Friday, December 22, 2006

London 2008?

By my calculations I should have a very good chance of running London in 2008. As I suspected I wasn't in the running this year really (which I'm kind of gutted about because the three who got the places would be a lovely group to train with), but next year I'll tick all the boxes. Member for more than a year, run races for the club, never run London before, and particularly not on a club place. If it's anything like this year, only three people filled all the criteria and were guaranteed to be in without any need to draw names out of a hat. Fingers crossed it works the same way next year.

So that's my goal for 2008, in terms of what I want to do in 2007, running wise...

1. Edinburgh.
2. Amsterdam - two marathons in a year? It's possible, but I might leave it for a while before committing myself properly.
3. Some PBs, but I'm not sure at what distance. I might not top that 10k PB just yet (although you never know), but I'm hoping that the marathon PB is very breakable.
4. Settling into the club and running more races for them. Maybe even another bash at cross country (I think my shoes are dry now!)
5. Monthly mileage over 100 miles per month. Edging closer to 30 miles per week than 25? And beating my yearly total for this year (currently about 1225 miles, with scope for a few more before the end of the year).
6. Most importantly, ENJOYING IT!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

Today was something different - cross country!

My only associations with those two words come from school, but that was nothing like what went on today. At school although there was a spell through the woods, I seem to remember most of the run being on the road, and there not being much mud.

Not proper cross country then! Today was the real thing.

I only decided I was definitely doing it this morning when it looked clear and sunny. I foolishly thought that meant that it might not be too muddy. Yes, I knew that it had rained on Friday, but I hoped there had been some time for it to dry up a bit, and at least it wasn't actually raining.

I met up with the others at LPSA, then headed over to Dewsbury. I'd never done a club cross country before, and it was a different system to normal races, with registration on the day, no numbers, and club runners only. That meant fewer newbies behind me, everyone turning up was clearly fairly mad and hardcore.

I started worrying when I got there and saw the mud just in the registration area. I don't have any proper studs or spikes, and didn't think it was worth buying any until I saw whether I enjoyed it. I didn't think that my family would appreciate me spending their christmas present money on cross country shoes somehow. I was slipping around in my road shoes, and that was before I got onto the three lap course which I imagined would be pretty churned up by the third time round. (I was right).

Still, I was there, and they needed four women to finish to count. There were four of us, so not get outs. At the last minute another person arrived, but by this stage I'd paid my £2.50, so I may as well run. Great excuse...

The first part was round a rugby field which wasn't too bad, then up a muddy bank, then downhill on grass. I stayed off the track and ran through long grass for that bit, which was easier in my road shoes. Then up a track, back round the field for a short first lap, and then the fun started. After going downhill again, it started getting much much muddier. The first time round the long lap I tried without success to stay out of the worst of the puddles and mud, but by the second time I realised that the quickest way was probably going straight through the ankle deep sludge. At least it would be a soft landing if I slipped.

The running wasn't too bad, I ran pretty much all of it, even on the sludge. The only bits I walked were for footing reasons, rather than tiredness or hill reasons. I saw other people walking the hilly bits, but I didn't resort to that. I wasn't as fast as I would be on the road, but I'm sure I got a better work out from trying to keep my balance on the mud! There were a couple of times I had to hold onto gateposts as I slid round corners, but I did stay upright at least.

In the end I got the fourth female place for the club. Given that the three ahead of me all had proper shoes and had done cross country before I was OK with that. I was more interested in beating the other road shoe-d newbie, which I did quite comfortably in the end. At least I wasn't last! I actually nearly caught one of the other women from my club, she finished 40th and I finished 42nd, but I just didn't have enough at the end to catch her (finishing uphill on mud isn't conducive to a sprint finish). It wasn't a measured course. The info said it was about 4.5 miles, but I've measured it on the internet (or what I think the route was), and make it just over 5. It took me just under 50 minutes, so given the terrain, that wouldn't be too bad.

At the end I realised I've not been quite so muddy for a long time! My feet and midway up my calves were basically caked in solid mud, with splashes all the way up my back. that got a few stares when I headed into the supermarket to pick up some bread on the way home... I got back and peeled my shoes and socks off to realise that my feet were also black, caked in mud that had soaked all the way through. It took two washes to get it all out, although everything's now clean and drying ready for the club run tomorrow. Except my shoes that is, I'd decided to wear my old ones just in case they got ruined. I'll have a look to see how bad they look once they're a bit drier, but that may have been a good idea.

I can't do the next race because it's the day I come back from GC and I'm not going straight from the airport to run (even if the train would get me back in time), but I might do another before the end of the season. If I get some proper shoes, that is.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Sinking In

So I signed up for Edinburgh, and had kind of forgotten how hard the whole marathon training thing is. Then on Wednesday I did a HILLY half marathon training run with running club, and I've been feeling it in my hamstrings ever since. And that was only 12.5 miles. It was a timely reminder of how much hard work Edinburgh is going to take.

I am thinking of changing my training this time round though, with an emphasis on fewer, longer, faster runs during the week and then the long run at the weekend. Quality miles over quantity, basically.

I've also been thinking about my goals. I look at other people who have similar 10k and half marathon times as me, and my marathon time is way slower than theirs. A sign that the distance and the conditions and the dodgy german sports drink beat me last time, really. So this time I want to go faster, but I don't want to set stupid targets. I should be able to go under 4 hours, but that doesn't mean that I will. For now I'll aim for about 4:20 which would be 30 minutes faster than Berlin, and steady 10 minute(ish) miles. That's enough of an aim for now. If training goes well I might reassess, but there will be other marathons to tke more time off. I don't need to do it all at once.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Get out there and do it

For a lot of today I wasn't sure whether I'd make it out for a run. Even though I took it easy at last night's office party to make sure I couldn't use a hangover as an excuse, I woke up and I started making excuses anyway.

It was frosty, and I was tired after a late night. So I decided to go to the supermarket first, while it was quiet, then run just before lunch. I went outside and the car wouldn't start. Fantastic. So having waited an hour for the breakdown bloke to come with some jump leads, and then driven around for half an hour to charge the battery up a bit, and spent longer than I was intending in the supermarket because everyone else had descended in the meantime, it was nearly lunchtime by the time I got back. I decided to eat.

And then I decided I couldn't run straight away, because I needed to digest. But with it going dark at about 4pm, if I didn't get out by 2.30 I wouldn't be able to do the 9 - 10 miler I had planned. My mind started making excuse after excuse until at about 2.15 I managed to give myself a kick up the arse and put my running stuff on. Yes, it was cold outside but it was a lovely, bright, frosty day, the sort of day which just asks for you to go out and run in it. So I put some warm stuff on and finally got out there, with the promise that I could cut the run short to about 5 miles if I really wanted. Of course, once I got going and got into the swing of things I ran pretty much right up until it got dark, and ended up adding a bit of extra distance and running closer to 10 than 9 miles.

I need to keep reminding myself that I can hardly think of a time where I've regretted going out for a run, no matter how much I try to put it off. But on the other hand, there have been too many days already that I waste, and don't run but then wish I had.

Even better, I'm only 25 miles away from my 1200 mile target for the year. I might even be able to make it to the finish line by the end of the week, particularly if I do the half marathon club run on Wednesday rather than the normal 10k route...

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Speedwork

Operation "regain some speed" seems to be coming along nicely. I'm doing a fairly regular 30 minute speed session on the treadmill, and getting faster every time. I'm not as fast as I used to be, but there are definite improvements.

I think when I do my next marathon I'll definitely try to focus on the quality of sessions rather that just miles - even if that means resorting to the treadmill.

Meanwhile the Christmas lights run was great fun, and I was surprised at how many of the Horsforth people I kept up with, considering they are supposedly more serious than my club.

I'm also counting down to my 1200 miles for the year target. At one point I was way ahead of 100 miles per month but I've slipped a bit recently. I should make it, and at least it will keep me focussed through the Christmas party season.

I'm feeling good.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Cassie

There are a couple of people at running club I'm starting to use to measure my process by. Someone who's just a little slower than me, and Cassie. Keeping up with Cassie is the target. She's probably the one who's thought of as the "fast girl", and ran London last year in under 4 hours. She won the female member of the year award last year too.

But here's the interesting thing. She set a new 10k PB in the race on Sunday. And her new PB is... slower than mine. Proof that I can run at the speed she's running at now, the speed that scares me slightly as she hares off on training runs leaving me trailing. The question is just how I get back to that speed.

And actually, I'm getting there. I'm getting into the habit of a weekly 30 minute speed session on the treadmill, and this morning I seemed to find it a lot more manageable than previously, even though I notched the speed up a bit more. The time I ran in the 10k was faster than I expected after Amsterdam. I'm getting there.

Cassie, I'm coming to get you.

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I'm still pondering whether to sign up for Edinburgh. I like the idea, although something's cropped up on the Saturday that I'd have to miss if I do the marathon. I'm also still not 100% sure I won't get a London place, there's still the chance of the club ballot, a competition I'm entering, and a place for XIII Heroes if they've got any. And I also want to do the full in Amsterdam in October, which would mean two marathons next year if I do Edinburgh too. I almost filled in the form today, then chickened out. We'll see...