Thinking ahead

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

[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

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

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

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

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.

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