Boston Marathon Training - 6 weeks to go!
Mission for the week - follow the plan...
Monday 27th February 2017
The week started as usual, with a recovery run - should have been 6...or 4...but we couldn't drag ourselves out of bed so it became 3 miles. An average pace of 9:50 mm shows just how much our legs were aching from last weeks efforts.
We paid for our early morning laziness in the evening as we had to do 7 miles to make it up to 10 for the day. As it happened, John and I ended up doing 8 miles. It was one of those runs where we were just enjoying running together, chatting all the way around; putting the world to rights!
Tuesday 28th February 2017
I'd been shopping the day before and stocked up on everything we needed to make the ultimate Gluten-free-Pancakes! Looking at all the ingredients on the table, we realised that we probably needed to put in an extra early morning run to preemptively burn off all the additional calories we planned on consuming!
2.8 miles done and I was well into chef mode!
I don't bother with measuring... roughly equal parts of eggs, flour and milk.
 |
| Very pleased with how they turned out. They tasted just as good at pancakes with regular flour! |
In the evening, was the next in the Aztec West fast 5k serise. I was feeling recovered and eager to really give this race a good go. So far this series I've been making good progress and clocked up times of:
race 1 - 19:30
race 2 - 19:06
race 3 - 19:01
race 4 - 19:56 (when I wasn't feeling too good!)
My race goal was to get under that pesky 19 minutes. I was feeling strong and had a good warm up. During the warm up, I noticed that it was rather windy...
To get under 19 minutes, I needed to be averaging around 6 min miles. I always slow down mile on mile so I wanted to get my first mile in in around 5:50. The whistle went and I got off to a good start. It wasn't until I turned the corner that the wind hit me. Really really strong gusts of wind. I tried my best to tuck in behind various tall men but it didn't make much difference. I was working hard and just not hitting the pace I wanted. Despite really trying to pick up the pace on the sections with the wind behind me, it just wasn't enough to combat from the loss of pace on the windy stretches.
mile 1 - 5:58
mile 2 - 6:15
mile 3 - 6:23
A total of 19:04 ....annoyingly close but not quite good enough today. I didn't feel too disappointed as I managed to get a relatively good time in difficult conditions. Fingers crossed for next month!
Wednesday 1st March 2017
One run on the plan for today so we had our first lie in (well, until 7am if you can call that a lie in!)for about a week. John and I ran to club before doing the winter 10 mile route with the GWR crew. John was starting to reduce his miles, from today, in preparation for the 30 mile Greenman Ultra Marathon. So, to save our legs, we avoided Bridge Valley Road and finished off at home having ran 13 miles at 8:45 pace.
Thursday 2nd March 2017
Today was another double day for me. We were up promptly and out the door by 6am this morning which meant we could do our 4 mile 'Monster Route' so called because, when you look at the route on Strava, it looks just like a cross between a dragon and the Loch-Ness monster!
7 miles with strides on the plan today. Seen as John was now in 'recovery' mode, he drove to our PT session while I ran. I really enjoy doing strides because it breaks up the run and makes it go much quicker. Every 1/2 mile or so (or when I came to a flat stretch) I would run as fast as I could for 0.1 of a mile. I managed to get all 6 strides in around 5:30 min mile pace so was feeling rather pleased with myself when I arrived at the Oakfield personal training centre.
This weeks PT session comprised of:
Squats while holding two 20 kg dumbbells 4 sets. 10-15-20-25
Squat jumps 4 sets. 10-15-20-25
Press ups. 4 sets. 10-15-20-25
Squat catch and throw. 3 sets.....1 minute sets. 3kg..4 kg...5kg
Clean n press. 5 reps each with:
15 kg then 20 kg bar (I tried 25kg but couldn't manage the weight without compromising on form)
Squat thrusts into knee raises alternating efforts . 4 sets. 5-10-15-20 reps completed each.
Pass-the -parcel! This was great fun - throwing and catching a medicine ball while sitting down with feet in the air - great one for abs!
Sequencing balance throws and passing of a 3kg, 4kg and 5 kg ball
Bench work:
Fast feet
Straddle jumps
Side to side hop over jumps
Bench hops
Bench Burpees A set of 30s then 60s
Another really excellent, diverse session from Jules. Feeling stronger every week.
Friday 3rd March 2017
6 miles on the plan for me while John was only doing 3 to rest up for the weekend. Running solo felt rather strange...I kept looking to my left, only to find no one there. I had an urge to speed up to get it over and done with but managed to remain controlled - 6 miles at 9:41 pace - a proper recovery run.
Friday lunchtime means running club! This was the first session with the Year 5 and 6 kids (9 - 11 year olds). A lot of the ones I had last term had signed up again which was great. I had a good group today - 24 kids and 5 adults. Because I had some new runners, we took it at a fairly steady pace. We had a bit of extra time so I did my session on discovering how useful arms are for running! I made them run up a hill with their hands on their heads which obviously they found difficult, before showing them how to use their arms correctly (driving them back to help propel them forwards).
Saturday 4th March 2017
Today was Greenman Day!
I was given the role of supporter-in-chief and was looking forward to a day of giving out chocolate milk and cheering on the runners. Unfortunately, this meant that I wouldn't have any time to run during the day. The only solution - to get up early and get my miles done.
I was up and out of the door around 6:30am with 10 miles on the plan with 4 of those at marathon pace. I was feeling excited about the day ahead, and although I was a little lonely, I really enjoyed this run. The 8 min miles felt very easy and the 4 miles at 7 min mile pace was pretty comfortable as well. There is no way that I would have enjoyed this session a few weeks ago so it just goes to show how quickly your body adapts to the training.
Back home and John had a cooked breakfast ready for me (legend). We got packed and left home around 9:15 to pick up Marcus and Nat (my supporting partner). Arriving at checkpoint 1 with plenty of time to spare, we met Dr Dave who completed the epic GWR 30 mile trio!
While we waited for the 30 milers to start, we were able to watch and cheer the 44 milers into the checkpoint. Bristol legend Jarlath McKenna was way ahead already and well on his way to a massive course record. I spotted a number of my Strava followers along with fellow GWR runners Rory, Andy, Big Kev and Gary. Also running was Paul and Jay but, unfortunately, we didn't get to see them.
At 11:00 they were off!
You can see the GWR vests at the front of the pack - raring to go!
Nat and I followed John and Marcus' excellent instructions and managed to arrive at Siston brook. After parking and not seeing any runners for 10 mins, we realised that we weren't quite in the right place on the road...using a mixture of google maps, a printed map, Garmin tracker, View Ranger and Strava Tracker, we eventually managed to find the route. After waiting for only a couple of minutes, our 3 musketeers came into view! A good few minutes ahead of their planned time...they'd gone off quick...we just hoped that it wasn't too quick!
Dr Dave's classic 'kissing the guns' pose!
As soon as we'd seen them we were off -heading to checkpoint 2 - The White Horse pub near Winterbourne. This checkpoint was very easy to find so we had a bit a time to wait before our boys came through. We cheered on the other 44 milers who were storming ahead while anxiously watching the Strava tracker to see where our boys where. The tracker was brilliant and it was very exciting to watch the little orange dot move along the screen closer and closer to our position. Again, quicker than expected, we saw them! All 3 together and looking very fresh after 12 miles. We watched them run into the distance before heading off again.
Our next stop was Aztec West and the affectionately named 'Kelly's Corner' as this was a place I saw them from last year when they all did the full 44 mile route. Nat and I enthusiastically cheered on the other runners who were ahead of ours. By now it was pretty clear that our guys were in the lead in the 30 mile race but because we always left as soon as we'd seen them, we had no idea how close the next competitors were. For the first time, John and Marcus came in a couple of minutes ahead of Dr Dave. After a brief stop for some chocolate milk (what else!?) they were off again - 17miles done.
After that, we headed to Blaise Castle which was mile 24. By this point John and Marcus were 10 minutes ahead of their predicted time! They were absolutely storming it- and still smiling! Dr Dave wasn't too far behind so we waited to see him go through before heading off to the finish!
Typically, it chose this point to start raining - annoying for the runners yes - but more annoying for me and Nat who were trying to get out of the poorly designed car park at the same time as all of the other hundreds of parents who, at the first sight of rain, had grabbed their kicking, screaming, ice-cream covered children and headed straight for the exit. Knowing that our men were running at a serious pace and only 6 miles from the finish, we didn't have long to get to Ashton Court...starting to panic a little that we'd miss them at the finish...
Luckily, we arrived with time to spare. The rain was starting to ease a little and we waited excitedly for them to come around the bend to the finish. Finally we saw them. 30 miles across mud, grass, bog and hills done. They finished in 1st, 2nd and 3rd position - a perfect GWR 1,2 and 3!
I couldn't be more proud of my Greenmen!
Sunday 5th March 2017
You'd think that after finishing in 1st and 2nd place of an ultramarathon, you'd want a day off...we'll not these Greenmen! I had to get 18 miles in today and Marcus and John very kindly agreed to accompany me for part of the run. A very gentle but enjoyable run - good to get another 18 miles in the bag.
Total mileage for the week = 75.8 and the best part - another week of sticking to the plan!
One more thing...
Next weekend is the Bath Half. I am running to raise money for the Lifeskills centre which is a brilliant place that teaches children how to stay safe by letting them experience, first hand, different scenarios in a safe, controlled environment. They learn how to call an ambulance, the importance of checking your change in a shop, how to cross at a level crossing, what to do if there is a fire, how to cope with a possible knife attack and many more situations.
Thank you to these people who have already donated and left lovely messages:
| Daniel Jones | donation05-Mar-2017 | Go smash it - Lifeskills is a great cause! | ||
| Z | donation05-Mar-2017 | Good luck Kelly. | ||
| Tom | donation05-Mar-2017 | Doing it for the kids! | ||
| Marcus | donation05-Mar-2017 | Please make Paul cry! | ||
| Andy Holliday | donation05-Mar-2017 | Go Kelly Go!! X | ||
| Kathryn Bateman | donation03-Mar-2017 | Good luck! | ||
| Gareth & Brenda Lloyd-Jones | donation02-Mar-2017 | Grateful grandparents. Well done! | ||
| Lottie & Alice Burrows | donation01-Mar-2017 | Well done Miss Dicks! | ||
| The Sullivan's | donation01-Mar-2017 | Go Miss Dicks!!!! | ||
| Nat | donation27-Feb-2017 | Go Kelly! Boston here we come! | ||
| Julia Simmons | donation27-Feb-2017 | Go Kelly! Great cause. | ||
| Jill Arnold | donation27-Feb-2017 | Very proud of you Kelly | ||
| Rach and Pete | donation26-Feb-2017 | Brilliant cause Kelly, good luck! :) | ||
| Fiona Harper | donation22-Feb-2017 | Go Kelly | ||
| Kevin & Janet | donation21-Feb-2017 | |||
| Clare and Fidel | donation21-Feb-2017 | Great cause Kelly! | ||
| Lucy Ellis | donation19-Feb-2017 | Paul will cry if you beat him | ||
| Anonymous | Everyclick Search | Every search raises money | ||
| Roz Glover | donation18-Feb-2017 | Good luck Kelly | ||
| John cox |
This is a really great cause because it prevents accidents from happening. Please please sponsor me by clicking on the link below.
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