All the threes...

Abingdon Marathon Training - 3 weeks to go!

Monday 25th September 2017 

John and I began the week with our usual recovery run around the Harbourside. With not running long on Sunday, I wasn't feeling as fresh as I would have expected. Nevertheless, I still managed a double day, with a 3.5 mile run after work as well. Both runs were at recovery pace of around 9:30mm. 

Tuesday 26th September 2017 

The alarm went off at 5am this morning...painful! As we had (perhaps foolishly) booked in an early morning PT session. Due to the fact that we were busy in the evening, we also had to run to and from the PT session so we could get the miles in for the day. So after making the hideous run uphill all the way to Clifton, we then had an hour of torchure to endure! The first 10 minutes or so were really quite painful - my body was really not very awake. But, gradually, I woke up and managed to complete the session below:

Squat jumps 
Lunge jumps
Knee drives
Down and ups
20 on....20 rest
40 on ....40 rest
60 on .....60 rest.    Twice

Squats plus 15kg /12:5 kg db
Lunges plus 15kg /12:5 kg db in place    4x12

Bench side step up jumps alt 
10 kg db sq jumps.    4x12

Mat side jumps .......
Balance sit MB throws
5kg 7kg sq n press.                ......    4x12

Yellow KB squats timed for ........squat hold seated rows x15       X4

"Steeplechase" multiple bench jumps x10

 It's a pretty good feeling to have achieved that much by 7am - before most people are awake! 

Today at school, I took my class on a trip to the Big Pit - a really good day out but I was definitely feeling tired after a very busy day so far.

After work we had our 2nd Harry Potter quiz. Our team - the Quiz Elves - scored 55 points out of 70 which put us around the middle of the competition. I'm pretty sure that once John's finished reading all of the books, we'll be even more successful - not that we're competitive! 

Wednesday 27th September 2017 

Our social life has been pretty hectic again this week. Tonight's activity was a Monty Python Beer evening! This mean another early morning run...but not as early as we'd have liked so we only had time to do another 3 miles...oops... mileage for the week is way down at the moment.

The Monty Python Beer evening was epic! The Holy Grail was shown on a big screen and every 20mins another beer was brought around. As I can't drink/don't like beer, this meant that John was kept well stocked! 

Thursday 28th September 2017 

Finally, today we got a much needed lie in as we were racing in the evening. After work, we made our way to Weston Super-Mare for the first Prom race of the season. After winning last year's series, I was eager to make a good start both for myself and for the GWR team. 

We did a 2.5 mile warm up so I was feeling pretty good on the start line. The wind didn't seem too strong so I thought I'd have a crack at a PB (30:57). Noticing a very fast local girl (who I knew I wouldn't beat) and a rival from Clevedon (who I've beaten before) on the start line, I decided to go out strong and try and leave Clevedon girl behind! The first mile felt good. 5:59mm and running neck and neck with the girl from Clevedon. I managed to hold the pace for the 2nd mile 6:05 but I could tell that I wasn't going to be able to hold this pace much longer...once again, I'd gone out too fast - when will I learn!?!?!?! 

After the 2 mile mark, the race turns around and suddenly the wind hit me. A mixture of strong winds and the PT session from Tuesday meant that I just couldn't keep the required 6mm pace. Mile 3 went in 6:23, mile 4 in 6:22 and mile 5 in 6:21 ...so at least I didn't completely tail off towards the end! I did however drop back into 3rd place.  

As I've said before, the best thing about the prom race is watching your team mates and friends passing you in the other direction. It was really great watching John storming it at the sharp end. He was in 4th position for a while when I passed him and shouted "Think of the wine!" (the first 3 finishers get a bottle of wine!) clearly my advice helped, as when I saw him next, he had moved into 3rd position and was closing the gap on 2nd! Amazing! 

So John and I both finished in 3rd position - yes two bottles of wine! Woohoo! 

The club made a strong start as well with both men's and women's teams putting in good initial performances. Could this be the year we win the team prize?!

 

Friday 29th September 2017 

Despite racing flat out yesterday, we decided it would be a good idea to get up at 5am again and run 10 miles! A great route up Bridge Valley road, around the downs, across the Suspension Bridge and through Ashton Court. Surprisingly, we both didn't feel too bad and averaged 8:53mm pace. 

At lunchtime, I had my first running club of the new year. Incredibly, the club is really popular and I had 49 children who wanted to run today! Amazing! I had lots of new runners so we broke the run up into lots of smaller sections to make it less daunting. They said they enjoyed themselves so hopefully it will be just as popular next week! 

Saturday 30th September 2017 

Saturday means parkrun day! We were back to our home parkrun of Ashton Court this weekend and it was lovely to see so many GWR runners celebrating Steve's 100th time volunteering. 

The run was very steady as I was trying to get my legs to recover in time for the long run tomorrow. After running today, my calves felt rock solid and my legs weighed about a ton! Oh dear! 

When we got home, we had a surprise waiting for us...our brand new marathon shoes had arrived! 

There's only one thing to do when you get new shoes...go for a run to try them out obviously! A gentle 2 miles around the block ...finishing off at the ice cream shop - yum! 

Sunday 1st October 2017 

Today's run was to be a big one! We wanted to do 24 miles with 14 at marathon pace. I was a bit worried as my legs were still feeling rather heavy from PT and prom but I was determined to get the miles done. 

I was up at 6am to have my pre-run bowl of egg fried rice. Then back to sleep until 8:45. 

We left the house at 9am and ran to the Bristol to Bath cycle path which we often use for speed work as it is 'flat' (I would disagree - it's really rather undulating...but the general consensus is that it is flat!) 

The first 4 miles passed by easily and hitting 8mm pace felt comfortable. After 3 miles, we bumped into fellow GWR runners - always nice to see cheery faces. I ran with Olga for a mile and was nice to chat about Abingdon - Olga is doing the Abingdon Marathon as well. My watched beeped for mile 4 and that was my cue to push on and start by 14 marathon paced miles. I've learnt that I'm not very good at speeding up and slowing down and then speeding up again, so instead of breaking my miles into groups, as I've done in the past, I wanted to try and keep a consistent pace for a longer distance. 

I've decided that my new marathon pace is going to be around 6:55mm. After reflecting on my training so far, I think that going for a sub 3 this time is just going to result in a disappointing and painful marathon. Far more sensible I think (to take John's advice) to run at 6:55 - 7mm pace, get a PB, get as close to 3 hours as I can and enjoy the marathon.

With all that in mind, I wanted to get 14 miles at 7mm today to practise how my new marathon pace would feel. Annoyingly, I realised pretty quickly into mile 5 (my first marathon paced mile) that my legs had not recovered from prom and 7mm would be very unlikely today. Mile 5 - 7:08, mile 6 - 7:15, mile 7 - 7:08...Instead of getting frustrated, which I have done in the past, I decided to alter my goal for today's run instead. My new goal would be to keep as much of a consistent pace as I could and try to keep as many miles around the 7:15 mark for the required 14 miles. 

Although my legs were very painful, the rest of my body was working well. My heart rate was averaging 156 and my breathing was controlled. It was humid but it wasn't really bothering me. I was feeling really strong. Once I reached 18 miles(14 miles of effort complete) and knew I only had 6 miles to go I decided to keep pushing the pace - rather than dropping to recovery as I had so often done in the past - and try and keep all miles under 8 mm. 

24 miles done in 3 hours and 1 minute! Average pace of 7:34. This means that, if I'd kept going for another 2 miles today, I would have earned myself a new marathon PB! I finished feeling like I could have done another 2 miles (I almost did...but thought better of it!). This has left me brimming with confidence ready for Abingdon. 

Total mileage for the week = 66.4