My first Marathon!

On the 19^th May I took part in the Brathay Windermere Marathon, it was my first full 26.2 mile marathon and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I completed the course in 4:09:54, which was a little outside my goal of 4 hours but I was satisfied nonetheless.

Last time I posted I was still having trouble with my knee, I’ve continued with the stretching and strengthening exercises and the week before the marathon I managed a 17 mile with only a small amount of discomfort. I also fitted in short high intensity sessions around my night shifts. We had planned to camp at Grizedale forest with some friends and family for the weekend but, due to work commitments and poor weather, the future wife and I ended up sleeping in one of those camping ‘pods’ that are very popular

these days. It was basically a big garden shed with a carpet but, it was warm and dry which, after the previous night in a slightly leaky tent with a punctured air bed, was a luxury (we also borrowed our friends air mattress so were able to get a reasonably good nights sleep).

On Sunday morning, all fuelled up with the previous nights obligatory pasta meal and some porridge for breakfast, we headed for Brathay Hall. By the time we were parked and had walked back to the staging area it was time for the pre race briefing. We were introducd to Horst Preisler the world record holder for marathons completed, a mere 1821! Also we given an update about the hardcore group of who had been taking part in the 10 in 10 challenge, they were already out on the course on their way to completing the course for the 10^th time in ten days!   

www.brathaywindermeremarathon.org.uk

We were then marched down, led by a marching drummer band, to start and off we went! As for the actual run there’s not that much to say, the hills were a killer, I hit halfway in 1:57 so was on track for a sub-4hr. At 20 miles I felt pretty knackered but saw the fiancée at that point cheering me on which gave me a boost, only to get pretty severe cramp around 21 miles! As I’d had this problem in a previous training run and been able to carry on after a short break I wasn’t too concerned. Don’t get me wrong I was annoyed to have to stop and walk and it was pretty painful but I knew within a few minutes I’d be able to carry on. So from there I pushed on, in the last half a mile I got a bit emotional, I don’t know if it was relief or happiness or the tiredness but I found myself filling up! And then it was over, a medal, a bottle of water and a banana handed to me as I crossed the line then a big hug of the future wife and we hopped in the car to drive home.

I enjoyed a few beers that evening then it was back to work the next day, the legs were pretty sore the day or two after but by Wednesday I’d pretty well recovered, and back into training on Thursday with two 10 mile runs either side of a game of footy. The latter run ended up being in the dark and so was my first experience running with a head torch on. It was a little eerie running along a canal path only able to see a small area directly ahead of you, but I made it home safely.

Next week I’m thinking of having a crack at a 30ish mile section of the Sandstone trail, should be fairly similar mix of surfaces to the Hadrian’s wall run so I think it should be good training.      

cheers!

Build up to Brathay

So since I  last wrote my training hasn't progressed a great deal. The sore knee I mentioned last time out has continued to bother me, although a regime of stretching and strengthening exercises is gradually increasing the time/distance I can cover prior to the onset of pain. I was also struck down with a vomitting and diarrhoea bug for a few days during which I wasn't really able eat leaving me feeling incredibly weak. So in the last two weeks the longest run I've managed is about 6 miles! not really the sort of distances I was planning on covering at this stage. I also attended a Stag party this weekend in York for my soon to be brother-in-law. So all in all a pretty good example of how training plans can be easily disrupted. However I've not let it get me down (too much), I got my diary out and replanned my training for the next month so I can hopefully get back on track with where I need to be before I start to taper for he big event. As well as changing my schedule I've had to look at the types of training I'm doing. Due to the current problem with my knee I've been trying to keep the length of my training sessions up by running on the treadmill until the pain starts then switching to the exercise bike and continuing on there for the equivalent time. for example I was planning a 15 mile run (~2hr 15min), I ran for 55 mins before the knee started to niggle then switched to the bike for 1hr 20mins. I have also focused more on the shorter sessions with a more speed work and High Intensity Interval Training. Runners world - article on HIIT  

In two weeks time I will be participating in the Brathay Windermere Marathon, my original plan was to ease my training back over this next two week period, tapering slightly to give myself a chance at running a good time for this, my first ever marathon. However seeing as I've done less than I would have like over the last 2-3 weeks I will just be incorporating it into my schedule as my weekly long run and continue with the other training. It should be a really tough but enjoyable challenge as the course is very hilly but has some beautiful scenery. Ill be aiming for around 4 hours, but realistically I'll be happy as long as my knee doesn't stop me from finishing. With that in mind I'm off to do so stretching. I have a busy work week coming up so I'm going to have to be very disciplined and make sure I get my runs in where I can.

next installment will hopefully be after a successful run at the marathon, speak to you in a couple of weeks!