Archive for September, 2008
Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, training
Tags: Burniston Road, eleven miles, energy gels, exhausted, exhaustion, headland, Holbeck Hall, Holbeck Hill, Marine Drive, Peasholm, Peasholm Park, Ramshill, Ramshill Road, Scalby, Scalby Mills Road, Scarborough, Sea Life Centre, South Bay, Valley Road
One of the scary things about training for a marathon is how the training schedule can creep up on you. For months now, It feels like I’ve been doing the preparatory section of my training plan. Now there’s a steep, sudden increase in mileage, it’s taken me aback a little.
For this long run around Scarborough, I created a new route. From the end of my usual route at the bottom of the South Bay, I then diverted up along a coastal path which leads me out onto a car park near to where the Holbeck Hall hotel famously collapsed in 1993.
From there my new route turned right onto Holbeck Hill, following that road until it meets Ramshill Road. Then the route continues down Ramshill Road until it joins Valley Road at the roundabout there. Then I diverted up Valley Road for about a mile before turning round to rejoin my usual route. The route follows my usual route around the headland and Marine Drive all the way up to the Sea Life Centre, where my route deviates from the usual again, heading up Scalby Mills Road.
I’d follow that until the junction with Burniston Road, following that down to Peasholm Park, where I would rejoin my usual route again until the finish.
I started late, because I forgot my energy gels, which didn’t put me in the best mood. This also meant I was starting later than I wanted to which in turn meant that I would have to dodge all the Sunday walkers who would get in my way.
The first three miles were run of the mill. The first shock came when I got to the end of South bay and began running up the coastal path. The trouble with aerial maps is that they don’t display terrain elevation very well, as I discovered. It was so steep, running became impossible and I had to walk most of it, which was exhausting in itself.
After I’d climbed that mountain, running along Holbeck Hill was comparatively easy. I passed the six mile mark whilst running along this road and was surprised at how “easy” this run was so far. From there on it was all fairly normal, run of the mill running.
The fatigue only really started to hit when I got to the far end of my route, going up onto Scalby Mills Road. Around this point I started to feel a boost from the second energy gel I had taken earlier, but it was still tough. Turning on Burniston Road I headed down to Peasholm Park.
This was where I really felt exhausted, as Burniston Road is a lot longer than it looks on a map! Finally, though I made it to Peasholm Park and completed my run after that.
That was a really exhausting run and I was left panting for breath when I finally stopped.
Posted September 28th, 2008 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, training
Tags: Aquarium Top, blisters, Dublin Marathon, Edinburgh Marathon, energy gels, energy supplements, exhaustion, five mile, headland, nine mile, North Bay, Peasholm Park, Scarborough Spa, six mile, socks, South Bay, training
This week has been mostly about allowing my blistered feet to recover. So on Tuesday I did an easy five mile run. It should have been six, but I knocked a mile off to help prevent blisters from occurring again. It was tiring, but well within my capability again.
Fortunately, my feet seem to have adjusted to my new socks and I didn’t get any new blisters from that. So continued on Wednesday with a six-mile run, along the usual route, which was again, very tiring. I decided that in order to meet my target time of 5h:30m, that I would not train on Thursday or Friday, but instead give myself a chance to rest before the long runs of the weekend.
It was surprising just how much I missed running after just two days. When you get used to running five days a week, having a day or two off really becomes noticeable. On Saturday I did another six-mile run along the usual route which was again moderately tiring.
Sunday was a day I was looking forward to, but with a certain apprehension. Sunday’s run called for a ten-mile run – the longest yet in my training for Dublin. On each subsequent Sunday the distance will increase dramatically – next week is 12 miles, the week after 14 miles and so on. This means I’m finally moving out of the mild build-up section of the training into the hardcore fitness building section.
My route for this fairly epic nine-mile run took me from my usual starting point, around the headland and across South Bay to the Aquarium Top roundabout. From there I continued on towards the Spa and ran about as far as the old Victorian sea defences stretched, which is basically where the South Bay finishes. Then I ran up and down a gravelly hill and re-traced my steps all the way back to the roundabout, where I ran up Valley road, passing under Valley Bridge. A few meters after that I turned around and headed back towards the roundabout.
From there, I ran all the way back along the South Bay, around the headland and followed my usual route to the finish, where I started from. I had set out fairly late, having forgotten several things, including my energy gels, which I would use for the first time whilst training for the Dublin Marathon, which put me behind my desired start time, so by the time I was running back along the South Bay, the streets were getting fairly busy and I had to a lot of weaving and dodging, which I don’t like doing because it breaks my concentration.
I wasn’t feeling very tired at all at that point, but then I had only done about four miles. By the time I was running around Peasholm Park, with eight miles behind me, I was really feeling it. I’m talking serious exhaustion here, almost slowing down to walking pace. However, I didn’t let a little thing like fatigue stop me, knowing how i’ve suffered much greater exhaustion when running the Edinburgh Marathon, I could handle this. It wasn’t pleasant, but I stuck in there and made my home, an hour and forty-five minutes after I set off.
Posted September 22nd, 2008 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in Dublin Marathon, marathon, training
Tags: blisters, doubt, Dublin Marathon, feet, illness, marathon, six miles, socks
Training has stalled yet again by the fact that my blisters now have their own blisters. This is not a good situation.
I managed my six-mile run on Tuesday, but the fact I was wearing in a new pair of running socks (which are, ironically, supposed to prevent rubbing and blisters) meant new blisters formed over other semi-healed older blisters.
The whole reason I was wearing in some new socks in the first place was because my other trusty pair, which have protected me from the worst of blisters and rubbing since I started wearing them over a year ago now, have finally worn out. This is how I gained my first batch of blisters a couple of days ago.
So, to put an end to this merry-go-round, I’ve reluctantly decided to skip training until my blisters have healed to an acceptable degree. Unfortunately, this does mean that I will fall further behind with my training schedule. So the chances of me reaching my target time appear to be getting more and more remote.
Posted September 15th, 2008 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, marathon, training
Tags: 10km, BBC, five miles, seven miles, six miles, tiredness
So after having to take last week off due to illness, I started again today. On Monday I completed a 3-mile easy run – this was shorter than what my training plan demanded, but I wanted to test the water to see how far I had fallen behind. The good news is not very far, as I finished it without even breaking a sweat.
Tuesday was a rest day, then on Wednesday I returned to my pre-illness schedule with a 5-mile run. This was more tiring, but still well within my capability and I only barely broke out into a sweat this time.
On Thursday I completed my longest mid-week run yet, clocking in at 6-miles. This felt noticeably longer, running right around the headland and halfway along the South Bay before turning round and running my usual route around the North Bay. It was much more tiring, but that was probably because I had run another five miles yesterday. Despite all that, Thursday’s run still felt well within my capability.
Also, you may have seen on BBC Breakfast an item about free bus passes for the elderly. Well, the BBC sent one of their reporters to do a live spot on board an open-top bus from the Peasholm Gap turning circle. My route took me past this spot twice and though I didn’t run past when they were broadcasting, I still managed to see the correspondent. I can’t remember his name though. So that was a nice change.
I followed that eleven miles on Wednesday and Thursday with a rest on Friday. On Saturday I completed another six-mile run, which was quite easy. As I reached the Peasholm Park leg of my route, I was stunned to see that the heavy rainfall of the previous night had made the lake burst its banks. This happens quite often after rainstorms, however, what took me aback this time was that the lake had overflowed so much that it was spilling out onto Burniston Road. It also forced me to make some diversions around the lake to avoid the flooded footpaths.
On Sunday, I went out for my Sunday long run, which today was seven miles. I went out much later this time, which I always try to avoid because the footpaths do get a bit clogged up with people who tend to get to get in my way. The early mornings have been bitingly cold this week, however, this morning was quite mild. Once again I was quite tired by the end of it, but I felt a massive satisfaction at completing the longest run so far in training for this marathon.
Posted September 12th, 2008 by Simon
2 Comments »
Posted in Dublin Marathon, marathon, training
Tags: anxiety, doubt, Dublin Marathon, illness, marathon, training
The week before last was a complete washout, training-wise. I came down with some stomach bug over the bank holiday weekend and had to suspend all training whilst I recovered. So that explains the lack of posts recently.
You’d think by missing out on something so tiring I would be happy, but the lack of training played heavy on my mind. Mainly my concern was how missing out on a week’s worth of training would affect my ability to compete in the marathon. It may be several weeks away, but I don’t do enough training now, there’ll be no point competing, because I know I won’t have the strength or resources to complete it.
Posted September 8th, 2008 by Simon
Comments Off
