Put Yer Feet Up, says Schedule

Just when I thought I didn't even want to hear the word Schedule again, it was so surprisingly super lovely to get the RunnersWorld marathon training email this week. 

Compared to recent times, the suggested plan brought a huge smile and a massive sense of relief: 

• Monday: Rest
  
• Tuesday: Rest
  
• Wednesday: A gentle walk
  
• Thursday: Maybe a swim
  
• Friday: Rest
  
• Saturday: Another gentle walk
  
• Sunday: A gentle walk
  

And it brought a sense of achievement that I hadn't really tapped into.  Hooray! It's done. It's all done. All that's left now is the completely indulgent recovery process, including some weight gain, I hope. Could someone pass me the TV remote control? I can't get up, I'll upset my bag of doughnuts.

Race Report: 26 April 2009

On the hottest, sunniest day ever recorded in London (and I never exaggerate) 35,000 men and women completed the Flora London Marathon 2009. 

I'm very happy to say I was one of them. And my buddies, the Three S's, were amongst the pack too. Hooray!

Goal one: achieved. Crossed finish line.

But let's back-track a bit... Long before a finish line was in sight we all crossed the START line. I have to give copious gratitude and acknowledgement to the super smooth organisation that went on to make that possible, and I'm not just talking about the 4 of us getting up on time. The race was supremely well organised, with three different concurrent starts, separate time-based zones within each start, heaps of helpful marshalls and lots of space. I was amazed. Compared to the random crush that I've found myself in at the start of local races, this was heavenly. 

26.2 miles were laid out in front of us. We knew what we had to do. And, miracle of miracles, we did it. But it wasn't simply a case of running. Compared to a peaceful solo training run I felt like I was multitasking mission impossible: all senses were engaged to facilitate ducking and diving, bobbing and a-weaving to avoid colliding with other runners or tripping over the thousands of discarded drinks bottles, looking up to catch sights of the city and scan the supporter crowd for familiar faces, hearing cheer after cheer after cheer for the crazy, crazy costumed runners, and watching thousands of people run past while I waited in the Loo Queue a couple of times...  T'was all a bit exhausting, (and brilliant) if truth be told!

And amazingly:

• The shin pain that's been haunting training lately didn't show up at any point. 
• Towards the end, my left leg asked (not very politely at all) for some stretching, which I gave it in one of the tunnels so that none of the supporters would see me stop for a moment! But a quad stretch and a hammy stretch silenced its cries.
  
• My left little toe got attention deficit disorder and got in on the act creating a blister and whining a bit about that. But nothing that was going to stop me.
  
• The 4 of us were able to run the whole distance, no walking. Although at times we're all pretty sure walking might have been faster than what we were doing.
  

Goal two: achieved. Ran the full 26.2 miles. In fact, what with all the bobbing and a-weaving, my watch clocked 26.56 miles. What?!

Pace-wise, I took it easy and kept up a fairly steady plod. Actually did the second half in exactly the same time as the first half, which I'm finding surprisingly balanced!

Goal three: ho hum! My 4:42 didn't get me the sub 4:30 I was looking for, but to be perfectly honest, I couldn't give a **** about that. I'm alive. I'm not broken and that's gotta be more important ;o)

Safe to say, 300+ training miles, 10 chiropractic treatments, 8 massages, 4 acupuncture sessions and an unfeasible volume of Lucozade has paid off. Job done.

I'm hoping to acquire some photos soon but in the meantime if you need visuals, go find a mirror and take a good look at the superstar that you are for reading all my babbling blurb all these weeks. It's always been a team effort, this marathon malarkey. Thanking you. And hobbling off to lie down again...

Final Flapjack Friday

What a momentous oven door closing that was. My last tray of Flapjack Friday flapjacks are cooling in the kitchen (an old favourite recipe-wise; pineapple, mango and a hint of mixed spice). And, I have to say, I can't wait for them to all be gone gone gone. I may need to take an extended break from flapjacks after this weekend!

And so, what with this being my last blog entry before the run and all, I'm going to leave you with a modest little picture from way back when. It never hurts to practice winning (especially when no one is there to see you).

Thanks y'all for your support, donations, laughs and patience. See you on the other side of the finish line.

This time next week...

This time next week I'll be somewhere between Greenwich Park and The Mall. Hopefully very much closer to The Mall as I'll have been running for over 4 hours. 

Today saw my last significant training run, a steady 12 miler in the sunshine along the Pill Track as far as the Mosaic Turds (if you've seen them you know where I mean) and home again. There will be a couple of small runs during the week, just enough to keep the legs loose, but nothing even close to taxing. Schedule is asking for a speed session on Tuesday. Ha! Like that's gonna happen. Sorry Schedule, but I'm your slave no more. 

Ooh, that feels a bit frightening. Schedule has been a friend in many ways over these long weeks. It's hard to imagine how the last 4 months would have been without Schedule casting her guidance/dark shadow over my life. Love her and bless her, she's been a hard task master, mildly abusive at times, but she knew what needed to be done. And with her help I'm confident that I'm ready. Without her standing by me, guiding my choices of how to spend my days (why would I want to do anything else but eat, sleep and run anyway?!), I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be feeling this way. Sure, I also possibly might not be feeling the leg pain that I'm still feeling and consciously ignoring, but hey...

Tough love is what I've had from Schedule. And you've gotta respect that.

Passions still run high though. When I was running today I did have a clear vision of taking a match to Schedule and burning, burning, burning her. Thought it would make a nice final photo for the blog. Let's wait and see on that one.

So, here's to the final week. Thanks for hanging in there with me, y'all. 

Hoo-bloody-rah! Looks like we're gonna make it ;o)

Training Update Tuesday (yeah, on Thursday. Whatever)

I'm thinking of changing the title from Training Update Tuesday, to Reasons Why I'm Not Training Any Day. 

Yep, training is on hold once again. While my leg is feeling much better, I've gone and got a virus that told me to take a few days off and rest. OK, so actually the doctor told me that. I couldn't interpret what the shakes, sweats and headaches were telling me. Luckily the trained professionals could see the wood amongst the trees. 

And yes, it is possible my leg is feeling much better due to the ibuprofen and paracetamol I've been advised to take for the virus...

Tis lucky that the start and the middle of my training went really, really well, cos this last section has been one bit of trouble after the next.

Am counting the days now, ten to go... Bring it on.

In the last 5 hours...

In the last 5 hours I've run 22 miles, eaten the biggest plate of pasta you've ever seen and devoured a Biscuit Boost in three bites.

I will only ever have to run that far again ONCE IN MY LIFE. 

How thankful am I about that? You cannot imagine!

And now I'm going to take the ice off my legs and go soak in the bath until the water gets cold.

Heaven ;o)

Training Update Tuesday: Week 14

I'm free-styling now with this training malarkey. Shhhh, don't tell Schedule but I've developed an alternative plan. 

Schedule proved too much for me. But no more. Lessons learnt. 

I failed to listen to my own needs and went blindly on responding to Schedule's every demand. I let Schedule damage me. But I'm coming back stronger. Oh yes.

My injury seems to be magically healing. After 8 days rest I've rejoined the game, creeping along with a 3 miler, a 5 and a 10. Legs are feeling better each day. Today there's no pain at all. Hardly even a niggle. 

The plan now is to do one more long long long run, (20+), and then to taper. Taper is runners code for slack off bigtime. Personally, I can't wait for the taper. I've kind of already had one, cos of the injury, and it was lush (apart from the pain). The only problem with reaching proper taper time is that it means RACE DAY is getting very close. 26th April is approaching with gusto.

So, the revamped plan will see me running 20+miles tomorrow, 18 on Easter Monday and 12 on the 19th, with a few little runs in between. I'm pretty much done with speed sessions and fartlek. It all feels a bit like cramming physics revision the night before the exam now. As Runners World predicted, I've had a major "reassessment of my marathon goals"; Sub 4 hours??? Let's just hang in there with this bloody training and aim to make it round before they start letting the traffic back on the roads.

Fashions come and go

Fashions may come and go, but strapping cold packs and frozen peas to screaming shins with tea towels is a timeless act. I'm sure of it.

Standard leg wear just at the moment/for the foreseeable.

Flapjack Friday

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Is it OK to be a bit bored now? No, not you guys reading this, I mean me. Me. Me. Me!

And what about being whiney? Can I do that?

In my most pathetic voice ever, "My legs hurt."

I'm stretching. I'm having chiropractic work. I'm getting massage.

I'm icing. I'm Biofreezing. I'm resting. 

And it hurts.

Boo hoo!

I had a 3 mile run yesterday to test the waters. The thing with running is there's enough else going on to distract oneself from the pain. And I'm not sure that's a good thing. I'm not sure the searing pain that ripped through my legs when I first stood up this morning was an especially good thing either.

Hmmm. What now?

ps. had some great goji berry flapjacks this week. yummamundo.

Flapjack Friday

Some weeks it all comes together. There's fresh flapjacks in the tupperware, running happens like clockwork, energy is good and all is well.

Other weeks the flapjack box is empty.

I had a really good chiropractic session for my ouchy leg today. Leg feels much better for it, but there won't be any 19 milers happening for me this weekend. I've been advised to do one-minute-massage on it a few times a day and to rest it from running until Monday or Tuesday. Then I'll check in with the chiropractor again after that run and we'll see what's what.

So, I've missed two runs this week already and there's two more I'm going to miss for sure. Schedule isn't happy. And I don't care! I don't like pain. When Healing and Schedule go head to head, Healing wins every time for me.

Here's to a lazy lazy lazy weekend and a speedy recovery.

Take care, y'all. 

Training Update Tuesday (on a Thursday)

Boo-hoo! Training is on hold just at the moment. A cheeky leg injury is scuppering my running plans for a few days. Probably shouldn't have run on Tuesday, methinks, as it was hurting before I left the house after the 19 miler on the weekend. 

There's a band of muscle on the inside of my right shin that feels like it wants to explode when I put weight on my leg. And, surprisingly perhaps, that's not the most fun I've ever had ;o(

So, I'm practicing patience and my RICE technique. (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). 

Now, where's that bag of frozen peas?

(Perfect time for some sympathy donations to the Kith & Kids cause...)

I'm not a name, I'm a number

Woo hoo! In the post over the weekend I received notification of my official marathon race number. Super exciting and all part of the process. The day before the run I'll take the form with me to register and they'll give me the actual number to pin on my t-shirt. My personal identifier.

And what is the number?.... It's (cue drum roll and huge crash of cymbals).... 39754.

Hmm, it ain't especially catchy and I doubt it'll help you spot me on the telly, but my biggest reaction to the number is a deep sense of something missing. I'm not sure if it's the caffeine in my energy gels, the physical act of running itself, or the extra amount of food I'm eating to compensate for all the calories spent in action, but I am finding it deeply ironic that it's not got a Number 2 in it ;o)

Training Update Tuesday: Week 11

Three days off and I'm almost looking forward to running again this evening.
OK, I am looking forward to it. But mostly cos I just saw my lovely lovely new watch out of the corner of my eye and it reminded me;

1. life is good
2. running makes me feel even gooder
3. lots of my amazing friends are supporting me with this crazy endeavour.

And with that, what's not to look forward to?

Am thinking I might total up the miles I've run so far since training started on 5 Jan. Let's do it, hang on a minute ... oh me oh my... it's just over 250!!! That must need some sort of celebration. Some sort of donation frenzy perhaps?

250 miles since Schedule first told me what to do. Makes me wanna say, "Bless you feet, you little size 6 superstars" ;o)

Flapjack Friday

This week has seen the birth of THE BEST FLAPJACKS EVER. Or at least they were when I ate some, straight from the tin, soon after they came out of the oven. By the time my housemate got to them later they were "a bit buttery". That's the danger in overselling something - stuff never lives up to the hype ;o(

But it could be that they tasted like THE BEST FLAPJACKS EVER to me because suddenly I am hungry all the time. I'd always thought I already was hungry all the time. But it's reached new levels. Maybe it's psychological since the arrival of calorie data from my new watch? Or maybe it's just a powerful physical reality? Or both.

Watch says the 13 mile run this morning burned up 1297 of those cute little calorie things. (oh, so now Watch has a voice. And an identity. Just like Schedule. I hope they don't hook up together and plan whole new levels of torture for me.) ...Just for reference, and by way of a little aside, I'm imagining each calorie being a lickle tiny colourful bean of energy. Slightly shiny and a little bit bouncy. But then I may be everso slightly insane. And so, moving back to the main thrust of this post... A commonly recommended daily calorie intake for women is 2000, but I'm guessing that's not sufficient when you're using 65% of that before lunch. Basically I'm almost eating for 2. Definitely eating for me and a slightly smaller me. 

Which leads me to the inevitable conclusion: Hoorah! What a result! I knew I was doing this running for a reason ;o)

Rest assured, this is still child's play compared to Olympian (PhatBoy) Phelps' diet. Check that out for a lardy surprise!

THANK YOU THANK YOU

To my lovely lovely sponsors, 

Thank you all so much for committing your delicious money to this super Kith & Kids London Marathon cause. Watching the total go up, ever closer to the magic £1500, is so heart warming. I love it.

You guys are amazing. 

Thanks again.

Sarah x

Training Update Tuesday: Week 10 Already!

So suddenly it's Week 10. And suddenly it's Tuesday again.

We're well over half way into this Marathon Mission now and time is passing increasingly quickly (except when I'm doing the speed runs and having to be 'on it' for 12 minutes at a time. Time passes very slowly then)

And what happened to the week in between Week 9 and Week 10, Sarah? I hear you ask. Well, I'll tell ya. It happened all right. It happened in a blur of running and birthday celebrations. 

Is it normal to celebrate one's 37th birthday by running 17 miles and enjoying it, apart from maybe the last two miles, which seemed to be run on robot legs? 

Birthdays are fabulous. Officially. My overwhelmingly magical friends clubbed together in secret cahoots and got me a Garmin 405 GPS birthday watch. 

Which means that when I'm out running now, I'll have data. Info. Facts. At my fingertips. Or on my wrist.

I'll know how fast, how far and how many calories it's cost me. And I can wirelessly transmit that info to my computer and have it do fancy things with it. 

Not sure it'll make me a cuppa or run me a bath when I get in, but it seems to do pretty much everything else.

And it also means, I have the best friends ever. Thanks guys ;o)

Week 9: Making Sense of Things

Random ramblings today - because I'm tired. And yes, the tiredness is all self-induced. And I could put an end to it by putting an end to the running. And thinking those kind of thoughts only seems to add to the tiredness!

Oh poor me! These are self-pitying ramblings. 

Or maybe I'm just making sense of things.  Taking stock. This is the half way point in the training. 8 weeks down, 8 to go...

On Sunday I ran 15 miles. I haven't run more than 13.1 miles for almost two years, so it's bound to have an impact. It's bound to take some adjusting to. This I need to remember. How I feel now is not how I will always feel. This too shall pass! Etc...

Telling myself, and you as you are here reading this (and thank you so much for that BTW!) my body and my brain will adjust to this new level of physical and mental effort. I just need to give them time. That's why this is called training, I guess.

If I didn't feel exhausted, headachy and a little irritable, what would be the point?! No, that's not right. Not, "what would be the point?" but more, "where's the challenge?" If I could train for a marathon and not feel any discomfort, I should probably be applying my efforts in a different direction. I'm not a fan of the "no pain, no gain" mentality. But I am aware that we can train to do more than we could previously do. And training carefully is the key. If this exhaustion doesn't pass, I'll run less until it does. And eat more.

Sleep and food and listening to (and interpreting accurately) my body are becoming more and more essential as each day passes. 

It was never going to be easy. And it isn't!

Joy and Diminishing Magnificence

A few words today about the joy of running. Glimpses of effortlessness. Moments of bliss. 

Many runs are business runs, especially at the moment with Schedule calling the shots. It's about getting the job done. Showing up. Banking the miles. I may not feel much like going out, there are other things it seems like it would be nicer to do. But commitment being what it is, out I go. 

And (even) within these runs, there are times when everything feels fantastic. There's a sense of ease, of being able to run forever. To do anything. Be anything. Overcome, achieve, manifest everything one desires. 

And then the moment is gone. 

But that glimpse. That sensation. It's addictive. It's a hit. Maybe it's the bliss that any meditation offers.  Connection (with a higher power). Flow. A quite exquisite joy.

Tis a powerful lure. For sure.

I'm intrigued as to what the ingredients are to create the moments. Can I create more of them? Can I make them longer? Or is very the essence of them the fact that they are elusive and transitory? Tasty food for thought...

And what of the diminishing magnificence I spoke of in the title?

 A massage student, grappling with my somewhat sturdy and sizable calves, once commented, "they are rather magnificent, aren't they?" But just the last few days I've had a sense of them changing. I feel their form is altering, and I wonder if there is a decrease in size going on as a result of all this running. With this in mind a friend measured and recorded a widest girth point of 15 and 3/4 inches. Watch this space - I shall have a re-measuring in a few weeks ;o)

Training Update Tuesday: Week 7, Day 2

I've taken Schedule in hand.

She's becoming more and more demanding at the moment. Sitting there expecting me to do 35 miles between now and Sunday. She's got some nerve.

We've negotiated it down to 30, because I'm doing the Tough Ten on Sunday when Schedule wants me to rack up a 15 miler. She tell me she's OK with it, as long as I make amends next week.

I'm not thinking about that just now. All I can think is that when I finish the race on Sunday that'll be the whole of the first page done! Hoorah! 

Yes, that is a Hoorah in advance! Might as well celebrate now in case I don't make it ;o)

Face it.

You can find glamourous, sparkly female faces everywhere on the interweb. Just ask Dorothy.

So for something a little different...

State of play at 13:45

on completion of today's 13 mile run. 

Sweat. Fatigue. And is that a hint of fear in those eyes? 13 miles is but half a marathon.

Training Update Tuesday

Short and sweet today.

I got my elusive 11 mile run done yesterday. And it was surprisingly fine, despite freezing rain and sleet throughout.

A colleague gave me the tip of getting another runner to join me towards the end of the run for a bit of company, a lifting of spirits and the illusion of a fresh pair of legs. It worked a treat with a very good friend running the last 4 miles with me (THANKS FRIEND!) I think this could be the way forward.

Now this week the long run challenge is 13 miles...

Flapjack Friday

Today has a theme of ups and downs. 

UPS include eating some of possibly my best flapjacks to date ;o) Mango and goji berry. Perfectly moist and deliciously sweet.

DOWNS include snow stopping play. This afternoon I'd been planning on doing an 11 miler, having had negotiations with Schedule re. my weekend plans. But cycling to work this morning was slippy and walking to the supermarket this afternoon was double slippy and now I really don't fancy running in the slidey slush too.

Current conditions at 16:09

If I could run in the road that would be one thing, but cars don't seem to like that ;o( 

So two rest days in a row, and I'm feeling tired. What's that about? Surely I should be feeling full of energy. 

There's nothing else for it, pass me the flapjacks.

Training Update Tuesday: Week 5, Day 2

Week 5.  Already. Week 5.

Today is a big day for training. It's the first official fartlek session. Schedule says "1 mile jog, 4 miles fartlek, then 1 mile jog". Which begs the question, what the freak is fartlek? 

Cue some googling and Runners World Website forum searching,... 

And apparently it translates as Speed Play. And it's for fun! 

Now, it's been said many times, by many people, that the only way to run faster is to Run Faster. And the only way to run further is to Run Further. And while running faster and/or further is rarely pleasant at the time, it's hugely satisfying afterwards, and that's what lures and seduces us into doing it. 

And it's on this basis, that this evening, I'll be seduced into the best part of an hour's sweaty activity... all of it in trainers and all of it outside in the snow (if there's any left after this glorious Bristol sunshine has worked its magic).

Fartlek is about running really fast for as long or as short as you feel like, then taking it easier for a while, then speeding up again. Kind of a "hey, let's leg it to the lamppost" approach. I love it for its randomness. And its flexibility. If you get out there and feel brilliant you can fartlek to the max, man. And if you feel a touch under par, you can fartlek like a wussbag with longer rests and shorter sprints. But you're still getting a session done. Another tick on the schedule. Another wave of smugness to enjoy and savour. Another excuse for double pepperoni pizza.

Not sure that's the way Paula sees it, but hey, it works for me. Happy running, happy fartlek, happy tummy ;o)

I've been meaning to post this since Jan 01! A reminder of what this is all about...

Everyone at Kith & Kids would like to wish you a very happy festive season and wonderful 2009 .

 

It has been an incredible year, which we have enjoyed immensely.  Our projects, summer camp, weekend clubs and friendship outings have been some of our best yet and we are busy putting the final touches to our Christmas project! On behalf of all of the staff and families involved in Kith & Kids thank you for your contribution.  Like most organisations we face tough challenges for the coming year and we look forward to being in touch in 2009.  But for now this is a great opportunity to reflect on our most recent successes. 

 

 New opportunities for over 18's   

Our new Employment, Life skills and Education Project started this year for a group of young adults who have autism.  On a Monday and a Wednesday the ELSEP group learn and develop skills that will help them to achieve either employment or further education.  Importantly they explore many of the issues related to this that most of us take for granted including developing better social skills in order to build relationships and successfully interact with others, budgeting and life skills including independent travel and confidence building, numeracy and literacy.  The group are working fabulously together and some have already started work experience placements which will help them achieve their long term career aims. We wish them luck for the new year!

 

New support for sons and daughters when parents are no longer around  

New staff member Sarah Samuel started this year as coordinator for the brand new Kith & Kids Lifetime Advocacy Support Project.  This is an extremely important project for parents and carers as Sarah's role is to advocate for people with a disability when their parents are no longer able to, making sure that they are ok and accessing the services they need most. Sarah has been getting to know the families involved with KLASP over the past few months and looks forward to meeting more people in 2009.

 A bumper London Marathon and challenge events team!

This year we had 30 runners in our London Marathon team.  These included super band Coldplay's guitarist Guy Berryman.  In total we raised over £70,000 which is absolutely amazing.  We have 29 guaranteed places for the 2009 London Marathon and we are hoping to increase this to 40 as it is our 40th anniversary year through recruiting people who have secured their own place through the ballot system.  We thank all of the participants in our challenge events team who helped us to raise over £100,000.

 

Getting ready to celebrate

 

2009 is Kith & Kids 40th Anniversary year.  From our very humble beginnings we have grown into a successful organisation that eases some of the pressures of having a family member with a learning disability.  All of our birthday plans will be posted on our website www.kithandkids.org.uk so keep in touch and join us in celebrating a great achievement.

 

Best wishes from everyone at Kith & Kids

 

Love moose but antlers are no use for running.

BTW: "Love moose" in the heading is as in "I love moose" not "I am a Love Moose". Be clear on that if nothing else.

Yes, so no obvious link between the photo and the story today, but hey, what are you gonna do? 

I've had 4 runs since coming back from skiing and I'm not sure I'm altogether happy about how heavy my legs are feeling. They are the kind of heavy that makes driving to work, rather than cycling, seem attractive - even though it'll mean being in rush-hour traffic. And just for the hell of it, I'm on for a little run later today; schedule says a mile jogging, 2 miles brisk and another mile jogging. 

"Brisk"? Excuse me! Since when was that a running term? Makes me feel like I should do that session with a suit on and a briefcase in hand, with that purposeful though pointlessly stressy walk/skip/run action of someone slightly late for a very important meeting. 

Maybe I will.

And I'll leave the antlers at home.

J'aime Faire Du Ski

Week 4: Day 1

Week 3 was a week off from the running schedule. A week skiing. And one of the best weeks ever. How have I never skied before? What was I thinking? What have I been doing all these years?

Skiing on the Austrian slopes was the most fun. 

And now it's back to business. 

I crunched some numbers, did some calculations, got some figures, and here's the deal. I'm following a five-times-a-week schedule for 16 weeks, which gives me 80 runs to do. Even with a complete week off that's still 75. 2 weeks are run already, so going into week 4 today, I have 65 runs left to do between now and April 26th. And, of course, the last one will be 26.2 miles long. 

Joyful.

65 runs of increasing distance and pace.

Bring it on.

Which is easy to say today, because today is a rest day. Hooray ;o)

I'm loving the rest days.

Schedule: Love it or hate it. Or both?

I'm having a mixed relationship with my running schedule. I fear there may be turbulent times ahead for us both. The schedule sits on my desk telling me what to do and how to do it. And I'm not sure I like that. I get in from a busy day at work; I'm tired, I'm hungry, my head is full of this, that and the other, and Schedule (capital letter - it's developing personality) simply says, "Go out and run. Run 5 miles and take about 50 minutes over it". And I'm like, "But Schedule, it's late. It's cold. I'm tired." And Schedule just says, "Go out and run. Run 5 miles. Run today. Run tomorrow."

There's every danger of me deciding that Schedule is a bit of a bitch.

However, that said, about 5 minutes into my run last night, I felt fine. Better than fine, in fact. I felt great. And, goddammit, I felt grateful to Schedule for holding a line with me. For standing strong and not backing down. Without Schedule I'd never have made it out of the door. And I know that. 

There's every danger of Schedule being my greatest ally over the coming months!

Schedule is the child of Mike Gratton, who has won the London Marathon, so she knows what she's talking about. (eek - Schedule has gender now!)

As I said, I'm having a mixed relationship ;o)

Training Update Tuesday

Day 2 of Week 2

So, 7 consecutive days getting up at 7am has worn me out! The last two days I've bailed and gone back to sleep for a while. Failed to drag myself out of bed. And it's been milder - thought that would make things easier? How do regular people cope with it? I know 7am isn't even early by many people's standards. I can't fathom it. Really. 

Running 5 times in a week was a first too. Running 4 consecutive days felt surprisingly ok at the time, but has, I am sure, contributed to the fatigue I'm feeling this week. Up until last week I always had at least one day off between runs. That said, Week 1 is done, I'm alive and I'm feeling happy with it. 

Week 2 is underway. I'm moving the runs around a bit as I'm heading off to the Austrian mountains for my inaugural ski trip on Fri night/Sat morning. Trying to squeeze a bit more in between Mon and Fri, getting the long run done before I go. And then Week 3 won't have any running at all. I'm imagining it might have lots of falling over in snow and getting up again instead ;o) 

Day 1, Week 1 (of 16)

Woo-hoo! Yee-ha! Hooray! (etc...)

I woke at 7am, as planned. Set off running at 7.30am, as planned. Ran an easy 3.5miles and got home just after 8am, as planned. 

Can you imagine just how smug I am feeling now?! 

(Hmmm, you're close, just step up the smug a bit... yep, bit more,... that's it.)

And perhaps, maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to keep this going for another week or two. I'm not looking too far ahead, bite size chunks and all that. But I know for a fact that tomorrow is a REST DAY! Oh, life is sweet. 

Check out my schedule from this link.

The time for talking is over...

Happy New Year! 

Tis January. Tis 2009. And the time is now.

Final lace tying before the Hangover 10K on 1/1/09

Monday 5th January is Day One of the Flora London Marathon (FLM) 16 Week Training. All around the country, and across the globe, people are buying new trainers, treating themselves to an iPod Shuffle, taking a deep, deep, deep breath and accepting the fact that for the next four months they are going to become increasingly hungry and tired as they run, jog and perhaps crawl their way through hours of training and ultimately to the FLM finish line.

I was thinking I'd use the 3 Times A Week schedule that I used for the Copenhagen Marathon in 2007, but am now considering upping the stakes (and, no doubt, the steaks) a bit and going for something a little more full on. Jan 5th to 11th would then look like this:  

WEEK ONE

Mon 3M (miles) (approx 30 mins) slow 
Tue Rest 
Wed 4M (approx 40 mins) slow 
Thu 2M (approx 18 mins) steady 
Fri Rest 
Sat 3M (approx 30 mins) easy 
Sun 7M (approx 72 mins) slow

I reckon I'm gonna give it a go... and time will tell. 

And of course, I'll keep you posted.