Wednesday 23 February 2011

Race to fitness

After my virus last month I jumped straight back into 116 miles in 7 days. My legs of course complained and I struggled on some of my easy recovery runs. I know this is normal when I am overloading my body in this way. I went straight off this high mileage into the Chichester 10k. I knew I had tired legs and on my warm up I did not feel too great! It was a very blustery day and my effort levels were through the roof, I ran hard all the way to finish in a disappointing time of 34.04. I knew this was not a reflection of my form, but rather how tired I was. A week later I had Wokingham half marathon, this was to be another training run, so I ran through this as well clocking 94miles for the week, but I felt so much better, I ran 73.39 in control and then continued to run doing 23 miles in total for the day. This picked up my confidence for the following weekend, when I toed the line at the English National cross-country in Alton towers. I was very excited about racing in the tough muddy conditions, but the last minute shortening of the course did not work in my favour, they cut the race by 2k and changed the course so we didn't go up the steep long hill (this was the bit I was excited about). Despite this I managed to hang on to the tails of Hatty Dean and Lou Damen, to secure 3rd position. Now to build on my form and get a solid training stint in before I really test myself in the Reading half, my last race pre London Marathon.

Monday 24 January 2011

Temporary Blip

It was going so well and I was finally starting to bang out some big sessions at a good pace. I was starting the marathon build up in a great place and really looking forward to getting my teeth into some good long runs. I usually have a rest pre-marathon build up, but for some reason I knew I would have to cash it in. I think I was being realistic with my daughter starting Nursery and all the colds and bugs that come with that. Just 3 days after Ruby started Nursery we both went down with a very bad sore throat and a nasty cough. I have been resting as I never like to train through sore throats, and after day 5 I am starting to feel like I could do an easy run tomorrow, hopefully I can wave this bug good bye and get my teeth into some good miles once more. If you are training for a marathon don't panic if you get ill, rest and make sure it has gone before you re-start your running again. 5-7 days of rest will not affect your overall fitness in the bigger picture!

Wednesday 12 January 2011

I was really excited about jumping back into international competition again at the Great North Cross-country in Edinburgh. The week before was no taper week, with the Somerley 10k on the Monday and then a cracking session with the Bournemouth AC lads on the Tuesday night, we did 3 x 15mins with 3mins jog rec, and I felt my strength returning, but the next day my legs were trashed. I was tired for the following few days, so I took it easy and did less miles. A short flight up north, I found myself walking off the plane in Edinburgh into a blizzard. Four inches fell overnight, and made Arthur’s seat look like a winter wonderland. However, the race was no wonderland for me, ghee I forgot how fast and intense XC running is and with a sheer wall to climb up on each lap..(.oh maybe that was a hill) I soon had jelly legs and lactic up to my eyeballs. Despite the grit I had to endure I finished a solid 8th and I enjoyed every moment of it. I am now excited about getting fitter and racing some more, and seeing myself get stronger and faster over the next 3 months.

Wednesday 5 January 2011

The new year and ready to go!

Sorry for the lack of postings, but the new year brings more organisation and time to keep my blog updated.

Since I had an average run in Chicago, I have taken my time to build the miles and the fitness again. I have been running consistently and have decided to join up with Bournemouth AC on Tuesday evenings to help me push some pace boundaries and also to motivate me in some tough sessions. Having ran 85 miles over the last 3 weeks I feel like I am starting to turn a corner fitness wise- no where near my peak but working towards it. I am very excited about my race calender this year! It is true I need to run well again, and bag some fast times I can't blame 'just had a baby' any more as Ruby now approaches 19 months. I kicked off the year with a training run at the Somerley 10k, and felt like I had a strong run on the off road trails, finishing 2nd overall and 1st Lady. Now getting very excited about racing on an international level again this weekend at the Great North Cross Country in Edinburgh. It was 2 years since I last raced XC seriously and it was at this very place in the World Championships. Lets hope I can have a solid run and see where I am at.

Thursday 29 July 2010

Achey legs.

My Legs ache! They ache in a good way, a way that means I have been putting in some decent training again. It is a necessary evil, the overload phase of training. It always saps my legs of their bounce and I struggle with my pace, but I know once my body has adapted to the loads the pace will come back along with some more bounce. The true bounce never comes back until the taper time, and that for me is a couple of months away. Right now I am into a focused training month, and I just have to be patient for the fitness to come. I know I am not quite back to my old self in terms of fitness having competed in the Sunderland 10k Last month. For me it was more than seeing where I was in terms of fitness, it was about getting back out on the race scene, getting my racing head back and seeing if I was really ready for it all again. I loved being back in the race environment; it felt like putting on a comfortable old pair of slippers. I ran 34.28 – (and no I wasn’t wearing an old pair of slippers) a time that is a true reflection of where I am at right now, given I had just a month of training under my belt since my injury. So work to do, but I am moving in the right direction.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

one race down

I have done it, I have got in my first race since my injury. I find getting back into racing is always a bit daunting as you never know how you are going to fare. I knew I was never going to set any records and my 34.28 for the 10k great Sunderland run was a true reflection of my form and really what I expected, despite this a little bit of me still wanted to run faster! I now know just how much work I need to do in the next 12 weeks in the lead into the Chicago marathon, and August is really going to be about some good solid miles, specifically for the marathon.

Racing and understanding your times is all about knowing what point you are in your training cycle. I am not upset about my time, it is just a reflection of my current form. I know in 10weeks time I will be ready to run fast!

Today I did a 10mile tempo run just under 6min miles and it nearly wiped me out. This is re-enforcing just how much work I need to do...bring on the training!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Getting in the miles

Finally I am cracking out some decent mileage between 80 and 90 miles per week and completing some good solid sessions. Over the last few weeks I have really noticed that my pace has started to come down and I am able to run faster for the same all out effort. I have noticed also that my recovery between my sessions has improved and this is a great sign that I am getting fitter. Don't get me wrong I am not fit, as I still have a long way to go until I would describe my self as fit....in relative terms my fit is to be able to run 5.20 miles for a half marathon and at the moment I can just about hold it for 6 minutes. So as you can see I have some work to do. Just how much work will be on show for all to see as I am racing the Sunderland 10k this weekend. I am excited about racing, but nervous at how much it might hurt!