half marathon - AnnaTheApple

February 17, 2014April 12, 2017

Brighton Half Marathon Recap

Hey everyone! This weekend was almost a perfect weekend. Parkrun, cake, a race, seeing friends, good food and lots of chilling.

Saturday we went to Parkrun. It was a bit chilly, very windy but the rain held off…for a little bit. We were on the cricket pitch course which is very flat but very boring (5 laps!). Also a bit precarious underfoot at the moment as it’s quite wet and muddy. In the summer it’s excellent for PB potential. At the moment it’s better than the other more hilly course but you still need to mind your step a fair bit, especially round the corners!

I decided just to see how I felt for this run. In the end one of my running friends from a different run club ran with me. At first I felt a bit pressured as he’s normally quite speedy (we used to be fairly evenly matched but since my injury I’m definitely slower than him) but it was nice as it pushed me harder. I didn’t want to hold him up too much! 2nd female with 22:30. I just couldn’t catch the first female!

Then we rushed home, did the housework, showered and headed out for…yep, afternoon tea – again!

That’s Ben’s “I hate you taking photos” face

It was, as always, lovely. Ham and mustard sandwiches, fruit scones (with ginger and rhubarb jam) and butterscotch banana cake with chocolate chips.

If you’re ever in Botley check out Elsie’s Tea Rooms – it’s lovely and very reasonably priced.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing after a drizzly walk with Alfie. And in bed fairly early because we had a delightful 5.20am start the next day.

Ah yes…I may not have mentioned this on the blog. I had a bit of a change of mind. Ben and me decided to do the Brighton Half (despite deciding against it a few weeks ago). We reasoned that if we survived the very tough 11 miler the weekend before without issue, 13 very flat miles would be OK. I promised myself I wouldn’t go faster than 8-8.30mins/mile and would see it as a training run – a lovely route with thousands of other people.

So we left at 6am. Ouch. On route to Brighton

I ate my porridge and drank a coffee as we drove over. It was about an hour and some to get there. We parked in the Park and Ride and then got the bus down to the race village. Feeling lovely and warm in the bus, but dreading standing the cold!

Through Twitter I managed to find someone to run with who was in a similar situation. Cathy (check her blog out HERE) kindly offered to run with me and we agreed it’d be way more fun to run together slowly than on our own!

So we met up in our optimistically fast pen. The race was like no other half marathon I’ve ever done in that I was quite relaxed, didn’t care about pace and was able to chat someone the whole time.

The weather was fantastic. Cold, but clear, sunny and no wind! Perfect running conditions.

It was a fairly flat course (though there were some minor sneaky gradual inclines). The views were great of the seafront and surroundings. But I just found it a little dull running all the way up the seafront and then running all the way back.

But the company was lovely. We chatted about races, running and life in general. It was great! We both were a bit miffed at not being anywhere near a PB but reflected it was for the best at the moment.

The pace felt very comfortable and chatting was easy so I feel in a good place about that 🙂 We had a little sprint finish (to pick off some females…just couldn’t help it) and then finished. 1:49:01 official time, 2,126th.

Thank you Cathy!

My knee was OK during the run. At times it felt slightly uncomfortable in that it felt tired. Not painful, nothing like before…just hard done by. But this was intermittent and nothing I’m worried about. No pain on finishing and afterwards either. Well, my whole body ached but that’s to be expected!

Ben got himself a cheeky PB as well, despite saying he was going to take it easy (1:52:30).

We then met up with some friends who live in Brighton for a lovely roast.

I had roast venison with the largest Yorkshire pudding known to man and lots of veggies and roast potatoes. Food never tasted so good.

Then we headed home and I fell asleep in the car! I did lots of stretching, foam rolling and icing while just chilling on the sofa, before promptly heading to bed at 9pm shattered.

Brighton Half was a great race, definitely PB potential, well organised, beautiful scenery and great crowd support. The goodie bag not too shabby either.

Ben picked up quite a few Lucozade drinks as he loves them

So that, my friends, is what a great weekend in my eyes looks like. I wish I could have smashed a PB out to make things perfect but I have a bigger goal in mind to jeopardise anything at the moment. Slowly, gradually, I’ll hopefully get there.

How was your weekend?

Did anyone run any races? Eat cake?

Has anyone done Brighton half/marathon before? Thoughts?

February 6, 2014

Marathon Talk Weekend and Windy Days

I’m in a bit of a quandary. I am trying really hard to take things slowly and ease gently back into running…but at the same time I have an impending marathon approaching (Paris 6th April). So the mileage obviously has to increase.

Ideally I’d love to ramp up fast and heavy: four or five runs a week with big long runs at the weekend. But I can’t. Number one rule of returning to your sport post-injury: take things slow. You can’t take time off, get all healed and then jump back into 30 miles a week. Well I can’t anyway.

Being all sensible and boring means I’m not running Brighton half marathon the weekend after next. Part of me harboured this optimism that I could do it, take it slowly, use it as a training run. But however slowly I do it, it’s still 13.1miles pounding away on my knees. And it’s quite a jump from my current long run mileage. Sure I’ve run nine miles and I plan to do 10 this weekend…but jumping up three when I’m still getting back into it and my knee is still feeling delicate…Recipe for disaster.

Onto more exciting news…This weekend Ben and me are off to the Marathon Talk spring running weekend.

Basically we’re going to Sandy Balls (actually it’s real name) in the New Forest with 50 or so other runners to have a three day running-filled jolly. We get to do to the Brockenhurst Parkrun on the Saturday with everyone, then a few talks, training stuff, then a fun Saturday night in the local pub (I hear there’s a quiz – I do love a good quiz) and then Sunday a nice long run with everyone. There are several options (all the way to 20 miles) but I will be sticking to approximately 10 miles. Then a big fat roast dinner afterwards.

Happy days! I’m so excited. I love the Marathon Talk podcast. But I’m hoping I won’t turn into one of those weirdo fans…you never know how you’re going to react. They’re not massively famous, but I just love the show!

And on a quick note to “what the hell is going on with the weather”…I hope everyone in the UK (and elsewhere as well) aren’t struggling too much with flooding or the stormy weather. It’s become a bit of a joke on our road. It’s a new build development and there’s still lots of work going on. The builders are working on the actual road and they’ve put these bollard things up. I was driving along and suddenly a huge gust of wind swept them across the road at rocket speed.

Five seconds later and they’d have rammed into my car! Scary stuff. Annoyingly I had to jump out in the rain and wind and put them upright again. They weigh a bloody tonne!

Anyway, it’s almost Friday. Thank God for that.

Have you ever been on a fitness-related holiday? I’d love to go to one of those yoga resorts in the middle of some hot beautiful country…

Have you been affected by the crazy weather?

What’s your next race? Mine is Reading half marathon 2nd March.

October 16, 2013October 16, 2013

Solent Half Marathon (1:40:34)

So you know how I said I wasn’t going to race the half marathon on Sunday…well I didn’t technically race it, but I did go a lot faster than I originally intended.

To be honest, I had no idea where my head was at for this race. I went into it with absolutely no plans. In retrospect I don’t want to do that again. I’m not a big fan of not planning my paces or at least having an idea of paces before a race!

Ben and me arrived at the race (which was only 30 minutes away) with my dad who had kindly come to support us (he loves cheering us on and he was excited that this was the first half marathon he could actually come and see).

It’s a league race so we’ve got our running club vests on

Originally I was supposed to run 16 miles on Sunday but then I signed up randomly to this half marathon. So I decided to run two warm-up miles and then a cool down mile at the end to make it up.

My dad at this point had marched off to where he was planning on supporting from (around the 5 mile mark). And we headed to the start. The race was chip timed but we soon found out it was only chip timed for the finish. I was stood with the ladies from my running club and we were so far from the front. Very frustrating.

Anyway, we started running and I straight away found myself running with one of the girls from the club and we just matched each other nicely. I did get a bit concerned because we were starting quite fast (7.40mins.mile)…and we didn’t slow.

I’m not really used to running races with other people. I’m also not used to running such long distances WITHOUT MUSIC either. There was a ‘no headphones rule’ for this race as the roads weren’t closed. I can’t tell you how much this sucked. I get bored quite easily and feed a lot from music. Hey ho!

This was around mile three

As we carried on running I realised that I wasn’t going to take this easy. It was nice to run with someone else. It was her first half marathon and she told me she’d “hang on” for as long as she could. But to be honest I don’t know who was pacing who! Then another girl from the running club joined us and we became a power trio, keeping each other going.

I saw my dad around mile 5 and he snapped a photo and cheered us all on

I found this race quite tough. There were a few nasty slow inclines and a couple of sneaky hills. I didn’t know what pace to keep to and constantly worried I was going to fast for our little group, or not fast enough. It was really hard mentally. I’m so used to running races on my own! But it was nice to have them there.

Finally the finish!

Physically, I didn’t breeze through this one like the Bristol half. Maybe because it was ‘undulating’, maybe because I hadn’t gone into the race mentally prepared to run fast, maybe it was the extra two miles before the race, who knows! Though I’d say I wasn’t properly struggling until around mile 11, then it became really tough.

My official time was 1:40:34. I came 9th in my age category and 25th female (173rd overall out 375). Ben helped pace a girl from our running club round and finished 2:08:48. He really enjoyed it.

After finishing and getting the goody bag I saw my dad and then headed off for a mile cool down. Oh man my legs were not happy to start running again. They were so stiff! So I kept it nice and easy!!

This was definitely not my favourite race. It pushed me mentally (no headphones, running with two others, no game plan) and physically (faster than I intended and hills). And the weather was pretty terrible. But I’m glad I did it. Not every race can be a great one! I’m happy with my time don’t get me wrong and it felt like a great work out. I just wished I’d have enjoyed it a bit more!

OH, and there were no medals. NO MEDALS. Shocking.

We did get one of those Choob scarf things though so that’s a slight consolation. It’ll be a good running scarf when it gets colder!

And as a side note, I love this photo my dad took on his walk to the five mile point:

It looks like the horse is about to charge him haha.

After the race, Ben, my dad and me were freezing when we drove back home. So wet and cold. I thoroughly enjoyed my shower when I got back!

And the cake I wolfed down [from our Brighton adventures]:

I microwaved that beauty for a minute and thoroughly enjoyed just over half of it before feeling sick. Ben feebly managed a third of his. Pft! Poor effort.

Race + cake = happy Anna

How do you keep yourself entertained on a run? I always listen to a podcast on long runs or for races listen to music. It pumps me up and keeps me going. Though running with a group at running club is good too.

Who’s your biggest race supporter? My dad loves supporting us and he’ll always listen to me yabber on about running. He’s brilliant.

What do you like to get in a race goody bag? It’s all about the medal for me.

September 18, 2013October 28, 2016

Bristol Half Marathon (1:36:10)

Happy Wednesday! It’s very chilly here down the South of the UK. I imagine it’s a lot colder up north as well. Brrr.

So Sunday Ben and me ran the Bristol Half Marathon (which has been going for twenty-five years – wow). Like I said in my last post, we stayed with friends so we wouldn’t have to get up at ridiculous O’clock and drive an hour and a half to get there. And, more importantly, we got to see our friends which was lovely.

We got up at 6.30am, had breakfast and then drove to the park and ride. We got the bus into the race village and it was perfectly un-stressful.

The race village was set in the heart of this lovely area with lots of cafés and restaurants and cool water things.

The only annoying thing was that Ben was starting in a wave 30 minutes after me (10am) so he had a bit more hanging around to do than I did.

Bit of fun photo taking with the massive reflective sphere

We said our goodbyes and I headed to my wave 15 minutes before the start.

It was cold. I wore my capris rather than shorts but I was still only wearing a vest. I looked longingly at the bin bags some people has ingeniously thought to bring. The elites and white wave went off first and then we followed soon after.

Mile one (7.28): Always feels fine. The tide of people just keeps you sailing along. I was going a bit faster than I’d planned but I didn’t worry too much as it was by 10-15 seconds. However, I suddenly needed to pee.

Mile two (7.25): We were able to see Clifton Suspension Bridge in the distance, which we were heading under.

I had my phone in my arm band for music and just had to take a photo so this required a bit of jiggling about while running which is never easy. But I’m glad I got the photo! Annoyingly a few metres on was a much better photo in terms of scenery. Ah well.

Mile three (7.20): The feeling of needing to pee was still there. I had peed before the race so I tried to convince myself I didn’t need to go. I saw men dash off to the sides of the race to pee and looked at them enviously.

At this point I knew I couldn’t not go to the loo. The deciding factor was that I couldn’t think about needing to pee for next 10 miles. So I made a game plan. I could see way ahead a portable loo so I sprinted like a stupid person, peed in record breaking time and got back out there and sprinted a little to gain back time. I ended up back next to the same person I was running next to before. Hurrah. Anna 1 bladder 0.

Mile four (7.24): This was a turnaround point so we headed back along the same road but from the other side. I didn’t actually mind this as the scenery was nice and the road was so flat. It also meant I could amuse myself by looking at the runners on the other side. I was desperately scanning the crowds to see if I could find Ben.

Miles five (7.21) to six (7.25): I was now consistently running 10 seconds faster than I hoped and was feeling really good. It didn’t feel like too much of an effort so I held that pace. Around this point I was still scanning for Ben when I saw Mary on the other side. It was so quick but it was nice to see another blogger (she did 90 minutes of running before the half as preparation for her upcoming ultra <- epic).

Then just before going under the bridge again I saw Ben. He looked so happy and strong it really made me smile. I was just so chuffed! We shouted to each other and carried on.

When we went under a tunnel I found myself near the 1:40 pacers which panicked me a bit as I was aiming for a bit below that. As we went through the tunnel one of the pacers shouted “Oggie oggie oggie!” and everyone responded “Oi! oi! oi!”. It was brilliant.

Miles 8 (7.34) to 9 (7.20): Still feeling happy and enjoying it. I had picked up a gel from one of the stations a few miles ago (hello, freebie!) and it was nice to hold on to in a weird way. I picked up another one as we passed the next station as well. I thought to myself “I definitely want to take one of these home. But the other one will be if I feel I need it”. It was nice to have that safety net. It was also chilled which was a lovely touch from the marshals.

Mile 10 (7.10) to 11 (7.12): I took one of the gels as I wanted to increase my speed further and whether psychologically or physically, I needed to have that gel. It was a tasty one and a nice thin consistency – a High5 gel. I recommend!

Miles 12 (7.14) to 13 (6.56): I don’t remember mile 12 but mile 13 is where I picked it up as much as I could. This was the only part of the race I didn’t enjoy.

Last stretch I put my all in

It was painful and it felt like 5k effort.

My official time was 1:36:10. This is a five minute PB for me! I am SO pleased. And I loved the whole race (bar the last mile). It just felt comfortable and I felt in the zone.

As soon as I finished and picked up my goodie bag and medal. People were thrusting leaflets into my hands and then a lady told me there were free physio massages. I went straight there and got in the queue. Hell yes.

The physio said my hips were unbelievably tight and that no wonder I’d been having IT band issues and groin pain. Whoops. She gave me some great advice though while torturing the hell out of my lower back and upper bum (technical term).

Then I got our bag from the bagging area and a cup of tea and did some stretching while I waiting for Ben. When I saw him he had a big grin on his face. He’d smashed his ‘conservative’ target of 2:10 and pipped his ‘dream’ target of 1:57 and got 1:56:21. Nice work!

Then we headed back to the bus and car and did a quick ‘let’s get naked in the middle of car park in the freezing cold’ to get out of our sweaty stuff and into our spare clothes. We have all the fun.

We started our drive back with the intention of finding a restaurant mid-way home and found a lovely pub called the Bird in Hand.

I chose the Caesar salad and granary baguette with a side order of fresh veg. I just really fancied it.

That Caesar salad…oh it was HEAVENLY.

I inhaled it I was so hungry. Perfect post-race food.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Bristol Half Marathon. It’s probably my second favourite race. Cheddar Gorge half is still my top as it was such an adventure. But Bristol was brilliant as it was so flat, the crowds were great, I felt in the zone and Ben enjoyed it too.

From this experience I just know that half marathons are my favourite distance (so far). During a 5k and a 10k I am holding on and pushing the entire time. This didn’t feel painful. It felt refreshing and I loved it.

What’s your favourite race distance?

What’s the last race or next race you’re doing? Mine is the Great South Run in October.

Do you plan your pacing before the race? In my mind I wanted to run 7.30min/miles with a push at the end.

March 18, 2013

Reading Half-Marathon

**I warn you now this might be a bit of a lengthy post**

I survived my first half marathon! It was brilliant Here’s my recap. I’ve tried not to ramble on too much…

So on Friday I had my last physio appointment. This was really good as she gave my leg muscles a good (albeit painful) massage and also used ultra-sound on my Achilles which was just brilliant. Definitely worth the money I think! And a perfect way to prepare for Sunday.

Saturday I had a busy day of trying to get all the housework done and sorting bits and pieces out as we knew we wouldn’t have Sunday because of the race. I also did a very relaxed and easy 2 mile run to just shake myself out. It was horrific though as it was so wet and windy. This was a bit worrying as I didn’t mind any weather as long as it wasn’t windy. And Saturday was like gail-force winds.

Saturday night Ben and I had a ‘make-your-own’ pizza from Sainsbury’s. I had a thin and crispy vegetable feast without cheese…with added chicken (I’m not a big fan of melted cheese). When the guy behind the counter had made it he said to me “you might need to cook it for a bit longer than the directions say as there are so many toppings”. Haha I should have been embarrassed but I wasn’t.

Before I cooked it I put some BBQ sauce over it. Let me tell you, this was AMAZING. Perfect carb-loading dinner.

I had an early night and surprisingly fell asleep very quickly.

Sunday morning we woke up early (6.30am…on a Sunday), I walked Alfie, had breakfast (my regular oatmeal – what else?) and a black coffee. Ben’s mum and my mum arrived to drive with us and we were on our way. [Unfortunately my dad couldn’t make it as he’d been called into work – this was quite sad as, apart from Ben, he’s one of my biggest supporters]

Because I was so worried I’d lose my head and run like an idiot for the first half of the race and thereby kill myself for the second I wrote down the times I wanted to hit for each mile on my hand to try and focus myself.

This way I could keep looking at what pace I should be aiming for. Basically I aimed at increasing the speed as the race went along, leaving myself a bit of energy for a speedy finish.

We got to Reading and hung about in the race village for a fair amount of time. At this point the rain hadn’t quite kicked in but it was cold.

Then it started really raining. Possibly the worst part of the day was taking off my big coat and handing it to Ben so I could then go and stand in the racing pen to wait for it to begin. I was FREEZING. We all had to stand and wait for around 15 mins before the race began in the tipping rain. Everyone was jumping around like lunatics trying to keep warm.

And then we were off!

It was such an effort to keep my pace at 8.20 for the first mile because the majority of people were starting quite fast so it felt very unnatural to hold myself back. My inner competitiveness was screaming at me. But I didn’t want to start too quickly and poop myself out right at the beginning.

I saw Ben and the mums during the first mile so it was nice to wave to them at the beginning. Miles 1-4 zoomed by. They felt very easy and relaxed. It was just so nice to be running with so many people.

I had my music in and it was great to just look around and watch other people and see the spectators cheering us on. So many people watched us run, it was really lovely. Especially considering the weather! I kept having to check my pace though as I felt myself wanting to zoom off.

At mile 5 I increased my pace as planned. I still felt very good and was quite happy with how things were going.

Saw some interesting costumes!

The course was relatively flat, except for about three hills that were quite substantial. But they were fine, I just found a rhythm, looked down and ploughed on. If I look up when running hills then I lose my motivation because I think “Jeeze am I not there yet?”

There were loads of water stations about which was a bit of a minefield, especially when they were like bags of water that squirted all over the place. I didn’t go for any water but I almost got hit by jets of water several times haha. As if I wasn’t wet enough!

I can’t remember what mile it was (maybe 6?) but we went under a bridge and there were drums playing by a band which was brilliant. Really livened things up and kept us motivated. It was nice as well because people shouted my name as I had it on my vest. At first it felt weird because I was like “I don’t know you!” but it was a great motivator. And little kids wanting high fives – that was cool!

Mile 7 went really quickly because this was where Ben and the mums were aiming to be to wave and hand me a drink (I’d made my own drink from half water, half pure orange juice and a little bit of salt). So I spent a lot of time looking out for them which passed the time. I finally saw them and gave Ben my gloves, he gave me the drink and then we had a quick smooch (ahh the romance) and I ran off.

I thought I’d struggle around 8-9 as it’s a bit of a funny mileage as you’ve ran quite far but you’re still quite far away. But I was fine. I felt very comfortable and happy. Though it started raining again which wasn’t amazing.

Because of how the course twisted, Ben and the mums could get to mile 10 before I did so they hurried there to wave again and Ben got a photo of me.

Yep that’s a manic smile I’m wearing there.

And then from mile 10 I was ready to kick a bit more into a faster pace. When I got to mile 12 that’s when I had to dig a bit deeper to keep going. When I saw the sign for ‘400m to go’ I let rip a bit more and it got painful. We got into the Madejski stadium and BAM it finished. It was over. I couldn’t believe it.

The feelings of absolutely happiness were so overwhelming. I felt like I could fly. I saw someone from work who was also running it and I went over to him to chat and I was just bursting with joy. I just needed someone to talk to and bounce good vibes off of.

And how did I do in terms of timing? My official chip time was 1 hour 41 minutes and 19 seconds. And my Garmin breakdown:

Almost a perfect negative split! I’m so proud of myself for being sensible. Honestly, I don’t know what it was…the crowds, the other runners, the vibes, the adrenaline…but the race just felt good. I only struggled on the last mile – and even that just required a bit more focus and mental motivation. I am so pleased.

On a random point, the funniest thing was seeing the steam rise of the runners at the end. Lovely

I eventually found Ben, my mum and Ben’s mum (at this point I was once again FREEZING).

They were cold and wet as well – I felt so bad that they had to stand in the rain for me, but very grateful for their support. We headed back to the car and then had to wait about 50 mins for the car park to open to let us (and seventy five million other cars) out. We blasted the car with heat and we eventually got a bit warmer and dryer. I managed to get out of my clothes and into my spare dry clothes inside the car without revealing myself to the world or my family (a lot of help from Ben holding up his jumper haha).

Then the cars started moving. This was stressful. There was just no order, cars were everywhere.

They look like parked cars in the photo, but they’re actually creating their own queues. It’s just not British!!! Queue jumping is not socially acceptable, people!!

Anyway, we FINALLY got out and headed for lunch. By the time we arrived it was 2.30 (I finished the race at 11.45). I was ready to eat my arm at this point.

We got parked and got out of the car. My legs were so painful and achy I almost fell over! But we got to Jamie’s Italian and got a table (despite being so late for our reserved time!)

Straight away we ordered hot drinks. You know when you’re warm but you’re not really warm inside? That’s how we felt, if that makes sense. I ordered a peppermint tea which I can tell you tasted pretty darn good at this point.

Can you guess what I had for main? Turkey Milanese, which I’ve now had four times…embarrassing really but nothing sounded better.

I ordered a quinoa and bulgur wheat salad on the side as well.

The turkey went down very well but I couldn’t make a dent on the side; it was HUGE. You know when you go from being really hungry to being very full in a short period of time? Well it didn’t make me feel amazing, but I got it packed up to take home with me.

This smile pretty much never left my face.

Then we walked (I hobbled) back to the car and went home. After having the best shower in the world, there seemed only one outfit appropriate to wear at this point:

A onesie with my medal. Obviously

And needless to say my legs are fairly painful today. I almost fell over getting up this morning.

In a nutshell: I loved the half marathon and I’m definitely doing another.

Have you done a half marathon before?

What’s your favourite race distance?

Are you a proud owner of a onesie?