Kent coastal half marathon, 5th September

With its scenic coastal route – the course is an out and back from just outside Margate to Broadstairs – and billed as “mildly undulating”, this race seemed like a good option for my first half marathon. I got a lift down on the morning and met up with a group of runners from the club.

The first few miles were quite enjoyable as we took in some beautiful coastal scenery but after four or five miles, the seemingly constant undulations, hot sun and strong winds began to take their toll. An incline of several miles took us to the half way point where we turned around and started the real hard work.

I think it would be fair to say that we all found the second half much tougher! Although we took a slightly different route for a mile or so of the way back, which provided us with some relief from the coastal winds, the stretch through a residential area was rather tedious. The last few miles were really tough – mile 12 in particular seemed to go on forever - and I cursed myself for not eating a more substantial breakfast as I fought the urge to walk the last few inclines.

Eventually, the end appeared along with a goody bag stuffed with some unusual looking non-branded snacks and drinks, and while waiting for Claire and Matt to finish the full marathon we had chance to enjoy some sunshine, compare blisters and chafing etc., and reflect on how pleased we were not to be doing the full. I was quite pleased with my time for my first half and on a trickier course than I’d expected (although being told to be back in two hours if I wanted a lift back to London was a bit of a motivator!). And it was excellent to discover that we had got the prize for the 1st ladies team while one of our number also picked up a delightful “silver” plate for being 2nd SW.

There was lots of support en-route from the very encouraging marshals, supporters and the many locals out enjoying the sunshine. The Morris dancers running the full marathon were a bit of a novelty – they stopped halfway round for a dance - but I felt pretty sorry for anyone unfortunate to be running anywhere near them. The only slight issue of contention was the possible inaccuracy of the course distance - we all measured it as 13.25 miles and that extra 0.15 mile was most unwelcome!

An enjoyable experience for my first half and, according to some guides, a 1:50 half woul put me on track for a 4hr marathon - here's hoping!

Things not to do before/during/after a long run

1- Drink cocktails the night before, even if they are 2 for 1. Happy Hour on Friday night doesn't make for happy running on Saturday morning. Although, after a few miles of running my hangover had gone so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all ...
2- Store your jelly babies in your sports bra. Seemed like a good idea at the time (maybe due to point 1) as I haven't got around to getting a running belt but by 5 miles in, they were starting to get sticky. I thought I might get a few weird looks when I pulled a sweet out of my bra to munch on but no one seemed to notice/care - I guess that SE London for you!
3- Sit on your butt for the next two days and forget your daily stretching. Having decided to use the bank holiday to catch up with some thesis writing meant I moved very little for two days. Still feeling a little sore and stiff now.

Still 18 mile run out of the way and I don't seem to have done any serious damage. Bit of an 'easier' week this week, in terms of mileage at least: club race on Thurs (3ish miles) and (my first ever) half marathon on Sun :-)

13 - unlucky for some?

With my next trip to the physio scheduled for tomorrow, I'm reminded of what he said at my last visit: that I was ok after doing 9 miles but if I'd done 12 or 13 it would have been a different story. This was very similar to what the physio leading an injury prevention workshop at SMUC said the week before - that people are ok until they get to 13 miles then they start getting injured.

I wonder why this is. Does something happen to the body after 13 miles of running? Is this some kind of 'natural limit' for most people? Or is getting to a long run of 13 miles an indicator of the weekly mileage reaching some threshold where people are overtraining relative to the strength and conditioning of their muscles (and body more generally)?

I felt pretty bad by the end of my recent 13 mile run. By 11 miles everything hurt, I was tired and getting miserable. Luckily the next week's long run dropped down to 10 miles providing a welcome rest for my legs before building up to 14 and then 15 miles. By comparison, I felt much better at the end of these runs, maybe because I tried different trainer/orthotic combinations. Or maybe my legs are getting stronger? Last weekend, I was lucky enough to have some company for the last 9 miles, which definitely helped :-)

At least I'm getting up to distances where I can justify munching a few jelly babies towards the end (yummy!). 17 miles this weekend ...

88 days 'til Dublin ... Eek!

For some reason, 88 days sounds much scarier than 3 months - I'm not sure why! I'm on the 4th week of my training plan: 3 'quality' runs and 2 days cross training per week. The last couple of weeks' running has gone well but finding it hard to fit everything in this week with various leaving dos going on for the big boss at work.

One thing I have learnt is not to go rock climbing the day before a 13 mile run! My arms only recovered yesterday and I'm not sure that my legs have yet ...

On the plus side, I received an email from Guy's & St Thomas' Charity yesterday officially confirming my place with them in the 2011 London Marathon. Yay! Although, I'm not sure that I'll still be enthusiastic about it when I'm dragging my ass home after the Dublin marathon in three months time??

Hot & hilly races and new trainers!

A couple of Sundays ago, I took part in my first 10k race of the year. Billed as a "fun run" and being conveniently located close to my mum's house, I thought it might be a fun thing to do whilst visiting my mum for the weekend. Luckily, I went online to check out the route a few days before and discovered comments from previous years along the lines of "very challenging" and "killer hills"! I tried to comfort myself with the knowledge that many of my runs are on hilly routes and perhaps the locals in flat East Anglia just weren't used to hills.

The race started at 11am - on the hottest day of the year so far! - on the village green with a real fete atmosphere. After a loop round the village and a brief stint on a busy road, the rest of the race was on quiet country lanes, footpaths and through farmland. Unfortunately, there was little shade and many of the hills were across open farmland with baked ruts and broken roots underfoot. What a relief it was to come back into the village and the see the finish line up ahead! For some reason, I was very surprised to see my mum waiting for me just before the finish, camera at the ready ... I think the heat had got to my brain by that point! I did enjoy the race and was very pleased to find out a couple of days that later that I was 20th woman (out of over 100, and 127/450 overall) although disappointed that I wasn't 8th as my mum had thought.

I was spurred on by the race to do an 8 mile club run a few days later followed by a 5k club race the next day, totally forgetting that I'd not run the previous week. My poor achilles really were knacked by this point and with my physio on holiday for two weeks, I decided to buy yet another pair of trainers and take it easy for a while. I went out for a couple of runs the next week but couldn't tell if the new trainers helped as my achilles were still sore from the previous week so rested completely for a few more days. Then my dad arrived from the US bearing even better trainers ... I cautiously went out in them this morning thinking about doing around 6 miles but felt really good so ended up doing a 9 mile run instead :-)

Is there anybody out there ...?

The buzzword in academia at the moment - according to the rather uninspiring careers event I went to last week - is public engagement. So far, this blog has had over 400 hits but very few comments. If you'd like to leave a comment - be it advice, your experience, or something completely random thoughts - please do!! I'd love to hear from you :-)

Oh, the drama!

Turns out my lovely new trainers have caused me to develop 'bilateral achilles tendinopathy', which translates as pain at the bottom of both my calves. My physio seemed rather exasperated at how I'd managed to develop another problem since my last visit (in addition to getting hit by a bus last week and having my arm bandaged from an unrelated incident!). I'm reluctant to buy another new pair and am hoping that with a bit of self-massage, they might settle down ...

On a more positive note, my hamstring problem is getting better and I've been given a more fun exercise to get my glutes working - walking upstairs two at a time, very slowly. Seeing as I live in a ground floor flat this means doing the exercise at work so I'm preparing myself to get some odd looks from colleagues over the coming weeks!

I wonder if some people really are just more injury prone? If I didn't love running so much - and wasn't raising money for GSTT charity - I think I might have opted for the easy option and given up. But I haven't so I'll keep plodding on :-)