Marathon Training: A Progress Check

It’s just under 6 weeks to go until Brighton, which means I’m hitting my highest ever mileage and counting down to taper time, so I thought I would update you with a progress check. Here’s a little bit about what I’ve learned during training so far.

Nutrition

I think I’ve got my long run strategy sorted – I have a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea about an hour beforehand and depending on the length of the run, top that up with a Nakd bar or a banana closer to when I set off. On the run I’m using High5 Isogels – they are quite bulky but don’t need to be taken with water and crucially don’t upset my stomach. One approximately every 4 miles seems to be working out for me.

When I’m not running, I seem to be eating all of the time! I’m trying to make sure that I refuel healthily which means not just eating chocolate (though I have been doing a fair bit of crème egg scoffing too). Two of my favourite recipes are Prawn Jambalaya (rainbow food!) and Breakfast Muffins (no added sugar and you can cram them full of fruit).

Sleep
I need lots of it. The afternoon of a long run day is spent lazing around; if not actually sleeping, then at least completely resting. The rest of the week I’m usually in bed by 10pm and out like a light until the alarm goes off at 6.30ish.

Long runs

I’ve now run 18 miles twice – once in the Valentines 30K and once by myself. The one by myself was slower and tougher, but it helped knowing that I’d covered the distance already. I enjoyed the 30K race so I’ve entered a 20 mile race this Sunday to use as a “catered training run” again. I’ll then do 20 miles by myself a fortnight later – hopefully that’s a good combination of race experience mixed with increased mental toughness!

Midweek runs
I don’t really have a motivation issue at the weekends – I will always go to parkrun and the long Sunday run is, to my mind, the most crucial session for getting me marathon ready so I’m not going to miss one unless there is a very good reason. However, sometimes in the week I find it hard to get all of the scheduled runs in. I’ve dealt with this by using my running club more – I’ve been braving the speedy track session on Tuesdays and although I am one of the slower runners, as long as there are other runners at around my pace then it’s a really good session. Last week we bonded over bondarenko (no I didn’t know what it was either!). I had been a bit daunted by the Thursday tempo sessions but one of the running leaders has set up a women’s group which goes a bit more slowly and for a slightly shorter distance – I headed out with them last week and really enjoyed it. On Wednesdays I have a recovery run scheduled and although I’m conscious of “junk miles” I tend to just plod round for four or five miles at a slowish pace before heading to my Pilates class. It’s all time on feet at the end of the day!

Sports Massage
I thought my legs deserved a treat after the 30K last week so I booked in for my first ever sports massage. I expected it to be 30 minutes of bearable torture but actually it was lovely – a couple of tender spots but no pain and a great chat with the therapist who has been working with Jo Wiley on her Sports Relief challenge!

How is everyone else getting on with their training? Please do bear in mind that this is my first ever marathon so I’m just learning as I go along – I’m by no means an expert and what works for me may not work for others.

Katie

Valentines 30K - Race Report

This report doesn't contain any photos I'm afraid, mainly because I didn't take any. I could take one now of my massive new toe blister, but that would give a negative impression of this race and that wouldn't be fair because I loved it. 

I'd entered for the race (put on by Stamford Striders) at the end of last year when I was writing out my marathon plan. I had 18 miles to do so thought that it would be nice to do it with other people- as Marathon Talk put it, a "catered training run". Since then, it's been looming - highlighted yellow on the plan - the first real rest of how training was going. The wind and the rain of the past few weeks coupled with the repeated mentions of "challenging" and "undulating" (we all know that means mountainous) on the race website had put the fear of bad race gods into me and last week I was seriously considering pulling out and just doing a flat easy run by myself instead. I'm really glad I manned up and got myself to the startline - it was a gem of a race.

The sun was shining, registration was quick and easy, yes there were queues for the toilets but only because the lorry carrying the portaloos had broken down (we saw it- with hindsight a photo of that would have been good, sorry readers!). Stamford Striders were a friendly bunch with some of the best marshals around - they wore silly hats, they whooped, they cheered, they had jelly babies and generally made us runners feel awesome. The course itself was hilly - downs as well as ups but hardly any flat. It was tough but the hills were also a good distraction, as were the amazing km markers - heart shaped for the valentines theme and each one included a "motivational" message. My favourites were: (at 2k) "You're not almost there"; "It's all downhill from here. Apart from the uphills" and "In 3 days time you'll think you enjoyed this".

The whole race epitomised why races put on by runners, for runners are generally the best. Thanks Stamford Striders - I'll be back! 

Time: 3hrs 6mins, or an average of 10 minutes a mile, aka marathon target pace! 

The highs and lows of marathon training

Do you keep a training diary? I never have before, but I am trying my best to stick to my marathon schedule and I’m finding it helpful to tick off sessions as I go along. I am hoping that, as long as all goes to plan, I will be able to look back during Taper Time and feel prepared based on all of the sessions I’ve completed. I’m using a highly sophisticated recording method, involving the most technical of tools – smiley faces.

Unfortunately I succumbed to a tummy bug just before Christmas which scuppered training for about a week but gradually the smiley faces are beginning to dominate again and I feel that at the moment training is on track. I had a really positive 10 mile run on Sunday and I’m feeling confident about the distance increasing. This may all change, but I’m aiming to stay positive for as long as possible.

Other highlights so far have included the purchase of The Marathon Trainers (but they are too shiny and new to have actually been taken outside yet), my first attempt at taking a gel being successful (i.e. not resulting in a visit from the Gingerbread Man) and the increase in training providing perfect justification for new lycra. Let’s hope the run of smiley faces continues.

Double parkrunning

How did you welcome in the new year?

I had a lovely chilled evening at home, just about stayed awake to hear the fireworks and then woke up with a 7am alarm to head to Huntingdon parkrun. This was the first of a special New Year double and pleasingly 153 other people had decided that charging/slipping/ambling their way around a very muddy 5K course at 9am was an excellent way to start 2014! A quick change of leggings, socks and trainers and we were back in the car heading down the A1 for the second half of the morning's parkrunning.

287 runners had woken up by 10.30 and were ready to tackle Peterborough's course. The weather had worsened slightly by this point, but the course was significantly easier - all on Tarmac paths and completely flat apart from a bridge. I was just under 5 minutes quicker than I had been at Huntingdon but by the end my legs were reminding me that it might have been last year, but they had run a PB yesterday and wanted a rest.  Luckily rest and sustenance came in the form of Eggs Benedict at a friend's house afterwards together with lots of running chat and free flowing tea.

The rest of the day has been spent relaxing on the sofa - later I'm going to do a spot of yoga to get #21daysofyoga started and then just to balance things out, I'm making a pie.

Thanks go to all my running buddies for making this a great start to the year but final word to all of the volunteers for making the runs possible - you guys rock.

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

As expected, this blogpost, written on the last day of 2013, is all about what I've achieved this year and looking ahead to 2014. A few years ago I stopped resolving to give something up and instead decided to start doing something new. One year I learnt to knit, another to bake my own bread. I have found it a much more positive way to make small improvements to my life rather than trying to cut things out.

Last year I used the same approach to set myself race time targets...here's how I got on:

5K - Target was sub-25 minutes

This was a tough one- despite parkrunning almost every week, my 5K speed has not been a strong point and I'd often rather have a relatively easy social run than go out and smash it. Back in September though, after a summer of lots of cycling and running, I ran naked (without my Garmin) and was amazed to clock 24 minutes dead. Boom!

10K - Target was sub-55 minutes

This one was hard fought! I ran lots of 10Ks in the first half of the year but it was the flattish Huntingdon 10K that saw me sneak under my target time with 54.55. Since then I've run 2 others in better shape and was on track to knock a chunk off that until I discovered that not one, but both courses were short. After 9.5K of hard effort I did not want to see the finish line- I wanted to carry on and claim a real PB! Turns out that I don't really mind a rubbish goodie bag, or dodgy toilets - I just want a course that's the length it's supposed to be (though toilets and goodie bag welcome too...). So, goal achieved, but still felt my time wasn't reflective of my form - step up the New Years Eve Ely 10K. I'm currently recovering on the sofa from this one (first half a dream of slight downhills and wind behind us, second half like trying to run in treacle whilst someone aimed a hair dryer full blast on cold mode at your face, with a hill for added pleasure. And a bagpiper) but with a shiny new PB of 52.31 - thank you Ely Runners, I loved it but maybe turn the hair dryers down for next year!

Half Marathon - Target was Sub-2 hours

The difficulty with this target was the lack of opportunities. I'd run my first half in November 2012 in 2.07 so decided sub-2 was a realistic target. Despite training hard, the snow at the Cambridge Half (in March) coupled with poor fuelling contributed to a big but disappointing PB of 20 seconds over 2 hours. The pressure was on for the Royal Parks but luckily as regular readers will know, this race more than delivered and I finished delighted with 1.57.35.

So all 3 targets smashed...time to relax? No, of course not - I'm a runner and therefore never satisfied! In 2014 my targets are as follows...

5K - 23 something - my focus for the year isn't on speed but I'd like to hope this is still realistic!

10K - 50 something - one day, I'll be aiming for sub-50 but not quite sure I'm ready for that yet!

Half - sub 1.55 - bring it on Cambridge!

Marathon (the new one!): 

A- Finish it 

B - Sub 4.30

C - Sub 4.15

Here's to 2014! 

C&C - Becoming a Club Runner

Although Christmas and Carols might be on my mind at this time of year, in this case C&C actually refers to Cambridge and Coleridge – a local running club which as of last night I am now a paid-up member of. I’ve been weighing up whether to join a club for a while now - I used to attend free Monday night sessions with a coach from C&C but they started at 6pm and with an increase in workload over the summer it became impossible to make it on time. Since I stopped going to those, I have missed the experience of running in a group but have still been nervous about joining the club.

In local races and parkrun I’m a middle of the pack runner, but I know that club runners are usually thought to be speedier than that – I wasn’t sure whether my pace would be welcome at a club - after all I won’t be winning any trophies (unless I keep running this pace until I’m a pensioner and then I might get a decent age-grading!). However, I’ve gradually got to know lots of club runners and have realised that actually they aren’t actually all speed-demons and, regardless of their pace, they are generally a friendly bunch. In fact, they are not really any different to non-club-runners – they just like running and get to run together in the cold, dark evenings, rather than by themselves!

My other concern was that the coached sessions might not match what my marathon training plan said I should be doing each week. However, chatting this through with a friend (who managed the awesome time of exactly 4 hours dead for his first marathon a couple of months ago) he said that he just gave over responsibility for his speedwork to the club session regardless of what his training plan said. Basically, you just need to include some intervals/speedwork and exactly what that is each week doesn’t really matter. Speaking to him and to other friends along with my husband who joined C&C a few months ago persuaded me to head to the club last night.

The session was described as “Off-track: Aerobic, 6 x 4:00, 3:00 recovery, West Site” which quite frankly was a complete mystery to me. We started off with 2 laps of the track as a warm up and then continued with some drills including skipping, high knees and strides, before jogging to the ‘West Site’ to start the actual session. The session was led by Coach Rich, who blew the whistle to set us off and we had to run at about 5K pace for 4 minutes, when he would blow the whistle again. We then had 3 minutes recovery, before the whistle blew again and we had to aim to get back to the starting point in 4 minutes. We repeated that twice more, each time aiming for the same spot. It was a good workout and I’m sure I pushed myself more than I would have done had I been trying to do a similar session by myself – it was also good not having to think about anything or look at the time – I just had to listen for the whistle and then go!

One of my favourite things about running is the community aspect and I am looking forward to being part of C&C. It also makes me chuckle that I was considered to be pretty rubbish at PE at school and yet now I’ll be donning a club vest for races. My thoughts on PE in schools is a topic for a whole other blog post though…

The pre-marathon-training-training week

As I mentioned in my last post, I am starting my official training plan for Brighton marathon shortly. This week has been all about trying to find out what works for me and what doesn’t, so I thought I’d write a little update before Week 1 starts on Monday!

I like…
• Running in the evenings, but in order to do that I have to be organised in the morning or ideally the night before.
• Running home from work, but I have to make sure I plan an easy dinner because by the time I’ve got home, stretched and showered I am ravenous and too tired to cook anything complicated!
• My regular pilates class and that is going to remain a priority.
• The new yoga class I tried at my gym – ideal for rest days (though I know I need to schedule some complete rest days in aswell).

I don’t like…
• Running on weekday mornings. I have tried twice this week and failed miserably to get out of bed. I have to leave at either 7.30 or 8am to get to work and trying to fit in a run before that just means getting up too early especially at this time of year. This test week has taught me that I need to schedule my runs in for the evening and stick to that schedule regardless of more exciting invitations that might come my way!
• Cold ears, so I’ve bought a hat that makes me look like an elf (it’s a bit big) but has a hi-viz pompom so I don’t care.

I’ve still got to figure out…
• How to go to Pilates on Wednesday evening but still fit in my Wednesday run – the things I like and things I don’t like aren’t currently compatible on this point! I’m considering Wednesday lunchtimes but not sure whether I’d need to shower and that’s not really an option with current work facilities (and the time available). Alternative suggestions on a postcard/tweet/blog comment please!

Has anyone else been finding out what works for them? It’s important to get it right if this is going to be my life until April…