Halfway there.

So today, as with every Sunday for the past five weeks, I didn’t want to go out for a run. Really, really didn’t want to. I wouldn’t have minded a short run of say, y’know, a mere 10K (hahahaha) but my schedule dictated that I run 13.11 miles. Yes, a half marathon.

The furthest I have ever run before was 10 miles, which I did both last week and some time back in October. Upping the mileage so significantly (a 33% increase) from one week to the next is Not Advised.. the recommendations are 10% a week. However I don’t have time to increase by 10% a week thanks to the pneumonia, and I know from past experience that I can push myself to do 25% further than I have the previous week with no ill effects other than feeling like absolute crap. This week was definitely going to be the biggest increase in my schedule so far though, and hopefully I won’t do one that high again or even close to it.

So, after stocking up the night before on a large chinese takeaway, and having a big bowl of porridge for lunch, I waited an hour (through a rainstorm) and reluctantly decided that those 13 miles weren’t going to run themselves. Gear on, out the door.

Much to my surprise at first it was a lot easier than my 10 miler the week before.. a few miles in and my heartrate was at a much more reasonable level (a good 3-4bpm below what it was last week) and in fact stayed like that for the whole run. In fact my pace stayed reasonable for the first 10 miles, whereas it went to pieces around 6 miles last week and disappeared entirely at 8 miles. Whether it’s because I was better prepared this week with the big meal the night before and the porridge, or because last week had really helped me I have no idea, but today, physically at least, was a good day to run.

There was some negotiation of bushes and large puddles involved at the start, and I guess at least my shiny new shoes don’t look so new any more. In fact I am very happy with my new shoes as this is the first time I have ever done a long run and not had toenail or blister or arch of the foot problems. They rock. The less said about my knee, the better but I don’t think it’s down to the shoes.

I decided to take half a gel at 5, 7, 9 and 11 miles. I didn’t have the same gels as last week as Steve had to buy them for me and these ones were different, requiring 400ml of water per gel. That’s a heck of a lot of water.. first of all it’s totally immeasurable when drinking from a Camelbak like I do, and secondly I refuse to have 400ml of water sloshing around in my stomach in one go. So I had half a gel at a time and estimated what 200ml of water was likely to be. It seemed to work – I didn’t have any tummy trouble (unlike last week, but I can’t be sure it was related to the gels) and I didn’t run out of water. All good.

Much to my pleasure I finally encountered, for the first time ever, other people training for the marathon. I mean theoretically anyone could be, but this was the first time I actually talked to someone else in the same boat. A pair of dudes came running behind me a little bit faster than me and as they went past I said hello.. they guessed I was on a long run from the Camelbak and asked how far. I told them, and they said they were doing a 15 miler to which I naturally asked if they were training for London, which they were. We had a brief chat about how hellish it all was, then they had to turn around and run back. It was nice to know I am not the only crazy person running this route at the weekend.

I reached my halfway point, 1.5 miles further than I had run along this route before – all the way to Erith. Even when I’ve cycled that far in the past it’s been tiring. My turnaround point was almost at the Morrisons, so round I went and ran back into the setting sun.

Before too long the fatigue began to kick in despite the gels, and my pace dropped. The music helped distract me a little, but my big problem was a bad back from my Camelbak – I’m hoping my back will get stronger as this is getting to be a real issue. At 10 miles, as I expected, I was knackered. It seems that when I hit the distance I ran before, that’s all my body is prepared to do and then it conks out. So basically anything I do over my previous session is all improvement. It’s also the hardest part.

The last 3 miles took forever, and I was counting down the minutes. I completed the half marathon in 2:27:38 – so that’s my time to beat when I do the Silverstone Half Marathon in 3 weeks time. I ran for a few minutes afterwards just to take my running time up to 2hr30mins as time on your feet is just as important as all the rest. I did a lap of the local park with this.. stopping halfway round.

Then I had to walk back home.. a mere few hundred yards but it was harder than anything that had come before, my legs felt like they were floating and I was waddling and every step was agony. I actually needed help to climb over the doorstep, and it took me a few minutes to climb the stairs, on my hands and knees. It is ridiculous!! And this is only half distance *sob*

So, my times..

Mile 1 – 10:27 (Last week -10:34)
Mile 2 – 10:44 (Last week -10:54)
Mile 3 – 10:54 (Last week -11:13)
Mile 4 – 11:07 (Last week -11:30)
Mile 5 – 10:59 (Last week -11:33)
Mile 6 – 11:08 (Last week -11:55)
Mile 7 – 11:22 (Last week -12:24)
Mile 8 – 11:23 (Last week -12:01)
Mile 9 – 11:18 (Last week -12:06)
Mile 10 – 11:37 (Last week -12:38)
Mile 11 – 11:57 (furthest I have been before)
Mile 12 – 11:59 (I was surprised I kept it under 12 minutes given I was at this point at mile 7 last week)
Mile 13 – 12:24 (finally unable to go much faster!)

So as you can see I did a great job up until Mile 10, with a very reasonable pace. Given I “folded” (felt absolutely shattered) at mile 6 the previous week, that’s a huge improvement.

I would like to do 11:30 for my marathon pace which will get me round in 5 hours. Obviously time isn’t everything, completing it is, but it’s nice to have a time to aim for. Who knows if the long runs over the next few months will enable me to accomplish this? If I don’t get sick I have a good chance, I guess.

Did I mention how little I want to run 15 miles next Sunday? Yeah.

Today’s long run..

Well, I did it! As I said I would. Just about polished me off though, in the same way the runs two and three weeks ago did. On the plus side, each time I’m running quite a lot further.

I had to take two weeks off YET AGAIN due to having a cough. I just didn’t want to risk the pneumonia coming back. But finally the cough disappeared, and although I still had a slightly snotty nose, it was time to head out.

On the plus side, I had new shoes (yay!) and I thought I would try running with music for once.. honestly, it is very tedious running for two hours straight with no stimulus. It’s not like on a walk where you can stop and look at interesting things – when you’re running you have to watch your feet for much of it so you don’t fall over, and as the horizon is bobbing up and down all the time it’s not as easy to just stare at something interesting. Anyway, the music made it slightly less tedious. Not something I would do in the dark or on short runs, but I need something for the long runs.

It was also time to experiment with gels, which for the uninitiated are concentrated sugary energy thick liquids in a pouch. You eat a portion of one every 15-30 minutes depending on what you need. It gives you a bit of a lift, basically, and over very long distances helps you avoid the infamous “wall” where all your muscle glycogen or whatever it is gets used up around 20 miles. The downside is that they can often play havoc with your stomach when running which can get.. messy, and we will say no more. So it takes some experimenting to find the right ones. The brand I tried may or may not have been alright as I already had a few cramps anyway. Will try them again next week and see.

I also had my Camelbak of water attached, so basically I was kitted out like I was going to be out for days. After a few miles a jogger (didn’t look serious, just someone running for the sake of it) told me to speed up (why, oh why can’t people mind their own business?!!). I told them I had ten miles to go. There was no reply.

It was a slight exaggeration because of course my target was “only” 10 miles for this weekend. I actually felt quite good at 5 miles, but by 7 miles I was starting to feel bad. The final two miles were the hardest, because they were further than the distance I’d run two weeks earlier. Even though I was running slowly, I was exhausted. My legs hurt, my left knee in particular. I lost another toenail (different one to usual) but on the whole the new shoes were a big improvement on the old ones. I didn’t really blister, and didn’t get sore toes.. I only realised about the toenail when I took the shoe off and it was my fault for not trimming it enough. So the new shoes win!

When it finally came to stopping, I think my legs nearly dropped off and I instantly felt dizzy. When running long distances, stopping is often worse than carrying on and this was no exception.. thankfully that feeling passes quickly, along with the nausea! So, I ran for two hours, and did just over 10 miles.. 10.5 miles in fact.

Mile 1: 10:34 (deliberately kept myself slow)
Mile 2: 10:54 (a bit slower than I would have liked.. little did I know!)
Mile 3: 11:13
Mile 4: 11:30 (this is the sort of pace I’m aiming for on Marathon day)
Mile 5: 11:33
Mile 6: 11:55 (real shame I couldn’t keep it up for long)
Mile 7: 12:24 (exhausted)
Mile 8: 12:01 (got a sort of second wind.. okay, I finished off the gel)
Mile 9: 12:06
Mile 10: 12:38 (dead.. the second half of this mile was more like 14:00!!)

I then ran around the park for 5 minutes so I could say I’d run for two hours – time on your feet is just as important as distance covered.

What’s really annoying though was seeing the 10 miler I ran back in October. The same distance.. 22 minutes faster, in 1:39. WAH. Still, it’s a good start – I’ve only had a few hours sleep the last few nights due to teething baby and I hadn’t been out for two weeks, and even then I’d only been back running a week. So I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.

Two night runs to do this week in the evenings, then a 12 miler next Sunday. Woo..

And finally a big thank you to Gill and Jane for their generous sponsorship – thank you so much! Gill is actually just as mad as me – she is going to be cycling the C2C route (147 miles of nasty hills up north, travelling from coast to coast!) in May for ARC – Antenatal Results and Choices. They’re another small charity, and they provide wonderful support to parents who are faced with the results of a bad screen/test in pregnancy, so very much related to the charity I am supporting. She is doing it with a friend in memory of her daughter Anna. If you have anything extra to spare, please consider supporting her – this is her JustGiving page and I have also made a link down the side of this page.