A week of recovering in preparation for the Bath Half
6 Weeks until the Boston Marathon
The plan for this week was to run slowly and recover as much as possible to give myself the best possible chance of FINALLY getting that sub 1:30 half marathon time.
Monday 6th March 2017
Monday was a double day so John and I did 3 miles in the morning and 4 miles in the evening. Both runs slow and steady.
Tuesday 7th March 2017
Today I added to my recovery run with some strides. Now, I thought that the aim of strides was just to increase the pace and get the legs used to running faster in short, sharp busts. However, John informed me that you should also be focusing on a different element of techniques - such as leg lifts which were my chosen focus area for today. I did 3.5 miles with a 0.1 mile sprint every half mile.
In the evening, was our weekly PT session courtesy of Jules. I ran to PT and then got a lift home. Sadly, due to the awful Bristol traffic, John was unable to make it on time so I had a solo session. A really great session but I did miss working out with my favourite training buddy.
Down and Ups x10
Goblet squats 15kg x10
Squat jumps x10
Split lunge jumps x10
Down and Ups x10
Squat jumps x10 15kg dumbell on one side....xL and xR
Press ups x10
Squat and press with 15 kg barbell x10
Crunches x 10
Squat thrusts over tube x10
Scorpions x10
Elbow to knee crunches x10
Single arm cleans x10 with 15kg dumbell
Single leg squats to floor x10 8 kg medicin ball
Pup db side to side 15kg db
Then I repeated ALL OF THE ABOVE but did 20 of each!!!! - PHEW!
Bench jumps over a series of different height benches: low,mid, high and the box X4
Followed by squats with 30kg bar X4
Wednesday 8th March 2017
Wednesday night is GWR club night. Just a steady 10 tonight as I was feeling rather achy after PT.
Thursday 9th March 2017
Another double day today and another day of recovery runs. The morning run was a bit worrying as I was still feeling rather achy and starting to worry that I wouldn't recover in time for Bath. But by the evening, I'd loosened up loads and had a spring back in my step. 3.4 miles in the morning and 6 miles in the evening.
Friday 10th March 2017
Another recovery morning run - just 3 miles - feeling good.
At lunchtime, I had the second running club with the Year 5 and 6 kids. We did a 1/2 mile race today and, as each child came in, I gave them a number in preparation for our 'Cat and Mouse' game. After that, we did some work on cadence - 10 fast steps, 10 slow, 10 fast etc before a more gentle run home. They are really getting quick these kids - I'm having to work much harder to lead them!
Saturday 11th March 2017
Saturdays are Parkrun days. Today was the turn of our home Parkrun at Ashton Court. We ran there before running steadily as a group (for the first half at least) John and I couldn't resist giving our legs a stretch out on the downhill. Also really great to see a few kids from my running club attending.
The rest of the day was spent enjoying the company of best friend Felicity and my Goddaughter Amelia who was making the most of her newly learned skill of running -around the Harbourside while we tried to keep her away from the water!
Sunday 12th March 2017
Bath Half day! I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go! I wasn't really sure what to expect from today as I've not really trained for the half marathon distance - having focused so heavily on marathon training. Many people, however have been telling me that they've gain half marathon PBs while marathon training so I was hoping to follow in their footsteps.
My race strategy was to start off at 6:30 min mile pace and see how long I could sustain it for. I knew I could do 5 miles as I had done so at the Weston Prom 5 mile races so I just hoped that I could keep the rest of the miles below 6:45 min miles. I do have a tenancy to be quite bad at pacing, go out too quick and blow up and slow down from around mile 8! My aims - to run more consistently, at a more even pace and not disappoint Dad!
We got to the start line with plenty of time. Did a very short warm up around our spacious D pen (it was yet to fill up) and waited right at the front with John, Dan, Woody, Martin and Paul. Dad, due to his excellent Good-For-Age time, was in pen C alongside Dave Wintle and Rob. The conditions were perfect. A little chilly, dry and very little wind. I couldn't wait to get started!
The gun went and we were off. Marcus and John quickly disappeared into the distance and Dan, Paul and Martin went off slightly quicker than I was comfortable with. However, Woody and I were both keen on keeping to 6:30 min miles so we started off together. The first mile was downhill - which, as I muttered Woody anxiously, would make the last mile especially horrible! The first 3 miles went by quickly and, before I knew it, I only had 10 miles to go. While I'm running, I like to think of the miles as landmarks that relate to my regular running routes. 10 miles to go makes me think about our weekly GWR 10 miles routes on Wednesday nights.
After 6 miles, Woody and I were feeling strong. We'd passed a few familiar faces on the way around and it was great to run alongside Woody after the Cardiff half where I couldn't keep his pace and dropped back after only 4 miles. We arrived back to the start of the lap (Bath half is made up of: 1 mile out, a 5.5 mile lap -which you repeat twice- and then 1 mile back). The great things about a 2 lap course are that 1) you know what is coming up on the second lap and can prepare strategically for the different elements and 2) that you get to see your supporters multiple times. At the start of the second lap, I looked out for Nat and quickly spotted her cheering enthusiastically. It was wonderful to have lots of people out on the course supporting and cheering - it gave me such a boost to hear my name being shouted out. Thank you to Nat and her mum, Lucy and family, Jane and Mike, Rita and Pat and all the Lifeskills crew for their words of encouragement.
7 miles came around surprisingly quickly and I was feeling great. I'd been being sensible and sticking to my plan. I could tell now that I could hold comfortably hold this pace and my urge to race kicked in! I asked Woody if he wanted to play my favourite racing game of 'Chasing the Women' - he motioned at me to push on so I tucked into a gel (for an extra boost) and pushed on. I could see fellow Bostonite and pacer extraordinaire Dave up ahead so I fixed my eyes on him and picked up the pace a little. I was hoping that Dave would fancy running with me but he wasn't feeling it today so I wished him luck and carried on solo.
Although the course was rather undulating, and obviously I'd have preferred it flat, my regular hill runs at Ashton Court, Bridge Valley Road and St. Michael's Hill have clearly helped; I was able to dig in during the hills, pretty much maintain pace and actually overtake people on the uphill! The good thing about having uphills is that what follows is a downhill! I love running downhill so again used this as an opportunity to focus on a woman ahead of me and challenge myself to overtake her. This is one of my favourite racing strategies as it gives me a target and makes the miles tick by even quicker.
Before I knew it, I was at mile 10. 'Just a Parkrun to go!' I told myself. My legs were starting to feel like they'd done some work now but I just put it to the back of my mind and continued racing. As I approached the last mile, I remembered the words I'd uttered to Woody 12 miles earlier...oh dear! Looking at my watch, I knew I was comfortably under the sub 1:30 pace so I just dug deep and pushed on up the hill. Being so close to the finish line, I turned my attention to who would be waiting for me at the finish. I couldn't wait to see John, tell him my time, which, by now, I knew would be a huge PB and make him proud.
Turning the final corner and I could see a group of guys in blue waiting on the finish line. Feeling over-the-moon, I crossed the line and was quickly scooped up into John's arms. It was amazing to have everyone waiting and hear people's congratulations - especially Dad's (who wasn't disappointed - hooray)!
Here are my mile splits - actually consistent for a change:
1 - 6:27
2 - 6:25
3 - 6:36
4- 6:33
5- 6:32
6- 6:33
7 - 6:33
8 - 6:30
9- 6:31
10 - 6:27
11 - 6:35
12- 6:37
13 - 6:32
Total time - 1:26:31! A PB by 3 and a half minutes! 354th overall, 26th lady and 11th in my age category. Out of about 12,000 runners!
A really great race. I enjoyed the course - even with the hills and loved the support. The conditions were perfect and I felt great the whole way around. Could not be happier with the time; it is such a confidence boost for the Boston Marathon.
Also wonderful to see all my friends and loved ones do so brilliantly. John also gained a huge PB with a time of 1:17:52 and in position 101! Marcus, Dan, Woody and Orla all also gained PBs - amazing! And just goes to show that with running, the more miles you do and the more effort you put in, the better you get! A really successful day all round!
Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me. I have raised £308.20 for the Lifeskills centre! If there is anyone who would still like to, I will keep the page open for a few more days - so there is still time - just click on the link below.
http://www.everyclick.com/glutenfreerunninggirlrunsbath
Next weeks challenge is for my legs to fully recover in time for the Gloucester 20 mile race.
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