Lots of travelling for work this week with a trip up to Scotland. Not ideal preparation for a marathon with the travel, eating in hotels and restaurants and long days. Good job it was taper week or I'd have got no training in.
Managed a couple of 3 mile runs along the Clyde - very, very flat compared with home.
Saturday was a very chilly day as timekeeper at Parkrun. Very glad that the strongest winds went through on the Saturday rather than during Sunday's race.
Sunday was very cold first thing. Managed to hang on to all my layers until about 20 mins before the start of the Stratford Marathon, then bundled them into my bag and dropped them off. Lots of people shivering on the start line then discarding clothing over the first couple of miles.
Plenty of water points but the bottled water tasted vile. Even flavoured with Tailwind it wasn't great. But needs must ...
Also a lot more runners in the Marathon this year, so it wasn't quite running on your own once the half split off. And some support around the course, except on the Greenway where you need it most. At least I had my head prepared for the lack of support on lap 2 this time.
It wasn't the best race I've ever run (in fact it's my slowest ever marathon time 😢) Possibly a bit undertrained - certainly didn't manage all of the pace work and long runs. Also started a bit too fast - easy done but it took it's toll later. Was doing well up until about 21 miles when suddenly I ran out of steam. It always happens at this point, perhaps I'm just not meant to run marathons. Ended up running 300 paces then walking 100 until mile 25 which I walked just about all of. Managed to save a bit for running in the park at the finish but my legs had gone pretty stiff by that point.
Crossing the finish line was lovely, but within seconds my legs had seized up. Struggled to walk to the bag drop and then to the car. Have spent the afternoon eating and drinking - managed to drop 1.5kg during the race.
As always a really nice finishers medal for this event.
Stats for the week:
Miles: 31.13
Elevation gained: 184 metres
LeJog: over half way to John O'Groats
A big drop in mileage this week for the taper. It seems strange to have time to do other stuff than just run.
Tuesday was 3 miles at target marathon pace. I've no idea what my target pace is really, so I opted for the faster end of my easy pace. I doubt I'd be able to keep it up for a whole marathon though, especially going up hill out of Welford.
Thursday's tempo run was just 2 miles (plus a warm up and cool down). Strangely the first mile, where it's running slightly downhill, was 20 seconds slower than the second where it's slightly uphill. Maybe it's to do with not being properly warmed up as the first mile felt much harder than the second.
I didn't run at Parkrun this week, the temptation to ignore easy injunction would have been too much. Instead a took a turn at volunteering, handing out tokens and congratulations to the finishers. There's only so many times you can say "well done" or "good running" in a morning.
Sunday's long run was just a baby at 8 miles. It was the first long run of the year in warm conditions (19C) which made it feel quite hard at times even though I wasn't pushing the pace at all. Forgetting to drink for the first 3 miles probably didn't help, as did feeling thirsty before I'd even started to run. The forecast is for the temperatures to drop back again next week.
Happy Easter.
This week in numbers:
Miles: 19.03
Elevation gained: 227.38 metres
LeJog: 402.82 (not quite halfway)
This was to be the biggest mileage week, but things don't always go to plan. Early in the week I felt a bit of a "niggle" in my right knee, always one of my week spots that can pick up an injury. As the program I've been following only has a two week taper rather than three weeks I decided to cut my mileage a few days early and make sure I was completing the strength training. As they say it's better to arrive at the start line undertrained and uninjured than not to start at all.
Tuesday's run was cut short because a meeting at work over-ran by an hour! How a meeting can run double its planned length and still be going round in circles is one of the wonders of the modern world. Thursday's run was cut from 8 miles to 5, Saturday's from 10 miles to 6 and Sunday's from 20 miles to just under 13. There's nothing magic about running 20 miles in training, especially if you've run the distance previously.
Parkrun formed 3 of the 6 miles on Saturday, run at a steady pace with each mile 10 seconds faster than the previous one. Well outside my PB but I'd always intended to take it steadily and the pacing was good.
Sunday's run was at an easy pace, though around 30 seconds a mile faster than I usually do my long run at. The benefit of 14 weeks training and knowing that it was only 13 miles to run. If (and it's always a big if with a marathon) I can manage that pace on the day I'll be very happy indeed.
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| Bluebells in The Warren |
Stats for the week:
Mileage - 26.43 miles
Elevation gained - 515m
LeJog - 383.79 (a few miles north of Preston)
The start of April and we seem to have gone back to winter, with temperatures stuck in single figures, heavy rain and dull, grey days this week. I managed a couple of chilly runs in shorts before reverting to the full longs for Saturday and Sunday, plus hat, buff and gloves.
Bought some tailwind to try this week. Quite nice, very mild taste. Used it on Sunday's run and felt pretty good throughout without any feeling of stomach churning that gels can produce.
Not much else to say really. Still struggling to fit in the strength sessions and the longer mid-week runs. Now the schools have broken up for Easter I'm hoping that will improve as there are less demands on time in the evenings. And by the time they go back I'll be well into the taper for the Stratford Marathon.
Highlights of the week were a close up view of a Red Kite taking off from the ground not 50 metres from home and an even closer encounter with a male Yellowhammer sitting in a hedge at the side of the road as I ran past, both on Sunday.
Stats for the week:
Mileage: 38.02
Elevation gained: 538.81 metres
LeJog: 357.36 - just north of St Helens
