Week 11

Two decisions made for me today: 1. I will leave the 5k pb try until after the marathon 2. My predicted marathon time is 3:42 which means running at 8:28 per mile. Today we ran Sheffield Half Marathon. It was hot and there were some tough hills in there as well. I found it incredibly hard to pace myself properly, but still managed a pb by finishing in 1:41:11 (according to my Garmin). Applying Tom's double it and add 10% rule, I came out with the 3:42 time which would still give me a gfa place for London 2010. I pushed it hard today, managed a negative split and didn't fade in the last mile, but it still wasn't what I had hoped for - maybe I am not a long distance runner. Kay pointed out that I hadn't tapered for this and the last two weekends I have done 20 milers so my legs were probably tired. Don't get me wrong - I am pleased with my time though. As the time draws nearer, I have decided that I have no idea how well I am going to cope with 26 miles even though the 20s have been relatively easy (during them at least!), so I will play by the rules to mile 20 and then see what happens. If it is as hot as it was today for the Londoners, I know I will have no chance!! A HUGE well done to Kay for her race today . Nicky did fantastically well considering she has been injured and only back running for 4 weeks. Two weeks to taper time...

Week 10

Employing pyschological thinking on this - only 3 weeks hard training left and then taper. Okay, so I know I did my 20 too fast last Sunday now (did wonder, but I had been trying to run by how I felt). Monday was a 5 mile recovery shuffle in the hope that my legs would magically become looser. By Tuesday night they were feeling much better.... until I tried to run again. It was like running through treacle and my quads were agony. Wednesday I rested, but my legs still didn't feel any better. By Thursday I was panicking a bit and went and bought myself some Skins capri pants. I have read about how compression clothing helps, but thought it must be a placebo effect. Placebo or not, they have worked for me. Thursday 4 x 1.5 mile intervals on the treadmill went fine and legs didn't ache. Friday a 3 mile tempo session plus warm up and down also went really well. And today I can't quite believe the point I am at - no more 20s to do! The thing I was most nervous about and dreading is out of the way. (Strangely the 22 in a couple of weeks isn't actually worrying me too much). I tried to pace it better today and ended up doing it in 3:01 which was about right I think. I did try to pick up the pace for the last couple of miles again and so pleased because it felt easy (8:18, 7:57 pace). When am I allowed to get excited / nervous?! And when I am tapering will I be able to try for a 5k pb? Desperate to give it a go, but don't want to ruin my marathon chances in the process.

Week 9

It's been a good week this week. After my pb last Sunday and being 6th in my age group, which is my best placing, I was on a bit of a high . I did manage to go over on my ankle on Sunday evening (no heels or alcohol involved, just me being clumsy!). Rested Monday because my cold was still not good and my ankle was sore too. Tuesday I saw the physio who told me that I have improved and now have runner's legs. As long as I can keep them I asked her to check my sore ankle and she said I had tweaked the ligaments, but was okay to run. Club run was the surprisingly enjoyable time trial along the canal (hoping nobody noticed that I was nearly sick after sprinting to the finish ). Wednesday I nipped out to do an easyish 7 miles. Thursday I managed to battle the dreadmill and did 8 x 400m intervals (was meant to be 15 x 200m, but that seemed too short for marathon training so changed it). Was nice to see Paul W there and have a natter with him. Friday I did 8 miles. Saturday was meant to be parkrun, but after insisting on Friday night she wanted to run, Kara decided to play on Saturday morning instead (fine except I had set the alarm for 6:30!). Today was my second 20 miler. Lovely morning, but I found it incredibly hard to get going. My knee was a bit swollen after physio and my ankle still hurt. At 4 miles I nearly turned back. But I kept going and am really glad I did. It was easier than last time, I did it 7 mins faster than last time - 2:56 (avg 8:48 ) and even managed to do the last 2 miles as my fastest ones (8:21 and 8:13). Really pleased with that one.

Week 8

This week my legs have felt more tired than I thought they would after the 20 last Sunday. Tuesday I did 9 miles, Thursday was a tempo session and Friday was 6 miles. As the week progressed I felt more and more tired and by Friday night I was shaking and wondering if it was a good idea to run. Thought it was just tiredness though and running tired would be good practice for May. When I woke up yesterday morning I realised that it had not been tiredness, but the start of a cold and I felt lousy all day. Typical to end up ill on the first day of the holidays. So I was a little apprehensive about racing this morning. Cold medicine taken and asthma inhaler inhaled I decided I couldn't miss it and had to run. The new route was a lot hillier than last year and the first half seemed to be virtually all uphill. At least that meant the second half was downhill though! My legs felt strong all the way even up the hills which is unusal for me. I still need to sort out that finishing psychological bit though because I looked at my watch at well into the last km and it said 41 mins. I then panicked and slowed down. Still did a pb - 44:36. I know the official time is more than that because it is one of those races where the timing chips all start with the gun and finish as you cross the line. But I know my time and I am really pleased. I know that 10k as a distance doesn't translate well to the marathon distance, but I can see my improvement and the fact that my legs felt so good has really helped.