After my final weeks of desperate attempts to lose the injuries (hence the lack of posts) I completed the London Marathon on 25/04/2010 in a time of 5 Hours 5 mins and 11 secs! The weeks leading up to the event consisted of mainly resting, cycling, the odd run but predominantly trying to be injury free for race day.
Whilst I wasn't injury free (I discovered at mile 2) I had a good race, thinking now I could've pushed the 2nd half a little but hey that's what a 2nd marathon is for. The 1st is to just finish, the 2nd is to finish to your true potential! I will give you a full heart felt race report in the next few days when I have got over the post marathon blues, missing running already but need to get well and repair until at least Monday. Body stopped aching but my feet are still sore, need a pedicure! and my weak spots in my body are slowly giving up.... but hey it was worth every ache, pain, tear, tantrum,belly ache,tiredness and god knows what else.
That will be it marathon wise for a year and a half as I don't want to start putting my husband through all this again within the next year, it did take over BOTH our lives so as a reward for his patience for the next 2 months I am a cyclist training for the Great Nottingham Bike Ride which is 50miles and something to train for together! Then its back onto half marathons for a year or so and possibly an Autumn marathon in 2011 (Dublin?)
I'll be back in a few days to give you the full scoop and my future plans including, barefoot running, cycling and hopefully a report on my first run 'back'
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Monday, 29 March 2010
Moving things up a gear
Sorry for neglecting my blog. Was away most of last week with work and then spent the rest of the week catching up with training.
Since my last entry it's been all go! I unfortunately had to pull out of my half marathon race due to transportation difficulties (I couldn't get there). All was not lost though despite the injury still niggling I couldn't afford to sit around so I set off for my first 16 mile run. The first 2 miles were quite painful but I started to loosen up and set off. My pace was and has been distinctly slower than before my injury but I am not sure whether that is a mental barrier or a physical one but I keep telling myself that running this distance is an achievement in itself and by running slow now and allowing for a good taper, I'm increasing my hopes for a sub 4:30 marathon.
The first half of last week was a write off due to being away for a conference and not being able to find more than an hour to myself so by Thursday I was raring to go so I set off for a lunchtime group 6 miler and comfortably ran this in under an hour. The the next morning I took on a warm 7 miler and clocked up another ok time. By Sunday, following a hectic day on Saturday involving walking a lot I felt ready to go out but my legs had other ideas.
I had a 17 miler in mind with a loop that would make it just over 18 miles and I have to say by mile 3 my legs were knackered and was only boosted temporarily after each energy gel. I literally felt like I had weights on my feet and with doing laps of a wood it would of been so easy to give up and head home at 13 miles. BUT I kept going, got lost (on a military firing range...oops) and had a number of dogs jump at me.... must be the socks and finally I got to mile 17. By now I was hating running and wondering what the hell I was doing ...... then came mile 18.... a mile from the house...dammit! I kept going for another 1/2 a mile and decided to call it a day, I probably could of done the 19 but I didn't want to over do it so I strolled home the rest of the route.
At one point I felt like Eddie Izzard as I turned into my road to find an ice cream van waiting.... it wasn't for me though :( SO what does one do after putting ones self through such torture..... torture some more of course! Cue ice bath..... they hurt like hell but the recovery rate is remarkable.... yes I still walk like Legoman the next day but by about 4 pm something changes and before you know it I have the ability to bend my knees again! I am now pretty much back to normal and each time i do it I feel my 'niggles' improving!
It's the last BIG training week and going to try to clock up about 40 miles. 6 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Thursday, 7 miles Friday, 2/3 on Saturday and then the big 20 miles on Monday then HURRAH, taper time!! Time to quit the booze, eat healthier and get my body mended..... its been emotional but I'm nearly there! It's hard to believe that 2 weeks ago my marathon hopes seemed to be fading fast....
Since my last entry it's been all go! I unfortunately had to pull out of my half marathon race due to transportation difficulties (I couldn't get there). All was not lost though despite the injury still niggling I couldn't afford to sit around so I set off for my first 16 mile run. The first 2 miles were quite painful but I started to loosen up and set off. My pace was and has been distinctly slower than before my injury but I am not sure whether that is a mental barrier or a physical one but I keep telling myself that running this distance is an achievement in itself and by running slow now and allowing for a good taper, I'm increasing my hopes for a sub 4:30 marathon.
The first half of last week was a write off due to being away for a conference and not being able to find more than an hour to myself so by Thursday I was raring to go so I set off for a lunchtime group 6 miler and comfortably ran this in under an hour. The the next morning I took on a warm 7 miler and clocked up another ok time. By Sunday, following a hectic day on Saturday involving walking a lot I felt ready to go out but my legs had other ideas.
I had a 17 miler in mind with a loop that would make it just over 18 miles and I have to say by mile 3 my legs were knackered and was only boosted temporarily after each energy gel. I literally felt like I had weights on my feet and with doing laps of a wood it would of been so easy to give up and head home at 13 miles. BUT I kept going, got lost (on a military firing range...oops) and had a number of dogs jump at me.... must be the socks and finally I got to mile 17. By now I was hating running and wondering what the hell I was doing ...... then came mile 18.... a mile from the house...dammit! I kept going for another 1/2 a mile and decided to call it a day, I probably could of done the 19 but I didn't want to over do it so I strolled home the rest of the route.
At one point I felt like Eddie Izzard as I turned into my road to find an ice cream van waiting.... it wasn't for me though :( SO what does one do after putting ones self through such torture..... torture some more of course! Cue ice bath..... they hurt like hell but the recovery rate is remarkable.... yes I still walk like Legoman the next day but by about 4 pm something changes and before you know it I have the ability to bend my knees again! I am now pretty much back to normal and each time i do it I feel my 'niggles' improving!
It's the last BIG training week and going to try to clock up about 40 miles. 6 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Thursday, 7 miles Friday, 2/3 on Saturday and then the big 20 miles on Monday then HURRAH, taper time!! Time to quit the booze, eat healthier and get my body mended..... its been emotional but I'm nearly there! It's hard to believe that 2 weeks ago my marathon hopes seemed to be fading fast....
Thursday, 18 March 2010
New socks and a new lease of life
After 6.5 days sitting on my arse, ants in my pants and feet twitching I was finally feeling well enough (with the help of ibuprofen and ibuprofen gel) for a short slow run.
The weather was lovely and warm so I dug out the shorts again and my new bright pink compression socks arrived so I obviously had to try those out too :). Well it was a good run, legs felt a bit like lead as I expected after a week out of training but I really felt the socks helping my various ailments and the support on the foot also felt amazing.... I have had to cut all my finger nails off of as getting the blasted things on requires a great deal of finger manoeuvres and is kind of like fitting a square block into a round hole....lol
I was getting a lot of admiring glances from fellow female runners..... Yup I am pretty cool!
Feeling good now, bit sore as expected! Rest (apart the climb up mount Lincoln for a spot of boozing) tomorrow, 3 maybe 4 miles on Saturday morning then Half marathon day on Sunday! Hopefully I'll be more like a gazelle than a giraffe which is how I feel right now but hopefully the cold will of gone and the legs even better :)
The weather was lovely and warm so I dug out the shorts again and my new bright pink compression socks arrived so I obviously had to try those out too :). Well it was a good run, legs felt a bit like lead as I expected after a week out of training but I really felt the socks helping my various ailments and the support on the foot also felt amazing.... I have had to cut all my finger nails off of as getting the blasted things on requires a great deal of finger manoeuvres and is kind of like fitting a square block into a round hole....lol
I was getting a lot of admiring glances from fellow female runners..... Yup I am pretty cool!
Feeling good now, bit sore as expected! Rest (apart the climb up mount Lincoln for a spot of boozing) tomorrow, 3 maybe 4 miles on Saturday morning then Half marathon day on Sunday! Hopefully I'll be more like a gazelle than a giraffe which is how I feel right now but hopefully the cold will of gone and the legs even better :)
My new socks..... HAPPY TIMES!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)