Well it's been a while since my last post. I thought I'd put a little note up just to say that I actually did a bit of running this evening. A nice little trail race around Heybridge. It was hot and I was really slow but it was good to get out and get running again after a little break.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Sunshine on a rainy day
As laid in my hotel bed at 3:45 am, unable to sleep because of the combination of excitement and nerves, I thought to myself, 'we must be close to a railway line or something'. A short time later I realised it was actually the wind in the trees outside my window. I eventually got up at 7am and looked out, it didn't look quite as bad as the forecast suggested. Yes it was raining, yes it was windy but I imagined a biblical downpour rather than just - rain. I managed to eat my breakfast and messed about packing and unpacking my bag and trying to decide between shorts and tights. My pre-race routine went completely out of the window as my Sister and Brother In-law (Pete) called to say they were waiting downstairs. It was time to go (outside) and at this point it was clear that actually it was pretty flippin cold.
We got dropped off and spend the next few minutes avoiding the puddles in a vain attempt to keep our feet dry on our way into the stadium/start. And that was the last time I saw Pete until about 6 miles in (when he overtook me like I was standing still). A few more distractions inside the 'Dons' meant I was even less organised than normal. What a time to get a call about a stray dog a 100 odd miles away!
The plan for the race was to stick as close to 3:45 (8:15) pace as long I could, accepting that at some point I would blow up and that by then I'd hopefully have banked enough to scrape under 4 hours. Not a 'normal' pacing strategy but I was worried that if I started running just under 9 minute miles when it came to the latter stages I'd not have anything left to pick up a bit.
Anyway the race got underway and I slipped into a nice 8:15 pace for the first six or so miles, give or take 30secs for a wee break. Despite limited training in April I felt okay in the legs but crikey my stomach felt as ropey as a bag of full of ropes. I had only one swig of water until I got the first Lucozade station at 8 miles and after a swig of that, I spent the next mile trying not to lose my breakfast. Puddles of rain is bad but puddles and other runners breakfast is quite another.
I reached halfway more or less bang on 3:45 pace and started to think that maybe it would be possible to keep up the pace, but by 16 I was starting to slow up a bit and beginning to felt the miles. By 20 I'd worked out that I was still about a minute ahead on my 3:50 pace band but I was loosing about 30 seconds a mile on that.
I should have mentioned that I was I-podded up for this run and until 22 miles I had only one dodgy shuffle.
But just before 22 miles there was quite a steep hill that really started to hurt, then of all the songs on my i-pod, Adele came whining into my ears about some bloke who's she's heard about and who's married now or something. It's not the easiest thing to 'release' the i-pod from my back pocket, switch of the 'keylock' thing with frozen hands and then try and change tracks... But I just about managed it but did a sly walk whilst changing - sadly my wife and sister were just up the road a bit and spotted that!
The next event was my second gel attempt. The stomach was feeling better by now or at least my legs were hurting so much my stomach felt better by comparison so the 23 mile gel station was visited. Another narrowly avoided vomiting incident later 24 miles were ticked off and I knew that I could run 12 min miles and still make sub 4 hours - phew. But if I ran a little bit faster I might, just might scrape sub 3:55 so off I went. It felt like I'd suddenly started running 7s but the Garmin told me different! The final mile or so was emotional to say the least. As Doug says on his blog Stadium MK appeared out the trees and suddenly we were a wide open road, running down hill. The I-pod chose this moment to shuffle onto 'So here we are' by Bloc party which is one of my favourite songs and one of those tunes that makes my hairs stand on end even though I've heard it loads of times. I've never actually looked up the lyrics until now but after 25.5 miles it seemed much more meaningful... So I've pasted them here with my MK Marathon additions
I caught a glimpse, but its been forgotten (of the stadium and no it's not been forgotten)
So here we are again (yep)
I made a vow, to carry you home... (yep and I blogged a bit about it)
I really tried to do what you wanted (run sub 4 hours)
It all went wrong again (Not this time)
I figured it out, (apparently I did)
Brilliant - those 3m53s of Bloc Party brilliance will stay with me forever. The song ended just as I turned into the stadium and I pulled out my ear phones and just ran as hard as I could running past the goal and up the side line... and across the finish line.
13 seconds over 3:55 I blame that ALL on Adele and her rubbish relationships! Anyway I set out in the morning to run sub 4 and was nearly 5 minutes under my target so at that point i was an emotional wreck. Crying when your out of breath is so hard I gave up until I saw my wife and niece in the stands waving...
Plodding out from the stadium was nice and gave everyone a chance to encourage the people coming into the stadium to finish.
MK Marathon - Done. And I loved it despite the rain, the cold, the mud, the puddles, the floods, the pain and the hills. All of those things made it a really memorable day but most of all it was the marshals and people that lined the course with so much enthusiasm, energy and at times humour.
The Journey to MK
This whole MK adventure started with a conversation with my sister and Pete. Sis didn't manage to do any training for the race so didn't run (something about a new job). With 600 odd training miles between us and a 26.2 mile Pete was the clear winner completing his debut in 3:37. I am seriously impressed with that time and it does give me a target for NEXT time.
Thanks to my wife (Lisa) for taking the pictures and supporting me throughout the journey...
We got dropped off and spend the next few minutes avoiding the puddles in a vain attempt to keep our feet dry on our way into the stadium/start. And that was the last time I saw Pete until about 6 miles in (when he overtook me like I was standing still). A few more distractions inside the 'Dons' meant I was even less organised than normal. What a time to get a call about a stray dog a 100 odd miles away!
The plan for the race was to stick as close to 3:45 (8:15) pace as long I could, accepting that at some point I would blow up and that by then I'd hopefully have banked enough to scrape under 4 hours. Not a 'normal' pacing strategy but I was worried that if I started running just under 9 minute miles when it came to the latter stages I'd not have anything left to pick up a bit.
Anyway the race got underway and I slipped into a nice 8:15 pace for the first six or so miles, give or take 30secs for a wee break. Despite limited training in April I felt okay in the legs but crikey my stomach felt as ropey as a bag of full of ropes. I had only one swig of water until I got the first Lucozade station at 8 miles and after a swig of that, I spent the next mile trying not to lose my breakfast. Puddles of rain is bad but puddles and other runners breakfast is quite another.
I reached halfway more or less bang on 3:45 pace and started to think that maybe it would be possible to keep up the pace, but by 16 I was starting to slow up a bit and beginning to felt the miles. By 20 I'd worked out that I was still about a minute ahead on my 3:50 pace band but I was loosing about 30 seconds a mile on that.
 |
| Just a small puddle! |
But just before 22 miles there was quite a steep hill that really started to hurt, then of all the songs on my i-pod, Adele came whining into my ears about some bloke who's she's heard about and who's married now or something. It's not the easiest thing to 'release' the i-pod from my back pocket, switch of the 'keylock' thing with frozen hands and then try and change tracks... But I just about managed it but did a sly walk whilst changing - sadly my wife and sister were just up the road a bit and spotted that!
The next event was my second gel attempt. The stomach was feeling better by now or at least my legs were hurting so much my stomach felt better by comparison so the 23 mile gel station was visited. Another narrowly avoided vomiting incident later 24 miles were ticked off and I knew that I could run 12 min miles and still make sub 4 hours - phew. But if I ran a little bit faster I might, just might scrape sub 3:55 so off I went. It felt like I'd suddenly started running 7s but the Garmin told me different! The final mile or so was emotional to say the least. As Doug says on his blog Stadium MK appeared out the trees and suddenly we were a wide open road, running down hill. The I-pod chose this moment to shuffle onto 'So here we are' by Bloc party which is one of my favourite songs and one of those tunes that makes my hairs stand on end even though I've heard it loads of times. I've never actually looked up the lyrics until now but after 25.5 miles it seemed much more meaningful... So I've pasted them here with my MK Marathon additions
I caught a glimpse, but its been forgotten (of the stadium and no it's not been forgotten)
So here we are again (yep)
I made a vow, to carry you home... (yep and I blogged a bit about it)
I really tried to do what you wanted (run sub 4 hours)
It all went wrong again (Not this time)
I figured it out, (apparently I did)
Brilliant - those 3m53s of Bloc Party brilliance will stay with me forever. The song ended just as I turned into the stadium and I pulled out my ear phones and just ran as hard as I could running past the goal and up the side line... and across the finish line.
 |
| 3 meters from the finish line if you squint |
13 seconds over 3:55 I blame that ALL on Adele and her rubbish relationships! Anyway I set out in the morning to run sub 4 and was nearly 5 minutes under my target so at that point i was an emotional wreck. Crying when your out of breath is so hard I gave up until I saw my wife and niece in the stands waving...
 |
| Where's Wally (in a yellow top) |
MK Marathon - Done. And I loved it despite the rain, the cold, the mud, the puddles, the floods, the pain and the hills. All of those things made it a really memorable day but most of all it was the marshals and people that lined the course with so much enthusiasm, energy and at times humour.
The Journey to MK
This whole MK adventure started with a conversation with my sister and Pete. Sis didn't manage to do any training for the race so didn't run (something about a new job). With 600 odd training miles between us and a 26.2 mile Pete was the clear winner completing his debut in 3:37. I am seriously impressed with that time and it does give me a target for NEXT time.
Thanks to my wife (Lisa) for taking the pictures and supporting me throughout the journey...
Monday, 30 April 2012
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Not long now...
It's less than 22 hours until the start of the MK marathon and the weather forecast is looking interesting to say the least. I can't really complain as I was hoping for a cool race but I don't remember ordering 40 mile an hour gusts of wind.
- The bag is packed.
- Pace bands are printed.
- Carbs have been loaded.
- (Some) Training has been completed.
- Hotel's booked and dog sitters organised.
- Meal with big sis booked for this evening.
I am ready... (I think).
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Virtual training partner?
I thought I'd introduce my new training partner for 2013, Rosie.
I'm hoping that in 12 months time she'll be big and strong enough to come with me on some shorter runs and be far more interesting that the 'virtual training partner' function on my Garmin. In the interim she can just look cute and probably eat the furniture.
The plan for tomorrow is a final really long run of about 20 miles followed by an Easter egg based recovery strategy.
The plan for tomorrow is a final really long run of about 20 miles followed by an Easter egg based recovery strategy.
Monday, 2 April 2012
Boy Lilikoi
This last week I've rediscovered two running experiences - Running with music and running in the heat. Luckily the weekend was pretty cool so I'll just skim over the heat part, its going to snow (maybe).
I stopped running with my iPod last winter because most local races have banned them and in all honesty I hadn't really missed it. My home turf is pretty remote therefore all you get to hear is your own footsteps and whatever the environment has to offer that day. It sort of adds to the isolation, atmosphere and the whole experience. But I thought I'd dig out the old iPod for a long run over the weekend and I'm glad I did.
My run took me along my route to work along the sea wall towards Mayland and Lawling Creek and then a loop between the two creeks before retracing my steps. The first 8 miles ticked by really easily as my iPod shuffled through MY music. It might have been the cooler day but I actually felt quite strong!
I like to think that my wife has pretty good taste in music but then she does also have an affinity to Take That and similar, so I enjoy a few hours listening to MY music without any complaints. Don't get me wrong I do appreciate that Gary Barlow can write a decent pop song (I'm nearly middle aged you know) but frankly I can do without being reminded of Morrisons while I'm running. Typing this now I'm struggling to remember all the songs so I'll just share my 'top five' from the weekend.
5. Price of Gasoline, Bloc Party
Woo hoo I had a political thought during exercise!
4. Counterpoint, Delphic
A cracking tune to run to
3. Second, Minute or Hour, Jack Penate
Actually this is one of my wife's songs, see she does have taste.
2. Overpowered, Rosin Murphy
A long run wouldn't be a long run without this song (or lots of Sigur Ros).
1. Boy Lilikoi, Jonsi
This is the song that shuffled into my ears at the point where I got to the section between Mayland and Lawling Creeks. It's one of those tunes that builds and builds and makes you feel great when its really loud. It was made better by the six seals sitting in the mud on the opposite site of the creek watching me run past. I wonder how many people can say they saw six seals on a run?
The rest of the run was pretty good too, the sun came out and I did a boil in the bag impression as I was fully 'tighted' up again. It was unpleasantly hot in all that clothing but I just thought I better get used it, it will be summer soon! So I ticked off 16 miles averaging about 8min30s. Not quite the 8:00's I'd hoped to have been doing at this stage but I am not unhappy with that.
I stopped running with my iPod last winter because most local races have banned them and in all honesty I hadn't really missed it. My home turf is pretty remote therefore all you get to hear is your own footsteps and whatever the environment has to offer that day. It sort of adds to the isolation, atmosphere and the whole experience. But I thought I'd dig out the old iPod for a long run over the weekend and I'm glad I did.
 |
| Seal (In St Lawrence and not featuring Adamski or on my iPod) |
I like to think that my wife has pretty good taste in music but then she does also have an affinity to Take That and similar, so I enjoy a few hours listening to MY music without any complaints. Don't get me wrong I do appreciate that Gary Barlow can write a decent pop song (I'm nearly middle aged you know) but frankly I can do without being reminded of Morrisons while I'm running. Typing this now I'm struggling to remember all the songs so I'll just share my 'top five' from the weekend.
5. Price of Gasoline, Bloc Party
Woo hoo I had a political thought during exercise!
4. Counterpoint, Delphic
A cracking tune to run to
3. Second, Minute or Hour, Jack Penate
Actually this is one of my wife's songs, see she does have taste.
2. Overpowered, Rosin Murphy
A long run wouldn't be a long run without this song (or lots of Sigur Ros).
1. Boy Lilikoi, Jonsi
This is the song that shuffled into my ears at the point where I got to the section between Mayland and Lawling Creeks. It's one of those tunes that builds and builds and makes you feel great when its really loud. It was made better by the six seals sitting in the mud on the opposite site of the creek watching me run past. I wonder how many people can say they saw six seals on a run?
The rest of the run was pretty good too, the sun came out and I did a boil in the bag impression as I was fully 'tighted' up again. It was unpleasantly hot in all that clothing but I just thought I better get used it, it will be summer soon! So I ticked off 16 miles averaging about 8min30s. Not quite the 8:00's I'd hoped to have been doing at this stage but I am not unhappy with that.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
I hate coughing
Although my Essex 20 time was not the fastest, or particularly consistent in terms of pacing, I started that week feeling pretty confident about my ability to get around the MK Marathon in a reasonable time. I'd done twenty miles and didn't feel too bad. Two days after that I managed a nice 12ish miles around the village with a more consistent pace and the shins seemed to be holding up nicely.
 |
| Beeleigh Falls |
Then I developed a cough which has been hanging around since and as a result I've missed more training runs. About 8 in total including the Great Bentley Half on Sunday just gone. I feel like I've taken a big step backwards on the training front as well as missing one of my favourite races - frustrating to say the least.
But still I did manage to get out and do 4 miles at lunchtime yesterday. After just over a week off it was fantastic to get out in the spring sunshine and run down to Beeleigh falls (picture credit). It's only a short run but its got a bit of everything including some proper steep hills depending on the route. That spring feeling's started me thinking about running to work again.
 |
| The view on the run to work |
Running along the sea wall to work is about 14 miles door to door. I'm not really a morning person and but I do enjoy the novelty of being out first thing particularly when its a nice morning. Last time I ran it was not nice in the slightest! Sea walls are great when the weather's nice but when the rains coming down and the wind is blowing they are bleak. The fact you end up running in and out of all the creeks also make that route mentally tough too.
So the plan for the rest of the week is to try and get out and do a 'long as possible in whatever time I have' run tomorrow. Thursday I'm off doing a six mile(ish) run testing out a walking route with a colleague. Friday AM is the current day for a trot to work along 'the wall'. Certainly a good way of getting a long run in without upsetting the family too much. At some point over the weekend I need to fit in an 18 miler and a sport relief mile! More on that later in the week probably.
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