Running on the ground

One more long long run later and still feeling good. No injuries. No obviously obnoxious or screaming niggles. Times looking good (20 miles @ 7:44 pace and a very nice 8 miles @ 7:07 pace today). Stamina’s feeling good. 

I’ve also been exploring a bit around my new home and found some lovely runs in beautiful settings, http://snipurl.com/3wmy9. You can go for miles around here, not see a soul or be bothered by a car… you do have to watch out for the farmers out hunting as it is hunting season, so there’s the bizarre image of me running through the pine trees and whistling really loudly half expecting to be attacked by a pack of hunting dogs or shot by with a badly aimed shotgun blast. Still, exciting.

And it’s taper time now… 2 weeks until the next marathon and seeing as I’d like to do better than last time, nothing too long or strenuous, nice and easy up until the 12th October. Taper on…

The Dark Night

Not a strong desire to be a violent vigilante and wear a costume, nope. This is the time when it dawns on me that summer is coming to a close. No more nice long runs in the evening, enjoying the sun going slowly down, with enough time to grab a drink outside after the run. Nope, it’s into running a little faster than usual as the sun disappears and you find yourself squinting in the dark to see the path beneath your feet, praying that there’s no random stranger round the corner to ask kindly “for your money and keys please…”. (ok, the paranoia sets in a little in blackness on the canal tow path…)

Anyway, autumnal light concerns aside, back up to speed and distance running. Did a long 18 miles last Thursday (the forementioned quick step back through the darkness) @ a nifty 7:43 mile/min pace. This time I actually ‘nutritioned’ up during the run and it made a great difference. This week I’ll be running either a 20 or 22 mile run so hopefully should see if I can break through the wall.

A few other nice runs, mostly in my new home village. Beautiful weather, running through pine trees and vineyards, you really can’t get much better. Each run feels good, no real niggles, picked up the pace a little for 8 mile runs (7:13 min/mile pace).

Marathon is over 2 weeks away and I feel quietly confident although I have now looked at the course map, and it includes two climbs over dunes, with a particularly vicious/malicious climb up 40 or so steps on the 21st mile. Doh…

Foot wars

Finally got over the marathon, which has taken a good week or so. I pretty much kept away from running last week, apart from one slow 9 miler in the middle of the week which felt like I was running through treacle. Spent most of the week tired, grumpy and generally miserable. Marathons… great but the come down is a downer!

Anyway, back at it again now, especially as my next event is the Marathon Des Villages on October 12th. I felt that as I’m already running at distance, I would go for another race before ‘hibernating’ for the start of the winter. Perfect timing, as I will be able to learn from my ‘in race’ nutrition mistakes and hopefully get a second PB… 3h30 would be nice, but I don’t want to tempt fate.

I was all ready to run on Saturday when I had one of those really annoying injuries which stop you running, only temporarily at least. I stubbed my little toe and almost ripped off the toenail. Pain… and any wearing of shoes made it worse. Then I got blisters on both feet in the strangest places (top of 1 toe, and between two others). And then skin is dropping off all over. Enjoying the imagery?

I ended up running through the pain, and hey presto… the pain goes, that or my feet are now numb to the pain. Ran two glorious 8 mile courses yesterday and today in the sun… at pace 7:16 mins / mile. Next run will be a long 18 miler, nice and slow with nutrition on the way.

Feeling good. Bring on another marathon.

Kerbloooeeyyyy

Done and dusted. One marathon down and in the bag. 3h40 to complete the marathon, a couple of glasses of wine, and some unexpected physical/mental reactions to the effort. All in all, an extremely useful learning process. I was initially disappointed with that time, hoping for something under 3h30, so was not as excited as I’ve been in other events. Then I got the final results yesterday and realised that I came 262nd out of 7197 runners, and that cheered me up.

What happened? Well, I hit the proverbial wall around 18-19 miles. I’d been doing a nice steady 7:55 – 8:00 minutes/mile pace up until the 18th mile and then it started to slow down drastically by the last mile to just under 9:00 min/mile. On reflection I put it down to having a pretty hectic week at work in the run up to race day, late nights all around and not eating particularly appropriately. My ‘in-race’ nutrition was pretty pathetic too. Only water until I took a gel around 20 miles, which was too late and with gels I wasn’t used to. What I should have done is take on food and gel much earlier on to push through the wall.

So, of course, what to do about that? Well….

Entered another marathon which takes place on the 12th October. My mileage is still up there, so after an easy week now, will be doing more long, endurance runs, in the run up to properly tapering beforehand. The training doesn’t end yet…..

Anyway, would just highly recommend the Marathon Du Medoc. Beautiful scenery, lots of enthusiastic support, the wine tasting ‘en route’, and the friendly atmosphere of the 7200 runners, most of whom are dressed up. Will definitely be doing it again next year!

Calm before the storm

So this it it, the last few days before my first marathon. I’ve got a couple of runs lined up but nothing more than some short intervals and a short ‘refresher’ run. I’ve got all the usual nutrition bits lined up and ready to go – porridge & honey & bananas for breakfast, lots of pasta for most of the week, and gels for the run. I haven’t yet got my race number so I have to sort that out either the night before or get there a little earlier on Saturday before the race.

All in all, I’m feeling pretty confident. No worries about finishing, anything I do will be a personal best, so as long as it’s under 4 hours I’ll be content. The knee is holding together, feet have been a bit painful, but nothing that has stopped me getting ready for the race. I may come away with a few more aches after, but a good bit of rest will sort that out.

I did, however, run the Nike+ 10k worldwide run thing, although on my own, not at one of the city runs. I realised, I hate 10k’s… the whole fast run is just no fun… endurance is much easier to manage I find. Anyway, did it in just under 42 minutes which is a PB for me in an ‘event’ sort of way. A nice little surge before this weekend.

I do like taper week though… so nice and easy and relaxed. No early morning or evening runs… you can just relax, let your body recuperate. Although I have to persuade myself not to run this morning which wasn’t exactly difficult…