You know you have it bad when…..

Thursday 24th April     

Body Pump

Body Attack

……..you are excited that the most sadistic fitness instructor at the gym is taking your class!

Did Body Pump with pacepusher and my brother (might have to think of a nickname for him) led by Miss Pump and Hot Buns Man (a name given by an anonymous friend not me!) and that was fine, back up to normal weights, in fact going to increase some next week and then instead of said man above and his sidekick taking Attack it was in fact with Hot Buns Man and Lorraine (Gladiator woman mentioned last week!).

I was, sadly enough, really excited by this as Lorraine has to be the fittest, strongest woman I know and she makes you work so hard but it is that which makes me really enjoy it.  So I had a fab time in attack, but it made my legs sore again!  I may be cross training to try and help aid recovery but I do not think I am doing it gently enough!

Was supposed to run Friday but a bad day at work just put me right off and now we are in Bristol for a wedding for the weekend.   Should have run Sat morning but managed to find enough excuses not to and I doubt my head will feel alive enough Sun morning to make me go out (I outlasted everyone though, especially pacepusher who was asleep at 9.30pm!!!!!!!)

 

Reliving the marathon

22.4.08     4 miles   37.54       Ave pace 9.29 m/m

9.22, 9.40, 9.14, 9.37

That was hard!!!!  First run since the marathon and my legs were obviously not as recovered as I thought they were!  I was at the Stirling Manangement Centre in the grounds of the University campus Tuesday and Wednesday so it was nice to have somewhere different to run.    Went round the lake in the grounds and then out to Bridge of Allan and found a park there to run around so I did not have a lot of running on pavements to do.  First half went okay and then I would say I was reliving the marathon as my legs were pretty sore and reminded me of last Sunday.

Lack of sleep (mostly self induced) and the memory of yesterday’s run on my legs have meant I have cried off from the club tonight – last night was pretty slow yesterday but there is no way I could go faster yet as that felt really fast!

 

Hill training

12 miles – 6 1/2 hours!!!!

Cruach Ardrain 3432ft

Beinn Tulaichean 3104ft

It’s been a while since pacepusher and I bagged any munros, this being due to the fact that he does his long runs on a Saturday and I do mine on a Sunday so it does not leave much time to do any.

Today was an ideal opportunity to get in some cross training of this kind and it was great to be outside all day although I get really fed up when it comes to going downhill as I am not fearless like pacepusher and really take my time – it didn’t stop me falling though!

On the way up Cruach Ardrain

As usual we took a long, difficult way to get up (Cameron McNeish describes it as being 14 1/2 km, as stated above we had a rather longer route).  Pacepusher has described why in his entry for today.

I think I got up to the top quicker than I would have done the last time we did any but my legs were very jelly like on the way back down.  Pacepusher has just said he is happy to do more on any Saturdays before the WHW race – I had to point out that I did not think we had any spare Saturdays before then!

At the top of Beinn Tulaichean

 

Thanks…..

Body Pump

Body Attack

 

…….. for the supportive comments.  I still feel rubbish about how I did but it is helpful to get supportive comments like I have had.  

I am actually glad to say that I woke up with a really sore throat and feeling miserable yesterday as at least it means there was a reason and I don’t think I just bottled it.  It was the same in New York that it did not actually come out until a couple of days later (on both occasions I managed to feel alive enough to shop in the day or two afterwards, it shows what I can do if I try!)

I still felt miserable today but had arranged to do Body Pump with my sister-in-law this morning.  I told Lorraine the instructor not to shout at me if I used light weights on my legs because of doing the marathon and she asked my time which she then announced to the rest of the class, pointing me out as the one with the red face now!  So no chance of keeping my time a secret then!

Lorraine is fierce in the classes and pushes you right to the brink but she was nice to me today!  When we heard that they were re-introducing Gladiators we wanted her to apply!  By the time we finished the warm up track I said to Susan that I wanted to do Body Attack too which was on afterwards and of course she encouraged me.  I used almost my normal weights but was surprised at how hard it felt throughout all the tracks not just the legs.  I felt the squats were fine and I was getting a bit cocky about how well my legs had recovered but the lunges were an entirely different story and I may as well not have bothered doing them at all!

So I did stay for attack but did most of the class low impact as my legs were jelly like after those lunges.  It did loosen them off though and I felt better after attack than I did after pump.  I am sure that all the walking the two days after the marathon really helped with my recovery as this is the best my legs have felt so soon after the marathon.  Will have to do it after Edinburgh too.

One strange thing that happened to me this time was that directly I finished the marathon I noticed my ankles had really swollen up, bruised and sore.  This has never happened before and it only disapeared today.  On Tuesday I could not get my own socks on and had to borrow a pair of pacepushers!

Question:  Any other marathon (or ultra) runners out there that are also primary teachers?  I think my job really hampers my chances at the marathon as I am so tired all the time and susceptible to a large number of germs on a daily basis!  A spring marathon is possibly especially hard as we have nearly come to the end of the year and follows what I always think is the hardest term.

Must try harder

13th April 2008 Flora London Marathon

9.47 am (didn’t take long to get over the start line this time!)

26.44 miles (!) - 4 hours, 32 minutes, 17 seconds  Ave pace (on my garmin) 10.18 m/m

10.05, 9.30, 9.21, 9.19, 9.26, 9.34, 9.46 (had to walk around Cutty Sark as so busy and tight)

9.18, 9.28, 9.20, 9.19, 9.11, 9.17, 9.29

9.21, 9.35, 9.46, 10.29, 12.01, 11.54, 12.16

11.58, 13.48, 12.50, 10.28, 10.50 (then 10.06 pace for the last part)

I am absolutely gutted that I did not get the time I wanted in London, I do not think I was even being over ambitious at going for under 4.10 but it was not happening for me at all. 

In the week leading up to the marathon I had very little sleep and constantly felt like I was fighting off a cold, just like in New York.  We got the train down on Friday and I did not find getting the train a good idea as it was six and a half hours and my hip really stiffened up.  We were then rushing about the rest of the night getting to the hotel, going to the expo and finding food.  Pacepusher has will be writing far more about today and there is no point in me repeating it here, just read his too. 

I felt absolutely shattered on Saturday but went to the Imperial War Museum (only 2 blocks from our hotel) and the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum in the afternoon.  I decided this would be less stressful than shopping the day before and I really enjoyed them.  The Imperial War Museum has so many different things in it from conflicts through the twentieth century, it is really amazing and I would highly recommend it.  It is good for kids too.  And its free!  The Cabinet War Rooms andChurchill Museum was expensive in comparision but well worth the visit. 

We went to Miss Pump’s parents house in Kensington for dinner on the Saturday night which was fab as then we knew could have as much as wanted to eat and did not have to worry about finding somewhere to eat.  Miss Pump put on the tape of the 2007 New York Marathon for a bit of inspiration although she made us turn it off when Britain’s Got Talent came on.  We did manage to watch Paula going past Wami and finish before it started though.  (Miss Pump has a bit of a fancy for SImon Cowell!)  So we did eat loads and it was great!  It was really nice of them to invite us over.

Managed my best sleep of the week on the Saturday night but it still wasn’t great.  We must have left the hotel earlier last year as I remembered the train and the station being quite quiet but it certainly wasn’t like that this year and morbidly enough as we were crushed like cattle on the train and and unable to see out of the windows I was reminded of the Jewish people during the holocaust being sent to Auschwitz etc by cattle trucks in a similar way.  (There was a holocaust part to the Imperial War Museum which was excellent although in terms of knowldege and information I knew the majority of it from school and university.  It never stops the pictures, models, shoes, exhibits etc being powerful.)

We met Debs on the train which I thought was pretty amazing considering the number of trains and people going to Blackheath and walked up with her.  One of the things that helped us survive the train journey to London without killing each other was probably the fact that we met Debs and Marco and ended up all sitting with each other.  Debs had a great supply of magazines and newspapers with her which helped keep me occupied!

I ended up in my pen pretty early and it only took 2 mins to get over the start line although again we did come to a stop about a quarter of a mile down the road, where the toilets were!  We were stopped a couple of times more and I was really surprised that I managed a 10.05 min mile considering that.  I felt okay early on but and was determined to keep it steady and stay at my pace.  I did make up the slow start eventually and although they still vary a bit I was quite pleased with the splits up to the end of 17 miles as they did mean I averaged 9.28 m/m which was exactly what I wanted.  It was worrying me though that my garmin was quite out right from the start and was going off before the mile markers so I knew I would have more to catch up with at the end, but I just kept going with the garmin.

It was quite warm up to about 11 miles but I was shivering and cold and had a bit of a sore throat and sore head.  The shivering was familiar from New York and I was a bit worried but just tried to keep it steady.  When it started raining at about 11/12 miles this actually made me feel better and I sped up a little for a bit. 

At 17 miles though I started to feel rubbish and from 18 I started dramatically slowing.  I knew then I had blown it but I really wanted to run the whole thing and kept running to 21 miles although being painfully slow and intermittently crying at the thought I had done the same thing as New York. At no point did I feel like I was pushing it and I never felt out of my breath but my legs just died.  I walked a bit from 21 to 23 and then managed to run the rest of the way as the crowds are so great at that point.  The support was amazing the whole way round and I am determined I will be back to run the whole way and being able to enjoy them a bit more.

I don’t know what was up with me and whether it was a bug and/or lack of sleep  or whether like New York I lost the bottle and just couldn’t do it which is more worrying.  I never thought that even if I did not break the 4.10 I wouldn’t get a pb.  So again I was sobbing and looking miserable as I came over the finish line.

Miss Pump had been running for the Mental Health Foundation and had put us down for the reception afterwards. It was really nice to go somewhere afterwards like that and get a cup of tea (!), sandwhiches (although it took me about an hour and a half to eat one) and a massage.  We went back to the hotel after, got ready, had dinner and went to meet Debs, Marco and Miss Pump at All Bar One in Leicester Square.  They had all done really well.  Had a good time although I always forget how early pubs shut in London!

Walked all day on the Monday shopping around Covent Garden, Soho, Oxford Street and Carnaby Street.  I like buying things from independant shops while I am down there and we only went to Oxford Street for Topshop (but only bought stuff from the designer bit and for Niketown which we were devestated to find closed for refurbishment. 

Went to see Dirty Dancing at night with Miss Pump, it was brilliant and the dancing was amazing, better than in the film.  Managed to shop at Camden Market on Tuesday before getting the train home again and stuffing our faces a bit last night for a treat.  Will have to be good again from tomorrow as we have a wedding a week on Saturday.

Now looking to Edinburgh to do better and get under the 4.10.   I just hope I recover in time!

 

More pictures!

        

More pictures here:      Animoto.com

I have a ‘How Wonderful’ award even though I am in my taper, in fact it may be because of that!  I have finally lost some more weight! Desperate measures at the last minute seem to be working but I am still eating enough too.  There is more than just the marathon to think of – we have a wedding two weeks after that and I don’t know what I will want to wear.  Can’t I just wear my London t-shirt!

Lots of people have asked me if I am nervous/excited etc now about the marathon and I really have been barely thinking about it.  I think it is because I have taken the pressure off myself to get under the four hours as I know I have not had the training for it like I had before New York when I was absolutely certain I could do it.  Going for sub 4 hrs 10 mins and running at 9.30 m/m pace does not seem such a challenge and if I take a bit more off it than that that would be amazing and that woud still be quite a chunk off my pb.  I will just have to work really, really hard in the short time I have between coming back from Malawi and going to Chicago to get under the 4 hours.  Not sure about the safety aspect of running in Malawi and I was assuming I wouldn’t be but the area I will be staying is high on a plateau and could be good altitude training!  I wonder who I could rope in to run around the village with me!  By all accounts I will be surrounded with children wherever I go but I would feel a bit guilty running and making them run if they have not had much to eat!

They’ll think I’m really slow

7.14pm, 6.13 miles, 57.42 mins, Ave pace 9.25m/m

Speed session

Warm up – mile 1 – 7.54 m/m (And this was supposed to be taking it easy tonight, I don’t think I have even done a first mile at that pace in a 10km race!)  0.44 miles – 9.24 m/m pace

5 mins – 7.43 m/m 4 mins – 8.25 m/m,

 3 mins – 8.12m/m, 2 mins – 8.03m/m,

 1 min – 7.58m/m, 3 mins – 8.14m/m,

 2 mins – 7.40m/m, 1 min – 7.15m/m

Cool down -  1 mile – 9.49 m/m, 0.40miles – 8.50m/m pace

I was a bit apprehensive about going to the club tonight as I was not sure if this was the right thing to be doing less than a week before London.  I was determined I would keep it really easy, hence the title for this blog as I hate not working as hard as the others in the group.  And that means I am not quite sure where this first mile came from, apart from the fact that the fast guys were in front and I think I thought I had to be chasing them.

Apart from having to take it easy I quite enjoyed this tonight as it is great to be out on the cycle path, for it to be daylight and to be out with other people.

This wireless laptop may have been a bad idea, first of all I have been on it a lot and I really do mean a lot and it might be one more thing for pacepusher and I to fall out about as he asked to go on to write his blog up and then I spent the whole time staring at him impatiently waiting for him to finish so I could get on.  It is mine after all and partly because I hated having to wait for him to finish on the other computer!

Couple of days rest now, can’t decide whether to run Wednesday or not.

 

 

Running on Animoto

Check out some photos below.  Might do another one later, you don’t get many on one if you are not paying for it!

Animoto.com

Tapering too much I think!

Sat 5th April, 7.30am, 3 miles, not good enough to bother recording splits or times!

Since that run on Wednesday night I have hardly done anything.  I was going to do some track work on Thursday night with pacepusher and then he cried off and decided just to do body pump.  I tried to go out; I was already changed, I went outside, I waited for my garmin to come on, I ran for a couple of minutes and then I just went for a walk! My legs were sore from Wednesday night and I had no levels for running myself, I was so tired waiting for the end of a very long 13 week term and could not bear to put in the effort to run. 

If the London marathon had been this weekend then I know my time would be rubbish as I really need this week on holiday to recover from work and get some rest – both physically and mentally.  Anyone who doesn’t believe teachers work hard and need the holidays desperately when they come just read my other blog and even that doesn’t really cover it!

I could not run on Friday as I was rushing off to Edinburgh for the first training weekend for the Malawi global teachers weekend (if you really want to know what we did see my other blog).  I barely slept Friday night but got up early and ran 3 miles at 7.30 on Sat morning.  Everyone thought I was mad and I don’t think that changed throughout the weekend when tales of training and marathons came out.  They thought pacepusher was more mad though!  It was a really good weekend but again mentally draining and tiring. 

I planned to do 7 – 10 miles today but after the training finished at 12.30pm and go around Holyrood Park etc before coming home.  I had not packed many running clothes though and the snow kind of put me off – I had no desire to run, get soaked and then sit on a train.  So the inevitable happened and I have not run at all as I ended up at Braehead on the way home buying the router for my wireless laptop that I am now sitting using while watching a DVD.  I have found a slight flaw in this plan of me being able to sit in the living room and play on the net instead of the cold spare room – pacepusher has just announced that the noise of me typing is going to drive him demented while we watch things!  Not sure what the solution to this is going to be.  Any ideas?

When we go to Braehead we are inevitably 3 times longer than we intend to be not least because we get coffees and that always means standing in a 1/2 hour queue.  I had lost all motivation to run by the time we got home and just wanted to get my laptop set up.  I might get some things on this blog now!

My intented training for next week is pretty low too:

Monday – something to make up for today – not sure what

Wednesday – 3/4 miles

Friday – 2 miles when we get to London just to loosen off after the train journey

 

Number crunching

Wednesday 2nd April,  7.14pm, 5.66 miles, 47.23 mins, Ave pace 8.22 m/m

8.48, 8.08, 8.21, 8.11, 8.20, + 8.22 pace for the 0.66

I have a ‘How Wonderful’ award for last night although I have no intention of doing it for every run.  It goes to Zane Lowe for allowing me to play The Libertines ’Don’t look back into the sun’ at full blast on the way to the running club – I am sure this got me motivated.  Not sure what I was more sweaty and messy at – the end of the run last night or when I went to see them at King Tuts.

New route for me with the running club tonight and I did not know the first half of it all, although I had run the second half as part of long runs, although coming the other way. It was quite hilly but that is good as I have not done enough of that in training recently.  I am not sure I should have been going at the pace I was though with London a week on Sunday. 

Pleased with the splits though and although I was working hard I could have kept going longer.  My third one was a bit slower as it was really uphill at that point and the fifth one I am annoyed about as I had to walk for what must have been about 15 seconds because of some nasty dogs.  They were chasing after us and not surprisingly were not listening to their owner.

I absolutely hate not finishing on a mile and I would have kept going to 6 miles but I had absolutely no idea when that was as when I checked the split of my last mile I pressed the wrong button and it started saying the battery was low so a strange screen came up that I had never seen before and I could not see time or distance or anything.  I am usually number crunching in my head all the time to get projected mile pace or finishing time.  It keeps me going!  I couldn’t remember how to explain how to simplify fractions yesterday though.  It came back to me eventually – it’s something you just know automatically and sometimes that makes it hard to explain to the children – one of the reasons why I often get them to explain things to each other as they sometimes understand it better coming from a peer, and no I am not just trying to get out of teaching!  Check out the link to my school blog on the right if you want to see what I do on a daily basis!