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Sunday morning was the Birchwood 10k. I've done this race twice before - the last time being 2 years ago when I finished 4th. I had looked down the entry list the night before and no names jumped out at me but that wasn't to mean I hadn't overlooked any fast girls!
The weather wasn't great - quite windy and occasional showers. Oh well - its the same for everyone!
On the start line I started about 2 rows back and had a look around to see what other girls were around. There were a couple but no one starting right near the front. The race started and I tried not to start too fast. The first 5k is now very twisty with some dead turns (they changed the course this year). Although this makes for a slower course it gave me an opportunity to see who was around! It was clear early on that no other girls were running very close to me. I felt really good and ran with a couple of guys picking off a few as the race went on.
I felt really comfortable running today and well within myself. Once I knew I was likely to win I didn't push myself as I had plans to race on Wednesday. It was a shame not to have some competition to really push me but I was also quite glad as its nice to win and I did want to save my legs!
Back home and an ice bath! I've not done this for a long time! My 4 month old kitten was most intrigued as its the first time he's seen any water in the bath! He decided to walk around the edges dipping his paws in until eventually he fell in! He didn't return!!
I was lucky enough to have tickets to the final night of the Athletics for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
I headed up on Saturday morning driving in torrential rain with my friend Claire who'd come up from Essex.
What a fantastic night with medals for England in all but one of the track events!
Mens 4x100m Silver, Mens 4x400m Gold, Womens 4x100m Bronze, Womens 4x400m Bronze.
And highlight of the evening for Claire and I was Jo Pavey in the 5000m getting Bronze at 40 years old. Such an inspiration and giving such hope to the likes of me as a distance runner still hoping to get better!
Last night I sat and watched Jo Pavey in the European Champs 10000m and win Gold! Amazing.
It's made me really think about what I want from my running over the next few years. At 36 I'm still getting pbs at every distance I compete at and I'm very confident that I have a lot more to give in the marathon. After seeing Jo at 40 racing better than she ever has it has inspired me to not give up on my dreams. My aim is to get to either the Europeans or Commonwealths in 2018 for the marathon. For this to happen I really need to start putting in place a way to get my head together to cope with these aims. As happened in the lead up to London I just let it consume me to the point of exhausting me on race day - I can't let this happen again!
Two 5k races in my start of shorter racing.
After two false starts to doing my local Parkrun - first one I intended to do I didn't get a good night's sleep and woke up not in the right mind set so did my effort session instead. The following week I turn up to do the Parkrun to find it has been cancelled due to an event taking place in the forest! I had checked the website but obviously didn't look properly! So I find myself on the start line on 12th July not knowing what to expect at this short distance! I last did my one and only Parkrun in Delamere in September last year when the course started and finished in a different place. Whilst warming up I'm asked what time I'm expecting to which I reply sub 18 would be nice! Last time I was just outside of 18 minutes. I'm then told that this is quite a bit harder than the old course and getting a sub 18 would be good going!
I start off and there are 5 of us including quite a young kid! He didn't last longer than 400m thank god as I wouldn't want to be beaten by a kid! So then there were 4 of us and it felt so hard and fast. Around 2k to go we were down to two and in the last 1k the eventual winner eased ahead and I had nothing left. Pleased to finish 2nd (1st woman) in a time of 17.47 beating my course record from last time by 16s! A good training run!
Two and a half weeks later I head over to Manchester to do the Sale Sizzler 5k. After the Parkrun I feel ready for the pain that is likely to be there from the start! It starts with 500m around the running track and with a field of almost 500 runners lining up its congested! After the 500m around the track you then head out through some gates which with that many runners is quite tight. A few girls were ahead of me at this point and when my garmin beeped the first km I was a bit faster than planned at 3.10! I knew this was too fast but by this point I was overtaking men and a couple of girls so although I'd started fast so had many others. Its a good course once it thins out a bit. I finished in 2nd place in a pb time of 16.56. So pleased to get under 17 mins and although over the years I have hardly done any 5k races it feels like a long time coming!
Speaking to my coach a few days later he slightly told me off for starting so quick even though I explained that if I hadn't I think I would have gotten caught up behind slower runners. He thinks that I could have done a 16.40-16.45 with a more sensible start. Well hopefully I'll get that chance in a few weeks time.
Just 3 weeks after Edinburgh Marathon I decided to run in a local 10k race! So with 1 week of no running followed by 2 weeks of short steady runs I line up to start the Sport in the Port 10k! A hot and humid morning but an enjoyable race. I came 2nd just 17s behind the 1st lady. I was pleased with how I ran and how my legs felt. I just had no change of pace. I couldn't lift the pace to stay with her or change gear at the end in an attempt to catch her. I did feel like I could go on for several more miles at this pace though! A sub 36 min effort (35.47) which isn't bad!
I'm quite pleased as I really didn't know what state my legs would be in. I had hoped to nip under 36 mins but in all honesty didn't really expect to! Looking at the results later I hadn't realised that I was 6th overall so only beaten by 4 men!
.JPG)
Leading up to the race lots of people commented at how much more relaxed I seemed compared to how I was before London! I had a time of between 2hr 40 and 2hr 42 in mind which was several minutes slower than I was aiming for in London but definitely well within me. If things were going amazing on the day and I was on for 2hr 40 with 5k to go then if I had anything left the aim was to try and get under 2hr 40.
Unfortunately the weather was awful! Torrential rain before the race started and gale force winds!
I had an elite start and was in the front pen! I felt quite special! To start with I ran with a group of 7 including Vince from my club with a similar time in mind and a French girl. My km splits were looking good and I was staying sheltered from the wind. Then they started picking up the pace and I had a decision to make. To stay with them and risk running too fast too soon and maybe dying in the last 10k or to ease up. Looking behind me there were just 1 or 2 runners dotted behind me and no groups. After around 10k I decided that it would be suicidal to stay with them and let them go. I now had to run on my own and into the wind.
I was currently in 4th place and 1st Brit and I just needed to hold this position. I started to lose my head around 15 miles as my km splits were way out and I let it get to me. Another British girl went past me and this played on my mind too. My calf (which has been niggling for a few weeks) was also playing on my mind and by now it was feeling tight (was probably slightly in my head though). I stopped to stretch and wasted about 45s during which time about 5 guys gradually went past me. I then got going again and just kept telling myself to get to 20 miles.
Edinburgh is an out and back course with more out than back and I saw Vince still with the group with the French girl coming back. It took me about 2 minutes to get to the turn around so they were now about 4 minutes ahead of me. Once I'd gone past the turn point and then gone through a country park estate I started getting back into my running - probably helped by the wind now being with me. When I got to the magic 20 miles I started to really pick it up. My turnover was much better and I felt like I was running well. Several spectators were shouting out how strong I was looking which really helped spur me on. I now started picking off lots of men.
At 2 miles to go I then saw the the other British girl was in my sights and I was catching her quite quickly. By now all I was thinking was that I wanted to be the first British girl and play it safe. My first thoughts were to catch up to her and sit a few metres behind then out kick her in the last 400m but as I was catching her I then saw Vince. I couldn't believe it ! I ran past Vince with a 1 mile to go and realised I was running too well so went past the other girl like I meant it and kept going until the finish!
My time was a disappointing 2hr 48 but all things considered with the weather it wasn't going to be a pb day. In the end the French girl was only just over a minute ahead of me. It turns out that she beat me in La Rochelle 2 years ago by 6 mins! The first 3 girls were all between 9 and 10 mins outside of their pbs so that says something!
As soon as I crossed the line I was nabbed by drug testing! My first ever drug test - I feel like a real elite now!
Thanks to the organisors of Edniburgh marathon for my accommodation, race entry and for the support in the weeks leading up to the race. It was a great event and one I hope to do again in the future.
A few days of thinking I don't ever want to do a marathon again and then I conclude that actually I do and I want to do one now! I have now managed to get an elite entry for the Edinburgh Marathon on 25th May!
So back to training!
I am my own worst enemy at times! Everything in training has gone so well and I've coped with putting a big block of training in then to let things get to me in the weeks leading into the race.
All my life of running and racing I have suffered very badly with nerves and putting pressure on myself. To a large part I have managed to almost get over this but every so often it rears its ugly head. In the few weeks leading into London I got myself worked up with a time I wanted to aim for. It was in my capabilities but at the very top end and could only happen on a good day when everything went right and I had the race of my life! Its good to have these aims but I think I spent too much of my days playing it over in my head.
As a result I was slightly less fresh in the final week of easy training. Race day was hot and I kind of thought to myself its unlikely to be a day for an amazing time but felt I could deal with this. I never really felt as good during the race this time as I did last year. Last year up until the point my foot crippled me at 17 miles (ended up with a stress fracture) I actually felt so good and comfortable. This time it felt like a slog. By 18 I was feeling light headed and started being sick. I tried to keep going but by the time I got to 20 I just couldn't.
Is it London that I'm jinxed with? Is it the pressure I put on myself? Either way I'm extremely disappointed in myself. I know I'm better than this.
