Posts Tagged ‘Northstead Manor Gardens’
Posted in Dublin Marathon, Scarborough, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: Dublin Marathon, fartlek, headland, marathon, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, Scarborough, South Bay, training
For the last two weeks I’ve been following a very gentle schedule of three-mile runs three times a week and a six-mile long run on Sunday. Now, however, I’ve decided that I’m fit and well recovered enough to step it up a gear.
So this week I’m starting my full training schedule. I’ve also decided, following my performance at the Paris Marathon, to use the non-linear periodisation system again. Hopefully I’ll be able to smash my marathon PB by running the Dublin Marathon in 4h30m00s – that’s my goal anyway.
Friday’s schedule called for 5 miles easy with 6 x 30 second fartlek intervals. The first time I saw what mileage I had to cover, I thought it sounded like a big ask. I’ve still got memories of how tiring this session used to be, especially with the fartlek intervals, which really knackered me out.
However, once I got out there I discovered I didn’t really need to put in any extra effort into running the five miles (except for running around the headland – the wind was quite strong and was a struggle to run against sometimes). What really pleasantly surprised me though was my peformance during the fartlek intervals.
The last time I regularly did this kind of session, I looked upon intervals with some trepidation because after each interval I was always exhausted. This time though I managed to breeze through them. I was even able to increase my pace in each progressive interval, which was something I definitely couldn’t have done last time. Previously I would start out running each interval really fast and then slow down through tiredness in each following interval.
So after the first week back to “normal” training, I’m generally quite impressed with my state of fitness. As usual, I seem to have underestimated my ability again, as I appear to be fitter than I give myself credit for. Using this training plan to train for Paris seems to have really boosted my general levels of fitness, aerobic endurance and stamina. Not bad!
Posted May 12th, 2009 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: energy gels, exhaustion, headland, marathon, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, pain, Paris Marathon 2009, South Bay, training
After last week’s better than expected performance on the Sunday long run, I was actually looking forward to this Sunday’s long run – a leg-busting 22 miles.
Unfortunately, whatever helped me fly around last time wasn’t there this time. From the outset my legs felt really heavy and my muscles ached from the start. I had to stop about six minutes after starting to remove a stone from my shoe, so I took the opportunity to do some extra stretches as well. I warmed up after the first three miles, but my muscles never totally stopped aching.
The lap system worked well again. I split the run into two nine-mile laps followed by a third four mile lap to bring me up to 22, around the South and North Bays. Running this kind of distance reminded me of just how demanding distance running is. At the end I was racked with aches and pains, which continued all right through the rest of the day. It took me all Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to recover from the effort.
Finally I must comment on the weather. I’ve been rather lucky this year with the weather, with each long run falling on relatively mild Sundays. After completing my first lap, I took the decision to dump my running coat, hat and gloves at home and the bright, constant sunshine rewarded me. The chilly breeze reminded me it was still technically Winter, but it was what I needed on this long run.
Posted March 30th, 2009 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: Albert Drive Cafe, eighteen miles, energy gels, headland, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, Paris Marathon 2009, Scarborough Spa, Sea Life Centre, South Bay, Spa
Weekday runs
Last week I think the combination of taking Monday off as a rest day and my other recovery techniques worked rather well. On Monday I didn’t fell creaky and painful like I sometimes do the day after a long run and when training the day after, I didn’t feel like I was still recovering from Sunday. So I’ve decided that Monday is my new rest day. On Tuesday I felt more comfortable today than last week. I felt good all the way round. Afterwards, I didn’t feel totally exhausted like previous times.
Unfortunately, by Wednesday, the weather seemed to be getting a bit chilly again after the “mildness” of last week. Thursday was more like Tuesday in that I just seemed to run the four miles easy and two miles at moderate pace without much fuss. what made it memorable was the beautiful sunrise which rose as I ran around the headland.
Sunday
This week has just flown by. So when it came to this week’s long run, a mammoth eighteen-miler, I didn’t feel totally psyched up for it. In fact, I was even dreading it a little bit. Last weeks’ sixteen-mile run hurt, so adding another two miles onto that wasn’t going to make it any more comfortable.
To make the distance a little more manageable, I split it into two laps, each a nine-mile circuit of the South and North Bays. Basically it covered all the areas where I usually run, but with a few extensions to place I’ve run to in the past.
I decided to try and minimise the pain of this endurance run by taking my first energy gel before I had even set off, unlike my usual system of using them after the first six miles. Then I took one every three miles after that. Just a few hundred yards into my first mile, my leg muscles felt solid, like bricks. There was no elasticity or flexibility in them at all. It was obvious that my warm-up exercises had been somewhat lacklustre today. I had to find a wall and perform a few quick leg stretches in order to get my legs going. I was a little surprised as this was the first time I’ve ever had to do stretches after starting running. Once I set off again, they didn’t feel as stiff, but they ached really badly as they warmed up which was really painful.
By the time I had reached the Spa, they had stopped aching so badly, but the rocky start had shaken my confidence somewhat. I took my second energy gel whilst passing the Ocean Room and made my way to the most southerly point of my route. My muscles weren’t aching any more but they still felt as if they were not performing at their best, which filled me with apprehension about what the next fifteen miles would have in store.
Throughout this run I had a sense of stop-start regarding my energy levels. Each energy gel would come “on stream” about half an hour after I had eaten it, so there was a small lag between the effects of the last one wearing off and the next one kicking in. No matter how many gels I ate though, there was no distracting me from the fact that my feet and legs were all feeling tired and achy even in the early stages of the run. This made it much more uncomfortable than usual and I even contemplated walking at some points.
After I had rounded the headland in the middle of the first lap, about six miles in, the tide in the North Bay had gone so far out that I was able to get onto the beach from the most southerly steps (opposite the Albert Drive Cafe) – I don’t often get the chance to get onto the beach this far south because the tide doesn’t usually go out this far when I’m running. I was then able to run the entire length of the North Bay beach all the way up to the most northerly steps outside the Sea Life Centre.
I had managed to establish a rhythm which carried me through most of the nine miles of the first lap. After switching empty bottles for full ones at my home, I started the second lap. Naturally, it felt harder because I had already completed the first lap, but the energy gels meant I kept on having spurts of energy, which kept things interesting.
Coming back from the most southerly point of my route, I took an early detour into the beach, as the softer snad is more forgiving on my feet. It was the first time I had run outside the southern end of the Spa, which still has that feel of faded, dilapidated glory. Whilst I was running towards the lifeboat station and the end of the beach, I noticed how alone I was in the vast expanse of empty beach. Earlier on it had been quite busy, but now this section of the beach was much quieter. The headland was, as usual at this time of day, very busy with plenty of people around the South Bay end.
Coming around the headland for the second and last time and I was really beginning to feel the exhaustion creep up on me. I ran down onto the beach again, this time having to dodge the tide which was coming in quite fast. By this point I had equalled last weeks distance of sixteen miles, but the thought of doing another two miles was almost too much. I deliberately psyched myself up because I knew if I stopped now, I wouldn’t be able to get going again.
To my surprise, even though my legs were fatigued and I was generally quite exhuasted, I didn’t feel like my legs were going to explode like last week. It was more a case of just trying to run through the tiredness and try not to stop. When I finished, I could only half-believe that I had just completed the longest training run I’ve ever done. These long runs are also beginning to remind me of now much effort is required just to keep moving whilst running a marathon and how just much of a massive commitment it is.
Posted March 9th, 2009 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: energy gels, headland, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, Paris Marathon 2009, sixteen miles, South Bay, tiredness
Monday
After Sunday’s mammoth effort, I was still feeling the effects of that exhausting fourteen-mile run. My legs are still aching, which isn’t really a good sign, especially as my plan dictates that I should have gone training today. I have no idea how anyone other than an athlete could have done a five-mile run today after yesterday’s effort. I feel like the graduation to epically long runs has come about rather soon, when compared to my training for my last marathon in Dublin.
However, that has probably something to do with the fact that this new “non-linear periodisation” training plan is designed to fit a lot of training into a very short period and that I started this phase of my training much closer to the actual marathon than I have ever done before.
Tuesday
It was quite tough going over the first two miles as my muscles warmed up. The last three miles were easier, though I was still quite tired though by the end of it. The four 10-second hill sprints made me feel better, but I still felt more tired doing them than last time, which is not a good sign.
Wednesday
The plan for today was one mile at easy pace, then three miles at tempo pace (basically as fast as I can go without ), then another easy mile to finish with. This is always a deceptively simple run which hides a quite intensive and tiring three mile run in the middle of it. It always sounds easier than it is. I had a burst of energy between miles two and three, the challenge is sustaining that level of exertion over three miles. By the end of it, I felt very tired but not exhausted.
Thursday
Today I ran two miles at four miles at easy pace with two miles at moderate pace sandwiched in the middle. I was feeling quite good until the end of the moderate miles. The last two miles felt quite difficult, but the I had just run two moderate miles so maybe that’s not too surprising. The major bit of fun on this run was when I ran down onto the southern end of the North Bay beach. Unfortunately, the tide had come in further than I could see from the promenade, and cut off my route. So I had to make a slight diversion by climbing up onto the sea wall and making good my escape. I don’t recommend doing it because it is covered in slippy, slimy algae and sea weed, which didn’t make it easy.
Sunday
Now that my Sunday long runs are getting really long, I decided that I needed a better system to my current one of just running one big xx-miles long circuit. Whilst I did enjoy doing things like running to Filey and back during training for my last marathon, those type of runs are just too inflexible for this time round. What if I got injured, or just burnt out? I would still have the remaining miles to walk home and I also could only take as much fluids as I could carry, which inevitably wasn’t enough.
So this time round I’ve decided to go with a laps system. I start at my usual location, but each lap finishes at my home, where I can switch over empty bottles for full ones (and also make use of the facilities if necessary). This also allows me to break up longer distances into smaller chunks, which makes them easier to swallow (or at least makes it seem like they are).
I split my sixteen mile long run into three laps: One six-mile lap and two five-mile laps. It was unseasonably bright sunshine and quite mild as well – perfect running weather. My lap system was working well, but at the end of the first one, I felt like I was already succumbing to tiredness. After completing the second mile of my second lap, I was so tired I wondered how I would be able to complete the remaining eight miles.
I pressed on. Running past the Sea Life Centre for the third and final time I felt like three laps along the same route was a little excessive, as I was by now quite bored of running the same route for the third time. This didn’t help distract me from the tremendous aching in my legs either. Just a mile later, running through Peasholm Park, I felt as though my leg muscles were ready to explode.
Fortunately, they didn’t and I managed to finish in just under four hours, which surprised me a little, as I didn’t think that I had been running for that long. That time is slower than my hopeful marathon pace, but at the moment, I’m not worried.
Posted March 2nd, 2009 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in North Bay, Paris Marathon, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, non-linear periodisation, training
Tags: black ice, cold, exhaustion, ice, North Bay, Northstead Manor Gardens, Paris Marathon 2009, Peasholm Gap, Peasholm Park, South Bay
A so-so week last week. I missed out on Monday’s scheduled session because I was so tired from the nine-mile run I ran on the previous Sunday, however, I made up for it on Tuesday when I rolled Monday’s session in with Tuesday’s.
This left me quite exhausted, combining a five mile run with 6×30 seconds fartlek period at the end of it, but I certainly felt better for it. Unfortunately on Thursday my exhaustion caught up with me again and I slept my alarm clock. Instead of getting up at five o’clock, I woke up around six, so by the time I had breakfast, there wasn’t enough time to get dressed, do my warm-ups and then do my scheduled run. So I admitted defeat and went back to bed, failing quite disappointed with myself.
I made doubly sure that got up for Friday’s training session, which was quite exhausting. I planned to make up Thursday’s miles on Saturday morning, but once again my tiredness one me over and I decided it was better to give myself a day of rest rather than punishing my body even further the day before my Sunday long run.
After all the tiredness which had ruined a few of my training sessions over the past week, I decided to take things easy on Sunday. I deliberately got up later than usual and took things slowly. It was probably best that I did, because Sunday saw the worst frost and ice of the winter so far in Scarborough. Even the steps outside my front door were covered in black ice.
That pattern was repeated throughout my twelve-mile easy run. I ploughed on through the first six miles, valiantly following my normal route, however, it became clear that running along the unsalted paths of Northstead Manor Gardens and Peasholm Park was more trouble than it was worth, due to the coverage of black ice. So once I made it through Peasholm Gap I decided to run the remaining six miles back and forth along the beach and on the promenade.
Posted February 16th, 2009 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, marathon, training
Tags: Hairy Bob's Cave, Northstead Manor Gardens, Peasholm Park, Sea Life Centre, tired
Monday was a tiring run after the exertions of the past weekend. Today’s four-mile run took me round the headland, up to Hairy Bob’s Cave (such a place really does exist) then I turned round and continued on my usual route along the Promenade, up to the Sea Life Centre, then back through Northstead Manor Gardens and through Peasholm Park. I finished by running back along the Promenade again to where I started.
I really felt it on my legs this time, especially around the three mile mark, entering Peasholm Park. They felt more like lead than flexible muscles. Usually I can polish a four-mile run off without feeling too tired, but this time I felt much more exhausted. I’m glad I’m not running tomorrow!
Posted August 20th, 2008 by Simon
Comments Off
Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, marathon, training
Tags: Dublin, first week, Northstead Manor Gardens, training
Last week concluded my first week of marathon training for Dublin. This time my training plan is based on a schedule that I downloaded from the official Dublin Marathon website (www.dublinmarathon.ie). This first week was just a warm-up, with five 3-mile runs on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
The first day of training on Monday was tough, tough, tough. This was more down to the fact that I hadn’t prepared properly by going to bed late the previous night, getting up early that morning and skimping on my warm-up because I was running behind. Bad idea. Following my usual route, once I left Northstead Manor Gardens at Burniston Road, my legs weren’t playing ball. They felt about as flexible as iron and as heavy as lead. So I gave up around that point and walked home. When you’re in that situation, there’s no point punishing yourself by continuing running. It’s better to save your energy for the next session.
My next run on Wednesday was much better, probably because this time I didn’t skimp on warm-up exercises or have a late night beforehand. I’m not going to say it was easy, but it was easier to get into a rhythm which carried me through.
On Thursday it got even better and I felt that Thursday’s run was just a little bit easier. So it looks like that base training has done me the power of good.
Posted August 11th, 2008 by Simon
Comments Off
