Last Pre-London Long Run

Woo-hoo!  Yesterday morning I completed the final long training run ahead of the London marathon, which takes place on April 21st.  Just 3 weeks to go.  Bring it on!  I was joined on the long run by Pia and Jo, two of my Sweaty Betty runners who will also be toeing the line with me in London.  We were also joined by my mate Mike, who coaches the Sweatshop running group, and one of his runners, Lotte.

It was a bright and almost warm morning when we all met up, meaning there was some debate about how much clothes to wear.  We all settled for two top layers and we hoped it would get warmer as we ran.  Unfortunately, it seemed to get colder and colder.  So we haven't had any opportunity to do any long runs in anything approaching a warm day, which means we will all suffer if the marathon day turns out to be as warm as last year.

Mike, Lotte, me, Jo & Pia on the Roman Road

It was great to have two different people along for the run this week.  Jo and Pia had never met Lotte before, but the three of them instantly got chatting as if they'd known each other for years, which was nice to see, especially as they represent three different nationalities.

We had planned to run 22 miles together.  We covered the first 11 miles at a nice gentle pace and mostly staying together so that we could all chat whilst we ran.  This did mean the pace was way down at about 8 minutes 30 seconds to 9 minutes per mile, and it took us about 1 hour 42 minutes to cover the first 11 miles.  We did split up a little as we approached the half-way point, mainly because it got so cold we needed to work harder to generate some warmth.

Lotte approaches the half way point
and the highest part of the route at 110m above sea level

From the turn around point I suggested we ran the next six miles back at target marathon pace. Because the ground is so undulating and very muddy in parts, it was difficult to stick to marathon pace, but we mostly did o.k.  This did also mean six miles of solo running, followed by a wait of several minutes for everyone to re-group.

Jo reaches the end of the 6 mile marathon pace section

We then had a final 5 mile push to the finish.  We tried to stick together as group, but Mike started to suffer on the last section.  I decided to be a gentleman and left Mike to struggle on alone whilst I kept the ladies company.  Someone had to make sure they got back to the start point o.k!  Everyone had tired, heavy legs over the last few miles, but with less than three quarters of a mile to go I decided to see if I could get my legs to run at marathon pace, so I raised the anti and pushed on to the finish.  When I reached the end of the run I was surprised to see all three girls just a short distance behind me.

With Jo and Pia at the end of the 22 mile run.

It felt very satisfying to have completed the longest training run and to know we can start winding down the mileage over the next three weeks.  It also felt great to finish with a bit of a kick.  The legs are feeling good!  The girls were also looking very comfortable and I'm sure they are going to do well in London.  Mike struggled a little, but his training hasn't quite gone to plan.  Hopefully, yesterday's run has set him up to do well in London.

I've also started thinking ahead to August and the Swiss Ultra Marathon that I will be running.  Ruth wasn't aware of it at the time, but she bought me my first birthday present today.  It's recommended that you use walking sticks for the mountain marathons.  They help you climb the steep slopes by also using your arms, meaning your legs do 25% less work going up.  They can also be used for balance and stability when running downhill.  The choice of stick is quite bewildering.  There are so many on the market. Telescopic ones and collapsible ones, fixed length, quick adjusting or screw adjustment, rigid or with a shock absorbing spring in the end of the pole.  After some discussion I picked a pair that has cost Ruth £100 (I think I'm worth it).

They're a fixed length that can collapse down to quite a small little bundle to go into a backpack.  They are lighter and stronger than the telescopic sticks.  It does mean you have to buy the correct length stick for your height, but I like the idea of not having to think about how long they should be.  They are also really quick to open up and lock into place.  We're going to be in the Peak District next week, so I'm hoping I can get to try them on a large hill somewhere.  A nice early birthday present for me.

Penultimate Pre-London Long Run

Last Sunday (24 March) I met up with Jo and Pia for our penultimate pre-London marathon long training run.  The original plan had been to go to Royston Heath for 16 hilly miles.  But I feared there was too much snow on the ground and felt it would be too treacherous to run around the heath. I didn't want to risk any injuries at this stage.  Instead we met at Nuffield Fitness Centre and headed towards the Roman Road.  

It was bitterly cold, with patches of snow and ice on the pavement.  With the exception of the Cambridge half marathon, I haven't worn running shorts for any of my runs in March.  Not yet!  I'm sure that most years the majority of my March runs are in shorts.  Crazy weather!  It was so cold that at one point the water in the tube on my Camelbak had frozen.  I went to grab a drink and nothing would come out.  The back of my throat was then struck by ice after an extra strong suck on the straw.  

Now I shouldn't joke about this, but I also feared Jo was having a stroke.  She mumbled something utterly incoherent to me and had a dribble running down her cheek.  Fortunately, it was just that her mouth and tongue had frozen and she was finding it hard to drink from her running bottle, and to form words.  I was so relieved that it wasn't anything serious.  Although she is so light I probably could have carried her on my back to the hospital.  

The three of us managed to enjoy the run despite the cold.

It was purely coincidental that we ended up being so colour co-ordinated for the run.  Seriously, we hadn't planned it.  

It was tempting to go for a slightly longer run than the planned 16 miles.  But as we'd run 20 miles the previous Sunday and plan to run 22 miles this weekend, we figured it would be fine to cut back a little between the two longest runs.

8 miles out from our starting point had us at one of the highest points on the Roman Road.  How high?  A massive 74m above sea level.  The hill starts at 39m above sea level and keeps going up for 1.5 miles!  The above picture is taken near the top, so you can see how challenging it is.  I wonder if this will help me prepare for the Swiss Alps ultra run in August?

At the turn around point I tried another TORQ energy bar.  This time I had Pineapple and Ginger.  Chewing was hard work, mainly due to the bar being almost frozen in my pocket, but it was a very tasty bar, with a nice ginger after taste.  I'll give it a definite thumbs up for taste.

We turned around and headed for home without any incidents.  At this stage 16 miles should feel fairly easy, but my legs still felt quite tired over the last three miles.  There are now just 4 weeks until London Marathon, when we'll have to find the strength to run an extra 10 miles.  I do hope it's warmer by then.  I'll settle for about 15 degrees Celsius.

This Is Spring!

It seems hard to believe that it will be Easter next weekend.  The weather we are having now seems more typical for the approach of Christmas, not Easter.  What has happened to spring?

Yesterday I did find myself being defeated by the weather.  Having trained a couple of clients during the day outside in the cold and the freezing wind, I couldn't face going out again for my own planned 10 mile run.  I spent the time catching up on some admin instead, which I'm usually only to happy to neglect in preference of going for a run.  This must surely indicate just how fed up I am with the weather.

I made up for my missed run by going for an 11 mile run this morning, whilst our wonderful spring weather did it's best to snow on me.  London marathon is now just four weeks away.  I can just see the weather changing for the weekend of the marathon.  Do I wish I had travelled to Rome last weekend with Jamshid, Chris and Suzy and ran the marathon there with them.  I do, I do, I do.

Earlier in the week I forced myself to do some lung busting hill reps at Magog Down.  This being Cambridge, we don't have that many hills to run up.  Magog Down is as hilly as it gets.  The steepest hill that can be found in these parts is probably about 200m long with a gradient of about 1:15.  This probably doesn't sound much, but running up it 12 times at full effort absolutely floors me.  I had to teach three kettlebell classes later that day, and I had to cut back on how much I usually do and do more observing instead.  I think my clients thought I was being really lazy.

One of the clients I met yesterday is a new client who was having his first session with me.  His goal is to get faster at 10k runs and half marathons.  He has never tried interval training before, so I told him we were going to start by doing six 400m intervals.  I explained that on the first one I only wanted him to go off at a perceived level of exertion of 7 to 8 out of 10.  I didn't want him to blow up on the first interval.  I then counted him down, "three, two, one - go".  And to my surprise and horror he shot off at a great pace.  I had to sprint after him with my lungs feeling like they were going to burst from my chest.  I started to think I'd just found the first running client who can run faster than me, even though his half marathon times did not indicate this.  As I started thinking about the need for me to bring a bike with me to train this guy he started to flag, much to my great relief.  From there on it was easy for me to keep up with him.  He'd just learnt his first valuable lesson about interval training and the need to pace yourself.  He never repeated that initial turn of speed.  His first 400m interval was done in 1 minute 23 seconds.  After that the remaining five averaged about 1 minute 32 seconds, which is a massive difference. 

If I cheat and include yesterday's run with my client as one of my own, then tomorrow's run will be my fifth run of the week.  My marathon plan says 18 miles, but I might settle for 16.

20 Miles Done

For my Sunday entertainment today I ran 20 miles with three of the Sweaty Betties, who are training for a spring marathon: Jo, Pia and Marie.  The aim was to run at a conversational pace for most of the run and to then do about 4 miles towards the end at target marathon pace.  Sticking to a conversational pace that suited everyone meant running at about 9 minutes per mile.  I thought it would also be fun if I tried to get a photo of every church on the route, as it happens there weren't that many.

Our route was a loop that headed east of Cambridge towards the villages of Stow cum Quy and Bottisham.  Then heading north-east through Swaffham Bulbeck and Swaffham Prior.  From Swaffham Prior we headed north-west towards the river Cam, which we followed south-westwards all the way back to Cambridge.

The first church to be reached on our run is St Mary's in the village of Stow cum Quy at about 3.5 miles.  The church dates back to the 12th century, when the village of Quye was a separate village from Stowe.  It is a fairly ordinary village church to look at.

We didn't get to see the church in the village of Bottisham as it would have meant a detour off of our route.  However, another 3.5 miles down the road we reached the church of St Mary the Virgin in the village of Swaffham Bulbeck.  This church dates from the 13th century and was added to up to the 15th century.

The church of St Mary the Virgin in Swaffham Bulbeck

Just over a mile down the road we reached the village of Swaffham Prior, which is unusual for having two churches right next to each other.  The church of St Mary is now used as the parish church.  In 1878 an order was issued for the demolition of the church of St Cyriac and St Julitta, but the order was never carried out.  It now serves as a hall for exhibitions and other functions.  And, no, the church isn't really leaning, that's just photographic distortion.

The twin Churches of St Mary's and St Cyriac & St Julitta in Swaffham Prior

We then had many miles to run before we'd see our next church.  I had also planned to try out a TORQ energy gel and bar, along with their energy drink.  I mixed up a 500ml bottle of the lemon and lime energy drink, which I then drank in about four stages.  Taste wise it was pretty good, not overly sweet or sticky.  I'd happily use it again.

At about the half way point of our run I tried the sundried banana TORQ energy bar.  After posing for the above photo I then continued to run at a slow pace whilst eating the remainder of the bar.  I found it quite easy to chew whilst on the run, but this is something that I have got used to over the last couple of years.  It also tasted pretty good, but I don't see why it had to be called sundried banana, I'm sure plain old banana would do.

The halfway point of the run is on a very quiet country road with hardly any traffic.  We could all spread out along the road and have a good chat whilst we continued on our way.  

We had been running on tarmac all the way up to the 11 mile point.  The next 4 miles would then be on wet muddy tracks.  I managed to get a group photo of the team just before we set off on the muddy stretch of the run.

The marathon team: Jo, Pia, Marie and me.

When we reached the river Cam I thought it would be a good time to try a TORQ energy gel.  I'd opted to take rhubarb and custard.  As I squeezed the contents into my mouth I was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.  I'm not a fan of energy gels but I can honestly say that this was the nicest I've ever had.  I'd be very happy to recommend this particular flavour to running friends.  It didn't taste overly sweet and didn't make my mouth feel claggy, which a lot of other gels do.  TORQ recommend you drink water with the gel, but I didn't particularly feel that I had to in order to rinse my mouth of goo.  I can also confirm that it did taste like rhubarb and custard.  I am now looking forward to trying the rest of the range.

For anyone interested in the ingredients, here they are: maltodextrin (43%), water, fructose (21%), electrolytes (sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium lactate, magnesium carbonate), citric acid, natural rhubarb flavour, natural vanilla flavour, preservative (potassium sorbate).  I had to dig the wrapper out of the bin in order to produce this list of ingredients.  Don't throw your wrappers away in the street or countryside, people!  It annoys me when I see runners do this in races.

A very yummy rhubarb and custard energy gel.

Because the ground was so wet, the next stretch proved to be quite a slog.  Our feet kept slipping in our road shoes.  We were running on top of the flood defensive bank alongside the Cam, and under an ever threatening sky.  Just before I took the following photo we had all said how warm and sunny it was.  The good weather didn't last long.

When we reached Waterbeach I told the girls that we were to run the next 4 miles at our target marathon pace.  This was quite difficult to judge as we were running into a fairly strong head wind by this point.  On the last two miles into Cambridge we hit a lot of traffic.  There was a rowing event taking place so lots of marshals and support crew were out on their bikes on the tow path, many of whom seemed oblivious to other footpath users.  I reached the end of the path first, closely followed by Pia, then Jo and finally Marie.  All of us found the target pace training quite hard.

Boats racing on the Cam

We then had just over a mile to get back to the start, with one final church to photograph.  The church is known as the Leper Chapel and was once part of a leper hospital on the outskirts of Cambridge, built around 1125.  I believe some church services are still held at the chapel, and it is also used by local theatre groups, and in particular by the In Situ company for performances of Shakespeare.  I have seen them perform Macbeth in the Chapel, which proved to be very atmospheric and also a suitably disturbing experience.

So there you go, a description of a run, an introduction to some churches and a review of TORQ energy products all in one blog.  And I got to use Wikipedia quite a bit.

The Week So Far

Wow, I feel like I've done a lot in the last four days.  I rested on Monday and Tuesday after the half marathon.  I had planned on running on Tuesday, but my legs still felt stiff after the efforts of the half, so I made the decision to have another rest day.  I've since run 28 miles in four run.  Five of those miles were whilst coaching the Sweaty Betty running club on Wednesday.  On Thursday I did 8 hilly miles around a very muddy Magog Down.  That was a hard workout.  

Yesterday I went for a 10 mile run along the river.  On my outward run I was flying along, knowing damn well that the run felt easy because I had a strong tail wind, and trying not to overcook the first 5 miles too much because I knew the return back to Cambridge would be hard work.  And it was.  

Then this morning I went along to Cambridge Parkrun.  It was windy and the course was very slippery.  I did fine in my Inov-8 trail shoes.  Everyone running in road shoes were doing great cartoon like slides on all of the corners.  I managed to finish in second place today, partly due to a diminished field.  I suspect most people were still resting after the half-marathon last week, and perhaps were also put off by the weather.  I had a great battle with the guy who finished third.  He was ahead of me for the first 1.5k.  Then when the course got twisty I went past him because I had better shoes and he was sliding all over the place.  Then he overtook me again on a long straight.  This happened a couple more times.  Then with just over 1k to go I passed him again and then never saw him until the finish.  The runner who finished 1st was about 20 to 30 seconds ahead of me, just a little too far off to chase down.  Despite finishing in 2nd I was a little disappointed with my time, just 18 minutes and 30 seconds.  I was hoping it would be closer to 18 minutes this week.  Must try harder!

Everyone Loves a Freebie

I've got some new energy products to try.  Ruth has subscribed to Outdoor Fitness magazine, and a selection of TORQ energy products came as a subscriber's freebie.  They sure look pretty:

I'm aiming for a 20 mile run on Sunday, so I might mix up 500ml of the energy drink and also take one of the energy gels and an energy bar.  Some of the flavours sound interesting, such as banoffee energy gel, or rhubarb and custard.  And the pineapple and ginger energy bar sounds very appealing.  As for sun dried banana, will I actually be able to tell that the banana has been dried by the sun, as opposed to dried in an oven?  I think the marketing people might have got carried away with that one.  I don't think anyone would have quibbled if it had simple been labelled as banana, but maybe I should wait until I've tried it.

TORQ claim to only use natural ingredients, which have been fairly-traded wherever possible.  They don't use colours, artificial sweeteners or preservatives, which all sounds good to me.  I can't get my head round why anyone would put artificial sweeteners into an energy product.  All I can say to that is, "derrrr! Does not compute!"

I'm always interested in how much energy you actually get from an energy bar or gel.  The TORQ gels deliver about 114 calories per 45g gel.  According to the packaging the gels have research proven 2:1 maltodextrin:fructose formulation for 40% greater carbohydrate delivery.  After a quick Internet search the cheapest TORQ gels I can find are £1.17 each.

The TORQ energy bars deliver about 146 calories per 45g bar.  The cheapest way to buy them would be to buy a box of 24 at £29.  So each bar would cost about £1.20 each.  Now, I've always wondered just how much better are these so called state of the art energy bars over the humble Mars bar.  A 62.5g Mars bar costs about 60p and delivers about 261 calories.  So half the price for almost twice the calories.  The biggest problem I see with a Mars bar is it's potential to melt on a hot summer's day.  But it has surely got to be a more economical way to carry energy on a run or bike ride, even if it doesn't have the perfect mix of sugars.  Anyone got any views on this?  Why should I part with my cash for a TORQ bar, or any other energy bar, instead of something I can pick up in any supermarket or corner shop?  

Whilst making a comparison, a Soreen banana loaf contains about 890 calories in a whole loaf, which also costs about the same as one energy bar or gel.  O.k. so I probably wouldn't munch on a banana loaf whilst running a half marathon or marathon, but it would be a perfectly acceptable source of nutrition and energy whilst taking part in an ultra marathon or long bike ride.  I do believe that a lot of the energy bars on the market are mostly clever marketing over substance, and many health conscious people are fooled into paying out a lot of money for something they don't actually need.  But I will keep an open mind when it comes to trying the TORQ products at the weekend.

Cambridge Half Marathon - Results Update

I've just checked the results page for the Cambridge Half Marathon.  I came 86 out of 3386 people who finished.  There were 40 people who lined up on the start but who did not finish.  I guess this is either due to injury, not making any time cut-offs at the half-way point or being defeated by a lack of training.  Better luck next year to you all.  At least you got to the start line.  

So 3426 people lined up for the race out of 4500 who had entered. So what happened to the 1074 who didn't even make it to the start?  Injury must only be able to account for a small percentage of this.  Were the rest of you put off by the weather?  Or had you simply not done enough training?  It seems a great shame to me that so many people with a place did not make use of it, especially as I know several people who would have gladly taken a race number.

My official chip time was 1:23:37.  The 7 second discrepancy with my own timing must be due to me starting my stop watch a little before crossing the actual start line and stopping it after I'd crossed the finish.

Well done to everyone who took part yesterday.  Let's hope we have better weather next year.

Picture found on the Cambridge Evening News website.  There I am on the left in my long sleeve white top.

Cambridge Half Marathon

I was never really sure if it was sensible running a half marathon the week after a full marathon.  But I didn't want to miss these two major events that are right on my doorstep.  It's a shame the organisers couldn't come to an agreement and shift each of them slightly to give a few more weeks break between the two.

I gave myself a fairly easy week last week, running just 5 miles on Tuesday as a recovery run.  Then it was Sweaty Betty run club night on Wednesday, when I also ran about 5 miles in total.  Then I rested Thursday and Friday.  On Saturday I went to Parkrun, but I volunteered to be a 20 minute pacer.  I know this probably really cheeses anyone off who dreams of breaking 20 minutes, but pace is all relative, and for me a 20 minute 5k is relatively easy.  Being a pacer ensured I didn't run too fast, and would be a good way to check how I was feeling for the half marathon the next day.  After about 2 kms there were several people just ahead of me, and a big gap to the next person behind, so it looked like my services were going to be redundant.  But after 3km some of the people ahead started to flag, so as I passed them I shouted, "twenty minute pacer coming through.  Stay with me if you can".  Three or four people then dug in to try and stay just behind me.  I crossed the line in 19 minutes 52 seconds, with 2 people sprinting past me in the last 50 metres and 2 people just behind, who were all glad that I was there to encourage them on over the last 2 kms, so I felt I'd done my job and had given something back to the running community.

For the Saturday evening I'd organised a Sweaty Betty pasta party at Zizzi.  I found myself in the enviable position of being the only bloke eating out with 12 women.  Two thirds of the group were running today, and the other third were designated support crew/cheerleaders.  They all frowned on me when I ordered a single small bottle of beer.  I've long since discovered that a single beer the night before a race does not affect my times.  It's not as if I'm aiming to break any records.

Waking up this morning I suspect there were a good 4,500 people who were dismayed to see a thin covering of snow over the streets of Cambridge.  Last year it was bright, sunny and warm.  I quickly changed my mind regarding what clothes I'd wear.  Back to the wardrobe went my T-shirt and skimpy running shorts.  Out came a long sleeved top and some longer shorts.  I also grabbed an old London marathon souvenir T-shirt which I'd wear whilst waiting for the race to start and discard at the last minute.  That will now be in a charity bucket somewhere.

I met up with several of the Betties on a very wet Midsummer Common before the race.  The field had been churned up by several thousand feet and it was impossible to get about without getting wet and muddy running shoes.  So much for keeping my shoes clean for a road race.  I had soaking wet feet at the start of the race.

Getting into the starting pen was a bit of a crush.  But once I was located in the right starting zone, just behind the start gantry, there was plenty of space to go over some warm-up drills.  The start was delayed slightly by some idiot who had decided to ignore the road closure notices and who had to be removed from the course.  There's always one.

The course this year was a little different to last year's, but we still did two laps around the central shopping streets.  We went past the front of Sweaty Betty twice, and the girls who worked at the shop were out to support the runners and were possibly the loudest and most enthusiastic supporters on the course.  The damp, cold weather had obviously kept many people away, but some of the small pockets of supporters who were out were rather quiet and dour looking at times.  Those spectators who did make plenty of noise for the runners were very much appreciated.  Thank you all.

I also spotted quite a few friends around the course, and several supporting Betties.  The boyfriend of one of the Betties managed to take a snap of me by complete accident whilst just checking out a shot.

On Bridge Street after about 2 miles (white top).

Then I spotted Jamshid just after halfway, who got another action shot of me, which just happens to have one of my kettlebell clients just behind me.

This next shot of my running friends, Chris and Suzy, shows how wet it was.  You can see the raindrops, or was it sleet?

I believe the changes to this year's course added more tight corners, which reduced the PB potential.  There were several bends on the last mile, and I personally preferred the dead straight finish of last year's race.  I wonder if anyone else would agree with me!  The problem last year was that you passed the finish gantry at about mile 10 and then had to run 1.5 miles away from it to then turn around and head back on the same road.  Many runners complained that they found this dispiriting and also a little congested just before the turn around point.  Which was a fair comment, but I preferred this over all the twists and turns that had to be negotiated this year.

The above is just my opinion on what was a very well organised event.  I don't want it to sound like a complaint.  I'm genuinely grateful for everyone who has put in lots of hard work to organise the Cambridge Half Marathon.  It's great that our City Centre streets can be closed for a few hours one Sunday each year to allow 4,500 people the opportunity to take part in a half marathon.  Well done to you all.  And a big thank you to all the volunteers who not only helped out with this race, but who give up some of their time up and down the country to allow people like me to run in some amazing places (and maybe even some not so amazing places).  Without the volunteers none of us would be taking part in any races and the world would be even more obese.  I certainly need the motivation of a race to keep me running, and I'm sure plenty of others do to.  I do it for the bling.  What do you race for?

I guess I should finish by mentioning my time.  According to my own time keeping I finished in 1:23:44.  This is just over 2 minutes slower than last year, but I knew already that I'm not in quite the same shape as last year.  This, combined with the cold and the fact I ran a marathon last weekend, means I am more than happy with how I did.  There still seems to be plenty of life left in my aging legs.  Long may it last.

Just A Half

Just a cheeky little half marathon to look forward to this weekend.  What are you up to?

Cambridge Boundary Run

The 12 noon start for today's full marathon had me wondering how to best go about fueling for the run.  It did strike me as an odd time to start a long run.  Others I spoke to at the start were also convinced that the run had started earlier in previous years.  I opted to have a couple of slices of toast for breakfast, followed by a bowl of porridge at 10 o'clock and then a banana just before leaving the house at 11:00.

The main pack.  I'd end up overtaking most of these people.

Waiting at the start with John & David.

I met several people I knew just before the start, which is one of the nice things about a local race.  The weather looked promising; cool but no wind.  It's always difficult to know what to wear on a long run at this time of year.  Several people were in shorts and vests, which I thought was a little optimistic, but by halfway I felt really warm and wished I'd copied them.

I started quite far back in the pack at the start, making me start off nice and slow.  Nice and slow meant running the first mile in 8 minutes 34 seconds, which included a bit of walking as we had to negotiate a couple of pinch points on the path through Cherry Hinton. But all the good I did by not setting off too fast on the first mile was then undone by running the second mile in less than 7 minutes.  Over those first 2 miles I ran past a few friends so got the chance to shout a quick "hello" and "good luck" as I passed them.  By mile three I settled into a nice manageable pace and pretty much continued to overtake people all the way to the half marathon finish.  I like having targets ahead of me to chase down.  

I took my camera with the intention of taking a few photos, but failed miserably.  I did stop for a few pictures through Grantchester.

Approaching the second feed station at about mile 10.

Typical Boundary Run feed station with biscuits, fruit and water
manned by volunteers from Cambridge University.

Grantchester Meadows at about mile 11.

I saw a few familiar faces out supporting, which is always greatly appreciated.  The wonderful Jamshid was armed with a camera and took a few snaps of me.

Just before the half-way point of the marathon.

Passing through the half marathon finish at Coton can be a little dispiriting, as well over half of the runners stop here.  All of a sudden the roads and paths become very empty and the gap to the next runner ahead can be 100m or more, making chasing people down seem a tough task.

I felt quite knackered at about the 17 mile point, so I slowed to a walk and ate a few of my Shot Bloks gel sweets.  The little walk and the gels seemed to have a good effect.  I was also caught by a first time marathoner at this point, so we ran together for a short distance and had a little chat.  I tried to give him some words of encouragement.

By mile 23 I seemed to get my second wind.  I was also on more familiar territory by this stage so was able to visualise the miles to the finish.  I must have overtaken about 6 or 7 runners in the last few miles who all looked like they were really struggling. 

I then saw Jamshid and Mike just before the finish, which gave me a massive boost.  As I rounded the last bend the coach bringing half marathon runners back from Coton was also just arriving at the race HQ, so I got a big wave from a coach full of runners.  This wasn't the time to look like I was flagging, so I put on my best poker face and lifted the pace for the last few hundred metres.

One happy runner at the finish

Waving to Jamshid and Mike
with just less than 1 mile to go

I finished in a time of about 3 hours 22 minutes.  I need to confirm this once the results are published.  This is well outside my personal best, but a little faster than I'd expected to run on this course.  All-in-all I was very happy with my result.  I hung around for a short while at the finish and saw a few other familiar runners cross the line.  Some of these were locals, as well as a couple of marathon runners I've met at other events around the country.  It can be very sociable this marathon running lark.

After a change of clothes and a quick bite I hobbled home, believing the 1 mile walk would do me some good.

Final Prep For Marathon No.1

Today's marathon doesn't start until 12 noon, which seems very late to me.  It means it completely wipes out the day.  However, it's on my door step, so I have no travelling to do, and it gives me time to write a quick blog entry.

I've actually struggled with motivation on a couple of runs in the last week.  I think most people believe I'm a highly motivated runner who never contemplates skipping a run.  But I'm just as prone to stay on the couch as much as the next person.  I often wrestle with my conscience as the lazy Alan tries to persuade runner Alan to read a book or watch TV instead of going for a run.

I almost didn't run on Tuesday because I felt so lazy in the morning, when I'd normally run for between 8 and 10 miles.  I knew I had an earlier finish than normal on Tuesday evening, so I lay in bed and convinced myself that I'd run later instead.  However, by mid morning the idea of having a night off and staying in was highly appealing.  I told myself I didn't really need to run much in the week leading up to a marathon, even though I only view today's marathon as more of a training run than anything else.  In order to make the run more appealing I thought I'd send Jo a text to see if she was running.  She had arranged to meet up with Pia for a run in the evening, so the prospect of meeting them both made the run seem so much more appealing.  So, shortly after getting home at 6pm I was changed and lacing up my running shoes to go for a 9 mile run around Cambridge with the two marathon Sweaty Betty girls.  And it turned into a very sociable and enjoyable run, which I was really glad to have completed.

Friday was a similar story.  I'd done some work in the morning and had planned on running just before lunch, but it took an almighty effort for me to get out of the door.  The plan had been to run 8 miles with 4 miles at marathon pace.  I was aiming on running at London marathon pace and not Cambridge Boundary marathon pace, which I aim to run a little slower.  So I set off on my run feeling less than enthusiastic and not really sure if I could be bothered to attempt a paced session, but as soon as I was out of the door the joy of running wiped away my inner demons and I just got carried away with the simple pleasure of putting one foot in front of the other.  I didn't even think much about my pace, but as I hit the river tow path I found I just slipped into running at my target marathon pace without having to think too hard about it.  When I later looked back at my split times I was mightily impressed with myself.  If anything, I'd started a little too fast, went too fast on mile five and then didn't slow down enough at the end.  Here's my splits:

1 - 7' 09"
2 - 6' 42"
3 - 6' 36"
4 - 6' 38"
5 - 6' 24"
6 - 6' 35"
7 - 7' 15"  (this is my trying to make an conscious effort to slow down)
8 - 6' 45"  (and this is me believing I was running slower)

If my average marathon pace in London matches my average pace from this run I will be very happy.  I'm aiming for today's marathon to be closer to 7 minutes 30 seconds pace.  I will find out in a few hours time.