fairweatherrunner

running blog

Monthly Archives: February 2012


by 5 Comments

Leap Year Run

There was lots of proposing going on in twitter running circles today.  Proposing we went for a leap year run. After all we won’t get the opportunity to run on 29th February for another 4 years!

So I checked my February mileage.  92 miles.  Guess what… Yes, 8 miles it had to be and take advantage of the extra day! Rather than being totally crazy and going to BMF and then running 8 miles I wore my garmin for the class so I would only have to make the miles to 8.

Leap year run part 1. A good BMF class, lots of running, mainly fast intervals and I got my daily twitter boot camp (50 squats, lunges, press ups, situps) and plankaday knocked off in between runs.  The class clocked up 3 miles running and I debated whether to carry on while I was in Hyde Park and run the remaining miles.  However I was hungry and my legs were already beginning to feel wobbly after not enough breakfast to fuel those sprints!  So I came home and ate lots before going out this afternoon for a more gentle paced 5 miles with the Bee Gees. Leap year run part 2.

So that’s 100 miles run in February and 255 so far for 2012.  February is my 4th highest monthly running mileage and only behind totals for months when I have participated in Janathon or Juneathon and run everyday. This month I’ve had 12 rest days!

Now I’ll think I’ll have a little sit down…


by 2 Comments

Staying focused and races in 2012

Well I survived half term!  While I had a break from BMF I did manage to run 4 days and clocked up a decent 25 miles, so running is still on track.

My plans for 2012 are to run at least a race (10K or Half Marathon) a month.   I have some personal time goals I’d like to meet for 5K, 10K and HM this year which I had thought, for some distances, were a bit of a long shot! However after taking 4 minutes off my HM PB last week I’m thinking anything’s possible! Watch this space!  With a lot of blogger and twitter buddies training for marathons this  spring I have to keep my goals in mind especially as now I am reading about their increasing long runs going over my distance and getting designs on running a marathon myself.  No… plenty of time for that next year!

I planned two spring half marathons to make sure I had a good shot at a pb and a good time.  Having achieved that last week I won’t be greedy for my next outing at the Silverstone HM in 2 weeks but hope to be able to match my pace to prove it wasn’t a fluke!  So my running continues with HM in mind although I will wait and work on any significant improvement on 1.55.49  for the Autumn.

I will then focus on 10Ks for the spring and really must get back to parkrunning on saturday mornings and running 5K’s! I am hopeful the shorter runs will help my poor feet recover enough for painted toenails and sandals in time for summer!  Even going up another half-size in running shoes hasn’t spared my poor big toenail recently.  Ouch and Eewe!

My race plans for the year have already been tested, having to change my plans for February, so I’ve looked into other races for the year keeping an open mind and the possible need to change my plans where necessary.  I would race more if I could but have to balance my races with my family’s activities and one a month is manageable at the moment.

One race to mention is the Macmillan Cancer Support 10K fun run on 17th June  in Regents park which might be my June race, depending where I am.

Additionally if you are looking to support a good cause and run in the South West please consider running for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

“I am writing on behalf of the Bath and Bristol Fundraising Team of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign to ask for your support by putting your training and muscles to good use and signing up to one of the Run Bristol events in aid of the charity.
 Muscular dystrophy is a devastating, incurable and life-limiting condition that causes muscles to waste away, making people progressively weaker and preventing them from performing simple tasks that we take for granted, such as turning the pages of a book or brushing their hair. There are 60 different types of muscular dystrophy and over 70,000 babies, children and adults are affected by the disease, 6,000 of whom are in the South West. The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign strives to provide care and support to individuals and families affected by muscular dystrophy; fund research into finding cures; campaigning to improve services available and awarding grants to provide specialist equipment, such as powered wheelchairs. For more information please see our website – http://www.muscular-dystrophy.org.
 Our ultimate goal is to rid the world of the condition for good and our fight against muscle wasting disease depends on the support of people like you .
 As you may be aware the 2012 Bristol 10k and Half Marathon is being held on 20th May and 30th September respectively and we are looking for runners to raise vital sponsorship funds. You can use your muscles to help those that cannot.
 If you can help, please get in contact with Nick Hearne via email –
bristol@muscular-dystrophy.org or by telephone 07771374836.
 We will support you every step of the way by supplying sponsorship forms, t-shirts, fundraising ideas and of course we will be there on the day to cheer you on.
 You really can help make a difference to the lives of thousands of people affected by this devastating muscle wasting disease.
 Thank you!”
 
 
 
 


by 9 Comments

Race your Pace Half Marathon

Having missed my planned February Half Marathon last week because of family commitments I was pleased to be able to run Race your Pace Half Marathon at Dorney lake yesterday. I didn’t want to waste all the miles I’d run during Janathon and long HM training runs, especially as I thought I was pretty well prepared for once! Over the past weeks I’ve had some good runs at target pace and ran 12 miles last weekend at 9 min mile pace so I was feeling strong and confident.

The only hurdles I had to overcome were avoiding my sons who were both full of cold this week (fortunately with teenagers keeping a good distance away is welcomed!) and coping with late nights (making sure son finished homework and got to bed!). And then a few anxious moments caused by both sons inability to get up and ready on time yesterday so long-suffering OH had to drive me to Maidenhead, so I wouldn’t be late, and return to London to collect the boys so they could still meet me after the race to go away for the weekend!

My first impression was how bleak and windy it was. Dorney lake is in a wide flat open area that the wind howls across! It was freezing when I got out of the car and I was grateful for the few extra layers, hat and gloves which I’d left in the car after BMF last week and to find a changing room where I could exchange my sleeveless running top for a long-sleeved one. The start was delayed by 15 minutes which left many of us runners sheltering from the wind huddled like penguins behind a small building near the start. Anyone turning up looking comfortable in shorts was considered a hardcore outside penguin!

This race is advertised as a training run for Spring Marathons or to ‘race your pace’, bag a PB or test out training for other events. I expected to see more pacers than I did and there was a crowd around the few I did so it was not easy to get close. The start was not well organised with no pens and just a huddle to get on to the road behind the start. Fortunately most runners appeared to be disciplined and generally tried to position themselves in the correct huddle for their target pace. I was in sight of the 9 min mile pacer before the start but in the slow shuffle to start lost them in the crowd and apart from being lapped during the middle of the race by the 1.30 pack and then lapping the 12 min milers towards the end that’s all the pacers I saw until the finish when I finally caught up and finished just behind the 9m/m pacer.

The race was as I expected. 4 nice flat laps of a long thin lake. Not too inspiring but less monotonous than I feared. (The best views were courtesy of some of the over-taking front-runners in their far too revealing race shorts being blown off in the wind! Kept me going – thanks chaps!) There were good water and Lucosade stations at either end of the loop but that was about it. Apart from the wind. Did I mention the wind?

The outward stretch of the loop was against a strong headwind (which shows in my mile splits for miles, 2,5,8 and 11) and then the return leg (during the early part of the race) had a useful tail wind. Unfortunately the wind increased as the race went on and become a cross wind so that my pony tail was at right angles and I had the feeling that I was being blown into the lake!

I had aimed to run at 9 min mile pace but went along with the group a little bit quicker to start, I thought about pulling myself back but found my rhythm with my garmin showing overall average pace 8.48 most of the time, so stuck at it. The 4 laps whilst slightly boring were useful in pacing, knowing what was to come and giving me satisfaction that I had got to a certain point again. I could steel myself for battling the tough mile out into the wind and look forward to the return loop where I felt stronger and could push the pace a little.

Fortunately my wheels didn’t fall off around the 8 to 10 mile stretch like my last half marathon. My legs did have a short wobble and ache around 11.5 miles but I told them to hurt away all they liked, however they were still going to keep up the pace for the last mile and a bit and bag me a PB!

Would I run it again? Maybe, maybe not. But certainly not in a hurry. It’s expensive for what it is, no goody bag, a basic medal and not much atmosphere. A good option for checking pace during marathon training and good if you’re chasing a PB.

It delivered a PB for me yesterday so I have no complaints!


by 5 Comments

New motivation

After Janathon I really felt the lack of motivation once the need to run everyday had been removed. I know Janathon isn’t compulsory but I set myself the goal to run every day and something in my head clicks and I feel obliged to complete the challenge. Afterwards is hard. I miss the routine of running everyday.

This year I carried on the next day and went to British Miliary Fitness (because the 1st of Feb fell on a BMF day). The following day I had an urge to run, and should have, as it was a beautiful day, but thought I’d better have a rest day to avoid injury.

This was probably a mistake as having stopped I’ve struggled to get running again (apart from BMF classes) and then the snow came and I missed my long run at the weekend. My drop in motivation wasn’t helped by the fact that I am unable to make the Portsmouth Coastal Half Marathon this weekend due to family commitments (not because I’m fair-weather and its likely to be arctic – honestly!) which is a shame seeing as I’m ready and trained after all those Janathon miles.

I managed to get myself going again this week after signing up for another HM on 18th Feb, in place of Portsmouth, and receiving the news that I’ve got a place in the Royal Parks Half Marathon from the second chance ballot. So I went out and ran 10 miles in lieu of my weekend long run on Tuesday despite serious DOMS in my glutes and thighs! (At BMF on Monday we did rather too much lying down and too many situps in the wet slushy snow. When we complained about freezing wet bottoms we were given a warm up by way of the 150 squat challenge.) I recovered the ability to walk properly again today and then after smashing my to-do list I got out for an afternoon run (before the threatened snow).

The squats (or something) is paying off because everything felt good today and after a few easy warm up miles I ran miles at 8.45 and 8.24 pace and finished up on a mile at 8.20 without feeling I was having to put in much more effort! There is nothing like a good run to give you a boost and I actually find that running gives me more energy than resting!

10.07 miles in 1.38.55

6.21 miles in 55.39 mins

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,019 other followers