Posted in base training, training
Tags: Effort, headland, North Bay, Peasholm Park, Sea Life Centre, sun, Sweat
Lots of sweat, in fact. Wednesday’s run was a 60-minute moderate jog, which would not usually have me slick with sweat. However, this time the weather was warm and sunny and even though the breeze was fairly cool, it was still quite humid. My route was the same as usual, going round the headland, then back along the North Bay promenade and through Peasholm Park.
After Monday, when I had to stop without finishing my route, I was quite happy with my pace today. Running around the corner of the headland back towards the North Bay I didn’t feel totally knackered like last time and kept up the same moderately fast pace all the way up to the Sea Life Centre.
I’ve measured the distance between the junction of Albert road and Marine drive up to the Sea Life Centre as a mile and I use how long it takes me to run this distance as an indicator of my pace and how fast I’m running. During this run I managed to complete it in just over 10 minutes, which is actually quite fast for me – usually I aim for a speed of around 12 minutes per mile, which is equivalent to 5h30m marathon pace. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted July 24th, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in base training, training
Tags: Effort, exhaustion, headland, North Bay, Peasholm Glen, Peasholm Park
Effort was the theme of Monday’s run. My base training schedule called for a 45-minute jog at moderate pace. After a fairly easy 30-minute jog on Saturday, I felt this outing shouldn’t be too different. The sea was unusually rough and the weather was more appropriate for a blustery January morning. I decided to change my usual route, running around the headland and back again, as every wave that came in crashed on the promenade, making it far too dangerous to run along.
The main disadvantage of running round the headland is that it is exposed. On the way out, the wind is behind you and gives you a welcome push, but on the way back towards the North Bay, the wind is against you. This can really slow you down when you are already tired enough from running. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted July 23rd, 2008 by Simon
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Posted in Edinburgh Marathon, Scarborough, marathon, training
Tags: 11.5 miles, Edinburgh Marathon, Effort, energy gels, exhaustion, marathon, pain, Scarborough, tapering, training
It’s been a while since I posted but I’m back. I’ve been very busy recently and haven’t had much energy to do anything extra-curricular. The main news is that last sunday I reached the high-watermark of my training. I completed an 11.5 mile run around (and on the outskirts) of Scarborough and it was remarkably tough. It was the longest I’ve ever run so far and was also the hardest training run I’ve ever done as well.
I was supposed to have run a half-marathon by this point, but that cold I had a few weeks back has robbed me of two weeks of my schedule. However, 11 miles is only 1.5 miles away from half-marathon distance, so it’s not like I’m drastically under-prepared. My main concern is that the level of fitness I have attained by now is what I will be starting the marathon with. There are no more longer runs planned in my training schedule; Now the focus is on tapering, gradually winding down and scaling back to build up a reserve of energy.
This has also brought me to a realisation that my initial estimate of completing the marathon within 5h – 5h30m is looking too optimistic. I think a more accurate target would be around 6h – 6h30m and I think a lot of that time will be eaten up by having regular walking breaks. Trying to run an entire marathon non-stop seems to be something I will have to look forward to in the future, my priority in this race will just be to get around.
To try and mitigate the point where I will eventually hit the wall, I plan to take full advantage of the drinks stations along the marathon route and i am working on a plan to see how they fit in with my training at the moment. The only thing I can be sure of at the moment is that running this marathon is going to be a gruelling achievement.
Posted May 8th, 2008 by Simon
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