#vlm14

It’s been more than a week since the marathon and it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.

Initially I was irrationally cross at how sore my legs were. I mean, I did KNOW they’d hurt, I was ready for the painful massage and the difficulty on stairs, but I didn’t think I’d barely be able to move the day after it. I remember very clearly waddling like Bambi from bed to the top of the stairs and being utterly terrified at the prospect of trying to get down. Nothing would bend!

As the soreness wore off my legs I became increasingly aware of a lump and pain in my foot that seemed to be getting worse. After panicking myself through Google searches I presented myself at the Urgent Care Centre for an X-Ray where the nurse told me she was 90% certain it wasn’t a stress fracture, that I’d be really unlucky to get a fracture at that specific point in the bone, but that if the pain hasn’t gone in 3 or 4 weeks then come back for another because they don’t always show up straight away. Two weeks on, I’m not full of ibuprofen and hobbling anymore and only have a slightly achy foot. It might have been my body’s way of making sure I didn’t run for a while.

I’m sure the break has done me good, but I spent a good few days feeling like a failure because I’d got injured. That I wasn’t strong enough or fit enough or good enough to run ‘properly’ (whatever that means). But I’ve chucked myself back into swimming and yoga, I went to a spin class 5 days after the marathon that might have been a bit of a mistake, and I’m excited for my first run post marathon on Monday. I’ve been lucky enough to win 2 spots in a speed session with Olympic Heptathlete Louise Hazel, and brilliant blogger, runner and Ironman in the making, Laura Fountain. I’ve missed my trainers.

**Watch in HD**

"If you do not run, you must cheer!"

This is a compilation of short videos I made at Mile 21 of the London Marathon with the mighty Run Dem Crew as we cheered on some of our friends, but for the majority, complete strangers.

If you ever wondered what running means to me and why I prioritise spending my time running over many other things in my life, look no further than this video.

Running a marathon is a phenomenal accomplishment and I have respect for every single person who has managed to concur 26.2 miles - it's something that I hope to add to my achievements as I run my first marathon in Copenhagen the 18th May 2014.

So, I’ve got 9 full weeks of marathon training under my belt. And it feels GOOD!

As ever this week started with a rest day, and then Tuesday was 8 miles at marathon pace. When I checked my garmin at the end of the run, the average pace was 8:49, and I know there were a few 9:30 min miles in there. I REALLY need to work on my pacing because wanting to chuck myself into the Thames 5 miles into a training run because I’m running too fast isn’t very helpful to my confidence in my ability to hold a 9 min mile!

I managed to redeem myself slightly on Wednesday at the track where the session was 1km reps with one minute recovery in-between. As ever, I started too fast (the pace was meant to be 5k pace) and with a PB of 24:14 I probably wasn’t much faster than where I was meant to be, but the first km of 4:40 I knew it was going to be painful in the final few reps! However, I hung on by the skin of my teeth and only lost 4 seconds on the last kilometre.

I swapped Thursday night’s 45 min steady run for a 60 min spin class and I loved it! Mixing up the training was a great feeling, I pushed really hard towards the end of the class and was pleasantly surprised by the power in my legs (it was a clever bike that measures your watt output). More than anything, it was nice to be in a group environment and working hard alongside others. And maybe getting just a little bit competitive!

Friday was a rest day, Saturday was Parkrun and 2 easy miles, and for the first time in ages I let myself off ‘racing’ and wanted to run and try and enjoy myself, not push hard, experience pain, and ultimately end up disappointed that I didn’t run faster. I came in at 24:55, was always running well within myself and picked up the pace for a sub 8 minute mile at the end. And the most important thing: I’m pretty sure I was smiling all the way!

I’ve neglected yoga of late, so when Ceri found a new yoga studio opening up in Peckham, Yogarise, offering a weekend of free trial classes, it seemed daft not to go. And OH I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE IT! It’s only been about 3 weeks, and the class was a relatively gentle Hatha Flow but it felt so good. So I’ve taken advantage of their introductory offer and booked myself into 4 classes over the next fortnight. I might live to regret the 90 minute Rocket class the night before a 10 mile run, but oh well! I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the long run!

In other news, I collected the shoes I’m going to run the marathon in on Saturday and it made me strangely emotional. Has that happened to anyone else?!

And Sunday’s 145 minute run was bang on a ten minute mile all the way, and I decided to experiment with real food, rather than gels, so packed 2 Jaffa Cakes with me as an experiment. I always suffer with a rumbling tummy about 10 miles into a race, and I have to say, the Jaffa’s were a win! Nothing untoward happened with my tummy and (thank goodness!) I don’t know whether I’d be able to happily trot along whilst scoffing them at any higher pace, but on a steady run, when I can, I’d much prefer to eat something solid I think. I run all my marathon pace runs with gels for ease and speed, and to practise fuelling at that pace but I don’t think solids have an adverse effect, although I’d hardly call my experiment with 2 Jaffa’s exhaustive research!

So, to sum up: solid food and slow running gets a big tick from me, I ran farther than I’ve ever run before in one go and nothing fell off (big mental gains), track sessions always hurt but always make me happy, drop the pace and crack a smile when the going gets tough, and I must not neglect yoga again.

Total weekly mileage for VLM Training Week 9: 31.6 miles

Over and out. Run well all!

The marathon is 8 weeks yesterday. Mixed feelings about that!

I think it’s fair to say I have been struggling a bit over the past 10 days. I don’t think it’s been a physical struggle, although my legs are feeling the mileage, more of a mental one. I’m not bored exactly because that implies ease, but I’ve been lacking a bit in mojo.

I swapped some runs around a bit this week. I was joined for 2 miles by one of the speedy guys that runs Parkrun for Tuesday‘s  5 miles at marathon pace which proved a welcome distraction, I did speedwork by myself instead of at the track on Wednesday for the first time in months and I took a rest day on Thursday so I could join the office lunchtime running club on a wet and windy  7 miler on Friday.  I slept through Parkrun on Saturday and felt so much better for it, and yesterday’s 11 miler was fresh, easy and most definitely what I’ve been waiting for.

My concern going into this was whether or not I could run 26.2 miles, and everyone told me that race day was the easy bit. At exactly half way through the training I understand what they mean. This is a huge commitment and the fact that I’m doing it for charity (although fundraising presents its own challenges!) is a really big motivator and definitely helps to keep me going.

I’m trying to learn from the experience of others as much as possible. As well as listening to the wisdom of those that have run the distance (and more) and lived to tell the tale, I’m trying to learn from runners as new to this as I am. There is a reason that the Sunday long runs are meant to be at what you perceive as an easy pace, and entering millions of half marathons and long races might help ease the boredom of familiar routes and give you some welcome company BUT the temptation is to race them at marathon pace, or at the very least faster than planned and I’m reading race reports of people coming unstuck because of that.  I need to learn from these friends! They are thinking the same thoughts I am, they have the same uncertainty and they too want to ‘test out the pace’ and see if it’s sustainable and achievable. The only problem is that doing that means you’re quite simply not running on fully charged batteries come race day.

The long run yesterday was only 11 miles as it was ‘cutback week’ to give my body time to adapt to the increased mileage, but I felt great throughout it all. Also, I got to try out my new water holding, double pocketed running belt thing! It’s a Haglofs Gram 1 and I love it! I needed to start carrying water with me and handheld bottles affect my use of my arms (I don’t use them at the best of times – put something in my hand and they become utterly redundant, like a T Rex. It’s true!) so this way I could pack everything literally onto my waist. I think it was meant to sit on my hips but it rode up a bit in the first few miles and I got bored of yanking it down, so I tightened it up and put it round my waist and it worked a treat!

I ran according to effort, I didn’t ever feel like I was working too hard and most importantly I felt strong.  I never dipped under marathon pace and I didn’t look at my watch too often during the run but looking back over the splits last night I was, on average, about 30 seconds off goal pace and that’s a big confidence boost.

I guess it’s just a case of keeping on keeping on now!

Total mileage for week 8: 26.75