Abingdon Marathon Training - 14 weeks to go
Monday 17th July 2017
Last week of term!!! Woohooo!!
With just 5 days to go until the summer holidays and a very busy week at school looming, I just wanted to get a solid week of miles in and have a good crack at 2 races coming up this week. We managed to drag ourselves out of bed for an early morning recovery run.
In the evening, we'd booked into Yoga. It was also the day that John chose to cycle home from work (20miles!) for the first time. He estimated that he'd be back at home around 6:45...well 6:45 came and when and when it got to 7:25 I was starting to get rather worried. I also wanted to go to Yoga! I decided that, rather than sitting at home worrying, I'd go to Yoga and worry there! I kept my phone near me and kept checking it...but still heard nothing! Savasana pose was less relaxing that normal as my mind kept conjuring images of mangled bikes under lorries...thankfully, towards the end of the class I got a 'all good' message - phew!
Tuesday 18th July 2017
Another early start today as we had a spin class booked in. We ran to and from spin which made 4 miles in total. I also manged to spin 2km further than last week - steady improvement! Also had a lovely chat with the instructor who noticed my GWR running top and to us that she runs for Clevedon AC! Really like her classes because they're well planned and a good mix of sprints, heavy climbs, seated and standing efforts - unfortunately, she's now away on holiday for 3 weeks. Hopefully her replacement will be just as good.
After a long day at school, I had to organise our Year 6 leavers' service at our local church. The service was supposed to be on the Monday but had to be changed - this caused me a dilemma. Tonight at 7:30 was the Eastville Park 1 mile relay race and the final race of the series. I had organised the teams and made sure I was running the last leg to give me as much time to get there as possible but I was still worried that it might be rather tight!
The leavers service started 6pm and is supposed to last for 30 mins - I started to panic slightly however when I checked my watch at 6:50 and the service was still a while off! To make matters worse, I'd left my phone at home, so couldn't contact any of my team mates to warn them! At 7:10 the service finished and I politely (I hope) made my excuses and dashed out of the church. I jumped in my car and drove towards the park which was on the other side of Bristol. Amazingly, every red light I came to changed instantly to green as I approached. I'd also had the foresight to put my running clothes on underneath my church clothes so was able to undress in the car (at appropriate safe places of course). Incredibly, I arrived at the park at 7:27 and the first leg runners were just getting into position.
My team was led by Clare Meraz with Louise Cronin in the middle and me bringing up the rear. We had a brilliant turn out with around 7 or 8 teams - so there were GWR vests everywhere. John was running first for his team so I just had time to wish him a good race before they were off!
John was in 3rd position overall after his leg and passed the (imaginary) baton to the Maestro. Clare had done a brilliant job for our team and finished as the 2nd lady overall - behind Nicola Brookland (a very impressive runner who was leading the series). Luckily for our team, Nicola was racing as part of the mixed team which meant that Clare had put our team in the running for the 1st ladies team. Louise stormed off with lots of other GWR faces all doing a brilliant job for the club. After leg 2, the Maestro came up the hill in first position! AMAZING! Woody had the job of holding that position for the last mile. The next few GWR men came through all looking really strong. Then a couple of non-GWR women appeared - oh dear! It looked like I had some work to do. Louise was sighted, tagged me and I was off. I fixed my gaze on the women ahead of me and stormed down the hill as fast as I could. 1 mile done in 5:57 min mile pace and best of all, first place for the team! The GWR men had also finished first - brilliant!
Wednesday 19th July 2017
I ran to school today - 3 miles there and 3 miles back. Stead 8:54mm pace there and 8:37mm pace home. Wednesday evenings mean GWR club nights and Marcus was keen to do his new 11mile route - after a bit of moaning on my part - he even agreed to alter it slightly to avoid the hideous long grassy field. 11 miles done in an average pace of 8:42 which wasn't too bad considering it was a pretty hilly route.
So a good total today of 17 miles.
Thursday 20th July 2017
Just a recovery run today to try and get the legs feeling better before the 5000m track race on Saturday. 3.2 miles at 9:39mm pace around Victoria park.
John was planning to cycle home again today so I'd had the idea of running out a couple of miles to meet him. This time he was much quicker than anticipated so I'd actually only gone 0.7 miles before meeting him - still - good to stretch the legs with a little 1.4 miler by the time we'd got home.
In the evening was the next parkrun social at the Cottage - ideal because it's a short walk from our home and does some great gluten free food. We just opted for chips tonight but they do offer burgers in gluten free buns.
Friday 21st July 2017
LAST DAY OF TERM!
A very exciting day for children and teachers alike! We ran in the morning - just 3.2 miles again nice and slowly because in the evening was our school end of term party!
Our end of term do was at Jungle Rumble crazy golf. We were in groups of 4 and, as usual, John Anderson and I became very competitive and put bets on who would win...quickly though, it became obvious that the winner would not be me! Felicity started slowly with a couple of 7s before 'getting her eye in' and quickly improving with some 2s, 3s and a hole in 1!! I followed Felicity's lead with a couple of 7s and also improved with one hole in 1! John was fairly steady throughout but the ultimate, undisputed champion was clearly Julia who astounded everyone with a very impressive performance!
After paying my dues (in the form of shots!) we ate dinner at Coal in Cabot Circus. I was really impressed with their large gluten free menu. I opted for a halloumi, mushroom and pepper burger which was very good.
All in all, an excellent night.
Saturday 22nd July 2017
You know that you're in need of a lie in and rest when you don't set an alarm and wake up at 11am! Today consisted of lots of snoozing, reading and relaxing - perfect race prep.
In the evening, we picked up the Maestro and headed to Yate for our first track 5000m race. I was feeling really good and eager to get a PB. The evening was organised much like the night of the 1000m PBs at Highgate that we attended a few months ago. There were a number of races starting slower and finishing with the A races (the super speedy ones - you can spot them because they have the shortest shorts!). We arrived in time to watch the first race which had a good number of GWR runners. It was great fun supporting and cheering them on. I was also feeling rather nervous. I'm not very good in new situations and tend to over-focus on small details. Today I was worried about the number of laps - how would I keep count? What would happen if I ran too far or not far enough? What about if I got lapped or came last? My mind was full of worries but also excitement as I was pretty sure that running on a track without any hills would make for an easier race.
The race was being paced and I was under strict instructions (from John) to not get carried away and go off like a loon (advice he clearly didn't take on board himself - wait for his race!) The gun went off and I stayed sensibly behind the pacer. I've watched enough track races to know to keep the inside line so I don't run further than necessary. I got into a good position and tried to settle in to a pace. The problem was that I felt that we were going a lot faster than needed...my watch was telling me that I was going way too fast and, worried that I would blow up later, I slowed down a little and let people come past - hoping that I'd be able to overtake them later on. Every time I passed the spectator's area, I got such a lift hearing loads of my friends cheering for me. When I passed some of the race organisers, they were shouting out numbers - unfortunately, with 'runners brain' I wasn't able to work out what the numbers were representing and so I relied on my watch. This turned out to be a mistake and despite the pace being really good, the time was not. I finished feeling that I should have had a PB and could have pushed more had I known that my watch wasn't accurate.
Lesson learned for future track races - I need to: not wear a watch, work out what my lap splits need to be, stick with the pacer and listen more carefully to what numbers are being shouted at me!
Despite being disappointed with my time, I did really enjoy the event. Marcus and Garys' race was next and cheering them with a glass of wine was great! Marcus had a brilliant second half of the race and came back strong with an excellent sprint finish.
Next up was John's race. Now remember the advice had gave me before mine: 'Don't go off like a loon - stick with the pacer'. Now take a look at this pic...
Hopefully, you can just about make out the guy storm ahead like a loon way ahead of the rest of the field! Yes! That's John! Although I am joking about it, it was in fact very impressive. He blasted the first 400m and was way ahead of the rest of the field. Luckily, he was able to sustain this effort and finished as 3rd man (yes he did get chicked!). Like Marcus, he had to work hard for his position and produced a magnificent sprint finish. It was wonderful to watch him perform so brilliantly - very proud.
A brilliant event and I very much hope that Bristol and West will hold it again next year.
Sunday 23rd July 2017
Another lie in today after a few glasses of wine last night! John was up early and went for another bike ride (slightly worried that he's switching from a running geek to a cycling one - although I think it's just the Tour de France influence!). Once again, my day consisted of relaxing and reading - any teachers reading this will agree that these days are much needed at the end of term!
Around 3pm, we headed out for our Sunday long run. My BBC weather map assured me that it would remain dry. John wanted to do a trail run taking in some elements of the Green Man route. I'm not really a trail enthusiast but I felt that I'd got my own way quite a lot recently with running so decided to be good and quietly and patiently follow John's lead. Now this would have been fine, if John was able to lead...despite planning a route, he'd forgotten to upload it onto his watch CJ! The first few miles were lovely, running to Ashton Court, taking videos on the GoPro, generally enjoying running. That was until we'd traveled a few more miles into various fields and through a large number of stinging, scratching and generally nasty plants, to discover that John didn't know where we were, I didn't know where we were and we were lost!
It was about this point that I'd mentally decided that I definitely didn't like trail running and really hated plants - especially grass - especially the very long, itchy, scratchy, makes-legs-swell-up grass! I was also at this point that the heavens opened; my BBC app was clearly incorrect and rain bucketed down. Despite my inner moaning, I kept very calm and didn't whinge, grumble or strop! I was however, very glad when we decided to head back towards Long Ashton and rejoin tarmac roads - oh how I love roads!
13 miles done for today and I think I'll stay away from trails for a while now!
Next week is the summer holidays (I don't think I've mentioned that yet?!?!) so I'm planning on training like Kenyans; lots of running, sleeping and eating. Combined with lot of cross training and strength work - time to get fit!
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