Leah O'Donovan

Tonight was a nice, easy five mile run. One mile warm up, three miles at brisk pace of 9:00 per mile and a mile cool down. Compared with the high mileage of this week, it was very short. It also gave me a chance to test out Sunday’s half-marathon pace. I think it’s going to go well. Watch this space for Sunday’s race report.

Well, today was definitely, definitely easier. I did eight miles at slow pace and I struggled to stay slow. I felt much better, fitter and raring to go. It was cooler, number one, and I was back in my better food and nutrition routine of:

Breakfast: oatmeal with tablespoon of seeds and tablespoon of strawberry jam

Mid-morning snack: pear

Lunch: home-made chickpea veggie burger flavoured with harissa paste on a bagel with hummus and lettuce plus two oatcakes wtih guacamole followed by grapes and an apple

Mid-afternoon snack: banana and have added a slice of whole-wheat bread with a drizzle of honey

So, if you wondered what I was eating, there you go. If you didn’t, until tomorrow then.

Today was speed work. Today was hard. It comprised a mile warm up with three 1.5 mile repeats at 10k pace of 8:26-8:46 per mile with .25 mile recovery jogs and a mile cool down. One would think that, having only just completed a 10k last week at this pace and with relative ease, today would have been not altogether overly difficult. I was wrong. I don’t know if it was tiredness, the slight incline of the route or the heat but the first two repeats were very, very difficult. The last one was, of course the easiest. I say heat because we actually hit 62F (17C) today. It was probably around 60 when I went out around 5.00pm. Because it was still slightly windy and cool I thought capri tights and long-sleeve shirt. Was I ever wrong. I should have worn a short-sleeved shirt and maybe even shorts. I was boiling and sweating like a fat woman at a fair. I am certainly hoping that tomorrow’s slow eight miles will go much better.

The LONG run. Yesterday, Sunday, I ran 17 miles at 10:30 pace. I ran through Dartmoor National Park as you can see on the map here.  We went away for the Easter weekend and found The Granite Way, which is a cycle/walking path from Okehampton to Lydford. Because it is only about six miles long I ran down the full length and back again then turned round and went 2.5 miles, turned round and went back to the start. That’s why the map is one straight line, not turns. My husband cycled alongside me for most of the 12 miles. He would stop to take photos of some of the breathtaking landscapes and countryside. We even spotted a roaming sheep loose from its herd right on the path. He wasn’t too skittish and Tim got several pictures of him up close.

It was a lovely path but the run was hard; I won’t lie. I do wonder if I’m going to survive this marathon. I’ve now got plantar fasciitis in both feet. By the end, they were screaming. My legs were holding up fine, really, but my feet were another matter. I’m hoping some extra stretching this week will loosen things up and then I’ll go for another sports massage next Monday after the half-marathon on Sunday.

Well. Tonight…was…hard. With the race on Sunday, speed work Tuesday night and seven miler last night I was bloody knackered. Tonight I did eight miles at marathon pace. I managed to do it in 9:20 per mile but it was very, very hard. My legs were exhausted and I was exhausted. I am looking very forward to rest day tomorrow. It is Easter weekend which means we get Good Friday off tomorrow and Easter Monday too, so four day weekend! We are off to Devon in the south west of England. We will be going on a short three mile hike around the Lydford Gorge on Saturday in, most likely, off-and-on pouring rain. It will replace my usual easy four miles. Then, on Sunday, it’s a whopping 17 miles. From here on the long Sunday runs will be the longest ever until the taper period. Tim is planning on bicycling with me along the Templer Way trail. I’ll be sure to post a map once we’re back and I’ve uploaded the Garmin data. Enjoy your weekend and check back on Monday for details on mine.

Another wet, windy and cold one out there tonight. I was buffeted by 10 or 15mph gusts and drenched in ‘light rain’ virtually the whole seven miles. I also found the slow 10:20-10:30 pace torturous at times and struggled to keep from going faster. I ended up doing 10:20 per mile. I reckon the quick runs on Sunday and last night have fired up the fast-twitch muscle fibres and the slow-twitch are in hibernation. Need to air them out. Tomorrow is a combination of using both. I will run eight miles but it will be at marathon pace which is a minute quicker than tonight. Hopefully that’ll keep me a bit happier than tonight. Oh, and if it doesn’t rain again, that’d be great.

Well, winter has returned to Britain, to an extent. It was wet, windy and rather cold this evening. Just when I thought I could bare even part of the oh-so-pale legs in 3/4 tights. Oh well. Tonight was speed work. It consisted of a mile warm up followed by 12 x 200 metre (.12 miles) at 8:03-8:23/mile pace with 100 metre (.06 miles) jog recoveries and a one mile cool down. Despite the weather it wasn’t all to difficult tonight. I’m stronger and fitter now so finding the pace was relatively easy; in fact I often started too fast and had to pull back. With only .12 miles to do this in, you’ve got to find the pace quickly.

Tomorrow will be a slow run of seven miles and then Thursday will be a steady run of eight miles. This eight miler will be around marathon pace of 9:11-9:31 per mile. It will be a good test of fitness but obviously nowhere near the 26.2 miles that are now only eight weeks away. Yikes!

I ran a 10k race today as part of marathon training. The training programme suggestion was to race anywhere from five miles to half-marathon, which is 13.1 miles. I was unable to find a half nearby so I chose to run a 10k in Hyde Park. It is the largest and one of the most beautiful parks in Greater London. Anyone who has ever been here will probably vouch for that. Here is a photo of the Serpentine ‘lake’ in the middle of the park.

We ran around this on both sides. As you can see, it was a bit grey and cloudy today; but at least it was dry. It was also fairly cool this morning. It’s always a bit of a nightmare waiting at the start in skimpy shorts and a short-sleeved shirt hopping up and down like a moron trying to keep the blood flowing.

I felt good in the first couple miles and, as always, started out a bit too fast. I managed to hold on, though, for most of the race. I did set a new PB (personal best) of 52:39. That is 8:29 per mile. My previous time was 54:50 at 8:50 per mile. I shaved off 2:11 from my time. Timing for races is now done by what are called ‘chips’. You attach some sort of technological genius to your shoe, whether that’s a small credit-card shaped piece of plastic like today or a chunk of plastic or even an ankle strap. You then step on a mat at the start and finish of the race and it ‘talks’ to your chip to register the time. It should be the most accurate as there can be a delay in actually crossing the start line if you are a back-of-the-pack slower runner such as myself. You don’t have to factor in the time the clock starts and time you physically start the race. Races are supposed to be measured and certified by the UK athletics association.

I always run/race with my Garmin sat nav watch/heart rate monitor. It helps me track my pace and tells me how many miles I’ve done. In past races, the difference between the chip time and my watch time has been negligible. The last 10k I raced I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the finish line. Garmin said 6.18. A 10k is 6.21, so negligible difference and sat nav watches can fluctuate in measurements due to trees or buildings in the way or whatever. They’re pretty accurate but nothing is perfect. Today, however, my Garmin indicated I had competed 6.21 miles almost .2 miles from the finish line and mat. Convention says you take the chip time due to sat nav fluctuations. My Garmin today said 51:27, the chip says 52:39. That’s more than a minute difference.

I post to a Runner’s World forum on a daily basis and they have all backed the chip timing despite my relative disappointment with the time. Both times are still new PBs, which is the most important. I now have a half-marathon in Kent in two weeks. I’m going to concentrate on getting a new PB for that too. The reason races are part of training is to test your fitness. If today is anything to go by, I’d say I’m doing pretty well. I was able to run 2.00 faster than I did five months ago. Hopefully I can take at least 30 seconds, if not a full minute, off of my half PB of 1:58:10. Check back in two weeks to find out.

Tonight was wet; very, very wet. I only had to do a mile warm up, two miles ‘brisk’ at 9:00ish pace and a mile cool down. That’s only four measly miles. Inevitably, it starts raining half-way into my warm-up and I mean pissing it down. I’m soaked before I even start running. It continues and then I’m running directly into the wind in the first mile. I’m soaked through and the wind is blowing straight through my jacket; but I persevere. I tripped and very nearly fell flat on my face. How I stayed upright I’ll never know. And then it stopped raining with only half a mile left. Oh well, rest day tomorrow.

Tonight I ran home again for my slow eight miles. I ran through Hampton Court Palace Park, which was lovely. You can see the map here. I actually came up right next to Hampton Court. History buffs (or Tudors fans) will recognise this as Henry VIII’s palace. Very interesting to come round the corner and find gold-plated gates in front of you. I’m thinking of running the Thames path up to London for my 22 miler. I enjoy running by the water. It’s calming.