Tuesday 14 May 2013

Swimathon, Marathon and upping the Iron Distance Training 2013


Swimathon 5k challenge

 
The swim was something I have kindof got into the habit of doing each yr . although my swim sessions in mornings have dropped to about 10 minutes each session I did manage one proper 100 lap training session before this event, but I was still dreading this event more than the upcoming marathon. Thankfully I managed to get through it ok and my time was roughly 10 minutes slower than last yr from recollection but at least I did it. My brother and sis came to support me which was a nice surprise, especially as I was last to get out of the pool at the end.


 

Marathon 2013

 
Since last entry the only running I did was three odd 4 mile runs spread out over the weeks at times to test out the foot injury. The sprained right ankle area still gave me some pain which really pissed me off. The inability to get out there and do the training plan is really annoying and as I felt like shit I ended up eating loads of junk food and felt sorry for myself. The only good thing was I did do a few cycle commutes to work and at weekends started doing long cycle rides which I really did enjoy.
Nowadays, if on my training plan I have say a 50 miler to do, this used to scare me, but not now; I actually get exited and jump onto mapmyfitness.com to plan my route around the beautiful Ards Peninsula.

 
The night before the marathon I ate the usual pasta and in morning had cornflakes and peanut butter and jam sandwichs with a banana. On arrival at the start area I was very relaxed and exited to get going trying not to freak myself out about the possible DNF due to injury.

Into the run after a few miles my foot started to give me some pain , so I kept my pace reasonably comfortable and decided not to try and do a PB as I was just setting myself up for a definite DNF instead of a possible DNF! Anyhows, as the milage crept up I got into a rhythm and just kept running. After the slightly difficult Antrim Road I tried to hydrate well with regular sips of water and one stop off to pay my water taxes. The crowd as usual were amazing especially Falls/Shankill area were huge amount people with kids etc come out and the little kids are high five’ing you as you pass. The atmosphere gave me goosebumps and huge smiles. Little did I realise that half way round the course the pain in my anckle started to ease and before long I forgot all about it.

Towards the end my brother Stephen came out to support me on the last few miles of the run. Thankfully this year it didn’t rain, the weather was reasonable. It was slightly warmer than I would have hoped, but not roasting hot.

 

The charity I ran for was the ‘North Uganda Outreach Project’ which is a charity run by my good friends Hugh and Becky. Now not just do they have a blog, but they also have facebook and a justgiving charity account that people can link their charity events to. This is their blog site - www.outreachuganda.blogspot.com.
 
 
That is now my fifth marathon and although my time was alot slower at 4.03  (last yr 3.55) I appreciate that I was not really run training in month coming up to marathon and doing a fair amount of biking and had a foot injury. iI you asked me to do the marathon a month ago before the injury i would stand a good chance of trying to beat my PB I think. This yr my main race is still bolton, so I wont stress too much about the marathon time, theres always next yr.


Heres a cool video my dad got of me. Im at 2.30 into it. it was funny as dad said later that he should have shouted philip instead of 'son' as i didnt really here him and he got a couple of blokes turn round looking out their dad instead looking at him :-)





Im not sure if you can pick up from the video, but each yr as soon as u hit the last straight at the gates u get a real burst of energy and i always sprint across the finish, dont know where i get it from as that ormeau road is tough and i can barely run round it after 25 miles!

 

Iron Distance - Peak Weekend Training 11/12 May


Well just had a busy weekend
Saturday - Bike
Had my longest every training bike ride 100 miler which was a good tester to see if I could do a really long distance, nail nutrition and hydration at the same time. Fuelled two 750 bottles which just about did me but I read that I really should have downed twice that amount. Ate well the nite before and had two toasties the morning of cycle, took aimee waterbabies, then after that went for my ride after lunch. Ended up returning 10.30 pretty late and by that stage it was dark by 9.30 so glad I had put lights on bike. The ride itself was great ards pinninsula and wheather ok with odd shower. Wore my long (green sports) tights and lighter altura yellow rain jacket which allowed me to open and close side zips to allow cool air in at times. I had relied upon my homemade granola/protein bars and some snack fun size mars bars type sweets to get me through. it ended up taking me 7.43hrs to do 103 miles , 13mph pace.

 
Sunday - Run
The next day, Sunday I had on training plan an 18 miler. I knew that due to family commitments this wouldn’t be possible to do long run in morning I decided to split it in two. In morning I did 6 miler with mcgregor our dog. After the family function I decided to head out for the 12 miler. In this afternoon I hadn’t eaten well for the long run eating the wrong type of foods and I had not drunk well with drinking coffee and Fanta at the family function. As the 12 miler went even at 4 miles between the sore legs from yesterdays bike ride and the morning run together with poor nutrition and hydration everthing came together and I really struggled. I mean it was very hard for me. I was tired and sore and hated ever minute of it. My speed slowed to a granny pace 11 mile pace! Eventually I finished thank god.

Well that was my peak weekend but unfortunately I didn’t do the swimming I was supposesd to do – 160 laps! No chance after that workload!

And now 3 weeks til tri limits iron distance ironman. Cant wait.

Hopefully next report is a successful completion of my second full distance iron