Raising money for Lifeskills
Today marks 4 weeks until the Bath Half Marathon. As well as trying to get a PB, I am also running to raise money for a fantastic facility called Lifeskills. This brilliant, interactive centre teaches children and young people how to stay safe in the modern world. In a purpose built setting, children can practice making 999 calls, give first aid, deal with fires, learn how to cross roads and level crossings and many more vital skills. To enable Lifeksills to reach more children, they urgently need donations. Watch this video below to find out more and then please click on this link and donate to this fantastic cause.
Thank you.
Boston Marathon Training - Half way through the plan!
Monday 6th February 2017Monday always starts with a recovery run which is always well needed after a long run the day before. Run number 1 of 2 should have been 4 miles but getting out of bed proved challenging so it became 3 miles at 9:27mm pace.
In the evening, was the GWR committee meeting so we ran to club and back to get in the extra 7 miles needed for today.
Tuesday 7th February 2017
Today was a very tiring day. I got home from work and just wanted to go to sleep. 9 miles on the plan but John -what's-the-point-in-doing-9-you-might-as-well-do-10- Cox was feeling eager to get out on the GA run. GA stands for General Aerobic which (as I was reminded of throughout the run) is supposed to be at least a minute a mile quicker than recovery pace (so I should have been running at around 8 -8:30 min miles). Unfortunately, today was one of those days when my legs just didn't want to play. Every step was hard work and every step I got further and further from John who merrily bounded along in-front of me! Running up Ashton Court hill in the dark, with a quickly fading head torch, at 11:25 min miles when I know I am capable of running 7:30 mm is soul destroying. Nevertheless, I finished the 10 (not 9!) miles and hoped that this was just one of those bad run days and not my legs telling me that I'd been doing too many miles and they couldn't cope!
Wednesday 8th February 2017
Wednesday nights are GWR club nights. I was really hoping that my legs would feel better as tonight called for 15 miles. We ran to club (which is all uphill) and, for the first time in quite a while, me legs had some spring in them! There was a good sized group tonight and we went off at a good pace of round 7:30 mm. Reaching the Portway and my legs were still feeling good; now Dad wasn't at club tonight so there was no one to tell us to be sensible...this resulted in us getting carried away and bashing out a couple of 6:55mm on the Portway...just for fun! The fun continued when I realised that I was on for a rather good average pace....this resulted in another few miles at sub 7:15 mm (marathon pace).
I finished the run at 15 miles with an average pace of 7:33 min miles. This may seem unnecessary to some (... Dad) but it was a huge confidence boost to me after a really pants run the day before. Now the mission would be to do lots of recovery so that I could be in good shape for our planned 18 miles on Sunday - with 12 at marathon pace (ouch!).
Thursday 9th February 2017
I woke up nervous about the state of my legs after yesterdays crazy speed session! Conclusion - not too bad! A nice steady recovery run in the morning - 3 miles at 9:46mm - was exactly what I needed.
PT was booked in for the evening. Jules said that john and I were ready to try a session together and I was looking forward to encouraging/competing with him! Unfortunately, it was one of those very busy days where all of the little things I had to do over-ran which caused me to be 20mins late for the session - annoying.
Despite my being late, I was still able to get a good session in; it comprised of lots of lots of squats, lots of lunges and one very challenging circuit. In this circuit, one of use held out a medicine ball while the other completed 12 squats with two very heavy kettlebells; this was repeated 6 times! There was also some core to finish with. Great fun to train with John - can't wait for next week!
Friday 10th February 2017
Eager to get Friday's miles done and dusted in the morning so we could relax after work in the evening, we set the alarm for 5am and planned to go out for 10 miles. It was cold. VERY cold. I was feeling the effects from the PT session and Wednesday's efforts so was looking forward to a nice steady run. Unfortunately, Mr Cox had other ideas! Thankfully, I was able to win this early morning debate. We ended up with 8 miles at an average of 9:20 pace and an agreement to talk through our differing ideas for Friday morning runs in advance!
Running club today was a huge success. I took the Year 3 and 4 children around our local woodlands which they absolutely loved. It is wonderful to see them grow in confidence in their own ability; the group was far less spread out than previous weeks as the slower kids were able to hold a faster pace for longer. After a forest lap, we did a bit of work on acceleration and deceleration. They jogged to the first lamppost, then sprinted to the next and returned to a jog for the last. While being fun for kids, this workout is great for runners of all standards.
Saturday 11th February 2017
Looking out the window (once I'd put my contacts in) I couldn't believe my luck...for the first time in 4 years we had snow in Bristol! 4 years ago was before I discovered running so I crossed my fingers and hoped that this could be my first ever run in the snow!
I love Parkrun at the best of times but I knew Parkrun in the snow would be awesome! John and I ran excitedly to Ashton Court at a lovely steady pace (no disagreements today!). This was to be a recovery run and I intended to run it really slowly to ensure I was in the best possible shape for the long run approaching the next day.
Parkjump/skip/spin would probably be a more accurate description of how I traveled around the course today! I couldn't contain my excitement as the snowflakes feel thick and fast around me. The highlights: bounding on ahead to make snowballs to throw at Marcus and John!
After a much needed hot chocolate, John and I ran home to make today's run 8 miles. Legs feeling good - however I was rather apprehensive of the planned 18 miles for tomorrow...
Sunday 12th February 2017
Having been slightly dreading this run all week, it had finally arrived. 18 miles on the plan (although knowing John and Marcus it was bound to be more than 18!) with 12 at marathon pace.
Why was I nervous?
1) Well the P and D plan carefully builds up the marathon pace efforts through the weeks so that they are progressive and hopefully not too daunting. The problem...I was ill for the last marathon pace effort so rather than starting with a more gentle 10 miles, I was being thrown in at the deep end.
2) I know that my marathon efforts are a lot slower than John and Marcus' at the best of times but, if I was to slip off the pace, that would result in them hanging around even longer, in the freezing cold, waiting for me.
3) Bath half is just 4 weeks away and I've not really done any real distance at anywhere near the pace I want to be running at (6:30 - 6:45mm) so this run going badly would cause me to question my chances of getting that sub 1:30 at Bath.
so...no pressure then...
To give myself the best possible chance of succeeding today, I decided to go into full racing preparation mode. This meant eating lots of (my fav pre-race meal) of egg friend rice the day before and setting my alarm for 5 am so I could get up and eat more rice with time for it to digest before running (I have found that 3 hours is the optimum time to eat before a race). After eating at 5:00, I then went back to sleep until 7:30. I wore my favourite 'race shorts,' my newest compression socks and I even cut my toenails! I packed a gel as well - just in-case.
The plan was to meet Marcus at the start of the Bristol to Bath cycle path at 8:15 prompt (this prompt was emphasized after last Sunday's tardiness caused us both to get a look and tut of disapproval from Dad!) We were initially on time...until we got a little lost in an industrial estate! Finally we made it and- phew - Marcus hadn't left without us....although he was busily searching for materials to use to write us an angry 'You are 12 minutes late - gone without you!' message!
Together we began, with the plan to start with 5 marathon pace miles. The boys were then going to turn and run back to me during our 'recovery' mile before we started 4 more marathon pace miles. Next we'd run to the Portway to do our final 3 marathon pace miles with the plan to finish on the notorious Bridge Valley Road - as preparation for the almost as notorious - Heart-Brake-Hill!
Now I still at this point hadn't decided on my exact target for Boston. I know I want sub 3:15 and I know I'm not yet ready to target sub 3 hours. This puts my target pace at between 7 and 7:26 min miles. So the aim for today; to keep all 12 marathon pace miles between 7 and 7:15.
The start of the Bristol to Bath cycle path is uphill so I knew the first couple of miles might be a bit slower. So when I clocked 7:10 for the first mile effort, I was feeling rather chuffed with myself. I managed the next miles pretty comfortably in 7:01, 6:57, 6:57 and 7:02. I actually felt that I could go a bit quicker but didn't want to get carried away so early on in the run. I was halfway through my last mile of effort before the turn when I saw Marcus and John running towards me with a rather surprised look on their faces! They hadn't expected to see me so quickly! Seeing their looks of pride, spurred me on to finish the last mile quickly. I then ran my recovery mile with them before their immense pace continued and they ran off into the distance. My next 4 miles of efforts felt brilliant. They were downhill and on tarmac (my favourite!) so I just relaxed, lent forward slightly and let my legs go for it! Really happy with 7:01, 6:53, 6:52 and 6:48 for the next efforts. Once again, I quickly caught up with John and Marcus and we took a few steady miles towards the Portway. With only 3 miles at pace to go and my legs feeling brilliant, I was in high spirits. The last 2 miles flew by in 7:05 and 6:41. Once again, the boys had waited for me and their shouts of 'You're here already! We wanted more rest!' spurred me on to push for a strong uphill finish; the final mile of effort complete in 7:17 and I was delighted!
By the time we got back home, I'd clocked up 21 miles (I knew I wouldn't get away with 18!) at an average pace of 7:40mm. From today's run (and advice from John and Dad) I am going to try and target 3:05 at Boston - scary stuff as this will be over 20 minutes quicker than my PB from Berlin (3:28) but with 9 weeks still to go - I'm going to give it a bloody good try!
So I end this week feeling happy and confident! Woohoo!
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