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.

Sheep on a lead!

Running on the Wirral Way today and ran past a lady walking a couple of dogs and a sheep on a lead! Thought maybe I was seeing things but looked back as I ran past and I wasn't!!

Deaf!!

Feeling really fed up. Recovered from my Christmas cold and back into proper training then I get an ear infection in both ears and have gone practically deaf! On antibiotics which wiped me out for a few days and now only doing short easy runs.

Last day of taking the 7 day antibiotics course today and I still can't hear very well. I've even been having the subtitles on the tv!

I really hope I can get back into proper training next week. I'm then off to Lanzarote the week after and want to get a good training week in whilst out there. Disappointed too as I've had to sack off a half marathon I had planned on 22 Jan. Really gutted - as I was hoping to do well in it.