Week 19 beckons.

Getting back into the swing of things.... Or rather trying to!

So, having missed a week of blogging it, this is me TRYING to get back into being motivated for my year of endurance running.  To be fair, I REALLY needed the wind down post marathon week and subsequent break from blogging, break from thinking about intensive training and some recovery time.  As you're aware from my last post, I was extremely pleased with my time and worked hard to achieve what was a great time for me but less than mediocre for many.  What I hadn't anticipated what the physical and mental aftermath in the days following my first marathon of the year.

Absolute exhaustion ensued.  I had hoped to jog for a couple of miles 2 days after the marathon but simply slept instead.  The sheer elation of my achievement settled into some sort of dullness of questioning whether I should have been able to do better or even if I would be able to replicate it again in Edinburgh at the end of May.  The (expected) constant fighting against a cold, sore throat and irritating cough from where my immune system had been left drained and now exposed.  I think the adrenalin in the build up to and exertion on the day of the marathon leaves you feeling somewhat mixed afterwards.  My memory of running London in 2005 or rather FINISHING my marathon in 2005, served to remind me that I now owed my family and friends some of 'Sarah' again as the training commitment often put those that I love the most, second.  It is only now that I'm having this same realisation, this same feeling of owing those around me my time, that the impact of demands on my time for another 30 or so weeks is hitting home.

On the plus side, it has become a real talking point for my daughters amongst some of their friends.  Sharing the Milan experience with them has given them a sense of pride, some understanding of the demands of running a marathon and an appreciation of setting a challenge for yourself and working hard to achieve it.  So, even if my children aren't always getting their mum at her best this year, they are getting a role model in some guise or other.  At least, that's what I'm telling myself when, yet again, I apologise to them for being cranky!

Anyway, talking through my running for the past two weeks:
In the week directly following my marathon, I took it very easy.  Having been too tired (stiff, sore, walking tenderly and feeling as if I'd morphed into a 95 year old woman) to run for the first few days, I jogged/slowly ran 5km on the Friday evening.  My left calf and Achilles were VERY sore and tight.  I repeated this on the Saturday and although I sensed the same aches and pains as I had on Friday, they were nowhere as intense.  I then ran 4 fast miles (30 mins 24 sec) on Sunday with not a single niggle.  I was REALLY pleased with this!  The following week was still very much a recovery week but also striking a balance with the ongoing training.  So, a steady 10km on Tuesday, a steady 10 miles on Thursday and a 5 mile run tonight (Sunday).  Do note that tonight's run was the first non-treadmill run since the marathon.  (Well, other than 3km of start/stop jogging in the rain with my youngest on her bike yesterday but I'm not convinced that it counts).  So, I have managed over 20 miles this week but, unlike the treadmill miles, the road run tonight felt tough.  This comes after a few days of birthday celebrations with my youngest who has now turned 6 and has partied harder than most adults I know!  (NB - now that she's 6, my plan is to encourage her to attend the Junior Pacer sessions wherever possible.  Work permitting.)

This IS the week where the miles really kick back in though so I'm hoping that a well needed sports massage will be on the cards sometime very soon.  My plan for the week:
Monday - 4 FAST treadmill miles straight after work
Tuesday - 5-6 easy miles
Wednesday - track session I hope! 
Thursday - Rest
Friday - 5km jog/rest
Saturday - 22 mile (at 9.15min/mile)... any offers of cycle support would be really appreciated here!
Sunday - I have the children all day with me so another rest day.  Depending upon how far I run on Wednesday, I should certainly clock up nearer 40 miles this week (more if Wednesday becomes a slightly longer run).  Bring it on!

One more thing, I have made a conscious decision to take my blogging down to once per fortnight.  Mostly due to simply needing some sleep and having missed a week, appreciating the earlier night I got on a Sunday.  Secondly, I now feel that my 'blurb' can be more condensed now that my training has become more habitual (never really easy) than it was earlier in the year.  THIS is of course subject to change.  For now, let me just get back into the swing of things as I now begin week 19 of training. :o)

Hurdle 1 - Milan. Check!

Marathon 1 - Done, Dusted and Dead Legs!

Well, it's a day later than my usual update but due to lack of internet access last night, it has had to wait.  Anyway - FAR more important than my blog timing... my marathon! 

So, the week of training wasn't quite as planned.  I didn't actually get a chance to run until Wednesday and then despite telling myself to slow down to approximately 8.45 min/mile pace (Does everyone find it so hard to really slow down their comfortable pace to something so incredibly slow?), I ran 4 miles at 7.55 pace.  That said, given the fast (by my standards) run the previous Sunday, it still felt comfortable.  I then didn't run again until early Saturday morning which WAS a very controlled and steady 2 miles.  I wasn't too bothered by such low mileage in this week of 'wind down' running as I knew that I wouldn't really be taking anything away from my performance at this stage but me, being me, would have liked to clocked up another 5 miles in the run up to the weekend.  Hey ho.

We arrived in Milan late Thursday night AFTER arriving at the gate just as they were about to close it.  I don't think I've ever manage to cut something so fine before and think that my eldest was quite traumatised by getting herself so distressed over the possibility of missing the flight.  We didn't miss the flight however, and arrived in Milan to light drizzle.  We were staying very close to the train station and so were hardly caught out in a downpour so all was fine.  Well, all was fine until late Friday morning when en route to the Duomo (stunning cathedral and gives St Edmundsbury Cathedral a run for its money), I was either incredibly lax or just unlucky by managing to have my purse stolen from my handbag.  Purse, money, cards, travel passes et al - all gone.  I did not appreciate this unlucky Friday 13th start to my weekend away.  Now, I'm not especially superstitious but sometimes these little kicks make you feel as if you have real reason to be nervous... more so than I already was!  SO after many phone calls and several hours in a central police station in Milan, I was once again ready to get a spot of sight seeing in.  Or I would have been if it wasn't now 5pm and raining! Instead, I took the opportunity to attend the Marathon Village.  Very much like the London Marathon Expo but on a smaller scale.  I think I waited a grand total of about 90 seconds to collect all of my race information, number, t-shirt and goodies.  I then looked around a few of the many stands, drooled over some of the beautiful Mizunos and then headed back (in the rain) to meet up with my friends and children at the hotel.  Saturday was a much nicer day without too much rain for the most part.  A decent look around the Duomo this time, window shopping for me (there's a real hint of guilt attachment when unexpectedly borrowing off your friends until you return to the UK), the public gardens (these are lovely but I honestly think that the Abbey Gardens win this one) and the castle grounds and aquarium.  Of course, being pre-race day my nerves were kicking in so I was doing everything I could to keep myself occupied.  A MASSIVE pasta meal (perhaps too much food but I wasn't taking any risks) to prepare for Sunday - this is, of course, one of the big benefits of running a marathon in Italy; pasta dishes come in a million varieties and are served in virtually every restaurant.  I had also been really good in ensuring that I was staying hydrated throughout the week so was getting into good habits. 

I tried hard to stay focused on Saturday evening (hours of faffing - packing/unpacking/repacking my bags are a giveaway to my nerves) and even managed a pre-11pm bedtime.  That was until what had been a nice, quiet hotel, was overtaken by a very loud stag party weekend of sorts!  Thanks for that chaps! 

Onto Sunday, race day!  A total wash out for the entire day.  I was a drenched missy with running mascara before the event had even begun (and yes, I wore mascara).  At the last minute, I put another vest OVER my Pacers crop top (apologies for this Pacers but it was just a little too cold and damp not to).  Now I like running in the drizzle as a spot of rain always helps to keep me hydrated but this amount of rain water was a touch extreme!  My nerves were dreadful up until about 30 minutes before the start but a few jokey conversations with some Italians who clearly spoke MUCH better English than I do Italian (this isn't hard by the way), lots of Gatorade, a little bit of protein and I was excited, ready and desperate to run to get myself warmed up in the cold rain.  The Italians, it would appear, are a very patriotic bunch: 1 minutes of silence (personal prayer time I think but I can't be sure), nearly 6500 runners singing the Italian National Anthem and group well wishing before the gun. I had intended to try to stick to 8:45 min/mile pace but it was obvious after about 4 miles that my body was going to stick to between 8:34-8:38 pace.  This obviously suited me fine but I had the underlying fear that I was going to pay for it later.  The first ten miles felt extremely comfortable and I often had to talk myself into NOT speeding up for fear of suffering in the later stages.  In terms of the scenery, well the starting zone (Rho Fiera) was fantastic - the National Exhibition Centre for Milan.  The next10 or so miles were less impressive and mainly consisted of motorways, industrial estates or residential areas.  We hit the castle grounds at the half-way point which was rather torturous as it was also the finishing point.  At 14.94 miles my Garmin lost its satelite reception and never regained it.  Whether this was the rain, the tall buildings or something entirely different but the control freak mathematician in me who had been avidly watching the clock throughout the last 2 or so hours suddenly had to go by how I felt instead.  So, from 24km onwards (as opposed to mile markers like us old fashioned Brits) I tried to run at a pace that would secure 5min25/km (good job I do love my numbers) which would equate to 8mins40 mile.  Amazingly, I must be a steady runner as EVERY km between 24 and 36km fell between 5.23-5.26 pace.  Given that I developed cramp in the left foot arch at the 31km mark, this steady pace really surprised me, although considering the cold rain water that flooded many of the roads, the actual cramp came as less of a surpise. 36km completed, the challenge really kicked in.  Running that distance for that length of time became a case of talking myself through the kilometres and being so very grateful that I'd been taking a gel shot religiously after every 45 minutes of running and drinking plenty of water.  So despite feeling tired and sore, I never felt that my energy levels had stooped too low.  My muscles argued against the final few miles but I was encouraged by the sheer fact that I was overtaking so many people (according to my split times I was ranked as 2437 at the half marathon mark, compared to 1990 across the finish line).  I think in the last 6 or so kilometres, I lost approximately 30 seconds where I had slowed down a little and literally counted my way through the minutes of the last 3.2 km (17 minutes 14 seconds to be precise).  A HUGE cheer, lots of shouting and waving from my daughters at the 250 metres to go point was all I needed to speed up (or at least it felt as if I sped up) for the final few metres.  Oh how good it was to see that blue finishing line!  I was determined to get under 4 hours but was hoping to achieve the 3:50 mark and would be really pleased with anything quicker than that.  My official finishing time was 3 hours, 48 minutes and 8 seconds.  SOOOOO pleased.

Official stats:
Finishing position - 1990 out of 3975 full marathon finishers (slowest recorded finisher was at 6 hours) (this isn't that great)
Gender - 101st female out of 407 (I'm pretty pleased with this)
Age category - 25th V35 female (out of 82 V35 finishers, I'm pretty pleased with this too)

Typically me, I cried as soon as I stopped although I think the rain hid those tears rather well!  Lots of cuddles, dry clothes, a hot shower, recovery milkshake and a nice coffee later, I actually felt on the mend.  Today - tired legs, back ache (although I put most of that down to the plane and car journey home this morning) and bizarrely enough a sore bone at the top of my left foot but on a nice high.

Next steps - a couple of very light recovery jogs this week but I'll let my body determine the distances whether they be 2 or 4 miles.  The following week - I'll see how I feel this week first!  Then of course, it's moving on to the second hurdle of my year of running, Edinburgh.  In only 5 weeks and 6 days from now, I hope to be blogging about that!  The good thing: I know I can do it.  The not so good thing: I vividly recall the pain, teeth gritting moments, sore muscles and more pain of yesterday that doing it all again so soon and wanting to match (or dare I say improve upon my performance) seems to be a task that I'm not relishing. 

I do love a challenge.

15 weeks of training in...

Trepidation, anticipation and a touch of anxiety!

Week 15 down! As mentioned last week, I'm now off work for the Easter break.  It has therefore been a week, as planned, of catching up with others, decorating and enjoying my daughters.  It has also been a week of thinking about the marathon, thinking about whether or not I'm actually going to get a reasonable time (Why can I not just be satisfied with completing it?), thinking about the logistics of taking my children and a couple of friends with me and managing to get ahead with work over the next few days as I won't be working next weekend.  I swear that my brain has invested more time in running-related thoughts than it has on everything else combined, let alone the physical running itself!

As for my body... WELL, I'm a naturally slim person anyway but as with most women, I would always be happier for the scales to suggest a lower number!  That said, my weight plummeted throughout December/January but as the training increased, so did the need for my food intake so the weight has increased a little again and stabilised quite nicely.  I'm not unhappy with the current weight (that's good for me - I'm ALWAYS unhappy with my weight despite being only a couple of pounds heavier than I was nearly 20 years ago) but my body has changed beyond belief.  I now have thin but rather bloke-like arms suddenly.  Where did these muscles come from?  I haven't lifted a single weight in the gym for years and yet...  Also, I've always been quite proud of my legs but suddenly have extra sinews that have seemingly appeared from nowhere!  I've now worked out that I can only wear my new skinny jeans on the day that I HAVEN'T had a hard run.  My calf muscles are always just a touch too swollen to be able to pull the jeans over them if I've had a tough training session.  So, bloke-ish arms, skinny jeans restricted to rest or very easy days, disappearing hips and a washboard stomach which given the fact that I've not had time to even think about my abs is a REAL bonus although I do think that my body is bordering on the teenage-boy rather than the svelte-woman look (this is not a good thing).... and don't even get me started on the toe-nail debate!  I think the excessive chocolate and lower mileage pre-marathon will help to rectify the curves a little, so all is not lost just yet.

I've managed my running quite nicely this week and am looking forward to a REALLY easy wind down week in preparation for next Sunday (OMG!).  So, my week that was:
Monday saw me completing the longer run that I hadn't managed the previous Sunday.  15.25 miles at exactly 8.45 min/mile.  This felt quite comfortable and although my legs were tired from running several 8 fast-ish miles the previous week, they climatised after about 6 miles (it took 6 painful miles for this to happen, mind) and were pretty much ok until about mile 13.  The last couple of miles were uncomfortable to say the least.  That said, I think I'd quite like to maintain this pace for the Milano City Marathon, so long as my legs feel rested beforehand.  I didn't end up running on Tuesday or Wednesday but managed a reasonable 10 miles on the treadmill on Thursday (1 hr 20 mins) which was a comfortable speed but lacked any terrain/hill challenge but an ok run regardless. I ran TWO whole miles early on Friday morning before collecting the children from their dad's - I didn't enjoy this.  Not sure which of the late night out on Thursday, the early morning on Friday or the 10 mile run on Thursday morning contributed to my Friday am tiredness... perhaps a combination of all three!  Rest day on Saturday and a quick 5 mile loop from Moreton Hall to Great Barton Church and across the Cattishall crossing on Sunday.  I really enjoyed this!  5 miles in 37.25.  Actually, I really enjoyed the first half, detested the hill at 3 miles up to the church and survived the final 1.5 miles.  I just wanted to run my longest distance for the next 7 days as fast as I could.  I know that so many of you run an awful lot faster than that but I don't.  I haven't clocked that time since 2005 shortly after turning 30, so to be in that position 7 years later feels really good.  I knew I had it in me!  :o)

So, the final week of training is ahead of me - and a busy week of living/working it is too!
Monday - rest day
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 4 super slow miles
Thursday - 3 miles (flying out to Milan on Thursday evening)
Friday - rest day
Saturday - 2 slooooow miles
Sunday - oh my, 26.2 miles, I hope!
As is typical with me, my children and my lifestyle, this may change slightly but there will be no exertion until Sunday so all will be slow, all will be easy and all will be short.  (I'm really looking forward to this considerable lack of training!)

15 weeks of training in, 35 weeks to go!  So, given the fact that in 7 days from now, I will have hoped to have crossed my first milestone of the year, I am anxious, excited, full of trepidation and anticipation on this and other impending adventures.   Wish me luck!

Excited.com

Another week down, 14 weeks into my training plan and all is good.  Well, despite the need for sleep which STILL doesn't seem to be happening!  Tonight, I plan on staying asleep beyond my usual 6am get up time for it is, after all, the school holidays and I simply don't need to wake so soon.  Yes, I have now officially broken up for work for a couple of weeks and although I have plenty to do, I am able to relax into my break and then get in the 'final preparation for a marathon' mode!  It has been a long tough half-term but I've survived it and managed, by and large, to stick to a reasonable training schedule that should see me survive the first of my marathons.  More than that, I've really managed to get some miles in (by my standards) and am looking forward to the next two weeks and beyond.

Other than a bit of school work, really enjoying being with my children, decorating and training (albeit the next two weeks will see a steady decline in terms of the distances and hours on my feet), I am simply going to enjoy life!

My training this week has been regular and actually rather fast but lacked the longer run that I had wanted to get in.  That said, I've really noticed the speed improving at long (long) last.  So, my week that was:

I swapped my nights in terms of the children around a little this week so ended up being child-free on Monday so only managed a 5km run.  Partly due to having tired legs after the long 22 miler at the weekend and also feeling a little rushed due to going out on Monday night (actually, mostly due to having tired legs from the long run).  Tuesday was a rest day for me and well needed.  Wednesday and Thursday saw me hitting the treadmill for reasonably fast 8 miles on both days (62 minutes on Weds, 63 minutes on Thursday).  I was quite pleased with these times... although as anticipated, my legs HURT on Friday so took another rest day.  I ran with a friend around Norton on Saturday - a fast-ish 6.5 miles in 49:30.  I was really pleased with this given just how tired the legs were only 24 hours previously.  Sunday however, after a late night, poor sleep and simple tiredness meant that I cried off today's long run.  I managed nearly 8 miles which felt comfortable and averaged 8 min/miles but I wasn't up for any more than that.  So, not quite the 35 miles that I had expected or wanted but still got in nearly 34 miles this week and am actually not unhappy with that.

I do however need to think very carefully how I play this week.  I still want a longer distance at the start of the week to compensate for today's shorter (if nearly 8 miles is short) run but need to be mindful that the next two weeks also involving winding the miles down a tad, so the plan:
Monday - 15 (I hope) slow/steady miles.  Perhaps 8.45 pace, I'll see how the legs feel given how hard I ran today/yesterday.
Tuesday - 5 easy-ish miles.
Weds - rest day plus being mum!
Thursday - 10 miles if possible although time permitting with the children etc, this may only be 8 and even spread out over two shorter runs. 
Friday - rest day as I have the girls with me.
Saturday/Sunday - resting as I have the children at home but I'm hoping that I may be able to get 10km in if I can rely on my parents to help out.  I definitely don't want to go much over 35 miles and would ideally like to be thinking of only 30 but want the longer run on Monday.

Thereafter, I'll really be in the week that counts... the first of the marathons! Excited.com!

I was trying to convince myself that running 2-3 marathons within 2-3 weeks is a much bigger challenge than I've given myself this year but upon thinking about it, it SO isn't.  So much of my challenge is to be able to adhere to a training plan for an elongated period of time.  50 weeks is FAR greater a challenge than 16.  Being able to start, build up and sustain 40 miles per week, nearly 2000 miles this year is a MASSIVE challenge for me (perhaps a walk in the park for so many of you).  It's also a challenge that really requires thought, energy and discipline to stick to it.  A challenge that, by and large, I'm loving although some days and weeks are better than others!  Although I'm REALLY loving the fact that I simply cannot get enough food inside me. 

The only other thing to think about is just how my body shape and physique are changing so drastically.  More to follow on that one!  For now, it's late and I'm looking forward to the sleep that I've been craving all day.