London Marathon Training - 11 weeks to go!
After a couple of weeks battling with illness, we are both now fully recovered and feeling fit. Phew! This has been a week of 'getting back into it', upping the miles and tackling our first 20+ mile run as well as more 30th Birthday celebrations for the birthday boy!
Both of us - Blue John - Orange Kelly -Purple
Monday 29th January 2018 - John's 30th Birthday!
After a fantastic weekend away, we woke up at 6am so John could open his cards and pressies. Then we headed out for his Birthday run! 5 miles at 8:42 recovery pace.
Zzz..zzz... Hard work after a weekend running and exploring on feet - couldn't wait to get to work... :-/
Tuesday 30th January 2018 - John's 30th Birthday!
We had a lovely lie in this morning as we had a race lined up in the evening. I also ran during the day for our teachers' running club. We managed 1.8 miles at 9:16mm pace and only stopped once - great progress.
In the evening, we drove to Filton for the 'trial run' of the new Filton Flyer series which will be replacing the Aztec West 5k. I was hoping that the race would be as flat and fast as the Aztec. I was hoping to hit between 6 - 6:15 mm pace for the race. We gathered in the cafe of DW sports which was a nice race HQ. After getting our numbers, we walked to the MOD and warmed up while we waited for the marshals to get into their positions. I quickly noticed that the route started at the bottom of a hill - not very Kelly-friendly! I was a 2 lap course and the first lap (after the initial uphill) felt great. I was hitting my target as mile 1 was 6:03mm. It wasn't until the 2nd lap that I realised that it felt so good because it was downhill! Mile 2 was 6:11mm so not as quick but not too bad. I was running with Noel from GWR and working together to keep the pace. There were a lot of tight turns and one part where I slowed down to cross a road (not ideal). It was nice at the turnaround point to see John and the other runners going the other way. John was looking very strong in 3rd position.
We turned around and headed back and I quickly realised that mile 3 was not going to be as quick as the first two. The last mile was pretty much entirely uphill and I really had to dig deep to get a 6:23 average pace. I finished as 4th or 5th lady with a time of 19:41. I was initially disappointed with the time but John reminded me that I was ill last week and it wasn't a flat course. It seemed like most people were about 1 minute of their PB on this course so that made me feel better.
I was supposed to do another 6 miles today but no one wanted to join me so we ended up just going straight home for some food.
3 miles after work with the Aalco Running Club before making my way to the Filton Flyer 5K Trial. A brief warm up before wanting to bank a rare Vo2 Max workout. 3 miles averaging 5:35s = tick! Felt tough coming out of a cold but legs were receptive and got me through the workout. Not gonna progress at the 5K properly without sacrificing marathon training and the marathon is the priority at the moment.
Wednesday 31st January 2018
Today was to be the last of John's birthday celebrations - a meal with the GWR running crew. John and I met a club at 6pm ready to do a few extra miles before doing a run with the club. As we had lots of time, John suggested that we do the winter 6mile route. This seemed like a good idea. I've not done this route for a very long time and I think my legs had forgotten it.
The first few miles are lovely. Undulating but nothing too painful. I knew there was a hill called 'Stoke Hill' which I remember being pretty steep. Because I don't know the area though, I couldn't remember where abouts in the route this hill came. Around mile 4, we started going uphill. A gap emerged between John and I before a cheeky shout came from John- something like "Are you gonna to keep up with me?!" This spurred me on and I picked up the pace and managed to catch him. Phew I thought, when we reached the top, glad that's done.
Pretty soon, John put my in my place and informed me that in actual fact that was not Stoke Hill. Great. I kept working hard and eventually reached what was definitely Stoke Hill. I managed to keep with John for the first section of the hill but it just kept getting steeper and steeper and wouldn't end! I couldn't believe that this is the route we send our beginners on! Its a seriously hard route.
We made it back to the club and I was pretty tired. 6 miles done but we still had the actual club run to do! We chose to do Big Kev's 7 which is relatively flat (apart from Bridge Valley Road). Thankfully, we chose a more gentle pace. By the time we got back to club I was ravenous and very much looking forward to a meal at Bill's - especially the Gluten Free Chocolate Bomb!
Mid week long rung - banking calories before lots of celebratory tasty foods. The classic club winter 6 route which is hilly and demanding followed by the more relaxing Big Kev 7 - flat and easy. Half marathon banked at a good pace and another day recovered from the cold and endurance running feels comfy and fun again.
Thursday 1st February 2018
Having left our cars at club last night so we could enjoy a cheeky Prosecco or 3, we were up at 6:15am to run and pick them up. Normally, when you run a hilly route, you know you have the downhill to look forward to on the way back. Because we were just running one way, we just had all the uphill! Nevertheless, 4 miles banked at 8:36mm pace.
The plan called for 7 today so I did another 3 miles after work. Nice and slowly as my calves and achilles were feeling really tight after Tuesday's race and Wednesday's hills.
Urgh... Meh... Hungover and struggling. Collecting the car was miserable! The day at work was spent over fueling with biscuits and tea trying to feel normal again. Come 5pm I was feeling up for some exercise so I ran 5K with the work running club. Got home feeling less grumpy than when I woke up and glad to have banked some miles.
Friday 2nd February 2018
Today was supposed to be 13 miles but there was no way my legs would allow that. John was feeling good so got up early to do his miles and I met him half way through. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep up with John's GA pace - my achilles were screaming at me so I just did a 4 mile recovery and then booked a sports massage for the evening.
Another mile ran at lunch today with my running club. Less children today but they're all getting quicker. Great fun.
In the evening, I headed to the Triathlon shop for my massage with Jenny Buckley. She's great at targeting my problem areas and I felt much better once she'd finished with me.
After that, we went to Westbury for an event called 'Runfest'. It was to raise money for a group of scouts going to Nepal. They'd organised an amazing event with about 10 different speakers. It was really inspirational listening to everything that these people have achieved. It also made me think that I'd love to achieve something impressive enough to be asked to speak at one of these events in the future.
11 miles feeling awesome - 7:37mm pace - holding back plenty of HP for a hard weekend of running but really enjoying it. The run talk the GFRG has mentioned was very inspiring and had it not finished after bed time I'd of probably booked a few too many future trips and races. Luckily I fell asleep and woke up still feeling inspired but a little more sensible.
Saturday 3rd February 2018
Parkrun day! And the first opportunity for me and John to wear our Christmas presents to each other - parkrun barcode bands! Knowing that we had the first 20 mile run of the plan booked in for tomorrow, I planned to take today's parkrun nice and steady to ensure I was feeling fresh and so that I could keep up with the boys tomorrow.
We ran to Ashton Court. The whistle sounded and John stormed off - clearly not taking it easy! I ran with Orla for a bit and then caught up with a relatively new GWR member - Louise. We had a lovely run getting to know each other. She's really quick and a great asset to our cross country team.
John had a great run and once again, it was great to see him at the turn - again in 3rd place - very proud.
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| Steve and the GBRM battling for 3rd place! |
With the run home as well, that made 9 miles for the day. Legs feeling good - bring on the long run!
Today was tough for me. Although Friday's run felt good at the time and 24 hours had passed to recover I think my body struggles running Sub8MM pace day after day. I should have been sensible and plodded a steady recovery run but I was keen to have a blast at parkrun and wet.cold enough to just wanna get it done AND clubmate Steveo was very much on my heels throughout which pushed me on to finish 3rd. 10 miles total for the day and an afternoon of doing bugger all with feet up.
Sunday 4th February 2018
I was feeling good when I woke up this morning. I'd had lots of sleep, eaten well and not drank any alcohol since Wednesday (definitely makes a difference for running). We set off at 8:30am and ran to meet Marcus, Sam and Dr Dave by the suspension bridge.
Today's aim - 20 miles at an average page of sub 8mm.
Today I had once of those days where everything worked. My legs felt great (thanks Jenny) mentally I felt strong and the miles ticked by quickly. Even the hills didn't feel too bad. I realised pretty quickly that it was going to be longer than 20miles. Normally that wouldn't go down to well but today I didn't mind. It felt great to bank 22 miles with 11 weeks to go. I managed an average pace of 7:44mm which felt comfortable the whole way. A brilliant confidence boost.
Same as the GFRG - so good to run in a group, I'm not sure I'd of enjoyed the workout or made it had I run solo! Positive run for all of us, with 11 weeks to go until race day we all agreed that, although tired and hungry we could have run further and faster - promising - a couple more of these type of workouts before race day please!
Total mileage -
Kelly - 67.5 (highest mileage so far in this campaign.)
John - 75+ (Ditto!)
A decision made
Thank you to everyone who responded to my dilemma. I do really appreciate people taking the time to consider my problem and giving their opinion. Everyone seemed to agree that it would be better for me to focus on the marathon and leave the cross country opportunity. I am therefore going to do the Fission 20 which will be a great test of marathon fitness.
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