Once in a lifetime marathon experience?

On several occasions since crossing the much longed for finish line at the end of the Stratford Marathon I have overheard myself desperately bleating ‘never again’ to various congratulatory comments coming my way.

I’m not sure whether this is a firm decision as yet or just a plea to my well wishers to remind me next time I consider entering a marathon of the aftermath that ensued (not to mention the 2 months of tee-totalism beforehand!).

Running a marathon for the first time genuinely is a full-on assault to the body and mind. Fact.  If you are like me and have in your head the whole way round ‘must not walk, must not walk, must not walk’, it is even worse for the following 3 days as your legs constantly remind you that stairs, seats (particularly toilet seats!) and car seats are a huge no-no.  Certainly things dropped on the floor accidentally will need to stay there for a while or be cunningly lassoed with some implement.  Not to mention the disruption that the onslaught of a marathon does to your digestive system. After days of odd eating habits, nerves and various concoctions of pills it is no wonder that my poor tummy had trouble dealing with a nice sea bass with fennel, pak choi and crushed potatoes at the post marathon spa hotel in Stratford I’d booked to attempt to recover. It’s a serious first for me not to be in a position to even consider the sweet menu let alone have a go at one.

The Shakespeare Marathon is a very decent course. Obviously Stratford upon Avon town is stunning and it isn’t long before you are plodding around the greenery of the surrounding countryside. On this particular day it was very hot and sunny which possibly caught a few people out, especially on the 6 mile straight of the dusty Straford Greenway. Pretty soul destroying on the second lap when many of the spectators have disappeared for a coffee and a cake to ease the pain of their clapping hands.

The organisation of the race was good, with loads of friendly marshalls and pretty good water stations including sponges which on this hot day was soooo appreciated.  As were the kiddies in the street getting us with Super Soakers! The offer of Jelly Babies en route from local residents was also a soul lifter and saved me from running out of my stash of M&S Percy Pigs J

The hill in the middle was a bit of a killer for some, but as long as you’ve included some hill training in your regime then it’s really nothing to panic about, just enjoy the downward run if your knees will allow.

Take some relatives and friends along to surprise you en-route which spurs you on (or nearly makes you fall over in my case), and to pick you up at the end if you feel like collapsing, which my parents told me many runners did.

The medal upon completion of the 26.2 miles is a good one and will have pride of place amongst my other medals for as long as it takes me to forget the 4 months training regime required beforehand and the 3 days of pain afterwards.

Very pleased with 4hr 26mins for my first ever marathon – just wish I hadn’t had to queue for a porta loo at mile 3 then it may even have been a little quicker.

Only complaint…the 4.30am start to get there.

Congratulations to all runners who completed the Stratford Half and Full Marathons and also the Virgin London Marathon which was also on the same day J

Mighty Marathon Miles are upon Me

Well here it is, the night I have been dreading for 4 whole months...the night before my very first marathon. I feel more tired and thirsty than I've ever felt and haven't even got to the start line yet.

My Virgin Money Giving Macmillan sponsorship target has been reached thanks so many wonderful and generous friends and family. Thank you all for having enough faith in me to do this, your support will be foremost in my mind tomorrow morning when I'm finally taking part.

A marathon seems like such a daunting feat to most people but I'm hoping that it is one of those things that I will be able to do again. I've wanted to complete a marathon for almost 10 years now so I'm definitely going to make the most of tomorrow and enjoy it as much as I can. Whatever the outcome.

I'm expecting pain and exhaustion of course but I can only imagine what it must feel like to cross the finishing line of a marathon! Hopefully this time tomorrow I will know :-)

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeea Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

Marathon training becoming marathon reality

So!

I’ve done 5Ks, 10Ks, 7 milers, 9 milers, half marathons, 20 milers plus a boot camp weekend. I’ve run with water without water, with carbohydrates and electrolytes, with Percy Pigs without Jelly babies, with a water bottle and with a Fuel Belt instead. Run in three different pairs of trainers and umpteen combinations of outfits. Tried myriad pre, during and post training foodstuffs. I’ve run with little sleep and lots of sleep the night before, with paracetamol, ibuprofen and Immodium. I’ve run in sunshine, rain, snow, frost, wind and hail.

All of this I am hoping has given me enough Marathon Mentality (in more ways than one) to complete my very first marathon this coming Sunday 25^th April, the Shakespeare Marathon.

The next big challenge is going to be getting myself to the start line for 09:30, some 60 miles away from home, and fitting all of my pre-raceday knowledge into a different time frame. As I’ve mentioned before I’m really not a very good morning runner as my body hasn’t had chance to absorb enough nutrients or  liquids. I’m nervous about not having my own loo on hand. Plus the number of competitors is a lot more than I have experienced to date.

I’m running for Macmillan and so far my fundraising is going well but I am still yet to meet my target, fingers crossed I make it.

In addition, and old ankle/ foot injury has come back to haunt me and I have a niggly cough just one week shy of the marathon, nooooooo!

All of this let alone the logistics of getting two sets of parents to the venue as well!

Remind me again whose idea this was…

Virgin Balloon Flights Charity Auction

If you’ve ever fancied your chances as an airborne adventurer hot air balloon stylee then now is your chance.

Virgin Balloon Flights have generously donated a pair of their 7 Day Anytime Plus hot air balloon flight tickets for auction on eBay to support my charity marathon for Macmillan Cancer Support.

These tickets are valid for a year, can be booked to fly from over 100 launch sites throughout the UK and can be used weekday, weekend, sunrise or sunset so you can pick the best time and place to fly for you or your gift recipient.

Normally these tickets would sell for £396 so get your skates on, or should I say trainers, and get bidding to grab yourself a bargain for a really worthwhile cause.

All of the proceeds go to the charity and you will be helping me reach my £1,000 goal that I’ve pledged to try to raise for Macmillan.

Happy bidding!

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

Week 10 of Marathon Training 2010

Have just realised that I’m over half way into my marathon training and am now starting to get a bit tense about the whole thing.

Last thing I want to do is be unprepared so am now busy focussing on diet, apparel (finding a fuel belt that doesn’t rub for example) and mental motivation.  Having not eaten carbs, much, for 2 years it’s a miracle I can run at all to be honest so I’m now slowly re-introducing them as had an amazing run the other night having eaten rice for lunch and expect this has something to do with it. I hit a wall at an hour and a half at the weekend so am going to experiment with various energy products to see which work best for me.

The other thing I’m struggling with is morning running. I tend to do my long runs at the weekend in the morning but struggle so much more than if I go in the evening. I think it may be to do with hydration, or just that I can’t run on a full tummy so don’t tend to have breakfast before I set off.

So now a major concern I have is that my first ever marathon starts at 9am and I know I’m not going to be feeling good at all.

Still, have started running outdoors during my lunch breaks which helps with the sciatica which is aggravated by sitting at a desk all day and is much more enjoyable than my previous lunchtime treadmill slogs J

Caught the NoroVirus bug, yuk

As you might imagine, the effects that the NoroVirus has on ones training regime aren't exactly positive.

After a meal out with 14 friends last week my first thought was that I'd contracted food poisoning. However, given the umpteen kids in my village, two of whom dined with us, that seem to have contracted the NoroVirus, this unfortunately seems to be the most likely cause as to my downfall last week.

Initially my main concern was that I wouldn't be able to attend the two-day TFM&A conference that I'd been so looking forward to since the previous 2009 event at Earls Court, London. However, then it dawned on me that not only would I miss my regular session at Running Club but that this could seriously set me back on my marathon training if it went on for, say, a week.

Thankfully though, the debilitating phase of the illness only lasted a few days and despite only consuming small amounts of Lucozade and one bowl of homemade lentil soup in 4 days, I was still able to run a 10k in 56.5 minutes when I hit the gym for the first time since I caught the bug.  The weekend session wasn't too bad either with an out and back 9.1 miler on Saturday from Penkridge towards Wolverhampton in 1 hour and 27 minutes followed by a 5 miler around the gorgeous Sutton Park on the Sunday. Two weeks to go until the Ironbridge Half marathon.

My real problem this week has in fact been that my feet have got blisters upon blisters from, I think, my alledgedly pronation-correcting insoles in my Saucony trainers. I'm going to attempt to rectify this problem by buying some other insoles but we shall see.

Ennstone 7 Wrekin Road Runners' Race 14/02/2010

Ouch!

Firstly, I wasn't expecting the Wrekin Road Runners Ennstone 7 race to be preceded by a mile long dash to the start of the race (my fault as I arrived a little late and the car parks we full so ended up parking outside my office) and secondly I wasn't anticipating quite so many hills in the race.

Still, what better way to spend Valentine's Day than to spend it dashing around Telford Town Park in the lovely morning sunshine?

The Ennstone 7 race is a really well organised race with a clearly marked out route, excellent marshalling, a couple of water stations and best of all; a cup of Kathy's wonderful hot soup to look forward to at the end, plus a medal for all finishers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this race, probably as the sun was shining, there was a strong turnout of happy runners and the route itself is really quite pleasant. Something that you don't see on many races is a talking Stegosaurus, but this race takes you right past several talking dinosaurs in the children's area of the park. All of the route in on hard surface utilising the park paths and the start and finish of the race is a lap or so around a track, or bowl. There are several hills en route which are quite manageable but the one at the end is a bit of a killer, however, I managed not to walk it so it can't be that bad.

This was a good race to include in my marathon training schedule, although it did hit me half way round that it is only 9 weeks until my very first marathon, the Shakespeare Marathon at Stratford upon Avon on April 25th 2010. I know I have some serious training to do for that as I can really feel the Ennstone 7 in my legs today :-)

Thank you Wrekin Road Runners for putting on a great race, see you at training on Tuesdays/Thursdays.