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........The Reading Half Marathon.  I admit it - I was hoping a little bit that I might scrape in below the 2 hour mark.  After all, I'll never be so well trained again. 

 The day started early - up at 5.45, porridge, toast, banana and tea.  Kit on and off to catch the 6.52 train from Ealing.  I decided on the short trousers and a short sleeved T shirt - their first outing of 2010.  I have to say I began to regret that standing waiting for the train, even with my jacket on - but nothing I could do now.  On the train, busy with other runners and then onto the shuttle bus. 

Great to be able to sit and wait in the Majedki Hotel and I even grabbed a cup of tea.  Looked around for Johnf but couldn't see him - a shame, maybe next time, John.   I did see my friend Nikki from Ealing though, which was nice.  A couple of quick loo breaks and then off to the start.  

 I spotted the 2:05 pacer so decided I'd start by keeping him in  my sights for the first couple of miles while I warmed up.  During miles 4-5 I got ahead of him and I was happy to chug along at a steadish pace.  Around about mile 7, I spotted the 2:00 pacer.  Ah ha! thought I, keep an eye on him and then produce a sprint finish and overtake at the end. 

Mile 8 saw me begin to feel a bit tired, so I took one of my gels - as a practise for London really - steadied my pace a little and lost sight of the 2 hour pacer - not a particular worry, if the legs aren't going to go faster then so be it. 

By mile 10, having cut back a little on the pace, I felt better, so stepped it up a little.  Saw my friend Helena from running club cheering me on at mile 11 (I couldn't understand why I could hear my name being yelled at first - I didn't know she would be there and it was a lovely surprise).  Two miles to go now,  I felt I was going at quite a hard pace but carried on.  Then, just before mile 12, I spotted the 2 hour pacer again and I was gaining on him.  Passed him shortly after mile 12, maintained the pace and sprinted into the stadium to the finish line.  1:58:05.  Very pleased!

Thats the first time I've run the Reading Half and I thought the organisation was really very good.   But I have to say, that I pretty much gave it my all today and I doubt whether I could ever go faster than that and thats fine by me.  I'm pleased I got my sub 2 hours, but I'd forgotten how tiring racing is and with the bigger picture, that is the marathon, in mind, I shall be running the Finchley 20 next Sunday at LSR pace, otherwise I'll be wearing myself out. 

Going back to the race - that finish in the stadium is awsome, with everyone cheering.  I knew was ahead of the 2 hour pacer and I was so thrilled that I did shed a little tear and it made me realise that if I get to the end of this marathon, the chances are very likely that I'll be bawling my eyes out!  Anyway, I digress.  Back to earth and the matter of marathon training.  I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning, but I plan to do a short recovery run. 

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Feeling a bit tired this morning - I didn't sleep too well last night, which I find is often the case after a hard club session.  So usual circuits last night (and I'm feeling the effects of that as well today!) and then the main session was a distance fartlek.  270m steady; 80m sprint and 50m walk. Done 5 times, then a couple of minutes breather, then another 5 times.  The steady was done at at least 8m/m pace if not faster and the sprint - well, it was a sprint!  So this morning was a very easy 3 miles, just to warm up the muscles really.  

So nothing for me until Reading, by which time, I hope to have had at least two good sleeps (probably won't sleep well on Saturday night either).  Two box office shifts at Questors today and then on Saturday I'm going to see my friend in Fiddler on the Roof, which is on at Questors at the moment.  From what I've heard, it should be a really good show.  

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....to the Reading Half on Sunday.  I'd planned on a 5 mile run this morning, but changed it to 6 and incorporated some of my hills, which I've been neglecting recently.  I have to say the legs were feeling a little tired this morning, but I tried to keep the pace as one of my 'not too fast and not too slow' paces and despite the hills, averaged a pace of 9:21m/m.  That'll do nicely!

I had a great evening with my friend Trish last night (and for the record, two glasses of wine - OK largish one - and no hangover in sight!).  Trish and I go back a long way - dare I admit it - longer than a lot of you have been on this planet!  We met at the Institute of Orthopaedics in Stanmore.  I was working on hip infections and she was using electron microscopy to study bone changes in osteogenesis imperfecta.  We both left the Institute over 25 years ago, but still keep in touch.  Trish now heads up the lab at St Thomas's researching into  Epidermolysis Bullosa and me - well I train to run marathons!!

So, I'm sure you didn't need to know all that, but it fills the blog!  Running club and circuits this evening, but then no more than a gente 3 miles tomorrow.  Nothing on Friday or Saturday, except begin to get myself into a complete state of nerves and apprehension over Sundays race.

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After several weeks of Tuesdays being taken up with LSR's, I now find myself with a window of opportunity!  From now on, the long runs will take place on Sunday (the Reading half this week and then the Finchley 20 the following week) and then finally the  last really long one on Good Friday.  So today, I continued my mini-tapery step-back week with an easy 6 miles (9:43m/m overall pace), although I could feel my legs were tired.

At running club last night we started out by doing some sprint drills.  Catch a medicine ball (I think ours were 2kg ones) thrown by someone 3 mtrs away, throw it back then sprint 20 metres where someone else will throw a medicine ball to you. throw it back & then sprint back to the first person.  This was done for a minute and a half twice with a break in between where someone else was doing the running.  It sounds easy, but trust me, its knackering!

The main set was 5 lots of 5 minutes tempo/steady runs each followed by 1.5 minute walk.   As usual, I put my heart and soul into it and ran as fast as I could sustain for the 5 minutes and I was just about doing a km - well, maybe a couple of metres short in some cases, so that equates to around, at the slowest 8:15m/m, so really quite fast for me.  Anyway, I think I'll tick off tempo running as 'done' for this week!

So what'll I do with my free Tuesday? - washing, cooking, shopping and spending too much time on here and on facbook I expect!  I'm out this evening, meeting an old friend of mine in Knightsbridge.  We'll go to Cafe Rouge - maybe I ought to by a season ticket, I seem to go there so often.  I will aim not to drink too much!

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Had a couple too many glasses of wine last night, the result being a bit of a sore head today!  So this is my mini-tapery/step-back week leading up to the Reading Half on Sunday. 

 Despite the hangover, the legs felt good after 2 days of rest, so I opted for a 7 mile tempo run - to get it out of the way really. 

Mile 1 w/u 9:34.   Seriously picked up the pace for miles 2 & 3 (8:40 & 8:41); eased back a bit for mile 4 (9:08) had a bit of a breather in mile 5 (9:21) and then back into tempo mode for miles 6 & 7 (9:05; 9:04).  Average overall of 9:05. I'm happy with that as all of miles 2 to 7 are in my tempo pace range (according to the McMillan calculator) and miles 2 & 3 were faster than my tempo interval pace (not that I know what a tempo interval is, but I'm sure someone on here will tell me)- and the headache isn't any worse either!

Today was my first outing this year without the hat and gloves and if its this warm tomorrow, I may break out the short trousers and a short sleeves!  Running club this evening should be slightly less cold which will be nice.

BTW - I'm having a few problems with the realbuzz site at the moment - I can only see one page of blog comments by other people as when I try to go back and look at previous ones, I now get a page of goobledy gook.  The same thing happens when I try to scroll through the people whose blogs I'm following.  So if I miss one of your blogs, give me a nudge and in the meantime, I'll try to sort it out.

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I cannot lie - I'm a little weary this morning, but then I always am by Friday, having done most of my running for the week.  I did a second 3.5mile utility run down to collect the car yesterday afternoon, which was hard (I don't think the bowl of pasta an hour and a half beforehand helped).  Sprinted up to the reception desk in full beanie hat and Nora Batty regalia, much to the consternation of the mechanic, who enquired

 "Are you alright, Madam?" 

"Oh yes" I reply "Just training for the Marathon".  At which point, a glazed expression appeared on his face!

So this morning, I decided on an easy run - 5.7 miles plus a little wiggle to make it up to 6 miles @10:05m/m.  Very heavy legs, and they needed a Ruth-Style talking to before they functioned.

Still, that takes my mileage this week to 47 plus running club, so that'll be near enough to 50!  And it brings to an end, my usual weeks of lsr's on a Tuesday.  Next week will be a step-back/mini-taper thingy towards the Reading Half on March 21st.  Then onto the Finchley 20, a week later, on the 28th.

But for now, its rest and repair time - and an evening with some friends at Cafe Rouge in Ealing, where, I imagine a few glasses of wine will be imbibed.  Good luck with the races and lsr's this weekend.  See you on Monday xxx

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So we have long runs, recovery runs, easy runs, steady, threshold and tempo runs.  The utility run is one that will also fall into any of the other catagories, but it serves a purpose other than just the run itself.  For example a run home or to the shops.  The car needed to be serviced this morning and the garage is in Chiswick - 3.5 miles away from home, so how to get back was really a no-brainer!  Its mainly uphill from Chiswick to Ealing and I'd planned to take it at an easy pace.  However, after a mile w/u, I picked up the pace a bit as the legs seemed willing to cooperate, which was a surprise after running club last night.   Because the run wasn't that long, I only have two mile splits that are worth sharing with you - miles 2 and 3 @ 9:13 and 9:08, so a bit faster than a steady run.

Circuits last night was a series of 15 exercises (machines, bosu ball, step-ups etc) 45 seconds then 15 seconds recovery on each one, with the weights set so that it was a struggle at the end of the time.  Then 15 minutes core work on the mats and finally a repeat of all the exercises.

Running club was hard.  To start with, we did shuttle runs  - 12x15 then 12 star jumps; 11x15 and 11 star jumps and so on down to 1.  The main session was 100 run+ 300 walk; 200 run+200walk 300run/100walk and then 400 - all done at the fastest pace possible - then a couple of minutes break and we did it again.    There was a biting wind against us down the last straight so it was quite a struggle - especially on the back of a heavy start to the week. and on the final 400m my legs were screaming!    I don't think it was the speediest I've ever done it in, but I did manage  the second set about 15 seconds faster than the first.

So off to Questors now for my box office shift and then probably another utility run back to the garage later!  And of course, waiting with bated breath to see if Simone's orthotics will arrrive today - I really hope they do.

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....pardon the pun and a good recovery run, although not necessarily in that order!  The old legs were a little tired this morning, so an easy 5 miles was on the cards.  Once I got going, I didn't feel too bad and ran at an overall pace of 9:56.  Got back home and did all my stretches twice each holding each for about 30 seconds and I have to say, I do feel a lot better for it.  So a bit of a catch-up day today as nothing really got done yesterday apart from the lsr and an interminably boring church council meeting in the evening, where I really struggled to stay awake!

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