Week 5 – 19th Feb to 25th Feb

Week 5 already and this is going to be a de-load week. A week where you reduce the number of miles and ease back a little on the intensity of training with the idea of giving your body a chance to recover. When you step up the mileage the following week you should be in a stronger position to handle the increase.

You can catch up on previous weeks here:

Reminder – this is not intended as any kind of recommendation, it is purely my own thoughts and comments on my weeks training. You should seek professional advice for correct marathon training tailored to you. However I hope it gives you some kind of inspiration to try something different yourself.

Training Runs

Tuesday 20th February

First run of the week is usually a Monday but as I couldn’t do a Wednesday this week due to work I swapped my week days to Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday was an easy run, a recovery run to help recover from the long miles over the weekend.

We went down Dene House Road and along the front to ASDA, then up Ropery Walk to Dawdon Park and then back along to the end of Princess Road. I wanted to get 3 miles in so ran up and down Princess Road a little to get to 3 miles. Certainly no records broken tonight just very steady and just getting some more miles in the legs.

Thursday 22nd February

Tonight was to be a technical run called mile repeats. The idea to do a mile warm up, back to back miles at a steady tempo pace and then a mile cool down. The emphasis was to be on miles 2 and 3 and especially aiming for 3 to be at least as good if not quicker than 2 ideally.

The route from VT car park was along the front to Noses Point. Up round the Villas to King Edward Road and along to Dawdon Park. Along Grants Crescent and up to the Station. From here along to the cricket club and then back through East Shore, down Denehouse Road to the front and back along to the car park.

The pace was better than Tuesday night but still not feeling 100% and not as good as previous weeks. However you can see from the charts below that miles 2 and 3 were reasonably consistent.

Saturday 24th February

Saturday is here and it’s the return of the Foxes after a week off. Great turnout and 3 Foxes virgins – Dawn, Emma (Miss Blue Sky) and with a temporary Saturday transfer from the Crazy Gang, welcome to Leanne. Sally D, Leanne, Faye and Lee were planning to do a marathon today in training for their Ultra in 3 weeks so they joined the Foxes to get some extra miles in company.

I had plotted a shortish route this week as some of us were doing a 10 mile trail run on Sunday and this week was a de-load week after all. Only problem was my watch had not charged overnight so was completely dead! So I had to rely on my phone only to track the runs.

We started at the Town Hall and ran through Seaham Park to Northlea turned right and out to the Kestrel then down Station Road to the Police Station. From here we started up the Avenue and turned left to the Leisure Centre then through the tunnel/subway. (I call it a tunnel!) Through Dalton Le Dale park and then through Dalton Le Dale, turn right up the Times Inn and all the way back down to the Town Hall.

It was a chilly morning but lots of warm smiles and chats to keep us all going. Thanks to everyone who joined the Foxes this morning and great to see that the Ultra squad completed their marathon a little later.

The second run of the day was going to be over 4 miles with a decent 2 mile climb in the middle. With the 10 miler the next day, I was not keen on that distance or elevation. So when I heard my old mate Emma was running with her son Ruben, I jumped at the chance of joining them.

We had a much gentler run planned, just under 4 miles, keeping us off the main roads as far as possible.

The first half of the run would take us from the Town Hall through the park and the back streets down through East Shore Village to Dene House Road. At this point we turned around and ran back up to the Town Hall. I hadn’t really thought that through as it meant we were going back up hill pushing the little guy. I was pushing Ruben on the way back up and Emma noticed a strange sound coming from the tyres. We had a flat tyre!!

We carried on back to the park when we bumped into the other runners finishing their run. We were on about 3.6 miles so decided to round up. We left Ruben with David and did a lap round Byrons Walk and back though Northlea and through the park. This took us to around 4.5 miles for the second run, and a little over 8 for the day. Great to run with Emma again and Tempest Fits youngest member Ruben.

As I was using the phone to track the runs, it did 2 things in Strava, it over tagged the distance by nearly a whole mile for the day and also over egged the pace. But I will take them both, it only counts if it’s on Strava, right?

Sunday 25th February

Today was going to be the last official race before the marathon. I did this one last year – the Derwent Reservoir 10 mile trail run. The course was slightly different this year but certainly no easier.

Again we had a decent squad running today, about 15 of us took the trip up to the reservoir. It was nice and sunny when we left home but in the hour it took to get there it was quite foggy and chilly.

Last year we started at the top of the hill right near the dam but today we started from the car park at the bottom of the hill, ran round the big field and then up the hill to the dam. Definitely a tough start, much tougher than last year.

Injury alert – as I was running up the hill at the start and probably for the first 2 miles I had pain in my left heel. Let’s hope this does not turn into plantar fasciitis, something that can turn out to be quite painful and potentially blow the whole marathon plan out of the water!

The pain subsided after the first 2 miles and I was feeling good, much stronger than last year. Like last year I was running the first few miles with Ashleigh, another legend in our squad who runs very long miles, often solo, taking immense mental strength. It was good to run with Ashleigh for maybe the whole of the first 6 miles.

At about the 6 mile point I was feeling good and I knew that the really big hill was coming up around the 7 mile point. So I wanted to get ahead before hitting the hill and started to take off a little. I was feeling good and after a short while I turned around and couldn’t see the others.

I then hit the hill, a steep climb that goes on for maybe a half mile or more. I had to walk a little to get up the hill. I heard Lee running behind me and I was pleased to run with him for the second half of the hill to help me get up there. Shortly we were joined by Sally for the photo below and then the rest so we were all together again for the last mile and a half or so.

I was really pleased to read my stats which said I finished 10 minutes quicker than last year ( a minute a mile quicker). It was also really nice to finish alongside the majority of my friends today. Usually I am one of the last ones over the line and everyone is waiting for me to finish – not today!

We finished the day off with a great Sunday lunch at the Derwent Walk Inn. Another great Tempest Fit Road trip with very pleasing run stats.

Nutrition

Similar to last week, I feel comfortable with my choice of fuelling during the longer runs with Hi5 sachets, dried apricots, squashies and dextrose.

Progress to Plan

Still staying ahead of plan with a de-load week. Long run was a little shorter this week although again with back to back longer runs on Saturday and Sunday.

Key Learning

I guess the key reinforcements this week rather than new learnings was the power of friends and the Tempest Fit family. Another great trip up to Derwent Reservoir and also running with old friends again.

Fave of the week

For once this one is very clear but before I say who it is, some appreciation of the great runs I have had again this week.

Thanks this week to:

• The foxes for another great Saturday morning turnout.
• Special thanks to the Fox virgins – Miss Blue Sky, Dawn and of course Leanne.
• Thanks to the marathon runners this week for the inspiration – Sally D, Leanne, Faye and Lee. Sally and Lee completing their first marathon.
• Ashleigh for the first 6 miles at Derwent.
• All the other runners at Derwent who kept me going/pushed me along or even cheered us on.
• David for driving to Derwent.

So the Fave of this week was very very close to being Emma C for returning to running with me but she has to be pipped by her son and heir, young Ruben! Sorry Emma, maybe next time!

25 miles covered this week so probably a little more than I wanted to do but all good miles. Hope the heel holds out this week and the training continues.

Have a great week everyone.

Week 4 – 12th Feb to 18th Feb

Late in posting this week, you will see later that I did a later run on Sunday so no time to write this on Sunday evening. Thank you again for the support and comments so far. We are now on week 4 with 12 weeks to go to the big day on 12th May. You can catch up on previous weeks here:

Reminder – this is not intended as any kind of recommendation, it is purely my own thoughts and comments on my weeks training. You should seek professional advice for correct marathon training tailored to you. However I hope it gives you some kind of inspiration to try something different yourself.

Training Runs

Monday 12th February

Mondays are Easy run days after a busy weekend of long runs. Easy runs are nice easy pace to help you recover from the longer runs. I was a little late in arriving so started late, typical Monday! So rather than trying to catch everyone, I ran to meet them in the loop they were doing and then turned round.

So it turned out to be a run along the front and then just up to the Villas in Dawdon and back down along the front.

Wednesday 14th February

Tonight was a tempo run. One mile warm up, 3 miles at a tempo pace and then another mile cool down. I wasn’t actually sure what my tempo pace should be so I turned to my running Yoda, Jen T to set the pace for me. Based on my best 5k times Jen set me 10 minutes 20 seconds for the tempo with the instruction I kept between 10.15 and 10.30.

My new Apple Watch arrived today so no more losing runs! There was a 5 mile route planned in Group and Chris W was going to lead it. Around the first 2 miles was going to be uphill, so that meant the first mile of my tempo would be uphill!!

Chris stuck with me the whole way, pacing me a coaching me on technique. Some of the stuff we all learn in the early days of running is so easy to forget. Things like taking deep breaths in through the nose to feed your muscles with oxygen really made a difference. It helped to get my breathing under control when I was pushing hard on the tempo and actually improved my performance. Also advice like trying to keep on your toes to land lighter on your feet, all really solid advice. Thanks also to Lynne and Jet for getting me up Station Road, the first mile of the tempo and a steady incline all the way was the hardest part and they kept me going all the way. You can see from the Splits and the Pace Analysis that I kept in the zone Jen suggested and managed to hit the tempo. This was a particularly enjoyable run and one of the times I can hopefully look back on and remember which runs got me over the line at Leeds.

Saturday 17th February

Usually we do a Foxes run on a Saturday followed by the VT Group run. This week was a little different in that we had a Charity run to support 3 of our members who are doing a Sky Dive to raise funds for Red Sky Foundation, more of that in a moment.

It also meant a little later start at 8.00am. The first part was a 4 mile run, steady pace planned today as we were planning a 14 mile run tomorrow.

From VT car park we dropped down onto the promenade and headed south along to what we call the Travelator, a steep hill back up to the seafront. then we went up Denehouse Road and up Station Road to the Kestrel, turning right into Northlea. We passed my old school grounds then out onto Byrons Walk and back down to the seafront. This completed the first 4 miles of the day and in time to get back to the car park to get our instructions for the Charity run.

Also managed to get a few snaps with some of my faves on the way.

Then we started the Charity run, Hunt the Heart. There was a 5K run and a 5 mile run. I opted for the shorter run again as a longer one planned tomorrow. We used the app What3Words to navigate to certain points around Seaham to pick up hearts along the way. We had to take selfies at each heart stop and get back to the Crows nest for a quiz.

Our team was me, KMac and Shazam and we took off for the first stop just along the seafront to the Masonic Hall, then you can see below the selfies we took.

We all had a great morning and a really good quiz back at the pub. Thanks to Sally, Drew and Leanne for organising. If you would like to support them on their Sky Dive here is the link to the fundraising page.

Sunday 18th February

Sunday is long run day and today was going to be my longest run ever having previously only covered a Half Marathon distance. This was important to get through the mental barrier of the longest run ever!

The usual Sunday crew were not out running in the morning because they had only gone and done a marathon the day before in their training for an Ultra!! So, yet another lie in and we were running at 2 pm. The route took us from Dalton Park through the back paths to South Hetton then retraced our steps and down Hell Hill, along the seafront to Ryhope. From Ryhope we would run round to New Seaham and down the the Mill Inn turn left down Station Road, hopefully completing 14 miles around the Green Bridge at the end of Princess Road.

KMac was doing it with me and Sally H also joined us at the last minute.

We had done Bootcamp on the Friday night and I did a lot of squats with weights. So my thighs were in agony even when I was walking so was not looking forward to 14 miles but we would see how it went.

Once we started the legs were feeing better but I could still feel them. As we got back to the top of Hell Hill we had done over 5 miles and we were going well, the pace was a steady 11 min 20 sec mile pace, ahead of where I wanted to be.

As we got to the bottom of Spectrum Business Park we met Chris W and Laura who were going to join us for the final 10K or so. My watch was reading a little under the mileage I had planned which sometimes happens when you map out a route. So we may have to extend a little at the end.

From 8 miles or so onwards my legs were hating me and I didn’t feel anything like I had done on the 10 mile runs I had done the previous weeks. I knew however it was the squats and not the running so I carried on knowing it will be better next time.

We reached the Half Marathon Distance at the Mill Inn (Ranch) at the end of Station Road, so I knew we were into new territory from here. The good news is it was mostly downhill from here too! Laura and Sally were great keeping me going and looping back for me.

I hit the 14 mile marker behind the Youth Centre and I was delighted. Sally had the idea to get to 14.1 miles so I had done a clear mile beyond my last longest run. So I hit 14.1 miles at the top of Tempest Road and we had group High 5’s!

Nutrition

There was some good advice on last weeks blog from Sally H and Junior so I stuck with that this week. I wanted to make sure I was feeling right during a run. Before the 5 mile on Wednesday I had a Hi5 sachet on my way to the run. I did the same on Saturday and Sunday and then around every 30 minutes I would take on more carbs. On Sunday I had a mixture of Hi5 sachets, dried apricots (thanks to Cap for that one), Dextrose tablets (thanks Emma D) and Squashies (thanks Laura). They all did good because my energy levels were quite good.

Find what works for you and make sure you fuel during the run.

Progress to Plan

Again I stayed ahead of the plan, last week was supposed to be a de-load week but I really wanted to get the longest run in and I will make this week a de-load week, basically cutting back on miles a little to make the longer miles easier later on.

Key Learning

What a week of learning this was! the carb intake talked about last week was absolutely confirmed this week. Also the timing and regularity of the strength training. Either I need to consider doing squats more regularly so I don’t get the DOMS close to the long run or maybe I don’t do them at all. Will have to decide on that one this week.

It also turns out that I CAN run further than a Half Marathon distance so that mental block is now smashed! I was also delighted with my timings. Usually on training for a HM, my times for up to 10 miles are Ok but I tail off up to 13.1 miles. This week felt much better even though there were more hills in the last 3 miles or so. I actually got my second fastest HM without trying .

Fave of the Week

This is now becoming impossible with so many people helping and encouraging me.

Thanks this week to:

• Jet and Lynne for getting me up Station Road at a great pace on Wednesday night to hit my tempo pace.
• Jen T for setting my pace on Wednesday night, thanks Yoda! Maybe one day I will be able to ligitimately run with you (who am I kidding!)
• Again a big thanks to everyone on the Wednesday run, giving me support on the way. Whilst I couldn’t speak much on Wednesday, I appreciated it!
• Big thanks to Chris W for pacing me the whole way and getting me to target. I was just thinking that Chris has helped nearly everyone in the group to become a better runner. We all owe you a big thanks mucker!
• Drew, Sally D and Leanne for putting on a great event on Saturday morning and raising so much for Red Sky.
• Sally H, KMac, Laura and Chris for dragging me through the 14.1 miles on Sunday. A great milestone to smash through and thanks for the support.

Some of my best runs this week including the tempo and the 14.1 miles but the most fun of the week had to be the Hunt the Heart run on Saturday. Actually the shortest of the week but we had such a good laugh finding the hearts and coming up with the selfies so my faves of the week are my teamies:

• Kmac
• Shazam

29 miles covered this week, although the coming week will be a little less to recover. Still enjoying the miles and still feeling good. Thanks to everyone for the support.

See you next week.

Week 3 – 5th Feb to 11th Feb 2024

This weeks plan was 4 runs and a bootcamp or two. So far my long runs have been ahead of plan and I have followed the technical runs as closely as possible, maybe staying just ahead of them too.

The support I have received on this blog has been absolutely amazing and I am delighted that people are finding it of some use. Thank you very much for the kind comments and hopefully week 3 will hold your interest. If you would like to catch up on previous weeks, here they are:

Week 1

Week 2

Reminder – this is not intended as any kind of recommendation, it is purely my own thoughts and comments on my weeks training. You should seek professional advice for correct marathon training tailored to you. However I hope it gives you some kind of inspiration to try something different yourself.

Training runs

Monday 5th February

So last week my biggest learning was on Monday. I decided that Monday should be a proper recovery day, nice easy run, steady pace, no hills or speed intended. I think I learned my lesson this week, I opted for the shorter of the runs available and took a nice easy pace so a good start to the week.

The run started at VT carpark and took us along the front to Noses Point. Then up round the Villas to King Edward Road, along there to Cottages Road and down through Ropery Walk to the seafront and back along to VT.

My watch died on me just before the end however and didn’t record the run so huge thanks to Becca for tagging me into her run, we ran a similar distance and pace.

I was delighted to get a picture of me with some more of my faves I like to call the Munchkins, no idea why I call them that! Here they are from the left Sara, Sandra (or Gill as she calls herself), Sarah and Donna.

Wednesday 7th February

On Tuesday I threw in a 45 minute HiiT session and then Wednesday was back to a technical run. This one was called 200m repeats on my Runna plan. It’s basically an intervals session with the intervals at a tempo pace. It was great that Chris R was leading this session. Chris did a marathon last year and has great ideas around planning and techniques so it was good to listen to his experience.

We started at VT again and did an anti clockwise loop round East Shore back to the seafront and along to in front of ASDA. This was done at a nice steady pace just to get warmed up. Then the plan was to do 200m at tempo pace then a 50 sec walking rest and do this 6 times.

Runna suggested in the coaching notes that this is a good opportunity to practice your form whilst running at speed. I was advised to concentrate on my feet landing underneath me, keep my shoulders relaxed and engage the glutes to drive forward. The aim is NOT to go flat out but to try to hold a consistent pace at a good speed.

Chris also said the same thing just before we started the intervals, so hearing this from two sources was very encouraging.

I think I managed to stick to the intervals as you can see on the 6 peaks on the diagram below. The 4th and 5th maybe tailed off slightly but came back strong on the 6th.

Thanks to Chris for the advice and also lending me his calf sleeves which I would try out later in the week. Very positive technical run which is something I have concentrated on in this training so far. I would never do these kind of runs in the past but I can feel the difference they are making. So many of my running heroes have always said the only way to run faster is to run faster. May sound obvious but when you do this via these technical runs it all becomes very clear.

My watch died again but fortunately the run had recorded before it died.

Saturday 10th February

The luxury of a couple of days off running felt good coming into Saturday. Today was going to be the longest run so far. Runna suggested an 8.1 mile run but I was aiming for 12 miles. Saturday is my favourite day of the week as we get to do the Foxes run early on. This getting bigger and bigger each week and more and more fun. So, I was going to do around 7 miles in the Foxes run then another 5 miles in the usual Tempest Fit running group. We started at Dalton Park so I wanted to do a run which took us into Hetton. I am no expert on the paths round here so I drafted in the local knowledge of Richie to help plot a route for today. I have to say he played a blinder and gave us all a great route. Richie is another legend in the group like Chris, a very strong runner, very technical and also did a marathon last year so bags of experience.

We met at Dalton Park for 7.10 am, here is our meet up picture although I realised after I had missed off Richie (the main man) and Sally H (the main woman), sorry both.

Some new Foxes today with a very special guest J Low, great that the Foxes helped her on her way to a massive 23 miles this morning. So inspiring to see and thanks for joining the Foxes Jo.

The route took us round Dalton Park and out to the main road through Murton then round the paths behind Dalton Park all the way out to South Hatton. Here we turned right and ran through the middle of Easington Lane. Turned right half way down the Lane towards Murton and then back out to the main road to Murton. Up the big hill to the old Crossings at Murton (which turned out to be not too big a hill after all). Then finally all the way down through Murton back to Dalton Park.

We passed another of Ray Lonsdale’s statues which are appearing in many East Durham villages called the Children of Mothers right next to the Cenotaph.

Some great chats along the route thanks to everyone for keeping me going but especially Sally D who paced me for most of the run and Sophie who kept me going at the end.

As I was running down through Murton, the last mile and a half my knee started to niggle just a little. I decided then that I wasn’t going to do the extra 5 miles with the group. Better be safe than sorry I thought.

Sunday 11th February

I woke up to the following weather forecast, not the best news to wake up to! It looked like it was going to be a very wet run.

I checked with the others as I would have been very happy to stay at home but received this back.

That’s fairly clear then, we are running.

Laura had planned out a 10 mile route for us. At this stage I wasn’t sure what I would do but I would give it a go. I was trying the calf sleeves lent to me by Chris R today to see how they felt.

Just found out at the start that today is Lynne’s birthday as well, what a way to start your birthday!

We did the same as the last 2 Sundays, out to Noses Point then up Hell Hill, I am quite enjoying it now to be fair, then straight over towards Jade Enterprise Park. We turned right at the end and headed back towards the main road through Murton. We were following the same route as we did yesterday in reverse to day. I made a wrong turn in my directions here but fortunately only for maybe 20 or 30 yards, so we quickly got back on track.

On the main road we turned left and headed up to the old Crossings. Here we got on the old line down to Seaton. We were going to go all the way down to Seaton, then back to the seafront. However this is what the track looked like.

We really didn’t fancy around 2 miles of that, so we got off the track and went back through the housing estate and back to the main road. We were going to go back past Dalton Park, down the Times Inn bank and through Dalton le Dale.

As we got to the Dalton Park/A19 junction, I checked my watch and completely dead again. New watch incoming! Thanks to Laura for tagging me in her run so I got it recorded.

We got back to the end of Dalton le Dale and hit 10 miles, just before the hill up to Maureen terrace.

This had to be one of my most rewarding runs. I really would have not even turned up if the others didn’t but felt great when it was done and actually felt great all the way through. Once you’re wet you’re wet, right? These 4 were amazing to keep me going, chatting all the way and I don’t think I held them up too much.

Nutrition

I was talking to Sally H about nutrition, who better to talk to than a food expert and she has written this amazing article you can access on the Tempest Fit Facebook page.

Also my in house nutritional expert, Junior, has put together some notes on the benefits of carbohydrates for runners.

She writes

Carbs are important as the central nervous system is largely dependant on glucose. ATP is the currency of energy in your body. Carbs are the preferred primary source for its production.

Carbs are stored as glycogen – exercise is compromised by a lack of glycogen kept in storage to fuel the body.

You can increase your glycogen stores by eating high carb foods

Pre- workout food should be simple carbs as this gives immediate energy (complex carbs are longer lasting)

Carbs can make you lethargic, this is because they help raise tryptophan which converts into serotonin and then melatonin which makes you sleepy.

Junior – studying nutrition at Northumbria University

So there you have the science as well, proud of my girl, thanks for this.

Progress to Plan

Plan exceeded again, long run should have been 8.1 miles but did 10 and also 7 miles the day before. I stuck to the plan with the other runs. Other than a slight niggle in my knee on Saturday I am feeling good. By the way on Saturday I didn’t take any carbs on board during the run which backs up Sallys article and my daughters comments above. I really crashed after just 7 miles on Saturday but felt great after 10 on Sunday.

Key Learning

So what have I learned this week, well definitely the importance of carb intake on a longer run. See Sallys article here and also read the Nutrition section above. It’s clear that its vital for me to be properly fuelled.

Also I really found the calf sleeves helpful so thanks to Chris for those (currently being laundered for return). Also the importance of stretching. I am finding with the increasing distance my calves are getting tighter. Over the weekend runs I have been constantly reminded of this quote by The Greatest – Muhammad Ali. You HAVE TO put the effort in to make the big day a success!

25 miles covered this week, slowly increasing the miles!

Fave of the week

Man o Man this is getting harder every week! So many people could take the award this week, so many people have given great advice, made a poignant comment or just been so helpful in my journey.

Thanks to:

• Becca and Laura for sharing their Strava runs when my watch died.
• The Munchkins for always making me smile and always putting in the effort, always inspiring.
• Chris R for the solid advice, support on the Wednesday run and for lending me the calf sleeves.
• Also all the other runners in the Wednesday session, great support from each other.
• Captain O’Marvel for the posts on Facebook, always motivational from a true Superhero.
• All the Foxes, you all have lifetime Fave status anyway as you all know. Brilliant turnout on Saturday, always my fave run of the week.
• J Lo for your inspiring 23 miles, I know I have this to come and it’s great to see other people doing it.
• Richie Eagle (Regal) for plotting Saturdays run and leading the Foxes, great route.

That just leaves Sunday. For (virtually) dragging me out of bed and then through chat, encouragement and making me actually enjoy 10 miles in the non-stop rain on a Sunday morning I have to give 4 Faves of the week to:

• Holly
• Kathryn
• Laura
• Lynne

So that means Laura has back to back awards, can she get a hat trick? Her dedication to her plan is so inspiring to be fair and its great to see the distances she is covering.

Thanks to everyone for a great week, still feeling good and on to week 4 we go!

Week 2 – 29th Jan 2024 to 4th Feb 2024

No injuries from week one and here we are straight into week 2. The plan this week is to do 4 runs, a bootcamp and throw in a walk in the Lake District. If I am going to tell the story of the marathon journey, I should do it warts and all, right? Let’s see how I got on.

Reminder – this is not intended as any kind of recommendation, it is purely my own thoughts and comments on my weeks training. You should seek professional advice for correct marathon training tailored to you. However I hope it gives you some kind of inspiration to try something different yourself.

Training runs

Monday 29th January

That was a busy weekend, Saturday – big hills, Sunday – very big hill, so ideally I wanted to have a nice easy “Easy run”. It was a very wet Monday night and I got to the start point of the group run late, not a great start. I had looked at the options which were a 3+ mile run or a 4+ mile run. I picked the 4+ mile run. The rest of the group were nowhere to be seen by the time I set off so I was playing catch up. I started with Kmac but she was ahead very quickly. We ran from VT car park along the front to Tempest Road (the first hill tonight). We then continued to climb up New Strangford Road towards the bottom of the Avenue.

Kmac waited at the top but then took off up the Avenue. For those that know it’s a long old slog up there. A mixture of the rain, being late and trying to catch up and maybe going too quick to start, as well as being by myself began to start playing with my head. You know that feeling of Imposter syndrome,

“what on earth am I doing, trying to run a marathon, this is for proper runners, I’m not a proper runner“

Maybe you don’t know that feeling but it certainly gets stuck in your mind, if you let it. I ended up walking up the Ave a bit then running a bit. Once at the top, it was a downhill to the Mill Inn, then down Station Road, Denehouse Road and back along the seafront to the car park. A little lesson learned tonight I hope!

Wednesday 31st January

The first technical run of the week was something called a Progressive Hotspot according to my Runna app. This is a typical progressive run (each mile is a little quicker than the last), with a short, all out run towards the end of the progressive and then a cool down.

We started at VT car park again and I was on time this time (just) so could start with everyone. We headed along the seafront to Denehouse Road and went up here. At the top is was back down Church walk to Tempest Road and then turn right to go up Tempest Road to the top. All the way along Princess Road and Queen Alex Road, down Mount Stewart Street to Noses Point, then a loop round Spectrum Business Park. This was a cheeky little up hill, so if the Progressive was going to fail it would be here. According to my watch though it was still on target. When we got back to Noses Point roundabout this was going to be the start of the all out faster bit. At this stage I was happy that I was generally keeping up, the others were not having to loop back too far!!

I was planning on the “Hot Spot” bit from Noses Point down to Costa. My Ambassador of Cheekiness, Jet asked if I was doing a Hot Spot or a G Spot gave me a little smile before I started the faster bit.

Chris W and Lynne were pacing me all the way down to Costa around 0.6 miles and trying to keep under 10 min/mile pace. With their encouragement I managed it, although I have to say I nearly puked when I reached Costa!! Now just a steady jog back to VT car park and Sophie kept me going right to the end.

What a different night to Monday night, confidence restored and head back on track!

You can see here that each mile is quicker than the last, with the last three quarters of a mile more of a cool down.

Thursday 1st February

New month starts with another Technical run, called Broken miles. This is an Interval run, about 5K with a half mile warm up, then 0.75 miles trying to stay around 10 min/mile pace. A 2 minute rest, then 0,25 miles trying to stay around 9 min/mile pace. This time a one minutes rest and repeat both intervals. The emphasis is on the 0.75 mile intervals, going into them with only a short rest after the faster spell.

I was joined tonight by Lee C, Sophie and Sally D. Lee brought Dexter and Sophie brought Luna to help pace us along the way!

We started from VT again and just went straight up to Noses Point and back. Sally was keeping a close eye on the clock for me to make sure I kept to the pace and the distance.

Like Wednesday I really enjoyed this one. I am not usually one for doing the technical runs but I know that’s what makes you a better runner and I am actually enjoying tackling something a little different.

Saturday 3rd February

On Friday I received the following email which started to bring this journey into reality, 100 days to go to the big day!

No Foxes run for me this morning, the Foxes were left in the safe hands of Sophie. I was in the Lake District getting back to what this blog was originally for, a little Fell walking with my mate Peter.

It was a great day for early February and we did Helm Crag, known as the Lion and the Lamb because of the rock formation at the top (which I didn’t get a photo of).

Here are the photos of the walk, a nice change from the running but still plenty of time on the legs.

Sunday 4th February

Last run of the week and the all important long run. Laura plotted a similar route to last Sunday, just a little longer. Thanks to the Sunday squad for letting us join today.

Starting off with a 2 mile jog along Princess Road and round the Green Drive and back we then set off along Grants Crescent into Dawdon and along to Noses Point. Then up round Spectrum Business Park and up Hell Hill and then further along into Jade Business Park then turned around and back down the old railway line between the Golf Course and Parkside to Dawdon Park. Same as last week, we were able to pick the pace up down here especially with the wind behind. When we were back at Dawdon Park we still had just under a mile left. We carried on down Cottages Road and turned left at the old Subway and up towards Tempest Road. I hit the 10 mile point at the railway bridge at the top of Tempest Road and was delighted to see it was a PB, by about 2 minutes.

Nutrition

Similar to last week, plenty of water, fruit and veg, plenty of protein which is meant to repair torn muscles. I am told by Junior, currently studying Nutrition at University that protein is made up of amino acids. As we consume proteins our body breaks them down into amino acids which is then absorbed by the bloodstream and dispatched straight to muscle tissues where they help repair damaged muscle fibres caused by exercise. All very clever stuff but basically it makes sense to eat protein!

During my longer run I took about 3 dextrose tablets originally suggested by Emma D. They suit me and just help to give me a little energy boost.

Progress to Plan

I have again exceeded the plan, the long run for example was supposed to be 10k (6.2 miles) but I did 10 miles. I also exceeded the pace on the technical runs. Still feeling good and whilst it may balance out later in the plan, I would like to be slightly ahead now if possible.

Key Learning

I suppose the biggest learning this week was on Monday. I was feeling good from last week and started the week in a buoyant mood, maybe a little too buoyant. I should have stuck to the plan and did an Easy run, a steady pace and left the hills out. They were coming later in the week and weren’t needed on Monday. The Easy run should be about recovery rather than trying to push yourself, plenty of opportunity for that later in the week!

Again the power of friends is so important as I saw on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday in those runs.

22 miles covered this week in running only plus the Saturday walk of over 5 miles.

Fave of the week

Even harder to pick this week as so many people to mention. Monday special thanks to Kmac for hanging around for me at certain points to get me going again. Wednesdays run special thanks for the chats with Kathryn, David, Kmac, Emma D, Maria and Sophie. Then a very special thanks to Chris W and Lynne for keeping me going in that faster bit for over half a mile. Also thanks to Jet for the G Spot comment :-).

Thursday thanks to the Famous 5. Lee, Sophie, Dexter and Luna and a very special thanks to Sally D for keeping one eye on the clock and the other eye on pace. Thanks to Peter for another great walk where we put the world to rights wandering up and down a hill.

Finally Sunday, another great long run with Kmac, Kathryn and Lynne and a very special thanks to Laura for keeping me going up Hell Hill and back down the old railway line. Especially after doing an amazing 20 mile run yesterday. I know I have that to come myself but it was inspiring to see how Laura is taking it in her stride.

So with that in mind I think I have to give the Fave of the week to Laura for being so inspiring. She is doing an amazing job.

See you on week 3, have a great week.