The Peak of my Training

Now by that, I don't mean my physical peak. I don't actually feel any fitter than I did when I started this marathon training program in June while in France. However, clocking up, which for me is a massive 33.51km on my run on Saturday morning is something of an achievement and the longest run I'll do pre Berlin.

Considering how I've loathed this training from the start and hated the way it dictates time and distance leaving you bored of it's repetitive nature, I was proud to have completed it without stopping once and UNDER my target time. Now I suspect this has more to do with my Garmin flashing the low battery warning at me at around 22km and me having to turn the GPS off than anything else. It meant the last 11km were run with only a stop watch. I had no idea of my pace, no idea whether I was hitting my target times and quite frankly, I didn't care either. I just had to get home and that seemingly gave my all the motivation I needed. Maybe this should be my plan for Berlin. When the going gets tough, the tough turn off their GPS data. Doesn't quite have the same catchiness to it does it. Maybe for now, I'll settle for turning the beep off so I don't feel the need to check it EVERY. SINGLE. KILOMETRE!

Anyway, a moderate 24km next weekend and hopefully both my nipples and toenails will have recovered by then!

Running...

Running. That wonderful and energetic activity that keeps a smile on your face, your energy levels high and motivation that continues to rise as your meet or beat your own personal goals. That is unless you're training for your first (and last) marathon. Then it's a ball ache of epic proportions. Seriously.... how do you lot do it? 

To say training's going swimmingly may be a slight fabrication or the truth on one hand but on the other, may just be an out and out lie. I have got to the root cause of my hatred for this training though. I'm an idiot! See, I want to complete a marathon and do it well. I want that feeling everyone talks about, the emotion, the sense of achievement and the like, I just don't want to have to spend 3 hours of my Saturday morning pounding the pavement trying nasty energy sweets and energy drinks. I'm aware one isn't going to happen without the other and there's not a chance in hell I'm giving up on this but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it and therein lies the reason for the lack of blog activity. I'm a miserable git when it comes to my running at the mo.

Not running in general mind, In fact, I'm already planning on the aftermath when I'm going to concentrate on becoming faster at the shorter distances but at the moment, I'm bored of long runs! Really, really sodding bored! Half Marathons are nice, 10k's are lovely but anything over those 21.1km is nasty.

I've had a couple of weeks where I've completely missed my target times too though which for my latest jaunt of 29km I'm not too worried about but the week before 22km annoyed me somewhat. Especially as I came in under 2 mins quicker the previous week on a 27km go. Nothing seems to be consistent at the mo.

After Saturday's horrible 29km, the balls of my feet were actually bruised and painful so luckily having another pair of brand new identical shoes in the cupboard, I did just under 5km on Monday morning to see if it was any better and I think it was although we'll see come Saturday when a lovely 24km is called for before 33km on the following week.

Berlin is 4 weeks and 5 days away. Get through this and I can start enjoying my running again..

The sound of silence

Ooh, ooh, ooh. The giddy excitement of a bright warm morning, a cycling commute in a T-shirt and a bike in one piece again! Obviously it'll piss down later and I'll get wet but that's a UK summer for you!

The utterly tremendous news is this... my bike is silent. This may not be a revelation as being single speed, it's pretty much always been that way unless I'm freewheeling. Well since Cycle Surgery fixed my wheel (and serviced the freewheel of their own accord), it's silent. Utterly silent! Well apart from the tyres on the road and the wheezing from the man in the saddle that is. It's brilliant with one tiny exception. I used to use the freewheel clickerty-clackerty as kind of a warning to pedestrians on cycle paths, cats, birds etc. This morning, silence and very nearly, a squidged cat! I now have to make a noise myself which means I'll now look like 'that weird cycling man that yells at animals'. Seriously, that's what the kids will call me!

On the marathon training front, yesterday's intervals were not the easiest of things. It took a while to get things warmed up and I really had to do some stretches before hand. This was pointed out to me in no uncertain terms when I tried to cross my legs on the train home and had to use my hands to move my leg. Winner! I had to do my 1200m at 4:29 pace. All were between 4:34 and 4:41 which although too slow, I felt like I was pushing so not too worried and on the back of my longest ever run only 2 days before, I'll take it! Mind you, I'm sure my runs were uphill and my rests downhill! Or maybe that's just how it felt!

I have a new route planned for Saturdays 24/25km so should make things a little more interesting although the elevation chart looks like a right arse. Going to have to blank that out I reckon as it's like a sodding rollercoaster!

I can't wait for the end of the work day as I can get back on the bike and see just how much my legs have seized up but the way I'm feeling, I'm just going to attack those hills again.

Show me the light

I don't want to tempt fate, especially as I have 8km on the schedule for tonight but I may finally be relaxing into this marathon training a little.

After a pleasant 17km on Saturday, I think partly due to the company of my Mum on a bike for half of it and partly due to be running on roads I've rarely been on therefore being less mundane, I then had a very successful interval session where I hit 9 out of the 10 times I needed to and the one I missed was only missed by 1.5 seconds! Mind you, this has massive potential for me to fall flat on my face on Saturday morning as I will be running the longest distance I have ever done. 23km. A shade over 14 miles. 21km has been my limit so far and I've only got there sometimes due to the big sign that says finish and the knowledge that I can stop.

In fact, for the next 3 Saturdays in a row, I'll be running longer each time than I've ever done before! This is where the worry kicks in a little. Fear of the unknown for me. Can I cope with just me for company while pounding the pavement?? I'm really not that interesting so wondering if it's time to change my 'no ipod' policy that I self imposed after the dreadful Lisbon Half Marathon in 2010. It's a thought....

On another note, I was recently asked if I would like to review a product from the www.upandrunning.co.uk. The choice of product was mine so on I went, looking through the vast selection of products available in order to find something that a)would be useful and b)that I needed. This caused a little bit of a problem due to the fact that marathon training is pretty much dominating my thoughts right now and from a clothing/equipment point of view, I have everything I need to get me to Berlin. So therefore I had to look at other options. Then it hit me, as Dunwich Dynamo was just round the corner and wanting a little extra light for the trip, how about a new head torch being as mine is old and not very bright. I started hunting through and found a couple. One in particular caught my eye but mainly due to the price. £45 for a head torch seemed a bit steep. This had to be a special head torch.

The PETZL PG TIKKA XP 2 was chosen despite having a name that sounds like the bastard child of a snack and a computer program. So what does this torch have? Firstly and surprisingly, there's a whistle to attract attention built into the clasp and head strap. Genius! I would never have though of it but when running and cycling in the dark, you never know when you're going to need to attract attention. The torch has a number of modes. Very bright, bright and strobe. Then on each of these, you have the option of a long distance bright spot or a dispersed light that avoids a hot spot. Then... if you push and hold the button, it switches to a little but bright red LED that could come in really useful for other road users to see when running or if needing an emergency bike light. For a headtorch, it really is full of features!

I gave it a proper test during Dunwich Dynamo where it was my long distance light source while the bike light concentrated on the bit just in front of my wheel. It really is extremely bright and lit up the dark country lanes with ease which made the down hills a lot easier to deal with. Now I know this is 'just a headtorch' and you can buy a reasonable headtorch that does the job a lot cheaper, it's the little extras like the whistle and red light option that really got me all geeky about it. Sad I know but hey, you're used to it by now right??