From Dallas to Pall Mall

Week 8 - Injury, Boston and 17 miles

2007-02-20T13:36:00.000-08:00

I have an injury. Not a broken leg or anything useful like that but a niggling, nagging and painful muscle/tendon thing (beginning with a G) that is to the right of my shin bone and bloody hurts. It is not that I want a broken leg, but at least then it is all decided.

Broken leg and Marathon? Not a chance.
Stupid G 'tendon/muscle' pain and Marathon? The possibilities are endless.

Perhaps this is a result of my negative attitude last week..... more likely (and rationally) it is a result of over training and stopping hot yoga. I am not exactly sure why hot yoga lost favour all of a sudden, one minute it was the best thing in the world, then I got a cold and have not made it back for weeks. I have now turned over a new leaf and will be back swaying happily like a blade of grass in the wind in about two hours time.

Another training distraction was a three day trade show in Boston. I have only been to Boston once before and that was in the summer; my warm memories of this place started to disappear rapidly after circling the city for some 50 minutes and being told we had enough fuel for another 30 before we would have to land in New York. Happily the runway was finally cleared of snow and we were able to land. This was another thing I had forgotten, the last time I arrived in Boston it was by ship, this was my first flight in and you practically land in the sea - no-one told me this and as flying is not my favorite form of transport, I did very well not to totally freak out as we appeared to be zooming straight into the sea.

The weather did clear up in terms of snow and ice fall and although I did venture outside once for a very short period of slipping and sliding all over the place, we spent the majority of our stay in either the exhibition hall or some restaurant or other. The only other place I visited was the gym to continue with my painful training routine - it was the most uncomfortable part of my training so far as the gym in the hotel was tiny and absolutely packed; this is one of the problems of going to a Physical Therapy trade show, everyone wants to work out!

I have also this week achieved 17 miles, my longest run ever. It is a wierd thing, at 6 miles I thought I would be lucky to make 9, but at 12, there was no doubt I would do 15 and at 15 I was definately up for 17. By 16.5 however, I was completely stuffed and literally staggered the last half a mile, it is a funny business this running....

Anyway, no doubt my paintings will have been noticed, this is my latest 'new' thing (you have to do something when you are too sore to move). I used to paint years ago and literally have not picked up a brush for years - these are my first two attempts which surprisingly have gone down rather well. Don't get me wrong, not Picasso or anything, but I am keeping my options open.....

Training diary
(NOTE: due to injury I have been told not to run for a few days and am icing, heating, massaging, etc)

Wednesday - Rest, travel to Boston
Thursday - 5 Miles
Friday - 7.5 Miles
Sat - Rest
Sun - 17 Miles
Mon - Rest (obviously)
Tues - 2 miles cross trainer, 1 mile hill walking, weights and hot yoga (apparently no hill walking either but I only found this out afterwards)

Week 7

2007-02-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't say this, but given that this whole blog idea is all about sharing I don't mind telling you that this whole running thing is becoming boring at best and terrifying at worst. My initial excitement at being able to run more than 10 miles without collapsing has now been replaced with the realisation that I need to be comfortable doing double that and more. With the prospect of 17 miles this Sunday, I am beginning to wonder if I have bitten off more than I can chew.....

Perhaps this is all normal when training for a marathon, you get so far and then wonder if it is all worth it (or more honestly in my case, if you can actually do it).

Most importantly I am trying, which involves getting up at 5am every morning (bar the weekends) so I can run a variation of fast, medium, interval, short or long runs before work. The weekends are devoted to the 'long run' and when not running, preparing to run (admittedly there have been a couple of slight deviations to this involving alcohol which were obviously forced upon me by supposed 'friends').

On a different subject entirely, I have no idea how many people actually read this stuff, but some people were kind enough to respond to my initial email agreeing to sponsor me; however, I don't have many actual pledges. As a reminder, I am doing this for St Francis Hospice in Berkhamsted and my greatest fear (apart from not being able to complete the marathon) is that I will not raise a reasonable amount of money for this very worthy cause. So please, if you are interested in sponsoring me to do something quite ridiculous that is causing me lots of pain, could you let me have your pledges by email?

In the meantime, I am off to Boston tomorrow for a three day trade show - training will continue as normal though and I have been assigned a hotel with a reasonable gym for this purpose. Things weather wise are windy, both in Dallas and in Boston and there is the threat of snow in both places tomorrow......

Training report
7th Feb - 5 miles followed by weights and ab work
8th Feb - 7 miles moderate
9th Feb - Rest
10th Feb - 6 miles fast (very fast actually at 6am)
11th Feb - Rest
12th Feb - 8 miles fast
13th Feb - 9X90 second intervals with 60 seconds recovery, warm up mile (90 seconds at 9 miles an hour, my fastest yet)

P.S. Yes, there was a slight deviation to this weekends training but there were two very good reasons which will remain on a need to know basis.....

Week 5 & 6

2007-02-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

I have left it two weeks to give an update for several reasons:

Skiing, moving appartment and a 15 mile run (longest yet) are the things that stick in my mind most....

Firstly skiing, we went to Taos in New Mexico which was very snowy (they had 58 inches in one fall the week before we arrived) and also very cold. However, the skiing conditions were apparently 'perfect', especially if you are in the habit of zooming down vertical slopes at 70 miles an hour, or if you can gracefully zip down slightly more gentle slopes. Unfortunately, I fit into neither of these categories and instead belong to the ' out of control and bloody lucky not to break a leg' club. Still, it was good fun and the wine tasting was very enjoyable - sadly there was no time for running at all, which was very good news as I have discovered that wine tasting is a direct contraindication to marathon training.......

So, shamefully I actually had a total of 4 days off in a row - I did have plans to run on arrival back to Dallas on the Sunday night, but that was never going to happen, especially as it was still freezing. This a very strange thing here in Dallas, winter only usually last for a couple of days but amazingly, we had yet more snow last Thursday, exactly at the time we were moving appartment. One plus point is that at least the roads were clear - whenever there is snow and ice, people either don't leave the house in the first place, or return home immediately at the first sniff of a snowflake.

The combination of packing and moving and recovering from skiing are not especially useful for marathon training either, so it has been a tough week. Still, I managed to do my longest run yet, 15 miles which I was very pleased with (and very tired afterwards). The run started at 7am with a temperature of 22 degrees (the cold kind), frost on the ground and frozen water - happily the sun did come up in the end, but I would say that those first 2 miles were probably the worst yet - relevant ipod songs as follows:

Comfortably numb - my left leg was frozen completely
Theme from Gladiator - slightly better than being eaten by tigers
Theme from Sheindlers List - definately better than that (thoughts of Liam Neissen also very comforting though....)
Crazy - enough said

Lots to look forward to - 17 lovely miles next week and two 9 mile runs this weekend. Training is suddenly becoming hard work, especially as I have a work trip to Boston in the middle of next week.....

Training Report

Jan 24th - 9 miles (before work)
Jan 25th - wine
Jan 26th - skiing and wine tasting
Jan 27th - skiing and hangover (terrible but cured in the end by a Bloody Mary - very good invention)
Jan 28th - return home
Jan 29th - 4 miles (it was like running for the first time...)
Jan 30th - 1 mile warm up X90 intervals fast (ish) 1 mile cool down
Jan 31st - 5 miles moderate
Feb 1st - 7 miles
Feb 2nd - Rest (very much needed)
Feb 3rd - 15 miles
Feb 4th - Rest (actually another slight hangover too - friend James is also a contraindication to training)
Feb 5th - 4 miles
Feb 6th - 6 miles intervals (one fast/one moderate)

Week 4 - Half Marathon

2007-01-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

At the start of this whole fiasco, I remember thinking that because I had missed out on the Marathon ballot but managed to get in through the bequest draw that I was 'meant' to do it. After the last week I am seriously doubting this.

Firstly, the usual two day winter in Dallas stretched into over a week which is unheard of - rarely do temperatures drop below freezing for any length of time and the fact that we had rain almost continually for 3 days and woke to snow on Wednsday, is enough to make the headlines. Personally, it felt just like England which was quite nice actually, provided of course you don't have to run in the bloody stuff.

Secondly following my 'that was quite easy' fast interval session on Tuesday, I suddenly developed a horrible cold which in itself is bad enough; combined with a series of lectures about 'not over doing it' and 'eating the right things - you are a machine', I almost felt that it was time to 'throw in the trainers' so to speak. However, I bravely completed 7 miles on Thursday morning armed with a mountain of tissues, an energy drink and a combination of Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan and Sheryl Crow (with some Jimi Hendrix thrown in to make me feel slightly more 'cool').

Hot Yoga has been completely out of the question on account of not being able to breath, which is a key part of the class - I must admit that the ability to 'feel at one with myself and thank my body' was a slightly lacking too....

Happily, after a 'feeling dreadful' Friday rest day and a 5 mile run in sub zero temperatures and freezing rain on Saturday (with a trial of tissues in my wake), both the weather and my nose and finally cleared up on Sunday which was very timely as it was half marathon day. Half marathon time was 2 hours and six minutes which is apparently good and on course, etc. Personally, I had hoped for sub 2 hours and worse still, felt I had achieved this - my new method of running to music may be partly to blame as for some reason I feel I am running like the wind simply because that is what is being suggested in my ear at the time.

This weekend I am off skiing and will have to make up the training around my time away (somehow) - it is going to be cold (again) the weather report last weekend was 0 degrees, that's fahrenheit by the way.I may have to concentrate more on the wine part of the weekend as by amazing coincidence, there happens to be a wine fesitval on in exactly the same place that we will be staying. This fate thing really does have its ups and downs....

Training report

Wednesday 17th - Rest day due to cold
Thursday 18th - 7 miles (with cold)
Friday 19th - Rest day
Saturday 20th - 5 miles (with cold and rain and ice)
Sunday 21st - 13 miles (no cold and no rain - hurrah!)
Monday 22nd - Rest day
Tuesday 23rd - 1 mile warm up X9 Intervals fast 1 mile cool down

Week 3

2007-01-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

The remainder of last week passed uneventfully until Friday which saw the arrival of an artic front. It is easy to imagine that living in Texas means being mostly hot, very hot and in the summer months (essentially any time apart from late Dec, Jan and early Feb) this is true. However, there is a saying in Texas, 'if you don't like the weather - wait a bit'. This last weekend was a classic example.

The temperature on Thursday was well into the 60's by Saturday morning, it was 35 with freezing horizontal rain. To be fair, this is a fair bit of warning, it quite regularly can drop 20 degrees in an afternoon. Anyway for those of you who have been kind enough to follow my progresss, Saturday is the day of my long run and while I was banking on doing this in the warmth and comfort of the local gym on the treadmill, my trainer had other ideas........

Temperature = 0
Miles to run = 12
Murderous thoughts = 100
Dry body parts = 0
Positive thoughts = 0

Actually, it wasn't so bad (once I had finished) it took 30 minutes in a hot shower to stop shaking from cold and my water logged clothes and trainers meant I was carrying quite a bit of extra weight so my time of 2.01 was pretty good. The worst point was being told incorrectly that we were less than half way round when I hoped we were more than half way round and having your running partner beaming at you and shouting 'isn't this great, I just love this......' Grrrrrrr

Everything else as you can imagine, has been pretty easy since then.

Next week, I have a weekend off to go skiing and drink wine (in a healthy marathon training way of course), so this week, in particular this weekend are going to be pretty scary to make up for it....

Training Diary

Wednesday 10th - weights session am and Hot yoga pm
Thursday 11th - 6 miles moderate am and Hot yoga pm
Friday - rest day
Saturday - 12 miles (hell)
Sunday - Hot Yoga am, then 4 miles
Monday - rest day
Tuesday - 8X 90 second intervals fast + 1 mile warm up/cool down am and Hot yoga pm

Week 2

2007-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

January 9th 2007

Things have been going quite well apart from the usual challanges, such as having to spend 30 minutes remembering how to access this blog and what my user name and password are...

As of Saturday, I am the proud owner of a formal training schedule. This all looks quite easy and pleasant at least for the first part of January, the last week and moving into February are another matter. right now, it seems pretty unbelievable that I will be 'breezing' through 18 miles, but apparently this is exactly what will happen in approximately 4 weeks time.

My schedule includes one long run per week, one interval training session, one medium run, one light run and two rest days with an extra 'train in other ways' day.

I am including at least three hot yoga sessions per week - hot yoga (bikram yoga) involves being shut in a room in temperatures of 98 degrees and 62% humidity and subjecting your body to a series of postures which in my case are very alien, for around 90 minutes. The thing is, it is seriously addictive and I really firmly believe that it has done wonders for my breathing and also my flexibility. Being told to 'imagin you are a blade of grass blowing in the wind and reaching for the sun', is an additional and amusing benefit to my newest favorite past time.

Food wise, I am learning to eat more carbs which is a struggle, but necessary to keep on top of my training and also to keep my trainer from nagging me constantly. I remain convinced I will be the size of a small country by April.

Diary since last week

Friday - Rest day
Saturday - 9 mile run, slightly hampered by a bottle of wine and enormous pizza the night before
Sunday - 90 minutes hot yoga followed by 4 mile run, felt very good
Monday - hot yoga, no running allowed
Tuesday - 7X90 seconds intervals fast, which surprisingly felt good too

I had intended to go to yoga again this evening but am very tired all of a sudden......

I'm in!

2007-01-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

I discovered back in December that I had a place in the 2007 London Marathon. My initial reaction was panic, in fact I think the chosen word was 'bugger'. Having tried for a place previously and knowing how difficult it is to get a place, I entered comfortable with the knowledge that I would not be accepted.

It is all my sister's fault, who for the record did not get accepted and can instead stand by comfortably throwing bananas and gel supplements at me while I pound the streets of London - or more realistically 'stagger'.

For those of you who don't know me personally, (and those who do), here are some of the pro's and con's of this 'exciting' event:

Pro's

I am 40 years old and reasonably fit
I have been running on and off for the past 6 years or so
I eat a very healthy diet
I am married to a personal trainer and sports therapist (one person)

Con's

I am 40 years old and could be fitter
I have never run further than 17 miles (and that was a one off)
The most important thing in my diet is wine
It is very difficult to deviate from 'important training routine' when you are married to your trainer
I live in Texas

I am running for the Hospice of St Francis who do an amazing job providing specialst care to people with life limiting illness. I am dedicating my efforts to my dear father who sadly passed away at the beginning of 2005 - he would have been very proud to see me run.

I will endeavour to keep this blog updated with details of my training and also details of how the funds for sponsership are adding up.

Training to date - (from Jan 1)

Jan 2nd - Hot Yoga (more on this later)

Jan 3rd - 4 mile run at supposedly comfortable pace (was not very comfortable at all)

Jan 4th - 3.5 mile interval run (developed calf muscle soreness - hopefully hot yoga later tonight will help to sort this out)