Sunday 27 March 2011

OMG - three weeks to go!

Last week was a slight disaster from the training perspective.  Sunday I did a long run in Oxleas/Eltham Woods.   I set off at too fast a pace, which was absolutely great for the first 80 minutes, but so so hard after that.  I thought I would test myself to see what it would feel like, and it definitely proved to me that the first half was considerably easier than the second!   I completed 3 hours in the woods with the same two hydration stops but it was considerably tougher than the 3.5 hours the week before.  I felt totally whacked the rest of the day.

Tuesday saw me with a perfect storm of final deadlines at work and at the same time I had to contend with a funny tummy bug which was making me feel dreadful.  I cycled into work that day, though I had no energy whatsoever.  Wednesday and Thursday I felt ill and did no training at all.  By Friday I was feeling a little better again though not enough to take my bike into work.  I tried a short (20 minute) slow run around Greenwich Park in the afternoon and it was just the toughest thing going.  My pulse just seemed to rocket with minimal exertion.  Saturday was not a great deal better, so I focused on strengthening exercises.

Sunday, however, I was feeling great.  After a gentle warm up around the playing fields at Eltham, I did three loops around an hour long circuit through the woods from Eltham Park to the tip of Woolwich Common and back, with the run up Shooters Hill in the middle of the circuit rather than at the end.  I tested a lucozade and 'Swedish Fish' (sugary gel like sweets) two-stop refueling strategy.  It worked well, and there even felt to be enough energy left inside me at the end to tempt me to do another circuit!  But I resisted.  The other big step was that it was all without an ipod!  Yes, for the whole three hours fifteen minutes I had to make up my own songs...  And I am pleased to say that the knees felt strong all the way.

So now it is officially time to taper.  On the one hand it is a relief to hit this stage.  On the other, I am going to miss pushing myself quite so much.  Well at least for the next 20 days anyway....!

Sunday 13 March 2011

42 by 42?

On Saturday I didn't run at all.  Mr Matty Fixit, however, did some bike repairs and a bike service for Sarah and John.  I did escape to the gym for about an hour and a half, doing strengthening work including single leg squats whilst balancing on one of those wobble ball things - not an easy exercise to do.  My knees felt a little uncomfortable after that but the legs overall felt like they had had a good workout.  It was a largish night on Saturday night (the Meantime beer was of course pain-relief for the knees!) and so I had decided to push myself for my big run on the Sunday.

It was a fabulous run around Oxleas Woods and Eltham Woods, following the forest trails through the mud.  To be fair it was a bit slippery!!  My loops around the woods were around 45 mins or thereabouts, so after four loops, hey presto, 2 hours and 50 minutes run in the bag.  Difficult to know the total distance as it was all in and out of trees, but I think even in such terrain I should be able to maintain around seven miles in an hour, which would put the distance at around 19-20 miles.  The hardest part was at 2 hours 20 minutes in, when I suddenly felt devilishly hungry and low blood sugared... was that the wall?  For me this was a terrific milestone, particularly given that at the start of the year I was only able to run for 20 minutes and only then in short intervals of 1:30 minutes running, 30seconds walking.

Monday was a rest day, though my legs felt great and if I didn't know them better, I would have said they would have liked a short trot - but they had to make do with cycling instead.  I ran out of time to do anything other than a few stretches on Tuesday.

So with two rest days, there was nothing else for it, I had to do my 6:30 am run again this week.  An hour of running including 10 sprints up the steps to the top of one-tree hill.  It's a great view of London from up there!  Thursday morning felt like a harder wake up a call.  I had to literally drag myself up to the park, but once there, I soon got into the flow and did another hour with plenty of fartlecking, including one minute sprints along a parade of trees repeated fifteen times.  On Friday afternoon I completed another hour of running involving a mixture of hill work and circuits on the flat.  Including the cycling to work and back on four of the days, I felt happy with the training and the body is still feeling pretty good.  Two people commented at different times that they thought I had lost weight and another person thought I would be a good look-a-likey for Vladimir Putin...

Apart from a big session on the wobble ball, Saturday was a rest day and a beer free evening.  I planned to test the theory (ok, Charlotte's theory) that the 2:20 wall was a product of the beer the night before.  After a large bowl of porridge and plenty of fluids, I was back off up to Shooters Hill to run around Oxleas Wood and Eltham Woods.  I used a two stop strategy this time; pausing briefly to take on fluids, a few dried apricots and a penguin at each stop.  Despite the rain, it was actually quite warm and I managed to run for 3 hours 30 minutes.  Again I am unsure of the total distance, but it could have been 23/24 miles, or possibly more given the time taken and that the pace felt fairly good all the way.  No wall this time at 2:20, so plenty of porridge in the morning and no beer the night before must be the answer -- or was it the penguin?

Which brings me back to the original question - yes, it is feeling more likely!  I am very much looking forward to the 17th April.

Thursday 3 March 2011

Happy Juice

My biggest shock this week was when I took a sneaky peak at the sponsorship forms in the office.  More than half the office had already sponsored me!  I counted £521 from just the forms I could see.  I was really taken aback.  So if any you have made it to my blog -- thank you, it is very much appreciated.   More than anything it means the Golden Bond amount is feeling reachable, which is making me enjoy this run-up to the London Marathon all the more enjoyable.  It is of course helped by doing heaps of training and just feeling great on all the extra endorphins!

Monday was a rest day, though got caught up in a race on the ride home...  Tuesday, I ran out of time to go for a run so I did some strengthening work instead.  Wednesday and this morning have been 6:30am starts in the park before the cycle to work.  Strangely the park is already quite busy at that time with joggers and dog walkers all focused on performing their morning rituals.  I ran for an hour on the Wednesday (around 8 miles) and did around 45 minutes of fartlecking this morning (around 6 miles of sprinting/jogging).  No rain, hurrah, but it has been a bit on the chilly side!

I need to plan a large run for Saturday/Sunday -- more than anything I need to break in the spare 'none-punctured' set of trainers.