Tuesday 25 February 2014
Only 6 weeks left and getting back on the wall
Well there's only 6 weeks left to the BIG DAY; The Brighton Marathon on April 6th where I find out if all this training has been worth it. Training has been going well and I had my best run so far on Thursday. I took the day off from work and did a 17 mile run from Littlehampton to Worthing, along the coast with a friend. It was nice and flat with beautiful views. If I can do 17 miles, I can 20 miles and if I can do 20 miles, then I'll be able to push myself to do 26.2 miles on the big day. A few more training runs to go before then though! How have you been getting on with yours? Any tips you'd like to share with me?
The threshold training I've been doing to build up my endurance has also been getting tougher. Recent sessions have consisted of 4 x 6 minutes of running at effort level 7/8 with a 2 min jog in between, 5 x 5 minutes with a 1 minutes jog in between and a really tough session of 10 x 3 minutes with 3 minutes jogging in between. If it makes me a better runner and more able to do really well on marathon day, then I say, bring it on. Plus it's always really good to test and push yourself - you in with me?
Well what else have I been doing apart from running? As well as my regular strength and conditioning training, I've also been doing quite a lot of climbing. I had a break from it just before Christmas and over the festive period but it felt good to get back onto the wall at the Adur Outdoor Centre in Shoreham. That's where I climb quite often, it's a good indoor smallish wall. There is a new wall opening up at Withdean Stadium soon which I'm very excited about as it's near where I live so nice not to have to go all the way over to Shoreham for a climb. It's being run by a company called High Sports who also have another wall over in Crawley at the K2 leisure centre. I'll still go over to Shoreham sometimes to climb though as it's nice to mix it up and climb at different places. I've recently been on climbing days out to the White Spider climbing wall in Surrey, very close to London and The Reach Climbing Wall in South East London. Both were great days, the White Spider Centre is fantastic and one of my favourite places to climb. It has so many fabulous climbs, all different levels from easy to really tough. The Reach is really good as well but not as good as White Spider in my opinion. It does however have a great cafe with lots of homemade cakes, gorgeous toasted baguettes, sandwiches, pasty's and even does some more substantial food as well. Only negative bit is that it doesn't cater for gluten free people which I always find a bit frustrating and means I've often been tempted to be naughty and eat a little gluten and wheat on the side. The White Spider Trip was organised by the women only Vertigirls climbing club, which I'm a co-director of and the Reach trip was organised by the Adur Centre, with more trips planned to look forward to.
I've been climbing now for about 4 and a half years and really do love it. I'm not the best climber in the world and probably never will be but that's ok with me and the enjoyment I get from it is enough. I've been climbing in quite a few places in the UK, such as the Lake District, Cornwall, Portland, Dorset, winter climbing at the Cairngorms and Derbyshire, otherwise known as the Peaks to climbers. I've also been up to the Roaches which is another part of the Peaks. Overseas I have climbed in the French Alps in a beautiful place called Ailefroide which is on the Italian border, close to Turin and also been on several climbing trips to the Czech Republic. If you love climbing you've got to try them!
Anyway, I hope you all have a great healthy week ahead. I've got a full week of training planned but resting next weekend as I have the Steyning Stinger half marathon which is really exciting. It's a trail on the Downs and is supposed to be really tough, very hilly and a bit daunting but I'm really looking forward to it :)
Bye for now,
Leonie x
Wednesday 5 February 2014
Marathon Training Continued....
GETTING DOWN WITH THE TRAINING
Well Marathon training has well and truly started, I've been pounding the pavements with Run Brighton on Sundays, carrying on with the runs with my running club on Thursdays and doing my regular Friday early morning runs in Stanmer Park. Friday is a really early morning session, my friend Fiona picks me up at 6.30am, Stanmer Park at 6.45am and do a wonderful beautiful 5 mile trail run. For those of you who haven't been to Stanmer Park before you really need to go and see it, It's so beautiful and is one of my favourite places to run. When we do the run on Fridays, it's a little dark starting out but it soon lightens up and it's wonderful to see the early morning sun coming up. Highly recommended :) I much prefer trail running, road running is ok but I find it a little boring, nothing better than trail running, getting out into the countryside, so beautiful.
As well as the running, I'm also doing regular bootcamp sessions in the week in order to work on strength and conditioning and core, which is so important in marathon training. I've also been doing some training called Kenyan Hills, which is a delight. It's very tough but lots of fun. Hill running is so important in marathon training as it builds up endurance and that is what you will need at the 20 miles stage, when you want to give up with only 6 miles to go - this is what will take you over the finish line. I have been doing the Kenyan Hills up Preston Drove, you simply run up and down a hill, not all the way to the top, just some of it, run up and down in sets, interval style, so I started doing 4 sets of 5 mins with 90 seconds recovery which is still light jogging. We've now stepped it up to 5 sets of 5 which is great but obviously tougher. I'm hoping to step it up again to 4 sets of 6 minutes.
The training in the cold wet weather has been going ok, quite pleased with myself as anyone who knows me knows that I hate the cold and can't stand the wind. I much prefer the rain, running in the rain is great, always makes me feel alive, as if I'm taking on the elements and if it's raining, it's usually a bit warmer.
For the long runs on Sundays with 'Run Brighton', I now have to get up at 6.00am which is a bit of a killer! I don't mind getting up in the week for work that early or for early morning bootcamps but I'm finding it a bit tough on Sundays. What's particularly worse is the fact that I have to eat porridge so early, around 6.20-6.30am which really isn't particularly appealing. I don't know about you but I can't eat as soon as I'm awake, I usually give myself about an hour before I eat and then eat breakfast at work. If like me you hate eating straight away then you need to plan ahead as it's never a good idea do a run more than 5 miles with nothing in your system! To be honest, the running is ok so far, it's the timings of getting up so early, forcing porridge down your face so early and getting all the timings right, that's the hard bit. I think I need to play about with it all and try different things over the next few weeks. A friend from the running club said it's a good idea to eat quite early on a Saturday eve so from now on, I'm going to try and eat at 7.30pm and eat pasta to give me energy for the next day. I think I should try eating a smaller bowl of porridge on Sunday mornings as well, that might help!
Well that's it for today - if like me you're still training through this weather then you'll probably look like I do in the photo with all the wind and the rain but keep going! Get those timings right and fuel yourself well so you stay well throughout your training.
See you next time,
Leonie
Well Marathon training has well and truly started, I've been pounding the pavements with Run Brighton on Sundays, carrying on with the runs with my running club on Thursdays and doing my regular Friday early morning runs in Stanmer Park. Friday is a really early morning session, my friend Fiona picks me up at 6.30am, Stanmer Park at 6.45am and do a wonderful beautiful 5 mile trail run. For those of you who haven't been to Stanmer Park before you really need to go and see it, It's so beautiful and is one of my favourite places to run. When we do the run on Fridays, it's a little dark starting out but it soon lightens up and it's wonderful to see the early morning sun coming up. Highly recommended :) I much prefer trail running, road running is ok but I find it a little boring, nothing better than trail running, getting out into the countryside, so beautiful.
As well as the running, I'm also doing regular bootcamp sessions in the week in order to work on strength and conditioning and core, which is so important in marathon training. I've also been doing some training called Kenyan Hills, which is a delight. It's very tough but lots of fun. Hill running is so important in marathon training as it builds up endurance and that is what you will need at the 20 miles stage, when you want to give up with only 6 miles to go - this is what will take you over the finish line. I have been doing the Kenyan Hills up Preston Drove, you simply run up and down a hill, not all the way to the top, just some of it, run up and down in sets, interval style, so I started doing 4 sets of 5 mins with 90 seconds recovery which is still light jogging. We've now stepped it up to 5 sets of 5 which is great but obviously tougher. I'm hoping to step it up again to 4 sets of 6 minutes.
The training in the cold wet weather has been going ok, quite pleased with myself as anyone who knows me knows that I hate the cold and can't stand the wind. I much prefer the rain, running in the rain is great, always makes me feel alive, as if I'm taking on the elements and if it's raining, it's usually a bit warmer.
For the long runs on Sundays with 'Run Brighton', I now have to get up at 6.00am which is a bit of a killer! I don't mind getting up in the week for work that early or for early morning bootcamps but I'm finding it a bit tough on Sundays. What's particularly worse is the fact that I have to eat porridge so early, around 6.20-6.30am which really isn't particularly appealing. I don't know about you but I can't eat as soon as I'm awake, I usually give myself about an hour before I eat and then eat breakfast at work. If like me you hate eating straight away then you need to plan ahead as it's never a good idea do a run more than 5 miles with nothing in your system! To be honest, the running is ok so far, it's the timings of getting up so early, forcing porridge down your face so early and getting all the timings right, that's the hard bit. I think I need to play about with it all and try different things over the next few weeks. A friend from the running club said it's a good idea to eat quite early on a Saturday eve so from now on, I'm going to try and eat at 7.30pm and eat pasta to give me energy for the next day. I think I should try eating a smaller bowl of porridge on Sunday mornings as well, that might help!
See you next time,
Leonie
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