I don't know if my tactics were the best (probably not) and I should probably have done more hill training, and immediately afterwards I started thinking I could have pushed myself a bit more in the second half (first half in under 2:20, second half in over 2:35) but given how tired I was at the finish I'm not sure I could have done that much more, at least at my present level of fitness, as the hills in particular really took it out of me. Next time.....

Appreciated the shower afterwards and the great medal and t-shirt, though (a) a technical t-shirt would have been nice as would (b) one which didn't advertise the Scottish Daily Mail on the back, but hey, I'm not complaining!

Still stiff and sore two days later but still on a high, and currently considering the 2011 Edinburgh Marathon to try for a good PB....

Taper madness

2010-09-29T10:44:00.004+01:00

Final countdown is now on (dadadaa-da, etc). Head is spinning with logistical arrangements, what to pack, when to pack it, which trainers to wear, what music to put on my MP3 player, etc. Making lists of stuff to do gives me the illusion of being in some kind of control, as the harsh reality that I’m going to have to RUN 26.2 MILES on SUNDAY has not yet fully sunk in. And probably won’t, until I’m halfway along the course and thinking oh shit, I’ve got another 13 miles to go and my legs are already giving up the ghost.

Thinking this way is obviously Not Allowed as according to them what know, you have to do positive visualisation of how great it’s going to be, imagine yourself going strongly at various points, pacing correctly, crossing the finishing line in the desired time, etc etc. I don’t seem to be very good at this. When I try to visualise me running the marathon the positive images which I try to force into my head are constantly elbowed out of the way by visions of conking out in exhaustion before the first mile marker, pulling up with cramp, getting an unshakeable stitch, collapsing in a heap and getting trampled by other runners, etc. This isn't helped by the onset of anxiety dreams where I forget my trainers, forget my race number, can't find the way to Inverness, etc etc. Or somehow manage to forget all my clothes and have to run in my nightie.

The other notable aspect of this week is the number of aches and pains which have suddenly appeared. So far I've had a twingey knee, achey shins and sore foot, all of which have mysteriously appeared and equally mysteriously subsequently vanished. Also, I seem to have the most incredible ravenous appetite. Carb-loading is all very well, but at this rate I'll be standing on the start line two stone heavier than usual. Which is never good.

The weather I'm not worrying about yet, since there's sod-all I can do about it. It's a horrible day here today, torrential rain and strong winds. Since my last, longest run was in similar conditions, I'm not unduly concerned about wind and rain, although I suppose freezing sleet directly into your face for 26 miles might not be entirely fun. A cool, breezy day with a little light rain would suit me just fine.

Remind me why I'm doing this again? Actually, why am I doing this?

Marathon training update

2010-09-21T13:21:00.002+01:00

Yes, I know I've been rather less than diligent in blogging my marathon training. I have been doing the actual training (well, most of it), I just haven't been blogging. Which is annoying, actually, because it would have been good to have some kind of record to look back on (just in terms of what it felt like, etc, as all my training in terms of miles and hours is logged on Garmin Connect and Fetch).

It's been up and down, really, as I seem to have alternated good runs and crap runs. Happily my longest run of 19 miles was one of the better ones, despite weather conditions which may well have been the worst I've ever run in - howling gales, torrential rain, etc. Got more drenched than I've ever been, including having a small lake sloshing around inside my trainers, but managed to run the entire distance in 3:28:18, i.e. just under 11 minute miles, which I was pretty pleased with, and felt surprisingly good most of the way, even grinning dementedly at the passers-by who, huddled under their brollies, no doubt wondered what on earth was wrong with me. Enjoyed this run much more than the previous week's 17-miler when I struggled most of the way and took ever increasing walk breaks from about 10 miles onwards.

It may be that atrocious weather conditions suit me best. This may be good preparation for Inverness in October.

As ever one of the main challenges has been fitting in the time to run. Long runs have been OK as I've been doing them on a Tuesday afternoon when daughter is at nursery. Everything else has had to be fitted in as and when. With the inevitable result that a few (though not many) have been missed. Unfortunately over the past few weeks the ones which have been missed have tended to be the speedwork ones, and I definitely seem to be getting slower, although I did manage 7 miles at 9:43 pace on Sunday - but it was hard work. And that was on a flat route, with not even many hills to contend with.

Phoned the B&B yesterday to confirm booking and request an early breakfast. Apparently B&B is chock full of marathon runners so early porridge and banana no problem. Just as well, as have to be at the pick-up point at the unearthly hour of before 8am for transport to the start. Since the race itself doesn't start till 10am, this seems to potentially involve an awful lot of feeling sick and queueing for the toilet time.

Nerves are starting to kick in now, as the magnitude of the undertaking gradually dawns on me...

M-day is looming...

2010-09-19T13:11:00.001+01:00

Can't believe I'll be (trying to) run a marathon in just over 2 weeks :-O

Must remember to confirm B&B booking and ask them if I can get an early breakfast. If not, will have to make do with instant oat sachets or some such.

Working on my "stuff to take" list:

shorts
top
trainers
socks
scary Enell bra
(2 x all above items, just in case)

charity vest
Garmin
charger for Garmin
waist pack with gels
Body Glide
hat
gloves (just in case it's freezing)
mobile phone
camera

plus all obvious prerequisites for overnight stay (pyjamas, toiletries, clean pants, etc)

what am I forgetting? (apart from "being properly trained", perhaps)

Fun on the dreadmill

2010-09-03T17:10:00.003+01:00

I haven't been to the gym for ages but last night I thought I had better start getting my money's worth, or some of it anyway, and went for a run on the treadmill (really should have done some strength stuff as well but didn't have time). I managed 4 and a half miles of running up and down imaginary hills (well, not down, but it feels like down when you put it to 0 after going up for a while) before I couldn't stand the boredom any more and also the gym was about to close and everybody else had gone home, clearly having better things to do at 10pm on a Thursday night. Still have not quite figured out why running on the treadmill (even when not uphill) feels like harder work than running outside, i.e. greater perceived effort for the same pace. Was meaning to wear my HRM so I could compare, but forgot.

The gym was nearly deserted anyway apart from a woman in a pink top who at one point got on the treadmill next to me and walked at a leisurely pace for literally three minutes before getting off and going for a drink of water. Not that I'm in any great position to criticise anyone else's fitness efforts, but I did wonder what fitness gain could possibly be made from a three minute gentle stroll on a treadmill, unless perhaps you're actually the single most unfit person in the world for whom a three minute walk represents a massive effort. Then again she was probably looking at me and thinking "look at that idiot, red faced and sweaty, I'm glad I'm not like that..."

Longest run ever, and Garmin mayhem

2010-08-24T18:24:00.003+01:00

So, this week's schedule called for a 16 miler, which I approached rather trepidatiously (I don't think that's actually a word), as last week's 14 miles went all to pot in the last 3. My action plan was to reduce my slow pace to an even slower pace, aiming for 11 minute miles, in the hope that this would enable me to complete the distance without walking, or at least with as little walking as possible.

However my cunning plan immediately ran into difficulties as my Garmin 405 went doolally in the first couple of miles, registering 3 miles when I knew for a fact I'd done less than 2, including a completely imaginary second mile in 01:29 (impressive, I think you'll agree). Link here for anyone who fancies a laugh Link (roll over me to see where I go) - I really wasn't galloping all over the place at the beginning as indicated on the map, and it wasn't 17.5 miles either, it was 16, and it wasn't a 9:53 average pace, it was more like 10:49. Things settled down after that but I spent the entire rest of the time trying to figure out how far I'd actually run compared to how far Mr Garmin thought I'd run. This was actually good as it distracted me from the actual running.

On the plus side, the run itself went pretty well :) although I did feel like I was about to die in the last mile, but I thought it was pretty good going to have avoided feeling impending death until then. Continuing my policy of experimenting with various drugs, I mean "fuelling options", today's stimulant of choice was Shot Bloks and I decided to take one with some water every 20 minutes. This felt ridiculously frequent but actually seemed to work, as I managed to keep running for nearly 3 hours without stopping :) Well, I did have to stop for the odd traffic light, which was not unwelcome. But otherwise, kept on going, in stark contrast to last week when I was reduced to run-walking the last 3 miles of the 14.

Am also pleased to report that my Camelbak Delaney waist pack/water carrier thingy whatnot had a successful first outing, I found it very easy to use and hardly noticed it was there (except that the long end of the belt thing - the bit you pull to tighten it - kept coming loose, making me look as if I had a tail. This was probably my fault for not securing it properly though.).

All in all, reasonably pleased with today's effort, but not very pleased with Mr Garmin and his shenanigans in the first couple of miles.

Things I love about running

2010-08-12T17:40:00.004+01:00

Last night (while sitting in the car at midnight waiting for my son to emerge from his job at Cineworld) I was mulling over some of the reasons I love running, and wondering why I didn’t take it up earlier…

A lot of people can't understand how there could be anything enjoyable about running. They assume it's something you have to reluctantly force yourself to do to keep fit, or to lose weight, citing as evidence the sometimes pained, not to mention anguished, expressions on the faces of runners they've seen (plodding up hills while they pass in the car, or on the television during the last few miles of the London Marathon). No doubt, this is accurate for some people. But I do actively love running, despite (or partly because) it is frequently hard work and despite the fact that I do at times have to reluctantly force myself to do it, and here are some of the reasons why.

I love the scope for improvement. Admittedly, from my starting point, improvement was basically the only way to go. But I love the fact that in not much over a year I’ve progressed from run-walking a mile (and thinking I would drop dead if I ran for more than 60 seconds at a time) to having run – even though not quickly - a half-marathon, several 10k’s, and am currently engaged in marathon training. I love the fact that when you put the effort in, improvements occur as if by magic. I love that I – hopefully – still have a good while yet of getting better until old age kicks in and I start to get worse again.

I love the fact that there’s always something to challenge me, that every goal met can immediately be replaced by a new one.

I love the way I look forward to my next run on the in-between days, even if it’s sometimes an effort to actually get out of the door when the time comes. I love the fact that I’m always, always glad I did make the effort to get out of the door, and the pleasurable tiredness after a hard effort. I love the shower after a long run and the putting on of fresh, non-sweaty clothes.

I love participating (I won’t say “competing”) in races, the camaraderie among other runners, the moment of crossing the finish line, and most especially the high of setting a new PB (even if I have yet to make it out of the last quarter of finishers in a timed race). I also particularly like getting medals and race t-shirts, especially ones which actually more or less fit and don’t look like they could double as a maternity dress for someone pregnant with octuplets.

I love the way my legs have changed shape, my resting heart rate has dropped, and I feel generally fitter and stronger and was the only person not to be out of breath at the end of the very short nursery sports day parents’ race despite probably being the oldest mum there.

I love the fact that so far I've been lucky enough to avoid injury, even though just saying that is probably tempting fate.

I love that it's time to be alone, where I am free from external demands (except for those of the marathon training schedule).

I love talking, reading and thinking about running. (When did I get this obsessed?)

Things I don’t love: big hills, the price of trainers, the cost of race entries, the taste of energy gels, the fact that I didn't know about all the wonderful things many years ago...

Ballater 10 Mile Road Race: Race Report

2010-07-25T21:20:00.001+01:00

I found this really tough! Was feeling relatively confident, as I had heard that though a bit hilly, it wasn't as bad as the Stonehaven half which I ran three weeks ago, but I actually found it worse. Maybe because it was hot, and I don't function well in the heat... Also, we were running late as usual (not my fault!) and I was panicking most of the way to Ballater about not getting there on time, especially as it was a pick-up-your-number-on-the-day type race. We made it with 15 minutes to spare, in the end, which gave me just enough time to get and attach my race number and make a much-needed loo visit.

The race started well enough, running through Ballater and out on to the country roads, with the first couple of miles being flattish - managed these in an easy 9:34 and 9:44. There was a longish uphill section between miles 2 and 3 (10:48), and then a steep uphill in the 5th mile (a disgraceful 11:44, which did involve some walking). I found the hills really hard going, and struggled to keep control of my breathing. Found that I was being overtaken on the uphill sections and then overtaking the same people on the flat and downhills - this happened repeatedly with the same people throughout the race - clearly I need to do more hill work!

That was the worst of the hills over with although there was another uphill part around mile 8 (followed by a nice downhill section), but I was still struggling to pace myself and feeling really tired. The change of terrain to off-road for much of the second half of the race, while it made a change, did slow me down too but I had managed to make some ground and even overtake a few people on the downhill and just about managed to maintain my position! The shoogly bridge (I think at about mile 7, though it's a bit of a blur now) was an interesting touch although I could have done without the steps up to it by that point! The last mile was along a very narrow path surrounded by long grass, before emerging back into the playing field where the race began and running a lap of that before thankfully passing the finishing line.

I finished in 1:43:47, which I was a bit disappointed with as this represents an average pace of 10:24 which is the slowest I've been for ages and considerably slower than my (also hilly) recent half marathon pace! For whatever reason I never seemed to manage to get into a proper rhythm today and walking on the hills played havoc with my time. (Husband later said "I thought you would struggle, because you don't do well in the heat" which is true enough, although it wasn't really hot enough for this to be a very convincing excuse!)

However it was a nice scenic race with plenty of variety, even if the course could do with a good ironing before next year. The encouragement from the marshals was really appreciated - another water station might have been good, though! The yummy chocolate in the goody bag was also much appreciated by my daughter who scoffed half of it in the car on the way back.

Splits: 9:34 9:45 10:49 10:00 11:45 9:51 10:53 11:07 9:25 10:41

Note to self: get better at hills. (I thought I'd done a fair bit of hill training, but it clearly wasn't enough...)

confused.com

2010-07-21T11:42:00.002+01:00

In a wild rush of enthusiasm following the recent half-marathon, I entered a 10 mile race in Ballater, which I have suddenly realised is, in fact, on Sunday. I’d been thinking, ha, 10 miles, that’s nothing, I’ve just run 13, but 10 miles now seems, y’know, still quite far, given that I haven’t actually run that distance very often, and not in a race apart from the half marathon, and it’s not one of those enormous races where people are still straggling in at tea time but quite a small one with proper runners in it, so I may in fact be last. Oh well. Someone has to be. (I’ve never yet come last in a race, although I came close with the snowy-and-icy beach 10k just before Christmas when I came 79th out of 83, but I comforted myself with the idea that the awful weather would have put off most of my fellow plodders and only mostly proper runners would have turned up.)

I do need to ramp up the mileage, though, because I have the marathon in, er, 10 weeks, and my Runners World training programme calls for a 9 mile run this week and 10 miles next (after which it all starts getting a bit scary) so I thought I would do the 10 miler this week instead. Other thing is, we’ll be on hols (in a caravan in the Lake District) for two weeks from Monday, so I don’t know how the running is going to go, though I’m hoping for lots of lovely scenic probably hilly runs.

I’ve been keeping up with the programme not too badly so far and managed a 5 mile tempo run in 45 minutes on Saturday (woo!) with, get this, an average pace of 8:59. And every mile except the first was sub-9 minutes. So I was pretty pleased with that, even though I felt knackered at the end, and indeed most of the way come to that. Then did 7.61 miles yesterday in boiling heat (well, what passes for boiling heat up here in the frozen northern wastelands where anything above freezing point has us casting off our cardigans and heading for the beach). Not only was it hot, but some of it was uphill, and I did do a bit of walking.

This whole long run pace business, not to mention the taking or not taking of walk breaks, has me a bit conflicted. The RW schedule (after I put in my best race time) has me doing long runs at near on 12 minute miles (McMillan Running calculator suggests between 11 and 12 minute miles), and I know the theory about long runs being slower, but I really struggle to run that slowly. Except when going uphill. My natural pace seems to be around 10 min/miles and even when I try to go slower I invariably speed up. Plus, even though nearly every advice source says Do Long Runs Slowly, I can’t really get my head around the idea that if I’m doing them all at 11:30 pace, or whatever, I can suddenly magically run faster in a long race. As it is, my "race pace" (for the half marathon anyway) and long run pace are pretty much the same rate of ploddiness. Although I did think afterwards I could have done the half a bit faster.

The other thing is walking breaks. I know it’s a can-of-worms topic among runners. The experts seem to have widely diverging views on this, from "Never walk, you’ll only regret it" (Graeme Hilditch in his marathon training guide) to advising regular, planned walk breaks throughout. I think the chances of me running an entire marathon without any walking are slim, but I don’t know whether it’s better to keep running for as long as I can and only take short walk breaks when I feel I absolutely have to, or schedule in walk breaks from the start whether I need them or not. Current approach is more along the lines of the former, running as much as I can but sometimes (not every long run, but some of them) walking a little bit on some uphill bits or when I feel especially knackered, and then starting running again when I feel able or, more likely, when I see someone coming towards me and am embarrassed to be seen walking. But maybe, if I ran slower, I wouldn’t have to do this? Hmmm. Or maybe I just need to toughen up and be less of a wimp.

20 July

Distance: 7.61 miles
Time: 01:15:48
Splits: 9:27 9:44 9:55 10:08 10:23 11:14 9:25 5:32
Average pace: 9:58

17 July

Distance: 5.01 miles
Time: 45:01
Splits: 9:10 8:54 8:58 8:59 8:52
Average pace: 8:59

“Marathoning is just another form of insanity.”

2010-07-15T12:22:00.003+01:00

Post Juneathon, and post-half marathon, I’ve been pretty crap at both running and blogging. Well, I’ve done a bit of the former, and none whatsoever of the latter. But I got my Loch Ness Marathon magazine and race number (205) through this week, and have booked our B&B accommodation in Inverness, and it’s now just a short 12 weeks away, and I’m starting to get excited. Not nervous yet, but I know that will come nearer the time. Spent time today reading blogs from last year’s race and poring over the race website and wondering if I am, in fact, mad to be planning this. But I’m committed now. So I guess it’s happening.

I felt fine, to my surprise, after the half marathon – a bit achey later that day, but A-OK the next day and even the day after when delayed onset muscle soreness can suddenly set in after you've been lulled into a false sense of security. But 26.2 (undulating) miles is of course a very different proposition from 13.1 (also undulating) miles and I know I won’t be feeling fine after that, or indeed after the first 18-20 miles of it. Or at least, I shall be very very surprised if I am.

Didn’t do a lot of running last week – just an easy 3.5 miles on the Thursday, and then a 5k race/fun run on the Sunday, which I finished in 26:45, which I would be thrilled with were it not for the fact that I’m pretty sure the distance was not actually 5k. But still, I knocked two minutes off my time for the same event last year, so happy enough with that. It was a nice run anyway around the trails of Hazlehead Park, though with a slow start due to all the people who start at the front, sprint 0.1 of a mile and then immediately start walking really slowly right in front of you. There were quite a lot of those people. Excellent goodie bag, though, and it was nice to for once see husband and daughter waving to me near the finish line, and sit with them afterwards watching all the walkers slowly filter back.

Started my marathon training this week with an 8 mile run on Tuesday, which was a boiling hot day so it was a fairly hot and sweaty experience, but I listened to the first hour and a bit of the second of the Audiofuel mid-intensity long run mix and that kept me going, as did regular drinks of water from my new Stonehaven half marathon water bottle, courtesy of another goodie bag. Still don’t like carrying anything while running, but I guess I’ll have to get used to it as the long runs get longer.

12 weeks – 11 and a half in fact – to marathon day. Eeeeeeek.

Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:18:36
Splits: 9:44, 9:37, 10:18, 9:43, 10:00, 9:32, 10:06, 9:36
Average pace: 9:50

Days till marathon: 80

Stonehaven Half Marathon 2010

2010-07-04T17:27:00.013+01:00

Weather forecast for today's race (my first ever half marathon) was not promising - "heavy rain" was advertised. I'd been hoping the weather wasn't going to be too hot (I really don't cope well in the heat and the thought of running up miles of hills in scorching temperatures didn't appeal) and it looked like I was going to get my wish. Reports from Stonehaven folk in the morning on Facebook confirmed that the rain was, indeed, heavy, and that strong winds were adding to the fun. I don't mind rain, but torrential downpours didn't sound that great.

Rain got heavier as we headed down the A90 to Stonehaven and husband dropped me off outside the sports centre. Daughter had been agitating to go to the beach, but looked at the windswept rain-drenched prospect and announced "I don't want the beach after all, I want to go to a nice warm home". They did go for a short walk in the end, in wellies and waterproofs. I wasn't very sure where to go but adopted the traditional method of finding some people in running gear and following them across a field, and made it to the registration area in plenty of time. Could've been better signposted, though. Registration entailed standing in a long and slow moving queue in a very windy and rainy field before eventually being issued with a number and timing chip. Glad I had my waterproof jacket on although I then didn't know what to do with it and ended up tying it round my overstuffed (phone, sweets, energy gel) waist-pack thing. Was also needing the loo for the 250,000th time of the morning but by the time I'd finally managed to cackhandedly safety-pin my race number on and lace the timing chip through my laces, everyone was heading off to the start and I didn't think I had time, a decision which I knew I might come to regret.

Kept hearing people at the start saying "After the first four miles it's all downhill!" which frankly I did not believe, rightly as it turned out because they were in fact big liars. After the usual milling about the race finally started and off we went, me still thinking about how I really should have gone to the loo and wondering if there would be any suitable bushes to hide behind, and up the first small slope, and along a flat bit, and up another hill, and I settled into my near-the-back-of-the-pack pace and actually felt OK, apart from the whole needing the loo business.

First mile marker came before I was expecting it, or rather before my Garmin was expecting it as it said I had only gone 0.9 miles, but I was feeling fine and very glad I had loaded up my MP3 player with the free Audiofuel running music I was lucky enough to receive as my 3rd place Juneathon prize (THANKS SEAN! And everyone else involved!) and rather belatedly fired up the first hour of the Run Free compilation, which was brilliant and really kept me going. Also at around this point I saw a guy quickly disappear into some trees, presumably to answer a call of nature, and wondered if I should do the same (although obviously not following the guy because that would just be weird) but as we all know these things are much easier for people with XY chromosomes and also I didn't really want to lose time and I wasn't desperate so I just kept going.

I had heard about the hills and even seen them, as I drove over the course last week, and the course profile looks like this (sorry about crapness of picture, which was all I could find/manage to insert) -

which obviously looks quite scary, but in fact I didn't find them as bad as I had thought. Although I did walk a bit on some bits. It's also perfectly obvious that it is NOT all downhill after the first four miles although the first four miles are definitely the worst. But as I said, not that bad. I even managed to overtake some people on the hills! It was mostly country roads so there weren't really crowds of cheering spectators a la London Marathon etc, just the odd person in a car, but there were loads of marshals, people handing out water, etc and they were all really encouraging. At about the 7 mile mark we came on to the appropriately, if unpleasantly, named Slug Road which leads from Banchory into Stonehaven and there was a bit more traffic on that, though still not much, and we were ordered to KEEP LEFT, which I did, although one car did seem to come perilously close. A particular highlight at this point was the bus full of waving, clapping passengers which was sounding its horn and flashing its lights (I *think* in a supportive way. I hope.).

I had been fully expecting a slow first few miles and was quite surprised to find that I had done the first 6 miles in pretty much an hour exactly (OK, it is slow for most people, but not as slow as I had expected). I'd been aiming for, though not really expecting, an average pace of 10:15, and was ahead of this by around 15 seconds per mile, although pace was not exactly consistent. However by around the halfway point was very hopeful that I would achieve my secret target of 2:15:00 and in fact the further I got the more it looked like I might actually beat this in spite of being a wimp and walking some bits. I also found I was very gradually overtaking some people (the field had thinned out considerably by this point and there were very few runners in sight) which was nice, although the bloke in the blue t-shirt who I had been alternately overtaking/being overtaken by almost from the start did pass me at one point and I never saw him again. At around mile 11 I gradually gained ground on a girl who was running with her boyfriend, who was clearly a faster runner than her as he kept running ahead and back and generally leaping around waving his arms and encouraging her, while she was more of a plodder like me. I think I would have found this very irritating had he been my boyfriend and would in fact have been tempted to punch him, but maybe she liked it. Thankfully I got past them and was into the home straight, heading down into Stonehaven, although it still wasn't all downhill as advertised by the big liars at the start as there was an uphill bit which went over the dual carriageway, with men at the top handing out water and encouragement. By this time (incidentally further than I have ever run before) I was feeling pretty tired and exhausted and there was a strong headwind and I was still slightly needing the loo though not any more than I had been at the start, i.e. not desperately, despite having guzzled loads of water and Lucozade Sport, and was well into the second hour of, in fact approaching the end of, Audiofuel, which as it turned out had been perfectly timed to finish when I did.

And I ran down the hill and towards (though not into) the sea and round the bend onto the road leading back to the field, which was a bit weird as there were lots of people who had already finished walking the other way along it, and into the field and over the finish line in a time of 2:10:20. Woohoo! Actually, on reflection, I think I could have managed a bit faster... probably not the fabled sub-2 hours, but 2:05 might be within my grasp for the next one...

It then started raining absolutely torrentially and I had to phone husband to come and get me and stand in the sports centre car park waiting for him while getting totally and utterly drenched by the deluge, in fact I might just as well have gone and jumped in the sea. But who cares! It was a great race, I thoroughly enjoyed it, the organisation and support from all involved was fantastic and I will definitely go back next year.

Not very flattering picture taken outside my back door as I sadly had no loving husband and daughter waiting to applaud me and photograph my moment of glory at the finishing line, since they mysteriously didn't want to stand around for ages in a field in the pouring rain. I don't think it shows but I am completely drenched from head to toe.

Many, many thanks to everyone who sponsored me for Marie Curie Cancer Care. I have nearly, but not quite, reached my target amount so if anyone still wants to sponsor me it will be much appreciated!

Distance: 13.02 miles (bit short according to Garmin, not sure why)
Time: 2:10:20
Splits:

10:25
9:55
10:23
11:21 (this was the hilliest bit)
9:14
9:19
10:56
9:48
8:59
10:20
10:15
9:30
9:57

Average pace: 10:00

Juneathon: Day 30!

2010-06-30T22:33:00.006+01:00

And so endeth Juneathon 2010. It's been brilliant. Challenging, yes, but in a good way, and I'm pretty sure my running has improved (admittedly I might not be saying that when I disgrace myself in Sunday's half marathon).

I'm glad of a rest, though. No idea how Ron Hill has managed to run every day for 856 years or however long it's now been.

Things I have learnt:

1. Even when I really, really don't feel like going out for a run, I nearly always forget about that as soon as I'm out there, and I'm ALWAYS very glad I went.
2. I'm very lucky to live somewhere with nice places to run (and indeed to be able to run at all) and I should appreciate it more.
3. Foam rolling is fab. Though painful.
4. Audiofuel is also fab, not painful and really helps!
5. There are loads of really nice people involved in Juneathon, most of whom are far better at (a) running and (b) blogging than me. Thanks to everyone who has given me advice and encouragement, it is all much appreciated! And of course thanks to JogBlog for organising it and the independent adjudicator for independently adjudicating.

Juneathon firsts:

- 10k race PB (8th June along the beachfront, wet and windy)
- training PBs at every distance from 1 to 11 miles
- most miles logged in a month (116)
- most miles logged in a week (29, last week)
- first black toenail

I'm glad it was a Juneathon and not a Decemberathon though because nearly all my runs have had to be late in the evening and I would never have managed in the dark and the snow and the freezing cold.

Today did 4 miles round and about, up some hills, down some hills, etc. Music: Audiofuel, the Jam, XTC. (Strangely, just as the song got to "the church bells softly chime" bit, I was running past the church and the bells did indeed start to chime, though not, it has to be said, particularly softly.)

Distance: 4.08 miles
Time: 39:54
Splits:

10:18
10:03
9:20
9:24

Average pace: 9:47

Total Juneathon distance run: 116.22 miles
Total Juneathon running time: 19:03:28
Average Juneathon pace: 9:50

Juneathon days completed: 30/30 Yay!!!

Juneathon: Day 29

2010-06-29T15:16:00.003+01:00

Maybe Juneathon is catching up with me, or maybe it's just the weather, but feeling absolutely knackered today and decided to defer the planned 5-miler till tomorrow. Did a very slow, very short, undulating 1.3 miles instead, and still got ridiculously hot and sweaty. Dear weather gods, please, please can we have a cool day on Sunday? Please?

Can't quite believe Juneathon is nearly over, and I've run every day. I will miss it, but I'm glad it's finishing now because I think my legs really need a few days' rest before Sunday's race. Plan to run tomorrow, rest on Thursday, easy run on Friday, rest on Saturday, and am hoping that will leave me feeling reasonably fresh on Sunday.

All things considered, though (and this may be tempting fate), I'm surprised by how well my body has held up to daily running. Admittedly, a high proportion of the runs were pretty short ones, but there were plenty of long ones too, and aside from the normal aches and pains I haven't really had any problems. A few twinges in my ankle caused brief concern, but nothing to get worked up about, and the knee twinges which I had a few months back haven't recurred at all this month. Definitely think using the foam roller on my calves has helped loosen things up, too, even if it does hurt like hell. Which it does.

Incidentally, the route my Garmin apparently thought I ran today was way off - it had me starting my run at the top of the road, running through people's houses, through hedges and across the river before finally settling down. I'm sure I didn't really do that.

One day to go!

Distance: 1.31 miles
Time: 14:11
Splits: 11:04, 3:06
Average pace: 10:50

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 112.14 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 18:23:34

Juneathon: Day 28

2010-06-28T21:41:00.003+01:00

Into the last few days of Juneathon and just a "quick" 5k run tonight, along the railway line which was heavily populated with cyclists (why do they never move over? why is it always me who has to move over?), back up the road (a longish hill, much huffing and puffing - I knew there was a bus stop at the top of the hill and kept seeing bus stops up ahead and thinking I was nearly there, but hadn't realised there were also so many decoy bus stops along the way) and along past the allotments to home. Hardly saw a soul except the cyclists and a man with a dog who gave me a funny look, and who can blame him really. Fab Audiofuel Juneathon mix kept me going for most of the way, then a quick blast of the Jam and that was that.

Distance: 3.19 miles
Time: 30:31
Splits:

9:52
9:50
9:12
1:37

Average pace: 9:34

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 110.83 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 18:09:23
Juneathon days completed: 28/30
Average running pace over month: 9:50

Juneathon: Day 27

2010-06-27T22:05:00.005+01:00

Eight mile run this evening - it felt far too hot to run earlier in the day, although I may well have to do so in next week's race. Just hoping next Sunday isn't a scorcher. Anyway, ran three miles along the old railway line to Duthie Park, once round the park, back up the railway line (where I saw a very cute hedgehog at the edge of the path along with the usual many rabbits) and a bit further along in the other direction before turning back towards home. Also on the subject of wildlife, as invariably happens on evening runs, quantities of suicidally inclined small insects decided to do kamikaze dives into my eyes, up my nose, etc. Really must remember to wear glasses. Or a surgical mask, or something.

Anyway, even on a coolish evening and on a flattish route, tonight's eight miles felt like hard work. Don't know how I'm going to manage next week when it's hotter (probably), hillier and further. Well, there's not much else I can do now... as long as I finish within the cut-off time, and don't have to be picked up by the famous sweeper vehicle and ignominiously transported to the finish line, I'll be satisfied.

Also tried another energy gel tonight, not because I really really needed one but just to see how my body reacted to it, as last time I got a possibly coincidental upset stomach later that day. I took it - or about half of it, probably - after around 5.5 miles. Feel OK so far, although I can't say I noticed a massive improvement in my energy levels.

My black toenail has now turned blue - not sore any more, though. Maybe I should paint the others to match?

Oh, and I've just passed the 100-miles-in-a-month mark, for the first time ever. Woohoo!

Distance: 8.23 miles
Time: 1:21:26
Splits:

9:50
9:27
9:41
9:41
10:12
10:30 (this involved a bit of walking and gel-opening/eating)
10:11
9:56
1:58

Average pace: 9:54

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 107.64 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 17:38:52
Juneathon days completed: 27/30

Juneathon: Day 26

2010-06-26T16:58:00.002+01:00

Surprised myself on today's run - an easy three miles along the railway line (longer one planned for tomorrow). Wasn't pushing myself at all - expecting to do around 10 minute mile pace - and was taken aback to notice that I had done the first mile in 9:01. The second mile felt a little slower and I was completely amazed to find I had done it in 8:58. I actually did wonder if my Garmin was broken. But it would seem not. Third mile, I thought I'm not going to push it, I'll just take it easy, and it was another 8:58. So, three miles, without consciously pushing myself at all, in an average pace of 8:59... looks like I really am getting faster.

Distance: 3:01 miles
Time: 27:03
Splits: 9:01, 8:58, 8:58
Average pace: 8:59

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 99.41 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 16:17:26
Juneathon days completed: 26/30
Average Juneathon pace: 9:50

Juneathon: Day 25

2010-06-25T20:42:00.003+01:00

Very small window of running opportunity today due to husband coming home from work and promptly going out again to a leaving do, so given the limited time available I decided to do something I have vaguely thought of doing for a while and see how fast I can run a single mile. I suppose you could call it a time trial except that that would sound rather too professional. So I did a rather inadequate warm-up consisting of jogging slowly up the hill, then started my Garmin and set off along the old railway line at what felt like a fast pace. I rapidly noticed that (a) I was running at 7-minute mile pace, and (b) this was distinctly too fast for comfort. (How do people run long distances at that pace or faster? How?) So I slowed down a bit, though still pushing myself, breathing hard, etc, ran along the railway line to the bridge, down the path past the allotments (where my name is on the waiting list and probably will remain there for the rest of my life) and home along the main road, and did the first mile in 8:11 (7.34mph), which is not that amazingly fast I know but is a record for me. Felt absolutely knackered at the end, though.

Distance: 1.39 miles
Time: 11:22
Splits: 8:11, 3:11
Average pace: 8:11

Juneathon distance run so far: 96.4 miles
Juneathon running time so far: 15:50:23
Juneathon days completed: 25/30
Average pace over month: 9:52

Juneathon: Day 24

2010-06-24T22:29:00.002+01:00

Twenty-four down, six to go...

Another 6-miler today, and an opportunity to test out my scary new sports bra. Have been feeling quite tired and leg-achey today, and running felt like hard work, not that it doesn't always, but particularly so today, and it wasn't a fast one. First two miles were pretty uphill, and accordingly slow, did pick up the pace a bit after that but not by much, nevertheless felt thoroughly knackered by the end.

Scary new bra performed admirably, however. And at least I didn't have to play an 11-hour tennis match, or look like a complete plonker bowing to the Queen.

Distance: 6.37 miles
Time: 1:03:41
Splits:

10:40
10:47
9:30
9:43
9:44
9:37
3:39

Average pace: 10:00

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 95.01 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 15:39:01
Juneathon days completed: 24/30

Juneathon: Day 23

2010-06-23T22:45:00.003+01:00

...And the final week approaches.

Just a (very late) 2-miler today, after yesterday's disappointing effort, out along the road and back along the old railway line, which was probably a bit stupid as it was nearly dark, but luckily there were no potential attackers lurking in the bushes, or at least if there were, they stayed lurking in the bushes and didn't bother attacking me. I think the idea that they might did make me run a bit faster, though, in an effort to get home before darkness completely fell.

Earlier, watched some men in red shirts playing football against some men in white shirts, which seemed to go reasonably well for once, although probably just delays what will now be the inevitable exit against Germany.

In other news, got another letter from the Traffic Enforcement people in a place I have never been to where a car which is not mine was recently being merrily driven around in bus lanes by someone who was not me. Happily, it appears my "representation has been accepted", which is apparently their way of saying "oops, we was wrong, sorry". Well, they did write back quickly, so they get brownie points for that if not for the original cock-up.

Distance: 2.01 miles
Time: 20:02
Splits: 10:44, 9:13
(actually the first mile felt faster than that, but I guess Gary Garmin doesn't lie. Or does he? No, probably not.)
Average pace: 9:58

Total Juneathon miles run so far: 88:64 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 14:35:20

Juneathon: Day 22

2010-06-22T14:15:00.002+01:00

Well, that was embarrassingly dire.

Was planning a long run today (last one before half marathon). It's hot, and I wasn't feeling great, and I thought Maybe I won't do a long run today or maybe I'll just do a shorter one than planned. Then I thought no, the half marathon day might be hot and I might not be feeling that great but I won't be able to just not do it or say I'm doing a shorter version instead. Or at least, I could, but it would be a bit rubbish and the people who have sponsored me might ask for their money back. So off I set in my shorts and Baker Hughes 10k race t-shirt with my water bottle and chewy sweet things and fully charged MP3 player, even though I hate carrying loads of stuff with me.

However. Two miles in, I was already knackered, hot, sweaty and my legs were killing me. Three miles in (this is the embarrassing bit), my thighs started chafing uncomfortably. I don't know why, I've worn those shorts before without incident, so I can only assume it was (a) due to the heat and general sweatiness, or (b) that my legs have suddenly, i.e. in the last few days, got significantly fatter (which seems unlikely). Whatever the reason it got sorer and sorer and I was reduced to a crappy walk/run type effort for the rest of the way home, and only managed six and a bit miles in a rubbish time, which is just shameful, and yes I am thoroughly ashamed of myself and my confidence has taken a definite knock because I need to do twice that distance next Sunday.

However at least I now know not to wear those shorts on race day. Or maybe I need to try that Bodyglide stuff?

Off for a good cry now.

Distance: 6.26 miles
Time: 1:04:51
Splits:

10:16
9:55
10:07
10:41
10:34
10:17
2:21

Average pace: 10:22

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 86.63 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 14:15:18
Juneathon days completed: 22/30

Juneathon: Day 21

2010-06-21T09:51:00.004+01:00

Half-marathon now in less than two weeks, and I’m starting to panic. To be honest, it’s the hills that are worrying me. If it was flat, I would be slightly more confident. Though only slightly. Admittedly the hills are mostly for the first 4 miles (map with elevation profile here). But still.

When I first looked at the website it stated there was a cut-off time for the HM of 2 hours 45 minutes, and that anyone taking longer than this would be "picked up by the sweeper vehicle and taken to the finish line" (yikes!). This conjured up alarming images of me, stumbling along at around the 10 mile mark, desperately trying to keep one step ahead of a vehicle with brushes intent on sweeping me up. However, this now seems to have disappeared from the website, or if it’s there I can’t find it. Not that I plan on taking as long as 2:45 anyway. But you never know.
Anyway, I’m planning on doing my last long pre-HM run tomorrow and am thinking of trying to do the full distance (except without so many hills), mainly for the psychological boost of knowing I can do it. Assuming I can, of course. Any expert thoughts on whether this is a good or stupid plan?

Any thoughts on what time I should be aiming for would also be welcome. My 10k PB (longest race so far) is 57:43, but that was on a flat course. My longest training run to date, just over 11 miles, was at 10:03 average pace, but again not as hilly as the race will be. Race predictor type things seem to suggest around, or just under, 2:15 but I think this may be over-ambitious given the hills. (Did I mention the hills?)

Just a short run tonight, anyway, after last night's 10k and ahead of tomorrow's long run.

Distance: 2.22 miles
Time: 21:16
Splits: 9:51, 9:31, 1:55
Average pace: 9:35

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 80.37 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 13:10:27
Juneathon days completed: 21/30

Juneathon: Day 20

2010-06-20T22:06:00.002+01:00

Apart from Tuesday's 11-miler, I've been doing really short runs all week (5k on Friday was the longest), so today seemed a good day to do a slightly longer one, although I'm saving my longest pre-half-marathon run for this Tuesday. Tonight's was a more-or-less-10k trot along the old railway line and back along the main road. Definitely am getting faster, though, because although I was deliberately keeping to an easy pace (and consciously slowing down at some points where I felt I was going too fast) I ran an average pace of 9:39, which I would have struggled to achieve over this distance not long ago.

In other news, I am now the proud owner of my first ever black toenail. Lovely!

Distance: 6.28 miles
Time: 1:00:36
Splits:

9:38
9:40
9:41
9:48
9:31
9:40
2:38

Average pace: 9:39

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 78.15 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 12:49:11
Juneathon days completed: 20/30
Black toenails: 1/10

Juneathon: Day 19

2010-06-19T15:41:00.005+01:00

It's nice to be over halfway through the Juneathon experience. (Yes, I know the halfway point was actually a few days ago, my maths isn't that bad.) I don't know about anyone else but I always find the halfway point to be psychologically important on my long runs, as that's the point where I can start thinking I now have less distance yet to run than distance already completed. (In fact I sometimes start doing complicated sums in my head about percentage completed and percentage still to go. Yes, it's an interesting place inside my head.)

Anyway, today I decided to weigh myself, which I very rarely ever do because I'm not really all that fascinated with how much I weigh, and I'm not overweight although I am a few pounds heavier than I used to be (I blame turning forty, although I suppose having a baby might have had something to do with it as well), and after all I didn't take up running to lose weight, which is just as well because I never do seem to lose any. Even running every day for Juneathon. You would think that a person who is running every day would weigh less than the same person doing no exercise at all (i.e. me, about 18 months ago) but this does not seem to follow. Suppose I must eat more than I think I do.

Just a short run tonight, though involving a couple of steepish, if thankfully short, hills.

Distance: 1.72 miles
Time: 17:25
Splits: 10:18, 07:06
Average pace: 10:08

Total Juneathon miles so far: 71.87 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 11:56:76
Juneathon days completed: 19/30

Juneathon: Day 18

2010-06-18T22:14:00.003+01:00

Well, looks like I am definitely getting faster :)

After watching some football, about which the less said the better, headed out in the near darkness for a 5k run at tempo pace, which I managed in the record-breaking (for me) time of 27:09. To put this in perspective, it's the first time I've ever managed more than one consecutive sub-9 minute mile, or had an average pace of under 9 minutes.

Maybe Juneathon is working.

Distance: 3.34 miles (5.37 km)
Time: 29:14
Splits:

8:52
8:42
8:53
2:47

Average pace: 8:45

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 70.15 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 11:31:09
Juneathon days completed: 18/30

Juneathon: Day 17

2010-06-17T13:42:00.009+01:00

Continuing this week's general theme of bizarre car stuff, I received a letter from a distant council demanding I pay £120 for a motoring offence committed by someone who is not me, driving a car which is not mine, in a place to which I have never been (although apparently Jogblog was born there). I have to write to them explaining why I don't think I should have to pay this £120. Where to begin....?

Later, got in a panic about impending half marathon and went out to force myself up some hills - didn't have time for a longer run today, but managed 25 minutes. On the downhill last half mile I thought I'd have a go at running at seven-minute-mile pace, just to see what it felt like. Well, I can confirm it feels - for me - uncomfortably fast, even downhill. How anyone can run marathons, or 10k's for that matter, or any distance at all really, at a considerably faster pace than that is beyond me. Then accidentally trod on a large stone which someone had considerately left in the middle of the pavement and narrowly avoided doing something unpleasant to my ankle. That'll teach me to look where I'm going.

Distance: 2.5 miles
Time: 25:31
Splits:

11:09
9:49
4:34

Average pace: 10:12 (quite pleased with this given the hilliness of the route, although I guess it was lowered ever so slightly by the microsecond during which I ran at seven-minute-mile pace)

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 66.81 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 11:01:55
Juneathon days completed: 17/30

Juneathon: Day 16

2010-06-16T14:02:00.009+01:00

Over halfway and onto the home straight. :)

Decidedly dodgy stomach in the middle of the night last night and again this morning, and in fact all day. Did wonder if horrible energy gel was implicated, though it seems unlikely I can blame it for upsetting my stomach twelve hours later. Seems a coincidence, though, as usually have cast iron stomach. Not sure whether to try again next week or try something else. I did buy a packet of something called "Ride Shots" (I think they're meant for cyclists, but don't see why runners can't use them) after seeing them in Holland & Barrett, so might give them a go, and will also get some jelly beans as suggested by Eating Trees and Iliketocount. Got to be tastier than the gel. (PS, just read article in magazine - not an advert - stating that these exact gels come in a "range of tasty flavours". I don't know what the writer's usual diet can be like if they seriously consider that sugary, medicine-like monstrosity, which shall remain nameless, a tasty flavour.)

Other new thing I did yesterday was to try out my new foam roller on my sore calves. OW. And again OW. Instructions say "Pause at any tender spots". Um, what are you meant to do if entire lower leg is composed of tender spots? Is, in fact, one large (not THAT large, thank you) tender spot? Strangely satisfying, however, in an AAAAARGH THAT HURTS kind of way, and calves are not at all sore today.

Various other aches and pains have started to pop up, though, most noticeably a pain on the top of my left foot. I made the mistake of googling "pain on top of foot" and, inevitably, immediately wished I hadn't. Well, it's not too bad, so I'm adopting a policy of ignoring it at the moment. Also got a black toenail on the other foot, and then proceeded to stub it painfully on a table leg this morning, so that's a bit sore as well.

What with dodgy stomach and sore feet and whatnot I didn't feel hugely like running today, but finally made it out of the house for a very short and easy run after yesterday's 11 miles (though it did include a couple of short, but steep, hills), and my tum behaved itself and I forgot about the sore feet after the first couple of minutes, so all is well.

Distance: 1.54 miles
Time: 16:51
Splits: 11:03, 5:48
Average pace: 10:57 (this might actually be my slowest ever average pace...)

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 64.31 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 10:36:24
Juneathon days completed: 16/30

Juneathon: Day 15

2010-06-15T15:38:00.004+01:00

Celebrated Juneathon halfway point with my longest run to date. That's ever, not just during Juneathon. Thought it would be sensible to use this opportunity to do as all the books advise and Practise My Race Strategy. This entails "refuelling", which it would appear does not mean stopping off at the petrol station for a tenner's worth of unleaded, but ingesting various weird and wonderful (legal) substances designed to prevent you from collapsing into a whimpering heap at the halfway point. Accordingly I took a drink with me, which I hardly ever do though I know I should, and my first ever energy gel, since I thought I might well need some extra help during the race and I really ought to try them out.

Strictly speaking, Practising My Race Strategy would have involved running uphill for four miles, since that's basically what the first part of the Stonehaven Half Marathon entails, but I'm not hardcore enough to do that when I don't absolutely have to, so I started with a quick (actually not that quick) lap of the park, back past my house, along to the Bridge of Dee roundabout, along the river to the bigger park, and back up the old railway line. Basically the same route I did on Sunday, but extended at both ends.

Feeling pretty knackered by the 6 mile point (it was quite hot, which didn't help) and decided to give the gel a whirl, which was easier said than done, as ripping off the top of it proved less straightforward than one might think. Then I had to actually swallow the bloody thing which was also easier said than done as it was foul. Think a tenner of petrol would have tasted nicer. I only took about half the packet. However, it did have somewhat of the desired effect as I felt a bit sharper and less like sitting down and not getting up again. Could have been psychological, of course.

Really need to get my head around this refuelling business a bit more. Are there any gels which don't taste horrible?

Distance: 11.18 miles
Time: 1:52:21
Average pace: 10:02
Splits:

10:49
10:22
9:50
10:15
9:57
9:54
9:52
10:17
9:47
10:19
9:18
1:39

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 62.77 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 10:19:32

Juneathon: Day 14

2010-06-14T12:46:00.003+01:00

Today , and indeed this week, got off to a great start when I couldn’t start the car. Daughter had to get to nursery, I had to get to work. Car would not start. Key turned in ignition OK, engine turned over, but the reassuring sound of the engine firing was conspicuous by its absence. After ten frustrating minutes I gave up and called the AA, who assured me someone would be there within the hour. Daughter and I proceeded back into the house to while away the time playing with dinosaurs and washing the breakfast dishes (and harvesting my Farmville crops). AA man continued not to arrive. He finally materialised at 10.20, tried my key in the ignition, immediately asked me if I had a spare key, which I eventually hunted down among all the other spare keys, tried the spare key in the ignition, and lo and behold, the car started. How much of an idiot did I feel, knowing I could have got the car going in the first place by the simple expedient of trying the spare key (which never occurred to me for a second) and would not then have had to wait an hour and a half for AA man to solve the problem in five seconds. Apparently the old key had "lost its coding". Well, how was I to know? It looked the same...

So I finally made it to work, where I wasted some time reading Juneathon blogs and wondering how the Independent Adjudicator is going to decide the winner. If it goes on total miles run, or indeed entertainment level and professionalism of blog (or for that matter, considering the above start to the day, intelligence of blogger), I have no chance, even though I’m almost certain to do more miles this month than ever before. However, I do think Juneathon is having a positive effect. My legs don’t feel sore at all today despite yesterday’s 7-miler and I have tons of energy, despite having to stay up late last night to pick son up from his job at Cineworld at past midnight.

Anyway 14 days of Juneathon completed, 2 weeks of daily running, so I guess having come this far I'll just have to keep going. Unless I get injured, or ill, or drop dead, or something.

Just a short and (very) slow run today, though. In my defence it did involve hills. I still hate hills.

Remind me again why I'm doing this half marathon in less than three weeks?

Distance: 2.07 miles
Time: 22:12
Splits: 10:59, 10:25, 0:47
Average pace: 10:42

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 51.59 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 8:27:11

Juneathon: Day 13

2010-06-13T17:07:00.001+01:00

Had planned 11 miles today, but only managed 7. Weather was crap and I wasn't feeling all that great either. Rain did clear up slightly later in the afternoon and I couldn't put it off any longer. First 2 miles were horrible, even though it was partly downhill and I tried a new route which included running along the riverside and back along the old railway line. I actually stopped at one point, ostensibly to admire the prettiness of the river, really because I was knackered. Doubt I was fooling anybody. Then I put on the nice Juneathon mix kindly made available by Audiofuel, and that helped.

Actually, just noticed that was my best ever 7 mile/11km time. So maybe not that crap after all. Just not long enough.

Definitely going to do the 11 on Tuesday, though. Half marathon now only (eek!) three weeks away.

Distance: 7.12 miles
Time: 1:09:57
Splits:

10:09
9:49
9:55
9:51
9:48
9:41
9:32
1:14

Average pace: 9:49

Untitled by sheri3004 at Garmin Connect - Details

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 49.52
Total Juneathon running time so far: 8:04:50
Juneathon days completed: 13/30

Juneathon: Day 12

2010-06-13T08:51:00.002+01:00

My Garmin gave up the ghost directly before I was due to go out on tonight's run. It seems to be a week of flat batteries - last night my MP3 player conked out after two minutes. Anyway, I didn't have time to recharge my Garmin as it was another late evening effort, so had to go for an unmeasured, unrecorded run, which was a slightly worryingly strange experience. Am clearly a slave to technology and find it difficult to believe I've actually done it without lots of numbers and a little map on the computer as proof.

Anyway, both Garmin and MP3 player now fully charged ahead of Sunday long run. Phew!

Distance: 2 miles (approx)
Time: 20 mins (approx)
Average pace: 10:00 (approx)

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 44.4 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 7:15:02
Juneathon days completed: 12/30

Juneathon: Day 11

2010-06-11T22:12:00.003+01:00

30 minute fartlek style run out and back along old railway line. Was going to do 40 minutes but it was getting dark. Really must try to get out earlier in the day, but it just isn't working for me at the moment. Quite like evening running, but prefer not to do it in near-darkness.

Anyway, weekend running plan (to be fitted in around football viewing): nice short easy run tomorrow, ahead of long gruelling effort on Sunday. Will try to improve on last Sunday's 10 miles. Will also try to squeeze in yoga session somewhere. Not feeling too bad on 11 continuous days running, but definitely think I need to improve on my stretching.

Distance: 3.22 miles
Time: 30:08
Splits: 9:52, 9:07, 9:04, 2:04
Average pace: 9:21
Best pace: 6:55

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 42.4 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 6:55:02
Juneathon days completed: 11/30

Juneathon: Day 10

2010-06-10T21:55:00.005+01:00

Juneathon challenge #376: finding clean kit to wear every day. Have managed reasonably well up till now, but today was forced to raid the back of the drawer and hit the streets in a pair of baggy three-quarter length trousers and a voluminous race t-shirt. Looked like elderly skateboarding type person, especially with addition of baseball cap as disguise. Not a good look. Fortunately only did 2 miles (same out and back route as yesterday) - was planning a longer run today but precluded by time constraints/domestic commitments/the fact that it was getting dark out. Definitely doing interval session tomorrow, though. Although I suppose Juneathon running, and indeed life in general, for rest of month will also be constrained by World Cup watching commitments.

Distance: 2.26 miles
Time: 21:50
Splits: 10:21, 9:19, 2:09
Average pace: 9:40

Total Juneathon distance run so far: 39.18 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 6:24:54
Juneathon days completed: 10/30

Juneathon: Day 9

2010-06-09T19:11:00.002+01:00

Recovered from last night's windswept, rain-drenched, PB-busting beachfront 10k with a gentle evening jog of one mile (slightly uphill) out and one mile (slightly downhill, obviously) back. Nothing interesting to report. Saw a man walking a dog in full running gear (the man, not the dog, which would have been more interesting) but showing no signs of actually running. Perhaps the dog was tired.

Distance: 2.05 miles
Time: 20:37
Splits: 10:37, 9:34
Average pace: 10:03

Total Juneathon distance so far: 36.92 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 6:03:04

The Running Shop Beach 10k Race Report (and Juneathon: Day 8)

2010-06-08T21:56:00.009+01:00

When I signed up for The Running Shop Beach 10k I had visions of a lovely sunny evening down at the beach, clearly having temporarily forgotten I live in Aberdeen and mistaken it for somewhere with a pleasant temperate climate. My delightful vision was, of course, completely wrong. Wind. Rain. Cold. Runners huddled together for warmth at the start line. Etc. At least, unlike the last time I ran this race, there was no snow and ice underfoot.

It's a nice flat route, though, if a bit lacking in anything to look at other than grey sea and matching grey sky, and what with all the training I've been doing lately, I had definite PB hopes. Set off fastish, possibly a bit too fast I thought, but I felt OK and went through the first mile in 9:23. Second mile still felt OK and did it in 9:16, worried I was going too fast (as my plan was to stick to around 9:39 min/miles with a view to squeezing in under the hour). But I think the training is paying off and I am definitely getting faster, because I was still happily plodding along and did the third mile in 9:15. Wind and rain was playing havoc with my Garmin, though, which kept whizzing from screen to screen, and around the halfway point it suddenly occurred to me that I could, in fact, lock the bezel to stop it doing that, so I did, but not before I had accidentally stopped the timer and had to restart it again. Continued to plod and found myself actually overtaking some people, including the bananas who seem to do every race I ever go to and run at about the same pace. But I left the bananas far behind this time so I must be improving.

Did feel pretty rough in the last mile and was severely tempted to stop and walk (why? why does this always happen to me in races?) but managed to keep going and finally dragged myself over the finish line in, according to my Garmin, an amazing 57:43, a good 3.5 minutes better than my previous PB, and 5 minutes faster than the last time I ran this course, six months ago. (Official time might be slightly different as it took me several seconds to cross the start line and I'm not actually sure exactly where the finish line was, but shouldn't be radically different.)

No medal or t-shirt, but I did get an Asics gym bag and a plastic cup of orange squash. And a big PB. Woohoo!

I love Juneathon.

Distance: 6.22 miles
Time: 57:43
Splits: 9:23, 9:16, 9:15, 9:20, 9:15, 9:07, 2:07
Average pace: 9:17

Total Juneathon distance so far: 34.87 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 5:42:27

Juneathon: Day 7

2010-06-07T12:45:00.002+01:00

Concluding the first week of Juneathon, and (nearly) a quarter of the way through, I thought it might be a good time to review how things have been going so far. I’ve run every day for a week – not quite on a par, admittedly, with Ron Hill running every day for 100 years, or however long it now is, but a first for me. My concerns a week ago were mainly around (a) finding the time to run (and blog), and (b) not overdoing it, since I’m not used to running or indeed doing any other form of exercise every day and I didn't want to either wear myself out completely or, worse, pick up an overuse injury. My hopes were, basically, to get fitter (and win all the prizes, obviously, but that goes without saying).

Anyway it may be tempting fate but: so far, so good. I've managed to run every day (albeit very short, easy efforts on the "in between" days) and I'm not knackered, or injured, in fact I have noticeably more energy. And it's probably too early to tell, but I think my running may be improving, as I seem to be able to maintain a faster pace for longer (cf. yesterday's long run and Friday's 10k). Fingers crossed it continues. I have a 10k race tomorrow so will be interested to see if I (a) blast my previous PB to smithereens, or (b) collapse and die.

Just to completely undermine all of the above, I didn't really feel like going out for a run tonight, as had attack of tiredness probably brought on by lack of sleep last night (daughter had nightmare at 2am which resulted in whole household having to wake up and then stay awake for ages trying to get her back to sleep). So once she was in bed tonight I more or less conked out and seriously considered not bothering to Juneathon. Then thought No! The gods of Juneathon (and the Independent Adjudicator) must be appeased! so got off my lazy backside and out for a very short and very slow jog along to the park and back. Saw a young deer peeping out from between the trees on the way back, which was worth going out for in itself.

Distance: 1.22 miles
Time: 13:01
Splits: 11:02, 1:59
Average pace: 10:40

Total Juneathon distance so far: 28:65
Total Juneathon running time so far: 4:44:44

Juneathon: Day 6

2010-06-06T17:54:00.008+01:00

Didn't really feel like going out for today's planned 10 mile run, partly because the weather looked unpromising, but mainly because I felt stupidly nervous about it, given that on the only previous occasion I attempted to run 10 miles I felt awful the whole way and only managed 9 and a bit. So was hoping, indeed needing, to remedy that today, as half-marathon is now a mere 4 weeks away, but I can't say I felt confident. Spent morning buying daughter a new car seat and "helping" husband buy new football boots in JJB Sports, where I discovered an entire, pink section of the shop devoted to women's exercise equipment, which was a bit perturbing. Why would you want pink weights?

Anyway, finally set off for run about 3.30pm with freshly loaded MP3 player (didn't feel in the mood for music so had downloaded comedy podcasts - Alan Davies' World Cup programme from Radio 5, and Radio 4's Friday Night Comedy, guess middle age really is setting in) and stupid bum bag type thing which won't stay put and bobs around my waist annoyingly, containing phone, key and a handful of jelly beans. Never used to bother taking my phone but then thought "what if I fall down a hole and twist my ankle in the middle of nowhere" so now I do take it. Sometimes. Didn't bother with a drink, although I was going to take one and probably should have done, in the interests of Good Hydration as advised by all the books, but I don't like carrying stuff, so I didn't, even though I bought one of those oval shaped bottles specifically for this purpose. Maybe I will use it next week.

So anyway, I ran up the hill (slow first mile, as always) and along the main road towards Peterculter, and luckily the rain more or less held off for most of the way, and some of the time I felt quite good and some of the time I thought, there is NO WAY I am ever going to manage 10 miles, but I kept going, ran through Peterculter, turned round and ran back through it the other way, then back onto the old railway line (at about 5.5 miles) towards home. Confess I did have a couple of short walk breaks at this point, one at about 6 miles and one at about 7 miles, but in my defence they were very brief. Reached the path heading down towards my house and had only done 8.7 miles so pushed myself on a bit further and managed to complete the 10. Yay! And amazingly, even with the walk breaks, in an overall average pace of just under 10 minute miles, which as I am aiming for 10:15 minute miles in the half marathon, I was well pleased with. Though to be fair, the half marathon is hillier, at least in the first few miles. But still, yay.

Distance: 10.08 miles
Time: 1:40:17
Splits: 10:59, 9:51, 9:51, 9:41, 9:57, 9:52, 10:19, 9:46, 10:02, 9:17
Average pace: 9:57

Total Juneathon distance so far: 27.43 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 4:31:43

I'm going to try and upload the Garmin data here, but it won't work, because it never does, and I don't know why, because although it looks OK when I preview it it never seems to show up in the actual post.

See?

Don't know whether this works any better.

Juneathon: Day 5

2010-06-05T21:11:00.003+01:00

Didn't get out for a run until evening again today, mainly because mother-in-law was coming round for tea and therefore I obviously had to spend the entire day cleaning the house and cooking the tea. Although all this additional housework may well have qualified as extra exercise, I thought it probably sadly wouldn't count as Juneathon, so hauled myself out of the house for a short run. Definitely a short one tonight as I did 6 miles last night and am planning a 10-miler tomorrow, and the last time I attempted a 10-miler I felt awful the entire way and only finished up doing 9 and a bit and even then had to stop a couple of times during it, so this time I don't want to knacker myself too much beforehand.

Ran up two hills very slowly and then slightly but not much faster on some flat and downhill bits, once round the small park, up the short but evil incline at the end of the park, and along the road back home. Uneventful. Smiled at man walking towards me along the narrow pavement on the way home but he pretended not to have seen me. Even though I was running towards him along a narrow pavement.

Distance: 1.8 miles
Time: 18:45
Splits: 10:41, 8:04
Average pace: 10:25

Total Juneathon distance so far: 17.35 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 2:51:26

Juneathon: Day 4

2010-06-04T21:58:00.001+01:00

Maybe this running every day as per Juneathon is having a positive effect, even though it's only been 4 days, or maybe it's just a coincidence, I don't know, but fabulous run this evening. Didn't manage to get out till nearly 9pm, ran along the old railway line (didn't see the llama on this occasion but did see zillions of young rabbits nibbling grass and scooting back and forth across the path, very cute, wished I had taken camera), and then back along the main road. Felt great the whole way, even the first couple of miles which are usually horrible till I get warmed up, did feel I was flagging a bit in the last mile though actually managed it in fastest split time of whole run. Listening to Neil Young, XTC and early REM on my MP3 player. Barely thought about my pace the whole way and was surprised to find I had run 6.25 miles in 1:00:16 without particularly trying.

Now, can someone tell me why I can't manage a sub-60 10k in a race?

Distance: 6.25 miles
Time: 1:00:16
Splits: 10:03, 9:46, 9:42, 9:45, 9:28, 9:21
Average pace: 9:39

Total Juneathon distance so far: 15.55 miles
Total Juneathon running time so far: 2:32:41