11 days 17 hours 50 mins and 17 seconds left to go!!

Ok, now its seriously count down time.. with just 11 days to go Im starting to think about all the little things/rituals that in previous years Ive not really sorted out until the week before.

Ritual 1: One of those being name printed on vest. I intend to wear the vest I ran in last year and it has my name printed in "adequate size" for the ladies race. So thats a tickin the box....
Yes, there are ladies at the FLM who are specifically there in the tent to go around with a ruler and measure the size of print on peoples vest...so Jane and Tash, if you are reading this, make sure your letters arent too big or you'll be running topless. A number of ladies have turned up with their 3/4 length vests with their names written in marker pen on their tummies and had to urgently apply soap and water to remove and make name smaller.. Its serious stuff you know! In the past when all this has been going on Ive been a nervous wreck, quivering in the corner glugging down my tin of condensed milk wondering what I was doing there... when the majority of ladies look like grey hounds with plaits. (no, Im serious!) The majority are also wearing those rather intimidating running knickers we dreaded to have to slide on before netball practice when we were at school!!

Ritual 2: The other thing Ive had to pre-plan is tying my red laces into my trainers so that i can make sure they are tight enough or not too tight.. Ill do that this weekend...

Ritual 3: Purchase 5 x Lucozade Sport Gels, 1 x tin of condensed milk, 1 x Lucozade Sport drink, pain killers...all that good stuff...

Ritual 4: Book massage with session for next week.

Im sure there are a whole load more... like cook something for the pasta party etc etc but Ill worry about those next week..

So, with regards to actual training I managed a 23 miler on Bank Holiday monday with Mark. It was a bit of a nightmare actually as although we had a map and Ive done the route a few times before, I confused the 23 mile route with the 18 mile route and ended up in Hexton at 19 miles... arggh! Mark and I paced it along the road towards Hitchin and hit the 23 miles on our Garmins just outside Astrid and Steves place! We hoped and prayed they were going to be home to drive us back to Hitchin cos we could not run another METRE!! Thank the lord they were there and they kindly took us back to Portmill Lane to get our cars and hit the cold bath(s) in time for an afternoon on the sofa with an Easter Egg! YUM.

Was away with work last week so only managed a fast 5 on Thursday but legs didnt feel to bad so I just went for it.

Saturday just gone was a whole different affair. It was truly AWFUL weather and I had to run along the river severn in the forest of dean for 6.5 miles and then turn around and come back. It was SLOW SLOW SLOW ;o( 1:36 for 13 miles!! I wasnt too worried about it to be honest as it was less than a week before that we'd tackled the 23 miles. I just took it in my stride and tried to pay attention to my posture as i was starting to get a pinch in my hip. Ill be stretching that out all of this week and next.

So, plan for this week is training tonight (Tuesday), 10 miles on Wednesday, training on Thursday if Im around and then 10 miles on Sunday. Next week will be a few gentle short runs and maybe a couple of swims, yoga etc. One thing I will be very careful of though is the eating.. its to easy to continue with the vast quanities of food even without putting in the mileage so the carb loading will start at the end of next week and not a moment before unless I want to carry an extra few pounds around London with me, which I dont!

Now, where is that Snickers bar..

29 days 20 hours 24 mins and 21 seconds to go!

Father, Im very sorry its about 3 weeks since my last confession...he he.

25th Feb was my last marathon blog entry and quite a bit has happened since then. I stupidly went skiing and my legs were still recovering right up until Thursday morning! I didn't manage to do any running on holiday but I could barely walk by the end of 6 hours skiing not to mention running! I came back on the Saturday with very good intentions to marshall at the Vets Cross Country and then do an 18 miler on Sunday afternoon. I did marshall, so I did one thing right!! However, I felt rotten probably most of the way around the afternoon run, tired and drained from the travel and pounding on the legs from the pistes of Austria. (I was also sweating Vodka and Diet coke all the way around, I should have bottled it and sold it at the local Threshers!!) We wont talk about that though.. oops. I only managed 16.5 mile with Mark... he had had a good weeks training so I think he was feeling the pinch in the legs too. On the way back, he saw Astrid and Steve hurtling by on the start of their 14.2 miler I believe. The mad couple were going to do a 45 min tempo run in the middle. Amazing.

Anyway, so, I decided to rest on Monday and did a Yoga class which fortunately concentrated on the hamstrings (just what the doctor ordered)...and trained at the club on Tuesday... doing the Dunhams Lane circuits. I only managed 4 of the 6 which is bad but my legs felt very tight. My whole session would have been 6 miles so nothing too embarrassing but I was annoyed I wasn't better recovered from the holiday and Sundays run and able to do the 6 reps on the plan.

I had higher hopes for Wednesday for my 10 miler, again with Mark. But OH NO! I failed miserably of course and had to stop at about 8 miles and walk the rest of the way. Thighs and back of legs were just too painful. I did a Body Balance Class afterwards and it honestly seemed to do the trick. On Thursday morning, my legs felt the best they had felt for a couple of weeks. So, Im happy to say that the 6 miles I did last night with Jane and Gary felt comfortable and with no aches and pains. Given that I have to do 20 miles at Oakley on Sunday I will be fitting in a swim, sauna and relaxing stretch between now and then, no running though!

I really need to complete Oakley in around the same time as Bury. Its going to have to be an early night on Saturday with a belly full of pasta and NO Vodka and Diet Coke!

In my mind, I'm not feeling overly confident about London. Ideally this year I would have liked to get a half decent time (ie, as close to 3:04 as possible) but I just don't think the training is in the bank. Having the holiday has screwed things up a little bit, but to be honest, experience tells me that sometimes, no matter how much training and preparation you do, it will go as it goes on the day and I'm afraid you don't don't have that level of control over your body so you just have to sit tight and see what happens on the day! Lets see how Oakley goes this weekend and then Ill re-assess my thinking next week.

In the meantime, GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE ROME MARATHONERS!!! Positive thoughts coming from Lissa Squirrel!!

Over and Out

1 month 15 days 22 hours 53 mins and 21 seconds left!

This week I have rally battled with guilt as I missed training on Tuesday night so had to knock out 10 miles on Wednesday, without excuses or failure of any type. Ok it is very slightly short of 10 miles (9.8miles) and it was fairly slow (72 mins) but we did it. I also did a fartleck on Thursday night which was 1 x 5 mins, 2 x 4 mins, 3 x 3 mins, and 4 x 2 mins with recovery of half the time in between each blast. It felt good, so maybe resting on Tuesday hadnt been such a bad idea. I knew I had to try to push it because that would be my only chance of speedwork last week so I did put effort in up the hills... I did feel at one point that my heart was going to explode. Fortunately it didnt and I managed to put some extra effort in on the 4 x 2 mins which felt weird after weeks of steady marathon pace :o) The guilt (still from missing Tuesday) carried on into Friday evening so I went out and did a gentle 7 miles. My legs felt very tired but I just kept thinking about the mileage... Saturday I rested and then yesterday I did the Bury 20.
Now, I had honestly forgotten about that hill at 9 miles.. how on earth could I forget that BEAST! Yes, it was an absolute BEAST of a hill and I tippy toed up it looking at the top all the way and was glad when it was done. All the way I kept thinking, "London is flat, London is flat". It my way of coping with the fact that I might be losing minutes on the slow climb but that because London is flat I wont have to lose those mins over the first 20 miles of the 26.2. Does that make sense? Its Monday, give me a break!
So I completed Bury in 2:23 something. Ive downloaded my times and my slowest mile was mile 18 when I did 7 mins and 27 seconds. My fastest mile was mile 3 in 6 mins and 34 seconds. Hmm, I think I know what my problem is.. I start too fast. Thats no new to me cos Ive done it for as long as I can remember but the good news is that I started slowing a fair bit at mile 18... whereas looking at my last couple of months of running, I start slowing at about mile 14/15... so maybe if I continue with the training on marathon day , Ill start slowing at about 24 miles.. and I can just hang in there to the finish line?! Forever the optimist?!!

So plans for this week.. Run Tuesday, Weds and long run Friday. Cant run Saturday or Sunday so this week will be a "light week" with regards to training and my legs will be extremely happy about that... little does it realise what I have in store for it instead though. ;o) ha ha (laugh wicked witch style)

1 month 20 days 10 hours 28 mins and 45 seconds left!

Bad bad girl not training on a Tuesday night however I did do just under 10 miles tonight. I just felt tired last night and a bit drained and so I will have to run on rest day friday instead.. see? easily fixed, no more guilt.. phew!! It was a "gentle run tonight". Time seemed to go quickly which is always a plus. I then went to a Body Balance class which was really tough. I seem to have a lot less upper body strength tonight.. it may be linked to the long-ish run but I put it down to a 5am start.. its my excuse and Im sticking to it.

My diet over the last 2 days has slipped quite badly. Ive been snacking a bit too much on toast and honey and the weight is creeping back up again. Bad news. Its not like you can "cut down" when you are marathon training either is it cos then the energy levels seem to drop. If you switch to fruit when you get the sweet craving, the fruit upsets the stomach. Energy bars are good but actually after 5 mins, you are hungry again. Toast and honey is the only thing that seems to kill the appetite in between meals... and its quick and easy too.

Training for the rest of the week is Thursday club planned speed traing, Friday is 6 miles fast. Saturday maybe a gentle 3 miles steady followed by the 20 miler on Sunday yikes! NEW TERRITORY!! Gulp. Well Im not the only one thats going to be out there on Sunday and there will be lots of people less prepared than me, so it will have to be once of those "i'll treat it as a training run" races.. (strangely they often turn out the be PBs)

Off to catch up on the 3 hours of deprived my body with last night.

ZZzzzzz

1 month 22 days 20 hours 33 mins & 53 seconds left!

Boy, what a weekend for long distance running! My morning started off with a latte Coffee, toast & honey and a large glass of water. I put on my clothes which I had placed on the radiator the night before so they were nice and toasty and warmfor the morning (and Im pleased to say they were). To then step out into the cold was a bit of a shock to the system... but once I turned to corner into the Sports Club and saw all the other freezing cold squirrrels, I stopped feeling so sorry for myself. There must have been about 12 of us!. Paul made us all stand in the field and he took a little picture of us all which will be a great one for the gallery.

The pace started well with Richard and Mark leading out. The sun beamed down on us pretty much from the start so we had all warmed up somewhat as early as mile 2 probably! We all caught up on eachothers news and then after about 10 miles we must have all found our zones as the chatting had reduced to the odd comment about what a perfect day it was for an 18 miler. We stopped around every 5 miles to re-group and take our various drinks, gels and undress yet another layer. I wore my new under armour cold gear for the first time and I have to say it is amazing. My only complaint is that when I got back home I noticed white specs all over the front of it. This was the salt from my sweat that had dried out and because the top is black it stood out. On the plus side, at least it had dried which is what its supposed to do, so it obviously does exactly what is says on the tin!. I should think so for £35 a pop!

The route thought up by Ian took us from the club, up around Wallington, Ashwell, Bygrave and then back to Letchworth. It was a great route so thanks to Ian for that.

Richard and Mark were quite a way ahead of the rest of us but I managed to catch up with them a couple of times. Richard did an average 7:15/mile which is great. Mine was slightly slower but I didnt stop my watch when we regrouped so I dont know my average page, DOH!

The last few miles were the toughest, but even then I wasnt in any pain, just a bit drained.. Mark and Richard both went on to do 20 miles.

I forced myself to stretch for about 10 mins after, concentrating on the hamstrings which in the past have give me quite a lot of pain at this point in marathon training. Not this time however!!
What was lovely was feeling that Sunday was not all over after the run. NOT feeling like all I was good for was flopping on the sofa for the rest of the weekend. My legs didnt hurt and I didnt feel tired at all! Its SO encouraging to feel like that after an 18 mile run. So, feeling even more enthusiastic about the weeks ahead I started to plan when I would do my 23 miler. In 2006 I did 23 miles 5 weeks before marathon day. I would like to do as close a time to my 2006 time of 3:04 so I dont want to train that differently if I can avoid it. I soon realised however that 5 weeks before the marathon is the day after I return from skiing AND is the date of the XC Vets XC that we are hosting.. so it cant be 9th March. Cant be 16th March as I am doing Oakley 20. So, it will have to be 23rd March, 3 weeks before London.. Im GONNA DO 23 miles 3 weeks before London. Am I mad? well we all the know the answer to that one... but yes, I have no other choice. I have a route that Martyn has kindly sent me so all Ill have to do is get around. If Im feeling as positive about my running on 23rd March as I do today, it will be no sweat... it wont be quick, but it will be no sweat (thanks to my under armour top)!.

1 month, 25 days, 16 hours, 13 mins and 30 seconds left

Today is Friday and its my second rest day for this week! hurrah! My legs felt like wood when I was out running last night so thats a sure sign that my body is going to pack up if I dont give it a break for today at least.. When I say break I actually mean "no running" That doesnt actually rule out all forms of excersize Id like to add. This evening will consist of a swim, sauna and steam. The 5 miler last night started very slow as I knew my muscles were tight and it felt really cold out there. Whilst I was running, I secretly hoped it would snow but hey ho... no luck. I remembered the last few winters a few of us have managed to get out for a run starting from Willian in the dark and snow. The sound of the fresh snow be crushed under foot is great. Ive even got a couple of pics... Left to right is , me, Mark Y, John F, Martyn & Gary. Please let there be some snow this year for more of that fun! It must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel when I chose my running attire that night! eeek!



Anyway, yes that 5 miler last night. I did it early as it was Valentines night and wanted to get back and cook a nice dinner and have a glass of wine before the night was over. I had contemplated a take away but thats not marathon training food so decided to cook a Thai Green Chicken Curry from scratch. It was yum... followed by 2 Jack Daniels and Diet Coke.. oops thats not on the plan! Ive given up cakes, sweets, biscuits, chocolates and deserts for lent so no puddin' was to be had ;o(Whilst running last night I also reflected on my weeks training so far. I tend to measure Monday to Sunday so I dont count the Stamford 30 K this week within my mileage.. even though I can still feel it in my legs.. So as at Friday I have done 22 miles so far this week with a plan to have done 39.5 miles in total for the week. That doesnt count of course the effort that went into the Body Balance class on Wednesday night after the 10 miles. I highly recommend to all marathoners to do a form of Yoga/Stretch & Relax/Body Balance class at least once a week....unless of course you are all well disciplined and are sat in front of the telly every night with your legs behind your heads stretching those ham strings.. I doubt there are many of you, unless you are all just closet Green Godesses in your leotards and tights! - Diana Morgan eat yer heart out!