Coniston Marathon Training Boot Camp Weekend

Most people thought that I was going on an organised 'Boot Camp' weekend when I told them what I was up to this Easter weekend.

Nope. Just single minded madness to get some varied marathon training in the form of mountain biking round Coniston Lake (14 miles), running round Coniston Lake (14 miles) and then climbing Old Man Coniston (2,600ft).

As we had had snow, indeed my father was trapped for 14 hours in the snow up in Lanarkshire and had to be rescued by 3 JCBs, a mere few hours before we were due to pitch our tent in Torver my other half suggested we make alternative accommodation arrangements to be 'on the safe side'...

Our tent looked a little lonely and its porch a little muddy, the shell only leaked a bit and there was only a small torrent of rainwater flowing through the deserted campsite by the time we left on Easter Monday, what was all the fuss about?

Our bike ride round the lake was a scoping exercise to make sure we knew where we would be running the day after. Both days we got soaked but the sun did shine too, occasionally. Mountain climbing day we got all sorts of weather. The summit had lots of snow and it was fairly tough going after 2 hard days beforehand, but the views on the way up and at the top were well worth it.

Suddenly we could see what 14 miles looked like as we could see pretty much the whole of Coniston Lake.

The whole weekend was well worth it and I can't wait to go back when I'm not marathon training and enjoy a bit more of the Lake District's immense scenery.

Long distance Eve - 20 miles and still smiling like a Percy Pig

Amazing what you can do when everything just feels right.

Last night I consumed a healthy repast of grilled salmon, green lentils, new and sweet potatoes. Had a good sleep with a bit of a lie in. Popped a few ibuprofens to help knock the edge off my sciatica. Drank some Lucozade with carbohydrate and electrolytes and popped some into my Fuel Belt bottles for the long journey ahead. Now, here are the 2 other things that I think clinched the deal between my legs and the road on this my longest training run to date...

Sunshine + M&S Percy Pigs

Now I know tons of seasoned runners swear by Jelly Babies but by treating yourself to a Percy Pig every half an hour not only do you give yourself a little lift when you see his smiley face looking at you but you give yourself a competitive advantage of 5 calories and 2.3 grams of carbohydrates ahead of any babe made of jelly. I'll go for that! In addition there is no 'baby dust' to contend with so you can keep your running pouch clean. Bonus.

All these things together seemed to combine to make a good formula for my longest run ever - 3 hours and 13 minutes to do 20 miles.  Because I'm such a huge fan of the Ironbridge Half route I did that again and slapped another 7 on top of that, the last couple being uphill which I have come to learn is the quickest way for me to improve my performance overall.

I wasn't as shattered after this run as I thought I'd be and for the first time the feeling of utter dread and desperation about the marathon seemed to subside a little knowing that I'd only have to find enough juice to keep me going for another 6 on the big day...only...ha ha!

One month to go until Virgin Marathon Madness…

The calendar says 25th March. Panic! It is exactly one month until Marathon Day!

As Virgin Balloon Flights’ marathon representation I’ll be running the Shakespeare Marathon (Stratford upon Avon) in aid of Macmillan on 25th April 2010.

Our lovely call-centre staff have been mildly amused seeing me jog off enveloped in Lycra© for my lunch-time 5 milers, which luckily seem to be paying off as I survived my first half marathon at the weekend. Yay.

Just like Virgin’s very own Bob Fear who is running the Virgin London Marathon, also 25th April, for Virgin Unite along with Sir Richard Branson himself, I’m in the final 4 weeks of training hell. The difference being that Bob and Sir Richard will be amidst a whopping 36,000 runners and will be lucky enough to see the brand new 70ft Virgin Money hot air balloon that has been specially commissioned by Virgin Balloon Flights to support the event.

My Virgin Money Giving page has made fundraising a doddle and gives everyone a chance to learn what all this running is in aid of whilst this training blog, describes the ongoing agony. Virgin Balloon Flights will be supporting both myself and Bob Fear’s fundraising efforts by holding charity auctions for hot air balloon rides. Thanks VBF 

Ironbridge Half Marathon 21/03/2010

Wow, wow, wow! That’s all I can say… ...well not quite. If you are a relatively new runner don’t let the frequently published opinion that the Ironbridge Half Marathon is one of the toughest half marathons deter you from entering. If the weather conditions are on your side this is a truly inspiring course.  It is very well organised and timing is done by Sports Systems chips on your shoes so you know results are pretty accurate. Apparently this is a vast improvement on last year’s admin where chips were on race numbers and you got scanned at the end with a hand held device causing queues and wasted time. The race starts and finishes in Telford Town Park. It is a loop course that takes in some stunning scenery through Ironbridge Gorge. I found the toughest part of the race going up hill towards the famous iron bridge itself and over it, despite the rest of the race being a steady climb back to the finish line it’s a lovely route along the Silkin Way with plenty to feast your eyes upon on the way back. I felt a little tired around the 84 minute mark but spotted the mile markers and a giraffe (!) which kept me going. I think if I had started a little slower then I could have improved on my finish time of 1hr 58mins but for my first half marathon I was delighted with that time.  The sunshine helped a lot I think, especially as it was very unexpected as it had been tipping it down for the whole of the previous day. My lasting memories are coming through Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site itself with the hazy sunshine picking out the church and cottages on the embankments of the gorge, the spectacular bridge and somehow finding enough juice in my legs to sprint at the 200m mark desperate to ensure I came in under 2 hours. Funny as I can always remember my long distance runs around the track at school always seemed to finish with a 200m sprint at the end. Guess my legs have got a better memory than I thought J Here are the photos from the race.  Good show from my running club the Wrekin Road Runners as there were 19 of us, go Wrekin! Look forward to Ironbridge Half 2011!

One day to go until my first Half Marathon...

Well this is it, the longest race I've yet to enter is upon me.

I've clocked up 23 miles of training runs this week in my lovely new Mizuno Wave Inspire 6s which after trying 4 pairs of trainers on the gait analysis machine at Up and Running in Birmingham discovered were the best at correcting my over-pronation yet provided a nice amount of cushioning, plus they're lightweight too. The only snag is that they are half a size bigger than my normal shoe size and although all advice for selecting trainer size suggests that this is ideal, they still feel a bit big if you ask me. It's been bugging me but I'm sure it's just psychological and they will serve me well both for the half marathon in Ironbridge tomorrow and for the main event, the Shakespeare Marathon in Stratford on 25/04/2010.

It has been raining constantly almost for the last 24 hours so I'm pretty sure tomorrow's 13.1 miles is going to be wet, muddy and very messy. It's quite a hilly route too I hear, at the end! Great, something to look forward to on the way around the course. I'm planning on taking many painkillers beforehand, well, not too many obviously.

Ironbridge Gorge is stunning, the last time I was there I walked 11 miles around it and it is very beautiful. I'm hoping I'll be able to appreciate that tomorrow and not be suffering so much that I can't be bothered to notice.

Well, I'm about to go off and do a bit of carb loading, which similarly to Eddie Izzard's experience in Marathon Man, doesn't altogether agree with me...still need to get the energy from somewhere I guess.

Then an early night.

Speeding up

Really pleased I’ve managed to improve my speed on my last two training runs; shaved 2.5 mins of my regular lunchtime 5 miler and over 4 minutes off our 5.3 mile route at Wrekin Road Runners running  club on a Thursday evening.

 

I’m not hugely concerned about time for the Shakespeare Marathon but I have definitely noticed that speedwork does improve stamina.

 

Tomorrow I’m scheduled to run for 3 hours which is the longest I’ve ever run and will possibly be the longest training run for the marathon, I have gels and isotonic drink to see if they help, if so they’ll be part of my marathon supplies. Need to carb up a bit today and dose up on Ibuprofen from tonight to try to reduce the swelling around my sciatic nerve.

 

Going to try and do an even faster 5 miler this lunchtime, trouble is you can end up setting an ever increasingly harder target for yourself, which can lead to disappointment, and I don’t like that one little bit J

Second mortgage needed for sports strapping...

My brand new shiny Virgin Money Giving Marathon Sponsorship Page has just gone live, yay!

In doing so it very nicely reminded me by way of a nice little calendar icon thingy that I only have 45 more days to go until D-Day.

I’ve found a great 5 mile running route to do from my office during my lunch break but the return leg of it is all uphill which seriously had me worrying about my forthcoming half marathon in Ironbridge which I’ve heard is quite hilly. Amazing how out of practice I am with hill running considering all the running I used to do was along the South West Coast Path which is all hills/ cliffs.

My blisters really don’t seem to be going anywhere fast and I’m now spending a fortune on sports strapping and applying it on every run for fear of getting blisters upon blisters, again!

Surely this is not normal L