Wrapping her up and moving her on..

Life has just been crazy. In the final weeks before the marathon life pretty much becomes the marathon. Ironically, my training load lessens but the focus increases. Then, after the marathon I have to take some time to pick up the slack I've built up in the rest of my life with family, friends and work..

So that's today's excuse for not blogging for a month! And for not being a very assidious commenter. I assure you that I'm getting to it - and you. Promise!

4 weeks after London and it's time to move on. I've taken some time to learn the lessons from London - good and bad. Overall my conclusions are as follows:

• starting fast was quite a good idea. Maybe "bat out of hell" is not the best race strategy but it certainly got me into a pace groove I was able to maintain for a long time. I have definitely started out too slowly in the past and have missed good times as a result.
  
• NO more portapotties in races. Unless there is no queue this girl is going wild and free. Sorry for TMI but that stop cost me at least 90 seconds..
• Strangely enough there appears to be some degree of disagreement about what causes cramp. Having surfed around the web though I think mine was caused by: dehydration, lack of fuel (I should have stuck with ShotBlocks for the latter part of the race - I can get those down me when nothing else appeals) and just generally going too damn fast. I hadn't trained with 8:30s as my race pace and eventually I ran out of oxygen. Hence cramps and blue lips.
  

I had a very interesting email exchange with the fabulous, multi-talented and wise ShirleyPerly and she suggested I look for another marathon within 3/4 weeks of London to have another go at my BQ. I did so, but there were no qualifying marathons anywhere near me. In addition, I had committed quite a few weekends in May to other things (which I had put off in training) so I decided this plan was not going to work. It did make me think, however, that I wanted to give myself a better shot in October. While the Bizz Johnson is a Boston qualifier, and, apparently, more people qualify there than do in Chicago, I think this might be something to do with the field (more people there looking for a Boston qualifier?). Also - while it has some serious advantages - slightly downhill, uncrowded, soft path underfoot, generally cool (cold even) weather - there is one major disadvantage - altitude. I've never suffered from altitude sickness, nor found my sporting performance affected by altitude, but it could happen. So I decided to slip another one around that time and found - da da dum! - the Berlin marathon! It's easy to get to from me, the flight times are convenient and the hotels affordable and I'm going to keep that one under the radar as well to the larger public. You all will know about it, and from a training point of view it is the race I am targeting towards, but I'm not going to tell the world I'm doing it. I'm going to fly in on the Saturday afternoon, pick up my race number, go to my hotel, sleep (I'm going back to Tylenol PM this time!) and then race. Pick up my bag and get on the plane home. Done. And .. I have a secret weapon. The amazing Sally is joining me and pacing me. My London marathon briefly made me the fastest out of us two but she gave me 3 weeks of glory before she shattered her own PB of 3:52 and recorded a 3:41. As long as she doesn't kill me we will give it our best shot.

And my running? Has been going well. I have been following Pete Pfitzinger's recovery plan and am back at about 30M a week. I have a slight tightness in my ITB, going into my hip and buttock (do you always think of Forrest Gump when you say that word?) and I'm rolling and stretching and going to see my faithful osteopath about it on Wednesday.

Mentally I'm fine - at least where running is concerned. I haven't suffered from any post-marathon blues - I think my joy at my performance, coupled with planning my next races, coupled with getting back on the road again have avoided that. Also, I had something to look forward to. Last Saturday, I met Drusy, Steve Chopper, Phil Moneypenny, Gary Wall, and Mark "Wheelo" at the Rugby Club at Matlock to run the Swift Half. Do you remember that 2 years ago I ran a marathon I hadn't trained for? It was a humbling and painful experience. This time I had a bit more sense and decided to run the half. I had met Drusy 3 weeks ago and once I spotted her I soon met everyone else, as well as Drusy's wonderful family and dog. Gary and I rode to the start together on the race bus, where he told me about his amazing run along the length of Hadrian's wall (84 miles in 2 days). We all met up at the cold and windy start and posed in front of the portakabins (well all apart from Drusy who was "navigating" her husband and family to the start).

It was a great race. The first 8 miles or so were pretty tough as we had the wind in our face and the running was mildly uphill the whole way. I fell into pace with an older guy and, although his yorkshire accent was so thick I missed some of his more salient tips and tricks, it soon became apparent he had been quite something in his day (a sub 3 marathoner anyone?) and we amicably chatted as the miles flew by. The race is called the Swift Half because of the screeching downhill between miles 10 and 12 - a descent of about 1000 feet I think - and while this is hard on your knees and quads (particularly for those poor folk running the full marathon distance) it does help your speed... And so, 3 weeks after London, I romped across the finish line in 1:44, breaking my official half marathon PB by 10 minutes and my London marathon PB by 6. I feel it's a slightly dishonest PB because of the descent - I'm not sure I could keep that pace up on the flat - but I've got it. Now all I've got to do is do it again..

We all congregrated around Drusy's wonderful family who were taking photos and when we were all in we headed indoor for a sausage bap and some chips. Hmmmmmm.

There was only one downside. The race photos. Guys! I have trained hard. I have lost weight. I have had to buy new clothes - top and bottom - to take it into account. Why do I still take such a fat racephoto?
My legs! I have chunky knock knees! Look at Drusy! She's a vision! (Like most celebrities, she is actually tiny when you meet her and even more gorgeous than she looks in this photo). Steve put together this collage and picked the most flattering of the bunch but man! So annoying.

We all relived our experiences last Wednesday on the Runners Roundtable - I had some communication issues and feel I missed it a bit because I was having such a hard time staying on the call.

And so now - on with it. My training for Berlin starts in the middle of June (that gives me 14 weeks to do the 12 week program so I have some time for summer holidays and illness / injury). My focus in the next 3 weeks is to get this ITB niggle sorted AND get into a routine with my cross training regime. Last time, you will recall, I did nothing. I have been going backwards and forwards on ideas but given that I don't have access to a gym I have decided to do some home yoga. To this end I have bought Shiva Rea's Creative Core and Upper Body and The Athletes Guide to Yoga . My sister in law is a very experienced Yoga person and so has promised to go through the DVDs with me and correct my poses as I practise. I have had one go with the Shiva Rea DVD and my arms are still aching...

So I'm now going to post this rather crappy post - I feel it's not very tied together or tidy, but I just need to get it out there to get on with things. I miss you all and will be getting on with my catchup. The rest of life is pretty busy and in a real state of flux as well - I will post about that later I'm sure - but just briefly - I have changed how I work - much more from home - and I am also moving house... So I think I'm going to need the de-stressing aspects of running and training in the next few months. So long my friends - see you soon.

I was just THAT close!

 

And then it all blew up on me! 

Marathon photos phase II

 

That spiderman guy was just painfully full of beans - he was loving it.  I was not. 

 

Full action shot..

 

My loyal support team

 

I don't know what was wrong with my mouth.  I have shown you some decent shots of me in the past - this was taken a good 90 minutes after the finish and I was looking grim... 

Marathon photos - phase 1

 

The photographer, his wife and his godson.. 

 

Coming into view at mile 24/25 ish..  This was my final push - 7:54 min/mile before the cramp slowed me right down to a 12 minute mile pace... 

 

The bobby can see that me and orange man are working this hard... 

 

Oh it really did hurt.. 

Drusy!

 

I finally met Drusy!  She is as lovely as I've always thought and I can't wait to run the Swift Half with her in 2 weeks... 

Carboloading with Dawn and the expo

 

Carboloading with my son and Dawn at Acorn House before heading to the expo.. 

 

Carbs are good.  

 

we intended to.  

 

Meeting up with Liz Yelling - she was very gracious and signed my race number (although this all got washed off in the course of the race..)

I have always relied on the kindness of strangers..

Well I haven't actually but I did on Sunday. But that's at the end of this story.

In the beginning there was insomnia. Saturday night to be precise. And the day had started so well! My wonderful sister-in-law took my energetic 6 year old out all day. I resisted all tempations to go and meet friends for lunch in London and instead, after a brief 1.6 mile loosener in the early hours, I sat on my bed and watched the Wire. I had a brief nap, and sipped some more water and ate some more carbohydrates. Evening came and then night. I fell asleep for 30 mins but when I woke at 10pm and that was it. I was wide awake. The adrenalin was coursing through my veins and I just could not sleep. This never happens to me - when I do suffer from insomnia it takes the form of waking up at 4am and worrying. This was not sleeping. Midnight came. 1 o'clock. 2 o'clock. I was tossing and turning trying every trick I knew and still - ping! - my eyelids shot open. I must have fallen asleep, finally, after 2. The alarm woke me at 5:30 and I was wide awake. At this point I felt no ill effect from my broken night and I was jangling with nerves. After my prerace breakfast (granola, banana, honey and yoghurt) I woke up my husband - who I had kept awake with my tossing and turning - and he drove me to Charing Cross station (and he sort of kinda woke up and defrosted enough to wish me good luck) where I caught the first train out to Maze Hill. In the past years trains have been cancelled and broken down, leaving runners to walk 2M to the start, so I was taking no chances. This train was still fairly empty and finding our way to the start in was easy. I saw the 10 rhino costumes from some way away and whiled away the hours before the race chatting to other rhino runners, particularly Kenneth, who had run the Atacama desert race and the Marathon des Sables, both in a rhino costume. We talked about race strategy and he told me that Mike Gratton, a former winner of the London marathon and now a more mature, pot-bellied superfast runner and coach, had told him that all this "holding back until the half-marathon point was nonsense – the beginning is when you feel strong and you should just go for it”. Fateful words? Perhaps.

I have not been totally honest with anyone really about what my race strategy was before the race. Not with you all on my blog – because I knew the wiser among you would advise against it. Not to my running friends because, well, the wiser would counsel against what I was intending. My strategy, of course, was to see how fast I could go. I knew I had got faster, I knew that I could get within shouting distance of a BQ. I knew that, if everything went my way, I might even get my BQ. And dammit – I wanted to know how fast I could run.

So after the usual queueing for loos and lining up at the start I crossed the line fairly quickly and – stopped for a potty break within the first mile. Mindful of all the notices warning against soiling public property I wasted a good minute (believe me, this minute will haunt me) waiting for a portapotty. But after that – well I went off like a bat out of hell. I just ran fast. I had been given a good starting pen so there wasn’t too much weaving about – most people were sort of at my speed – but I realized pretty quickly that my Garmin was slightly off the mile markers. Nonetheless Miles 1 – 11 flew by (quick Garmin splits – 9:51 (damn that potty!), 8:02, 8:03, 7:41, 8:17, 8:11, 8:17, 8:16, 8:16, 8:21, 8:23). The bit I dreaded – around the Cutty Sark – was congested but not to0 bad and I emerged across Tower Bridge and headed for the halfway point. Mile 12 went by in 8:18, mile 13 in 8:26 and passing the halfway point I realized I had broken my PR in the half marathon (which I set in March of this year). Now when I ran that half mary I was disappointed because I knew I could go faster but I did not intend to PR in the full. I knew that I was going too fast if I was doing this. But by this stage it had got hot, I was in the full sun and I all I could think was “well if I blow out I blow out. I’m going to stretch this out as long as I can". And I did. All through the hot sunny bits of East London I powered ahead, barely looking around me, grabbing water and popping Enduralytes and managing to wedge down one gel. Mile 14 8:25, mile 15 8:28, Mile 16 7:46, Mile 17 8:45, mile 18 8:42, mile 19 8:57, mile 20 8:32. By this stage I had finished the long quieter bit out to the East of London back and was beginning to roar along the Thames embankment where the crowds were 10 deep and roaring out my name. I was panting, counting to a 100. I could hear people shouting out my name but, unlike other races I did not reach out and thank people. I just went on, gasping for the mile markers. I kept checking my pace band and I was still on course for the 3:45. Mile 21 8:19, mile 22 8:33, mile 23 8:36, mile 24 8:19, mile 25 7:54 and then.

Then it was over. As I rounded the corner at the House of Parliament I noted, to my surprise, that everyone was suddenly overtaking me. And then I realized this was because I had gone into slow motion. My legs had completely seized up. I had felt bits of cramp earlier on, and had even pulled over to get a spectator to open my little case (because I couldn’t manage it) to get out some Enduralytes. But this was it. And just as close as it came, I could feel my BQ going away. And the real struggle began. I staggered up Birdcage Walk, barely able to think from the effort of moving ahead. At this stage I was pumping my arms hard just to move. I fell, and it was relief not to be running, but I willed myself up and back on my feet again. And then I fell again and I could not get up – my legs were sticking out straight and shaking. The ambulance people shot up to me and I screamed at them (I was primal at this stage people, not my normal polite self) to ask them to get me up. They said they would put me on a stretcher. “Not now” I thought, “not after all this effort”. I screamed to the crowds, piled up deeply behind the barriers, to jump over and help me. Two men did immediately – defying the police who I could hear shouting at them to get back behind the barriers – and then I shouted at the crowds again “Help me to get going”. And they roared my name. “GO PETRA GO”. And so off I limped. I remember seeing the 600M to go sign and thinking “I can’t do this” but I staggered on and on and finally I crossed the finish. 3:47:17. 2 minutes and 17 seconds off a BQ and an automatic good for age entry to London 2010 (clarification - I was 2 mins and 17 seconds off an automatic entry. No automatic entry for me). . But 25 minutes ahead of my previous personal record, and about 70 minutes ahead of my first marathon.

I staggered to the luggage area, asking everyone for bottles of water and drinking them as soon as I could. I told myself I could not stop till I got to the Save the Rhino area and I must have looked like a zombie wandering around until I found it. But then I did and it was like coming home. I was embraced and led to a massage table where people took off my shoes and worked on me for half an hour until my legs had stopped shaking. Despite the heat – by this stage it was an amazing 25 degrees in London, bright blue skies – I was shivering and so I sat in foil blankets in my sweatsuit munching on crisps, a sandwich and drinking a beer. Slowly coming back to life.

I am going to end this race report here – there are so many reflections to be made and so many thoughts I have had since – but that’s for another post and a bit more time. For now – this is what happened.

And before you say anything – I am thrilled. Yes I pushed it too hard. Yes I did not fuel correctly during the race. Maybe, if I had slept better and hadn’t peed, I could have done a BQ. But I know that, for the first time in my life and given life’s uncontrollables, I gave this race absolutely everything I could possibly have given it. There was NOTHING left in the tank. Nothing. And so I am thrilled. That BQ will come one day. But for now, I am my own champion. For all the times where I feel I mess up – and believe me, these moments come thick and fast – this time I didn’t. I did the absolute best I could do. And that is a fantastic feeling.

A quick update

A quick update on the day before the race:

• Met Drusy at the expo yesterday. Can't post the photo as I left the cable for my camera at home but she is wonderful and despite the slight "blind date" fear just before we met we got on like a house on fire. Can't wait to get to know her better at the Swift Half in 4 weeks.
  
• For the first time ever, I have taken it easy the day before the race. My wonderful sister-in-law has taken my son off to explore London, my husband is attending a wedding (I declined on the basis that I was running tomorrow) and I have done some very brief errands and have been at my sister-in-law's house, sipping water and gently carboloading, all day. I even had a nap! So far, so good. Slightly eerie watching DVDs in the daytime though - I think it's been a good 15 years since I last did that..
  
• And there is online tracking - you can track me here if you type in my race number 43789.

Will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to make my way across London to Greenwich. Thank you for all your messages of support, here and on FaceBook. You will all be very much on my mind tomorrow - without you I don't think I'd be there. I'll talk to you on the other side of the finishing line.

T-2 days

In 48 hours I will have had my granola, banana and yoghurt and black coffee. I will probably be agitating Adam to get in the car ALREADY and drive me to a tube station so I can begin to make my way to the start of the London marathon.

It's here. We are setting off for London this morning. I'm meeting Dawn - who is nervous and excited at running her first marathon - for lunch and we are then heading out to ExCel (where the G20 met not long ago) where the expo is and we can pick up our race numbers. I'm hoping to meet up with Drusy there this afternoon and generally spend an afternoon in running geek heaven.. Then it's back to my sister-in-law Sarah's for a an early pasta supper, and bed. Tomorrow I am aiming to stay off my feet as much as it's possible with a 6 year old in tow - Sarah has promised to take him off for a while, I might meet a friend for lunch and then we might head to a cinema or something like that. Early night - again. I hope.

And then Sunday morning. London is a large and VERY spread out city and the London marathon starts miles away from where I'm staying. I'm going to have to make way across town from Notting Hill to Greenwich where I've been drafted in the red start. I'm leaving plenty of time - last year the Docklands Light Railway (the only public transport out to the start) broke down and 1000s of runners had to walk the final miles... And then, hopefully, it's the usual nervous queueing for loos and standing around in bin bags, nerves on end until the start at 9:45. To my great surprise and disappointment it does not appear to be possible to follow me live on the internet - one of the sponsors, Adidas, is offering mobile phone tracking on their (crappy) website if you type in my race number 43789. Whether it works with foreign cellphones is anyone's guess... As soon as I can, after the race, I will update my FaceBook status with my time and try to post a very quick post on this site with my time.

And how do I feel? Well - very nervous. It's been a very very busy 2 weeks. After a week of holidaying in Wales with the family where the times were good - great even - but the running was so-so I came back last Friday with some trepidation.

Although I had decided to cut down on Pfitz's mileage I was trying to keep up the speedwork but he had prescribed 3 x 1M repeats at 5K pace in a workout which I had tried and failed at twice during my break. I erred on the side of caution and spent the rest of my break relaxing and not running too much. Saturday morning I woke up at 6, however, knowing I just HAD to get those fast miles in to feel confident. And I did it - I nailed them at a 7:40 pace. I then put the brakes on myself completely - ran a slow 9 miler on Sunday instead of his prescribed 12 miler and for the rest of this week I've been very conservative. 4M on Tuesday and then 5M on Wednesday where I was intending to run 2 at race pace, just to see if I had it. And did I have it. Boy - I was like a champagne bottle uncorked. I really slammed on the brakes but I still ran every mile under 9 minute miles and felt strong. Yesterday was an easy 4 and then I'll run 3M tomorrow morning just to loosen and relax.

I am much more nervous than I have been in a while for a race. I know that I have improved a lot and I am nervous because I hope that I can pull it all out of the hat on the day. As far as my race strategy goes I am going to be somewhat flexible - I hope - because I don't know which pen I'm lined up in yet and I'm anticipating the first miles to be slow with the crowds. However. My goal - for this marathon - is to come in under 4. That is my goal. My PB is just over 4:12 so that would be a great improvement. I am fairly confident that, barring any unforeseen crises, I can do that. In terms of racing strategy I think I am going to pace myself for a 3:52 race. After 5 miles or so I will know how realistic this goal is and I am trusting in myself to be sensible. If anything, I have gone out too slow in the past and I want to avoid that. My recent 20 miler would give me a 3:55 ish finish - I would be VERY happy with that. We shall see.

Finally. As some of you know I have once again been given a race place in this wonderful marathon by Save the Rhino International. I have been reticent to ask for your support of their work because you have all given so much already and I know that these are very much straightened times for everyone. However, this past week I was sent an update on the situation in Zimbabwe. The humanitarian crisis there is, as you may know, very very severe. Perhaps as a result of this, the rhino population is suffering enormously from poaching. Save the Rhino International, in partnership with International Rhino Foundation, has launched an appeal in order to increase awareness of the threats facing Zimbabwe's rhinos and to raise much-needed funds.Poaching of both black and white rhinos in Zimbabwe has more than doubled in the last year. The rhinos are targeted by organised and armed poaching gangs for their horn, which is then sold on the black market. Over 100 Critically Endangered black rhinos have been killed by poachers in the Lowveld since 2000: 40 of these in 2008 alone, 18 black rhinos so far in 2009. One of the many side-effects of this increase in poaching has been the rise in the number of orphaned, and sometimes injured, rhino calves that must be treated and rehabilitated. If any of you have 5 or 10 dollars, pounds or euros to spare please consider donating them to Save the Rhino today. You can do so at my fundraising site and find out more about Save the Rhino's incredible work at www.savetherhino.org. For those of you have already made a donation - thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally, finally. My best friend Dawn is running Sunday's marathon. It's her first marathon and I just wanted to give her a massive shoutout. Her achievement to just get to this point is incredible. She is the mother of 3 wonderful boys, the youngest of whom is 2, and has trained very hard despite very limited time. She has also raised an enormous amount of money for a very worthwhile cause, Children with Leukemia. She is an inspiring person, an incredible runner and the best friend a girl could ask for. Send her your happy thoughts on Sunday!

And finally, finally, finally. Thank you all for your support in the course of this training program. Without you, and particularly Maritza, Aron and Jen, I would never have started on the Pfitz. Everyone has been supportive and helpful and you have all given me the most enormous sense of community and friendship. I will be thinking of all of you on Sunday morning as I line up and hope everyone has a good weekend's running.

Iiiiiit's ..... Taper time! But first ..

An apology. Because after last week's post you probably all hated me. "Hey guess what guys I'm running really fast and far and I've lost weight - how're you all doing?". I know I know. Overwhelming smugness. But let me reassure you - working on weight and speed and distance has left some gaping holes in my life:
- this blog. Man! It has been irregular.
- my other blog which I won't even mention but which I have been hoping to resurrect for months. It hasn't been. Nuff said.
- my social life. Well as you can imagine I have just been everyone's favourite party girl. I have either been running, working, or fighting fires at home. So I haven't really seen a lot of friends, returned a lot of phonecalls, or supported you all online or commented on your blogs.
- my family. I really have, at times, put running ahead of everything else and while the theory of "finding me-time" is something I heartily espouse some days I wish I could just sink on the sofa with my kids and read a book with them rather than slog out another 10 miles. But I do it, and the guilt sits there. Also, I have been tired and distracted - working out how to get my run in some days - and I'm afraid, have not always been in my most positive mood.
As for the current state of my house and organisation - well suffice it to say I went so far as to purchase a hypnosis mp3 on how to find things (please note I don't generally "believe" in hypnosis but desperation - it's a Prada handbag! - etc.) because in my haste and tiredness I have lost rather a lot in the past couple of months. No luck so far, in case you wondered. The tape told me to "go back to where I was when I lost said item". No sh*t Sherlock! If I knew that I would find the stuff right? I'm so overloaded at the moment I don't remember my own name, let alone where I put things.. Anyway. Are you feeling better yet? Rest assured - there's plenty of crappiness, guilt, and failure in my life to make me human. And then some.

Anyway - it's finally taper time. Traditionally a time where I can right some of the wrongs committed in a demanding schedule.

After last week's post and my comments about the Pfitz taper (that it doesn't really exist, basically) I got a really useful comment from the wonderful (and FAST!) Aron. She said that she felt that the Pfitz taper didn't get you to the start line rested enough and pointed me towards Jen's blogposts about her taper before the 2008 CIM. Jen basically cut down on some of the runs in the last few weeks and after I contacted her she confirmed that she would recommend cutting down the miles, especially in the last 2 weeks. So that is my plan - especially as I'm definitely feeling a bit tired and worn out..

But first things first - last weekend was my final 20 miler before London and I ran it with the NikeTown training team. Somehow (I think through Nike+ which I haven't used for over a year) I was invited to run a 20 mile training run with the NikeTown running team (who run a running club from the Oxford Circus, Central London, shop). I was attracted at the idea of running this long distance with other people rather than on my own and to running it in London rather than my usual rural routes. So I arranged to stay with BFF Dawn (who was running her own 20 miler that day) and tag-team on childcare and arrived at NikeTown at 7:30 am on Sunday morning. It was all amazingly well-organised - they opened the store, handed out free t-shirts and various Lucozade products and set us up with pacers. We all had lanyards on with a routemap and by 8:00 we set off. With some trepidation I decided to join the 9:00 minute mile pace group - reasoning that I coudl always drop back and join a slower group if I felt it was too much. And initially, I did feel it might be too fast - our pacer was very keen and was consistently clocking us in at sub 9 minute miles for the first few. The group I ran with was not, initially, very friendly - everyone was in their own (iPod) zone and that left running Oprah here bereft of conversational company. However, it was a beautiful day and we were running through London's parks so I didn't have too much to complain about. After about 8 miles I started running with a woman who was aiming for a 3:45 in London and we started chatting. She was very interesting and engaging - had run quite a few London marathons and was a really fast runner on shorter distances (I think a 42 minute 10K PR and a 1:38 half-marathon PR). We kept running alongside each other and chatting and it made the miles fly past. By this stage we had lost our pacer but as she was a Londoner she was confident about the route. We paced each other comfortably until about mile 14 when she started to flag. I gave her some of my shotbloks but at mile 15 she told me go ahead. And from then on I ran alone. I felt strong and happy to be out in London on such a beautiful day and (fairly) confident I could find my way. Nike had posted marshalls at all the major turns and I would just shout out at them "which way" when I saw them. At times I had to fight my way through traffic or tourists - particularly around Westminster - but I managed to get back on pace each time. By about 16 miles I could feel the mild beginnings of cramp - it was a warm day and my fueling strategy was a bit shaky. A few shotbloks clearly had not been enough but I didn't feel I could take any more in board. I was comfortable at my pace - 9:00 minute mile, more or less, depending on the trafic lights - and had the strange feeling that this was the only pace I could run. I couldn't speed up or slow down and was actually surprised by the sight of the finish line - it arrived before I anticipated it - brining me in at 2:55. 2:55 peeps! That's below a 9 minute mile! I was so delighted with my time and my pace - overall it proved very consistent throughout the race - and, after a cinnamon roll and a coffee at the Nordic Bakery - headed back to Dawn's for some childcare and to await her return from her 20 miler. Given that this is her first 20 miler she was quite nervous about it but she managed a sterling effort of 3:40 and was amazingly perky and happy afterwards. To celebrate we went out for dinner in the evening and shared a bottle of wine. You can't always be on the wagon...

So onto this week - the first week of the taper.. I went out for 8M with intervals on Tuesday morning at 5:30 am and guys - I wasn't feeling it. I was exhausted. I was nowhere near the 5K pace I needed to be hitting. After 2.5M I packed it up and went home. Wednesdays 5 miler was ok, and Thursday I decided to pick up the intervals from Tuesday and I incorporated them into a 6 miler. This time I hit the pace fine. 4M easy on Friday and then today's 16 miler, in the spirit of the taper, got downgraded to a 13 miler. A very slow one. Tomorrow I am technically due to run a 8-10K warmup race and I have toyed with running my own 10k. But I've got a big day ahead tomorrow and staying in bed for an extra hour might be the right solution at the moment - especially as I'm still exhausted.

We are going on holiday tomorrow. As a family. Camping. At Fforest in Wales. I anticipate it being fun, off-the grid, granola-time with the family. Wet as well. Wales is the wettest part of a very wet country. But it doesn't really matter when you're sea-kayaking in a wetsuit to spot the local dolphin colonies (Monday morning) or coasteering (Wednesday morning). I've told them I'm running a race in 2 weeks and will not jump from high rocks - I think my son and I will be swimming round a lot of the coves. But we all need a break - from our schedules, from our phones and from our lives. So I'm bringing my running kit and just going to run as much as I feel like - which, knowing my anal personality, will probably be close to what I want to be doing 2 weeks away from the race - aiming for about 18 miles before the weekend. I think it will be good to get out, step away and get myself mentally psyched AND in perspective for London.

Finally. A minor but very positive point. Hammer nutrition has JUST come to the UK. Previously friends have smuggled bottles of endurolytes across the borders (yes along with bags of dark chocolate M&Ms) but now we can get them here! So after Sunday's near-cramps I ordered a bottle of endurolytes AND a box for HammerGel espresso gels. So far, in training, I have run with Shotbloks but though I can tolerate them well, I don't feel they do much for me either. I tried these things out this morning and I can't believe it. They are actually delicious! I would eat them for a snack! It's basically Nutella! Which US readers may not get but I can tell you I don't even have a tiny taste because it so delicious. It's basically butter with chocolate and hazelnut in it. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

But now it's good for me! I can't believe it. This is a happy day. Which throws up a race-day quandary. I tried this stuff out today on a 13 miler with no adverse effect. I will take it out on next week's 12 miler. Do you think that's enough of a try to check that there are no adverse effects on race day? I have never reacted badly to a gel - I just tend to find the fruit flavours hard to take on by mile 18. But I've never been sick or felt any of the other common side effects.. Thoughts and opinions please - let me know what you think.

OK. I'm going to sign off. I'm exhausted and not packed yet. I will see you all on the other side of this week where I will suddenly magically have gained the insight on how to be so effective I can pack everything I want into this life. Till then - all tips are welcome. Oh and I will catch up with you all. I promise!

3 1/2 weeks till take-off

Nearly there - it's 3 and a half weeks till take-off. Suddenly, I'm in marathon month. One more 20 miler and the taper begins. Well - the sort of taper. A Pfitz-like taper - 3 weeks out from the marathon you still do a 16 miler and a have a 43 mile week, 2 weeks out you do a 12 miler and a 32 mile week and in the week running up to the race you do 22 miles. But it'll be down from the past weeks, and the past month - in March I clocked up my highest mileage ever, reaching 209 miles. February wasn't shabby either - 182 miles - and even in January I managed to pull in 133 miles which is good considering I didn't start training till halfway through.

Overall, so far, taking "the opposite of me" to marathon training has really worked. I've talked about this before and perhaps it comes across gimmicky or glib. I suppose a less catchy way of putting it is that I'm trying to break some ingrained habits that have outlived their usefulness. I find that sometimes I get fed up with the predictability of how things don't work in a certain aspect of my life. I find myself upset, angry and mostly bored with myself - here I am again, banging my head against that same old wall. So slowly what I'm trying to do is look at a situation that is frustrating me and trying to change what I do - trying to change my approach getting into the situation and my approach getting out of the situation..

Have I completely confused you yet? Well - take for example a course I have been contemplating doing. I am Miss Let's-get-started. I love taking, and particularly, starting courses. And this course would be very helpful for my job. No question about it. So - in the past I would have taken it on. However, I would, more than likely, have found out 3 months into it, that the commitment was more than I could cope with. I would have found this out after a period where I shouted at my kids, shouted at my husband, gained weight, lost self-esteem - yadda yadda yadda. (See what I mean about me boring myself?). I would have finally triggered that the reason I was feeling so miserable was that I had too much on. I would then be all tortured about giving up the course, would have tortured conversations with my boss and my tutor and would eventually give it up.

What I am doing now is trying to break this habit. I've got a list in my notebook at work where I put down the pros and cons of doing this course. So far, the cons (missing out on family time, always feeling I should be doing more coursework, and not being able to run as much (!)) outweigh the pros (makes my job easier and gives me better career prospects). Moreover, by putting off the course until I can find more time in my life I am also giving the whole thing much more thought than I normally would - for example, although it would make me better at my job and make me more marketable, I am not sure I want to be in this field at all, in the long term.

See what I mean? Is anyone still reading this? I will get to the point - running-wise.

So I decided to shake things up running-wise as well. So I made the following changes:

• Normally, after a marathon I take time off running altogether and then start again from scratch. This time, after Chicago, I carried on running. Not necessarily high mileage immediately, but up until Christmas I made an effort to run at least one medium-length run a week (9-13M) and to try to get my mileage over the 20M per week at least. By early January, I was running 30M weeks.
  
• The Pfitzinger 12 week program is a much more aggressive program than I am used to. Higher mileage (particularly mid-week) and much more specific speed and interval workouts. But I've just knuckled down and done them. I've ignored the voice in my head that says "who are you to be doing intervals? who do you think you are? some kind of athlete?" and just got on with it. That's not to say every session was beautiful, or went well, or that I always enjoyed it. But I just ignored the negativity and kept up with it. Bad runs are followed by good ones and I've kept my faith in that.
  
• Diet. Haha! I've been keeping something up my dri-fit sleeve my friends! Since early January I joined my husband on WeightWatchers. He is on a long-term weight loss plan and my weight had, by the end of December, crept up to the very top of where I wanted to be - 65kgs. This gave me a BMI of 24.2... So since then I have been focusing very much on eating for health and exercise. Wholegrains, vegetables, fruit etc. I have been trying to notice when the moments occur where I eat junk and then being conscious of them, so I can avoid them. In addition, I have really cut down on alchohol. That's not to say I don't ever have a drink - but now I try to be really aware of when I would really like a glass of wine, rather than having one as a matter of habit. All in all this has led to me losing over 5 kilos in the past 3 months, bringing my BMI down to a much healthier 21.9.
  

All these changes, together, are putting me in a very positive frame of mind. Physically I am feeling strong and healthy. I've had a few colds and sniffles but nothing serious. My knees are good - at my last visit to the osteopath he said he had never seen me in such good shape and he thinks the increased mileage has really strengthened my quads so that my kneecap is kept more stable. Mentally I feel I am getting ready for London as well. Ready - but not too ready. I am conscious of what I can control and I feel I've done a good job in controlling those things. But there are other factors - crowds, congestion, weather and last-minute hiccups - which could prevent me from achieving the PB I am seeking in London. And I am determined to accept that side of things as well - if I don't PB this time, I will just have to keep on trying until I do. And either way I am really going to enjoy this race. Bring it on!

55M and still standing

Last week I reached the highest weekly mileage I have ever run - 55M. The mileage was made up by a 6 miler with 6 x 100m strides, a 12M lactate threshold run (with 7M at 15k pace which for me averaged at a 8:27 min/mile), a 5M recovery run, a 12M medium t0 long run, and a 20 miler (1st of 2 to be run). I did all the runs bar the 20M during the week and gave myself Saturday as a rest day and then, on Sunday, ran the Ashby 20.

Now the previous week, before Silverstone, I had aimed to mimic "real-race" ideal circumstances. Sleep / food etc.. This weekend things went a bit off-kilter. It was more of a "real-life" sim. Although it wasn't a sim. But anyway. I went out on Friday night and only managed 6 hours of sleep. Saturday was hectic, running around after and with my kids. A very good, longtime friend of ours, Michael, came up from London to run the race with me. We hadn't seen each other in a long time so over turkey chili that evening we caught up and the bottle of wine was suddenly empty.. Then, my 6 year old son was so excited about Michael being with us that he woke us both up at 5:30 on race day. Good times! Anyway - that gave us plenty of time to mess around and get ready (as we hadn't managed this the night before) and shortly after 7am we were on the road to our race. Now I am clueless about British geography and didn't actually realise that Ashby-de-la-Zouche (it's really called that) was a good 90 mins away from me. Combine that with a few turns thrown in by Michael's sat nav and we just made it to the race site for 9.

The race is a very well-organised and sponsored local race. Nice because it didn't have the enormous crowds of Silverstone and it was, actually, better managed. It started on time, for one thing. 10am we were off. And then the final aspect of my unpreparedness for the race appeared - I didn't realise how hilly it was. It was a lollipop race - about 2M out and then 2 loops and 2M back. As soon as we got on the lollipop it became apparent that the hills just kept on coming - up and down. However, it was great to be running this alongside Michael and I wasn't aiming for a particular time. I was treating this as my long slow run so as far as I was concerned I was just going to be comfortable throughout. The first loop passed along easily but by the second Michael was beginning to tire (Michael is not as far along in his training cycle for the LA marathon and probably needed a hilly 20M like a hole in the head).

Me flashing my race number - honest! - at about 7M. Michael still liked me then.

A bit further in the race and out of the wind it felt quite warm

I was running Oprah, talking for Britain, but at 16M Michael told me to head off (and give him some peace and quiet?) and meet him at the finish. So I sped off and headed for the finish - realising only at 18M that the last 2M were completely uphill. Brutal! I made it round in 3:07 - a 9:20 minute mile average - which I was delighted with. I was intending to pace myself conservatively in this race, particularly given the hills in it, and I was so pleased that a 9:20 minute mile now feels so comfortable.

The goodie bag was great - a full meal of a cheese sandwich, water, sportsdrink and a cereal bar AND a big blue Aldi hooded sweatshirt. Michael came in not long after me and had, I think, in the last 4M of the race, reconsidered our love and friendship.

Here's us in our new sweatshirts. He definitely held me responsible.

Halfway through this week and I'm hitting a snag though. So far so good - 8M with intervals Tuesday night (with headlight, in rain and wind - like the good ole days), 11M yesterday (more wind but at least daylight) and 4M this morning. But by lunchtime today I realised that I didn't feel too good. I'm achy, have a sore throat and well - without giving too much away - I think I have stomach flu. I'm tucked up in bed with my laptop and I'm under strict instructions from my husband not to TALK about tomorrow's proposed 17 miler until I'm feeling better. The real snag, however, is that I'm supposed to run a 10K race this weekend. And I was going to run our local race, the Lincoln 10K. However, I also have to run 17 this week and if I have to take tomorrow off (and it looks / feels like I might) I am more concerned with getting my 17 in on Saturday or Sunday than with running the 1oK. I might be able to get in 10K on my own on Saturday (hopefully) and then by Sunday be ready for 17. So I'll have to see what happens.

In the meantime I'm using my confinement to bed as an excuse to catch up on blogging, blogs and emails (and playing on FaceBook). Wonderful Michael even brought us 3 box sets of The Wire so I might crack them open as well....

Hope all your running is going well, and that you're feeling better than I am at the moment.

Why I run

I was thinking about this topic today after a post by the wonderful and wise Greg on why he runs. I agreed with most of his reasons but a new one came to me today, against the background of some other stuff in my life.

I have just made a mistake at work. Not an enormous one, but a visible one, which will cost my firm a little bit of money. I have fessed up and offered to pay up but they are being very gracious about it. It was caused by lack of attention to detail which is a general character fault which I work hard at to correct but don't always succeed in dealing with. So. That makes me feel pretty bad. I have had to fall on my sword publicly. Not so nice. And I feel like an idiot. Not nice at all. And I now feel like every bad thing that everyone has ever said and implied about me (or which I think they have ever said or implied about me) must be true as well. A truly quite horrible feeling.

If I didn't run I might not have any perspective on this matter at all. That's what I'm like. I would think "well this proves that I am just a fat, lazy, incompetent woman who doesn't deserve to have a job at all, nor a loving family or any of the wonderful friends she has near and far". Because I run - because I am still able to drag out a 12 miler after a hellish day yesterday and before a hellish day tomorrow - I feel that I can't be all bad. Mostly bad. But not all bad. To paraphrase the wonderful Fraulein Maria, at some point in my wicked miserable life, I am able to do something good...

So I'm going to go and cook a meal for my family now and do my best not to be ratty with them all and tomorrow I'll go and face some more music. I'll run 5M before work just to give me strength.. That's why I run.

Reality? Check!

Thank everyone so much for your comments after last week's post. I did indeed lay off the 15 miler on Sunday and rested and that proved to be the right decision. I had built 2 extra weeks into my training so was duplicating last week anyway and so I didn't feel too terrible about it (terrible enough - you know what you're like when you skip a run) and I think the rest did me good. So in my 2nd go at the training week I took some of the lessons learned in the previous week with me. In particular I aimed to do each workout as I should. I have, in previous weeks, been running workouts hard that I didn't need to and that (surprise, surprise) has affected my performance on days when I did need to do a hard workout. So easy 5 on Tuesday was just that. Wednesday's 12 miler turned into 14 as I was taking 2 miles off the Sunday long run to run a half - and it was a slow steady 14 miler. Friday's 10 miler had 5 1000m repeats in it at 5K pace and I was pleased with them - I did them in 7:39, 7:17, 7:25, 7:39 and 7:27. Not entirely rock solid but good enough. Saturday's 6 miler with 100m striders was on target and then yesterday I ran the Adidas Silverstone Half-marathon.

The race is about 2 and a half hours from my home and so I left early and got there on time. It's quite big - 10000 entries - and held on and around a Formula 1 track. The walk to the start was long - a mile or so - but once there it was quite vibey - food stands, music and even some sponsor shops. The race is sponsored by the same people as the London marathon so they push it really hard as a training race. Having said that, the London marathon gear I saw was UGLY so I wasn't tempted.

Carrying on the "opposite of me" vein I had prepared for this race far better than I normally do. Carboloading in the days before, drinking sportsdrink in the car on the way there and wearing the kit (more or less) that I intend to wear on the day. I was also - at some people's urging - using this race to see what I could do - speedwise. Tackle that BQ bunny right on the head, as it were...

I started off in the right place - between the 1:45 and 2:00 finishers and got chatting to a nice girl in the first few miles who was hoping to finish in 1:50. My mile splits were coming in more or less as I had hoped - underneath 9 minute miles - but when we hit 9:06 after mile 7 I could see she was slowing down and I decided to push ahead. By mile 9 I caught up with a man who I had bantered with earlier in the race and we really pushed each other to the last mile, where again I took off and pushed ahead. Without much fanfare, my splits were:

Mile 1 8:23
Mile 2 8:41
Mile 3 8:41
Mile 4 8:42
Mile 5 8:42
Mile 6 8:53
Mile 7 9:06
Mile 8 8:41
Mile 9 8:27
Mile 10 8:32
Mile 11 8:23
Mile 12 8:22
Mile 13 8:12
Mile .33 2:40 (yes that's what my Garmin tells me and plenty of other runners on the runnersworld forum complain the course is measured too long).

So. Finished in 1:54:30 which is a 4 minute PB for me (and that was February 2007 so it's been a while). A respectable time, but NOT a time that indicates I should be aiming for 3:45 in London. I was pleased with the race - apart from the few miles where I held back a bit at the beginning - I really paced myself well and negative splits are just great. I was really able to crank it up at the end as well which I liked (I didn't like it at the time but sitting down at my desk now I like it). I feel quite confident about doing a 9 minute mile pace in London which should get me in under 4 hours. All being well. So after last week's jiggles I am back on track. There is no doubt that the Pfitz is proving to work for me and improving my strength and endurance (after all, I ran this half after 35 miles in the earlier part of the week) but the improvement is steady. Which is as it should be..

There were two major highlights to the race - my family came to watch (despite the 135 mile journey each way) which is rare as my husband works Sunday mornings AND my BFF Dawn ran it as her first half in many many years as part of her training for London. She finished in 2:09 which is pretty amazing I think - my first half took me 2:15 and I'd been running much longer than she has been - she'll do so well in London.


So here's two shots of me. The official photos for this event are truly unbelievably ugly. My legs look like (Giant Redwood) tree trunks and my face is contorted into the most awful grimace. I thought about buying them just to show you how hideous they are but that seems a total waste of money, even for the sado masochist in me, so I'll spare you them.

Onwards and upwards..

Races, races, races... Still doing the opposite of me, I am racing a lot. Next Sunday I run the Ashby 20M (with my friend Michael who I haven't seen in a long time). We are aiming for a 9:30 pace which is perfect for the long run I should be doing that weekend. The week after that I am running the Lincoln 10K and the week after that I am running my second 20 miler with a Nike Team in London. And then it will be taper time..

Finally - looking into the future and races beyond London. 3 weeks after London I will be running the White Peak Swift Half. Old-timers on my blog might remember I ran the full there some time ago without training for it - a painful and humbling experience I dod not seek to ever repeat. I have been asked to run a 10K in London for a charity we support at work but I'm not sure yet - I will decide closer to the time..

And then - this year's bucket trip.. My parents came across recently and we planned a great October trip. They are going on a 5 week holiday in California and I will be flying out to San Francisco to meet them, probably on Friday October 9th. They will drive me to Susanville, CA and then on Sunday I will run the beautiful Bizz Johnson marathon there. After that, the plan is that we head up on the Monday to camp for 3 days somewhere in the Redwood National and State Park . We will probably head down to Healdsburg on the Thursday (for a soft bed and a shower, and a glass of wine) and then on Friday I will say goodbye to my parents and drive to see Maritza, just outside of San Francisco! So I am very very excited about this plan - and if anyone has advice on must-sees, must-do's etc. in the general area, please send them my way..

I'm into my peak week now - 55M total with 18 down. So it's early to bed, plenty of carbs and I'll talk to you at the weekend. Good luck with your running everyone!

Hubris / biting off more than I can chew? and chickens coming home to roost...

So what I omitted to tell you in my last post was the conversation Sally and I had while out on our 18 miler. One particular part of our conversation at least. I was giving Sally my blow-by-blow account of the Stamford 30K (when you're running 18M with a friend you have the time and audience for this kind of conversation..) and Sally said - well that puts you on course for a Boston qualifier in London. I asked her how so, as 9:00 minute miling gets me round a marathon in 3:55 - not the 3:45 which is my age group qualifying time. Sally's logic was that Stamford was so tough that I should be capable of the 8:30ish pace necessary to qualify... Abandoning reason for a minute I got swept up in the reverie of the thought. Wow. BQ. Can you imagine? The glory and triumph would be mine.

Now Sally has an agenda. She BQ'ed last year. (I'm sometimes amazed that she's still my friend. Remember - I took her out for her first 10 miler. That was me! And now look at her. She's like a whippet!) So of course Miss Sally wants me to qualify so we can both trek out to Boston together next spring..

Anyway - I've rolled the idea around in my head for the past week or so. You know what I mean. Obsessively checking race calculators etc (to run 3:45 I must run a 10K in x, a half in y etc).

But then I've had a few runs in the past 2 weeks which have slapped me round the head with a reality check. I had an 11 miler on the treadmill, with speedwork, which didn't work. And yesterday I was intending to go out for 15 with 12 at race pace.. Well. It did not happen. I was SO tired. I barely made it to 6.

So let's recap here. My running is going really well. Really well. I'm running comfortable around the 9 minute mile mark and I'm happily running a mileage I could only have dreamed of in the past. The Pfitz is definitely helping me to up my game - enormously.

But I also have a life. A busy and fairly stressful job. 2 little kidoodles who need various bits of time, input and attention. A husband who ALSO has a busy and stressful life. This past week my wonderful parents were with me and I ended up staying later than my normal 9:30 curfew a few nights. I wouldn't have missed it for the world but it's undeniable that I'm paying the price for it now. Late night (with parents) and early mornings (with type A 6 year old) mean that I am shattered. Chuck in a 45+ mile a week training schedule and you can see there is no make-up in the world that can cover the bags under my eyes.

In the spirit of doing the opposite of me, I'm thinking I should not be pushing my luck. If I can get round in 3:55 that would be a massive (17 minute) PR. Last year I had no idea of how I would ever get to that time. Now I'm thinking that, with everything going my way, I can do this. But going down to 3:45 is, I think, over reaching for this race. I think that with a few more training cycles I can do it but right now it's too far to go in one fell swoop. Too risky for injury as well...

So here I am - what do you think? I asked my osteopath when I went for my tune-up the other day (he's suffering from over training at the moment, by the way, it even happens to the pros) and he said - devil's advocate - "can you imagine how you'd feel if you got round in 3:48? You'd think maybe your start was too conservative...". Thanks Jonathan. That helps. But thinking about this - say I had the wind in my back, perfect weather, energy levels that I can only dream of - and I got round in 3:48? What I would think is "omg what a PR and that BQ is definitely possible"....

Now onto the pressing matter of today. I'm meant to be going out for 15M with 12 at race pace. I set out for this run yesterday but abandoned it as I was just exhausted. Ran 6M instead. Today is the last day in my silver bullet extra week of training - as of tomorrow I am caught up with the Pfitz program and following the 6 weeks to goal (or 7 weeks today) program to my goal in 7 weeks. What do you think I should do? Should I skip the 15M and give my body a chance to rest, before the last hard 7 weeks of training? Or try to get this 15M in somehow? Thoughts, opinions and commiserations welcome...

I have no running photos to share at the moment - my camera really is bust, I fear, but let me take this shameless opportunity to show off my lovely daughter who is going to a new school in April and has just got her new uniform through - is she not gorgeous?

I hope all your running is going well and would love your input on my running, racing and personal strategy..

A bump in the road?

Thank you all for your comments - you'll be glad to hear that I heeded your advice and headed out for my 18M yesterday with Sally. We went out on the lovely road near Brattleby where there is very little traffic and it turned into an unexpectedly warm, spring-like day. The run was so-so - both of us were overdressed and we both ran out of water. Sal hadn't run longer than 10 for a few weeks so confessed afterwards that she was cursing me in her head at mile 12 - I think that's when I was waxing lyrical about how nice it is to run with friends.. Oh well. She forgave me, I think. We stopped and started and talked about everything but we made it round in just under 3 hours (I subtracted the 20 minute presentation Sal gave at mile 7 of all her new cross training exercises. We were practising weight lifting exercises with pretend weights by the roadside. Oh well). So overall, nothing beautiful but nothing terrible.

Except for one strange thing. At some point I noticed my ankle hurting. And don't jump on me - it's not anywhere near tendons etc - it's literally on the outside of my ankle bone. It's exactly the same place that hurts when I wear wellies, ski boots or skates - and I think I must somehow be rubbing it against my shoe. At least that's what I hope it is - the pain is very much on the outside of my ankle bone rather than anywhere inside.. It just feels bruised. I went out for 5 this morning and could feel it, though nothing that actually impacted my running. It's just weird and I hope it will fade in the next day or so..

Big week ahead - 51 miles and a busy week in the rest of my life as well. It'll be a test of me and the Pfitz. Doing 5 Tuesday, 12 Wednesday (either before work - which means starting to run at 5am which oh man! I don't want to be doing - or in the afternoon if I can find someone to palm off Daughter No. 1 to) and then lactate threshold on Friday morning, before a weekend of 5 and 18 again.. The rents are coming across from Holland on Friday morning so that 11 mile lactate threshold run will again be a 5am job. The only consolation for that one will be that I can think of the Dutch rewards that I will be able to indulge in when my parents get there .. herring (salted), licorice (sweet) and chocolate sprinkles..

I've worked out where to fit in my other silver bullet week as well - I'm going to repeat the week 6 weeks to goal (the week after this one - as it stipulates a marathon specific 15 miler with 12M at race pace - I could do that at the Silverstone half). The week after that is my 20 miler which neatly co-incides with the Ashby 20M race I signed up for. All so tidy.. Something's bound to come unstuck, but still.. And then I wasn't going to run my local race - the Lincoln 10K - but my schedule for 4 weeks to goal stipulates an 8 - 15K tune-up race. Do you think I need this given the amount of other races I've done? Does Pfitz put this is in because he wants you to race (in which case I'll have done plenty of that) or because he wants you to race somewhere between 8K to 15K? After a few big races - the Silverstone one really is big for a half - I'll be ready to get back to hermit land and run some miles alone... What do you think?

So there you go, another update from Petra-land. Take them as they come - I seem to be on a roll at the moment...

Not running but slogging..

What goes up must come down right? Except for weight, generally, that holds true. After my triumph in Stamford this weekend (I really was inordinately pleased with myself which, in itself, set me up for a slap) I decided I would use this week as one of my "silver bullet" weeks I had built into my Pfitz plan. I started my 12 week program 2 weeks early so as to give myself the opportunity to miss or futz 2 weeks in case of sickness / child sickness / skiing holiday. The last option never happened (probably good news for my running after last year) and the first two - well I still have a week extra left..

And it was definitely a silver bullet week. The kids were on break, and we were going to London together. Except that my 6 year old crept into my bed on Friday night with a temperature. He was very poorly all over the weekend and into the week and so by Tuesday I sent my husband and daughter off to London together. The 6 year old and I had a quiet few days, interrupted only by my wonderful mother-in-law (I can't believe I've never mentioned her before - she is truly a wonderful woman) who came to babysit so I could run. Told you she was great! So I ran 5 easy on Tuesday. Mildly sore but fine. Set off for 11 on Wednesday and had a cracker of a run - 11M in 1:42. If you think I wasn't intending to run fast, and walked for a minute each mile, that brings each running bit (about .95 of a mile) in at well below 9 minute miles. I was VERY pleased with myself. And .. as we all know, this is when the man with the big hammer comes and slugs you one. Because I was intending to go out for 8 yesterday - 3M warmup, 4M at 15K pace and then 1M cooldown. I made this workout up myself - I know! - based on previous weeks. Except someone slipped cement into my legs. I soon realised there was NO way I was going to go fast. It was a pure survival run. I ran the 8 miles - not fast, not pretty. Pride comes before fall - I should know this.

Tomorrow we (wonderSally and I) have 18 on the agenda. I've carboloaded and am very close to heading to bed. I'm not even contemplating matching last week's pace - will just be happy to get the miles in.

Any lessons learned? Well yes. Running hard and long wears you out (doh!). This is probably the reason you're always advised not to run long runs at race pace. I'm fine at this stage in the proceedings - it's 9 weeks till race day and I'm at the end of the first bit of my training. I could take it easy this week and have. But the races up ahead - the Silverstone half and the Ashby 20? Respect - especially for the latter. I will NOT race that one at race pace. I've put it out there now people so I promise..

Finally, I haven't been posting pictures recently. Said 6 year old has dropped my camera and I now need to get it fixed.. But this is stuff I've been meaning to post.

My stomping ground in the snow:

New treads to wear in in the next few months..
The snow had nearly melted but there was enough ice to make it awkward..

So that's it for the moment people. See you the other side of 18 - I hope all your training is going well (better than my 8 miler yesterday anyway - I wouldn't wish it on a soul).

Stamford St. Valentine's 30K

Well this is a first for me - again! Posting a race report on the day of the race... It's snow in July I tell you...

I really took this race seriously. I ran 11 on Friday and then chilled - did very little yesterday but ensured I carboloaded last night (Irish stew ... mmmm) and, to show how ready I was for the day, I woke up before the alarm. Again - I carboloaded - granola, banana and yoghurt - and a cup of coffee before bundling the kids in the car, dropping them off with mother-in-law, and heading down the road to Stamford. Stamford, in case you didn't know, is just gorgeous. They film costume dramas here, the town is so beautiful. Unfortunately, the school where the race started, was clearly NOT the location of a costume drama. More gritty inner city indie movie set. However, the tone for the day was POSITIVE as just before I left Susan - the wonderful - had updated her FaceBook status to say she had gone into labor. So I was just thinking of her all the time leading up to the race, thinking of the incredibly hard work she was doing and just sending her the best vibes I could find. It made time pass as we waited in a gymnasium while the wind and occasional rain swept by outside. The gym was filled with club runners and, to be honest, I felt a little bit alone and left out while everyone was chatting to their clubmates. But I got a grip, don't worry.

As soon as the race started I had the familiar experience of everyone whooshing past me. I knew this was a really tough race, very hilly for almost the entire length, so I took it really easy. My osteopath had warned me that the first 4 miles were deceptively easy - the rest was hard. I knew the key was pacing, and just coping with the hills. It was all made easier by the beautiful countryside - we ran through some beautiful villages (Little Casterton) and the fields along the lanes were beautiful - and still snow-covered. The hills made themselves known pretty quickly - they just kept on coming. But to my great pleasure I was able to cope with them and power up them quite happily. I tried to time every mile (a bit tricky as the course was marked in KMs, very unusual in this totally unmetric country) but would forget. I could see, though, that I was coming in around 9 minute miles for most miles which was better than I was hoping for. Now I know that received wisdom is that you don't run training races at race pace. But personal experience is that I do need to test myself prior to a big race in order to see what I can do, and what I can keep up. So I decided to try to hit the 9 minute mile mark and if the wheels came off, that would be something to learn and take with me into the rest of the training cycle and the race itself.

Until about mile 9 I was feeling very happy, and right about the half-way point I could myself getting tired. I hadn't drunk any sportsdrink before the race and was beginning to regret this but just in time there was an aid station with sportsdrink. Around 10M I latched onto a group of 3 club runners who were running a 9 minute mile pace and to my great delight I was keeping up with them. We bantered backwards and forwards and made the time pass and took turns leading the group. This was the first time decent runners have ever drafted behind me - it was quite amazing for me! Particularly as I was leading the charge up the hills - I didn't think I was good at them! I could see that I was close to 9 minute miles but by 18M I could also see I was just off the pace for a 2:42.. And the last .66 of the mile was awful. I could see the school we left from but was horrified to realise that this was not where the finish was. To get the full 30K in (or 18.66 miles) they had set up a great big circuit on the playing fields behind the school. It was unbelievably hard to run round this very muddy and wet pitch with the finish line in view the entire time. But finally, I ran her in. At 2:48:33. Which makes my overall pace about 9:01 per mile. Which is AMAZING, given that I a) don't normally run that fast and b) the hills! The hills!

The promised showers afterwards were unbelievably terrible - they were dirty and there was NO water pressure - the tiny amount of water just trickled out - but I was pleased not to have to drive home sweatily..

In true family-style I walked into our house tired and triumphant to be greeted by a crisis from my 8 year old - since resolved - but hey, that's what running mothers have to deal with. And as of this morning (US time) the ranks of the running moms have swollen by at least one - baby Isaac Roy arrived safely and the lovely Susan, Chasen and Isaac are all doing well. I won't post a picture - that's Susan's privilege - but I can't tell you how thrilled I am. My race shirt for the day will be washed and posted to the little runner-to-be - hopefully he'll be joining his mother on the road soon!

Till soon my friends - run strong!

And heeeerrrreeee's ....... me

There was an article in the Times recently which was very negative about blogging and Facebook. And presumably Twitter if they were with it enough to know about it.. While there is some attempt at maintaining a balanced view, the overall tone appears to be that sharing your feelings and experiences online is part of "a creeping desensitisation towards squandering personal privacy" and they back this up with some scary stories about a woman who met someone she had never met before who knew about her child's recent accident, and others who are "so obsessional [about their blogging and getting material for it ] that the author sometimes puts the virtual life before the real one, never really living in the moment". I was really irritated by this article and until I sat down to write this post had not really put my thoughts together about why it irritated me so much. I suppose because, perhaps like many of you, I am not surrounded by other bloggers. Few of my friends blog, or read other blogs. So when I tell people I know that I blog people often seem to think this is a very strange habit, and raise some of the points raised in the Times article. And there's no denying the writer of the Times article has a point - you have to take some care in giving out details of where you live and your family and you have to exercise some judgment about the information you share with the world. And there probably are people out there who "put the virtual life ahead of the real one". But I think there are far more people out there who spend every evening zoned out in front of the TV instead of having experiences themselves. Blogging is, at least, doing something - creating something. However flawed or self-referential. Moreover, most of the blogs I read are by people who very much lead real lives and who, far from holing up in their virtual world, are probably more self-aware and "in-the-moment" in part because they write about an aspect of their life. Finally - my main blog is about running, and I am not surrounded by running. Discussing the ins and outs of training schedules, workouts, and good and bad runs is not something I can do with many people in my "real" life. My blogging buddies add a dimension to my life that would otherwise be lacking. And finally finally - blogging has created some very real relationships and events in my life. Without blogging, I'm not sure I would have carried on running after my injury last year, I would not have met Maritza, Jen, Charlie, Melisa and Maddy last year and I would have missed out on some great runs. So, while I take the points made by the writers on board, overall I disagree with them. Blogging is what you make it - and most of our lives are enriched by it.

What got me onto this rant was a recent realisation that some of the meme's that make their way around FaceBook and the blogosphere are really very good things - the recent 25 things list on FaceBook was a great read for me, very revealing about some of my friends, and a fun thing to write myself. Another goodie was a meme that Aron or Jen started recently - asking interview questions of your friends. I asked Aron for some questions, and here they are. Read the rules at the bottom if you would like to be your interviewer..

What is your running history (how you got started, how long you have been running)?
I had lurched from diet to diet in my twenties but had, predictably, done nothing but steadily gain weight. By June of 2003 I had reached a low point - I was fat, not working, felt hemmed in by my move to the countryside and two tiny children - my self-esteem really was terrible. One day I bought yet another slimmer's magazine and there was an article in it by John Bingham about how he ran - slowly. It had never crossed my mind that you could do that - I knew I couldn't run fast and I thought that disqualified me from trying at all. Somehow this triggered a glimmer of hope in me. So I started running around the farm. There's a 1.4 mile loop on the farm and it took me weeks before I got round it without stopping. But I just went at it, every day, and this was the first time in my life that I had persevered with exercise. At the same time I started weight watchers online and the combination of exercise and diet finally worked for me. Over the course of the next few months I lost, in all, 25 kilos. And here I am - 5 and a half years later and I'm training for my 6th marathon. Who'd of thunk it?

If you could have any job what would it be?
Hmmmm. I would say architect - because that is what I wanted to be when I was younger and I regret not seeing it through all the way, even if only to find out I couldn't do it. But recently I have to come to believe that sometime "the place you need to be" if I can be so vague, is the place you're at. The job I have at the moment, Marketing Manager of a lawfirm, is not particularly exciting. However, over time it is allowing me to develop a much sharper idea of what I'm good at and what I enjoy - more so, perhaps, than the "ideal" job ever would. So the answer is - I'm not sure but I think it will become clear..

What is your favorite part of the day?
My instinct is to say morning because I truly am a morning person. I like to get up, go for a run, come in and have my bagel and coffee and read the paper - often before anyone else in my family wakes up. Mornings are good. But then I like the evening as well - day accomplished, everyone home from their days out at work and school - we all come together and wind down.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I could say my children, but they are not my accomplishments and their accomplishments are their own and for them to be proud of. So then I would have to say my health and fitness turnaround, as described above, in my early thirties. And what I am most proud of, in that turnaround, is that I somehow managed to overcome a degree of low-level depression and total lack of faith in myself and forced myself to do something that I never thought I was capable of doing. To go against the grain of expectation that everyone and you yourself have of yourself - looking back that was amazing. Having done it once, I hold that experience very closely because I now know that it IS possible. You CAN change things in your life that don't work.

What is your biggest pet peeve?
Oh man - I am such an irritable person! I have so many. But somehow on this beautiful Saturday morning I am totally unpeeved. OK. A few come to mind:

• I hate it when people say "I was sat" or, worse "I were sat". The grammar! How hideous! Wash your mouth out! "I was sitting" please.
  
• Littering. I can't stand people throwing rubbish out of their car windows as they drive. I honk and shout at them.
  
• Excessive packaging. All the cr*p they put in inserts in magazines and newspapers, and then wrap in plastic. You can see I probably don't have a lifetime in marketing ahead of me..
  

And that's it. There's far more once I warm up but I'm not going to go that way .. The day is too beautiful.

So - if you want me to interview you,
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Easy peasy. Till soon!