After running the London Marathon in 2010 I continue my pursuit for sporting greatness without the aid of running shoes. I now run 'Barefoot' full time and aim to run the London Marathon 2012 'bare'

My blog is an account of training for running, triathlon, staying fit for life and pushing my body to it's limits to become 'superfit'. I hope it will inspire others to go out and get fit for life and see how enjoyable and rewarding it can be

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Good but not great

So since my last post I have been training a decent amount but not enough to see an improvement on my half marathon time so I really am turning it up this week but rather than focusing on mileage I'll be concentrating on speed work and some hill training (BOO). I have also been squeezing in 3/4 core workouts a week, I was doing a variety of crunches but have decided to switch back to Pilate's for my core work as it's relaxing and far more enjoyable! I will have a serious abs for bikini time!

So as part of my lead up to the Half marathon I scheduled a 10k race into my schedule which I did on Sunday. This was my first 10k in 4 years and although I am older I had high hopes for this one. I was aiming for sub 55mins but hoping for around the 53 minutes but I was possibly too ambitious with my target times. As the temperatures soared and the wind was bloody strong I should of factored how that would impact on my running.

After a mile stroll to the start I was fully hydrated (I checked my wee and everything) had eaten a small breakfast and was raring to go, I was so nervous for this race, probably because I felt I had so much to prove to myself and as I set out I was feeling good. It turned out it was full of proper runners and at one point I felt like everyone had overtaken me, after a quick glimpse behind I still had a good load of people behind me so I was adamant I was going to stick to my race plan.

The plan was to run between 8.30/9 min miles for the 1st 4 miles and aim for sub 8.30 in the closing stages and the first mile was looking good and the heat started to get to everyone, I was overtaking a lot as they had set out too fast or had realised the extent of the heat and wind. I spent the next mile still comfortably running my race and noticed people were overtaking me again, I had slowed down. By now I was seriously needing water, I had a stitch at 2.5 miles just as the big hill loomed. I knew I could tackle the hill, it was a bit harsh but doable without walking..... halfway up it the headwind was determined to push me back down, I started to overtake again and raced to the top knowing there was a water station at the top and there it was, a glowing beacon, my saviour in the extreme conditions. I reached for my cup and slowed down to saviour the cool liquid.... all 1 inch of it...WHAT... I wanted to run back and get more water, I'd been robbed of my water :(

Despite this disappointment I soldiered on, thank god for the down hill... by mile four and after a ridiculously small cup of water again I was struggling, I knew it was from lack of water and got angry that the race hadn't provided for me sufficiently. Mile 5 was a slog, I was playing cat and mouse with a runner until we got to the 6th mile when I went for the final push and left her eating my dust....HA!. I could see how much I had slowed in those miles and pushed myself to the max but with dehydration looming I knew it was nigh on impossible to get my time. SO I got 55:31 which to me was disappointing, I know I could of done better but such as life, it was very tough conditions and with a decent amount of water I would of done better and lest we forget this was my first barefoot race!!

SO after that disappointment I was quite poorly the rest of the day and all day Monday but about 5 litres of water I seemed to snap out of it...

So today I set out again and made some adjustments to my running gait after reading some advice, I wasn't really looking at times but got a good time and a big improvement from previous runs in the past month or so I will probably keep working at that for a few weeks.  Other than that I have a 12 miler planned this weekend, and alot of core work over the next few months. Determined to get that sub 50 minutes by the end of the year!!!

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