Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: half marathon training, running, St Albans half marathon
“I’d like to thank my sponsor, Imodium, for getting me to this point today,” said my uncle at my cousin’s wedding on Saturday as he opened his father-of-the-bride speech. I found out exactly how he felt when I crossed the line at the St Albans Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
It was always going to be a bit tough to run 13.1 miles the morning after a family wedding; the booze started flowing at 1pm at our house and promised to continue until the small hours. Being Captain Sensible for once, I stopped drinking after the meal, and probably saved myself the bother of applying for a second mortgage in the process. At over four quid a pint, and six for a gin and tonic, the drinks were extortionately priced. We were in Hatfield, for goodness sake. This didn’t stop my brother getting anihilated, though this was in part due to some surreptitious importing of alcohol into the hotel. All credit to Gemma, for matching him drink for drink, and not dropping her beer on the dancefloor/losing her keys several times.
I drank an awful lot of water between 7pm and 2am – and I’m sure the bearded group of psychologists at a convention in the neighbouring function room thought I had a urinary infection, as I had to walk past them on the way to the loos every time. I must have walked the equivalent of a half marathon back and forth to the facilities, which partly explains why my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of the night. I was also wearing stupidly high heels.
So I woke up on Sunday morning after just over five hours’ sleep – nicely rehydrated but with sore toes. I also had to make a dash for the bathroom – several times – shortly after waking up. Obviously something in the buffet had not agreed with me. Fortunately, M&D had quite a large stock of Imodium, and I popped one of those before walking down to Verulamium Park to start the race.
I’ve never done a half marathon in the summer. It’s rather lovely walking to the venue in your running kit, and not having to carry seven fleeces, a pair of tracksuit bottoms, hat, scarf and gloves around with you for when you finish. However, it turns out that running on the hottest day of the year so far was not so nice despite the lovely rural course which took us all around the east and south of St Albans, where I grew up.
We kept up a steady ten-minute mile pace for about eight miles – then it really started heating up in the lanes around Bedmond. It was also very very hilly – much more so than the Great North Run and Reading. Thankfully, the organisers had laid on loads of water stations which were well staffed. The marshalls were fabulously supportive – the St Albans Striders are heavily involved in organising the event and many of the marshalls are also runners, which makes a big difference. There was very little in the way of public support away from the town, so the marshalls did a fab job of spurring us all on.
Nonetheless, we seriously slowed down from the nine-mile mark. My running partner was having a bit of a shocker and I thought he might actually hit me when I tried to “motivate” him with some uplifting thoughts about what a lovely day it was, and what a lovely view of the Abbey we had, and how lovely the marshalls were. Luckily, he was too knackered to throw a punch.
We crossed the line in 2:17. Absolutely rubbish time, but a really nice run on the whole. So, I’d like to thank Imodium, my sponsor, for that…
Filed under: Commando Challenge, London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: Commando Challenge, half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon
I’m feeling more confident about the London-Brighton bike ride in ten days’ time, having been out again last weekend for a reasonable 15-ish mile ride. OK, it’s nowhere near the distance but at least I don’t feel like I’m going to hit the deck again every time I turn the handlebars. I felt noticeably more relaxed and considerably happier about tackling the roads down to the coast.
I’ve done another six-mile run this week. I would have preferred to do a nine or ten-miler before the St Albans Half Marathon this weekend, but just haven’t been able to find the time. If I run it in two hours and ten minutes, I’ll be happy with that.
I was hoping to go for another half marathon in the autumn to try to break the elusive two-hour mark, but failed to get places in either the Great North Run or Run To The Beat. Instead, I’ve convinced a crowd from work to join me in Devon for the Commando Challenge. This isn’t just about running with no pants on. No, it involves seven miles of cross country running with various team-based challenges around a Royal Marines training course.
The website gves competitors the following handy hints, as if providing advice on the best way of doing one’s laundry:
“Remember to tie your laces tightly or you ARE going to lose your footwear.”
“It really is worth a visit to your local Army Surplus as old combats will not only protect you from cuts & scratches, but also protect your knees in the tunnels.”
“Remember – this is a military fitness test and you should train like the Marines do. During your training runs, drop and do press-ups, squats and crunches. This will prepare you for the frequent mid-race changes from running to crawling and back again.”
Gosh.
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: finch coasters woodland 5, half marathon training, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon
One of my colleagues from work put me onto the Finch Coasters Woodland 5 Series the other day, which takes place over three Wednesday evenings in May, June and July. I’m always slightly nervous about events with small fields, for fear of coming last, but I need to rack up a few miles so I agreed to the challenge.
Typically I was late leaving the office, and didn’t really know where I was going. After several phone calls to E, I eventually found the carpark (why didn’t the organisers say it was practically on top of the hospital?), had to sprint across the carpark to pick up my number, then jog to the start – didn’t even have time to grab a watch, Sportband or iPod. And I needed the loo. Not a great start.
All of the other people looked very fit. And, as the horn sounded, they all shot off at quite a pace. Including my colleague. So much for finding a regular weekday running partner. I plodded along at the back, thinking I could have been pouring myself a nice glass of wine at home by now. Then I looked around me and thought, come to think of it, this is really nice. The Crowthorne Woods are beautiful and the terrain was made up of nice, soft pine needles. The weather was just about perfect: warm but damp.
We jogged down a long straight stretch that went gently downhill and up again, then veered off into the woodland. It got a bit sticky there, with dense mud and big puddles. After trying to dodge the wettest bits (and nearly breaking my ankle in the process) I gave up and just splashed through them. Over another track, round a big log and down a ditch into some more forest, we then came up to a whopping big hill, laced with tree roots. Not so long ago, I probably would have walked some of it- but I have made a recent discovery: hills are easier if you run them with your glutes instead of your quads. It’s taken me years of running – and quite a lot of spinning – to find that out. I overtook several stragglers on the hill and continued down into the next patch of woodland.
I must have lost my bearings then, but found myself on the long, straight stretch again. I could still see E a few runners ahead of me, which was encouraging. Into the sticky stuff again, I had to stop briefly to tie my laces, but carried on. As I rounded the corner into the wood, a blonde marshall told me there wasn’t much farther to go. Oooh, I thought – I really am getting fitter…well done me, I don’t feel like I’ve run anything like five miles…
I hadn’t. She was lying. As I found when I got to the bottom of the big shitting hill. Oh well, head down and up I went, overtaking a couple more runners. Round the loop we went again. A girl in front seemed a bit peeved about the distance. Her Garmin said we’d already done 4.8 miles and another marshall (who seemed to know what she was on about) said we had another mile to go. It took us through the muddy bit again – at which point I started to think I was going to need go to the jetwash to get all the mud off my legs. Each one of my feet felt as heavy as my head and there was no indication that my trainers and socks had ever been white.
I passed the blonde marshall and remarked that it felt like Groundhog Day. She laughed like a drain for some reason…maybe everyone else had been a bit abusive about her words of “encouragement” on the last loop. One more sweeping turn, and I reached the home straight, crossing the line a minute or two after E. I reckon the distance was more like six miles than five, and estimate that I ran it in a shade under an hour. Not bad considering I don’t really like exercising in the evening. I wasn’t quite the last to cross the line, so I’ll be back again for the other runs in the series. Next time I will remember to take another pair of shoes so I don’t have to drive home in bare feet; I wouldn’t recommend it.
So, having done that and a really lovely 8.5 mile run in Derbyshire featuring some squeaky baby goats, many sheep and a pheasant at the weekend with RedRocket, I reckon I can manage the St Albans Half Marathon in ten days’ time. That’s assuming I don’t get trollied at my cousin’s wedding the day before…
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, X-bike, gym, half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running, spinning, x-dream | Tags: half marathon training, nike+ sportband, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, x-dream
It’s 18:10 and I’m drinking my first cup of tea of the day. Anyone that knows me will find this rather surprising, but it’s been a busy one.
Got up at 6am to go to the gym, and ran 5km in just over 30mins on the treadmill’s “sport training” mode, which included some nasty inclines (I hate hills, but know I ought to do more of before the St Albans half marathon). I also had a go on one of the X-dream bikes, manufactured by the same firm as the X-bikes (which are going in today for the spinning class tomorrow). The X-dream looks like a sportier version of a normal exercise bike, with trail bike handlebars which tilt from side-to-side and gears operated by buttons on the handlebars. Mounted on the front is a Dell screen, which shows “you” on a computer-simulated trail. You ride around the trail, overtaking (or being overtaken) by other riders. Your lap is timed along with your speed, cadence, calorie count, and a multitude of other stats and graphs. My only complaint is that my character was obviously male with fat legs. I shall investigate whether you can create and save your own little character, like you can on the Wiii.
After that, I headed into work for an hour or so (spilling my first cup of tea all over my brand new laptop, docking station and papers – whoops). No time for another cuppa before heading into the big smoke for a journo briefing at Yauatcha. Very lovely Japanese food, and nice atmosphere, though a little noisy for business. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but chopsticks turned out to be ideal for eating seabass with: my tooth is still not up to metal cutlery, and you can’t really eat with a plastic baby spoon/your fingers in polite company.
Based on Warrior Women’s recommendation, I managed to sneak into Nike Town on my way home to buy a Nike+ Sportband. This is going to revolutionise my running apparently. Hmmm…better get out this weekend while the weather’s nice then.
Right, time for another cuppa…
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon, X-bike
Enough is enough: it’s time I got myself in shape for the St Albans Half Marathon on 8 June and London-Brighton bike ride on 15 June.
I managed a spinning class on Friday when I was at the very lovely Henlow Grange with my Mum, and again on Monday at the gym. Then got back onto the treadmill this morning, doing a comfortable 5.2k in 30 mins. I won’t be breaking any records at the St Albans race, but I am desperate to finish it after having to pull out of the Hastings half due to illness.
I’ll try for the gym again in the morning, though normal spinning is off while the instructors are trained on new X-bikes. No, I’d never heard of them either. According to the manufacturer’s website, the X-bike allows the rider to:
“…functionally engage the upper body and core musculature while the legs do the pedaling. The exercise offers enhanced total-body fitness benefits while bringing the natural movements of outdoor cycling indoors.”
Crikey. I’ll be back to the gym for the Saturday morning class to give them a test run. Watch this space…
