Posts Tagged ‘Peasholm Park’
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
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Posted in Dublin Marathon, North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, marathon, training
Tags: 11 miles, aches, agony, Dublin Marathon, energy gels, exhaustion, headland, marathon, North Bay, pain, pains, Peasholm Glen, Peasholm Park, Sea Life Centre, six miles, South Bay, The Royal, tiredness, training
That might seem a tad over-dramatic now, but I assure you my Tuesday training run was, literally, agonising. After a days rest from my Sunday long run (of 11 miles), I began the weekday schedule by doing the usual six miles. The first mile was hard, but then it always is, as my muscles warm up to optimal operating conditons.
Then the second mile was just as hard. Usually, it gets a little easier, the aches and pains wear off and I can concentrate on running the distance. Not today. It just got harder and harder. I was running my normal route of going round the headland, around the South Bay, back around the headland and along the North Bay and through the parks. When I reached the Sea Life Centre, I almost stopped as I turned around to head towards Peasholm Park, but I knew that if I stopped it would be twice as hard (and painful) to get going again.
So I struggled on, plodding away trying to ignore my aching leg muscles. By the time I was a short distance into the Peasholm Park leg, on the final mile of my route, I gave in and started walking instead. It wasn’t just my legs that were being tortured – my feet were on fire!
From there I walked the rest of the route. As I emerged from Peasholm Glen, I was started by a tremendous BANG! from the other side of the lake. It took me a few moments to realise that it was a television crew who were filming an episode of The Royal.
The exhaustion of this run has once again made my doubt my ability to run the marathon in my target time of 5h30m and rudely reminded me of just how hard and difficult running a marathon is.
Posted October 2nd, 2008 by Simon
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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
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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
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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
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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 North Bay, Scarborough, South Bay, training
Tags: exhaustion, headland, North Bay, Peasholm Park, Scarborough, Scarborough Spa, South Bay, training
Today I got up at 5:20am to do the first of several 60-minute runs, which I’ll be doing every Wednesday until the marathon. After an exhausting run on Monday, which I could barely complete, I wasn’t looking forward to this one. I changed my usual course to run around the headland and towards the Spa, as I am starting to get bored with running through Peasholm Park and around the North Bay. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted March 26th, 2008 by Simon
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