Ran the Kent coastal marathon today...woke up at 6.15 and drove down to Kent....was after a time of 3.15, I started running and paced pretty well. The first half of the race is hilly and the sun came out, I turned in 1.36 so was on for 3.15...in the 2nd half I am not sure what happened to me but I was a mess and all over the place.... a lot of walking and finished in 3.35. I can't put my finger on it, at the end of the day it's another marathon under my belt and have Amsterdam in 6 weeks which will be a p.b opportunity.
Garmin report below
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47679745
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Monday, 14 June 2010
South Downs Marathon and Southend Half 2010
South Downs Marathon Saturday 12th June
I had been awaiting this day pretty much the day after Halstead marathon...really wanting to get my numbers up this year and starting to notice there aren't as many marathons as you think in the southern region.My friend James told me about this marathon and he was running in it as part of his training in the run up to Bad water 135 miler. My alarm went off at 5.10am on a Saturday morning and sometimes it does cross your mind - why am I doing this...but when my alarm went off I was well up for it, straight out of bed and on the road by 5.30. Love the roads early morning as there is noone on them so smashed it - arrived at Queen Elizabeth country park at 7.30 which is the end of the race, so you park your car at the end of the race then they ferry you to the start on coaches which was at Swindon College. I got on this bus with the usual characters - you do get some freaks at these events but there you go, everyone is nice. Arrived at Swindon college at 8.45ish and I still had and hour and 15 before I started as they had 3 starting times
9 - People who were running the marathon in over 4 and half hours
9.30 - Relays
10 - People who were running the marathon in under 4 and half hours
So I had an hour wait, I sat on the hill in the sun and chilled out, spoke to a couple of other runners about various races they had done or were doing, then James turned up at 9.45 who had got the train down from London, he played it very cool - turned up put his bag on the bus and we walked to the start line. James was running this event with me, he reckoned I would be around the 4 hour mark. The marathon was a 5200ft climb, we kicked off at 10 and we were off, James and I were both wearing Garmins and it was funny how they synced each other for every mile, beeping one after the other or at the same time which is pretty amazing that it's worked by GPS ( I love that sh8t, I am a geek). Anyway we started off through country roads and woods, then out into the South Downs through country land back through woods, we were running the first few miles in 7 and half mins flying...some of the hills we were going down at ridiculous speeds, James was very quick down the hills, I think I was a little nervous and didn't want to fall, he explained to me today that it takes years of practice and you grow with more confidence more times you do it. At the half way stage we were in a good position - 1 hour 45 mins so were well on target for 4 hours then at mile 14 we hit a monster hill which we chose to walk up, the 2nd half of the race was a lot more hillier. I was dehydrating massively for some reason, it was hot but I was drinking so much water, when we got to mile 22ish we hit a big hill and I was struggling up it, James walked ahead with a guy called Joe who we had met at the start of the race at this point I was all over the place, head on it's side sliding - James looked back and kept walking.. when I got to the top we pushed on, the last few miles went very quickly as always and we came in with 3.43.58 which I was vey happy with (46th position out of 580) It shows how much I have come on in a year when I ran my first marathon in 3.44 which was pretty flat, this marathon had 5200ft elevation. We sat down for a bit... then was off in he car and I dropped James off at the station, smashed it home in 1.40 mins, had a lay down - medium Pizza, chicken wings and garlic bread... then went round a mates to watch the game, had a couple of peronis. Was a great marathon and now I had the Southend Half to run tomorrow.
Untitled by petegoldring at Garmin Connect - Details
Southend Half Marathon - Sunday 13th June
I woke up this morning and was really not up for the half but my friend Smash was doing it and I thought it's a nice little local race and a good way to end the weekend. My legs were stiff, Smash picked me up at 9.15 we arrived at the race just for 10, we were late and there was a massive que into the car park so we had to dump the car and run to the start of the race.The race was delayed massively due to the car park situation and didn't start until 10.30. I had decided after running from the car to the start that I was lacking energy and legs were stiff so was never going to run a p.b so I decided to run with Ash who wanted to run between 1.35 and 1.40. I set the garmin pacer for 7.15 min miles which would bring us in at 1.34ish. We set off and Ash's shoe fell off - he caught me up, we ran the first 5 miles in 7.10 min miles so was ahead of schedule then Ash seemed to slow down. I was a little worried, the pace slowed right down, I kept encouraging Ash and he came in with a time of 1.40, I was 1.39, I ran the last mile on my own as fancied a little sprint...I felt good at Ash's pace and it was good to be sensible, I knew I could of gone all guns out which would have been stupid the day after a marathon. Always good to run Southend Half - flat course so good opportunity to run a p.b...next year maybe I Will train for the race and try and smash it...all in all a good weekends worth of running - it's a good feeling to know I can run a marathon then cruise a half the next day. Finished up with a few beers down old Leigh with my little bro Joe and a few mates, then a curry...writing this now I am very tired but looking forward to the next event. I totaled up mileage for the week and I ran 82.6 miles this week which is massive for me on a work week....this week will be a little quieter, specially with a swollen ankle.
I had been awaiting this day pretty much the day after Halstead marathon...really wanting to get my numbers up this year and starting to notice there aren't as many marathons as you think in the southern region.My friend James told me about this marathon and he was running in it as part of his training in the run up to Bad water 135 miler. My alarm went off at 5.10am on a Saturday morning and sometimes it does cross your mind - why am I doing this...but when my alarm went off I was well up for it, straight out of bed and on the road by 5.30. Love the roads early morning as there is noone on them so smashed it - arrived at Queen Elizabeth country park at 7.30 which is the end of the race, so you park your car at the end of the race then they ferry you to the start on coaches which was at Swindon College. I got on this bus with the usual characters - you do get some freaks at these events but there you go, everyone is nice. Arrived at Swindon college at 8.45ish and I still had and hour and 15 before I started as they had 3 starting times
9 - People who were running the marathon in over 4 and half hours
9.30 - Relays
10 - People who were running the marathon in under 4 and half hours
So I had an hour wait, I sat on the hill in the sun and chilled out, spoke to a couple of other runners about various races they had done or were doing, then James turned up at 9.45 who had got the train down from London, he played it very cool - turned up put his bag on the bus and we walked to the start line. James was running this event with me, he reckoned I would be around the 4 hour mark. The marathon was a 5200ft climb, we kicked off at 10 and we were off, James and I were both wearing Garmins and it was funny how they synced each other for every mile, beeping one after the other or at the same time which is pretty amazing that it's worked by GPS ( I love that sh8t, I am a geek). Anyway we started off through country roads and woods, then out into the South Downs through country land back through woods, we were running the first few miles in 7 and half mins flying...some of the hills we were going down at ridiculous speeds, James was very quick down the hills, I think I was a little nervous and didn't want to fall, he explained to me today that it takes years of practice and you grow with more confidence more times you do it. At the half way stage we were in a good position - 1 hour 45 mins so were well on target for 4 hours then at mile 14 we hit a monster hill which we chose to walk up, the 2nd half of the race was a lot more hillier. I was dehydrating massively for some reason, it was hot but I was drinking so much water, when we got to mile 22ish we hit a big hill and I was struggling up it, James walked ahead with a guy called Joe who we had met at the start of the race at this point I was all over the place, head on it's side sliding - James looked back and kept walking.. when I got to the top we pushed on, the last few miles went very quickly as always and we came in with 3.43.58 which I was vey happy with (46th position out of 580) It shows how much I have come on in a year when I ran my first marathon in 3.44 which was pretty flat, this marathon had 5200ft elevation. We sat down for a bit... then was off in he car and I dropped James off at the station, smashed it home in 1.40 mins, had a lay down - medium Pizza, chicken wings and garlic bread... then went round a mates to watch the game, had a couple of peronis. Was a great marathon and now I had the Southend Half to run tomorrow.
Untitled by petegoldring at Garmin Connect - Details
Southend Half Marathon - Sunday 13th June
I woke up this morning and was really not up for the half but my friend Smash was doing it and I thought it's a nice little local race and a good way to end the weekend. My legs were stiff, Smash picked me up at 9.15 we arrived at the race just for 10, we were late and there was a massive que into the car park so we had to dump the car and run to the start of the race.The race was delayed massively due to the car park situation and didn't start until 10.30. I had decided after running from the car to the start that I was lacking energy and legs were stiff so was never going to run a p.b so I decided to run with Ash who wanted to run between 1.35 and 1.40. I set the garmin pacer for 7.15 min miles which would bring us in at 1.34ish. We set off and Ash's shoe fell off - he caught me up, we ran the first 5 miles in 7.10 min miles so was ahead of schedule then Ash seemed to slow down. I was a little worried, the pace slowed right down, I kept encouraging Ash and he came in with a time of 1.40, I was 1.39, I ran the last mile on my own as fancied a little sprint...I felt good at Ash's pace and it was good to be sensible, I knew I could of gone all guns out which would have been stupid the day after a marathon. Always good to run Southend Half - flat course so good opportunity to run a p.b...next year maybe I Will train for the race and try and smash it...all in all a good weekends worth of running - it's a good feeling to know I can run a marathon then cruise a half the next day. Finished up with a few beers down old Leigh with my little bro Joe and a few mates, then a curry...writing this now I am very tired but looking forward to the next event. I totaled up mileage for the week and I ran 82.6 miles this week which is massive for me on a work week....this week will be a little quieter, specially with a swollen ankle.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Weekend of Garmin 405
I decided to purchase a Garmin this week as thought it's about time I drill down a bit more on my training. With GPS and a virtual training partner this should be helpfull in my goal of breaking 3.15 for a marathon this year. I went out Saturday in the afternoon at 4 o'clock - was very hot - I ran 10.55 miles with a 361 ft climb, I set the pace maker on 7.30 min miles and came in with average 7.27 min miles so was happy with that and the Garmin helps you track each mile to see how your doing. I woke up Sunday after a night watching of champions league round a friends, I was running with my friend Ash this morning, we set the pacer to 8 min miles to match his marathon 2 weeks ago - (3.34) we ended up running 16.14 miles in 2.12.21 which isn't a bad effort considering it was very hot. That takes me to 56.5 miles for the week which is not too bad...the achiles is playing up now so need to be carefull with South downs marathon in 3 weeks - 5200ft of climb so should be a great test. Ash, Tom and I entered the Amsterdam marathon this weekend which is in October - it will be Tom's first marathon, my first big marathon (15,000 entrants) and a great chance of a p.b as the course is v.flat so really aiming for a good time in Amsterdam and we are staying for a night out as well to make it a bit of a trip. I found the start of this week tough after the alcohol over the weekend but now I feel I am back to my fit self and am loving running again.
Sunday run
Untitled by petegoldring at Garmin Connect - Details
Sunday run
Untitled by petegoldring at Garmin Connect - Details
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Essex Marathon 2010
Today I was running the Essex Marathon after a week of cycling 360 miles in Morocco. I flew back yesterday and was very tired and lacked a lot of energy, I entered this marathon a while ago as my mate Ash was running his first marathon...waking up this morning I knew it would be tough but couldn't let Ash down, he picked me up at 8.30 -we arrived at the course at 9.30 and were greeted by Ash's Mum Sally and boyfriend Kev - quick photo and we were off. I was aiming for 3.15, I ran the first mile in 6.32 which is far too quick...after 2 miles I felt terrible and was thinking why am I running this after the week I have had, I battled on and pulling out was crossing my mind which never normally does in a marathon. I got to 13 miles in 1.37 which was perfect for 3.15 but then hit a wall at 17, Sally and Kev were riding their bikes around the course so I saw them and they said Ash was close behind so I slowed down and he caught me up, I ran a mile with him and had a release, ended up finishing in 3.26.43...course was very undulating...I lacked a lot of energy today and was in no fit state to run a marathon but happy with that time, a p.b for me...with the right preparation 3.15 is definitely achievable.Ash finished in 3.34.15 which is a great effort for a first marathon, I am very proud of him...now siting here writing this I am very tired and looking forward to a few days of no running or cycling.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Jurassic Coastal Challenge - 26th-28th March 2010
Day 1 -
It had Rained a lot last night..woke up to sunshine which was a result.Had a bit of breakfast and was off in the mini bus to Charmouth,we started at 11.10.There were some huge hills in the first few miles and I was thinking what have I signed up for,having done no hill training...the first 6 miles took over an hour.When running it was very muddy and slippy so was hard to build up a cadence,there were times in today's race where I thought what am I doing entering this and as if I can do 3 days,then towards the end I thought I have got to take each day as it comes.I finished today in 5.05-was happy with that in the tough conditions...legs a little stiff writing this-bring on tomorrow.
Day 2-
Woke up this morning..legs a little stiff...was confident though..the starting line was just outside our sh8t caravan site. The first few miles were on road which was a nice break from yesterday.Then we hit a couple of hills - why wouldn't we.. then onto pebble paths around Portland island.There was a group of us running together - Elson, Paul, Andy and myself, I felt strong at 12 miles - I have noticed through ultra running you get these good bursts of energy and when they happen you have to take advantage so I took off from the group for a mile or so then hit check point 2. Topped up with Cheese and Pickle role, Crisps, Mars bars the lot....I ate these and realised Elson and co had kept going so caught them up. We carried along the coast and then we hit some slippy muddy hills which are v.annoying..I nearly fell over - you beauty..today was hot as well so took 2 salt tablets and consumed a lot of water. Approaching CP3 my big right toe was in pain, border line falling off but managed to run through the pain and saw the medic after the race to get it taped up.Finished on 3 monster hills, bring on tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Cambridge Boundary Run (Marathon)
I am writing this at home with some stiff legs.... I ran the Cambridge Boundary Marathon today, was a lovely days weather, sunny all day, so perfect running weather...When I arrived at David Lloyd at Cambridge I registered for the marathon and was given a t-shirt and map which I thought was worrying, I asked why the map and this is just a precaution as they don't have the manpower to Marshall the course. I aimed to break 3.30 today which would be a p.b...began the race and ran the first mile in 6.40 which is way too fast, the run was off road...... running around Cambridge and through country lanes. I turned in 1.37 which I was happy with so was on for breaking 3.30, ran the second half slower on the off road terrain and ended up finishing in 3.34.36 with a wrong turning. I was pleased with that performance as most of the course was off road so breaking 3.30 was a big ask... a very well organised marathon and a great days weather. I ran today against my Physio's advise as have a swollen ankle but I needed to get a marathon in pre Jurassic......hopefully after a few days rest the ankle should be okay, I am doing the Lydd Half marathon next Sunday with my friend Ash were I aim to break 1.30....I still got the endorphins while listening to the radio on the way home today...I am up for my next road marathon were I am sure I can break 3.30......
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