Abingdon Marathon Training - 15 weeks to go
Monday 10th July 2017
This was the start of the busiest week of the year for me so I started the week with a lie in (for me - 7am) and planned to run in the evening. After school, I went for a recovery run alone (John was having a running strop!) 3.4 miles at 9mm pace - legs feeling a bit tired after last weeks efforts.
Tuesday 11th July 2017
Today was to be the first of 3 very long days. It was the opening night of our Key Stage 2 Production of the Jungle Book. Knowing that I wouldn't want to run in the evening (as it was likely that I wouldn't be home until around 8:30pm) we had planned to run in the morning. We'd also booked onto an early morning spin class using MoveGB. We ran there and back as well which meant that by 7am, we'd already ran 4 miles and done a 30min class - around 700 calories burned before most people are even awake! - nice!
Wednesday 12th July 2017
The first night of the Jungle Book went brilliantly. Tonight was the 2nd night performance so I knew I'd have to get my medium-long run in before school. We had planned to be up at 5am to run to Morph in his new position, but slept through the alarm. Luckily, we woke up naturally at 6am and still had time to get a good amount of miles in.
John and I set off together but after John's 2nd (but not last!) running strop of the week, he headed back for home and I decided to push on.
I was feeling strong and wanted to get a strong 10 miles done at a good pace. I decided to use the Portway because it is relatively flat and gave myself the challenge of running progressively - running each mile quicker than the last.
Mile 1 - 10:04
2 - 8:42
3- 7:38
4- 7:20
5 - 7:24
6 - 7:16
7- 7:11
8 - 7:15
9 - 7:22
10 - 7:09
Really pleased with today's efforts - felt like I was working hard but not overdoing it. Also delighted with my heart rate which averaged 134bpm - much lower than for this sort of session in the last campaign.
Thursday 13th July 2017
Today was my last late night at school - thankfully as I was starting to feel tired! After school today was my first Governor's meeting which, I knew had the potential to go on until 10pm! Preparing myself for a 14 hour school day, I was up at 6:30am for 5 miles at 9:23mm pace.
Friday 14th July 2017
Today was the GWR Mob Match (a team race where the team with the fastest 20 runners across the line wins) so I decided to run to and from school to get the miles in. A total of 6 miles done for the day. The race also went really well. We had a huge turnout and everything went smoothly.
Saturday 15th July 2017
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!
I was woken up pretty early by a very excited John this time! He had decorated our home with balloons and banners and presented me with a host of wonderful presents - the best of which has to be Ed Shearan tickets! Wooohooo!
What better way to celebrate a birthday, than by running parkrun! After attaching the VERY large badge that John had got for me, we ran our usual route to Aston Court. It was a special run for Marcus as well - his 200th! We couldn't let this go unnoticed, so I made him a balloon necklace - which looked good and was obviously great to run in!
We started off running steadily but at the halfway point I noticed that I wasn't far off 3rd place. Knowing that the lady in 1st was Chrissie Wellington - 4 time Ironman world champion and that the lady in 2nd place had raced in the Olympic marathon, I couldn't resist trying to push into 3rd place.
Picking up the pace on the downhill felt pretty easy. I cruised past 3 ladies without much problem but one of them kicked and pushed on - giving me a race for 3rd. I played it cleverly and sat on her shoulder before sprinting past her near the finish. I wasn't looking at the time but ended up running my fastest ever mile - 5:15 pace! (OK yes it was downhill but still!).
The rest of the day was fab - Women's world cup cricket with the family - England won - woohoo! Then a lovely meal at Tare in the evening.
Tare is a new restaurant at Cargo 2, near the M-shed in Bristol. It offers a 5 course tasting menu for £35 which I think is brilliant value because the quality was amazing! The best part though is that they have a full Gluten Free menu. Because the Gluten free menu is just as good at the 'normal' menu, I asked for it for the whole family - and everyone was really impressed.
Fellow Glutards (a new term coined by Marucs) must give it a try!
Sunday 16th July 2017
Having consumed large quantities of alcohol, our long run was scheduled for later in the day. So that meant an actual lie in! Hooray! We slept through until 9am! After a spot of reading John wanted to pop to the bike shop so he had the idea of cycling there. I'm still rather wobbly on the bike but riding regularly is sure to help, so I jumped on the bike and cautiously followed him down the chocolate path only to find that the shop was closed! Oh well - a trip to Asda instead to buy our post-long-run dinner of Quorn Chilli - if it's good enough for Mo!
After bumming around and watching some of the tennis and tour de France we set off with 20 miles to do. My aim was to get all miles between 7:30 and 8mm pace. I wanted to check my fitness with a strong, even paced long run.
We were planning on using the Bristol to Bath cycle path but ended up on a the path that follows the river towards Hanham and Kenysham. A really great find. A flat route with lovely views.
Here are my splits for the run -
Mile 1 - 7:24
2 - 7:29
3- 7:31
4-7:31
5- 7:47
6- 7:30
7 - 7:35
8 - 7:45
9- 7:55
10 - 7:44
11- 8:00
12 - 7:45
13- 7:36
14- 7:44
15 - 7:44
16 - 7:46
17 - 7:50
18- 7:48
19 - 7:41
20 - 7:28
I'm super pleased with the even pacing and meeting my target! 20 miles done in 2 hours 33 mins
Total miles for the week = 55.7
Target for next week - take it fairly steady as I have a big race on Saturday - my first ever track 5000m!
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