Marathon Analysis

One thing that has been nagging me is my performance in London Marathon and two weeks later in the Marafun.

During training I was consistently running 18 miles in about 3hours. My best time was 2.54 in February. I was also feeling pretty good (but tired) after 18 miles. Based on these times I should easy be able to do a marathon in  about 4hr 20mins.

So why did I run London in 5.30 and Marafun two weeks later 4.56?

When I have a look at the results my average pace in training is 10 mins per mile. At London it all started to go wrong at mile 15 when I started to feel sick ( I am sure it was the gels and the heat) and at Marafun it all started to go wrong at mile16 when I go cramp in my calf, which I think is because I still had London Marathon in my legs from two weeks prior.

I just know I can do a Marathon in sun 4.30

My next Marathon is Beachy so that will be interesting!

BUPA 1OK

It has been a little while since I have written my Blog as I have been busy on various things and the time has flown bye. I ran BUPA 10k on Monday. I have not ran for two weeks since the Marafun and it showed as I completed the course in 56minutes which is about 10minutes off my PB. Anyway I really enjoyed this run, great atmosphere and route and how often do you get a chance to line with with Mo Farah and Paula Ratcliffe, even if I was a couple of wave starts away from them.

However, I did managed to see Mo Farah running down the embankment on his return as I was after a mile into the race. He runs at twice the speed I do and it is incredible to see.

I am definitely going to do this race next year and my daughter Jo has also said she will run.

I going to say that I think this is one of my favourite races after all that long distance marathon training 1k just seems to fly past in a blink. Focus over June and July will now be on some speed work and shorter distances before I start preparing for Beachy Head.

Freeflow Body Solutions

Over the last few months I have not written much about Tai Chi mainly because there have been some  major changes. After about 12 years me and my friend Chris have stopped training at our current school and set up our own class in Tuners Hill.

We have done this for several reasons:

1. We have both been teaching for some time and wanted more flexibility to widen what we teach.
2. We felt that we were not learning much and decided we wanted to learn from other sources.
3. To a certain extent we can learn and teach from one another.
4. We wanted to build up our own group.

It is very early stages but we already have a few students and it is picking up momentum.

Like my running I have a plan of what I want to explore with my Tai Chi and I will be writing more on various topics which interest me.

I should add that Freeflow body solutions is not just around Tai Chi, Chris is qualified in Sports Massage and will be practising under the name Freeflow Body Solutions.

10K is that all

I have just received my race instructions for the BUPA 10k at the end of May. I had a quick look at the route and thought is that all. I have got so use to doing longs that a 10k looks easy. I know I should not say that because 10K can be very tough if you are maxing out.

It is going to be interesting to see the impact long distant training will have on a more powerful shorter run. I suspect that the increase in stamina will come at the expense of speed.

I have done this run a couple of times before and it is very well supported and should be a great event.

Marafun Marathon

Completed my 4th Marathon on Saturday. The Orpington Marafun. I really loved this event, it was local, well organised and despite the small field a very friendly atmosphere. I ran the first half with Jerry, George, Dave and Tom, really great group and got round the first half fairly easily. However, after about mile 15 miles got cramp in my calfs and thought I would have to give up and become a DNF, but I have never failed to finish a race and though just got to tough this out.  I ended up running slowly and as soon as cramp hit me I  stopped,  stretched, then walked and eventually ran and so on and on and on.

I ended up finishing in 4.56 which was PB. The frustrating thing is I know I can so much better but keep getting hit with problems in later stages. There were lots of Orpington Road Runners and friendly faces and I spoke with lots of people on the route. At the end I ran with a couple of 100 Marathon club members. I said to this woman you must find this pretty easy and she said this was her 297 marathon and closing stages always tough. Her husband who was running with her had done over 400 marathons. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions.

I did not take any gels and I did not have any energy problems and apart from cramp everything else was fine.

One thing I did notice was the night before I woke up with a very slight feeling of getting cramp in my legs so the problem was in my legs before I started. My conclusion is to have more massages. 

I am going to concentrate of shorter distances for a while and do a bit of speed work before I start my training for Beachy.

Feeling Great

I am looking forward to the Marafun on Saturday. I am treating the run as an experiment. I have really rested over the last couple of week and it has done my body the world of good and I feel  physically very strong. Mentally I feel like I just need to dig in and get this over. Then  I am going to concentrate on some speed work and my 10k time then will start training for Beachy Head in July plus need to spend a bit more time on my Tai Chi.

I am hoping there will also be a nice little group running together.

Update

Went for a 8 mile run with Heros on Sunday which was a change of plan from my Keston Run on Saturday. Run was very hilly and to be honest I found it pretty tough, but so did Dave and we concluded that we still had the 18 miles from the previous Sunday.

Sunday night went to Karate good lesson and I can feel it today.

Looking forward to Saturday I just hope it is not too hot.

Busy Busy Busy

I have been very busy recently and not had time to update my Blog so here goes:

I have signed up for the Marafun marathon next Saturday. I am really looking to this event mainly because there is a group of us running to about 4.30 time.I always love running in a group mainly because the banter and small talk builds good relationships with your friends and helps the time pass especially when the going gets tough. If I can achieve 4.30  I will be really pleased.

I have not been unable to get out for a run this week so I will do a 10 mile run over Keston Sat afternoon and 6 mile Monday then hit the marathon on Sat. I am trying a different approach for the Marafun. I know I have the base level of fitness so I have not done so much training and I am allowing my body to build up its energy reserves.

After Marafun I am going to concentrate on doing some speed work for a couple of months I would really like to do a 10k PB of around 46mins then I will start training for Beachy Head Marathon in October.

The Tai Chi class has picked up momentum and we had 7 students last week. Need to start sorting out insurance, T shirts, setting up a page on facebook etc etc etc.It is all pretty exciting but takes time. We have got lots of plans.

I have also missed Karate for a couple of months. I feel very guilty about missing Karate but I just could not do the long runs on Sunday then Karate in the evening. I am so close to taking my next grading. I just need to get my act together and start training. I have not done a press up for ages.

18 Mile Run

Meet with Dave and Tom at 8 am and set off on our standard 18 mile run. It is always great to run with other people especially if you are all run at a similar level. We completed the run in 3 hours dead and were all well pleased.

Tom has only done one marathon and has decided to do the Marafun in a couple of weeks - hoping for about 4h 30m so it looks like we could have a nice little group aiming to do the Marafun in 4h 30m.

I did not take any gels on my run and I do not think it made any difference so I think my days of using gels are over.I also used my Camelbak and was surprised that I only  drunk about 500ml.

All in all a great little run only annoying thing was at about mile 14 we were crossing the road and just as I ran up onto the grass I must have put my foot on a wire from a wheel hub and it caught my other foot and I hit the deck, fortunately I was OK and lucky that I did not break my ankle as it was like a snare. As I fell a car passed and some yobs shouted out the usual abuse with lots of f**king ........ I admit it must have looked funny but I did not like the verbal abuse so I shouted back at them in the same way they shouted at me beckoned them to come back to me.

I apologised to Dave and Tom for my out burst but these sort of things make me angry. The interesting thing was it must have really got my adrenalin following as the next couple of miles flew bye.