Mont Saint Michel Marathon Review

The Mont Saint Michel marathon runs along the north coast of France, starting in Brittany and finishing in Normandy. The French marathon experience was similar to running a marathon in the UK and the route, which was primarily on roads with a few miles on cycle paths, was lovely covering French farmland along with views of the sea and of course, Mont Saint Michel.

When I first signed up for the MSM marathon I had concerns that it would be hot  running in France in May but the conditions on the day were perfect with a bit of cloud and no coastal winds to go against. I was also unsure what the support would be like as I didn’t know how big an event the marathon was, but the support from the locals was amazing, with plenty of people lining the streets shouting allez, allez, and bands and drumming troupes performing for runners passing by.

The day of the marathon started early with my alarm set for 5.30am. After having my traditional pre-marathon breakfast of a huge bowl of porridge, I left our Airbnb in Pontorson (a nice small town located 10km from the finish line) and cycled 5km (on a hired bike) to a racecourse where I took the prepaid shuttle bus service to the start in Cancale.

After a 30 minute bus journey we arrived at the start line with about an hour until the race began. The event was very well organised and they had a bag drop service where people could leave bags where they would be transported to the finish line and portaloos for runners’ last minute toilet trips.

Once the race started I felt I got off to a good start. I was just ahead of the 4 hour pacer and thought I could bag some quick miles early on to allow me to slow things down when the miles got tougher further down the line. The run was marked in kilometers which was different to what I’m used to running in miles, so I broke it down into four parts 10k, 20k, 30k and 40k. As usual it was from 30k on wards where I struggled, as I actually got a PB for my first 30k effort. The 4 hour pacer and his herd of other 4 hour runners soon caught up with me and sailed past. Maybe I would’ve been closer to achieving sub 4 if I stuck with him the whole way – perhaps a different tactic to try in the future.

My final finishing time was 4 hours 9 mins 56 seconds, exactly one minute slower than my PB. Despite not achieving sub 4 or a PB, I loved the whole experience. The support from the French people was amazing, even though I didn’t understand what they were saying most of the time and I really enjoyed discovering a different country by running around it for just over 4 hours.

As a fellow marathon runner friend recently said to me, marathons are about the experience and she is absolutely right. When I think about doing a marathon in the future I will look for an event which will be a truly memorable experience, whether that’s determined by the people I run with or the places a race might take me. And who knows perhaps focusing more on enjoying the experience and less on the time, it might naturally lead to knocking off a couple of minutes off my PB…

Race stats:

Position: 1506/7793 – 178th female finisher

Splits:

10km: 56m

21km: 1hr 59m

30km: 2hr 51m

42km: 4hr 09m

Thoughts from this week:

• This was the first 20+ mile run I have ever done without getting blisters thanks to using BodyGlide all over my toes the morning of the run
• My post marathon diet has consisted of crepes, rose wine and left over Easter eggs
• I went to see the Spice Girls on Wednesday evening in Manchester and they were amazing
• Looking forward to having a weekend without a long run
• Now looking forward to digging out my road bike for some sunny rides throughout the summer

Tips for before, during and after running a marathon

I had the weirdest dream last night that I was running the Mont Saint Michel marathon and in my dream, when I got to mile 20 I for some reason stopped went into a house and cooked some mushrooms, then got in a car which drove me to the finish line. I had been close to finishing the marathon in 4 hours and when I’d got to the finish line in this car, I thought what the hell did I do that for, why did I stop to cook food? Food which I’m not certain I even ate in this dream?

When I woke to my alarm, the dream was that bit of extra motivation I needed to get out of bed and go for a run.

While stopping at mile 20 of a marathon and getting in a car to complete the rest of the race is definitely not something I’d advise, here are some tricks I’ve picked from previous marathons over the years.

Before:

• Drink plenty of water the day before so your pee looks almost clear
• Lay all of your clothes, gels, shoes out the night before, think about what you’ll wear after the marathon – a hoody is always good to have so you don’t get a chill post run
• Treat the marathon as one of your training runs, do the exact same thing, now is not the time to try out a new gel you’ve read about online
• Go to the toilet plenty of times before you leave the house on race day and go once again just before you leave – ideally try and go for a number 2 to avoid having to desperately queue for a portaloo near the start line
• The day of the marathon I drink until my pee goes clear again then stop drinking about an hour before the race…but as I said before just do what you’ve done in your training runs
• Think of three targets for the marathon, one which is definitely achievable (e.g. finishing), one that you should be able to achieve (perhaps a PB) and finally one you’d be ecstatic with (sub 4 hours)

During:

• Don’t get carried away with the crowd at the start of the race and set off too fast, there will be plenty of time to pass slow runners over the next 26 miles
• When you get to mile 13 don’t think of that as half way, even though it is, to me mentally half way is when you get to mile 16 so try and push to 16
• They say the real race starts at mile 20 which I think is true, when you get to that point just try to move as quickly as you can
• If you’re running with headphones be sure to listen out to the crowd cheering you on, it will give you a mental boost when you need it the most
• Another trick I read is to dedicate each individual mile to a person and think about how you’re running that particular mile for that person to tick the miles off the list
• Enjoy the marathon – it will be over before you know it and all those hours of training will soon feel like a distant memory

After:

• I sometimes wore Ugg boots afterward as my feet were always quite sore, I’ve also seen quite people wearing flip flops
• Keep water in the car for post race, you will be seriously dehydrated
• Keep moving – if you stop moving straight after your run you will seize up the next day, try to keep your legs moving even though you will be exhausted

These are the pieces of advice I will be listening before the 26th May, less than two weeks away, when I will be setting myself up for the Mont Saint Michel Marathon. Good luck to anyone else taking on a marathon challenge over the next couple of weeks! And watch this space for a blog post for life after a marathon.

Thoughts from this week:

• I am playing on the pitch at Old Trafford on Friday in the annual Manchester United staff match, praying that I don’t get injured
• Game of Thrones at the moment is just unreal
• I’m excited to travel to France for the marathon as well as enjoying the wine, cheese and bread which will be consumed
• Had the joy of watching Manchester United Women lift the Championship trophy on Saturday, shame it wasn’t a joy at all to watch the Men’s team lose to Cardiff City on Sunday
• Finally understanding people’s obsession with halloumi, it is yummy

 

 

 

My ‘Dream Crazier’ experience

Today I did a circuits class after work and then ran 6 miles with the running club I’ve recently joined as part of my marathon training. I mentioned to a couple of colleagues that I was planning to run 10k after this evening’s class and they were in disbelieve and said I was crazy.

Later on in the afternoon I began to worry about whether I would be able to do the run after the class. I hadn’t done the circuits class on a Wednesday for a while and I’d missed the past two weeks of running club. It got to the point when I thought maybe I’ll just ditch running club after the class, looking for a reason to get out of it.

In my head I decided I would do both. Even if I went slow with the running club it would still be better than not going. After the class I ran to where the running club meets and I felt good.

As I was running I began to question what I was worried about. I’d ran for nearly two hours at the weekend so would’ve been able to do two hours of exercise today. I thought about why my colleague’s comment had made me question if I should or could do both.

Why did he think I was crazy to do both in one evening? Was it because he thought I wouldn’t be able to do it? Would he have been less surprised if I was a man saying I was going to do both? Or was he simply saying that because he didn’t feel he would be able to do it?

I then thought about the recent Dream Crazier campaign by Nike and what it means to be ‘crazy’. It can be defined an interpreted in different ways but there’s one common thread throughout it, bravery.

At one point today I was scared of failing but I overcame my fears and did it. It’s the same with a lot of the stories featured in Nike’s advert. Many of the women are dreaming crazy, being brave and going further than others have gone before them and not letting what others think stop them in their tracks.

There are sometimes when I even feel embarrassed to tell people I’m training for a marathon, which is crazy! I should be proud of what I’m training for but people’s reactions are often shocked faces and “I’ve ran a half but could never imagine doing twice that distance”. I always take that response as “how could you ever run a marathon?” but realistically they’re probably thinking more about how they’re scared to even try.

And that’s what I learn’t today. It’s important not to let what other people think impact what your trying to achieve. There will always be doubters but at the end of the day it’s the voice inside your head that matters most and it’s telling you, you can do it.

Thoughts from this week:

• Started following @chessiekingg on Instagram who is great for body positivity
• Saw Us last week which was pretty scary but enjoyable to watch
• Going to the England vs Canada Women’s football match on Friday
• Had a great time skiing last week
• My Mum made an amazing cake for my sister’s birthday at the weekend which I am still enjoying

Training for Marathon no. 5

A few weeks ago I signed up for the Mont Saint Michel marathon in Normandy, France. The marathon will take place on Sunday 26th May so I have 10 weeks to go.

It’s been three years since I did my last marathon when I ran Chester in a time of 4 hours 9 mins. I’ve been a bit hesitant since then as whilst training for Chester Marathon and actually running the race, I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I had previously. I was conscious of ruining my love of running by doing more marathons so I sacked them off for a while and tried new things like triathlons.

Another reason why I’ve been putting off running another marathon is because I feel that next time I do one, I want to break the sub 4 hour marathon. This means I will have to train hard. I feel it is possible as every time I’ve ran a marathon (besides Snowdonia) I’ve knocked at least 10 minutes off my previous time, so in theory I should be just under the 4 hour mark.

As part of my training for Mont Saint Michel, I did a half marathon race a couple of weeks ago which I completed in 1 hour 55 mins running at a 8:51 minute mile pace which is what’s needed for a sub 4 marathon. I did find the half challenging and since then I’ve had a really bad cold so haven’t been doing many long runs.

With the timings at still 10 weeks out from the marathon I don’t want to peak to soon with my training. Now I’m back to full health I need to create a proper training plan to put on the wall to keep me on track. I always feel it’s much better to physically have your training plan up somewhere so you can tick off the days and track your progress. For me, I feel like my brain recognizes this as you’ve done XYZ now you can reach your goal. The plan will be a combination of 5ks, 10ks and long runs plus some swimming, weight sessions and yoga, when I get around to writing it.

It will be hard work and I’ll need to train harder than I ever have before, but running a marathon in under 4 hours is something I never thought I’d even dream of achieving and training will be the only way to reach my goal.

If anyone has any training tips to share please comment below!

Thoughts from this week:

• Following some issues (note bloody sock image below) I have gone back to Mizuno running shoes as Adidas weren’t right for me
• Went to a Ninja Warrior obstacle course over the weekend and arms are still aching
• Currently listening to podcasts all the time: favourites include Desert Island Discs and Karren Brady; Get What You Want
• Looking forward to another Manchester United Women’s home game this weekend
• Finally got around to watching A Star Is Born at the weekend and agree it’s not bad

365 days of running

Over a year since my last blog post and again, better late than never right? Looking back on 2018 it was a great year in many ways and it has to be said that one of my highlights was successfully running one mile everyday of the year. This includes Christmas Day, hungover days, snowy days, rainy days, days where we attended weddings, days on holiday – literally 365 days.

My total running mileage for 2018 was just over 600 miles and over 90 hours of running. This compares to 238 miles in 2017, 398 miles in 2016 and 515 miles in 2015 when I ran two marathons in one year. Throughout 2018 I ran in Germany, France, Portugal, Vietnam as well as all over the UK from Aberdeen to Jersey. This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed the challenge so much.

I first heard about running a mile everyday when Mark Zuckerberg did it in 2016 and I then put it on my ’30 before 30′ list. When I told people what I was doing a lot said it sounded difficult. A mile for me is just under 10 minutes of running and the NHS recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as cycling or brisk walking every week. On average that’s 20 minutes a day so even with my mile everyday I was still probably under the recommendation if I just did that.

Once I got into the habit of running everyday I didn’t find it that difficult, usually getting my mile in early in the morning before work. There were days when I couldn’t really be bothered and the odd occasion when I’d been out for lunch had a couple of drinks and had to run on a full stomach feeling a bit tipsy but the sense of achievement of completing the year was great. It was also very different to long distance running which my previous challenges have been focused on.

Overall I was lucky to not go through any injuries and would recommend running everyday for a year to anyone whose looking for a new challenge. I didn’t really lose weight from doing it but feel like I’m generally fitter for doing it hence why I have now begun my next challenge for 2019 – the sub 4 marathon…which I will discuss more in my next blog post!

Thoughts from this week:

• Another challenge for the new year is to get back into blogging but being realistic aiming for one post a month
• I’ve been running in Adidas trainers which I think are a fraction to small with blisters to prove it
• Need to revert back to my trusty Mizuno trainers for the marathon
• Saw Jersey Boys for the second time and it was just as amazing second time around
• Also went to see White Lies at Albert Hall which was the best gig I’ve been to in a long time

 

Almost one year later…

Since it’s almost a year since my last post I thought it was about time to write something, better late than never! It also feels like a good time as I ran a race yesterday which always makes me feel like writing.

Looking back on this year so far I would summarize it as a lot of running, lots of weddings and lots of football. The lots of running has come in the form of running at least one mile everyday, a challenge I set myself at the beginning of the year. I recently hit the 400 mile mark and Strava tells me I’ve clocked more than 61 hours of running. This is nearly double what I ran last year (238 miles) and more than my total miles ran in 2016. In 2015 I ran 515 miles as I trained for two marathons, London and Snowdonia but as we’re currently on day 245 of 365 I’m sure this year will be the year I run the most miles.

It’s been an enjoyable challenge. I would say about 20/400 miles I’ve done a treadmill mostly when the weather conditions were icy or snowy outside. One of the best things about this challenge has been running on holiday. Although I would’ve often liked to have skipped running whilst away, heading out for a run has allowed me to explore wherever we’ve been staying. It’s also helped me explore areas I see everyday. I’ve done so many different one mile loops around our house I’ve discovered shops I didn’t know were there. I’ve also been lucky not to have had any injuries or illnesses this year which has meant I haven’t had to miss a day. Fingers crossed this will continue. As I look towards the end of the year I will be facing one issue when we travel to Vietnam in December. We leave the UK on the 29th and don’t land until 1am on the 31st, so getting a run in on the 30th December will be challenging – maybe I can find a treadmill in the airport or run between transfers.

Yesterday’s run was the 15km Keswick Lakeland Trails race event. It’s the second event in the series of Lakeland Trail events I’ve done this year following Coniston half marathon back in June. They’re really nice events which are well organised with a friendly atmosphere. I’m still very much a novice when it comes to fell or trail running only having ran a few in total. I hadn’t done a lot of training for the 15km run – I’d did a 7km run and a 10km in the weeks building up to it around flat Manchester. The race itself was a lot hillier than Coniston with a total of 1,594ft elevation gain. It was also a lot wetter underfoot. The description mentioned these ‘infamous Glendereterra bogs’ so I expected there to be some puddles to go through. What I didn’t expect was about 1km of boggy, heather to run through. Luckily I wore a pair of old trainers which are still outside probably heading for the bin. Overall it was a really enjoyable run. Conditions were warm, dry and a bit overcast. Although I was complaining to myself about the hills and the mud, parts of the route had the most amazing views, one of the things I love about trail races which you just don’t get with road races. At some points it felt like I was looking directly at a postcard for the Lake District.

All recovered from Saturday, this morning it was back to a 10 minute dash around Manchester on the pavements. I’m looking forward to completely the running everyday challenge and would recommend it to others to try. It’s a new kind of commitment compared to the long runs I’ve previously done for marathon training. Thinking about a challenge for next year perhaps it’s time to try doing a marathon abroad and breaking the four hour mark…I’m sure I’ll be back here in a year’s time to tell you all about it.

Bala Olympic Distance Triathlon 2017

On Sunday 3rd September I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon. The 1.5km swim took place in Bala lake, with the 40km bike and 10km run route taking place along a closed road. I completed it in 3 hours 9 minutes which I was really pleased with.

The conditions weren’t too bad as we set off from Wrexham at 6.30am. My Dad said that the weather was supposed to hold out but about half way en route to Bala the rain started. Once we arrived at Bala rugby club, the rain continued. We arrived in plenty of time and went to register. Once we returned to the car we started to prepare our gear and the wind and rain showed no sign of stopping at this point.

Bala tri is a qualifying event for the European Championships taking place in Estonia in 2018 so there were loads of professional looking athletes there. When I saw people in Team GB tri-suits, I soon began to realise that the quality of athletes in the field would be really high. There were a few less professional looking people there too like myself.

Once our bikes and trainers were in transition we were briefed and the first wave which Stew was in headed over to the starting point. The race was about 15 minutes late to start and as the men’s wave were lining up, the majority of the women’s wave were hopping on the spot trying to keep warm.

Bala lake is one of the largest natural bodies of water in Wales, definitely the biggest lake I’ve ever swum in. As we were waiting for our wave the wind had picked up and the lake looked choppy, it was also still raining. As always there was a bit of chatter among participants on the start line as we all questioned each other why we were putting ourselves through this but eager to start.

When we finally got in the water the lake didn’t feel too cold, helped by the fact it was cold outside of the lake as well. It was a shallow water mass start and I was conscious to stay near the back to avoid being swamped at the start. Once the race was underway, after I sorted some initial issues with leaky goggles I soon got into my rhythm with front crawl. The swimmers stayed relatively close together which made it easy to sight which direction to go in. The waves, however, were pretty choppy in some bits of the swim which made it difficult particularly as I’ve never swum in ways like that before.

One thing I find difficult with swimming is keeping my head down and not disrupting my rhythm. I can be swimming for what feels like 15 minutes, poke my head out of the water and realise I haven’t come far at all. So in the swim I was determined not to look up and just keep going. I kept my mind occupied by singing songs in my head and trying to think of the entire Game of Thrones story line from start to finish as best I could. It worked quite well and soon enough the swim was over.

My first transition was pretty slow. Trying to take a wet suit off quickly after swimming 1.5km is tricky, so is putting socks and bike shoes onto wet feet when you can’t feel your hands. The bike ride was pretty grim with strong side winds and rain. Luckily it was a straight road with not too many corners to steer a wet bike around. I never dried off from the swim and the rain made my handle bars slippery when changing gears which was annoying. It felt like the bike ride went on for a long time. As it was an out then in route the men’s wave were passing us on their way back in which was nice to see. The leaders came flying passed and I eventually saw Stew too. The hairpin bend around a cone at the half way point was a tricky maneuver. Luckily a friend tipped me off and said to make sure I was in a low gear. This old guy came into the turn really quick in a high gear, got half way around the turn then really struggled to get going again. He was swearing at his bike as I overtook him on the corner.

There was one point on the bike where I thought to myself I do not want to do this run at all, do I have to do the run? Soon enough I was back into transition to ditch my bike and swap my shoes and I headed out on the run. It felt good to be off the bike and I soon started to warm up my numb feet. I was running at a decent pace so I just kept it up. Coming back past transition towards the finish line I still felt good and knew I had a bit left in me. I’d been about 10 metres behind a woman for about 5k and I sped up slightly to get past her. I heard my parents and Stew cheering for me as I powered ahead and waved at them, then got confused where the finish line is, came to a stop then realised where I needed to go, about 100 metres further around a corner. I was knackered by this point but managed to push through.

I was so pleased to finish and felt great. My Mum was waiting there with a big coat which I put on straight away then had some water as we started to make our way back to the car. We received our goody bag at the start which included a black Bala Triathlon towel which was quite cool, but no medal sadly. The food and drink in the bag were pretty basic too e.g. no sweets.

Despite the weather I really enjoyed the triathlon. I’d bought a triathlon wet suit (£112) and a tri-suit (£55) both Speedo, for the event which both were really comfortable. I’ve had a lot of use out of my wet suit this summer so I’m pleased I invested in a decent one.

I would like to do another Olmypic distance tri at some point and definitely a couple more sprints. I’ve really enjoyed my open water swim training too so will be looking to keep that up next year. But for now as we begin to move into Autumn I think it’s time to get back into running.

Times:

Swim: 37 mins

T1: 4 mins

Cycle: 1 hr 29 mins

T2: 2 mins

Run: 54 mins

Thoughts from this week:

• I completed my bike ride from Wrexham to Abersoch with my Dad a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Will be looking to do it again next summer.
• I’ve been doing a lot of classes at the gym recently which I’ve been enjoying.
• I also now have a beautiful new niece called Imogen.
• Going on a family holiday to Spain in a couple of weeks for a final bit of sunshine, hooray!

Bala Olympic triathlon training

There are now two months to go until the Bala Olympic triathlon and training so far is going well. Unlike previous big sporting challenges I haven’t been following a strict training plan but I have been running, swimming and cycling as regularly as possible.

I finished my third Chester half marathon back in May (finishing time 2 hours 4 mins) which wasn’t a PB but was a time I was pleased with considering the amount of training I had done. Going away on a two week long trip around the North West of America was probably not the best for my training plan, despite getting in a couple of runs whilst we were there.

This weekend I will also be cycling the 84 miles from Wrexham to Abersoch with my Dad which I’m really looking forward to. Dad has done the ride a couple of times before and I’ve always wanted to tick it off my to do list. I’ve enjoyed training for it and it has acted as great motivation to get my out on my road bike.

I’m still doing as many Parkruns as I can, although holidays and weekends away have meant I’ve missed a few. I’m currently on Parkrun number 30 and with 25 weeks left in the year so completing my 50 Parkruns in 2017  might have to be extended to early 2018.

A combination of the half marathon, the Abersoch ride and Parkrun’s has been keeping my cycling and running at a good level. However it does always feel like when I’m spending more time running or on the bike, like I am at the moment with the Abersoch ride, I worry about losing strength in the other disciplines. The problems of triathlon training!

Swimming has been one thing I’ve been focusing on as this is my weakest discipline. I’ve been trying to swim the 1.5 distance once a week and as of last weekend I have progressed to doing the distance in open water.

For my first open water swim we went to Boundary Water Park in Cheshire. I paid £112 for my Speedo wet suit from Newitts online which I’m really pleased with. The lake was perfect for open water swimming, costing £8, and the entrance to the lake is nice and sandy but the rest of the lake was fairly weedy.

When I first started swimming I couldn’t believe how dark it was underwater. Going from a sunny day above the water to a dark green lake underneath was quite disorientating between breaths. It took me about 10 minutes to get used to that sensation then I needed to get used to swimming through weeds which I did after a bit more swimming.

Prior to our trip to the water park I’d watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to sight and direct yourself in open water. This was also quite challenging as at one point I found myself completely off course, swimming in the wrong direction. I got better at this towards the end which I was pleased about, as I kept thinking if this happened in a triathlon event swim, it would waste a huge amount of essential energy. Overall I really enjoyed swimming in the open water.

Also as part of Bala training my boyfriend and I are going to the mid week Capernwray  Sprint Tri events which include an open water swim which look like really nice events.

Thoughts from this week:

• Looking forward to watching Wimbledon and the Tour de France over the next couple of weeks
• Went to Glastonbury again for the third time this year and it did not disappoint
• Going to see Blink 182 in Manchester in a couple of weeks
• Also turn 26 in a few weeks
• Excited to jump in the sea after a long bike ride on Saturday

 

Return to training and a return to blogging

It’s four weeks since I signed up for Bala Olympic Distance Triathlon and three months since my last blog post. I find it easy writing blogs when I’m training for something. Feels like when I write down my plan and how my training’s going, it keeps me on track.

Signing up for events definitely kick starts my training efforts. Once I paid the £71 for the Bala Tri it made it real. I also then signed up for Chester half marathon (it was an expensive day) which I’ll be doing in May for the third time. My time in 2014 was 2 hrs 7 and 1hr 58 in 2015 which remains my half marathon PB. I will aim to run this half in under 1 hr 55, so need to start upping my mileage over the next month.

The Bala Triathlon is on the 3rd September so I have a good amount of time to train. My biggest concern at the moment is the 1.5km open water swim. Doing two sprint tris last year was great fun but my swim wasn’t that strong and it was in a pool which made it easier. Bala Tri swim is in the lake and almost three times as far. I’ve realised that when training for something you just have to do it as much as possible and swimming is no different. Since I signed up for the tri I’ve been aiming to swim the 1.5km distance twice a week.

I found it quite difficult to find a decent pool that wasn’t really busy. I was given a seven day pass to a Nuffield Health gym in the Printworks and that pool was really nice. Over looking the city and not busy, it was perfect but when my 7 days ran out I wasn’t willing to pay the £53 a month fee just to use a nice pool when I get my gym membership through work.

“There must be other pools to try” I thought to myself. Stew and I have been to Hough End a few times and it’s always busy there. We went to the Aquatics Centre in Manchester after work and that was pretty busy. However, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings the Aquatics Centre has 50m lane swimming in the 2 metre deep pool. I’ve been going before work on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the past couple of weeks and I feel like it’s really helping with my training. The long and deep pool is better to simulate open water so when the open water swimming venues such as Salford Quays (ew) start in the Summer my swimming will be at a good standard.

I can now comfortably swim the 1.5km doing front crawl. It’s currently taking me about 40 mins. Just need to buy a wet suit and brave the open water swimming when it gets a bit warmer.

I’m still doing a bit of running. I’m working towards my 50 Parkruns t-shirt, I’m currently on number 37. I feel like I’m getting faster but I need to start upping my distance for the half marathon and for the triathlon. Going to try running double park runs this weekend so will see how I find that. Then I guess I could do three Parkruns as it gets closer to the half. Or I could just work out longer routes, I  still haven’t really discovered good running routes from the new house.

Definitely enjoying the training at the minute, feel like I’m starting to get into a routine. I will need to start cycling on my road bike at some point, I’ll start that in the summer.

Thoughts from this week:

• So excited for Whistler ski trip in a couple of weeks, going to get my very own ski boots woo
• Been planning other holidays for the year such as Amsterdam and Spain
• Played squash for the first time in years the other week and I was aching from it
• Can’t wait for the weather to improve
• Went to a great wedding last weekend and have another one to look forward to in a few months

 

The past three months in one post

It’s been a few months since I last blogged which is bad even by my standards. There’s a few reasons why; we’ve moved house, work has been busy, my laptop is on it’s last legs etc. but it’s better late than never.

What really surprised me is that I didn’t even write about completing my fourth marathon. On the 2nd October Stew and I completed the Chester marathon and I did it in 4 hours 8 minutes, 14 minutes quicker than my previous marathon PB from London which I was so happy with. It makes me feel achieving a sub 4 hour marathon would be possible, as every time I’ve done a marathon I’ve knocked off at least 10 minutes (except Snowdonia). I really enjoyed Chester marathon and the conditions were perfect, if anything it was too warm even in October!

This was the first marathon I had ran wearing a Garmin which I think contributed to my PB. It’s easy to keep an eye on your pace and make a conscious effort to not let a PB time slip away. I also stayed with the 4 hour pacers until mile 13 which was nice. The pacers were a really nice group of people and the buzz of the other potential 4 hour marathon runners was great to keep me going. When we hit mile 13 I started to flag a bit and decided to leave the group, but I only finished 8 minutes behind them in the end. Unfortunately for Stew his first marathon was a painful one, enduring an injury at mile 20 left him hobbling for the finish line for the last 6 miles but he still did it about 45 minutes quicker than me.

This marathon was still as hard as all of the previous ones. When you know exactly what you’re in for, mentally it makes it harder. I’m determined to get a sub 4 hour marathon time at some point, whether that will happen in 2017 I’m not sure. I said I would have a year off marathons this year but didn’t so will have to wait and see what 2017 brings.

Over the past couple of months I’ve also been on a family holiday to Spain which was really nice. It was the perfect retreat after completing the marathon and great to spend time with the family.

After the marathon we also moved into our new house which was finally completed a couple of days before the marathon. We are now all set up and awaiting the arrival of our first Christmas tree this weekend. There are still a few finishing touches to do but we’re both really pleased with the house. It was tiring moving everything in and knocking the partition wall down between the kitchen and living room to make it open plan. We found it tiring moving into a brand new house so I can’t imagine how people feel when they move into a house which needs fixing up before they can live in it.

I will also be partaking in the Wilmslow 10k this weekend. This will be around the 7th 10k race I’ve done and I will be aiming to beat my PB time of 54 mins. I’ve done a fair bit of training and hope that the Chester marathon training will also help. It is a flat route so should be doable so fingers crossed it’ll get sub 54 mins.

Thoughts from this week:

• I went skiing this week which made me very exciting to ski in Canada next year
• After the 10k I think I will have a break from running for a while
• Watched Allied last weekend which is a great film
• Looking forward to the Christmas count down
• I want to start doing more yoga in 2017