My main goal for this year was to successfully complete marathon training and run strong at the Liverpool marathon. Against my wildest dreams I managed both of these things without issue (apart from a minor shin blip that I probably blew way out of proportion in my maranoia).
So what now? Well, I didn’t really know how I’d feel after the marathon, whether I’d be injured, ruined, exhausted or raring to go again so I didn’t plan anything in concrete. As it turns out my good training meant I was in pretty good shape afterwards (can I get a HALLELUIGH!) so really the door was open to whatever I fancied, in reason obviously.
Even though my DNAFit results told me my body’s apparently good (relatively speaking) with both short and longer distances I know which I prefer and which feels better. I adore marathons. There’s just something so special about them. And so far they’ve been enjoyable rather than painful. There’s no OMG I CAN’T BREATHE OH THE LACTIC ACID BURNS pain of the shorter distances. Marathons are hard in other ways though: mentally fatiguing as well as physically tiring with the dull aches of continuously running over so many hours.
When I finish a marathon I instantly want to do another one. When I finish a fast 5k I want to be sick and never run again. I constantly think “why am I doing this?”, whereas during a marathon I’m thinking “I can’t believe I’m doing something this amazing”.
There are some pretty incredible runners in my running club and in the blogging world that are striving to hit certain shorter distance goals. My friend Karen, my blogging friend Autumn and my fellow Brighton half marathon buddy Cathy (over a year ago now??) are all striving for (and likely to hit) the elusive and indeed very impressive sub-40 10k goal. That’s eye wateringly fast. That’s insane. But it’s not for me. Don’t get me wrong I’d love that PB on my roster but I just don’t have the drive to put the effort in to get it. Because it would require a lot of effort for me…speed drills, intervals, bleurrghh! And to be honest, I’m not sure I’d ever achieve it.
So again, what’s next for me? Well another marathon obviously. I’ve signed up to Bournemouth marathon and I’m very excited.
Loads of my club are doing it, it’s within driving distance so I can actually sleep in my own bed the night before, my parents can easily watch and I can join my cub for loads of the Sunday long runs leading up to it. At the moment I don’t really have a goal time-wise as I’m so pleased with Liverpool…but a little part of me wonders because it’s flatter what I could do. But that’s food for thought right now.
There’s also another marathon I’m considering. Now I know it sounds greedy, maybe stupid and reckless given my past issues…but hear me out. It’s the Cheddar Gorge marathon. Yes OK that sounds even more mental. It’s hilly and completely off-road.
I’ve done the half marathon and absolutely hands-down loved it. It felt like an adventure the entire time and I’ve been meaning to get back there to relive the experience. Only this time I want to do the two laps – the marathon distance.
If I did do this then it’ll be without a care in the world for pace or time. I’m well aware it will take over four hours to do (my half time was almost two hours, so I’m pretty sure I’m looking at around 4.5 hours if I have a good day!). I’ll walk the hills, stroll through the aid stations and stop to chat…I won’t be thundering along pushing the pace. I’ll be stopping to smell the flowers 😉
Anyway it’s just over six weeks away…I have the Stansted Slog Half Marathon (which I did last year) this weekend which will be a good indicator as that’s a very hilly off-road half. Another good test will be the the Ultra12 event I have coming up the weekend after. This is a 12 hour event where I’ll be part of a five person team running 5 miles laps all night on an off-road course…a bit like Endure, but in half the time. I hope to do three laps so that’ll be a nice lot of mileage to play with.
Then I’ll just take each week as it comes. If things get too hard, too tiring, or niggles start appearing I’m going to drop to the half distance and focus on Bournemouth, which is ultimately more important to me.
So that’s me! Who knows if I’ll do the Cheddar Gorge marathon or not. I won’t be too sad, but I would like to do it as a change from the road marathons…but we’ll see.
What are your current running/fitness goals at the moment?
Have you done multiple marathons in a year? Or back-to-back?
Am I risking it by doing another marathon so soon?
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while then you’ll be well acquainted with how injury prone I seem to be. My previous two marathons’ training have been fairly rubbish.
For both I never managed to get over 13 miles. I did a lot of cross-training to keep my fitness up (cycling, elliptical machine and pool running) but not enough running to go into the races feeling confident. That said, I did achieve relatively good times (3:41:18 and 3:36:26 respectively). The recovery time after was a nightmare though as my body just wasn’t used to that sort of mileage in one go and for Berlin I was subsequently injured.
I gently eased back into running in January after taking some time out (as I was fed up with constantly going from injury to injury). I properly started training in February. I didn’t really follow a plan per se but I did use other marathon training plans as a guide for the long runs.
What I did…
Initially I began running three days a week, supplementing this with cross training and strength-focused training in the gym (more about that in THIS post). I gradually built the long runs up while keeping the other two runs the same. I had one run focused on running hills and the other was parkrun for speed work.
As the mileage increased I dropped the strength training to two sessions a week and then eventually got rid of the cross-training completely as I moved to running four times a week and felt good.
My ‘training plan’
Against all previous expectations I managed to successfully run several long runs – proper long runs over 13 miles! I ran two 17 miles, two 18.5 miles and a 19.75 miler. This is gobsmacking for me. I still can’t believe it. I never thought my body would survive.
What worked…
I think the main reason it did survive is the addition of strength training. My legs, glutes and core are stronger. Regularly doing strength training really helped. And consistently upping my weights as things became easier. Eighteen weeks later and I still wake up aching from the day after strength training. Running feels smoother and I don’t feel quite so fragile anymore.
Also being sensible with my mileage was key. I gradually increased my long run mileage. I was so scared of injuring myself that this was a great motivator to not get greedy.
What I got wrong…
I’m pretty sure I got my nutrition wrong after long runs as I got some savage headaches that I never usually get. I didn’t refuel properly and then would spend the day treating myself to cake and other sugary foods. I’m sure it wasn’t to do with hydration because I drink a lot of water (with electrolytes) before and after running. After Sunday’s 5 mile race I drank lots before and after but I didn’t have lunch for a long time afterwards and then suffered from a headache later in the day. On days I did refuel properly I didn’t get a headache. No brainer really.
I’m used to running long runs without breakfast but 17 miles is definitely my limit on that I think, especially when I don’t refuel immediately afterwards (when I’m at a race for example). I know I run better with breakfast but I also prefer to run without to train my body so when I do fuel I get maximum benefits (I’m not a dietician or a sports-knowledgeable person – this is just what I’ve personally found).
I also think I overcooked things for the Cakeathon. I probably ran too fast and didn’t reduce my mileage on the subsequent week. The 14 miler I did that next Sunday was very draining and my body didn’t feel quite as strong as previously and, dare I even say, niggly.
I should have done a shorter long run and shorter runs the following week. I did two seven milers next to each other last week which were both meant to be lower mileage but for one reason or another became higher than I wanted (not planning a normal route and running with the club). Compounding this was the Beer race which was a hard effort (but I will say not 100% smashing myself to pieces).
This week I’ve made the sensible decision to not run until parkrun on Saturday. My shin has been niggling me slightly and I’m on a FULL ANNA PANIC MODE. It’s not painful but it is tight. I’m terrified it will blow up to something more serious. It’s highly ironic that all my training goes absolutely fine and then an old niggle begins to crop up the week before the marathon. I’m honestly trying not to have a major freak out. Wouldn’t it be ironic though that the race I’m best trained for is the worst one I do??
(On a side note: for Berlin I ran a total of 223 miles in 16 weeks worth of training. For Liverpool I will have run 424 miles in 16 weeks!)
The plan…
I’m driving up to Stoke-on-Trent with my dad straight from work which is a good 3.5 hours in the car (my mum can’t come as her back is still very bad). Then we’re staying with my granddad in Stoke Friday and Saturday and heading to Liverpool Sunday morning, which should be less than an hour’s drive.
I have my paces planned out as normal. The first 10 miles are going to be nice and easy (finger’s crossed) and then gradually increase that pace and maintain it for the next 10 miles. The last 10k I’ll let myself go a bit but not too much until 5k when I will attempt to hold on. Finishing strong is my ambition. But hey, I could be limping across the line, who knows…
This weekend made me realise that I’m getting a bit tired of marathon training now. I’m so close to the end but I’m still not there. I’ve been training since February (about 17-18 weeks) and I’ve really loved it but now I’m tired. I feel drained, both physically and mentally. This could perhaps be due to the amazingness of the Cakeathon last week and running at a tough pace which left me tired, with heavy legs and then still three weeks left to go. But it’s easy going now so hopefully nothing will go wrong!
The weekend was jam-packed. On Saturday I was at the Netley Abbey parkrun. A few of us had tried to persuade the Netley parkrun gods to do the cricket pitch course (boring but flat) but after almost convincing them someone piped up to say it was their 100th and they really didn’t want to do the cricket pitch, which is fair enough. The cricket pitch is really only good for a fast time as it is so boring (five laps) whereas the other course goes up a hill through some woods and is generally more interesting and only three laps. The next cricket pitch parkrun will be the week after my marathon so I really hope I’m not broken so I can give it a good go!
I didn’t have breakfast before parkrun this week but did have a black coffee so I was curious to see how I would do. It didn’t feel quite as gut-bustingly hard as last week (and I didn’t feel sick either) but I did feel that “running on empty” feeling. Half-way through though I did want to give up, mentally I was just not feeling it. But I spotted the lead lady who had overtaken me at the start and decided to try and catch her. At the start of mile three I got past her and then pushed on harder to prevent her coming back to me. It was tough but a good motivator to keep pushing.
On the final mile someone shouted to me that the second lady was just behind me so I floored it (well, I increased my pace slightly but in my painful state it felt like flooring it) and managed to finish 15 seconds before her. I got 20:42, so slower than last week by eight seconds which I’m happy with. Still sub-21!
After a drink in the cafe with some friends from the club, I headed home to get cleaned up ready for a nice lunch out in Chichester to celebrate my mum’s birthday. It was a place called Amelie and Friends and it was lovely! I went for melon with coconut sorbet to start which was really refreshing but sweet. To be honest it wouldn’t have been out of place on the pudding menu but it was tasty. And for main I went for the lamb kofta skewers with hummus, tzatziki and chips. Very tasty.
It was a lovely afternoon spent with my mum, dad and sister, Rachel.
I spent the night at my parent’s so I could have a nice run along the sea front the next morning and I was going for lunch with friends who lived nearby to my parents, so it made sense. Plus it also meant I could leave Alfie with my parents rather than leaving him on his own most of the day.
Unfortunately the weather was terrible the next day. I woke up to rain and wind, which always seems to happen when I want a nice run along the coast!! I felt miserable before I even started. I was dragging my feet getting ready and a big part of me wanted to just not go. But I thought how well I’d done so far. I haven’t missed one long run yet and I should be grateful that I’m running without injury at the moment so I needed to suck it up and get out there.
But it was a miserable run. I felt de-motivated, tired and it was cold and wet. As I ran past the sea the waves were huge. I saw lots of kite surfers in their wet suits apparently loving it and thought how different people were. You couldn’t pay me to have been in that water! But then I suppose they looked at me in my shorts and single layer and wondered what the hell I was doing (but then I was currently wondering the same…).
At nine miles I was fed up and wanted to be done. There was no way to cut the run short as I was past half way now and I could only run the rest of the way home. I honestly did consider ringing my dad though to pick me up. The rain, which had stopped for a while, started again and I got cold. I was so thankful for the run to be over when I got home!
I really enjoyed the hot shower I can tell you!
Average pace of 7.54min/mile.
After showering I had a bit of time to chill and eat something before I was going out so I sat with some partially frozen berries and Greek yogurt and RunnersWorld magazine. I almost napped, I felt that drained and sleepy.
Not my usual breakfast at all but lunch was on the horizon shortly and I didn’t fancy anything huge. I would have had a smoothie but my parent’s didn’t have many ingredients…can’t get the staff can you? 😉
Lunch was amazing. We went to Ranchos Steak House as my friends are fellow meat lovers too. I enjoyed a half rack of ribs to start and then two racks for main – I love that this is an option there. I know, I know, I’m obsessed. But I just love ribs!
And runger was in full force! It was so good. After lunch we did a bit of shopping and I bought myself a lovely blazer from Dorothy Perkins in the sale. It was only £24.90! And then I had to head back home to deal with my garden.
I don’t do gardening. I’ve never mown a lawn before. I decided I needed to get things under control this weekend as we’ll need to start the process of selling the house and, well, the garden looks awful. It’s a jungle out there! And the front of the house there’s a bush and it’s just grown ridiculously huge and almost taken over the pavement. I know my neighbours will be looking down their nose at me as I’m letting the side down and it just makes me look sloppy. Of which, I assure you, I am not! The inside of my house is lovely and tidy and clean…it’s just the garden that’s awful.
My parents thankfully came to help me but to be honest it was a bit of a lost cause. The lawn mower (a budget one bought three years ago) couldn’t cope with the sheer length of the grass (and the fact that it was still damp from the morning’s rain) and started smoking. Epic fail! We couldn’t even do one third of it.
But we did manage to tame the bush. Though I shouldn’t have left my dad alone and unsupervised with the clippers as he hacked a big chunk out of it! Honestly, I could have cried. I was so tired and stressed by this point. Well we managed to do what we could and the bush is now a lot smaller…it just looks a bit crap from one angle. At this point though I couldn’t care!
I’m planning on seeing if I can hire someone to cut the lawn at the back and make it look presentable. I think that’s the only way forward…
How good at gardening are you?
How do you motivate yourself when you’re really not in the mood to exercise?
As soon as I heard about this race I knew it was for me. Running as many 3.2ish mile laps of a country park within a six hour time limit. For every lap you complete you received a wristband. And one wristband was equivalent to one slice of cake (or cookie, brownie, cupcake, etc.) that would be provided.
**This is going to be a long recap sorry**
Course map and elevation
Most runners love cake so it was no surprise that the event was fully booked with a waiting list (of which I was promptly on). Thankfully they scheduled another race and I got a place. The race is run by the marvellous Saxons, Viking and Normans marathons and I can honestly say it was one of the best races I’ve done. It also worked out perfectly for my marathon training because it meant I could use it as a long training run – my last one before tapering. I knew if I ran six laps I could accrue around 18-19 miles. And six laps meant SIX bits of cake. What better inventive could there be really??
My friend, Laura, and I travelled down the night before to Kent to stay in a hotel. The Queen Street Hotel was cheap and cheerful (I paid £50 for my room and this apparently included breakfast). But it looked like a pub and the man behind the bar was very relaxed (and not in a good way). He mumbled after we paid “it might be a little loud tonight” and when Laura asked when breakfast was he said “um yeah, I guess at 9am?”. She said she needed it earlier as we were leaving for the race at 7.30am. He told her no one would be awake and gave her a few boxes of cereal and some milk to “put next to the window” to keep it cool. Thankfully I’d brought my own instant porridge.
To be fair, the rooms were clean and perfectly fine for our one night stay. After freshening up we headed off to find food. It being Sunday evening most places were closed, but we found a lovely hotel restaurant called Dunkerley’s right on the seafront. It was so lovely and calm and the staff were lovely (oh how I longed to be sleeping there later on!). I went for a chicken Caesar salad (if it ain’t broke…) with a side portion of fries.
Lovely and tasty salad but I’m glad I got the chips as well as it was a little small for a pre-long run meal. I did look at the portion size of the chips when they arrived and thought “oh God, I’ll never eat all of those.” Hmm. I was unstoppable. They didn’t have a chance!
We chatted for a bit before heading back to get an early night before the race. It was after 9pm and the music had begun in the pub. I say pub, it was now a nightclub. I wasn’t too bothered as I had my iPad so I could watch some Mad Men and read my book. We didn’t have to get up until 7am so I wasn’t stressed. Yet.
The music (and thumping bass) only got louder. I’m not kidding when I say the vibrations were thrumming through my room. Naively I thought it might stop at 11pm. I tried to stuff my ears with loo roll. This didn’t work. I tried to use the second pillow to encompass my head. I could still hear and feel the music. I tried not to get stressed because really there was nothing I could do and getting into a tizz would only make things worse. I watched more Mad Men and prayed for it to stop. Eventually I was so tired I couldn’t concentrate. It was 1am. I decided that it was desperate times and put my headphones on and listened to Coldplay. I drifted in and out of sleep until 2am when the music finally stopped. HALLELUIGH.
Then the seagulls woke me up stupidly early, before my alarm, and I resigned to getting up. I actually didn’t feel too bad thankfully! I left having breakfast until the last moment as I was faffing about so much (as you do on race morning), which in retrospect wasn’t a good idea. The race began at 8.30am and I was eating breakfast at 7.20am.
Fail-safe easy porridge
I also had a black coffee. I made sure I was fairly loud that morning (TV on, slamming a few doors) as I’m pretty sure there were people from last night’s rave also staying. Hell hath no fury like an Anna without sleep 😉 Then we drove the three miles to Fowlmead Country park for the race.
There were only about 100 people doing the race so it had a very local and personal feel. People were very chatty and friendly and the organisers were just lovely. Our bibs all had our names written on which was a brilliant touch. It must have taken a while to do and it was fully appreciated because so many people shouted my name while I ran – either the organisers, fellow racers or just lay people in the park.
Fancy dress was encouraged and many people had risen to the occasion
Laura and I getting ready
Another lady, Julie, from our club also drove down that morning for the race with her daughter so it was nice to see another fellow Hedgie.
There was a race briefing (and a reminder of the ethos behind the race – one lap would burn 300-400 calories which is roughly a bit of cake) and then we were off. It was all rather informal, which was fabulous as it just removed any stress or pressure.
I’d gone into the race not really having a game plan. I wanted to see if I could maintain an 8 minute mile pace for most of it to give me an idea of how that would feel. I decided to not listen to anything for my first two laps and then listen to a podcast for the rest. Psychologically it was good to think about the run as six sections rather than 18 plus miles.
The first lap (3.2ish miles) went quickly as I found a comfortable pace and got used to my surroundings. I was keenly aware I’d be seeing everything five more times. There were two significant inclines on the route. They didn’t go on for very long but they were relatively steep, but the rest of the course was flat. Though for half a mile or so there was an area that was completely un-shaded with an annoying wind that blew across at you, not quite against you, but enough to increase the effort level. The course was within a country park so there was no traffic; just beautiful scenery, a pond, lovely soft trail to run on and greenery everywhere.
The second lap I managed to latch on to two other ladies who were just ahead. I was relieved as I wanted to chat a bit and not be on my own for all of it. One of the ladies had done Boston (and London) this year and so I was fascinated to hear about it from a Brit’s perspective. And she has a marathon PB of 3:21! The other lady sounded mental. OK not really mental, but she had done a half marathon on the Saturday, a 10k that evening and had planned to do the marathon (of the same event) on the Sunday. In the end she wasn’t feeling well enough so didn’t do the marathon but she was still hoping to do a 5-6 laps at the Cakeathon! She also told me about a 5k doughnut run she’d done where you literally eat a doughnut every 1k of the race. Mental and hardcore.
They stopped for a bit at the aid station at the end of the first lap (where you get your wristbands) but I pushed on wanting to maintain my pace. There were lots of different food and drink on offer but I stuck to water for every lap.
Because there weren’t many people (relatively) in the race and a lot of people were pacing for either an ultra or a marathon I eventually became the lead lady. This is a moot point though considering it wasn’t about time, it was about distance. It did mean I was consistently overtaking people (not because I’m super fast, but because I wasn’t running a marathon/ultra and because it’s essentially the same loop the entire time so it’s bound to happen). This was really nice though as it meant I got to cheer other people on, they cheered me on or I could have a brief chat. It also gave me markers to get to.
When I finished my third lap I was now listening to a podcast and felt good at my pace. The only thing that I was starting to get concerned about was some pains in my stomach. It was like “I might need to go to the toilet” kind of pains. I knew going to the loo would have to be a break from the course as it was far from the race area but there were also a lot of bushes and hidden areas I could dive into if necessary. I have never had stomach issues before and I’m pretty certain it was due to the badly timed breakfast. It was only an hour from the race start – very stupid of me. Thankfully though after about 10-15 minutes the discomfort disappeared. Whew! No bush required!
The race was easy to segment as at three laps I could tell myself I was half way, four laps meant two to go, etc.. The hardest lap was the second to last one as I was still a chunk of miles from finishing. What was nice though was that the marshals at the aid station kept saying I was doing well and running strong and making jokes like “but you only just left here, Anna!”. I know it’s a bit self-indulgent, but the praise definitely lifted me. I made sure to tell everyone I passed though that I was “only” running six laps and not the full marathon or ultra distances! The ultra and marathon guys spent more time at the aid stations and some were even eating cake! I just stuck to water and moved on to the next lap quickly.
The last lap finally came and I pushed the pace. My legs were tired though and I felt it was hard work. The sun was hot, the wind annoying on that stretch, the hills tough and the pace not as easy anymore. But as I got towards the finish I felt strong and people cheered me on until the end. Then I got to ring the bell to say I was finished.
You can see my wristbands on my right hand too
The handed me my HUGE medal and congratulated me. It was awesome. My only annoyance is getting to 19.75 miles and not rounding it up to 20 miles!!
I ran 19.75 miles in 2:35:17 (7.49 min/miles average). The results are interesting because it showed how many people did what time at what distance.
Crazy halo hair!
Laura did one lap and was very pleased. She’s been injured for FIVE weeks and the week before she’d only just started running again (for 15 minutes!) so she was aiming for one or two laps but wanted to play it safe. She knew how many laps I was aiming for though – I hadn’t just left her in the lurch. She said she enjoyed sitting in the sun and chatting to the runners and organisers so I didn’t feel so bad for leaving her so long on her own. Julie and her daughter did three laps (9.75 miles) and were pleased (apparently Julie has done over 30 marathons – RESPECT).
Hedgie photo – why didn’t I wear my HERC vest!?
After all of…oh I don’t know, 10 seconds of finishing I headed to see the cakes. The event was great because it encouraged people to make cake to bring and there was a competition for different awards (things like “best cake with marzipan” – Maria this is a race for you!). There was a whole table just FULL of cake. I was in heaven.
Because I knew how many laps I was going to do and knew it would be unwise to try and eat six slices of cake in a row after finishing a long run I had the forethought to bring a Tupperware box with me so I could take my prizes home. Everyone either thought this was hilarious or ingenious.
I’m pointing at my wristbands by the way!
And then the cake selection began…
I mean seriously, there was EVERYTHING. From cookies, to cupcakes, to brownie, to fruit cake, to chocolate cake, Victoria sponge, biscuits, tray bakes, marzipan delights, carrot cake…oh. my. lord. They even had vegan cakes because there were a number of vegan runners – how cool!
I definitely got a slice of the green marzipan covered Victoria sponge!
I can’t even tell you everything I got…so much cake!
OK there are more than six bits in there but two of those cupcakes were Laura’s…that she then forced me to take home with me at the end *sighs*.
Amazingly I did manage some self-control because I felt a little “post-long race” peaky. I drank a lot of water but I did have one cookie to celebrate because it sounded so blinking amazing: a peanut butter Oreo stuffed cookie.
I mean COME ON. That is heavenly. Laura couldn’t even finish hers but mine was gone within three bites. Salty sweet celebratory goodness.
Not only was the medal THE BEST IN THE WORLD, not only was the race so much fun, not only were the organisers legends, not only was there stupid amounts of cake BUT the goodie bag was one of the best I’ve ever had as well. And Jess, I know this will make you happy, you could request a VEGAN goodie bag if you wanted it!!
Are you joking!? How good is that! I was blown away. I don’t care that it’s all ridonkulously unhealthy because any race called the Cakeathon is never going to fill its bags with Nakd bars or fruit.
Back to the run though, I felt really happy with how it went. No injuries or niggles, just general tiredness as the run continued. I found the pace OK to maintain but towards the end it did involve more focus and mental strength. That said, I do feel I could have carried on. I felt a bit of a fraud stopping at six laps as so many amazing people were running further. The temptation was quite strong but Liverpool is the goal.
I need to think long and hard about what pace(s) I’m going to aim for for Liverpool and what goals I want and this race has made me ponder. I know whatever I decide I will aim to start slower and then (hopefully) get faster later. Negative splits have always worked for me, but it’s just working out how much to push or hold back. My last marathons were relatively easier to plan because I had quite low expectations and kept my pace really sensible. Hmmm.
Anyway, the journey home involved a celebratory Costa and medal selfie – as you do.
It was a fantastic event. I can’t praise it enough. It was a the little touches, the fantastic organisation, the amazing medal, the ingenious idea, the beautiful course, the lovely people, and the cake that made it perfect – just a few things really 😉
I’m already signed up for next year’s…
What’s your favourite medal from an event?
What makes a race good for you?
How do you pace a marathon? (not an easy question!!)
I hate 10ks. I’m sure I’ve said it many times, but I truly do. 5ks are somewhat bearable because they’re short. The pain can only go on for so long, whereas for a 10k it just seems never ending.
Going into a 10k race as part of a training run therefore makes things a whole lot more enjoyable. Well, at least psychologically anyway. My plan was to get 18ish miles done on Sunday as part of my marathon training. A lot of my club were doing the local Netley 10k race and I thought it would be so much nicer to combine the two so I wouldn’t have to run the entire 18 miles on my own. It also meant I could ‘enjoy’ the 10k rather than race it.
The sun that had been beating down on the first solo part of run (12.5 miles) but as we waited for the 10k to begin it suddenly disappeared and it became more overcast: perfect running conditions. I ran this race last year (as a proper race) and I remember how hot it was then, so I think everyone was quite grateful it wouldn’t be so bad this year.
Different to last year, the race this year was chip timed which was far better as last year there was so much crowding and pushing at the start with people desperate to start quickly with the gun. Though it was still crowded at the start there was far less panic and desperation to move forward when the gun (whistle I think) went.
I started with a bunch of my Hedgie team mates and felt very relaxed. My legs however felt like lead and suddenly it felt really hard to keep up with them, despite the pace being in my “easier” range. I honestly contemplated letting them go ahead without me as I plodded along but I stuck at it thinking my legs would wake up again soon.
Starting to get into it with Lauren
I got more into the race and started to enjoy it as the legs warmed up (again). There were two running club members taking photos so we had a bit of a giggle (thank you Richard Townsend and Gary Trendell!).
Clearly the miles are going to my head here 😉
The course, like last year, consisted of three large laps around Queen Victoria Country Park, where the Netley Abbey parkrun is held. Therefore in my head it was just a supersized parkrun. This meant that we had to do the dreaded parkrun hill (I say hill, it’s not a hill hill but a sharpish incline) three times and another long incline three times. It’s not an easy course but there’s lots of support most of the way round which helped.
Matt and I
Eventually the most of the Hedgies disappeared either in front or ahead and I stuck with Matt who was aiming for a PB and running at a pace that I was finding comfortable but tough with the miles already in my legs.
Matt might have regretted me running with him somewhat though as we passed a drinks station and grabbed a drink. They were in cups and I struggled to drink from it without soaking myself and in the process managed to knock Matt’s elbow as he was drinking his. Consequently he was covered with water. I’m pretty sure he was more annoyed than he made out but he’s a gentleman and only remarked “looks like I’ve wet myself now…least it’s cooled me down”. I couldn’t apologise enough (though I was also laughing…).
As we headed for our final lap I really started to feel tired. Matt was finding it tough too so we started encouraging each other. We figured out some milestones to head towards on our last lap: a Hedgie supporter doing some amazing encouraging shouting from a quieter section of the course, the drinks station, a pack of kids, the homestretch…Then Matt said he was close to his PB – now there’s a motivation!
The final straight
The last half mile of the race you can see the finish which is a bit soul destroying but there were loads of people shouting and cheering which helped.
I think my face says it all. This is pretty much my legs personified (does that even make sense??). Matt zoomed off on the last 100 or so metres and I let him go: my legs weren’t up for that kind of sprinting without significantly breaking! I did attempt to speed up though (as my face displays).
My official time was 47:41 which I’m happy with considering I wasn’t racing full-out and weirdly I managed an average speed of 7.47min/miles which is exactly the same as the previous 12.5 miles I ran. How funny! So overall I ran 18.6 miles at 7.47 min/miles. Not too shabby! And the best part is that Matt got his PB (47:36 – he wanted sub 48!) He was over the moon and so was I. He helped me as much as I helped him. There’s no medal for Netley 10k but we got another towel. Last year it was red, this year it was blue. Just need a white one now for our running club colours!
Happily I felt all in one piece afterwards (and the days after). I did feel exceptionally tired though. When I stopped I was just shattered and my legs felt exhausted. I was so happy to stop running! Then I found a queue forming for free massages. Now seriously that is a fantastic way to finish a long run!
So good but so bad. My calves, oh my calves! I also noticed that my right foot had bled a bit to the outside of my trainers.
Top right of side of my trainer
Nothing says a tough long run than a bit of blood, eh? Turns out one of my toes’ nail pushed against its neighbour so nothing serious thankfully.
After the race I headed home and wolfed down porridge as quickly as possible. It was now midday and I hadn’t eaten a thing, though I had a good amount of water during and afterwards. I also made sure to have a coffee as well. I’m happy to run all my long runs in a fasted state as I honestly think this will help me when I race non-fasted. But who knows?
Then off I dashed to my friend’s house for the birthday party of their one year old son, Jacob. A whole year has passed, this is crazy! My friend, Louise, is an exceptionally good baker so I was fully expecting some good cake. And cake there was!
I stress that the every (edible) thing you see on that table is home-made. EVERYTHING. Coffee and walnut cake, lemon drizzle, flapjacks, banana muffins, chocolate cupcakes, a chocolate cake on the far left I didn’t manage to get in the photo and the birthday cake itself. There were mini meringues and cream made by her mum as well (by popular demand because, seriously, they’re amazing). And it was dinosaur themed. I was in heaven.
I had a slice of chocolate cake, a meringue and a cupcake. Then followed that by a banana muffin. And later birthday cake. Top notch baking. I was sat in the sun, a plate full of cake, kids running all over the place and was so chilled. I also made sure I’d brought my 750ml bottle of water with my nuun tablet in. What a dork I looked like with my massive bottle but seriously I wanted to avoid the post-long run headache at all costs. Oh and looking cool in a party hat – yep.
Awkward birthday party hat selfie
The birthday cake itself was incredible. Louise had made it all, even the dinosaur on top. How cool!
There was a little debate though as to why there were four candles on it…apparently Lou decided that one looked a bit lonely. It’s a good job Jacob can’t count 😉
Blurry birthday cake
Simply divine!
At one point I was chatting to a two-time Irornman (Louise’s brother) and I mentioned I was training for marathon in June. His response: “Oh just a marathon?” That stumped me! Yes just a marathon – none of that swimming and cycling malarkey but still tough in its own right! He did backtrack a little when he realised what he’d said but the damage was already done 😉
Now as you might know I’m not a particularly child-friendly person (I’m clueless and blind with terror around them) but I knew what I was in for. Louise’s family is quite big so there just seemed to be babies, toddlers and teenagers everywhere! But it was a lovely afternoon despite the small children 😉 Cake helped dull the pain somewhat 😉 😉
I headed home to finish the chores that needed doing, walk Alfie and then relax. I was really hungry again (apparently cake isn’t the most filling of foods…) so decided to have dinner. Sadly a headache decided to make an appearance – damn I thought I’d escaped! I’m pretty sure this is down to nutrition as I hydrated really well the day before, during and afterwards. Clearly a lunch of sugary cakes it’s not conducive to a good recovery….hmm who’d have thought? I regret nothing though. In the end I went to bed at 8.30pm as I was so tired and the headache just wouldn’t go. Hey hum! But another 18 miler in the bag!
Children’s birthday parties – hell on earth or a delightful way to spend some time? I enjoyed the party, even with the sheer number of small people! 😉
Fail-safe easy porridge
