New Year - Start Blogging Again!

OK - not been here for a while!  

Got married last October then raced the Valencia Marathon 3 weeks later!  Marathon went ok and pb'd with 2hr 49 but didn't feel that great.  With the wedding and everything I peaked my training too early then was a bit stale by the time I raced.  Glad to do it though.

I've also spent the last year doing my level 3 triathlon coaching course.  It came to an end in November when I handed my course work in so now I just wait for the outcome!

Races so far this year have been Dewsbury 10k where I finished 4th in 36.06.  About where I expected to be.  Felt good and could probably keep that pace going for 10 miles but had no change of pace!  Before this race I was due to run the Helsby Half but it got cancelled due to snow.  Gutted but also slightly relieved as I didn't feel I was fully fit.

Wrexham Half Marathon was next in February and that went really well.  I won it and equaled my pb in 78.32 and set a course record!  I feel I could have gone faster too!

A month later and it was the Wilmslow Half Marathon.  What different weather compared to last year!  Last year was boiling hot and this year it was freezing cold and we were lucky it didn't get cancelled.  There was snow all over the north west except for in Wilmslow!  I had a great race - for once I didn't start off too fast and held back.  I was in 4th place until the last 3 miles when I caught up to 2 other girls.  I ran in a group with them which also included 3 men then I picked it up in the final 200m to come in in 2nd place and a new pb of 77.03!  I was so pleased!  I hadn't eased back for this race and feel there is a lot more to come at this distance!!

London Marathon next in 4 weeks time - all looking good so far!

London Marathon

2 weeks after London and starting to feel a bit better after a lot of kicking myself for messing up a such a good chance of a good marathon.

I had an almost perfect build up to the London Marathon with no injuries and only one illness set back in the early stages of marathon preparation (January).  Deciding to stick to just running so bike work was the occasional 45 min spin on the turbo as a recovery session and ticking over with my swimming.  Mileage progressed up nicely with my weekly long easy run becoming 8-10s per km quicker than my previous marathon build at the same effort.  10k paced sessions quicker and marathon paced sessions indicating a 2.40-2.42 marathon was on the cards.

So  how did I end up running a very disappointing 2.50?

One very simple reason - I started off way too fast.  After much lecturing by my coach (Dave) and also from Dan about not starting off fast as I had done in the Wilmslow Half Marathon I ran 18 mins dead for the first 5k.  This was about 1 min 30 quicker than I wanted to start off and its amazing how just a little too fast here and it affects you tenfold in the last 4-5 miles.

I tried to slow down a bit and got to 10k in just under 37 mins - still too fast though.  Half way was good - 1 hour 21.  At 20 miles I was on for 2 hours 43 so although I was hoping for 2 hours 42 I was quite pleased.  Just a mile later and it was a very different story.  I was slowing down drastically and could do nothing about it.  I lost 7 mins in the final 5 miles - gutted.  

I finished feeling so disappointed in myself as I know I'm better than that and it was my own stupid fault.  Over four months of very focussed training and for that.  I can't even think about another marathon now.  My focus now for the spring/summer will be to get my 10k time down and really practice racing with negative splits.  All my races, no matter what distance, I seem to start off too fast so I think I need to learn to start slower and hopefully when I decide to do another marathon (probably next spring) I will put this into practice!

Wilmslow Half

A pleasing race at the Wilmslow Half on Sunday which was also the England Half Marathon Championships. Quite tired legs from a week of training in a very windy and hilly but hot Fuerteventura and only 5 hours sleep due to late return flight.

I started off too fast - I didn't realise it at the time as it felt quite comfortable. The girl who went on to win was about 30m ahead of me until 12k when I hit a bit of a bad spot. Unfortunately 2 girls went past me in the last 5k. Tired legs and starting too fast had really caught up with me by then. A pb of 78.31 (knocking over 2 mins off my current pb) and 4th place - can't complain. Looked at my results later in the day and they had the 10k split which was actually 5s faster than my current 10k pb. Oops!

A good race and great weather too. Will hopefully come back to this one next year.

Less than 4 weeks now until London. Everything is just right so hoping no last minute injuries or illnesses come my way!

7 weeks to go until London marathon and I'm currently in the most intense block of training I have ever done. Everything is on track and going better than I could have thought. My long steady runs are now 10s per km quicker than they were in the build up to the La Rochelle Marathon in November at the same average heart rate and my effort sessions are longer and faster than ever. Fingers crossed I stay injury free as right now I'm really excited about what London has to offer!

There have been days where tiredness has crept up - yesterday I felt really tired before going out for an easy run but once I got going I felt good. Came back and did my circuit training wondering if I could get through it and maybe the wise thing would be to knock it on the head but suddenly got a second wind and felt good. Bed at 9.15pm (how sad is that?) then up this morning feeling refreshed and bouncy on my long run.

Haven't seen any sheep being walked on a lead on the Wirral Way lately - most disappointed!!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend!

Some good things happening in my life right now - run training going extremely well, weather has got milder and..... I got engaged!!

Cold again

I'm not liking this cold weather! It feels even worse when you've come back from a week in the sun. I had a long run to do on Friday morning and despite all the layers I still didn't warm up.

Then I was supposed to be racing today in the Dewsbury 10k and it was cancelled! Really gutted especially as I had to miss my last race due to being ill. Why did the snow have to come last night? Couldn't it have just waited one more day?!! I then spent the morning driving to places that I thought would be fine to run off road only to get there and the ground was too icy. In the end I had to resort to treadmill at the gym for my efforts session - borrrring! I find running on the treadmill tedious even when doing efforts. This is not why I run - I like to be outside even when it is freezing cold. Oh well at least I have a gym membership which gives me that option as its better than missing the run altogether.

Some warm weather

Just had a lovely week away training in Lanzarote! It's amazing how easy it is to get out of bed early in the morning and go running when the sun is shining. Spent some good quality time with mum and lil sis too as I would train in the morning and late afternoon then spend the day relaxing and gossiping with them!

I finally feel that I'm back to myself after being ill with the cold and double ear infection. My efforts times are now back to where they should be and I feel great on my long runs. The tiredness I had has now gone and my legs are feeling fresh and bouncy! Let's just hope it stays that way.