Sunday 24 April 2011

Training Journal 24.04.11

Today I attempted my longest run so far.  I thought I was going to do 5 miles, but it turns out I'd slightly miscalculated and only did 4.84 miles.  Not too bad, but I would've liked to do the full 5 miles.  Despite this, it was a really good run, and I took it slowly and felt I could've gone longer at the end.  So glad I had two rest days after my last run!  I went out early to try and avoid the heat and the smog as well.

Ipod highlights were Kashmir by Led Zeppelin and Watching Windows by Roni Size Reprazent.

Thanks for reading!  xx

Saturday 23 April 2011

Training Journal 21.04.11

OK, a few days late posting this, but I went out for a run on Thursday evening for 3.71 miles.  However, I felt awful - I think I'd totally over-cooked it, starting off too fast in the 21 degrees heat, so I didn't make it to the end.  I did about 3 miles in total and walked the last bit.  It might have been the heat, or the half pint of shandy I had at lunch time, or just that I'd trained a bit too hard over the past week.  However, when I got home, I read a news article saying that Britain was suffering from smog and advising people not to exercise on Thursday afternoon - that must be the reason!  I decided to take two rest days and will go out again for a longer run on Sunday morning.

Thanks for reading!  xx

Wednesday 20 April 2011

My Running Story and Beginning Running Advice

So I thought I'd write a little bit about my running history.  I am probably a 'born again' runner, as I used to run in my late teenage years, always had an ambition to run a marathon, but lapsed throughout my twenties (actually, much like my makeup story - very strange). 

I started training, running 2 miles a day when I was about 14, aiming to get into the 1500m event at my school sports day.  However, as I wasn't naturally 'good' at sports, no one recognised my efforts and I wasn't picked for the team.  What was even more galling was when the girl who was picked dropped out after two laps of the track as it was too hard for her... 

This has just reminded me of another incident at school when we were doing athletics during a PE class and running the 1,500m again.  I set off at a good pace and was in second place about half a lap behind a really fit sporty girl.  Our school track was really small, so we had to run about 6 laps to get up to the 1,500m distance.  The fit, sport girl finished ahead of me and the PE teacher gave her the time.  However, when I finished, she told me to do another lap of the track (which would have made me almost in last place), as I clearly wasn't sporty enough to come in second place!  I argued with her, as she clearly wasn't paying attention to who was a good runner or not, telling her that I ran daily.  When eventually she believed me, the third and fourth girls had finished and none of us were timed properly.  I really hated PE - the only event I enjoyed was the running, and even then the PE teacher managed to b*llocks it up for me!

I did used to be a member of an athletics club at the Crystal Palace track, training once a week.  I really enjoyed it, but I never ran any races for them - I just did the training with the distance athletes.  I've never been a sprinter, always a distance runner!

Anyway, I began to really enjoy running during sixth form (when thankfully I didn't have to do PE any more), and used to run around Crystal Palace Park every lunch time.  As my A-levels approached (in 1997), I took to running 5 miles a night to get a release from my studying, and I'm sure it really helped me with my exams.  I then signed up to do the Great North Run with a load of friends just before I left home to go to uni, so I kept up my training throughout my last summer at home, completing the GNR in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 34 second.  I was a bit gutted, as I wanted to do it in under 2 hours, but it wasn't going to happen on the day, so I was just glad to complete my first half marathon!

I sort of stopped running once I'd left home, but in my second year at uni I decided to enter the Brighton half marathon, so I started training again, albeit a bit sporadically (drinking and partying kind of got in the way).  I had flu the week before the half marathon, but I managed to do it in about 2 1/2 hours.  Although my time was far more than I wanted, the course was pretty bad, with a massive hill and then steep steps at the end, and I'd got through it.  After that I just gave up proper running.

Since then, I've tried to get back into running properly on numerous occasions.  I've run along Brighton seafront, ran round the park after work, followed a walk/run programme to do a 5K, ran and walked a 10K which I've done no training for and last year, done Race for Life events on Bristol Downs. I did properly get back into running for a month last summer, before getting injured and giving up again.

However, I do now feel that I have properly picked up the running habit again.  With a competitive 10K in May against my colleagues, I have a big incentive to do lots of training, and the more I do, the more I enjoy it.  I think that signing up for a second 10K in July and a marathon next April will help to inspire me to cotinue training and really push myself, once I've done the first  10K.  Well that's the plan, anyway.  Watch this space.

Anyway, this post has waffled on a bit, without any pictures to show you - sorry about that.  Part of the point of writing this was to say that although I've upped my mileage from zero to 4 1/2 miles (last weekend) pretty quickly, I'm not starting from the same background a beginner would start from.  I have run two half marathons before (one in a decent time) and I used to be a member of an athletics club.  Therefore, when I started training about 5 weeks ago, I was unfit, but I did know what I was supposed to be doing.  What I'm trying to say is that if you are a total beginner, don't expect to be up and running 4 miles within a couple of weeks.  Some people are natural runners and can run 5 miles without any training or build up.  Others find it hard to run for 30 seconds without gasping for air.  There are plenty of beginning running programmes on the internet for all abilities and fitnesses, so if you're interested in starting running, than just put your trust in google and you will find something to suit you!

Let me know if you have any questions etc.  Thanks for reading!  xx

Training Journal 20.04.11

Did another 3.71 mile run this evening, but I did it the other way round to how I usually do it, and it was considerably hotter than I've run in before this year.  I felt really rubbish about half way round (I'd just run up a big hill), so I moved to the shadier side of the street, dropped my pace, and felt much better!  I stormed up the hill at the end, as my ipod decided I needed some Gwen Stefani What You Waiting For to get me up it! 

Thanks for reading! xx

Monday 18 April 2011

Training Journal 18.04.11

Just got back from a 3.71 mile run (according to Map My Run).  I did it in 40 minutes dead, which is one of my better times so far!  I decided to push myself for the last mile and a half as I got overtaken by another jogger who didn't look fit enough to beat me, so I tried to keep up with him - and managed it! The weather was warm and sunny, and the best song that came on my ipod was You Think You're a Man by The Vaselines - that helped me storm up a hill after the unfit jogger!

I'm not sure if I'm doing a run tomorrow or not - I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!  xx

Sunday 17 April 2011

It started with a 10K...

Hello!  Welcome to the first post of my new blog - Marathon Girl.  I'm the Bristol Beauty Blog, and you may know me from my beauty and fashion related scribblings.  However, I'm also a wannabe marathon runner.  I thought that today, being the London Marathon 2011 day, it would be a good day to start this second blog dedicated to my attempt to run a marathon in 2012.

This blog is going to be about my training over the next year and my thoughts and feelings about different aspects of running.  I don't want to bore my beauty and fashion readers to tears by posts on hill sessions, fartlek and tapering, so I thought it deserved its own space on the internet.

So how come I am running a marathon next year?  Well, it started with a 10K... My colleague has persuaded me to join in the work team running the Bristol 10K in May.  Over the past couple of years I've taken part in a couple of Race for Life events, but I've never trained properly for them, so it's been a very half-hearted effort, and I've not run them without a bit of walking.  However, I am determined to run the whole 10K and have been training for it for the last month.  I'm feeling confident that I will be able to run the whole distance now, as I'm up to nearly 4 1/2 miles in my training, so it's not too far to get to the 6.2 miles (or 10K) distance.

At the moment I'm training just to cover the 10K distance for my May race, but I know my time will be terrible.  I'd like to do it in under an hour, but I think that's highly unlikely given my current pace.  I've signed up to do the Race for Life 10K in July as well.  I ran (well walked mainly) this last year, and there was a very small field, so it was really relaxed, as well as on a flat course.  I'm hoping that by July, I'll not only be able to get round the course at a trot, but run it in a reasonable time as well.

So where does running a marathon come into all this?  Well, I've always wanted to run one, but never really stuck to running training enough to be fit enough to contemplate one.  Although, I'm not fit enought to run a marathon today, I'm hoping that by next April it'll be a breeze!  Or bloody hard work, but worth every mile!  A few weeks ago I was looking on the internet for some running events I could do, as I'm really enjoying my training and realised that there was a marathon in the town where I went to university, where I still have a few good friends.  I happened to be looking on the marathon's website on the day after this year's marathon had been run, which was also the day that entries opened for next year.  Without thinking about it too much, I just signed up, and as I was so early with my entry, I got my place confirmed immediately - there really is no ducking out now!

So hopefully in 51 weeks I'll have just completed just over 26 miles by the sea, along the south coast, and I'll have a medal hung around my neck - I've just got to get through those two pesky 10Ks first, not to mention the training!

This blog is going to be my training diary, as well as other running related posts.  I realise it may be a bit off topic for readers of my beauty blog, which is why I've separated it out.  If you're interested in running and want to comment and/or follow my journey you're very welcome!  Any support will be gratefully received!

Thanks for reading! xx