Week 12 – 8th April – 14th April

A quick follow on from the last weeks post to bring us up to date. That was a tough one to write and I wanted to follow up quickly with a more positive post – hopefully! Let’s see if it was more positive.

I want to thank everyone for the wave of support over the weekend, I got loads of private and public messages and they all meant a lot to me so thanks to you all.

I was certainly going to take it easy to start the week. I didn’t want to aggravate my foot injury, hopefully I could keep it in order and build up to the weekend.

I could still feel the pain in my heel although it wasn’t as bad. I had spent the weekend doing stretches, went out and bought a resistance band and lots of foam rollering.

Link to my JustGiving page for Motor Neurone Disease Association #runforafriend #runwithafriend #runwithfriends.

MNDA Fundraising page

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 8th April

I wanted to take it easy to start the week but I also wanted to get a decent distance to kick start the plan so I decided to do 10k. I parked the car at Dalton Park to get a cheeky charge and ran down to Seaham Town Hall to meet everyone else and got 2 miles in the bank.

From the Town Hall we ran up Station Road and turned left into Northlea then towards Byrons Walk and turned left up Byrons Walk to the Lodge then left back to the Town Hall. Then we ran up the Mill Inn bank to the Avenue and down the Avenue, back up Station Road to the Kestrel. Here I met up with some of the runners doing the longer distance and finished off with them through Seaham Park.

I got myself 10k and a great start to the week. That 6 miles added to my 14 on Saturday got me to the 20 miles I was looking for so psychologically it was a win. I was feeling much better for the start of the week.

I ran with Miss Blue Sky for much of this run but we forgot to get a photo, so the one below is from our Wednesday night run.

Wednesday 10th April

Wednesday night is usually a technical night, but for the first time in the plan I decided not to do that this week, just to have a steady run just to get the miles in without putting too much pressure on my heel or myself.

Again, to extend the run a little, I parked at Tommy to get another cheeky charge and ran along to VT car park to meet up with the others. We did a little loop of Seaham and back to VT and then I ran back to my car to get 4.5 miles in.

We had some discussion in one of our groups on this day about whether a man could or should wear pink. As you can see below I have no problem with it!!

Saturday 13th April

On Thursday I paid what is becoming a monthly visit to the physio Kevin Jeffress at Stride Sports Clinic. He worked on my calves and hamstrings and also used ultrasound on my heel and gave me some stretches to do. Kevin is a great help and I intend going to see him again just before the big day.

One of the many great things about the Tempest Fit running club is how we come together for a cause. Today was all about raising money for Parkinsons. Two of our family, Sophie and Amy have had close family members struck by Parkinson’s. They came up with a great fundraising idea where we were put into teams to run a relay race. Four members in each team running just under a mile each.

Sally pulled out the stops organised a blinder of a race. Sophie and Amy put on refreshments back at the car park when we were finished.

Each team had to come up an accessory that we should run with. I was in Amy’s team and she had the idea that we should have Fox masks, so you can see in the photos below that we were team Fox running in our Fox masks.

Some of us met up before the relay to run a 5k to warm up. I am not a sprinter by any means but I really enjoyed the relay part even though my leg of the relay was up hill for quite a bit!!

See the team photos below. Thanks to Sophie, Amy and Sally for such a fantastic day and we managed to raise £500 as well. If you would like to contribute to Parkinsons please do here.

Sunday 14th April

So one week after the first attempt at twenty miles we were back at Dalton Park again to have another go.

I was more relaxed this week, whilst there was still some pain in my heel, it was better than it had been and I had been stretching most of the week. Four of us started, Chris was going to catch us up.

The route was a winding one that took us out to South Hetton then back up the track to Murton. At Murton Station we turned left and went out to Hetton Lakes and did a figure of 8 round the lakes.

Back into Murton and straight through the village. At this point Chris and Kmac went back to the car at Dalton Park to go home, so just the 3 of us left. We were about 10 miles in at this point.

We carried on to Cold Hesleden and then looped round Hawthorn village twice then turn back towards Seaham down to the seafront. We ran into Noses Point and back out again.

This was the hardest part, around 18 miles I didn’t think I would make it. David and Sally, both marathon veterans definitely kept me going through this with their chat (which as you can expect, was pretty filthy 🤣).

We got to VT car park with just over a mile to go and I was nearly sick, probably slightly over fuelled at that stage. We got going again and as I entered the last mile it got better. I knew the end was in sight and I knew I was going to finish. So the last mile was hard but it felt better.

We ran back up the front to ASDA traffic lights then turned back to finish at the top of the marina.

This was such an important milestone, not only had I banished the demons from last week but I had also placed a 2 at the front of my miles – 20 miles!! I only need to find a 10k on the day now.

Nutrition

Much better week of eating this week, with less convenience food. Also much tighter fuelling on the run. Sally is especially good at reminding you to take fuel on board.

Progress to Plan

Back on track to plan – and then some.

Key Learning

Again another big week of learning. First and foremost, it’s not really new learning, more a reinforcement of knowledge. That is, what an amazing group we have in Tempest Fit. Saturday was a fantastic day coming together for a cause. Also the wave of support I got from everyone. I am so grateful for that.

Other learnings

• Listen to your body – so important but it’s also a great self healer. I am sure stopping at 14 last week did me a favour. My body had time to recover through the week allowing me to come back on Sunday.
• Fuel well and often.
• There really is always another day. I still have 4 weeks and I do have enough miles in the legs, so no need to panic.

Fave of the week

What a great week to get the head back in order and back in the game. Loads of people gave me loads of advice last week and it was all well received. Lynne, Cap, Jen and Laura thanks for the ton of messages. Jet, thanks for taking me for coffee on Sunday and the pep talk. I will be sensible one day 😉. Great to have Kmac back and to be able to run with her.

However 2 faves stand out for getting me through my 20 miles and especially that mile 19 on Sunday.

FOTW goes to Sally and David.

A really good week for loads of reasons, what a difference a week makes. 36 miles in total this week. See you next week.