All the 2s!

Boston Marathon Training Week 2 

Monday 

What better way to begin my Christmas Holiday, than with an early morning recovery run! 6 miles at 9:09 min mile pace felt fairly comfortable considering the 17 miles the day before. 

After running, I drove to London to visit my sister Amy who lives in Canary Wharf. We wanted to go out for dinner but after being well and truly glutened last week, I was trying to be extra careful with what I ate. Amy researched restaurants with good gluten free options and booked us a table at Jamie's. I was really impressed with the gluten free pasta - really well cooked and delicious.  Cheeky bonus- As Amy was a gold card memeber, she got a free mince pie; the waiter realised I couldn't have the mince pie so brought me a free mango sorbet instead! 

Tuesday 

It's always more difficult running in an area you're unfamiliar with. Staying at my sisters, meant I wasn't confident enough to go out on my own around the streets of London. What with Christmas shopping and celebrating my Mum's birthday, I wasn't able to fit in a run.

I do however have another excellent gluten free recommendation to share. For my Mum's birthday, we'd booked an afternoon tea at the Kensington Hotel. Now, afternoon tea is possibly the most glutenous meal you can get! I can't eat sandwiches, cakes or scones so was delighted when the hotel staff produced a vast tray full of gluten free alternatives: sandwiches on gluten free bread, home made gluten free scones, macaroons, jelly cubes, a passionfruit posset and a gluten free fruit cake- very impressed. I'd definitely recommend the hotel for fellow Coeliacs.

Wednesday 

I drove back to Bristol and had a physio appointment with Jenny. Legs weren't too bad for a change so she went to work on sorting out a shoulder pain I'd developed. Jenny really got into the small nooks of my shoulder...ouch at the time but felt wonderful afterwards.

After physio, was this weeks PT session. As I had a race the next day, Jules (for once) went easy on me. Rowing to warm up, followed by lots of core and flexibility exercises. My core is pretty strong but I definitely need to work on my flexibility and balance. Homework - to practice the 'superman' exercise (where you are on the floor on all fours (with hands and knees very close together), and lift and straighten the opposite arm and leg).

My next physical activity of the day, was the GWR headtorch run. But of course, 10 miles wasn't enough, so we added on an extra 3 miles to start making a total of 13 miles at an average pace of 9:11 min miles. Slower than I'd like normally but it's a hilly route and more difficult to run quickly in the woods. Plus it was more of a social run; wonderful to run as a big group, chat and catch up with my running buddies.

Thursday 

I had a visit from my wonderful friend Feliciy and her beautiful daughter today. Lots of fun playing games and watching my 20 month old God-daughter walking around and chatting away merrily. It was fab to have a restful day (normally I'd be working) before the evening's race.

The evening brought the 4th Weston Prom race of the series. I was feeling in good shape so was eager to see what I could do.
During my warm up, I spotted Julia Belyavin who I know is a really strong runner and my top competition for this race.

My race strategy was to stick with Julia as long as I could and see if I could keep all my miles under 6:15 pace. For the first two miles, everything was going to plan. I was matching Julia's strides and clocking 6:02 and 6:08. Unfortunately, mile 3 brought my downfall. Turning into the wind, Julia kicked and I couldn't quite keep up...a bit of a mental blow and my pace slowed. I then realised my breathing was laboured; my chest felt tight and I think I was suffering with a bit of acid reflux. Every time I checked my watch, I felt more cross that I'd let the pace drop. Mile 3 was a tragic 6:28. Turning around, the wind behind me gave me a bit of a boost and I picked up the pace a bit and tried to sort my breathing out. Then, out of nowhere, appeared my hero of the evening- in the form of Dave Wintle- a GWR running legend. His encouragement and simple advice such as 'relax' was clearly exactly what I needed and my pace picked up to 6:12 for both of the last two miles. One of the best things about the Prom race, is getting to see the runners going the other direction. It's always wonderful to hear people's cheers and shouts of support. It was also brilliant to see John at the sharp end of the field looking strong and finishing in an impressive 8th position (out of 322). Feelings of pride spurring me on, I breezed past a group of men (always a nice confidence boost) and finished feeling strong and positive- once I realised I'd clocked a new 5 mile PB of 31:15  (6:12 mm) and finished as 2nd lady. 



Friday (Christmas Eve Eve!)

Just a recovery run today: 3.5 miles at 9:04 pace. Lovely to be joined by Marcus for a little while as well. Calves feeling rather tight but other than that, all in working order.

Saturday (Christmas Eve!)

After realising that I probably wouldn't want to run long on Christmas day, I managed to convince John that we should do our long run today. He came up with a very detailed plan of how we could get in 17 miles while incorporating parkrun and some miles at marathon pace.

6 miles before parkrun- longest warm up ever! My calves were feeling super tight so I started parkrun at a steady pace. Once at the top of the hill, my legs were feeling better so I decided to play my favourite parkrun game- chase the women! It simply involves me running as fast as I can for the last 2 miles and trying to pass as many women as I can. Today was successful...I moved from 6th to 2nd position- not too shabby!

Parkrun might have been finished but me and John had another 8 miles to go! Running down the towpath, we weren't quite able to get up to marathon pace (but it's ok, the Maestro said we didn't need any more MP miles this week- phew!) we did however manage to get a couple of faster miles in which kept up the average pace of the run.

A really enjoyable 17miles- especially because it felt much better than last week. Feeling positive and delighted with an average pace of 8 minute miles.

Total mileage for the week (so far) 46.5 (rather disappointing- shouldn't have missed Tuesday's miles).

Next weeks goal-  MUST get over 60 miles.

I'm writing this on Saturday because (hopefully) by this time tomorrow, I'll be too drunk to write coherently! I am planning on running tomorrow morning - I'll do at least 4 miles to get up to 50. 

So the only thing left to say is...

Happy Christmas! 

Boston Marathon Training Starts...

Monday


This marked 18 weeks exactly until the Boston Marathon. Feeling excited, I enjoyed the first run from the P and D (Pfitzingerand Douglas) plan. A 5 mile recovery run averaging 9:15 min mile pace. The recovery was much needed after the Christmas Cracker 10k race the day before - lots of running on sand (3rd lady 40:30).


In the evening, I had a PT session with Jules Taylor who is based at Oakfield PT in Clifton. He has been training me for over a year now and I've seen vast improvements during that time. Most importantly, since I started having the PT sessions, I've been injury free. I'm feeling stronger than ever and Jules has had a huge role to play in that.
Today's PT session involved:
30 of 2 different exercises followed by 500m on the rower x about 6 or 7...I lost count! Some of the exercises included: squats, press ups, dumbbell presses, jumping lunges, burpees on a bench and others that I've clearly blanked from my mind!
To finished, I did 50 squats with 30kg of weight on the bar. A great workout. I left feeling strong and positive for the week ahead.


Tuesday


Today was to be a double day. Beginning with a rather sleepy 3 mile recovery run. Average pace of 9:54mm showed that I had clearly worked hard in the PT session the day before and my legs were feeling it a little.


The evening was due to be a speedwork session. My good friend Woody was leading the GWR club speedwork session so I decided it would be good to head down there and support him.  John http://gingerbeardedrunningman.blogspot.co.uk/ managed to convince me that running to the session would be a good idea (4.5 miles there and 4.5 miles back).


The run there felt good. I averaged 7:24 mm pace and was looking forward to some intervals. It took a while for them to come however as Woody decided it would be a good idea to do lots of squats, lunges, burpees and sumo jumps (don't ask!). By the time the interval session started, I was already feeling rather tired but gave the session a good go (snapping at Paul Mason's heels!). 6 intervals of 1/2 mile each and I averaged 6:24 mm pace. Not as quick as I would have done on the track but the Portway was windy and rather more hilly than the track! The session finished and I was tired. Running home was hard work 4 miles at 9:44 mm pace. My legs were seriously tight so I booked an emergency sports massage for the following day.


Wednesday


As we had the GWR club Christmas lights run and quiz in the evening, me and John decided to do our long run in the morning instead (BIG MISTAKE!). The plan was to do 13 miles. This was quickly reduced to 10 miles and once we had started running I knew that this was going to be a very long 10 miles. The route was hilly and my legs were shot. I dragged myself round and we decided to called it a day at 9 miles. Reaching the entrance to my building, my watch said 8.9; normally my OCD would kick in and I'd run up and down a bit until I had a more satisfying round number. Clearly I was truly shattered, I stopped my watch and sat down to wait for John (who was either less tired or more OCD) to round up his.


School was hard work today (as any teacher who has experienced the last week of term will tell you!). I felt emotionally and physically shattered. To make matters worse, I had developed some serious stomach pains. My stomach was bloated and swollen and I realized that I had clearly eaten some gluten by mistake and my body was reacting badly.


In the evening, I walked shuffled to my physio appointment. Jenny Buckley is my fantastic physio; she is based at the Triathlon shop in Millennium Square. I've been seeing her for a couple of years now since I first got injured. I now know that prevention is better than cure so I am planning on booking a session in with her once a month for the duration of my marathon training in the hope of preventing injuries, ironing out niggles and keeping my muscles in good shape. Generally, these sports massages don't hurt...this was not the case today! I won't go into too much detail but some serious lip biting was needed for some choice muscles! The walk home after the massage was far better; I was already feeling the benefits.


That evening was the GWR Christmas lights run (dressed as part of an advent calendar). This meant a slow run as a group which is exactly what my legs needed. 3.8 miles at 11:06 pace. After the run, was the annual quiz which, for the first time, I was hosting. Thankfully, the quiz went well and, most importantly, we raised lots of money for the Arthur Dagger Memorial fund - a charity which supports new, up and coming athletes.


Stomach wise I still wasn't feeling good and consequently hadn't eaten much all day. I hadn't felt like this since I started the gluten free diet so was a little bit worried about how long it would last. Decided then to take Thursday as a complete rest day to let my legs and stomach settle down.


Friday


Hoping I was better, the alarm was set and we were up and out of the door ready for 10 miles at 8mm pace. The second I started, I knew it wasn't good news. My stomach was painful and I was close to being sick on a number of occasions. Not wanting to impact John's run, I planned to finish the first lap of the Harbourside and slip away allowing him to continue. Of course John wouldn't hear of it; he chose to cut his run short to take care of me. 3 miles at 8:59 pace.


I realized that this stomach issue wasn't going to sort itself out so I went to the chemist and collected an array of drugs which I hoped would relieve me enough that I could at least continue with training.


Saturday


I decided to do a 3 mile recovery run in the evening to test everything out. Stomach not brilliant but improving. Legs however felt amazing! Oh the miracle cure that is REST! Springy, bouncy and happy - looking forward to tackling 17miles the following day.


Sunday

I woke up feeling good. My stomach wasn't 100% but my legs felt brilliant. Me and John put on our matching Boston Qualifiers T-shirts (we are so cool!). We ran up to the water tower on the Downs where we met Andy, Declan, Rob and Dan (who is following this plan as well while training to break 3:05 at Manchester) as well as Marcus (otherwise affectionately known as Dad or the Maestro - who is also following this plan and coming to Boston with us although, sadly, he wasn't wearing his matching T-shirt!).


17 miles at an average of 8:50 pace - I was happy with that. The first 13 felt fab (I've clearly not done many runs further than a half marathon this year!) after that my legs started to feel tired and I slowed a little. Nevertheless, I finished feeling a sense of achievement at having completed the first long run of the Boston plan.




Lessons learned -
1) I need to be even more careful with what I eat. I cannot be taking risks with my diet during marathon training.


2) I need to stick to the plan and not do daft things like run 4 miles to and from a speedwork session.




Total mileage for the week: 56.1 miles

The beginning...

This is my first blog. I've been wanting to write one for a while after being inspired by reading the blogs of others. It is my hope that people will read this and the journey of inspiration can continue.

As this my first entry, I feel a need to set the scene.

I began running  in 2012 and ran the Bristol 10k in 46:29. I then tried the Bristol half and managed 1:45:22. I trained mostly by myself and ran once or twice a week. I quickly realised that I enjoyed running and wanted to improve. In 2014, I decided to try running with a club. I went to Redland Tennis and Squash club on a Wednesday night in October and my life changed for ever.

Joining Great Western Runners has been one of the best decisions of my life so far. In these past 3 years, my running has improved immensely and I've formed friendships and relationships that I know will stand the test of time.

2014 was a year of progress and PBs and (as is so common with new runners) I felt invincible. In 2015, I crashed and burned. While my training partners were continuing their upward trajectory, I was plagued with injury after injury. Lessons learned- strength training, cross training and physio ssessions are vital!

So we're up to 2016.

The year of the diagnosis

In March 2016, I was diagnosed with Coelic disease. This is an auto immune disease where gluten damages the intestines and stops vital nutrients (like iron) from being absorbed. There is no cure. The only way to manage this disease is through a totally gluten free diet for life.

Since the diagnosis and my starting a totally gluten free diet, my running has gone from strength to strength. I suddenly have more energy; I can run up hills without being awfully out of breath; I can sustain faster paces for longer periods of time; I feel stronger and fitter than ever.

Training for Boston 

Today marks 18 weeks until the Boston Marathon.

I am joining John and Marcus and following the P and D 70-85 miles per week schedule. This is quite a jump in milage for me but I am very much looking forward to the challenge.