update

Hi

I have a 13 mile run on the treadmill to report - 2 weeks after my half marathon - felt a bit sore the next day but not nearly as much as my first race

I ran 22.5 mi this week but my 12 weekly avg is still only 13 - i need to improve week after week now as i really need my average to go up - maybe i should only include the last month avg or work out my MONTHLY averages...

I don't know

At the moment i am doing 4 or 5 day spurts followed by a day or two off

I will run today maybe 4 or 5 miles and then cross train the next morning with a yoga class and hope to run same day later on

I am obsessed with June next year and really need to let up a bit on the mental side of things and also increase my mileage in a big way...
don't know if those 2 things go together

Rift in Time and Space Half Marathon

HI LOL

this is CARDIFF and the setting for all my favourite TV shows, walked around and had a look at the Torchwood (anogram for doctor who) Hub and the posh way in to the undergroud place, a slab of pavement where there is a perception filter, so that no passers by see the paving stone going down with the people on it!!

And i ran a half marathon around this beautiful city, taking a pee behind a tree in a Park!!, going over this one place where someone disapeared into Cardiff's rift in Time and Space..

anyway back to the race...

I stayed at a hotel near to the start line, perfect for a warm up , got up at a good time, but really should have got there earlier to ensure that i had enough time to find safety pins, we didn't find the Race Villiage till AFTER and was wandering around the baggage drops and the start line getting very fed up, but i was given 2 long strips of stripy wide duck tape, in striking yellow and black diagonals, and stuck it to my shirt, the top bit stayed attatched!! the whole way round!!

so i will look out for photos...

the most amazing thing about this race is I MATCHED my p.b.

2:47:03 AGAIN

lol

i will give you my split times because i was Very slow and in a good zone until about mile 8 then a bit faster for a couple of miles and all out in the last 5k....

Wayne - you said dont' worry about giving it a kick at the end - i don't know what you meant - but suddenly i was Racing...!!!

I was very much focused on form and feeling fresh throughout... it wasn't quite a breeze, the 12 - 13 mile mark was a hard mile...

lap 1 12.48 mi / mi 146 bpm avg

lap2 13,43 mi/ mi 146 bpm avg

lap 3 13.55 mi / mi 143 bpm avg

lap 4 13,56 mi/mi 143bpm avg

lap 5 13.29 mi/ mi 143 bpm avg

lap 6 13.38 mi /mi 143 bpm avg

lap 7 13,25 mi / mi 145 bpm avg

lap 8 13.13 mi / mi 150 bpm avg

lap 9 13.29 mi / mi 152 bpm avg

lap 10 12.18 mi / mi 158 bpm avg

lap 11 11.28 mi /mi 166 bpm avg

lap 12 10.53 mi / mi 174 bpm avg (!)

lap 13 12.22 mi /mi 172 bpm avg (bit tired)

well 2 mi at about 90 % most of it was around 78 - 82% when i was actually looking

last 5 k as a race? what did i want to be stupid??

I hope i will not be too sore i have a hip flexor in a bit of pain becuase of the hill run the other day

might not do exactly that same run in a hurry or if not much slower at some point...

again - recovery suggestions, based on my race would be amazing and soooooooo apreciated i love to get advice and need to know -might keep 12 miles as a long run for a couple of weeks

I will try finding a reverse taper of a half marathon plan and reverse the process

Thanks for reading

Ashtanga and other Yoga

Hi I have just been starting to get in some cross training in the last 3 weeks and it's been FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't explain how much yoga has meant to me in the past - and i have found yoga invaluable when long term in patient psychiatric hospitals...

I really don't think cross training should be so much fun!!

I think cross training is something you Have to do and Should do and only do in bits and peices here and there and give up a lot as i usually have....

To find something where i would love to put in the challenge of getting to either 6 or 7 day weeks.... of getting my fix.... every day..... where i haven't even done 5 days yet so that is what i'll start with...

I think i have worked out more intensely than intensively ??

I have done big deals at too fast or too long or hard maybe ? or just not built it up slowly enough

or had the motivation maybe

But my motivation is on overdrive at the moment - i will have to be carefull not to burn out - but in a way - i never did have enough motivation - i think i just wanted to....

even so the intensively has come into play with my one Ashtanga class that i went to 10 days ago, which Wiped me out Completely for a whole week - my long run wasn't kept to schedule and was 5 days later and slowish

I did another class (1.5 hrs) on Saturday - which was easy ish other than some of the upper body stuff and some of the ballancing stuff...

I did my first 2 hr class with this teacher and it killed me - but that was from couch and at the start of my yoga - so it was amazing that i was good enough with my leg strength to be better in some of it than ever -

Amazed to be enjoying yoga again - wasn't really expecting it or looking forward to it just had the idea one day!!!

My fave downhill run

Hi, I again did a 5.4 downhill run- in 1:04 I am glad that my time keeps improving - that is with very little effort and trying very hard not to push myself as only did 10km race 4 days ago - but i have been thinking a little bit like 'f' recovery!!!
it's not the most amazing journey ...
i have done this run in 56 mins... it loses about i think 600m sooo gradually and needs someone with a car the other end because it's a fantastic one way downhill run

I think i can only class it as a 4 mi run or call it a run to time because it is not as much of a challenge as going the other way - which i sometimes do and enjoy equally...

I just can't wait to get to a 10 miler in a couple of weeks or so or 11, when my Garmin is working again and go UP and DOWN - so far all my longer runs have been on a circular route or at races the up and back thing is great for some reason - esp up and down a long slow hill - you can really feel the gradient on a bike even more so than on foot i think because you almost have no need for peddals on the way down!!!

Powderham Castle 10km

Finally found the webpage with my result on it - my chip time was 1:17:27

worse than it could have been but i was forefoot striking for the first time in a race after only a few weeks of practicing this form of running.

I have no doubt that the scenery was very beautiful - but being kinesthetic with my mind and running i'm absolutely oblivious and only saw the ground infront of me and felt like i was going far too fast at the beginning, then too slow for the middle bit then all out for the last 4km

it was so stupid to start so near the front and overtake people i knew would just take me back but it felt so easy and the maybe 9.5 min mile i did half of was absolutely the same in feeling as the 13 min mile near the end - because when not tired - how are you supposed to not push it?

I always usually know the answer to that and have never yet failed so dismally as this time at pacing myself

the run went up a grass bank / garden then round onto a path then by the estuary and then round and into the beautiful small roads and woods, then back through a courtyard in the castle and return same way as started.

It was a lot tougher than i thought ... i was under trained - new to forefoot strike - and maybe someone can tell me which of those is a more important feature in my slow race.... I ran a 10km race in 1:13:01 4 weeks ago after avg 4 mpw for 8 weeks, then i get back into my groove a little and have one silly 7,5 mi week and then finish on a race far from my pb.

I hope that it is the forefoot strike out of those - which i'm certain will make me faster in the long run... longer runs...

I did a 2 mi hilly beautiful coastal windy rainy run today it was Gorgeous

and then only about 6 mins of intense yoga - my 4th go at yoga in a week - longest so far 20 mins... improving at first but now tired... i am gonna look at the classes in Totnes again there is a hippy town about 30 mins from where i live i will see if i can get back into classes soon - i am so not ready yet!

UNbelievable!!

They still have not posted my time on the internet ! i think because it was a special photo oppourtunity for the charity with everyone asked to wear their t shirts before the race specifically - they might be working on the website for a bit longer than usual!

I think it was about 1:17 for 10km of VERY gentle inclines and some real short hills, up and down and etc - but as a preview to my race report I overtook about 7-9 people in the last 3km!!! i really really went mental and pushed and pushed and pushed!! lol - first for me - i usually keep my place or lose it to others!! too fast off the mark then too slow for first 5km prob made it poss!

Hi again

Hi,
LONG time no blogging!!! everyone else seems a bit quiet around here too!!
I'm just back into running after an 8 week lull of roughly 4 mi per Week!!
When i got married etc!!
So, back to running and in between 2, 10k races - 2nd tomorrow - and a half marahton in 5 weeks!! omg can i really do it with this little preparation? i've done 7.5 quality miles this week, 7.5 total last week and 16.5 the week before - this is not sounding exactly ready for a half marathon just yet - but i hope to get about 2 or so longer runs in before it - a couple of 10 mile runs would be ideal although my longest lately was only 7.6mi in one go

and started back doing a 'tiny bit' of ashtanga yoga - who knows how stupid i can get over that - or not - just promises sometimes - other times i get really hooked - it's not really something to be played with a bit like running but this really is fun for me when i do it properly - but the obsession is x2 that of running - it's a real double edged sword to me.... I don't know what i'm doing getting back into it - except i might get strong arms and shoulders and etc
lol