20 weeks before the WWH Mendip Muddle














Photos from Cornwall and a week long trip Billy and I took walking the coastal path in May. It was great and I got a couple of days in a throwing class from a master, Joanna Howell. Joanna is a great teacher and I finally have learned how to properly wedge and knead clay - and the secret to throwing with porcelain - use thick slip not water!!!

But now it is 20 weeks to the Phedippidations Half Marathon - so enough of the life of leisure, its time to get back to training. I've enjoyed this week putting my training plan back on buckeyeoutdoors and planning how to be stronger this year, so that I won't be injured in hill training, like I was last year.

I bought Liz's suggestion for the "Body Sculpting Bible" (and have been the victim of vicious teasing at home). Neera helping me to work out a lifting routine to do at work... I'm going to approach training differently this year. One day running alternated with one day lifting.

And the diet in the book looks reasonable too. I can have oatmeal and protein powder for breakfast, a big salad with tuna and lentils for lunch, and lean meats/fish and veg for dinner.
After 10 weeks on Nigel's 10 in 10 Challenge, I only lost two pounds... but the timing just wasn't right with holidays, travelling and the a really busy spell at work. Now that my goal race is in view, I really think that staying focused (and skipping the ice cream and sweets) will just make that spare tyre melt away. Well, that's the plan anyway.

2008 Flora London Marathon

04:51:27 was not quite the 4:45 I had targeted, still under 5 hrs, and I honestly feel like I gave it my all. Mary and Graham gave me the benefit of their experience at the Expo, but didn't tell me how hard it would be!

The marathon started out great above Greenwich, sunny and happy with kids lining the streets wanting us to touch their hands, bands playing - it felt like a Carnival. I wished I had made an effort with a costume, but not the heavy dog one guide dogs offered! I ran too fast and did not take walk breaks in this first section, it just felt so easy and fun. I realised I was way ahead of schedule and needed to make a bathroom stop - but the queue was horrible, so I lost any advantage. Then again, I really did not have much choice - it must have been the excitement and Lucozade I drank before the start, but fortunately that was my last bio break.

And I learned another marathon fact - the ambulance people who are holding out their hands, are not looking to shake yours - they have Vaseline on their hands! (for chaffing I guess). I inadvertently got a handful I had to try to get rid of - Yeach! And the first Lucozade stop was an unexpected experience - my shoes stuck to the ground!

Then the rain hit about mile 10 and the people lining the streets looked a bit grim, just trying to pick out their loved ones. I really felt sorry for the runners who didn't have a jacket! I saw one guy in a g-string with a chain around his neck that looked miserable! Fortunately, I had tied a light jumper around my waist - but I almost didn't (for fashion reasons!) because it was so nice at the start. I started walking through some of the water stops about this time, but I was surprised how few people were taking walk breaks. My frugal nature did not help me either - I really struggled to throw the bottle of water away after a few sips. So I carried one bottle through 3 water stops until I decided that was just a stupid waste of energy. But such a waste of all those plastic bottles!

I tried to text Billy to check where he was while I was running and I dropped the phone - ARG! People were remarkably nice as I took a dive for the phone in their path! After the sun came back out , I spotted my husband and daughter, which perked me up and they were able to open up the packets of shot blocks I carried that I couldn't open because my hands were too cold, and help me mix up Hammer "Sustained Energy" to avoid Lucozade. Shortly afterwards I had to give up on using my Garmin for pacing as the GPS signal was lost in the tall buildings of Canary Wharf, so I just ran on and on, not knowing how fast. Strange limbo feeling - I checked my pace on my Nike+ a couple of times, and it was about 11:00 or so, but I always struggle with calibration so I don't really trust it.

Then somewhere out in the endless Isle of Dogs the rain and hail came back. Putting on that wet jumper was not pleasant, but I wasn't as frozen as most of the runners in just little vests and shorts. The headwind wind and hail were brutal!

High points were the cheers across Tower Bridge which were deafening and coming up from the underpass under the Embankment was great, with the London Eye and Big Ben in view. I never felt like I "hit the wall", but those 2 last miles seemed to take forever. I really did not want to run anymore, but knew that the only way to stop was to finish, so I just put my head down and pushed ahead, but it was tough going, weaving through all the runners who were now walking.

I was so relieved to finish, but no one warned me how painful it is when you stop running!! I was so glad to see Billy when I got out of the secure area and he'd found a friend who offered us a ride home in their car. Bliss. I felt so sad for people who finished without anyone to greet them who had to struggle home on trains. I didn't have dry socks or a dry shirt in my bag (idiot!) but my down parka felt great.

It was great to be part of such a big event and the fanfare even if running a marathon was a lot harder than I had anticipated. I'll stick to nice fun half marathons in the future, and buy stock in ibuprofen. Never again, but I guess I said that about childbirth too.

I looked at my Garmin split times and they are junk, because of the poor reception, but the 5k splits from the chip times show the following pace 09:56, 12:16, 10:47, 10:35, 11:25, 11:22, 11:25 and 11:05. First too fast, then too slow with bio break, then slowing in the hail and rain and finally settling in to an 11 min pace for the end.

What an experience!

One week to go. (aarg!!)

Back in London after a glorious beach week in Marathon(!!?) Florida with the in-laws. A pretty lazy holiday - beach, pool, fishing, eating out, reading and messing about with laptops, with day trips to Key West and the Turtle Hospital. I can't imagine how people run during the day in Florida - it is so hot and humid... even fishing and diving seem strenuous. We did all our running before 8am!

It is hard to re-focus on the big day. I feel like a slacker cutting back on mileage as I taper.

I'm having some pain in my Achilles after runs so I've been icing and I taped down the heel tabs on my shoes. I hope it does not become a serious problem on race day.

But all in all, I feel like I'm ready! I've had great emails from Tory, Mary and John Ellis regarding race strategy and my plan now is to run my own race, ignoring the pacing groups and run a 10:40 pace on my Garmin. I'm going to try to skip the walk breaks which I've used in my long training runs, but may resort to using them if it gets really tough. I understand it snowed last weekend in London while we were away... I hope next weekend is not too cold, but that's better than too hot, I guess!

2 weeks to go till the marathon, 2 days before we leave for Florida.

I got in my last 11 miles along the canal, wondering if I'll ever do this again... never say never?
The dreary rain rolled in just as I got home, so my timing was good.

Starting to pack for Florida... shorts? swimsuit? sunscreen??? huh. Where is all that stuff?

The place Billy parents booked looks like heaven, "Tranquility Bay" near Marathon (!!) FL at the end of the Florida Keys. And we're stopping on the way south from Miami to buy me an early birthday present... a cool new Apple Air laptop. I'm so excited!

I need to make sure I don't gain 5 pounds next week, but othewise, I'm going to enjoy every minute.

Three Weeks to go
With an Easter storm promised I ran my 19.45 mile last long run on Thursday. But honestly, I feel like I could have kept on going... until I sat in the car and my legs started cramping up. Probably not a very safe drive home! 3 hr 40 min 11:17 ave pace, which included a stop at the Rickmansworth Sailing Club toilets. So now I'm in taper mode! Nelly kept me company and we managed to do most of the run before the rain hit, but Nelly was still a mess from puddles along the canal.

Ali and I ran a 10K race in the sleet and snow today (Saturday). It was ridiculous, really, we should have stayed home, but we feel pretty smug now that its over. Ali didn't wear the gloves or hat I gave her, so she really froze! Ali finished in 58:44 and I followed at 59:20. The winning woman, Liz Hartney ran in 37:38

Hmm.. a bit faster!

Nike + was useless!! I had the sensor in my trail shoes linked with the sensor, and only remembered to link it with my other shoes once we were waiting for the start. The receiver couldn't link to my shoes because there were too many other nike+ sensors about!!! So 6 miles I can't count in Nike+ challenges

Easter Sunday is a well deserved rest day! Bring on the chocolate!

One month to go...

I visited the Guide Dog training centre in Leaminton Spa last Friday and heard lots of heartwarming success stories about dogs that had changed people's lives. What a great cause.

The training is going much better than I had feared a month ago. I managed 17 miles last weekend, my longest ever (run a mile, walk a minute from Kings Langley to Denham and back to Maple Cross on the Grand Union Canal). Ali, my 21-yr old daughter, ran with me for the first 8 miles and then swapped out with Nick, my 23-yr old son, for the second 9. I really felt honoured that they wanted to support me. I limped around with new aches and pains early this week and only got back over a 5 mile run on Friday! But if I run 5 again today I'll be back to 35 miles for the week.

So this Sunday is only 10-12 miles before I press ahead for my max 20 mile run next weekend (three weeks before the FLM)..... Arg only a month to go! I've got new podcast episodes hoarded for the run tomorrow, so I'll brave it by myself.

My new Nike Pegasus feel great but I'm trying to wean myself from using them now so that the newness is not gone for the marathon. I've put in just over 100 miles on them now with no sign of blisters.

I started looking at the London Marathon course yesterday and thought I might try some long runs along the course - but it follows busy streets. There's no way I'll suck in all that exhaust and noise! I'll just have to keep running London parks, the Grand Union Canal and trails near home and wait for the Sunday they close the roads for the Marathon and be surprised.

The marathon seems to have taken over my life but maybe that's the same for everyone the first time.

Mothers Day Run - 6 weeks to go

OK I admit, I did have to offer to pay him £50, and he's a super-broke postgrad student, but think that Nick did enjoy our 16 mile run today. (UK Mother's day is not the same as USA). He did mention that most his friends just had to endure a long Sunday lunch....

Beautiful day running along the canal. Nick was not keen on the run/walk method and found it hard to get into the rhythm after walking a minute each mile. But he offered to run another training run if we could run it. I'll give it a try!

I brought him some AirAide back from the states on Marci's suggestion, as he suffers from allergies/asthma, and he thinks it helped, so THANKS Marci! With the FFT tape on my foot, the plantar fasciitis is not a really problem anymore, which is a huge relief!

A good start to the week, and I hope to get in a few more 6-8 mile long runs this week before moving up to an 18 mile target for next weekend's long run.