Run like the wind

written by Charky

My training was thrown out a little bit this week. It started well, went a little AWOL in the middle, but ended strong. An eve out on Thursday meant that my usual scheduled club run wasn’t on the cards, and should have run in the morning – but failed. To add on the top of this my sister gave birth to my first nephew – Rufus Huckleberry Butler on Thursday evening! So, much excitement pursued and we all spent the day together on Saturday. I managed a very wet and windy 5 miles on friday in Norfolk – it was horrible – painful rain.

Today saw my longest run yet – 17miles. It begun to hurt toward the end. My knees complained first, then my left Achilles and finally my hips began to creak. I carried a water bottle with me and drank it all – I needed more really. I will have to think about water stations, as I don’t want to carry something bigger. Today’s run was just me and Ray’s ipod. I took three gels with me, and had them at mile 4, 9, and 13. They acted as my mini goals. The banoffee TORQ one tasted amazing – perfect for my sweet tooth!

I ran from Balham to Battersea to Westminster to Tower Bridge, to Tate Modern to MI5 to Wandsworth back to Clapham and Balham.

written by Charky

written by Charky

8 miles, and on the way we packed an antelope, a baby, a coke, a dongle, an Emu, a fridge, George, a Higgs Boson, an Igloo, a jumpsuit, a kite, a leotard, a marmoset, a noun, an ontologist, a pie, the Queen, a ring, a snake, a thing, an umbrella, a video, a womble, an x-ray, you, a Zionist.

written by Charky

Tonight’s run was tough. I thought I had recovered from Sunday, but obviously not so! I was hoping someone was doing something like hills or Ted was doing an interesting session, but unfortunately not. So I trudged up Highgate Hill, hoping to catch someone, after I had set off a bit late. I wasn’t a particularly enjoyable run but glad I persevered and maintained a good 8 min mile pace.

written by Charky

NEARLY HALF WAY

written by Charky

Sussex Beacon Half Marathon. 13.1 miles in the driving rain and howling wind it was horrible. I was soaked through before I started and landed right foot first in the largest puddle around. Anyway, there were a lot of runners, and a good turn out of supporters – the mood fairly jovial for such a disgusting day. (Saturday had been so sunny!) I got my usual tight hamstrings and front of shin muscles, despite doing some pretty good stretching. I need to get better at these early mornings.

For reference for the next long runs ( I aim to run mornings, to simulate my Marathon day schedule)

• Dinner – Tomato/Olive/caper pasta with spinach, fresh basil and Parmesan – plain yogurt with pear.
• Bedtime – 10.45pm
• Race time 9:45am
• Wake up (after terrible sleep and dreams of being late ) 5.45am
• Drink half pint of water
• Shower
• Get dressed – cup of green tea
• 6.30am – breakfast (3 hrs before race) porridge with banana, chopped almonds and sunflower seeds, small glass of diluted fresh orange juice, half a piece of brown toast with honey.
• Sipping isotonic sports drink up until the race – went to the toilet several times!

I was so angry, I realised just before we arrived that I had forgotten all my gels for the race. I was mad, but coped, I made use of the lucazade stations on the course, and Ray got me some sweets for my back pocket.

I did feel fairly hard, and only felt like I was warming up around mile 8. I didn’t make the habit of looking at my watch too often, which I think was a good idea. I just glanced occasionally to see what pace I was going at. I drifted between 7-8min miles.

Sadly I failed to lock my bezel after the race, my mac pushing the resume button, meaning I clocked around 15 miles! According to chip time – official was 1:37:56

written by Charky

HILLS with Bernie the coach – 8 x 200m hill sprints – delicious. I felt strong for the most part, but nausea set in on 6-8. Thankfully the rain held off  –  the hill didn’t look as though it could get any more waterlogged. I’m feeling pretty positive about Sunday’s half Marathon, and I’m actually looking forward to it! Finger’s crossed that the sun is shining and the wind is non existent. A fellow chaser was telling myself and Camilla some not too encouraging tales of her experiences of the run in the past. Hard hills and strong winds were mentioned in quick succession…I’m not dwelling on it.

The view on the way down from Primrose Hill

written by Charky

Ouch, this was hard on the back of last night. I felt like I was running on empty, and the heath hills were horrid. My knees are complaining, so I have begun to ice – I think its helping. At least it feels like I get a ‘night off’ tonight though.

written by Charky

Absolutely drenched. It was cold and very very wet – puddles the size of small swimming pools, and rivers flowing out of the gates of the park. Tonight was not a fun run. I was hoping to get some training in with Ted the trainer, but he wimped out and didn’t show, in fact the general turn out for the club was poor. However, those of us who were foolish enough to not let a whole load of rain stop us running, stepped out from beneath the cover of the Talacre sports center and reluctantly accepted the rain. I joined Kirsty for some threshold. We ran 10 x 3min fast with 90 seconds recovery. I did very badly with my timings and ended up guessing most of them, so consistency, as it should have been, wasn’t the theme of the night. The session wasn’t particularly hard, surprising thinking about my tired legs from Sunday. It’s exciting to think that I may be reaching a point where I am beginning to recover quicker and quicker.

written by Charky