I regularly give blood and this year so far I have managed to run 12 marathons and fit in donating 4 times. It obviously doesn't benefit me as far as training or performance is concerned, as unlike some people, I don't get to the blood back in. Still, I am fit and healthy and have given blood off and on for over 30 years and don't want the fact that I now run marathons to prevent me doing so.
Giving Blood and Training
Apart from the obvious warnings about not doing anything strenuous for 24 hours to avoid bleeding from where the needle went in, they say don't do anything like operate heavy machinery or possibly drive a bus straight after. Last time I donated, the nurse was a bit concerned that I had turned up to donate riding a motorbike. Seems like he had heard I wasn't allowed to do that, but then he checked and actually what I can't do is race a motorbike. Well, that's OK then. I'm a bit like Reginald Molehusband in this respect (ed.-people of a certain age!) - I don't mix radial and cross-ply tyres on the same axle and I don't ride my bike like a lunatic.
So, having done a marathon on Saturday and given blood on Monday, I went for a lunchtime run on Wednesday and was basically fine. No dizzy spells and no bruising on my arm, but I did feel like I was running at a tempo/threshold pace while I only managed a 3 mile run in 27:20, which is about 3 minutes off what I think I could do this soon after a marathon. Giving blood obviously has an effect on the pace that you can run, but what about long slow runs.
Long Run?
Five days after donating, the Saturday parkrun was run with daughter Elinor at a pace to get her back under 30 minutes and then on Sunday I decided to go on a long run. This didn't worry me at all, as I wasn't going to be running at a quick pace. So, on a breezy cold day, after having taken son Alfred to a cross country run, I set off to run home carrying half a bottle of water, leaving the rest of the family to a post event MacDonald's. My route took me from Ravenscote School north of Frimley, back towards Frimley Hospital, then uphill on road for 2 miles to get into Swinley Forest. From there I had an undulating/hilly 7 more miles trail running to get home.
I managed a steady 10min/mile pace the whole time and was pleased to see that the miles with big hills in weren't much slower that the rest of the run and I only had slow miles at obvious places where I had to wait to cross main roads. I did a total of 10 miles in 1 hour 40 mins; not a blistering pace, but that wasn't the point. Even better I was feeling good at the end of the run and not really stiff the next day, proving that you can get some quality distance runs in after blood donating as long as you keep the pace down - which is, after all, what you are supposed to do.
Tempo and Fast?
The following Monday was a rest day with a day in London on a financial planning course, mostly sitting still all day, but at least I got to walk the mile back to Waterloo. Tuesday I was out for a run with Sandhurst Joggers, which was another slow medium run of about 8.5miles once I'd added getting there and back. By now I was feeling good enough to get some proper endurance training in by joining in with SJ's Thursday tempo run - a nearly 8mile 80% effort which I ran at 8:35/mile pace. I had a rest day on Friday and then had a go at a fast parkrun with Alfred at our usual Frimley Lodge. That turned out to be a well paced run, but not quite as quick as I had hoped as I wanted to to get under 23 minutes. As usual, Alfred appeared to be struggling but really he was just keeping up until 500m to go when he hit the gas and made sure I didn't get within 10m of him from then on. I finished in 23:35, 2 seconds back on Alf, but I did manage a sprint finish rather than just dying in the last 200m.
Lessons Learned
So, the upshot of this couple of weeks post-marathon and post blood donating running? I managed some quality training, but 12 days after donating I was at least 30 seconds down on my parkrun time. I have read that it takes about 1 month to get back to the red blood cell count you had before donating, so it's reasonable to say I am still under the influence of that. However, I am not that far away from being back to normal for fast paced runs and, given 1 more week, I think I could be running a sub 23 minute parkrun.
In conclusion, if you have a race coming up, I would leave a gap of at least 4 to 6 weeks from giving blood and it shouldn't affect your time. If you give yourself at least 1 week light training after donating, my experience is that you can get back to normal training as hard as you like from then on. However, you should train to how you feel and according to your perceived effort, NOT the pace that appears on your Garmin. If you need to train at threshold pace try wearing a heart rate monitor, as this will show you what an appropriate effort is rather than having you collapse in a heap after trying to hit a particular pace. Just accept that you are going to be a bit slower for a couple of weeks. Given a few blood donating cycles, you will learn how to train around it and not affect your races.
Talking of races, I have some more fun lined up next week. I shall be running another marathon on Friday, running a recovery parkrun with Elinor on Saturday and then having a go at the Handy Cross leg of the Thames Valley XC league on Sunday. That sounds like a lot of fun!
Running
Monday, 23 November 2015
Sunday, 8 November 2015
Thames Meander Winter Marathon
Three weeks spent resting, training and trying to keep up with son Alfred at parkrun has seen me improve my fitness and generally recharge before tackling another marathon. I think that, at the moment, I can manage a marathon every 2 weeks quite well, but one every week is really hard work. One every 3 weeks feels like a holiday! So, after Abingdon I have three more marathons planned to see me through to Christmas with 3 week gaps between each of them, these being Thames Meander, Agincourt 600th Anniversary and Portsmouth. 2016 is mostly booked up until June with a focus on training up and staying injury free for Endure 24.
In the lead up to Thames Meander I had done a recovery week of 13 miles, a training week with a gentle 5 miles club run, cycling to work, a medium solo run, a track session (Cooper Test) and parkrun followed by an easier week leading up to the next marathon. That last week included a Monday club run of 9.5miles and a night time trail run with my son on very muddy trails, which was great fun. What was also very good was being able to start each of these last runs jogging from the front door pain free, rather than having to walk for 5 minutes to warm up and loosen tight calves and thighs. There has definitely been some noticeable improvement in former injuries and niggles over the last few weeks.
I have done the previous two events in this series and was expecting a slightly muddier version of the same, but we were told there had been a change to the course where we would start with a short loop up river, then run towards Putney Bridge but turn about 1 mile before it leaving us 2 miles short by the time we got back to the finish line. That meant we would have to run past the finish line having done about 24.3 miles and add another loop to the end. This time the organiser's had to take account of a major rowing event on the river which would mean hundreds of coxed fours taking their boats out of the water just before the usual Putney Bridge turn at about the time we would be running past. That shortened the long loop and left us with the short final loop to do.
The weather forecast for race day wasn't great with heavy rain predicted from early morning until at least 2pm. However, although it had been raining overnight, when I got out of bed at 6:30 it was wet on the ground but not raining. I knew the course was going to be wet and muddy over a lot of the wooded sections so I thought my usual marathon choice of my Hoka Bondi 3s was probably not going to work as they have very little grip. They are fine for road running or dry trails, but not for mud. My choice of shoe for today was to fall back to my previous marathon shoe, Brooks Ravenna 4, which is a semi-supportive show and has reasonable grip, which should be OK for a flat trail. I had never used these shoes on anything but road marathons, so they looked brand new and pristine, but I couldn't afford to get to worried about them - they were the best shoe for the job.
After the usual porridge breakfast and some water, I got the motorbike packed up and set off. I wasn't raining to begin with, but it was certainly windy with strong gusts knocking me sideways on the M3. When I got to the YMCA Hawker Centre, there was a queue getting into the car park with lots of people arriving to run Kingston parkrun, but I managed to shoehorn the bike in between a couple of generously parked cars and change into my running shoes in the car park, where I also saw Colin and Elaine Brassington, who were there for the parkrun.
In the Hawker Centre it was already busy with runners getting their kit together. I saw fellow SJ runners Vicky Horne and Lance King, who were going to be manning the aid station at 10/16 miles. Then Leon Hicks arrived and we got our stuff together ready for the race. Out at the start we heard from Marathon Man, Rob Young, who set us off. At the start of the race it was just starting to rain, spits and spots but nothing serious for the first few miles. The first out and back section of just under 2 miles went quickly and Leon and I were quickly into pace at about 9:30min/mile though it was quite crowded. We passed the start and continued on tarmac paths for another 2 miles before getting on to stony wooded trail where the rain began to come down harder and there were puddles to weave around and mushy wet leaf litter all over.
We got to the first aid station at 4 miles and had a brief drink, then at the next aid station at about 7 miles Leon carried on, while I stopped for a bite to eat. Leon was now about 100m ahead but we were running at the same pace so a I didn't close him down. At 10 miles we got to Vicky and Lance's aid station to great cheers from our club mates. At about 12 miles Leon stopped for a toilet break, and I ran past. I stayed ahead of Leon all the way to about 20miles, but the rain had been really heavy, wind appeared to be in your face both out and back and by then I was struggling along jog walking 250m/50m. When Leon caught up, we ran on together, jog-walking until the end. It was good to have company along that part of the course, even though, by the end the rain had eased off, I was still suffering from being so cold from the wind and rain.
We finished together at 4:45:50 and got handed a nice big medal. Thanks to Vicky and Lance for manning an aid station and cheering so well and to Leon for keeping me company on the way home.
I have another 3 weeks until my next marathon, so there's some more opportunity to get a bit stronger and get some steady long runs in. The next one is one of Traviss and Rachel's marathons down in Kent, this time in commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt on 27th November. That will be flat and not muddy, but could still be wet and windy.
In the lead up to Thames Meander I had done a recovery week of 13 miles, a training week with a gentle 5 miles club run, cycling to work, a medium solo run, a track session (Cooper Test) and parkrun followed by an easier week leading up to the next marathon. That last week included a Monday club run of 9.5miles and a night time trail run with my son on very muddy trails, which was great fun. What was also very good was being able to start each of these last runs jogging from the front door pain free, rather than having to walk for 5 minutes to warm up and loosen tight calves and thighs. There has definitely been some noticeable improvement in former injuries and niggles over the last few weeks.
I have done the previous two events in this series and was expecting a slightly muddier version of the same, but we were told there had been a change to the course where we would start with a short loop up river, then run towards Putney Bridge but turn about 1 mile before it leaving us 2 miles short by the time we got back to the finish line. That meant we would have to run past the finish line having done about 24.3 miles and add another loop to the end. This time the organiser's had to take account of a major rowing event on the river which would mean hundreds of coxed fours taking their boats out of the water just before the usual Putney Bridge turn at about the time we would be running past. That shortened the long loop and left us with the short final loop to do.
The weather forecast for race day wasn't great with heavy rain predicted from early morning until at least 2pm. However, although it had been raining overnight, when I got out of bed at 6:30 it was wet on the ground but not raining. I knew the course was going to be wet and muddy over a lot of the wooded sections so I thought my usual marathon choice of my Hoka Bondi 3s was probably not going to work as they have very little grip. They are fine for road running or dry trails, but not for mud. My choice of shoe for today was to fall back to my previous marathon shoe, Brooks Ravenna 4, which is a semi-supportive show and has reasonable grip, which should be OK for a flat trail. I had never used these shoes on anything but road marathons, so they looked brand new and pristine, but I couldn't afford to get to worried about them - they were the best shoe for the job.
After the usual porridge breakfast and some water, I got the motorbike packed up and set off. I wasn't raining to begin with, but it was certainly windy with strong gusts knocking me sideways on the M3. When I got to the YMCA Hawker Centre, there was a queue getting into the car park with lots of people arriving to run Kingston parkrun, but I managed to shoehorn the bike in between a couple of generously parked cars and change into my running shoes in the car park, where I also saw Colin and Elaine Brassington, who were there for the parkrun.
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| The weather at the start was OK, but soon changed. |
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| Looks like I'm loving the rain (not!) at Vicky and Lance's aid station (Photo: Sean Smith) |
We finished together at 4:45:50 and got handed a nice big medal. Thanks to Vicky and Lance for manning an aid station and cheering so well and to Leon for keeping me company on the way home.
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| Nice big medal, but a bit disappointed with the time. |
I have another 3 weeks until my next marathon, so there's some more opportunity to get a bit stronger and get some steady long runs in. The next one is one of Traviss and Rachel's marathons down in Kent, this time in commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt on 27th November. That will be flat and not muddy, but could still be wet and windy.
Monday, 19 October 2015
Injuries and Abingdon Marathon
Injury Update
A week before Clarendon marathon, I went to have a scan on my groin to check for a possible hernia. This has been causing me some trouble with pain in my lower abs (I think) especially after a long or hard run and especially if I had a cough as well. Not knowing what was the cause meant that I couldn't get treatment without possibly risking the injury getting worse. I had the scan in Aldershot Health Centre and was seen quickly, covered in gloop, scanned and had the results straight away. Good news - I don't have a hernia, and I don't have an injury to my adductor tendon either.
That afternoon I booked an appointment with a physiotherapist for the day after Clarendon marathon. Fortunately I was feeing OK after that run, being able to walk normally and cope with stairs without having to hang on to the bannisters and lower myself down sideways. Still, I was a bit wary of having Tracy at Fleet Physio dig her thumbs into my groin and inner thigh.
I was right to be a bit worried. After an extensive catch up on my injury history after my last treatment session 2 months ago, which included admitting, like a naughty schoolboy, that I had done 4 more marathons in 5 weeks and had another in 2 weeks, Tracy got down to business with a reassessment and then painful massage of my right adductor. She then taped up my inner thigh over the adductor, which I suppose does some good, but actually the main feeling I get from it is that of having a leg wax every step I walk as the tape pulls on inner thigh hairs!
I was given a new list of exercises to do to strengthen core and glutes, work on the patella injury doing knee dips, but do the same on the right leg to make sure they are both the same strength. I know I was there just the day after a hard marathon, but I was clearly weaker and more wobbly doing single leg dips on my right leg than my left. I was also told to avoid doing exercises that caused me pain, the reason being that I shouldn't be be pushing through the pain all the time and desensitising myself to it, otherwise I risk ignoring the warning signs of potential injuries in future.
Abingdon Marathon is relatively flat and fast with one significant steady climb over about a mile, which you do twice. However, there is also the issue of the 5 hour cut off time. What that really means is at 2pm any remaining traffic control and road closures are taken off and anyone still on the course has to run on the footpaths and cross one or two roads themselves without much help from marshals. That doesn't mean that you get asked to stop at 5 hours but there were fewer than 30 finishers beyond 5 hours last year and in fact, if you are a 4 hour marathon runner, you will still be in the last third of the field. What they are really serious about is running with headphones or unauthorised transfers of race numbers, either of which will get you disqualified (9 disqualified last year). I can understand the headphones issue - there are several road crossings and the marshals have to be able to call you across at a safe time while holding the traffic, which is not safe if you can't hear them.
I did this run last year and had a really good run - posting a PB and my first ever sub-4 hour time. This time, I'm still on the way back from injury and building up endurance and strength and my targets and expectations were a lot lower. I was going to go for a sub-5 hour time and hopefully nearer 4:30, which would be a significant improvement on any marathon I have done since London back in April, even the easy flat ones.
I got my kit together the night before as I had a message to remind me from SJ clubmate Leon that it was a 9am start, so no lie in for this one. I was sticking with my now trusty Hoka Bondi 3 trainers, toe socks, ankle/calf compression and knee straps to avoid patella tendonitis after the run. I also wore a t-shirt under my club vest as I thought it might be a bit cool out. Leon turned up at 7am and we drove up to Abingdon with no problems arriving by 8am. There is about a 15 minute walk from the car park area, but we were in Tilsley Park stadium with plenty of time to find the changing rooms and loos before heading out to the start where we met Mark Nikki and Elizabeth from SJ. After several goes at tying my shoelaces and finding them too tight I finally got them fixed to my liking and we were off.
Leon and I had done 4 marathons each in the last 5 or 6 weeks with Leon doing Chicago the week before, so we were both feeling the miles in our legs. We set off together with the aim of doing a steady 10min/mile pace and managed to keep that going till about half way. At 14 miles Leon stopped to walk/jog and sent me on my way, which worked for him, but ultimately tired me out. I made it to about 18 miles before deciding I needed to have a decent walk break and from then on I was jogging and walking to the end, jogging for a mile and walking for 5 minutes. At about 20 miles Leon caught me up and a few minutes later jogged on to finish just over 3 minutes ahead of me.
Abingdon marathon is a bit of a mixed bag as far as the course and support is concerned. There are loads of marshals all doing a good job, the course is picturesque in places around the river and Radley lakes, but a bit of a drag in others where you are running along a busy road or through an industrial estate. The parts through the town centre were well managed and there were lots of people supporting cheering us on. Elsewhere on the course the support was patchy, but where there were supporters they were enthusiastic and cheering us on well.
It turned out to be a good day for running a marathon, with perfect weather and there were some fast times from the other SJ runners, as well as a world record time for a woman pushing a buggy (3:17:52):
SJ Results:
Sean Smith 2:59:40
Mark Fallowfield-Smith 3:04:29
Nikki Stanley 3:43:33
Elizabeth Crow 3:58:45
Leon Hicks 4:40:02
Richard Boese 4:43:31
Splits were: 9:34 9:38 10:03 9:51 9:43 9:59 9:58 9:53 9:56 9:59 9:59 10:28 10:21 10:25 10:29 11:01 10:03 11:26 14:17 11:14 11:50 12:49 12:57 12:08 12:32 11:08 1:50
Next up for me is a 3 week rest before the third in the Thames Meander marathon series where I'll be aiming for a course PB at least.
A week before Clarendon marathon, I went to have a scan on my groin to check for a possible hernia. This has been causing me some trouble with pain in my lower abs (I think) especially after a long or hard run and especially if I had a cough as well. Not knowing what was the cause meant that I couldn't get treatment without possibly risking the injury getting worse. I had the scan in Aldershot Health Centre and was seen quickly, covered in gloop, scanned and had the results straight away. Good news - I don't have a hernia, and I don't have an injury to my adductor tendon either.
That afternoon I booked an appointment with a physiotherapist for the day after Clarendon marathon. Fortunately I was feeing OK after that run, being able to walk normally and cope with stairs without having to hang on to the bannisters and lower myself down sideways. Still, I was a bit wary of having Tracy at Fleet Physio dig her thumbs into my groin and inner thigh.
I was right to be a bit worried. After an extensive catch up on my injury history after my last treatment session 2 months ago, which included admitting, like a naughty schoolboy, that I had done 4 more marathons in 5 weeks and had another in 2 weeks, Tracy got down to business with a reassessment and then painful massage of my right adductor. She then taped up my inner thigh over the adductor, which I suppose does some good, but actually the main feeling I get from it is that of having a leg wax every step I walk as the tape pulls on inner thigh hairs!
I was given a new list of exercises to do to strengthen core and glutes, work on the patella injury doing knee dips, but do the same on the right leg to make sure they are both the same strength. I know I was there just the day after a hard marathon, but I was clearly weaker and more wobbly doing single leg dips on my right leg than my left. I was also told to avoid doing exercises that caused me pain, the reason being that I shouldn't be be pushing through the pain all the time and desensitising myself to it, otherwise I risk ignoring the warning signs of potential injuries in future.
Abingdon Marathon is relatively flat and fast with one significant steady climb over about a mile, which you do twice. However, there is also the issue of the 5 hour cut off time. What that really means is at 2pm any remaining traffic control and road closures are taken off and anyone still on the course has to run on the footpaths and cross one or two roads themselves without much help from marshals. That doesn't mean that you get asked to stop at 5 hours but there were fewer than 30 finishers beyond 5 hours last year and in fact, if you are a 4 hour marathon runner, you will still be in the last third of the field. What they are really serious about is running with headphones or unauthorised transfers of race numbers, either of which will get you disqualified (9 disqualified last year). I can understand the headphones issue - there are several road crossings and the marshals have to be able to call you across at a safe time while holding the traffic, which is not safe if you can't hear them.
I did this run last year and had a really good run - posting a PB and my first ever sub-4 hour time. This time, I'm still on the way back from injury and building up endurance and strength and my targets and expectations were a lot lower. I was going to go for a sub-5 hour time and hopefully nearer 4:30, which would be a significant improvement on any marathon I have done since London back in April, even the easy flat ones.
I got my kit together the night before as I had a message to remind me from SJ clubmate Leon that it was a 9am start, so no lie in for this one. I was sticking with my now trusty Hoka Bondi 3 trainers, toe socks, ankle/calf compression and knee straps to avoid patella tendonitis after the run. I also wore a t-shirt under my club vest as I thought it might be a bit cool out. Leon turned up at 7am and we drove up to Abingdon with no problems arriving by 8am. There is about a 15 minute walk from the car park area, but we were in Tilsley Park stadium with plenty of time to find the changing rooms and loos before heading out to the start where we met Mark Nikki and Elizabeth from SJ. After several goes at tying my shoelaces and finding them too tight I finally got them fixed to my liking and we were off.
Leon and I had done 4 marathons each in the last 5 or 6 weeks with Leon doing Chicago the week before, so we were both feeling the miles in our legs. We set off together with the aim of doing a steady 10min/mile pace and managed to keep that going till about half way. At 14 miles Leon stopped to walk/jog and sent me on my way, which worked for him, but ultimately tired me out. I made it to about 18 miles before deciding I needed to have a decent walk break and from then on I was jogging and walking to the end, jogging for a mile and walking for 5 minutes. At about 20 miles Leon caught me up and a few minutes later jogged on to finish just over 3 minutes ahead of me.
Abingdon marathon is a bit of a mixed bag as far as the course and support is concerned. There are loads of marshals all doing a good job, the course is picturesque in places around the river and Radley lakes, but a bit of a drag in others where you are running along a busy road or through an industrial estate. The parts through the town centre were well managed and there were lots of people supporting cheering us on. Elsewhere on the course the support was patchy, but where there were supporters they were enthusiastic and cheering us on well.
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| Stadium finish awaits at Abingdon. |
It turned out to be a good day for running a marathon, with perfect weather and there were some fast times from the other SJ runners, as well as a world record time for a woman pushing a buggy (3:17:52):
SJ Results:
Sean Smith 2:59:40
Mark Fallowfield-Smith 3:04:29
Nikki Stanley 3:43:33
Elizabeth Crow 3:58:45
Leon Hicks 4:40:02
Richard Boese 4:43:31
Splits were: 9:34 9:38 10:03 9:51 9:43 9:59 9:58 9:53 9:56 9:59 9:59 10:28 10:21 10:25 10:29 11:01 10:03 11:26 14:17 11:14 11:50 12:49 12:57 12:08 12:32 11:08 1:50
Next up for me is a 3 week rest before the third in the Thames Meander marathon series where I'll be aiming for a course PB at least.
Monday, 5 October 2015
Clarendon Marathon
Two weeks on since my last marathon on the comeback trail, this is one that I booked relatively late on to make up for having to pull out of Endure 24. I obviously needed some cheering up and what better way than to pick one of the hardest marathons in the south of England as a replacement?
Clarendon Marathon is similar to the Farnham Pilgrim in that it is run mostly over hilly trails and is organised by local Rotary Clubs, in this case the Salisbury and Winchester branches. It's a charity fundraising event and not a business venture, so it is very reasonably priced for what you get - loads of marshals, plenty of water and bananas, a medal and t-shirt. It follows the Clarendon Way over most of its route, starting at Laverstock to the north-east of Salisbury and finishing at the King's School just to the west of Winchester; you just miss out running through the city centres at each end.
Preparation for this event over the previous 2 weeks had been focussed on some gentle recovery runs in the first week and then some harder tempo runs of 3 to 6 miles in the second. I'm still getting back to fitness and slowly getting there. On the morning, I was up at 6:30 for breakfast and on the motorbike for the ride to Winchester by 7:30. I arrived just after 8:15 at the park and ride car park near M3 Junction 11 and parked up next to a footpath at one side of the car park. After stowing my bike kit in the panniers, I got my Hokas on and got on the waiting shuttle bus that would take us to Salisbury. I met Sandhurst Joggers' Patrick Wadsworth on the bus and we chatted about the route and the conditions. The weather leading up to this race had been dry for more than a week and was misty and cold this morning with sunshine on the way. Apart from being a little warm later on, perfect conditions with great views guaranteed.
We arrived at the Wyverne College near Laverstock at 9:30 with an hour to go before the off. The set up in the school gym was just the same as at our local Yateley 10k races, with the hall busy with people keeping warm and fixing their race numbers. After a final go to the loos and storing our bags on the bus to be taken to the finish, we made our way to the start. Patrick was going to be about an hour quicker then me so we said goodbye and good luck and got going at 10:30.
We headed south for about a mile before picking up the Clarendon Way and then turned east onto our first trail section and first climb up past the ruins of Clarendon Palace. Apart from a few noodley bits to add some distance, the route follows the Clarendon Way all the way. It is all undulating to hilly, mostly on trails and tracks with some quiet road sections, all of which were very well marshalled with the traffic held up for runners to cross roads safely.
There were some excellent views up on the Downs and, although I was treating any significant gradient as a walk break, it was still very much worth it to pause and take in the sights. This kind of marathon is never going to be a PB run, and even if you come back year after year, the weather and ground conditions can play a big part in your eventual time.
Even the valleys were interesting with classic little English villages and pretty river crossings, especially around the Test valley. Here, near Houghton, the river has come off of the chalk downs and flows over beds of sands and gravels and it was crystal clear. My feet and calves were saying stop a while and go for a paddle, but I had family to meet at the end and couldn't linger.
Patrick had told me about a hill at about 19 miles and even though I hadn't bothered to look at the course profile, I was expecting something fairly big. I wasn't disappointed. You come in to an aid station at 19.5 miles alongside a field and turn your back on the hill. Then, having glugged some squash and with banana in hand you turn to face Farley Mount, a relentless mile of steep climb and by far the biggest hill on the course. After as brisk a walk up as I could manage, I said hello to the marshals at the summit and made my way slowly jogging along the crest and down slope to the next check point and final handover for the relay runners. I thought about the placing of the marshals and realised that there had been a marshal or two on the summit of every climb and they all cheered us on up the last few metres of the hills. Another nice touch.
For the last few miles I was struggling along feeling very tired. I was encouraged to find that I had managed to run well for much further than the last marathon that I did, keeping my mile pacing quite consistently in the 10 or 11 minutes/mile range. Throughout the run there had been mile markers placed with the number of miles to the finish and the last mile marker came with me hoping for a gentle downhill to the finish. No such luck, as there were two more little stings in the tail before turning to into the road down to King's School.
At the school entrance, my wife Julia and children Alfred and Elinor were waiting for me and both the kids came running alongside the course cheering me on, and then ran with me up to the finish line. They couldn't help turning it into a little race and sprinted the last 20m ahead of me, but I was very grateful for the family support. It was something I was looking forward to and really helped to spur me on over the last few miles.
After finishing, there were drinks, more bananas (Fyffes was a sponsor), a t-shirt and medal to collect. They had run out of medium sized t-shirts, so I went for a small and that seems to fit alright. The medal is quite small, as you can see, but this seems to be a bit of a theme for all my hardest marathons - it was the same for the Pilgrim and Richmond Park. I got my post race recovery underway with a buffalo burger, left the rest of the family to their drive home and got changed before the bus ride back to the park and ride.
I finished this marathon in 5:15:09. This was an improvement on the Pilgrim (5:23:48) on what I thought was a tougher course. However, the Pilgrim has cake, biscuits and sweets at every aid station as well as water and squash, while Clarendon has only drinks for the first 12 miles, so I may have spent a bit longer eating on the Pilgrim. Still, this looks like another improvement in fitness with no further injuries. The next race for me is Abingdon marathon in 2 weeks time where I need to finish inside 5 hours.
Clarendon Marathon is similar to the Farnham Pilgrim in that it is run mostly over hilly trails and is organised by local Rotary Clubs, in this case the Salisbury and Winchester branches. It's a charity fundraising event and not a business venture, so it is very reasonably priced for what you get - loads of marshals, plenty of water and bananas, a medal and t-shirt. It follows the Clarendon Way over most of its route, starting at Laverstock to the north-east of Salisbury and finishing at the King's School just to the west of Winchester; you just miss out running through the city centres at each end.
Preparation for this event over the previous 2 weeks had been focussed on some gentle recovery runs in the first week and then some harder tempo runs of 3 to 6 miles in the second. I'm still getting back to fitness and slowly getting there. On the morning, I was up at 6:30 for breakfast and on the motorbike for the ride to Winchester by 7:30. I arrived just after 8:15 at the park and ride car park near M3 Junction 11 and parked up next to a footpath at one side of the car park. After stowing my bike kit in the panniers, I got my Hokas on and got on the waiting shuttle bus that would take us to Salisbury. I met Sandhurst Joggers' Patrick Wadsworth on the bus and we chatted about the route and the conditions. The weather leading up to this race had been dry for more than a week and was misty and cold this morning with sunshine on the way. Apart from being a little warm later on, perfect conditions with great views guaranteed.
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| Well organised registration |
We arrived at the Wyverne College near Laverstock at 9:30 with an hour to go before the off. The set up in the school gym was just the same as at our local Yateley 10k races, with the hall busy with people keeping warm and fixing their race numbers. After a final go to the loos and storing our bags on the bus to be taken to the finish, we made our way to the start. Patrick was going to be about an hour quicker then me so we said goodbye and good luck and got going at 10:30.
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| At the start with Patrick |
We headed south for about a mile before picking up the Clarendon Way and then turned east onto our first trail section and first climb up past the ruins of Clarendon Palace. Apart from a few noodley bits to add some distance, the route follows the Clarendon Way all the way. It is all undulating to hilly, mostly on trails and tracks with some quiet road sections, all of which were very well marshalled with the traffic held up for runners to cross roads safely.
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| It's always a good idea to have a little rest at the top to appreciate the view |
There were some excellent views up on the Downs and, although I was treating any significant gradient as a walk break, it was still very much worth it to pause and take in the sights. This kind of marathon is never going to be a PB run, and even if you come back year after year, the weather and ground conditions can play a big part in your eventual time.
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| At the River Test near Houghton. It looked like a great place for a cooling dip. One to come back to. |
Even the valleys were interesting with classic little English villages and pretty river crossings, especially around the Test valley. Here, near Houghton, the river has come off of the chalk downs and flows over beds of sands and gravels and it was crystal clear. My feet and calves were saying stop a while and go for a paddle, but I had family to meet at the end and couldn't linger.
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| On the way up Farley Mount at about 20 miles. Nobody I saw was running up, it was really big. |
For the last few miles I was struggling along feeling very tired. I was encouraged to find that I had managed to run well for much further than the last marathon that I did, keeping my mile pacing quite consistently in the 10 or 11 minutes/mile range. Throughout the run there had been mile markers placed with the number of miles to the finish and the last mile marker came with me hoping for a gentle downhill to the finish. No such luck, as there were two more little stings in the tail before turning to into the road down to King's School.
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| At the finish with Alfred. Both Alf and Elinor ran the last 200m to the finish line with me, which made it a wonderful finish |
After finishing, there were drinks, more bananas (Fyffes was a sponsor), a t-shirt and medal to collect. They had run out of medium sized t-shirts, so I went for a small and that seems to fit alright. The medal is quite small, as you can see, but this seems to be a bit of a theme for all my hardest marathons - it was the same for the Pilgrim and Richmond Park. I got my post race recovery underway with a buffalo burger, left the rest of the family to their drive home and got changed before the bus ride back to the park and ride.
I finished this marathon in 5:15:09. This was an improvement on the Pilgrim (5:23:48) on what I thought was a tougher course. However, the Pilgrim has cake, biscuits and sweets at every aid station as well as water and squash, while Clarendon has only drinks for the first 12 miles, so I may have spent a bit longer eating on the Pilgrim. Still, this looks like another improvement in fitness with no further injuries. The next race for me is Abingdon marathon in 2 weeks time where I need to finish inside 5 hours.
Monday, 21 September 2015
Thames Path - Saturday Night Marathon - Race Report
Aaaargh...Another Marathon!
If you looked at my previous post, you may have noted that I have been here before, back at the end of July when I came out for a medium/long run with a number on my vest and achieved 9 miles and a DNF. So, Saturday late afternoon on 19 September and I was back at the Wokingham Waterside Centre for a second go at the Thames Trail Marathon on the Thames Path between Reading and Sonning. This run also coincided with International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so I was thinking that there might be a few salty dogs along for this run, but when I turned up there wasn't a west county accent to be heard.
The Wokingham Waterside Centre is nowhere near Wokingham, but lies at the extreme northern end of the borough just east of Reading on the Thames. The organiser's original plan was to run from here along the Thames through Reading to the other side of Caversham, then return making a 6 and a bit mile lap. However, works to Reading bridge mean the path has a nasty detour (steps, busy road) so the run goes between the Waterside Centre down river towards Sonning, then back past the Waterside Centre on to Reading Bridge and back again. It has one short lap of about 2.2 miles followed by 4 long laps of 6 miles each. The course runs on grass, gravel trails and tarmac paths and you end up crossing Horseshoe Bridge over the mouth of the River Kennet 8 times.
I got to the event at about 4pm to give me plenty of time to get my number and kit sorted. I have the marathon kit sorted now for road and easy trails and it consists of Hoka Bondi 3's with normal laces, toe socks (today Injinji liner socks) and OS1st ankle/calf compression from ING Source, short leggings and running vest. I have also taken to wearing knee straps which sit just below the knee cap, more for insurance than necessity as I find they lessen running impact loads and improve my post run recovery. I dropped my main bag at race HQ upstairs in the Waterside Centre and took a drop bag down to the start with a post run drink, chocolate, banana and my head torch for the second half of the race.
Run in the Autumn Sun
After a short race briefing describing the route we set off on time at 5pm in lovely sunshine with 32 marathon runners out of a capacity of 40 for this event. It didn't take long before we were spread out along the grassy banks of the river, running in ones, twos and threes. The first part of the route should be familiar to people who have run Reading parkrun or the Halloween 5 Nite Run, running along the grass path following the river as it bends right and the path goes into the woods. I noted a few tree roots and dips and hollows in the path for later when it got dark,
but other than the first section in the woods, the path was fairly flat, with stony gravel tracks up to the first turn around. The short lap was dealt with quickly and the first long lap took us past Sonning Lock and up to Sonning Bridge, all looking quite picturesque in the late summer sun.
Tactics
I had decided to tackle this event using a run/walk strategy, thinking that I would still have quite a lot of tiredness in my legs after the Farnham Pilgrim 6 days before. So, I set up my watch for an interval training session of 26 reps of 10 minutes running and 1 minute walking. That turned out to be a bit optimistic, in terms of the number of reps I could do, but I stuck at it and got to half way in a decent time of around 2:15.
In to the Night
At the end of the second lap it was getting a bit dark and I took a break to get my head torch, grab some chocolate and a banana. My head torch is really good, a fairly cheap Chinese CREE 2200 lumen torch with battery pack on the back of the head strap. It lasts for ages, stays charged for months and is well balanced, so it doesn't move around. With the torch set on the lower brightness setting I could see very well, though I was conscious of not wanting to look people in the eye and blinding them. However, even with a bright torch, I was a bit cautious running on the grass paths and in the woods as it is not so easy to see little pot holes as in daylight.
I was feeling very tired by half way and had got past the turn point at Sonning for the third time when I caught up with a woman in a Supergirl costume who was having knee trouble. Carla had done a 12 hour ultra a couple of weeks ago as preparation for this, her first marathon, which is a bit unconventional for a training plan. We sat on a bench by Sonning Lock for a couple of minutes while I showed her some ITB stretches and talked about what her injury could come from, then we carried on jogging and walking together for most of the remaining 10 miles. There were some very quiet, misty and peaceful stretches along the river with the moon shining and I think we were both glad of the company.
On the way back from Sonning for the final time with 4 miles to go I was trying to run, managing half a mile then running out of energy and was forced to walk for 5 minutes or so, but when I got past the start/finish aid station with 2 miles to go the thought of finishing soon lifted my spirits enough to jog on again. I got to the finish at about 10:40pm, inside the cut off time with a couple of people behind me. I got presented with some nice bling by race director Paul Ali, had my photo taken and was directed back to race HQ for some food and a hot drink somewhere warm. I was very tired but had had a good time on this run. It's well organised, low key and friendly and they didn't seem to mind people taking most of the allotted 6 hours to finish. The only thing I would say is, if you are a bit nervous about running in the dark by yourself, you might want to take a friend along with you, or just make a new friend along the trail.
So, another marathon done (9th this year and 17th overall), I still didn't quit and didn't do any more damage to any injuries. I know I am not in any sort of shape to do a marathon a week, but my fitness is improving and I'm pretty sure I can do 1 every 2 weeks and manage some decent recovery and training in between. That is just as well as next up is Clarendon Marathon in 2 weeks time, followed by Abingdon 2 weeks later.
If you looked at my previous post, you may have noted that I have been here before, back at the end of July when I came out for a medium/long run with a number on my vest and achieved 9 miles and a DNF. So, Saturday late afternoon on 19 September and I was back at the Wokingham Waterside Centre for a second go at the Thames Trail Marathon on the Thames Path between Reading and Sonning. This run also coincided with International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so I was thinking that there might be a few salty dogs along for this run, but when I turned up there wasn't a west county accent to be heard.
The Wokingham Waterside Centre is nowhere near Wokingham, but lies at the extreme northern end of the borough just east of Reading on the Thames. The organiser's original plan was to run from here along the Thames through Reading to the other side of Caversham, then return making a 6 and a bit mile lap. However, works to Reading bridge mean the path has a nasty detour (steps, busy road) so the run goes between the Waterside Centre down river towards Sonning, then back past the Waterside Centre on to Reading Bridge and back again. It has one short lap of about 2.2 miles followed by 4 long laps of 6 miles each. The course runs on grass, gravel trails and tarmac paths and you end up crossing Horseshoe Bridge over the mouth of the River Kennet 8 times.
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| Start/Finish is at A, the short lap goes out to point B and the long laps go out to the red markers |
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| We're off! Not quite crowded with just over 30 runners. |
After a short race briefing describing the route we set off on time at 5pm in lovely sunshine with 32 marathon runners out of a capacity of 40 for this event. It didn't take long before we were spread out along the grassy banks of the river, running in ones, twos and threes. The first part of the route should be familiar to people who have run Reading parkrun or the Halloween 5 Nite Run, running along the grass path following the river as it bends right and the path goes into the woods. I noted a few tree roots and dips and hollows in the path for later when it got dark,
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| Pleasant running along the river |
Tactics
I had decided to tackle this event using a run/walk strategy, thinking that I would still have quite a lot of tiredness in my legs after the Farnham Pilgrim 6 days before. So, I set up my watch for an interval training session of 26 reps of 10 minutes running and 1 minute walking. That turned out to be a bit optimistic, in terms of the number of reps I could do, but I stuck at it and got to half way in a decent time of around 2:15.
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| Fairly spread out by lap 2, there was a lot of lone running. |
At the end of the second lap it was getting a bit dark and I took a break to get my head torch, grab some chocolate and a banana. My head torch is really good, a fairly cheap Chinese CREE 2200 lumen torch with battery pack on the back of the head strap. It lasts for ages, stays charged for months and is well balanced, so it doesn't move around. With the torch set on the lower brightness setting I could see very well, though I was conscious of not wanting to look people in the eye and blinding them. However, even with a bright torch, I was a bit cautious running on the grass paths and in the woods as it is not so easy to see little pot holes as in daylight.
I was feeling very tired by half way and had got past the turn point at Sonning for the third time when I caught up with a woman in a Supergirl costume who was having knee trouble. Carla had done a 12 hour ultra a couple of weeks ago as preparation for this, her first marathon, which is a bit unconventional for a training plan. We sat on a bench by Sonning Lock for a couple of minutes while I showed her some ITB stretches and talked about what her injury could come from, then we carried on jogging and walking together for most of the remaining 10 miles. There were some very quiet, misty and peaceful stretches along the river with the moon shining and I think we were both glad of the company.
On the way back from Sonning for the final time with 4 miles to go I was trying to run, managing half a mile then running out of energy and was forced to walk for 5 minutes or so, but when I got past the start/finish aid station with 2 miles to go the thought of finishing soon lifted my spirits enough to jog on again. I got to the finish at about 10:40pm, inside the cut off time with a couple of people behind me. I got presented with some nice bling by race director Paul Ali, had my photo taken and was directed back to race HQ for some food and a hot drink somewhere warm. I was very tired but had had a good time on this run. It's well organised, low key and friendly and they didn't seem to mind people taking most of the allotted 6 hours to finish. The only thing I would say is, if you are a bit nervous about running in the dark by yourself, you might want to take a friend along with you, or just make a new friend along the trail.
So, another marathon done (9th this year and 17th overall), I still didn't quit and didn't do any more damage to any injuries. I know I am not in any sort of shape to do a marathon a week, but my fitness is improving and I'm pretty sure I can do 1 every 2 weeks and manage some decent recovery and training in between. That is just as well as next up is Clarendon Marathon in 2 weeks time, followed by Abingdon 2 weeks later.
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| Supergirl Carla at the finish. See you at Abingdon! |
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Getting my Mojo (and my legs) back...
Summer Blues
It's been a log time since I posted last with the miserable news of having to pull out of Endure 24. I really haven't felt like I wanted to talk about running, I've been feeling so down about injuries. Since May and the pain of slogging round a very tough Richmond Park marathon and then the realisation that I had some significant injuries to sort out, I then made the decision to get some treatment. So, I've been seeing another woman, a recommendation from our club coach James, and have had some interesting diagnoses. I had a list of problems including left patella tendonitis, right aductor strain, lower right abs strain, tight calves and sore heels. These things mostly derive their source from 2 things - a general lack of foam rolling and a possible hernia.
Having been going through a series of rehab exercises for a month or so, the patella tendonitis has largely cleared up, I have had some treatment on the aductor (extremely painful inner thigh massage!!) and have seen my GP to get a referral for an ultra sound scan to see if I do have a hernia. That's to come at the end of September and here's hoping that I find out one way or the other what the problem is, so I can move on to to get the right treatment or management plan.
I took a real dip in mileage after June and went back to doing a few short runs a week with lots of stretching, foam rolling, core strengthening and glute workouts, together with club track sessions just working on drills and improving running form. Our family holiday to Fuertaventura in the Canaries also helped, with loads of swimming and a couple of runs on sandy beaches which were low impact but really hard sessions.
Races that I had booked between Endure 24 in June and September included Yateley 10k Race 3, Thames Path Saturday Night marathon, Thames Meander marathon and the Farnham Pilgrim marathon. I did Yateley 10k in July to get the medal and the T-shirt as it was the 25th anniversary of the event and ran a respectable 47:24. I was a bit sore the next day though.
Saturday Night DNF
Having done no distance running beyond about 6 miles for 2 months, I then went to the Saturday Night marathon in Reading. Crazy on the face of it, but it was a lovely sunny evening and I felt like getting out for a run with a race number on my vest. The course is a series of laps starting and finishing at the Wokingham Waterside Centre (actually just east of Reading) on the Thames, running along the path down to Sonning and back up to Reading Bridge. It was lovely, and I was cruising along at about marathon PB pace (what!?!) for 6 miles when I realised that the lack of miles was going to cause serious problems if I tried to continue. So I got to about 9 miles, having had a really good enjoyable run when I pulled out. I had never done a DNF run before, which was a bit sad, but what I did do was great and I ran really well, with good form and pain free, so overall I was pleased.
Thames Meander Summer Marathon
That DNF was a sore point, so when the next race came up at the end of August - the Thames Meander marathon - I decided that another DNF was not going to be an option. However I needed to come up with a sensible plan to complete it. That started with not doing Kingston parkrun before the marathon, then running at a comfortable 9:15 to 9:30 pace to around 12 miles, run walking to the turn point at 14 miles and jog walking back to the end.
I had done this one back in March and wrote about it in a previous post. As you would expect, the course is flat and mostly woodland trail, with some quiet roads where they run alongside the river. My plan was executed as expected, getting to 14 miles in 2:30ish leaving me 12 miles to cover in 3.5 hours to get in under 6 hours - a self imposed cut off time. There were no major dramas along the way, but the slower runners were all forced to wade through 2 flooded sections caused by combined
heavy rain the week before and a very high tide. One at about 18 miles was a slipway that I had to wade across knee deep and in socks as I didn't fancy 8 miles of wet blistered feet; the other at 23 miles was just a couple of inches deep and I couldn't be bothered to take my shoes off. I got a blisters on my little toes as a result. I finished in 5:37:17. Call that a long training run with a very long recovery walk, but usefully I got to feel what it's like to keep going to the finish when I'm really tired and learn some tactics to do this without getting injured.
Ton Up Elinor
I had a little diversion from my own running for a major milestone for my daughter Elinor, who ran her 100th parkrun at Frimley Lodge Park on 12 August. Elinor started running parkruns with me back in 2012 at 7 years old with a first full parkrun in a time of 42:39. She's now almost 10 and has a PB under 26 minutes, which is great going. She has also volunteered over 20 times and loves being the centre of attention doing the new runner's briefing and shouting encouragement to runners as a marshal. We enjoyed our run round Frimley in a gentle 30 minutes followed by some lovely cakes.
Farnham Pilgrim Marathon
The day after was Farnham Pilgrim Marathon, my third attempt at this one and a punishing but picturesque way to get another marathon done. This time I had a target of anything under 6 hours, my previous best on this course being 5hours, but I couldn't think of doing this run at a set pace, as it is so hilly. So, the plan was to walk up any significant gradient and run/jog all the flatter and downhill sections.
This is a great event, with lovely countryside, spectacular views and lots of friendly marshals and things went mostly to plan. I managed to get to the high point on St Martha's Hill at around 12.5 miles in 2:15, with the only mishaps being almost spraining my ankle running along a narrow path at 8 miles, then on the way down from St Martha's, I was remembering getting a knee injury at this point last year, and jogging gently downhill, when I tripped and almost landed flat on my face! Fortunately there were no more dramas and I jogged and walked back to the finish in a time of 5:23:48. I was pleased with that, 2 weeks after the Thames Meander and beating that result by over 13 minutes on a much more hilly course - the Pilgrim is longer too, by about 500m. I'll happily call that a Comeback PB!
Next up is another go at the Saturday Night marathon, with another plan to beat my comeback PB, not come last, not aggravate any injuries and get in shape to eventually get back below 5 hours at Abingdon marathon in October. In between we have another parkrun milestone, with my son Alfred reaching 100 runs on 26 September. It's nice to feel positive about running and getting my mojo back.
It's been a log time since I posted last with the miserable news of having to pull out of Endure 24. I really haven't felt like I wanted to talk about running, I've been feeling so down about injuries. Since May and the pain of slogging round a very tough Richmond Park marathon and then the realisation that I had some significant injuries to sort out, I then made the decision to get some treatment. So, I've been seeing another woman, a recommendation from our club coach James, and have had some interesting diagnoses. I had a list of problems including left patella tendonitis, right aductor strain, lower right abs strain, tight calves and sore heels. These things mostly derive their source from 2 things - a general lack of foam rolling and a possible hernia.
Having been going through a series of rehab exercises for a month or so, the patella tendonitis has largely cleared up, I have had some treatment on the aductor (extremely painful inner thigh massage!!) and have seen my GP to get a referral for an ultra sound scan to see if I do have a hernia. That's to come at the end of September and here's hoping that I find out one way or the other what the problem is, so I can move on to to get the right treatment or management plan.
I took a real dip in mileage after June and went back to doing a few short runs a week with lots of stretching, foam rolling, core strengthening and glute workouts, together with club track sessions just working on drills and improving running form. Our family holiday to Fuertaventura in the Canaries also helped, with loads of swimming and a couple of runs on sandy beaches which were low impact but really hard sessions.
Races that I had booked between Endure 24 in June and September included Yateley 10k Race 3, Thames Path Saturday Night marathon, Thames Meander marathon and the Farnham Pilgrim marathon. I did Yateley 10k in July to get the medal and the T-shirt as it was the 25th anniversary of the event and ran a respectable 47:24. I was a bit sore the next day though.
Saturday Night DNF
Having done no distance running beyond about 6 miles for 2 months, I then went to the Saturday Night marathon in Reading. Crazy on the face of it, but it was a lovely sunny evening and I felt like getting out for a run with a race number on my vest. The course is a series of laps starting and finishing at the Wokingham Waterside Centre (actually just east of Reading) on the Thames, running along the path down to Sonning and back up to Reading Bridge. It was lovely, and I was cruising along at about marathon PB pace (what!?!) for 6 miles when I realised that the lack of miles was going to cause serious problems if I tried to continue. So I got to about 9 miles, having had a really good enjoyable run when I pulled out. I had never done a DNF run before, which was a bit sad, but what I did do was great and I ran really well, with good form and pain free, so overall I was pleased.
Thames Meander Summer Marathon
That DNF was a sore point, so when the next race came up at the end of August - the Thames Meander marathon - I decided that another DNF was not going to be an option. However I needed to come up with a sensible plan to complete it. That started with not doing Kingston parkrun before the marathon, then running at a comfortable 9:15 to 9:30 pace to around 12 miles, run walking to the turn point at 14 miles and jog walking back to the end.
I had done this one back in March and wrote about it in a previous post. As you would expect, the course is flat and mostly woodland trail, with some quiet roads where they run alongside the river. My plan was executed as expected, getting to 14 miles in 2:30ish leaving me 12 miles to cover in 3.5 hours to get in under 6 hours - a self imposed cut off time. There were no major dramas along the way, but the slower runners were all forced to wade through 2 flooded sections caused by combined
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| Another Thames Meander medal |
Ton Up Elinor
I had a little diversion from my own running for a major milestone for my daughter Elinor, who ran her 100th parkrun at Frimley Lodge Park on 12 August. Elinor started running parkruns with me back in 2012 at 7 years old with a first full parkrun in a time of 42:39. She's now almost 10 and has a PB under 26 minutes, which is great going. She has also volunteered over 20 times and loves being the centre of attention doing the new runner's briefing and shouting encouragement to runners as a marshal. We enjoyed our run round Frimley in a gentle 30 minutes followed by some lovely cakes.
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| Come on Pilgrim! - On St Martha's Hill and still smiling despite the brutal climb up the sandy trail. |
The day after was Farnham Pilgrim Marathon, my third attempt at this one and a punishing but picturesque way to get another marathon done. This time I had a target of anything under 6 hours, my previous best on this course being 5hours, but I couldn't think of doing this run at a set pace, as it is so hilly. So, the plan was to walk up any significant gradient and run/jog all the flatter and downhill sections.
This is a great event, with lovely countryside, spectacular views and lots of friendly marshals and things went mostly to plan. I managed to get to the high point on St Martha's Hill at around 12.5 miles in 2:15, with the only mishaps being almost spraining my ankle running along a narrow path at 8 miles, then on the way down from St Martha's, I was remembering getting a knee injury at this point last year, and jogging gently downhill, when I tripped and almost landed flat on my face! Fortunately there were no more dramas and I jogged and walked back to the finish in a time of 5:23:48. I was pleased with that, 2 weeks after the Thames Meander and beating that result by over 13 minutes on a much more hilly course - the Pilgrim is longer too, by about 500m. I'll happily call that a Comeback PB!
Next up is another go at the Saturday Night marathon, with another plan to beat my comeback PB, not come last, not aggravate any injuries and get in shape to eventually get back below 5 hours at Abingdon marathon in October. In between we have another parkrun milestone, with my son Alfred reaching 100 runs on 26 September. It's nice to feel positive about running and getting my mojo back.
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
More Injury Woes - Pulling out of my Target Race
OK. Deep breath. Time to bite the bullet and really admit I have a problem and not just keep running around it. If I could have thought of an injury and running addiction related 12 Step Programme along the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous, then that would make for a fun analogy and maybe an interesting blog post. However, I got to Step 2 and was just too depressed to go any further as the programme went like this:
Step 1: Admit you have an injury.
Step 2: Stop running.
So, Step 1 finds us sitting in the virtual village hall of my blog with me saying "My name is Richard and I have an injury problem." Then you settle into your plastic stackable chairs, with your sweaty bums and your earnest, sincere and supportive faces on.
Step 3: Eat loads of cake, mostly chocolate.
Step 4: Start drinking.
Before we get ahead of ourselves and I end up having to live in one of those sheds opposite Kings hardware store on Sandhurst high street, we better back up to Step 1. The main injuries are to my right hip flexor or groin (it's hard to tell - possibly iliopsoas muscle or tendon that attaches it to the pelvis or aductor, but not a tear) and left patella tendon.
I have been running just 5 or 6 miles at a time and the runs go like this - setting off, my right hip flexor feels tight and painful on each step but this gradually decreases as I warm up. Meanwhile, my left knee has a dull ache that becomes slightly stronger with time on the left side of the tendon just below the kneecap. By 2 or 3 miles, everything is warmed up nicely and I am running mostly pain free, but by the time I get to 5 or 6 miles there is pain deep in the right upper thigh and pubic bone which is loads worse if I stop and then start running again. That would have meant being able to do 1 lap of the Endure 24 course and then pretty much walking from then on for the next 23 hours! No thanks - that's not what I signed up for.
So Step 2 has seen me pull out of Endure, my target race for the year, and also the first Yateley 10k race which was to have been 10 days before. My only good fortune out of this, is that I hadn't booked anything for over a month after Endure to give me time to recover after that. At least I now have nearly 2 months break from events to rest, recover, rehabilitate and restrengthen.
Step 3: Eat cake, mostly chocolate.
Step 4: When pain free, get stretching and foam rolling those hip flexors, hamstrings, ITB, quads and calves.
Step 5: Gentle strengthening of glutes and hip flexors, keep those stretches going.
Step 6: Low impact exercise to keep cardio fitness going (cycling, swimming)
Step 7: Take more breaks from sitting at work and go do some more stretches
Step 8: Build back to running gradually.
Step 9: Keep working on strength
Step 10: Keep working on flexibility and foam rolling.
Step 11: Enter a race and finish pain free.
Step 12: Eat more cake, mostly chocolate!
Step 1: Admit you have an injury.
Step 2: Stop running.
So, Step 1 finds us sitting in the virtual village hall of my blog with me saying "My name is Richard and I have an injury problem." Then you settle into your plastic stackable chairs, with your sweaty bums and your earnest, sincere and supportive faces on.
Step 3: Eat loads of cake, mostly chocolate.
Step 4: Start drinking.
Before we get ahead of ourselves and I end up having to live in one of those sheds opposite Kings hardware store on Sandhurst high street, we better back up to Step 1. The main injuries are to my right hip flexor or groin (it's hard to tell - possibly iliopsoas muscle or tendon that attaches it to the pelvis or aductor, but not a tear) and left patella tendon.
I have been running just 5 or 6 miles at a time and the runs go like this - setting off, my right hip flexor feels tight and painful on each step but this gradually decreases as I warm up. Meanwhile, my left knee has a dull ache that becomes slightly stronger with time on the left side of the tendon just below the kneecap. By 2 or 3 miles, everything is warmed up nicely and I am running mostly pain free, but by the time I get to 5 or 6 miles there is pain deep in the right upper thigh and pubic bone which is loads worse if I stop and then start running again. That would have meant being able to do 1 lap of the Endure 24 course and then pretty much walking from then on for the next 23 hours! No thanks - that's not what I signed up for.
So Step 2 has seen me pull out of Endure, my target race for the year, and also the first Yateley 10k race which was to have been 10 days before. My only good fortune out of this, is that I hadn't booked anything for over a month after Endure to give me time to recover after that. At least I now have nearly 2 months break from events to rest, recover, rehabilitate and restrengthen.
Step 3: Eat cake, mostly chocolate.
Step 4: When pain free, get stretching and foam rolling those hip flexors, hamstrings, ITB, quads and calves.
Step 5: Gentle strengthening of glutes and hip flexors, keep those stretches going.
Step 6: Low impact exercise to keep cardio fitness going (cycling, swimming)
Step 7: Take more breaks from sitting at work and go do some more stretches
Step 8: Build back to running gradually.
Step 9: Keep working on strength
Step 10: Keep working on flexibility and foam rolling.
Step 11: Enter a race and finish pain free.
Step 12: Eat more cake, mostly chocolate!
Monday, 18 May 2015
250 parkruns and Richmond Park Marathon
Preparation (or lack of it)
I came to Richmond Park marathon 3 weeks after London, which was my third marathon in 2 weeks and second in 3 days. London was OK and I finished stronger and much quicker than St George's Day marathon just before, but I still had serious issues with tight hip flexors and left hamstring and almost got leg cramps as well. Taking salt tablets helped to ward off the cramps, but I still think that injury and running mechanics issues are over-stressing things and giving me problems in races.
So, preparation for this race was almost non-existent and was more geared to recovery than
maintaining miles in my legs. I had a very light week after London, just a Thursday club run and parkrun and then gave blood the Monday after, which forced me to have another light week - probably a good thing - with more stretching and yoga.
With a week to go before Richmond, I managed a comfortable Tuesday club run with the slow group doing a rather long 6.5 miles, had a massage on Wednesday, then did a good run at Windlesham Pairs Relay posting 22:20 for my 5 x 1km laps, though I got beaten by my son Alfred (11) who managed his 5 laps in 21:30. Still, I felt really good on that run and enjoyed it enormously.
250 parkrun Milestone
On Saturday we went to Frimley Lodge for my 250th parkrun and I had a great time. Lots of people had brought cakes and there were a lot of Sandhurst Joggers and Frimley parkrun friends there to celebrate with me. It was quite emotional at the start when my name was announced and I had a lump in my throat for a few seconds listening to the cheers and applause.
I had decided to run with my daughter Elinor and we set off near the back and had a gentle run around and I got to chat to people on the course. We made it round in about 28 minutes to find Alfred had finished ages before in another PB time of 21:52. Another amazing run by Alfred who is really enjoying his running now and getting better and better. I only have about 35 seconds lead on him for my PB and it could be he beats me over the summer!
Richmond Park Marathon
After the parkrun celebrations I had a relaxing day and got my kit together for Richmond the next day. Sandhurst vest, red shorts, new Injinji toe socks and OS1st ankle/calf compression from ING Source. I was in my Hokas again, this time sorting the lacing out to lock them onto my feet a bit better. I also had tape on my left hamstring after my Wednesday massage and decided to tape up my left knee following guidance on this on a YouTube video from John Gibbons.
I got picked up just after 7am by Leon Hicks from SJ and we made it to the park an hour ahead of race start to log in at race registration and find the loos. Unfortunately there were only 2 portaloos for about 350 runners, so there was a bit of a queue. It was cool and sunny before the start, which was not the overcast cloudy conditions the weather forecast predicted, so it looked like it was going to be a warm day. I put some sun cream on just in case.
At about 8:45 David Weir arrived with his coach Jenny Archer. He lives locally and uses the roads through the park for training and was here to start the race. I had a chat with him about his plans for the summer, which will be mostly geared to track events and his coach says he will definitely be back at London for another go at winning the marathon.
Leon and I wandered around for a while chatting to other runners before dropping kit off in Leon's car. The car park was close by, so we didn't need to use the bag tent. The start was at 9:30 and is located near Sheen Gate. We got away on time, although from the back we didn't hear the hooter and I just noticed that there were people running, before we started to move forward.
The Course
The course is undulating mostly and hilly in places and is run over 3 laps. The last 2 laps follow the Tamsin Trail around the perimeter of the park and are about 7 miles each. The first lap is actually a 3 mile short lap following the Richmond parkrun route in reverse and with a a different start point, followed by a 9 mile long lap along some of the Tamsin Trail and through the middle of the park. You get to see most of the park and also several steep hills three times over (yay!).
We started with a gentle trot alongside the road from Sheen Gate, then turning up Sawyers' Hill to Richmond Gate for a long steady downhill back to the start. Down the Sheen Gate road again then up the hill to White Lodge at 4 miles, then down around Spankers Hill Wood (great name!) to the Tamsin Trail to take on Kingston Hill for the first time at 5.5miles. This is followed by a long downhill, crossing Queen's Road and onto an out and back section to the northeast corner of the park at Petersham Road. Just after 9 miles we crossed Queeen's Road again and headed up another short steep hill through the middle of the park back to Spankers Hill before heading back to Sheen Gate at mile 12.
Then begins 2 laps of the Tamsin Trail going clockwise from Sheen Gate. The path starts off gently sloping downhill and remains fairly level past Roehampton Gate and the nearby cafe which was packed with cyclists a lot of whom were cheering us on. Then around Spankers Hill Wood (still fairly level) before our second ascent of Kingston Hill. From the bottom of this hill we cross and then follow alongside Queen's Road steadily climbing Sawyer's Hill from the south to Richmond Gate again before the 1.5 mile steady descent to the start/finish and a repeat lap to the end.
How was it to Run?
The course is really nice with not much traffic and not much congestion apart from the first mile. The park doesn't look over managed and doesn't have any playgrounds, just natural mature woodland, scrub grassland and lakes. If you don't know Richmond Park then it's very similar to the New Forest or Windsor Great Park. It looks very picturesque and that's something to remind yourself of when you are struggling up another hill.
The fact there were laps and you went over the same ground up to 3 times didn't detract from the experience of running it. It did mean that you knew what to expect on the 2 last laps and it broke the run up into mentally manageable chunks. Later into the run I knew at 14.5 miles and 21.5 miles I was going to be going up a steep hill and so I was going to have a walk break followed by a drink at the aid station at the top and then I could get back into running on the descent on the other side.
Getting through a marathon for me has recently been about how my body copes with carrying a series of niggles and Richmond was no different. I had previously had issues with my left hamstring tightening and almost cramping, I have had long term pain in part of my left patella tendon and I have some pain in my right hip flexor, possibly a small tear that hasn't been given chance to heal.
Leon and I started off at a gentle pace at the back of the pack with the miles passing at 9:15 to 9:40 pace, but also stopping to take a drink and eat at the aid stations. The first few miles were a bit painful in my right hip/groin and left knee but, apart from the steepest hills, we weren't walking. We made it through the first lap together to 12 miles, but just beyond 13 miles I noticed that Leon was dropping back. It was at this time that I think the heat started to take some toll as I started to get tight in my left hamstring. I actually found that running a bit quicker helped me along to the hill at 14.5 miles, where I took a salt tablet and had a couple of cups of water. That seemed to cure the cramps for a while, but I had lost touch with Leon.
The last lap was where I really slowed down. I told myself that I at least wanted to get to the start/finish area at 19 miles in reasonable time and I was there at about 3:10. I took another salt tablet (my last) and went on my way walking for a few hundred metres before jogging on. At 20 miles the hamstring cramps came back and I tried going a bit faster, just to change my gait. It worked enough to get me to Kingston Hill for the last time, but getting going again from the aid station was painful.
I reassessed my aches and pains and found that my left knee was feeling fine and somehow felt better than at the start, my left hamstring was still a bit tight, but improved after each aid station and bit of banana, but my right hip flexor was really slowing me down. I could walk OK, but every time I started to jog it was really tight and painful. I had a long stop at the last aid station at 24 miles, then another long stop to chat with Sasha Kendall-Woods from SJ who had come out to support and supply Leon and me with Percy Pigs and more water before the last 1m steady downhill to the finish. I discovered that I just needed to get going very slowly to loosen my hip up and then keep going before I could slowly pick the pace up to a jog.
The last half mile saw a few more supporters and runners walking home to cheer me on and there was still a decent crowd to cheer me across the line. I collected a medal, Tshirt and bag with magazines, mini Mars bar and a pen and then I stood around and chatted to some runners I had met on the course, particularly Ghanaya Talewar from Sikhs in the City who I saw a lot of as we jog/walked the last lap. I finished in 4:46:46 and thought I might have a long wait for Leon, but he arrived only 10 minutes behind me in 4:57:02.
Splits were a bit all over the place, partly due to spending a lot of time at aid stations (I was really getting my money's worth) and chatting to Sasha at her Extra SJ Aid Station.
9:45 9:12 9:17 9:33 9:34 10:21 9:04 9:49 9:33 10:31 9:40 10:20 10:02 9:51 12:16 9:21 12:50 9:23 9:10 12:01 10:48 15:45 9:30 15:57 18:50 10:52 3:29 (0.39m@9:00/m)
There were 341 finishers with times ranging from 2hrs34 up to 6hrs50. There were a few milestone runs as well with David Lewis' 600th marathon, Janet Cobby's 300th, Piers Keenleyside's 100th and Denys Baudry's 400th, I think.
That was a hard marathon, but I would call it a success just for the fact of keeping going through pain and not it defeat me. Developing some mental toughness is going to be important for Endure 24, which is my next big race and my target for the year.
I came to Richmond Park marathon 3 weeks after London, which was my third marathon in 2 weeks and second in 3 days. London was OK and I finished stronger and much quicker than St George's Day marathon just before, but I still had serious issues with tight hip flexors and left hamstring and almost got leg cramps as well. Taking salt tablets helped to ward off the cramps, but I still think that injury and running mechanics issues are over-stressing things and giving me problems in races.
So, preparation for this race was almost non-existent and was more geared to recovery than
maintaining miles in my legs. I had a very light week after London, just a Thursday club run and parkrun and then gave blood the Monday after, which forced me to have another light week - probably a good thing - with more stretching and yoga.
With a week to go before Richmond, I managed a comfortable Tuesday club run with the slow group doing a rather long 6.5 miles, had a massage on Wednesday, then did a good run at Windlesham Pairs Relay posting 22:20 for my 5 x 1km laps, though I got beaten by my son Alfred (11) who managed his 5 laps in 21:30. Still, I felt really good on that run and enjoyed it enormously.
250 parkrun Milestone
 |
| Family photo with the 250 cake made by Becky Wood (Photo: James Ball) |
I had decided to run with my daughter Elinor and we set off near the back and had a gentle run around and I got to chat to people on the course. We made it round in about 28 minutes to find Alfred had finished ages before in another PB time of 21:52. Another amazing run by Alfred who is really enjoying his running now and getting better and better. I only have about 35 seconds lead on him for my PB and it could be he beats me over the summer!
Richmond Park Marathon
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| Race HQ, the start/finish and mile 3, 12 and 19 point |
I got picked up just after 7am by Leon Hicks from SJ and we made it to the park an hour ahead of race start to log in at race registration and find the loos. Unfortunately there were only 2 portaloos for about 350 runners, so there was a bit of a queue. It was cool and sunny before the start, which was not the overcast cloudy conditions the weather forecast predicted, so it looked like it was going to be a warm day. I put some sun cream on just in case.
At about 8:45 David Weir arrived with his coach Jenny Archer. He lives locally and uses the roads through the park for training and was here to start the race. I had a chat with him about his plans for the summer, which will be mostly geared to track events and his coach says he will definitely be back at London for another go at winning the marathon. Leon and I wandered around for a while chatting to other runners before dropping kit off in Leon's car. The car park was close by, so we didn't need to use the bag tent. The start was at 9:30 and is located near Sheen Gate. We got away on time, although from the back we didn't hear the hooter and I just noticed that there were people running, before we started to move forward.
The Course
 |
| Lap 1: 12 mile route |
We started with a gentle trot alongside the road from Sheen Gate, then turning up Sawyers' Hill to Richmond Gate for a long steady downhill back to the start. Down the Sheen Gate road again then up the hill to White Lodge at 4 miles, then down around Spankers Hill Wood (great name!) to the Tamsin Trail to take on Kingston Hill for the first time at 5.5miles. This is followed by a long downhill, crossing Queen's Road and onto an out and back section to the northeast corner of the park at Petersham Road. Just after 9 miles we crossed Queeen's Road again and headed up another short steep hill through the middle of the park back to Spankers Hill before heading back to Sheen Gate at mile 12.
 |
| Lap 2/3: 7 and a bit miles each |
How was it to Run?
The course is really nice with not much traffic and not much congestion apart from the first mile. The park doesn't look over managed and doesn't have any playgrounds, just natural mature woodland, scrub grassland and lakes. If you don't know Richmond Park then it's very similar to the New Forest or Windsor Great Park. It looks very picturesque and that's something to remind yourself of when you are struggling up another hill.
The fact there were laps and you went over the same ground up to 3 times didn't detract from the experience of running it. It did mean that you knew what to expect on the 2 last laps and it broke the run up into mentally manageable chunks. Later into the run I knew at 14.5 miles and 21.5 miles I was going to be going up a steep hill and so I was going to have a walk break followed by a drink at the aid station at the top and then I could get back into running on the descent on the other side.
Getting through a marathon for me has recently been about how my body copes with carrying a series of niggles and Richmond was no different. I had previously had issues with my left hamstring tightening and almost cramping, I have had long term pain in part of my left patella tendon and I have some pain in my right hip flexor, possibly a small tear that hasn't been given chance to heal.
Leon and I started off at a gentle pace at the back of the pack with the miles passing at 9:15 to 9:40 pace, but also stopping to take a drink and eat at the aid stations. The first few miles were a bit painful in my right hip/groin and left knee but, apart from the steepest hills, we weren't walking. We made it through the first lap together to 12 miles, but just beyond 13 miles I noticed that Leon was dropping back. It was at this time that I think the heat started to take some toll as I started to get tight in my left hamstring. I actually found that running a bit quicker helped me along to the hill at 14.5 miles, where I took a salt tablet and had a couple of cups of water. That seemed to cure the cramps for a while, but I had lost touch with Leon.
The last lap was where I really slowed down. I told myself that I at least wanted to get to the start/finish area at 19 miles in reasonable time and I was there at about 3:10. I took another salt tablet (my last) and went on my way walking for a few hundred metres before jogging on. At 20 miles the hamstring cramps came back and I tried going a bit faster, just to change my gait. It worked enough to get me to Kingston Hill for the last time, but getting going again from the aid station was painful.
 |
| The Lead Gorilla - showing the fast guys the way round |
The last half mile saw a few more supporters and runners walking home to cheer me on and there was still a decent crowd to cheer me across the line. I collected a medal, Tshirt and bag with magazines, mini Mars bar and a pen and then I stood around and chatted to some runners I had met on the course, particularly Ghanaya Talewar from Sikhs in the City who I saw a lot of as we jog/walked the last lap. I finished in 4:46:46 and thought I might have a long wait for Leon, but he arrived only 10 minutes behind me in 4:57:02.
Splits were a bit all over the place, partly due to spending a lot of time at aid stations (I was really getting my money's worth) and chatting to Sasha at her Extra SJ Aid Station.
9:45 9:12 9:17 9:33 9:34 10:21 9:04 9:49 9:33 10:31 9:40 10:20 10:02 9:51 12:16 9:21 12:50 9:23 9:10 12:01 10:48 15:45 9:30 15:57 18:50 10:52 3:29 (0.39m@9:00/m)
There were 341 finishers with times ranging from 2hrs34 up to 6hrs50. There were a few milestone runs as well with David Lewis' 600th marathon, Janet Cobby's 300th, Piers Keenleyside's 100th and Denys Baudry's 400th, I think.
That was a hard marathon, but I would call it a success just for the fact of keeping going through pain and not it defeat me. Developing some mental toughness is going to be important for Endure 24, which is my next big race and my target for the year.
Tuesday, 5 May 2015
This is Getting Ridiculous - Injuries!
I decided that after London Marathon I would need a chance to rest and recuperate and booked a treatment session on the Thursday after hoping that my legs would be on the mend and it would be a less painful experience. No such luck, but I managed not to cry on the table! I did learn a lot more about the state of my legs, which is not that good:
- Right hip flexor strain is restricting right leg movement and giving pain in lower abs area also.
- Both calves gastrocnemius is tight, but especially on right leg which is pulling on the Achilles.
- Left hamstring is very tight restricting forward movement of that leg.
- Left patella tendonitis, not causing pain while running but discomfort at the front of the knee while sitting or standing for long periods.
- Both knees ITB tightness leading to minor pain on the outside of the knee while sitting .
I think it's important to find the original injury and work out what caused that. In my case , I remember the hip flexor pain being around for the longest and it was probably an overuse injury of originally weak and inflexible hips. As I have done more marathons the hip flexor issue has been getting slowly better (I have been doing some stretching of this) but it's obviously time to get a bit more serious about this.
All this is making me really unbalanced when running and the odd biomechanics could well lead to serious and long term injury. I need to do something about this and the first thing is to cut back on the running miles, do some cross-training (cycling/swimming) and really focus on getting over these niggles. So the plan is to get a rehab programme together to target the injuries, improve flexibility and strength and get some balance back.
All this is making me really unbalanced when running and the odd biomechanics could well lead to serious and long term injury. I need to do something about this and the first thing is to cut back on the running miles, do some cross-training (cycling/swimming) and really focus on getting over these niggles. So the plan is to get a rehab programme together to target the injuries, improve flexibility and strength and get some balance back.
I have a bit of down-time between marathons (3 weeks between London and Richmond Park) so I have time to give blood, which I manage to do three times a year and still fit in several marathons and halfs. It also gives me an excuse to not do any fast runs for a week or so, so I can concentrate on getting fit.
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
London Marathon 2015
Getting to London
Wow, talk about sore legs! Before this year's London Marathon, I had never run two long races within 4 weeks and here I was facing my third marathon in 2 weeks and second in just 3 days. Considering my so called recovery from Brighton didn't go well (I think I caused more issues by running too soon) and I finished St George's Day with sore feet and legs, I was a bit worried. However, I had to tell myself that this was actually another training run on the way to Endure 24 with no PB target to go for. The aim for London was to recover as best as possible and then finish in a reasonable time. I had set myself a target of a course PB, aiming to get under 4:30:00. 10 minute mile pace should do it.
I spent Friday at work, taking every opportunity to get up on my feet, then left early to go for a walk, foam roll my legs and then pick up daughter Elinor from school. When my wife Julia and son Alfred got back from school athletics club, we went out for dinner. I had been advised by Abby (physio) to get as much protein as possible after the St George's Day marathon to help get my legs repaired, so I pigged out on a mixed grill and tucked in to the kids' left over puddings.
Saturday was parkrunday again at Frimley Lodge and my run no. 247. The big 250 run milestone is fast approaching. Today's run was just a recovery effort starting at the back and volunteering as sweeper. I had a nice chat for a lap with a woman who was coming back from a major operation, and when she dropped out I jogged ahead to catch up with Dennis Devey (Cove Joggers) and we chatted to the end of the run. All very nice with no aches or pains.
I got my kit together in the afternoon, filling a small rucksack with the essentials of dry clothing and things to eat post-race. The whole lot would eventually fit into the plastic sack required by London Marathon for your kit. I find this better than trying to carry the bag itself, which is awkward to sling over a shoulder.
Race Day
Sunday morning I was up at 5:30 for breakfast of ReadyBrek (I had run out of porridge so had to steal the kids' breakfast), then set off to catch the Sandhurst Jogger's (SJ) team bus which set off at 6:30. Weather reports from earlier in the week were terrible with possible thundery showers and heavy rain for the race, but it turned out to be dry but cool. Getting towards Blackheath there was a bit of drizzle in the air when the coach stopped to let us off and we split up into red and blue/green starters.
I thought it would be good to run with someone for this marathon and found out SJ Leon Hicks was aiming for a sub 4:30 time, which would be ideal for me. We headed off to find shelter from the cold and drizzle in a large marquee and sat chatting with Leon's brother Justin and other Sandhurst Joggers Sacha and Sarah Alexander. Then with about 45 minutes to go we headed off to the bag drop, then the queues for the urinals, which moved quite quickly. With about 15 minutes to go Leon and I got into our no.5 start pen which was busy but not packed full, and at 10:10 the race started to a cheer from all the runners around us, but of course no actual running.
We're Off!
It took about 7 minutes to get across the start line, shuffling forward on the Red Start through the gates to Greenwich Park and the left turn to the start line. I had my watch set up for a 9:30/mile pace and we were straight away running at about the right pace, keeping to 9:20/mile or slower. I felt I was doing a lot of Garmin watching to begin with, not wanting to go out too fast, particularly as I had decided to run with Leon and didn't want to ruin his race. We were getting passed by loads of people who were either much faster than their start pens should have them or were going out fast to bank some time ahead of their target (usually a dangerous tactic).
The first few miles from the Red Start undulate along local roads with good support, though here people are mostly just applauding, as it's a bit early to start shouting "looking good" or "keep going". At 5 km we came to the first timing mat, where I saw Abby Fudge (my physio) who called out "How are your legs?" So far, so good. The pace was OK and I felt like I was comfortably within myself and not dragging Leon along too fast. I had allowed myself to go a bit quicker over the first 3 miles as there were a lot of downhill sections from the top of Greenwich Park back down to Greenwich and the Naval College. However, once on the flat I tried to ease the pace back.
Landmarks
The turn to the Cutty Sark (6 miles) was quite congested and we went through a huge wall of noise with the crowds very densely packed and all cheering madly. Miles 6 to 12 pass through Deptford and Bermondsey with wide roads and packed crowds. Every pub had something going on with live bands or music playing and it felt like a great party. Our pace through 10k and 15k was still consistent and just after 12 miles we made the turn onto Tower Bridge where the crowds seemed to be even louder. Tower Bridge is a fantastic part of the course with the iconic bridge providing a great backdrop to the river of runners crossing over. It also comes close to the halfway point and I felt a mental lift because of it.
Who's With Me?
Up until now Leon and I had been running together, grabbing a water bottle and sharing drinks and gels as they came on the course. At 13 miles we saw Sarah Alexander who was just ahead. She must have passed us without realising and when she looked back she seemed to speed up a bit - she was on for a sub 4 hour time. At around 14 miles I glanced back to see if Leon had picked up a water bottle to see him waving at me 5 paces behind. I think this was where Leon said he started to get knee problems and so he had slowed down a bit. Though I was running on my own now, I still had people to look out for and managed to see SJ club runners Dick at 18 miles and Greg Ward and Janet Foran at around 19 miles. At 22 miles I saw SJ's Vicky Horne and Tina Acock coming the other way at their 13 mile point and we stopped for a few seconds, a hug and hello.
I was feeling OK at this point, but it had been a different story a mile before. Tired legs, lack of energy and maybe lack of salt too was causing my left leg to seize up with tight glutes and hamstrings and worryingly, shooting pains down each leg. I stopped to a walk for a few seconds to get a gel and a couple of salt tablets and washed them down with some water from a bottle I had picked up. I got a few strange looks from some in the crowd for taking performance enhancing drugs mid-race and explained it was just salt before running off.
The tightness in my legs soon eased off and I was back running OK, but not completely comfortably. I still had painful hip flexors and lower abs, but this pain had been the same since 10 miles. I had told myself that I would make sure I got to 20 miles before any jog/walking, but when I got that far, the hip pain had just been the same as ever for 10 miles, not worse and I told myself the more running I did, the sooner I would finish and it would all be better. There, there, just keep running.
At around mile 23 there is a long stretch of tunnel to go through. The Garmin went a bit haywire and beeped at me in the same way it does when a mile has passed, but this time just to let me know it had lost signal. You come out of this tunnel just after 24 miles to a wall of noise from the crowds and now knowing there are less than 2 miles to go. All sorts of "It's nearly over" mantras were coming into my head, "less than a parkrun", "just a few more minutes". I came up to SJ's Royston Crandley who was jog/walking and he waved me on. By now I was slowing a bit and, though I tried to pick the pace up, my legs were having none of that and got a bit wobbly when I tried. I stuck to what I could do and tried to keep some kind of running form going for the last mile from Westminster. Down Birdcage Walk there were signs up counting down each 200m from 800m and then you make the turn in front of Buckingham Palace and pass under the 26 mile gantry and the sign saying 385 yards to go.
From here, the only thing for a Sandhurst Jogger to remember is to keep right, as that's where all our
club volunteers are stationed as ushers and medal hangers. I was heading for the right lane when, with just 10 metres to go, a very small lady grabbed me by the hand to cross the finish line with (thanks Liz MacIntyre (GBR) F55-59-unattached). Then I was straight into the arms of Gemma Potter and Ian Watson, for a finish line hug. I nearly collapsed with relief and had to hold on to the photographer's gantry and get passed from one hug to another before making a wobbly walk to get my medal from the SJ volunteers (and even more hugs!). My finish time was 4:10:13, a course PB by over 25 minutes and beating my St George's Day time of 3 days ago by 24 minutes as well. A very good result and one I'll call a negative split.
Royston came in not long afterwards and we had our photo taken before taking a very slow walk to collect a goody bag and head for the baggage trucks. I stopped near the steps up to Pall Mall to get out of my running top, put on my finisher's T shirt and get some milkshake to drink. I then thought it would be a good idea to get changed into dry clothes, but although there were signs to changing rooms, nobody seemed to know where they were and I was directed up and down the steps to Pall Mall 3 times before I found them! After that I went to see who I could find back out at the meet and greet areas and bumped into Hannah, Kelvin, Alison and Amanda of Cove Joggers and found all to have had good runs.
By now it was 4pm and time to head back for the coach home where I found Emma Lewis, Sarah Alexander, Paula Vine, Dave Breslin and Graham Meek, all happy and smiling with their news of good runs also. Simon Gibbon had just made it back to the bus after spending an hour with the first aiders at the finish line after struggling over the last 6 miles. He was tired but OK. Leon made it through the finish in 4:30 and was happy with that considering the knee issues he was having.
Considering the relatively poor shape I was in just 3 days ago, I was very pleased with my run at London Marathon. I managed to keep running at a very even pace and didn't fall away much near the end and, though it was a bit of a struggle to keep going at times, I seemed to cope with the issues I had by eating and drinking well enough. Splits for this London Marathon were:
9:23 9:16 9:19 9:16 9:28 9:32 9:31 9:16 9:24 9:24 9:17 9:18 9:24 9:26 9:35 10:31 9:29 9:32 9:51 9:18 9:43 9:45 9:26 9:20 9:08 8:47 4:42 (0.54m @ 8:42/m)
Here's a list of the Sandhurst Joggers finishers:
Wow, talk about sore legs! Before this year's London Marathon, I had never run two long races within 4 weeks and here I was facing my third marathon in 2 weeks and second in just 3 days. Considering my so called recovery from Brighton didn't go well (I think I caused more issues by running too soon) and I finished St George's Day with sore feet and legs, I was a bit worried. However, I had to tell myself that this was actually another training run on the way to Endure 24 with no PB target to go for. The aim for London was to recover as best as possible and then finish in a reasonable time. I had set myself a target of a course PB, aiming to get under 4:30:00. 10 minute mile pace should do it.
I spent Friday at work, taking every opportunity to get up on my feet, then left early to go for a walk, foam roll my legs and then pick up daughter Elinor from school. When my wife Julia and son Alfred got back from school athletics club, we went out for dinner. I had been advised by Abby (physio) to get as much protein as possible after the St George's Day marathon to help get my legs repaired, so I pigged out on a mixed grill and tucked in to the kids' left over puddings.
Saturday was parkrunday again at Frimley Lodge and my run no. 247. The big 250 run milestone is fast approaching. Today's run was just a recovery effort starting at the back and volunteering as sweeper. I had a nice chat for a lap with a woman who was coming back from a major operation, and when she dropped out I jogged ahead to catch up with Dennis Devey (Cove Joggers) and we chatted to the end of the run. All very nice with no aches or pains.
I got my kit together in the afternoon, filling a small rucksack with the essentials of dry clothing and things to eat post-race. The whole lot would eventually fit into the plastic sack required by London Marathon for your kit. I find this better than trying to carry the bag itself, which is awkward to sling over a shoulder.
Race Day
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| Taking shelter with Leon, Sarah and Sacha |
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| Relieved that the loos were so efficient (at least for the men) |
We're Off!
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| Red Start in Pen 5. Rather optimistic placing in front of the 4:00 hour pacer |
The first few miles from the Red Start undulate along local roads with good support, though here people are mostly just applauding, as it's a bit early to start shouting "looking good" or "keep going". At 5 km we came to the first timing mat, where I saw Abby Fudge (my physio) who called out "How are your legs?" So far, so good. The pace was OK and I felt like I was comfortably within myself and not dragging Leon along too fast. I had allowed myself to go a bit quicker over the first 3 miles as there were a lot of downhill sections from the top of Greenwich Park back down to Greenwich and the Naval College. However, once on the flat I tried to ease the pace back.
Landmarks
The turn to the Cutty Sark (6 miles) was quite congested and we went through a huge wall of noise with the crowds very densely packed and all cheering madly. Miles 6 to 12 pass through Deptford and Bermondsey with wide roads and packed crowds. Every pub had something going on with live bands or music playing and it felt like a great party. Our pace through 10k and 15k was still consistent and just after 12 miles we made the turn onto Tower Bridge where the crowds seemed to be even louder. Tower Bridge is a fantastic part of the course with the iconic bridge providing a great backdrop to the river of runners crossing over. It also comes close to the halfway point and I felt a mental lift because of it.
Who's With Me?
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| Emma trying to dodge a timing mat |
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| Tina and Vicky in Canary Wharf |
The tightness in my legs soon eased off and I was back running OK, but not completely comfortably. I still had painful hip flexors and lower abs, but this pain had been the same since 10 miles. I had told myself that I would make sure I got to 20 miles before any jog/walking, but when I got that far, the hip pain had just been the same as ever for 10 miles, not worse and I told myself the more running I did, the sooner I would finish and it would all be better. There, there, just keep running.
At around mile 23 there is a long stretch of tunnel to go through. The Garmin went a bit haywire and beeped at me in the same way it does when a mile has passed, but this time just to let me know it had lost signal. You come out of this tunnel just after 24 miles to a wall of noise from the crowds and now knowing there are less than 2 miles to go. All sorts of "It's nearly over" mantras were coming into my head, "less than a parkrun", "just a few more minutes". I came up to SJ's Royston Crandley who was jog/walking and he waved me on. By now I was slowing a bit and, though I tried to pick the pace up, my legs were having none of that and got a bit wobbly when I tried. I stuck to what I could do and tried to keep some kind of running form going for the last mile from Westminster. Down Birdcage Walk there were signs up counting down each 200m from 800m and then you make the turn in front of Buckingham Palace and pass under the 26 mile gantry and the sign saying 385 yards to go.
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| In amongst the SJ medal hangers |
club volunteers are stationed as ushers and medal hangers. I was heading for the right lane when, with just 10 metres to go, a very small lady grabbed me by the hand to cross the finish line with (thanks Liz MacIntyre (GBR) F55-59-unattached). Then I was straight into the arms of Gemma Potter and Ian Watson, for a finish line hug. I nearly collapsed with relief and had to hold on to the photographer's gantry and get passed from one hug to another before making a wobbly walk to get my medal from the SJ volunteers (and even more hugs!). My finish time was 4:10:13, a course PB by over 25 minutes and beating my St George's Day time of 3 days ago by 24 minutes as well. A very good result and one I'll call a negative split.
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| Royston at the finish, looking far better than at mile 25. |
By now it was 4pm and time to head back for the coach home where I found Emma Lewis, Sarah Alexander, Paula Vine, Dave Breslin and Graham Meek, all happy and smiling with their news of good runs also. Simon Gibbon had just made it back to the bus after spending an hour with the first aiders at the finish line after struggling over the last 6 miles. He was tired but OK. Leon made it through the finish in 4:30 and was happy with that considering the knee issues he was having.
Considering the relatively poor shape I was in just 3 days ago, I was very pleased with my run at London Marathon. I managed to keep running at a very even pace and didn't fall away much near the end and, though it was a bit of a struggle to keep going at times, I seemed to cope with the issues I had by eating and drinking well enough. Splits for this London Marathon were:
9:23 9:16 9:19 9:16 9:28 9:32 9:31 9:16 9:24 9:24 9:17 9:18 9:24 9:26 9:35 10:31 9:29 9:32 9:51 9:18 9:43 9:45 9:26 9:20 9:08 8:47 4:42 (0.54m @ 8:42/m)
Here's a list of the Sandhurst Joggers finishers:
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| Thanks to the Sandhurst Joggers Finish Line Crew |
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