Sunday 10 February 2008

Twenty's more than plenty

I've officially been running for six years TODAY. I started out - as the majority of gals in the west of Scotland did - by training for the Ladies' 10K. At the time my overly-plump boss and equally over-plump flatmate had toyed with signing up (sweat not, I've lost touch with both). I've never had a hugely competitive streak, but I thought if they could do it (or try it) then I'd give it a bash Up until then, I had sampled every exercise fad on the go. I'd dabbled with kick-boxing, yoga, aerobics, step, body combat, spin bla bla bla. My concentration span usually lasted about three classes. I never quite found my "thing" until I stumbled upon running. I distinctly remember my first "run". Denise and I started out from our flat on Hyndland Road. After an initial jovial stride we collapsed in just over one minute. I stuck with it and was amazed at how quickly the I improved in terms of times and distance. She gave up after three sessions, but I went on to complete my first 10K that year in 57 minutes. I then did the Glasgow half that year in 2:12. Now I laugh at those times, but it was the achievement and enjoyment that drove me to be the insane person I am today! ;-)

Now that I'm training for the WHW, I found myself thinking that today's run was only 20-miles. I now know that I've adopted a whole new level of insanity. I was determined to focus on proper marathon training for today's run. It was all about London. I took in an epic (and slightly complex) route, that even Captain Stevie would be proud of. Started in city centre, over to Finneston, Bell's Bridge, Ibrox, Bellahouston Park, Pollok, Shawlands, back to centre, Charing Cross, West, Whiteinch, Victoria Park, Crow Road, Garscrube, Maryhill, St George's and back. How's that for a tour de Glasgow?

According to my Garmin via SportTrack the route worked out at 20.28 miles. Average time was 8.37. My target time for London is 8.20, so should be do-able. Finished in 2:54:35

I aimed to finish fast. Splits as follows: 8.46, 8.34, 8.47, 9.01, 8.45, 8.51, 8.50, 8.37, 8.29, 8.40, 8.11, 8.16, 8.45, 8.59, 8.59, 8.51, 8.40, 8.19, 8.05, 7.58. Very chuffed that I still had enough to pick up the pace towards the end. My thighs, on the other hand, were not so chuffed. Recovered in the spa pool at the gym. Bliss.

4 comments:

Brian Mc said...

I've just started using a Garmin Forerunner 205 and very pleased with it. Bit dubious about its ability to calculate ascent accurately though. Have you had an crazy ascent totals come back from a run you know isn't that hilly?

Debs M-C said...

Every route I do seems to have crazy hills ;-) Have you put the data through SportTracks? I think that's more accurate. But before I get out of depth on techie chat...you're best to speak to Marco. I struggle to change the channel on TV at times.

Tim said...

Hi Debbie, it sounds like your running is going really well at the moment. I'd just like to sound a word of caution though. It's easy to get blase about the distances we run and forget that jogging 30 miles on trails is very different from *racing* a road marathon.
I think your thighs today are highlighting the harder impact of road running and if you race a road marathon hard, you can expect a lot more muscle damage.
Just make sure that you're focused on which race is *really* important to you this year. I almost messed up my chance of getting to the start line of my first WHW race through trying too hard for a PB in London. I wished, with hindsight, that I had just gone to soak up the London marathon atmosphere and enjoyed an easy run.

John Kynaston said...

Congratulations on your 6th anniversary of running. Well done and look forward to catching up on Saturday - just an easy 31 miles run!!

John