Running - AnnaTheApple

May 16, 2016October 28, 2016

The worst race of my life?

[This was meant to go out last week but I had Blog issues annoyingly]

Alton 10 on Sunday was fairly horrendous, and sadly I wasn’t alone in that opinion. I hasten to add that this was nothing to do with its organisation, the lovely volunteers or the race itself.

I’ve done the Alton 10 before, two years ago, and it was pretty much the same course. Funnily enough when I went back to read how it went it was from a post where I also claimed to have experienced the “worst race of my life” (I’m nothing if not dramatic I suppose). Though the race I was talking about was one of our club league races, an RR10, and not actually Alton 10.

It’s handy having a blog where you document your training and races because you can go back and refresh your memory on what a race was like. From my memory and the post, it sounded like I quite enjoyed it, though I wasn’t racing it then either. No the thing that made this race hideously horrendous was the weather. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved how beautiful and sunny the weather was all weekend but for running a 10 mile race that began at 10.30am it was tough indeed. I’d also eaten a small farmyard the day before at that BBQ restaurant…

Because the Cakeathon is looming ahead (last Bank holiday in May), I’m trying to get my long runs up again so I can attempt to do a fair number of laps (it’s a three mile lapped race where you have 6 hours to do as many as you like; laps = cake as well). Last weekend I did 10.5 miles so this weekend I wanted to do 13 miles so I got up early and ran three(ish) miles before leaving for the race.

It was handy to have these three miles beforehand so I could a) test the weather out and b) test my stomach out. I’d slept awfully and that was probably mostly due to the excessive quantities of meat eaten the day before. I felt like a BBQ was happening in my tummy all night. Anyway, the three miles went well but I realised quickly it was going to be a very warm race.

I decided to don the old crop top on for the first time this year, though I was a bit apprehensive as I didn’t feel quite my best after my few weeks of greediness indulgence post-marathon [side note: no I’m not saying I’m fat, I’m jut saying that I personally felt a bit fluffy].

I thought I wouldn’t fancy any breakfast before we left but I was actually really hungry. HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK? Bizarre. So I had a nice bowl of steaming porridge – perfect for the weather, I thought and my dad drove us to the race. I picked my bib up easily, went to the loo (an actual loo; hurrah for no portable toilets) and met up with some of the club while my dad headed off to a spot to spectate.

I chatted away to my friend, Sarah, on the start-line and realised I was thirsty already. She kindly gave me some of her water. And then we were off. My intentions were to use this simply as a long training run, aiming for a pace between 8-8.30min/miles. I knew the course was hilly so wasn’t going to stress if my pace edged closer to 9min/miles.

The first mile was pretty standard. I got into a nice groove and overtook a number of people. It was chip-timed but tricky to work out where to stand at the start so after a fair amount of overtaking I found a nice spot of people running a similar pace to me. The first mile is downhill so it was all very comfortable and la-di-dah.

(Photo credit: Alan DenmeadPhotos)

I saw my dad and he gave me a quiet “hello” which was slightly underwhelming, but given that the race was sparsely spectated and in the middle of some lovely, idyllic country roads on a Sunday morning I’m fairly glad he didn’t go mad with the cheering.

My dad actually made a GIF of me running – how cool is that?? I find GIF’s quite mesmerising…

Mile two hit and I was feeling HOT. There was limited shade and the sun was beating down hard. Urgh this was going to be a long old slog.

I managed to slowly crawl my way past a few people and tick along, but inside my head I was in my own personal hell. My face was hot, my quads were burning from the hills (not the sun thankfully) and I remember distinctly thinking “my legs never felt like this during the marathon”. And then later thought, as the sun seemed to sap every happy thought I’d ever had, “this is worse than the marathon”. I heard one girl really struggling saying to her friend, “I can run 10 miles no problem, just not in this temperature”. There were no happy vibes around.

My dad said even he noticed that the race felt very flat and people looked dejected. The heat was just making the race such hard work. The hills were relentless but that was to be expected. Downhills still sucked because of the sun. There were only three water stations which ordinarily in a 10 mile race wouldn’t be that bad, but in that temperature it wasn’t enough. Sensibly I stopped, literally stopped, at the water stations to drink a full cup of water and then take another to dump on my head. It revitalised me for a moment until I was hot and dry again.

I managed to get through the race by counting up the miles to mile five, and then counting back down again. The course goes out and comes back (albeit a different route) so you know when you’re heading back, which helped. I stared in wonder at a man running in a cotton t-shirt. Poor guy. Side note: I also saw a woman with four gels attached to her belt. Do you need four gels for a 10 mile race? I can sort of understand one if you really think you need it, but FOUR?

Not sure how I’m smiling…and the photographer was handily just after the water station, just after I’d poured water all over myself! (Photo credit: Alan DenmeadPhotos)

I didn’t push the pace, not that I could have done if I’d have tried! I felt comfortable with the pace but in terms of motivation and general happiness I was struggling. The last mile was horrendous. It was like someone had popped my balloon and I was slowly deflating. My legs were like blocks, which is odd because I hadn’t suddenly got faster or anything. I’d maintained a similar effort. I felt like I was crawling to the finish and the final hill right at the end all but ruined me. Then there’s a glorious little downhill and round the corner to the end.

Another GIF; a bit shaky and tricky to see me!

So yeah it was pretty tough. I couldn’t have imagined trying to race it. I think had I run at home I would have run slower and I’m chuffed with the effort levels involved because of the hills but realistically this race felt awful. My time was 1:20:20, with an average pace of 8min/miles. So not too shabby at all.

Everyone I spoke to found the race just as hard. There was a feeling of Post Traumatic Race Disorder floating among us as we all agreed it was the hardest race for a long while. It was nice to have people to share my pain with as sometimes in a race you have a bad one because of your own pacing or training, but to have everyone agree was nice – though obviously I’m not pleased everyone suffered like I did!

Kudos to the Scouts who were earnestly filling up people’s cups left, right and centre afterwards as well. You can see one behind me (IN A JUMPER AND FULL TROUSERS) in this photo. Bless him.

My hair is lovely and slick back due to the water I threw over myself during the race and obviously the sweat. Nice

But despite it probably being ridiculous hard, I’m glad I went. It was nice to be on the ‘racing scene’ again with my club mates. It made for a more interesting long run and would have been jut as hot at home anyway.

Nothing like getting a medal for a training run after all!

How do you stay cool during summer?

Have you ever suffered from ‘Post Traumatic Race Disorder’?

What races do you use gels in?

April 14, 2016

How I trained for the Boston Marathon

One more day before I’m off to Boston with my mum! We get a taxi tomorrow morning and off we go. We’re both very excited. Before that though, I thought I’d do a post on how I trained for the Boston Marathon.

Like the Liverpool Marathon, I didn’t really follow a generic plan though I did use a few in combination to get a good idea of level of mileage and the long runs (how many, when, the build-up to them, etc.). In terms of running I decided to keep with running four times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday usually). My mid-week runs would be 4-6 miles, then parkrun on a Saturday and the long run on the Sunday.

When I initially started training I was keen to include regular hills and possibly some interval training in my schedule. Ha. That didn’t really happen long-term. I kept it up to begin with but then lost motivation.

The red highlight is where I had my niggle

This is probably because I was also juggling a lot of stuff at the gym. I was finding myself really enjoying my time strength training and lifting heavier weights (a lot heavier than I was during my Liverpool marathon training). This meant that my recovery was a lot tougher and if I went to the gym on Tuesday morning and worked on my glutes then that evening’s run would be really hard-work with heavy legs.

The gym

Of course I could have cut back my gym sessions or lifted less heavy weights, but the truth is I didn’t want to. The goal for Boston has never been to get a PB. Not every marathon for me has to have that aim. I enjoy them so much (when they don’t involve me getting injured…) that I don’t mind not getting a ‘fast’ time because the whole thing feels epic and an accomplishment anyway. (I don’t feel the same way about 10ks!). Plus it sort of takes the fun out of the entire process if I’m constantly worrying about speed sessions, hitting certain paces and goals. I much prefer to trundle through the training consistently, hitting the long runs feeling strong. And that’s what I’ve done.

So I usually went to the gym four times a week and generally split it shoulders/arms, glutes, legs and back with added running-specific exercises to keep injuries at bay for running (e.g. single leg work, balance and coordination focuses, plyometrics, core, etc.).

The running

Fortunately I only had one niggle-woe which disappeared after a week of rest. My foot randomly started causing me sharp pains during a planned 18 miler and so I cut it short to 12 miles. I then cut back my next long run to 13 miles. I was surprisingly sensible and didn’t panic. I’m almost certain the root cause was choosing an old pair of trainers to run in which disagreed with me. Other than that I haven’t had any issues (fingers crossed, *touches wood*, *does a rain dance*).

My build-up has been nice and gradual and my mileage around the level I like it (30 miles/week). My only slight concern is that I’ve only done one full 18 mile run that wasn’t broken up. Two of them I used half marathons and added on extra miles beforehand to get the mileage up. But it is what it is! I have two 17 milers which I’m really pleased with.

Food

This time around I was far more conscious of what I was eating. For Liverpool I’d refuel after long runs with afternoon teas, cakes and just general crap “because I’m training for a marathon”. This time around I focused on more balanced meals, especially post long-runs, and ate a lot more protein and fat. Especially with lifting weights I knew I needed to increase my protein. I didn’t want to lose muscle through running and I didn’t want to lose weight.

Steak with stir-fried veg and Brie

I haven’t had those nagging headaches I used to get after my long runs and I feel like my body recovered quicker. I didn’t stop treats or meals out though. As you’ve probably noticed I ate out a lot and ate a lot of ribs and more red meat. Life isn’t fun without the good stuff you love after all

So I’ve just got to survive Monday. The hills and predicted high temperatures are slightly concerning me but I have to keep reminding myself of my main goals: don’t get injured and enjoy it. I just have a few nightmares that this was my goal for Bournemouth and I was injured for six weeks afterwards… But I actually have proper paces planned that I’ll stick to (whichever goal I go for – likely to be 3:35 or 3:40) whereas for Bournemouth I just ran off like an idiot without any plans. I’ve also got 15 solid weeks of structured training behind me. Have faith, Anna.

Afterwards…

After the marathon it’ll all be about the crucial refuelling process. I’m thinking this is going to be a feat in itself. I’m almost certain I’ll have burned about 10,000000 calories during the race and so to that effect I’ll need to hunt out adequate spots of good food. This is likely to include some cake, probably some ribs, more than likely fro-yo and, purely for medicinal purposes, donuts. It’s going to be hard work but I’m hoping the US will help me out with this. After the marathon I only have four days so it’s going to be tough, but I’ll try my best

Do you strength train during marathon training?

How do you refuel after a big race?

How often do you like to run/train when training for a big race/event?

March 29, 2016

Easter Weekend

And just like that the four day Bank holiday Easter weekend is over… But it was a pretty good one!

I didn’t do that much on Friday as I was driving up to Cardiff to see some friends and also to do the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff on the Saturday (sounds way more exciting than just saying the Cardiff Half Marathon). From Southampton to Cardiff it’s about three hours and as one of my friends and her husband lives there I went and stayed over on the Friday night so it wouldn’t be as stressful getting up there in the morning.

It was really nice to see them and they cooked an amazing chicken chorizo meal that evening (I stole the recipe, a Hairy Biker’s one, and will be recreating!) They even got slices of cake from a bakery as pudding – now that is good hospitality!

The next morning I’d planned on getting up and doing the Cardiff parkrun in the morning as the half marathon didn’t actually start until 2.10pm (which I assume is so they could get optimum TV coverage). As I raced my last weekend’s half marathon I wasn’t intending on racing this one and wanted to try and get to around 18 miles for the day, though it would obviously be a bit disjointed as parkrun starts at 9am.

I went to Cardiff University so it was such a blast from the past to be back again. Though I have obviously been back since, just not for a while and usually just to visit my friends who live in the suburbs. I love the city and have such great memories so this was one of the main reasons I wanted to do the race (and the parkrun).

The parkrun is right next to a huge Tesco so they’d advised parking there, which was very handy as I knew exactly where that was. I got there just before 8.30am. I was meeting up with my friend, Matt (a good running friend who went to the MT running camp weekend). A few of my running club were doing the Half but most of them wouldn’t be up until later and Matt was happy to run a couple of miles before parkrun with me to get my mileage up.

One half of a running club couple, Mark, who had also stayed in Cardiff on the Friday night joined as well and ran down from the hotel (another marathoner in training) so it was nice to catch him too there.

Matt, Mark and me resplendent in red!

Matt and me ran 2.5 miles nice and easily and quite close to the parkrun starting time so there wasn’t much of a gap. The parkrun course was super flat and followed the Taf Trail. It was such a walk (or run!) down memory lane as I used to live in the student flats literally five minutes away and we’d often come down to the park. I wasn’t a runner back then so it was quite surreal.

I ran with Mark and we both decided to keep it easy… though this didn’t exactly work out that way as we were both enjoying the flatness and also both being too polite to the other person to slow down in case the other person didn’t want to.

(Photo credit: Danothy Bennett)

So in the end we went faster than we’d intended and tried not to worry what that would mean for the half later on!

The above splits include the 2.5 miles at the start (obviously). My parkrun time was 22:59. I’m really chuffed with the royal flush negative split for the entire run – not too shabby! (Though it was entirely unplanned).

Mark ran back to his hotel (hardcore), and Matt graciously invited me back to his hotel (wahay! Joke) so I could freshen up and get changed before the next run. I packed so much kit as I wasn’t sure what the weather would be like. I really didn’t want it to rain at parkrun and then for me to be soaked for the rest of the day. Luckily parkrun was lovely and pleasant and rain-free. I sensibly brought some warm trousers and a good coat to put on over my shorts and vest this time. We now had a long time to kill before 2.10pm!

After changing we walked into the centre of town (so handy for me to leave me car outside his hotel as it meant I could avoid ridiculously expensive car parks and could get home quickly at the end without getting stuck in traffic coming out – thanks Matt!).

The city was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming race. Runners were walking round everywhere, brandishing coffees and bananas looking at maps and carrying their race packs.

The sky was looking more and more ominous as the time ticked by. There had been weather warnings for Wales and the chance of rain was now almost guaranteed.

To fuel up, keep warm and pass the time, Matt and me headed to a Welsh cafe for breakfast, though really brunch at this point. My friends the night before had recommended this place to me the evening before saying they did great breakfasts and it was just slightly off the beaten trail down one of the boutiquey alleyways.

It was called Garlands Eatery and it was a lovely quaint cafe with beautiful, random decor (lots of old pictures all over the walls). We both saw the ‘Full Meaty’ English breakfast (Welsh breakfast I suppose!) and ordered that with some coffee and some added black pudding for me – I love the stuff!

It was about 10.30-11ish by the time we were eating and I thought this was pretty safe for such a big meal before a race. I’m too greedy to resist a Full English and it was a training run (these were the arguments I told myself as I tucked into that epic meal). It was, as you can imagine, delicious.

To pass some more time we had another coffee and just chilled out chatting. Then we left for a wander around and to help digestion!

We checked out the bag drop area and race centre which was packed already full of people and good atmosphere. Matt then indulged me by walking with me to my old psychology building where I used to go to lectures etc. Compared to the beautiful Hogwarts-style university building nearby, the psychology building is so ugly!

A 12-floor tower block of ugliness. But it brought back good memories nonetheless. At just after 1pm we headed to the bag drop again as the race drew closer. The race pack came with ponchos so we quickly put those on after de-robing. It was windy and chilly but nothing as bad as I’d felt in Weymouth the week before. The rain was just about holding off…for now.

This obviously required a poncho selfie I then met up with my running club mates who were equally attired in the latest look.

Hedge End Running Club (Photo credit: Andy Cockerell)

I’ll recap the race in full in another post as this will be far too long otherwise.

So skipping instead to Sunday… I had a terrible night sleep on the Saturday. I think the combination of the later than normal race, a Costa coffee late afternoon on the journey home, aching legs from a big mileage day and just general excitement and buzzy-ness from a good day meant I was a bit wired. I didn’t fall asleep until about 1am, and then woke up around 7am (though because of the clock changes it was actually 8am now). I was at my parent’s house so I did have the absolute bliss of laying in bed and watching stuff on my iPad for a couple of hours as Alfie could just go out in their back-garden with the other dogs so I had no reason to have to get up straight away.

I also had no long run as I’d done it the day before! I did want to have a 3 mile recovery run though to shake my legs out as they felt pretty terrible (especially after the three hour car journey home). I was a bit dubious to go for a run after such a hard day the day before but in the end it was the best thing I could have done.

The weather was sunny and the temperature cool, though it was still so gusty. Surprisingly my legs felt OK. I thought they’d be niggling and heavy but they felt good. I just ran comfortably and went with it, listening to the radio (Radio 1 had a requests show all weekend so there were some great and random songs being planned, not just the top 40). Then at around two miles it suddenly went really dark and the heavens opened up. A ridiculous amount of rain and hail descended upon me and I was literally drenched. This sped me up somewhat as I ran back to the warm and dry. My dad found it hilarious when he opened the door for me.

But I’m glad I got it done as my legs felt a lot better afterwards. I’ve never really been fully on-board with recovery runs as I always fear the pounding will only make things worse for me and my injury prone body…but actually it worked nicely.

A hot shower felt so good after that run!! After breakfast my parents gave me my Easter egg. I realise this makes me sound about 12 with that sentence but I’m doing my parents a favour in a few weeks and I jokingly said they could repay me with an expensive Easter egg… They thought it a great idea and who am I to disagree?? Especially when it’s a Hotel Chocolat THICK chocolate egg (£25!).

It’s a ridiculously thick egg (as you bloody well should expect for that price!). One half of the egg is packed full of cookie and puff rice pieces and the other half with caramel pieces. Inside the egg it’s full of different chocolates. Best. Egg. Ever.

The rest of the Easter break was full of a) lots more food with my family and enjoying some film-time and walks, b) lots more chocolate, and c) lots of chilling out and a bit of shopping! I did manage to get the gym on the Monday but it was heaving with people. Not a fun experience! Clarifying why I prefer to go so ridiculously early normally! Everyone clearly had some calories to burn

What did you do over the Easter weekend?

Did you get any Easter eggs?

Thoughts on recovery runs?

March 24, 2016

Weymouth Half Marathon

On most marathon training plans you usually have a half marathon where you try to push the pace to see where you are fitness and speed-wise. Though it’s always nice to drop the mileage down for a long run, you know it’s not going to be that easy because the effort is going to be so much harder than the normal long run.

Anyway, I’d chosen Weymouth Half Marathon to give it my best go as I’d heard really good things about it, we got a discount through my club and a couple of other guys were doing it too. We merrily signed up a while ago and then as we were organising getting there etc. we realised the start time was 8.30am. Coming from Southampton we were looking at around 1.5 hours to get there. Ooof. That meant a 5.30am alarm for me. Thankfully my parents agreed to look after Alfie so all I had to do was get up and get my stuff on. I wasn’t having breakfast (see last post’s mega meal) and I was being picked up so it was really very simple. Except ridiculously early.

Will (left), Mike (right) and me on our way (Photo credit: Mike Head)

Mike, Will and me got to Weymouth, with a pit-stop for a coffee, at 7.30am. It was cold and breezy. Parking was easy and nearby. I had my hoodie on but had chosen shorts for the occasion. I really need to invest in some long sport trousers to remove before races…

The sights of Weymouth, including the clock tower and some amazing sand sculptures

We headed straight to the race HQ which was thankfully indoors and warm. We used the proper toilets (hurrah) and then loitered for a bit before dropping our bags off. I had a race poncho with me to keep warm at the start and one gel. I left my phone and everything else in my bag. The race had a no headphones rule.

We lined up just next to the Jubilee Clock on the seafront about five minutes before the start and huddled a bit like penguins in the crowd. It was cold!! My poncho helped somewhat but I ditched it as the race started.

(Course map from JustRacingUK.com)

It was very crowded at the start. In fairness I should probably have started further forward but it was difficult to judge and also difficult to move forward without annoying people when you’re lining up pre-race. This caused the first mile to be quite tricky as Will and I spent a lot of time dodging through people and weaving in and out.

Will had a similar sub-1:40 goal so we naturally stuck together aiming for 7.30min/mile pace. Straight away it became clear this wasn’t going to happen because of the crowds and because of the headwind that was directly against us at this point. I didn’t worry too much though as I knew we were coming back the other way in a bit so it would even out. Plus there’s always time in a half to gain back time later on.

On the second mile we headed back and though we couldn’t feel the wind behind us (isn’t that always the way?) it was far easier to run than it had been. I had some initial worries of not being able to maintain the set pace with Will and wondering if I should just run an easy run. But as we got to the third mile I felt myself getting into things and my pace naturally quickened. I pulled slowly away from Will and hoped he didn’t mind but I knew I just had to go with the good feelings I had. It didn’t feel like I was exerting too much effort so just went with it. When the wind wasn’t against me I was running comfortably around 7.15s and then when it was behind me closer to 7s. I just went with it as I knew the wind would be against me soon (and my pace would be closer to 8 minutes). I decided to maintain the same effort and ignored my watch.

(Photo credit to Stephen and Helen Jones)

Previously I’d have dreaded a race that wouldn’t allow music, but now I actually find I quite enjoy it. I feel claustrophobic and a bit alone with headphones on – shut out from the external things of the race. I definitely think I need music when I do short sharp intervals on my own or if I really want to push a 5k but for longer stuff I think I do better listening to things around me and also my body. How funny how things have changed.

(Photo credit to Stephen and Helen Jones)

I concentrated on overtaking people in front of me, not quickly but slowly gaining on them. The course runs along the Jurassic Coastline, which is gives it fantastic beautiful views of the sea, the cliffs and the historic harbour. As there are a couple of out-and-back areas it helped break it into different segments. Though good mentally it was hard because at times the wind was fully against you, and then to the side and rarely behind you as you headed along the coastline to Portland. Though I knew there would be a blissful time at the end where the wind would be behind us as we made our way back after we got to Portland Castle.

At around seven miles, before the turnaround, I spotted the lead runners heading back. This gave me a boost as I realised we’d be heading back again and then it kind of feels like you’re almost done. There was a huge car traffic queue building up (the race was mostly on road and the major roads had been closed) and all the cars were suddenly honking and some drivers were even getting out and yelling at the marshals. It was quite amusing but obviously not fun for the marshals.

Finally after reaching the turnaround bit (in a not-so scenic random car park around a cone) we headed back, this time along some off-road section. This was tough going. The wind wasn’t so much fully against us but side-ways on us and the path was pebbly and tricky. It seemed to go on forever.

I’d been sort of running with a friend of one of the guys from the club, Adam, who was training for London. He said he was aiming for around 1:35 so at the beginning I knew to not go with him – I wasn’t in that sort of shape! But I caught him up around 5-6 miles – apparently his knee had been giving him a bit of grief earlier on but was now OK. He kept encouraging me on and as grateful as I was for that I just wanted to focus on my own race. I didn’t want to make conversation (I know this sounds quite rude); I just wanted to zone out. He drifted ahead for a bit and I zoned out again though it was nice to keep him in my vision.

Mile 11 was one of the worst miles. It was fully against the wind and we went through a section that felt like a wind tunnel. I wondered if I was just slowing and had gone too fast at the start but I kept pace with everyone else so knew it was the wind. At this point I knew I could hit a better time than expected if I could keep going at sub-8 minutes for the last few miles.

The last mile was absolute bliss. We swung back through Weymouth town centre and the wind was right on our backs. It felt glorious. I started overtaking people, Adam included, and got into the zone. The finish line is right on the seafront but the wind was behind so I was flying.

I finished in 1:36:35, 9th female, 108th overall (out of 939). Not a PB (just over two minutes from it) but my fastest half in a while and my third fastest half ever. For it being windy I’ll take that! I was never going to PB (I just know what shape I’m in) but aiming for sub 1:40 and getting that made my day!

At the finish line I collected my medal and they had an array of biscuits, sweets and chocolate, as well as protein bars and a whey protein drink. The water had run out and people were getting a bit annoyed as no one really wanted the luminous chalky liquid… I quickly headed to the bag drop and grabbed my bag before heading back and cheering on Will as he finished and snapping a great action shot photo.

Apparently his previous injury had flared up and he decided to take it a bit slower (sensible) so didn’t quite hit his target. He grabbed his bag and we waited for Mike. Mike was aiming for marathon pace which he achieved with flying colours (and more as I think he went faster than he expected!). So two out of three…finger’s crossed Will’s injury heals quickly as he has the Brighton marathon ahead (as does Mike).

And then we quickly became cold again so walked back to the car. I was glad to have brought a huge bottle of nuun water with me as I never did get any water at the end.

The car journey home was a bit longer on the way back due to the time but we were chuffed to have got a half marathon done and dusted before 10.30am. Normally halves are a bit later and with journey time you often find the day has run away by the time you get home. By this point however I was starving. I hadn’t needed my gel during the race and I hadn’t eaten since the ribs the night before (though to be fair, that was a HUGE meal). As soon as I got home I had the biggest lunch before even considering showering or sorting my stuff out. I had been banking on a post-race banana but sadly there weren’t any. I didn’t want to refuel on sugary crap so I hadn’t had anything at the end. But my lunch fully made up for it!

The medal is pretty cool and we were given a buff as well. I have so many buffs now! I definitely recommend the Weymouth Half as it was well-organised, the marshals were all really helpful, friendly and cheered you on and it was mostly flat (there are a couple of short sharp inclines though) and despite the wind I enjoyed it.

What do you like to be seen offered at the end of a race food-wise?

Do you wear buffs?

Do you like to run with other people during a hard race?

March 21, 2016

Happy birthday Netley and weekend recap

The start of the week is always sweeter when you know you have a chunky four day weekend on the horizon, am I right? Knowing I only have four days at work just puts me in a happy mood. I like my job, don’t get me wrong, but I like not being at my job more

Saturday started as most of my normal Saturdays do, at Netley Abbey parkrun. I walked Alfie before leaving and the weather was dry but chilly. I didn’t think it was that cold so went with my running skirt and long sleeved top. When I got to parkrun to help set up however it seemed far colder. Obviously I had a coat but I was suddenly really quite cold.

Setting up parkrun (Photo credit: Max Andrews)

As I had the Weymouth Half Marathon the next day I didn’t want to go too fast at parkrun. It’s always nice to turn up to a parkrun knowing you’re just going to ‘plod’ round. The pressure is off! Lots of people were volunteering and not running as there was the very popular Eastleigh 10k the next day too which is a local race for us that lots in our club and nearby clubs take part in. I’ve actually never done it despite it being so close by. It just didn’t fit in with marathon training and I hate 10ks…

It was Netley’s four year anniversary of setting up so there were a collection of awards given out during the race brief. I thought I was going to be third on the female points table but surprisingly I turned out to be second.

Apparently the maths had gone wrong somewhere and so it was wrong on the website. I was over the moon. What was nice was that the first place female and third place female were all lovely ladies from my running club so we were quite chuffed to all be on the podium.

Receiving my certificate (Photo credit: Max Andrews)

Anyway parkrun was good fun. I ran with my friends Mike and Matt. Mike was also doing the half the next day and Matt is just getting back into running after an extended time off. It’s always nice to see people back at it after a break – and enjoying it again

Matt (in green), Mike (in purple) and me (in black) (Photo credit: Max Andrews)

We went round at a nice conservative pace though I felt fairly pants running initially. But after two laps I perked up and decided to push the pace with Mike to the end. He went with me and we went back and forth overtaking each other before finishing – both knackered from the random bursts of speed.

Final stretch (Photo credit: Max Andrews)

I finished in 24:08 so not too shabby!

I enjoyed a nice hot drink in the cafe after helping clear down everything. I’d been looking forward to it the entire run – a lovely hot peppermint tea! Then I headed home to quickly freshen up, have breakfast then head to the gym. I’d skipped my usual gym visit on Friday morning as I’d felt tired after my evening seven miler on Thursday and for once I had nothing really planned for the afternoon apart from chores so thought I’d have a quick visit.

I quite enjoy going to the gym at the weekend (despite it being a bit more busy) as I’m less rushed and more awake. I did some assisted pull-ups (still working hard at them!), chest presses, single-arm rows, press-ups, lateral pull-downs, narrow cable rows and some kettle bell swings. A nice hour of upper body work (apart from the swings). I didn’t go too hard as I was conscious about the next day.

In the evening I met up with a fairly dedicated triathlete I’d chatted a lot with on Twitter. His family lives in Portsmouth and he was down from the Cotswolds for the weekend and apparently I go on a lot about ribs and Coast to Coast (do I…? ) and he wanted to see how good it was.

It’s funny because he’s read my blog (careful what I say here I guess…ha) so I felt a little at a disadvantage of him knowing more about me than me about him. Though it was also nice because he didn’t think I was a loon (or so he says) for photographing my dinner despite initially me saying I wouldn’t as I’d been there so often. But Coast to Coast had changed their menu! My favourite St. Louis ribs were gone and they just had regular baby back ones and the dishes were slightly different, which therefore justified more photos

I had my regular chicken wings to start (still good and fairly similar to before), baby back ribs for main with sweet potato fries (which, though smaller than the jumbo ones, were still pretty damn tasty), followed by millionaire’s waffle (a waffle with honeycomb ice cream, honeycomb chocolate balls and chocolate syrup).

When I ordered the pudding the waitress informed me that there were no honeycomb balls left. I jokingly said (well, I was sort of joking) what else could she put on top then and she said how about Oreo crumbles? Sounds good. Then five minutes later she came back to the table with a little bowl of honeycomb chocolate bowls and whispered they were from the bar and used in the milkshakes but I could have them. Amazing! Great service!

And happily I wasn’t the only one eating everything on my plate for the three courses (and he even had a thick shake!) Major kudos there All in all I lovely evening. Though I was stuffed.

I knew I wasn’t in a chance to get a PB for the half the next day so I wasn’t too worried about feeling so full of non-race ideal food. Though I did want a hard effort – ideally I was aiming for sub 1:40. I know I’m not in PB shape and that seemed like a realistic target, maintaining around 7.30min/miles. I’ve also done a lot of long runs having had a big meal (ribs included) the night before so I wasn’t stressed about it.

I’ll recap the race in another post, but all in all it was a great weekend.

How was your weekend?

Has a favourite restaurant of yours ever changed it’s menu for the better or worse?

How old is your local parkrun?