Portsmouth Marathon

Things have been a bit strange recently – for the last two weeks, I haven’t done any training, at all. 

My new job has been really busy, there have been a lot of Christmas parties, I’ve been drinking more than I usually would, preparing for Christmas, eating mince pies, staying warm ‘n’ cosy on the sofa when it’s been cold and miserable outside. You get the idea...my desire to run has just evaporated. 

I’ve got Country to Capital coming up on 11th January (45 miles self-navigation from Wendover to London, using just an OS map!) and I'm concerned about being fit for it, and so decided I needed to kick-start my training again, and rediscover my enthusiasm.

I'd signed up for this year's Portsmouth marathon, which was on 22nd December, and although for the last fortnight I was half considering a DNS, I knew all the usual suspects would be there, I’d told everyone I was running it, and as it would be my last marathon of the year (number 21 of 2013) I'd have been disappointed if I didn’t make the effort. So, with just 4 hours sleep after another Christmas party, and after a 2 hour drive from Billericay, yesterday morning in the pouring rain I arrived in Portsmouth, wondering what the hell I was doing but hoping it would all be ok….

I was even more haphazard about getting ready for the run than usual, I think because I was so tired – I forgot to tape my toes or Vaseline anywhere, and so chafing and blisters were the order of the day, and as I rushed around trying to collect my number in time, I also forgot to eat my pre-race banana. But I got to the start line…just…and then we were off.

I’ve not run Portsmouth before and for some reason (entirely my own fault) I thought there was a short section across the beach, and the rest was on the road. I really had no idea that it was more of a 50/50 between path and trail, and so wore my new Kayanos which weren’t the best choice. Not only were they wholly unsuitable for the slippery mud, path-wide puddles, and boggy fields, I’ve been trying to keep them clean and yesterday they got absolutely filthy. 

It really does pay to do some research and read a bit about a forthcoming race so you don’t have that sort of surprise on the day...I do love trails but it just wasn't what I was expecting, and it was a strange kind of very urban trail - a path squished between the town or the motorway and the sea!

Some of the route was absolutely stunning though, which made up for my frustrations a bit – after a torrential rain storm at the start line the weather improved, and it was got really sunny and the view across the glittering water was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the aid stations were ridiculously well stocked for Christmas too – mince pies and mulled wine would you believe - and there were lots of runners in Christmas fancy dress which was lovely.  Unfortunately though, it didn’t work for me - I just didn’t really enjoy myself. To be fair though, if I was feeling a bit fitter, and less tired to start off with, maybe I’d have had a better time! We did get a lovely medal at the end too and that’s always a bonus.

One of the beach sections before they diverted
the course from @Running_Reviews

So, my overall opinion of the Portsmouth Marathon? I know there are a lot of people who really love this race, but I doubt I'll do it again.

Photo of me! Thanks to Nozza Wales

The HQ area was poorly organised, there weren’t enough toilets, and it just felt like there were far too many runners for the course. There were many sections which dictated you ran in single file, which is frustrating when you’re stuck behind a group of slower runners, and there were places where everyone had to walk because it was bottle-necked. I also struggled throughout the whole race to find clear ground to run for any period of time, I just always felt like there was someone very close by, and although that’s fine in a road race when you’re just going in a straight line, when everyone’s trying to find a runnable path, it becomes a real pain! 

It was great to see so many friends, both out on the course and at the finish, and I was disappointed not to be able to hang around and stay longer at the end to chat, but I was already tired from my late night, and needed to start the 2 hour drive home before I starting falling asleep.

I’m not sure if the race has helped me rediscover my love of running, but it has reminded me that a marathon is a lot more painful when you’ve not put the training in, and maybe that will be enough to get me out during the week and to log some miles, so I can start to have a bit more fun at the races I’ve got booked for 2014!

Some of the mud.....
Photo borrowed from the lovely Jo

Saxon Shore Marathon

On Saturday, I ran the Saxon Shore Marathon. I hadn't really thought about it too much in the run up over the last week, but work was very busy and I hadn't managed to run as much as I'd hoped so you could say I'd had a taper ;) I also made sure I carb loaded the day before with pasta for lunch and a dinner of fish and chips!

I had to get up in what felt like the middle of the night on Saturday to get ready and down to Deal in Kent in time for an unusually early 8am race start. I made it in good time though, parked up and went to collect my number, seeing lots of familiar faces on the way – Saxon Shore really is a marathon full of the usual suspects from the circuit and it has a brilliant, supportive atmosphere because of that – everyone’s very friendly and chatty.

The description for the route of the marathon, paraphrased from the website, is:

“Starting from the remains of Sandown Castle, runners will complete a short 0.6 mile loop before heading out to the Saxon Shore Way for 4x 6.42 out and back loops arriving back at base camp. The initial part of the trail is a wide grassy/sandy track. The path then veers onto the sea wall. This is a raised bank of solid earth, topped with compacted sand, gravel and shingle. There is then a straight, well tarmacked road before reaching the white gate – this is the turn-around point."

The weather when I arrived was pleasant enough, in that it wasn’t raining, but it was bitterly cold and windy and we were all commenting on it.  I think everyone was a bit worried at how much worse the wind would be when we were running along the exposed ridge of the sea wall!

We soon got underway without too much standing about, and everything was great to start with – I was running with Heather, and we stayed together, and later ran with another friend Andrew, for the first 6 miles. It was lovely to catch up :)

Unfortunately as soon as we got up to the sea wall, as we’d feared, the wind really did turn into an absolute menace. Someone told me later that the winds were about 20mph and we were running right into them. It was incredibly hard work.  However, once we got to the turn around after 3.5 miles of running into the wind, the difference running in the opposite direction made was fantastic – not only was it warmer without the windchill, it was just so much easier to run, and you could start to appreciate the view of the sun rising across the sea because for a few miles your head wasn’t bowed down into the wind!

At the other turn around point, back at base station, was great support and an incredible array of snacks and drinks – each time it was a joy to arrive there. On the first passing I only stopped very briefly to grab a drink and a handful of food but as the morning progressed, and I got more disenchanted with running into the wind, I spent more time chatting and eating ;)

Finally though, the end was in sight and I was on my final lap. I was walking much more than I’d hoped to…a couple of weeks ago I was talking about matching last year's time for the race…but in the relentless, energy sapping wind, my time really was the least of my worries. I also didn't have a very clear idea of my pace, as although my Garmin had been running as a stop watch, it'd failed to find any GPS signal, and wasn't much use at all. As I got to the last section of the trail though, I could see I was likely to get a sub 4:30 if I made a bit more of an effort, and so ran for that, ending up crossing the line in 4:28:02 which I was quite happy with. It wasn't comparable conditions to last year, or to the Enigma marathon a few weeks ago, so i'm not going to worry about comparing my times.

Saxon Shore is famous for the goody bags you get after the race – there’s a giant toblerone, crisps, biscuits, more chocolate…even a can of cider! It’s incredible, and the medal is a stunner too. Absolutely worth running 26 miles for! Unfortunately though, I couldn’t hang around at the end enjoying my goody bag and watching the other runners finish as I'd planned – it was just too cold – and so I soon retreated to the warmth of my car and headed back home.

The best news is that I woke up the next day without an ache or any stiffness – felt absolutely fine. It took me a few days to recover after the last one, so I’m really pleased that my fitness is coming back and is demonstrable in that way. Now I’m really looking forward to the Portsmouth marathon which is in 3 weeks’ time – I haven’t run Portsmouth before and it’ll be great to try something new! 

Blogs with Buzz

A few weeks ago, I posted about doing a photo-shoot for the magazine Top Santé, as I had been asked to be part of a feature they were doing on bloggers…yesterday I had an email to tell me that the magazine is now on the shelves!

I unashamedly rushed out to buy a copy at lunch, and immediately flicked through to find the article, entitled “Blogs with Buzz”. There was my photo on the glossy pages, although, unfortunately, as I often am, I was disappointed with the picture that they’d chosen to use. 

But never mind the photo…I’m considering it a real honour that out of all the awesome fitness bloggers there are out there, they chose me to be included in the feature, that they considered this blog worthy of the publicity, and that they wanted to tell my story.

So...here it is...and if can actually want to read the article there's a larger version here:
https://twitter.com/naominf/status/406175487812071424/photo/1/large

A very busy schedule

I've been really enthusiastic about my running this week - I've been enjoying my training and my diet has been good too. Despite what everyone probably thinks, I've not had any new road shoes since May, and so I've bought some new ones (these lovely Kayano 20s) and I even went for a morning and evening run for Wednesday . Happy days!

As a result, I've been reviewing my plan that's going to prepare me for the Thames Path 100 as it's starting to feel a little bit more real now. I've realised that the massive number of long runs I have scheduled during training is going to be a nightmare to try and do on my own - I'm sure that as I get tired and life starts in get in the way, I'll be easily swayed from my schedule. So, I've booked in a few more events so I can get some long runs done with other people, and with a bit of bling encouragement  - if there's a medal at the end of it, I'll be there ;)

So...which races have I got booked in? All of these ones:

Confirmed entries:
Nov-13	Marathon	Saxon Shore
Dec-13	Marathon	Portsmouth
Dec-13	10 miles	Buntingford Year End
Jan-14	Marathon	Enigma Winter
Jan-14	Ultra: 45 miles	Country to Capital
Feb-14	Ultra: 66 miles/2 days	Pilgrim’s Challenge
Mar-14	Ultra: 45 miles	St. Peter’s Way
Mar-14	Half Marathon	Brentwood
Mar-14	Marathon	Buttons for Brathay
April-14	Ultra: 57 miles/2 days	Cotswold Way Challenge
April-14	Marathon	Enigma Good Friday
May-14	Ultra: 100 miles	Thames Path

Not all of them are strictly part of the training schedule - for instance the Brentwood Half Marathon was my first ever race and is local for me, and so decided it was just one I wanted to do this year. To make it into something a bit more useful, I'll run to and from the race. 

I only booked the two back to back races this week, and am really looking forward to them. XNRG put them both on...the same people who arranged The Toad that I did last year (90 miles in 3 days) which was such a success. Ideally I'd get a few more races in the schedule but there just aren't that many others that I've been able to find that work logistically...and I need to try and balance it with home life too so this will probably have to do.

There is a part of me that's a bit nervous about the races I've got booked though. I always run harder during an event than in a training run, and I'm really not as fit as I was this time last year - but there's only one way to improve that and it's running more so I'm sure things will work out ;) The Cotswold Challenge in April is one I'm particularly worried about - it's very hilly (2750m of ascent) and I'm really not great  at climbing - but if everything comes together by April it should be more than achievable. Let's hope so, because if I'm not strong enough to run 27 and 30 milers on consecutive days, regardless of how hilly they are, I'll have no chance of finishing the TP100 ;)

More new shoes

A few weeks ago I was offered the chance to try out a new pair of trainers...any trainers...from www.blackleaf.com, a site that sells a huge array of sports gear - not just running stuff, but clothes and accessories for biking, skiing, surfing, skating and generally being outdoors!

I've been thinking of getting some new Merrells recently as my Access Arcs as getting a bit worse for wear, so had a look through the Merrell selection and chose the Lithe Gloves in this gorgeous colourway, which are another style in the Merrell barefoot running shoe family.

I was very excited to try them out, and to see if they looked as good as they did in real life as they did in the picture. Luckily, they arrived really quickly...and they are beautiful looking shoes!

Unfortunately, I think I should have stuck with my Access Arc's as they are incredibly comfortable and fit me really well. The Lithe Gloves seem to feel totally different and I've only been able to wear they once despite loving how they look, as they're just not a good fit for my feet.

Although they have the expected spacious, wide toe-box, for some reason they are very deep, and after wearing them for just a couple of hours, walking around, they creased badly across the top and into my foot. The other problem is the fit around the heel - they rubbed badly and gave me blisters! I was really surprised, as I've expected the fit to be similar to my other Barefoot Merrells, but they just don't seem to suit my foot.

However, always nice to be able to try out some different shoes, and I really appreciate the trial...and just wish I'd picked another of the many shoes that were available to me from the www.blackleaf.com website. Hey ho...we live and learn. It's probably not a bad thing...I think the house is a bit overwhelmed by the number of trainers I'm using at the moment, and not sure I have room for another pair in the hall!