Marathon Journey – The Endgame
Week 16 – 6th May – 12th May
Every journey has an end and you will be as pleased to hear as I am to write that this is the last post of this journey!
This is the final week of a 16 week marathon training plan and you can see previous weeks in the table below. Whilst this was a 16 week training program, I started training for the maybe 6 or 7 weeks before this, so overall it was probably a 5-6 month training plan. When I had trained for a half marathon before I put some effort in but probably not as much as I should. I knew that a marathon needed the effort, needed a proper plan and I needed to stick to the plan as best as I could.
In general most of the way through these 16 weeks I have been on plan or just ahead of it apart from 2 or 3 weeks where I had an injury.
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 |
| Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 |
| Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 12a | Week 14 | Week 15 |
Link to my JustGiving page for Motor Neurone Disease Association #runforafriend #runwithafriend #runwithfriends.
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 6th May
Today was a Bank Holiday so rather than run on the evening we ran in the morning. Also as a little fund raiser for MND, Sally organised a fun run around Seaham. We split up into 6 teams and were given the following clues to find streets around Seaham. We then had to plot a route to get to those streets as quickly as possible, take a selfie at each one and then get back to the start. Quickest team won!
Our team made up of myself, Faye, Kmac, Leanne and Nev came a very respectable second after a very speedy team below. Good fun for a Bank Holiday Monday and light relief for the week ahead and we also raised some money for MND.
Wednesday 8th May
The final training run before the big day. The past couple of weeks have been very difficult, you feel like you should be out running more but all the advice is that you should run less to remain fresh for the marathon. We will see on Sunday how that works out.
Tonight was a standard run with the group, up and down to Noses Point, just enough to keep the legs turning over and then prepare for Sunday.
The Marathon 12th May
Here we are, the final weekend, strangely the nerves were not too bad, more a feeling of what will be will be. I had done all the training, I had another visit the see Kev the Physio on Thursday to loosen the legs up and I had took it easy this week. My foot was thanking me for taking it easy too, fewer miles meant less pain.
I received a couple of presents from a couple of faves on the Friday/Saturday which made me smile.
I travelled to Leeds on the Saturday afternoon and a few of us met at a local Italian for an early pasta. Then an early night to get everything ready for tomorrow. I received the message below from a good friend which stayed with me throughout the run.
Another message from another good friend, they all know how to get to me!
It’s a bit of a tradition to lay out your stuff for the next day to make sure you are prepared and here is my stuff with thanks to the following:
Positive Potato – thanks to Jet, part of one of those presents mentioned above.
Nipple plasters – essential gear and this is thanks to my Secret Santa last Christmas.
Apricots – original idea to have these on a run from Capt O’Marvel and now its standard fare.
Squashies – original idea to have these on a run from Laura and now its standard fare.
Dextrose tablets – original idea from Emma D.
Hi5 Energy gels – I just like these, not for everyone but I like them.
Kendal Mint cake – original idea from Claire B. This is a recent addition and now has become standard fare.
What you can’t see on here is calf sleeves supplied by Chris R which have also become regulars on my long runs now.
The hotel were doing an early porridge station so I went down to breakfast and had a bowl of porridge. Again not for everyone but I love it and have it most days, with some fresh fruit. As I was eating breakfast, I saw this poem on Facebook. Wow, how good is this. Jen is an amazing runner, a real inspiration, so supportive and was instrumental in creating my 16 week plan, so you can imagine my feelings at reading this. Not only was it very thoughtful but it also took a load of pressure off – thanks Jen.
For some strange reason, this was one of the most relaxed feelings I have had before a run. I always get nervous, even before a 5K sometimes. I knew I had prepared for this more than I had done for any run, messages like above had relaxed me and taken the pressure off, I had positive potato tucked in my pocket. Not really sure what it was but I was feeling quite relaxed.
We didn’t have too long to hang around at the start either which helped. Not like the Great North Run where we had to wait over an hour to cross the start line. It seemed well organised and we got going fairly quickly. The nine of us stuck together for maybe the first mile or two. The Crawfords had all made the trip down to see us and we saw them for the first of many times just inside the first mile.
We meandered our way through Leeds and began to head up to Otley. We had been told that there was a hill around 17 or 18 miles but I didn’t realise there were hills more or less straight away. At 3 or 4 miles we hit a hill and we kept on hitting them – harder each time! We passed through lots of lovely little villages and in each one the locals came out to support us. Many places there were little parties on the lawns, the kids were out in force giving us high 5’s and with their “power up” signs. I actually enjoyed reading the signs along the way, it helped to pass the time and gave me some laughs. One of the best was
I have been training for months…. to hold this sign up
I had set the pacer on my watch to 5 hours 40 minutes so I could see if I was ahead or behind. Up to around 16 miles I was green all the way. Around 5 or 6 minutes ahead of that schedule, so I was quite happy. Then we reached THE HILL!
There was a lady who kept running back to us and catching up with her friend who was behind us. She had done the run before and we asked about the hill. I asked how long it was, she held up three fingers. So 300 yards I thought, that’s not so bad! Deep down I knew she meant three miles but I didn’t want to believe that anyone would be cruel enough to put a three mile hill in a marathon at mile 17.
Sure enough it was three miles long and someone had indeed put this beast in at 17 miles. We walked all the way up the hill which slowed the pace down considerably. The only time I broke into a jog was when someone said there is a cameraman ahead. Here is that photo below, you can almost feel the pain through the photo!
The hills weren’t over at 20 miles either, we hit another one around 22 miles too. This has to be one of the hardest City marathons out there! I was therefore surprised to see the official photographs had me smiling in so many. Looking back though, in spite of the hills and the heat (did I mention the heat), I really did enjoy myself. I can remember the good times far more than the painful times.
You can see from my splits and elevation below that the last 2 miles were downhill and I managed to pick the pace up again. Partly to do with the fact I was almost finished but also because the support was even stronger. As we approached the stadium, we ran down a straight of maybe 100 metres. I could see 2 people jumping up and down at the bottom of this straight and Kmac said there’s a couple of people to surprise me. As I got closer I could see it was Kathryn and Laura and Kathryns daughter Nyla, they hadn’t said they were coming (although it seemed everyone else knew!). Wow, how good was it to see them and also see Lauras catch phrase on her plaque.
We turned the corner to run alongside the stadium with now only a few hundred yards left. We saw the main cheer squad along this stretch and huge thanks to everyone for coming. Mr and Mrs Jet, Derek, Emma, Sarah, Grace, Amelia, Evie, Sharon, Debbie and Christine and just before we entered the stadium, the Crawfords again.
Looking back, I don’t remember crossing the line too much but I know it felt good and very soon after the line we saw the rest of the runners. First Lynne, Jo and Michelle then David and Sally and shortly after Ashleigh came in. The walk to get the t-shirts and then pick up our bags was another marathon in itself.
Nutrition
So this week has been the part of the plan I am really good at – eating! I have been training for this all my life and it was good to eat loads of pasta, rice etc. I also made sure I was hydrating well all week but especially from Thursday onwards. It was going to be warm on Sunday and it was important to be hydrated. I also drank a lot during the run, I picked up water at every station, every 3 miles. One bottle went over my head and sometimes over my legs (thanks to Kev Jeffress for that tip) and then drank another. I also carried a bottle of water. You have already see the fuel I carried in the flat lay photo above. Again I fuelled every 30 mins. I feel like I got this spot on today, I didn’t have any major affects the day after, no cramps etc so I must have drank and fuelled well.
It should go without saying how important this is but it really is vital, especially on such a hot day.
Progress to Plan
Well, what can I say, the plan worked! there were so many times along the way that I felt I was falling behind, that I wasn’t doing enough miles. However for the majority of weeks I was ahead of plan, so for the odd week that I did fall short because of injury I had some spare in the bank.
If you are considering doing something similar, make sure you have a plan and that you stick to it as far as possible. Then just trust in the plan. I thank Jen for suggesting the plan to me first and to the Runna app for delivering it.
Key Learning
So much learnt on that run, where to start!
- The support from the crowd is worth miles! The support from friends is priceless!
- I only got up to 20 miles in training and this is quite normal for a marathon but your training will get you there.
- It’s vital to hydrate and fuel correctly. No cramp later or any ill effects are testimony to that.
- Great advice I got was to walk the hills and use them to take on fuel.
- Trust in the plan. So long as you have put the effort in, your training will get you over the line.
- When it’s so warm, pour water over your head and legs to cool down.
- Its an oldie but a Goldie
“If you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right!” - Believe in yourself, believe in your training and it will all come good.
- If I can do it, you can!
Fave of the week
First of all a huge thanks to all the previous Faves of the week. You have helped me get to this point more than you will ever know.
Thanks also to everyone who has sent me messages this week and every week to encourage me and provide support.
Thanks to everyone I have ran with in the past 16 weeks, I have really enjoyed every one of those runs.
The final Fave of the Week has to go to my marathon run buddies Kmac and Julie who stuck with me the whole way, waited for me at most mile markers whilst I caught up and carried me over the line.
It has been some journey and I have loved it. I can now count myself in the 1% of the population that have run a marathon (reminded to me just after I finished) and I feel proud that I have done it. I said this would be my one and only marathon. Will I do another one? Never say never I guess!
Thanks for reading this nonsense over the past 16 weeks and I hope in some way you have found it useful in your own running journey.
For the final time, I won’t see you next week but hope to see you out running soon.
