26 miles 385 yards in 3 hours 59 minutes and 19 seconds

So I did it, I achieved what I set out to do and finished my marathon in 3 hours 59 minutes and 19 seconds. Up until just after the 24 mile point I was doing well, running 9 minute miles and on course for to finish in about 3 hours 49, then the pain in my thighs outweighed my desire to continue running so I walked for a bit and then ran for a bit and then walked for a bit for about a mile and a half before running in the last half mile. I was worried that I was going to be over four hours and then I saw the finish and looked at my watch, I had a minute and a half to cover about 400 metres. I managed to find some energy from somewhere and put on a turn of speed and came in with 41 seconds to spare. I was dead afterwards, I felt emotional and punch-drunk.

In the week leading up to the marathon I had run three gentle 5km so that my legs would be warmed up for the big day and I think that was the right thing to do. I was convinced that I wouldn’t hit ‘the wall’ and in the end I’m not sure that I did, rather there came a point where the pain in my legs was unbearable and I had to walk. I am slightly disappointed about that but I can now say that I completed a marathon in under four hours. A damned fine achievement!

Last night I went for a gentle 5km recovery run and I’m going to try and get a sports massage in the next couple of days.

Well that’s it now, not that many people have read it but it’s a nice record of how I got from my first 10km of the year on the 2nd of Feb to running a marathon on the 8th of May. I think I’ll wait at least until next year before doing my next one…Paris perhaps?

03.0532011

On Saturday I ran 10.3km in 49:35 which is ok considering the route I took involves crossing a number of roads and therefore slowed me down a bit. I decided not to have another long run before the Marathon so I may do 11km tonight and then 5km on alternate days until Sunday when it's M day. A lot of the advice seems to suggest that virtually no running should be done the week of the marathon, however I think that a few gentle 5km to keep the leg muscles warm is definitely the way forward, so I won't time anything but I'll feel better about Sunday if I do them.

April's running stats were as follows:

Training sessions: 18
Total Km run: 214.2
Abington Park Km: 17.5
Racecourse Km: 136.3
Willen Lake Km: 37.5
London Km: 9
Gym Km: 14
Calories burnt: 15907
Longest run 34.1 km

I'm quite pleased with April's performance, it was important that I reigned myself in a bit after pushing it a bit far in March.

Interestingly it turns out that my long run of 33km was actually 34km following the remeasurement of the course this means I actually ran 21 miles which is obviously even better as I would only have had another 4 and a bit to run a complete marathon!

I seriously can't wait for Sunday now!

28.04.2011

In the end I had another day off on Monday rather than run 8.2km, in an effort to taper the training down over the next two weeks. On Tuesday I ran around Willen Lake with a colleague again, 12.5km in 1:01:25 which felt nice and steady and I didn’t have any niggles afterwards which is a good sign. The pain in my hips has gone which I’m pleased about as that was worrying me slightly.

This evening I ran a nice and easy 8.2km in 38:15 and I feel fine now, I think maybe 11km tomorrow then 5km on Saturday before 20ish on Sunday as my last run of any distance. The following week, Monday to Saturday, no more than 20km and definitely a 5km the day before the race as that has always formed part of my pre-race preparations in the past and has always served me well in the past.

25.04.2011

It was with some trepidation that I went out on Tuesday evening for a 12.5km jog with a colleague, I was worried about my calf and had already said that I probably wouldn’t run any faster than I had done the week before. In the end there was no pain at all and no tight feeling either, although I certainly didn’t open the taps as I would have liked to we still finished in 1:00:25. So thirty seconds faster than last time.

On Wednesday I thought a shorter run was in order so I did two laps of the Racecourse Park, 8.2km, in 38:47 which is ok. I wasn’t in any specific pain the next day but there was the faintest hint of a twinge in the calf again. I then had two days off before an un-timed 5km on Saturday morning and then a gentle 17.2km yesterday in 1:26:07 which is bang on 5 minutes per km. For some reason I have developed pain in my hips which I haven’t had for ages. I’m planning a gentle 8.2km today and then tomorrow it’s 12.5km with a colleague from work again. It’s really close to M day now and I’m beginning to get a little nervous about it.

19/04/2011

I haven’t written for a little while for no reason other than I’ve been quite busy with work.

I am slightly worried about a tightness that I’ve been experiencing in my left calf, during my most recent run it felt like it was about to go into cramp. There is no real pain just the tightness and once during the run it twinged. I had the next day off and it feels fine today so we’ll see how tonight’s 12.5km with a colleague goes. I wonder if I’ve been overtraining? In February I ran 147km whereas in March I ran 236km, was this too much of a jump? I’m not sure, I certainly can’t afford to get injured now, it will be curtains for a decent marathon time if I do. So I think I’ll take it easy for the rest of this week and cut out the speedwork. I have read articles indicating that if overpronators like me wear the wrong shoes it can have this effect however, I’ve been wearing the ‘wrong’ shoes for the past 746km with no calf problems so I’m not too sure about this diagnosis.

In terms of running since the last post I have done the following:

Thursday 14/04/2011 – 14km 1:06:56
Sunday 17/04/2011 – 17km 1:23:46

14/04/2011

I went to the gym last night and did the usual 6km of intervals and then 1km of running increasingly fast followed by weights and Powerplate. I’ve had a tightness is my right calf for a few days and I’ve been trying some new stretches to try and loosen it up. This morning I’ve also had shooting pains in my left shin, not all the time and not brought about by a specific action but painful nonetheless. I hope it’s nothing serious, I imagine that it is the increase in mileage beginning to take its toll. I hardly ran at all in December or January and then in February I went straight up to 147km. March was another sizeable jump up to 237km and this month I’ve run 108km so far. I will have to take it easy after the marathon for a bit, although there is the Woburn 10km in June and then the MK half in July but I won’t need to do anywhere near the mileage that I’m doing at the moment for them. I’m also wondering if I might have recovered enough after the marathon to do the Canterbury half which is two weeks later. That might be asking a bit much of myself but then again…

Running is certainly addictive!

13/04/2011

I rechecked the length of my running routes on Monday using a more sophisticated online tool than I had used previously www.gmap-pedometer.com . Interestingly it suggested that the distance from my house to the Racecourse which I thought was 1km was actually 1.2km. Also the circumference of the park is, according to a sign in the park 2.9km however the actual distance of the my route is 3km so in theory I should add 500m to each run of that park. However to allow for measurement inaccuracies I have just added 200m to each one, it has obviously meant that I have a truer reflection of my pace which is encouraging as I’m quicker than I thought!

On Monday evening I ran 11.2km pretty quickly in 51:20 which went well and I could probably have gone a bit faster but I had arranged to run 12.5km the next day with a colleague and I didn’t want to be too tired. The next day I did indeed run around Willen Lake in Milton Keynes with a colleague and although the pace was a little slower than I would have run on my own, we finished in 1:00:55, it was nice to have someone to chat to whilst running and nice to run in some different surroundings.

I’m looking forward to intervals at the gym tonight!

11/04/2011

We had a splendid weekend in London and managed to get a little running in too, I awoke early on Saturday morning and as we were near Green Park and I just happened to have my running kit with me I thought an early morning jaunt was in order. In the end I ran through Green Park to Buck House and then twice around St James’s Park before running through Green Park again and then on to Hyde Park where I ran along the Serpentine over the bridge and then back along the other side of Green Park before turning for home. It turned out to be about 9km which was a lovely way to spend a hour on a sunny Saturday morning in London. I didn’t run particularly fast and I had to stop a few times to consult the map but it felt great and set me up for a splendid breakfast and an excellent weekend all round!

08/04/2011

Last night I went out with the intention of doing three laps of the Racecourse Park followed by two laps of Abington Park, a total of 16km, however by the time I had run the first lap of Abington Park I was tired and my legs hurt. I haven’t had a day off since the 20 miles on Sunday and I thought that discretion would be the better part of valour and I called it a day after 13.5km. I came in at 1:07:46 which is fine as I wasn’t going for a particularly quick time and having to cross the roads always slows me up a bit. I’m having a day off today, although I did do 40 press-ups this morning, off to London tonight and there’s a possibility of a little jaunt around Green Park and Hyde Park tomorrow morning which would be fun! Other than that a weekend of relaxation beckons which is definitely a good idea, then I can hit it hard next week.

07/04/2011

Yesterday I looked at the marathon training plan which has sat in my bag for the last three months, I had planned to follow it religiously but I never actually started using it. My plan was to run about 50km per week and to do progressively longer runs once a week. This I have done but I thought it might be an idea to see how many 20 mile runs the plan suggested, there was only one in the plan and it was to be done in the 11th week of training (out of 14). I’m now only in the 9th week, so I’ve done it two weeks early. I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing. I’ll have to make sure that I get a couple more longish runs in including at least one half-marathon aiming for 1h50. That shouldn’t be a problem and I know that I do enough speed work over the week with every 10km now being under 50 minutes and the intervals at the gym. All in all the training has gone well, I hope I’ve done enough. As I’ve said before the fact that I can run 20.5 miles must mean that my training has been effective as the furthest I had run before that was 15 miles and I had only ever done that twice.

Last night I thought a little 10km was in order so off I went with slightly protesting legs and I must admit that the first 2.5km lap was hard and I was worried it was slow. It wasn’t and I felt better after each lap, after a sprint finish I came home in 46:56 which was very pleasing and today no real aches. I think that tonight, if I get home in time, perhaps a 14km might be in order or possibly an 11km. The problem is that I’m rubbish at slowing down on the shorter distances, the training programme had plenty of ‘easy 6 mile’ run’s in it but if it’s 10km then I’m not going to be happy if it takes more than 50 minutes and actually now I’m annoyed if it’s over 47!

06/04/2011

I went for my planned 5km recovery run on Monday night which was fine but the next day I wondered whether I should not have had a day off instead. My thighs were aching more on Tuesday morning than they had been on Monday and my left calf also felt tight and sore. So with slight trepidation I went to the gym last night with a view to just having a little jog on the treadmill and then powerplate, however once I was on the treadmill and I had started my warm up I felt good so I did my normal 6km of intervals and then 1km of running progressively quicker. I followed this up with weights and then powerplate and today other than a little soreness in the knees and the left calf being a little tight I’m fine.

The 33km run on Sunday showed that I’m capable of running a marathon and that’s really important to me, to know that I can run the distance before I start. How much of that is in my head I’m not sure but there’s definitely something to be said for winning the mental battle with the race before it’s begun. Up until now I’ve done it by going out and running the distance in training, that was fine for 10k and half-marathon but clearly running a training marathon is not a good idea. However I know that I’m going to be ok, I think I’ll take some jelly beans or something to eat along the way to try and ward off the onset of ‘The Wall’. Having said that I’m convinced that a great part of ‘The Wall’ is mental. I was worried that I might hit it at 20 miles but I didn’t I was fine so now I’m confident that as long as I eat peanut butter toast for breakfast I’ll be fine!

04/04/11

I’m aching a wee bit today as I did manage 33km or 20.5 miles yesterday afternoon! It took me 3:03:20 which is bang on for a sub four hour marathon, so naturally I’m really pleased. I was pretty tired at the end but I’m sure I could have pushed on for the final five and a half miles in an actual race. Needless to say that is the longest run I’ve ever done and coincidentally is almost exactly the distance from my house to work. Today my thighs hurt and so does my left knee but I’m really not in too bad a shape considering the strain I put my body through yesterday.

In a bid to prepare spent most of Saturday eating and had two rounds of toast with peanut butter for breakfast on Sunday morning. That all seemed to work so I think Sarah’s amazing mushroom risotto will be providing the necessary calories the day before the marathon.

I was planning to send the emails to everyone asking them for money yesterday but by the time I had got back from running, showered etc and then made a huge pot of curry it was too late and I was too tired. I’ll try and do it at some point this week, after all it is now only 34 days until ‘M’ day!

I think a recovery run is in order tonight and then definitely the gym tomorrow with a double powerplate session.

01/04/2011

It’s a mark of how far I’ve come that last night I was slightly disappointed that I ran 10km in 47:08! I think I’d have gone a bit faster if there hadn’t been any wind. I’ve found out that the Woburn Abbey 10k, scene of my PB, has been moved to June from October so I think I’ll target that as an opportunity to beat 44:41. I felt good after the run and although I do ache a bit today I’m getting used to it now.

I have now been training for two months and last months stats look like this:

Training sessions: 22
Total Km run: 236
Abington Park Km: 104.5
Racecourse Km: 77.8
Gym Km: 38.7
Races: Knowle Park 10km (47:05)
Calories burnt: 18772
Longest run: 25.2 km

Overall I upped the mileage quite a lot last month in comparison to the one before, (147km in Feb) and I feel good.

I’m having a complete day off today, not even the weights and press ups in the morning, tomorrow I think a gentle 11km and then wait and see how far I can run on Sunday. I’m hoping to increase from last week’s 25.2km to 33 which is only another three laps of the park, easy! I’m going to give carb loading a try on Saturday night, a few baked potatoes and some roast chicken is the way forward I think.

31/03/2011

I went to the gym last night and ended up doing 6km of intervals and then 1.7km of running increasingly fast. This was followed by a few weights and the usual Powerplate, but I must say that I ache more than usual today particularly in the thighs. I wonder if it was the speed that did it? I’m planning a 10km tonight so I’ll see how that goes. I experimented with eating a much bigger lunch than usual yesterday and I definitely had more energy particularly during the parts of the interval training when I increase the incline. I still really haven’t got this nutrition thing down yet, I’m sure I should be eating more carbs and making sure that there is enough protein in my diet but it’s just an extra thing to worry about. I’ll see how this weekend’s long run goes on Sunday after carbing up the night before.

I think this is also the weekend where I’ll send out the emails on facebook to ask everyone for money. The marathon is only just over a month away so it’s probably time to start getting people to dig into their pockets. However I didn’t want to ask too early because I thought that people were more likely to give money for an event in the near future rather than one in a few months time. I am really hoping that I can persuade some of them at least to give the price of their usual drink at the pub. Then probably the week before I’ll ask the people at work, that will be odd as I don’t know that many of them that well but definitely worth a try.

30/03/11

As last night was the first evening that I could make use of the extra hour of daylight I thought that I would have a run around the Racecourse Park. I went off quite quickly and did four laps which with the km to and from the park is 14km in 1:07:55 which I was really pleased with. I ache a little today and my left knee is a bit sore but I’m sure a gym session tonight will sort that out. Only 39 days to go!

In other news it appears that there are a couple of people at work who run a bit and will be entering the Milton Keynes half marathon in July. Last year I was in the company team and we came second overall, this year with a better team we could win the team event. The winning team get £50 each in vouchers to spend in a running shop so that’s worth training hard for!

28/03/11

Saturday’s run turned out to be 25.2 km and it took me 2h19:45 which is the right pace for a sub four hour marathon and I didn’t feel absolutely exhausted at the end. However next time I don’t think I’ll be having a Chinese the night before! I could definitely have done with more carbs and less grease. That was the furthest I’ve ever run and I’ve only run that distance once before. The next day I was in a lot less pain than the last time which must mean that I’m fitter. I’m hoping to push it even further next weekend and go for 30-32 km but everyone seems to say that there is no need to run further than about 20 miles in training. I’m really looking forward to the marathon now!

The clocks went forward at the weekend which is great because it means I can start running around the Racecourse Park in the evenings again, that gives me more scope for varying the training runs a bit more.

26/03/11

I had a really excellent run on Wednesday night, I had planned a normal 10km hoping maybe expecting now to go under 50 minutes. The first lap felt ok but not hugely fast and it turned out that I ran it in 11 minutes 45, which spurred me on and I lengthened my stride and sped up on the flatter sections. I sprinted quite hard for the last 200m and was really pleased that I had kept the speed up over the four laps and had managed to get round in 46:36 which is a PB on that course. Allowing for the fact that the course is about 10.4km not 10km my 10km time would have been very near to my PB of 44:41. However I mustn’t get carried away as I’m not supposed to be improving my speed but my stamina, so we’ll see how Saturday’s long run goes. How long it will be I’m not too sure yet.

On Thursday night I was planning just to go for a gentle un-timed 5km round the other park that I normally only run around in the summer or in daylight. I had forgotten how annoying it is running there in the dark, there is a section under some trees where the roots have pushed up the path and I nearly tripped and fell a couple of times. I was also accosted by a chavette and her two male friends, for some reason she bent over in the middle of the path and was filming me between her legs. Odd, I thought, then she shouted, “Alright sexy!”, I decided that it would probably be sensible to ignore them in case some kind of ‘happy slap’ incident was in the offing so put on a turn of speed and left them standing there looking stupid. As I neared home I felt that I wanted to run for a bit longer so I did one lap of the usual park but in the other direction. It was very odd running that way round, especially seeing the landmarks in from the other direction and I was momentarily confused as to where I was at a couple of points.

I have discovered that there film of me running in the Knowle Park 10km from a couple of weeks ago. It’s at the following address: http://www.7oaks.info/sevenoaks-rotary-10k/race-summary-2011.shtml towards the bottom of the page, I appear at about 2 minutes 13 and then again at about 4 minutes 7.

23/03/11

I went to the gym last night and did 6km of intervals followed by a progressively quicker 1km then Powerplate and some weights. My right knee felt a bit weird afterwards, a little bit of pain and a little bit crunchy. It’s better today but I do get worried when I have new pain that isn’t just muscle ache. I’m worried that I might get injured before the marathon which scarily is in only 46 days time!

22/03/11

I had an odd run last night, I went out with the intention of doing 13km at just under 50 minute 10km pace. 13km is five laps of the park so that’s roughly 12 minutes 30 per lap, after the first lap I was about 25 seconds off pace which annoyed me as I felt that I was going quite quickly. The second lap was 35 seconds off pace even though I was sure that I had pushed on and run faster, after the third lap I had gained 10 seconds but was still down. So I opened the taps a bit and strode out a bit more and by the end of the fourth lap I was about 10 seconds up, during the fifth lap I really went for it and pushed even harder and when I checked my watch at the end I was a 47 seconds up and had finished in 01:01:42 which is a PB! I was buzzing when I got home and felt like I could have gone out and run the same again.

I feel ok this morning if a little stiff and I’m going to the gym tonight for intervals and Powerplate which should help.

21/03/11

I went to the gym on Wednesday and did 6km of intervals and then an extra 1km of running progressively quickly, followed by a few weights. It seems to have taken longer than it did last year for the new year’s resolution people to stop coming but things seem to be more back to normal now. I didn’t have to wait too long to get on a treadmill and there were definitely fewer confused people wandering about.

On Thursday night I had a decent 10km run which took 49:21 which I wasn’t too unhappy with. I felt good most of the way round and at the end. I also noticed that I am burning off less calories to run the same distance, obviously this has in part to do with the fact that it is taking less time but also I think because I am getting fitter.

Friday was a interesting run, I had arrived at work at 06:30 so that I could leave early and I managed 19.6km in 1h:48:40 which equates to a marathon time of 3h:54. If I managed that I would be over the moon as apart from actually finishing, the sub four hour target is the biggest one. The other important part of that run was that I managed to keep my heart rate below 150 for the entire thing, that’s important because it means that I can continue running for longer before getting tired. I’m going to have a go at doing 25km this Saturday and see how that goes, again trying to keep the speed down and the heart rate below 150.

Tonight the plan is to go for a normal 13km aiming to come in under 1h:03.