It's hard to believe over a month has passed since the Nice Cannes Marathon on the 4th of November. Thankfully I can reminisce about it far more positively a month down the line than I could in the aftermath...it still pains me to think about those very low points, but I know what an achievement it is too.
I've given myself time to recover from thatordeal experience and continue to feel I am in recovery. I've 'only' run three times since the marathon - three parkruns. Two at Vogrie (I also tailwalked the week after the marathon), and one at Hay Lodge park in Peebles, Scotland's newest parkrun. Peebles was actually my first run post-marathon, 13 days later, and I found it tough. Of course I set off too quickly and then just tried to hold onto that pace, but I was pleased with a sub-24 minute time. My two runs at Vogrie subsequently felt like coming home - Vogrie parkrun will always feel like home to me. I've run 43 of my 50 parkruns there, and it's a special place to me. It started my running journey.
Last Saturday I reached that first official 'milestone' of 50 parkruns - it felt amazing! I ran with Dave and my cousin Colin, completing his first parkrun. I made some rocky road for the finish which seemed to go down well! It feels like a big achievement and I'm looking forward to being able to order the first of my free milestone t-shirts.
The next milestone is 100 and I'm hoping to achieve that in 2020. It is realistic to manage it next year, however I'd like to focus on getting to my 25th volunteer milestone first. This Saturday will be my 10th volunteer experience, so getting to 25 in 2019 is very achievable. It's nice to give something back to an event that's given me so much!
So although I've 'only' run nine miles since the marathon, I know how important it is to let my body - and my mind - recover from marathon number two. And from the year that has gone by - I had started training this time last year, and was starting to really up my mileage and run three times a week instead of two. Therefore the entire past year has been spent training for a marathon, and I'm ready to rest from that!
After the Edinburgh Marathon I wrote a post about my 30 week training plan, and all the running I had built up over that time to feel marathon ready: http://anxious-ambler.blogspot.com/2018/06/training-for-my-first-marathon.html
You'll be pleased to hear this post won't be as long as that one!
Whilst out in France in April visiting Colin, Emma and new baby Matthew, we discussed the possibility of us coming back out in November around the time of the marathon festival. Colin has been involved in some way for many years - either running the full thing (twice at that point), or one of the relay options. Mum, Andrew and Ross had all been out in different years to run or support the Marathon Des Alpes-Maritime and its various events. Having my new nephew as an added incentive to visit made it even more appealing - so Dave and I started planning for another trip out in November. At this point I hadn't even run Edinburgh, so the full marathon was certainly not something I was considering!
Post-Edinburgh Marathon I did rest, running parkruns only and enjoying a bit of parkrun tourism (I wrote about that here). However I mentally felt that I had a chance at running another marathon this year. I was the fittest I'd ever been in my adult life; running felt more and more comfortable, my parkrun times were getting faster, I'd lost weight, I was eating better and barely touching alcohol. I didn't want to lose the fitness I'd gained, so it felt almost natural to start another training cycle in the summer.
The week beginning the 16th of July gave me sixteen weeks to the Nice Cannes Marathon. Funnily enough I was in Copenhagen at the start of that week, and my schedule got off to a slow start! I didn't actually enter the marathon until the 9th of August, but I'd tentatively started running through the week again.
I was definitely a lot more relaxed on this training cycle. I was coming from a higher base level of fitness, and I had the confidence behind me that I had completed a marathon before, so I was less anxious about doing it again.
It seemed to take me a while to build back up to longer runs though - in fact it took until the 28th of August to get into double digit runs again. I had my first half marathon-distance run planned for the 17th of September, and I'd handily entered a virtual half marathon around Loch Leven. This was a brilliant idea of Kinross Road Runners to use up leftover t-shirts and medals from their half marathon event back in May, with the entry fee of £8 going to the RSPB at Vane Farm on the shores of the loch. As my in-laws live near Kinross, running here is such a treat because it's a change from the norm (I do get a bit fed up of running the same road in and out of Stow!), a beautiful place, and there's a hot shower and delicious food awaiting me within ten minutes of completion!
I was going steadily until just before the six mile mark when I tripped and fell, landing mostly on my elbow which broke the fall and meant my hand and knee didn't see too much damage. It hurt! I thought I'd dust myself off and keep running, but I couldn't stop the blood from my elbow (despite my best efforts to wipe it on the grass!) and I felt a bit shaken. Ironically my nearest landmark was Vane Farm, so I started walking a mile and a half back to there. I was lucky it happened within such close reach of shelter! I waited for Dave there, who had to have a much quicker dog walk than he'd intended! I was fine of course - but annoyed as I had been feeling good and my legs and head were in the game.
Just a few days later, I decided to head out on an after work half marathon run that was probably the most interesting of this training cycle. It was a route I'd never run before, and it was tough, but I appreciated the variety. I ran to Melrose along the trail paths, through the village then out to Newstead, before continuing to follow the Borders Abbeys Way path towards the Rhymer's Stone, over the old Bogle Burn road to the outskirts of Newtown St Boswells and back again, with a wee extra loop of Gunknowe park at Tweedbank on the way back. I forgot how hilly that Bogle Burn road was! It was really enjoyable, and at a steady pace because of the trail aspect of most of it.
I stopped my watch at 13.2 miles to round up the Loch Leven 5.8.
The following week I completed my virtual Loch Leven half marathon entry, and added two - painful - miles onto the end to make it up to fifteen miles.
The first two weeks of October then saw my longest runs - 18 miles and 20 miles. The eighteen mile run was on the back roads of Stow, made even tougher by a headwind and the fact I didn't feel very enthusiastic about my route. My twenty mile run was out at West Linton, somewhere else I love running for variety and the proximity of my mum and dad's home comforts! It was tough of course, but more enjoyable than the previous week's run.
I felt quite sore after this run but immediately ate salt and vinegar crisps then foam-rolled, and I felt a million times better. I then wasn't sore in the days that followed - magic!
I was glad when the taper finally came around, and enjoyed some shorter faster runs.
Towards the end of the training cycle, I started to read back my journal from Edinburgh Marathon training, and was quite shocked to realise I've lost nearly a stone in weight in the past year! Whilst this wasn't my motivation to start running, I felt (and am feeling) a lot better for it.
I'm really chuffed now to be able to say I ran two marathons in just over five months. I never thought I would be capable of this.
I'm happy to focus now on my parkrun goals, and perhaps introduce a wee bit of mid-week running occasionally should I feel like it - but I'm happy not to feel I have to do that. A break from thinking about marathons and training for a marathon is very welcome indeed - but I'm no longer saying never when it comes to marathon number three. Watch this space!
I've given myself time to recover from that
Last Saturday I reached that first official 'milestone' of 50 parkruns - it felt amazing! I ran with Dave and my cousin Colin, completing his first parkrun. I made some rocky road for the finish which seemed to go down well! It feels like a big achievement and I'm looking forward to being able to order the first of my free milestone t-shirts.
The next milestone is 100 and I'm hoping to achieve that in 2020. It is realistic to manage it next year, however I'd like to focus on getting to my 25th volunteer milestone first. This Saturday will be my 10th volunteer experience, so getting to 25 in 2019 is very achievable. It's nice to give something back to an event that's given me so much!
So although I've 'only' run nine miles since the marathon, I know how important it is to let my body - and my mind - recover from marathon number two. And from the year that has gone by - I had started training this time last year, and was starting to really up my mileage and run three times a week instead of two. Therefore the entire past year has been spent training for a marathon, and I'm ready to rest from that!
After the Edinburgh Marathon I wrote a post about my 30 week training plan, and all the running I had built up over that time to feel marathon ready: http://anxious-ambler.blogspot.com/2018/06/training-for-my-first-marathon.html
You'll be pleased to hear this post won't be as long as that one!
Whilst out in France in April visiting Colin, Emma and new baby Matthew, we discussed the possibility of us coming back out in November around the time of the marathon festival. Colin has been involved in some way for many years - either running the full thing (twice at that point), or one of the relay options. Mum, Andrew and Ross had all been out in different years to run or support the Marathon Des Alpes-Maritime and its various events. Having my new nephew as an added incentive to visit made it even more appealing - so Dave and I started planning for another trip out in November. At this point I hadn't even run Edinburgh, so the full marathon was certainly not something I was considering!
Post-Edinburgh Marathon I did rest, running parkruns only and enjoying a bit of parkrun tourism (I wrote about that here). However I mentally felt that I had a chance at running another marathon this year. I was the fittest I'd ever been in my adult life; running felt more and more comfortable, my parkrun times were getting faster, I'd lost weight, I was eating better and barely touching alcohol. I didn't want to lose the fitness I'd gained, so it felt almost natural to start another training cycle in the summer.
The week beginning the 16th of July gave me sixteen weeks to the Nice Cannes Marathon. Funnily enough I was in Copenhagen at the start of that week, and my schedule got off to a slow start! I didn't actually enter the marathon until the 9th of August, but I'd tentatively started running through the week again.
I was definitely a lot more relaxed on this training cycle. I was coming from a higher base level of fitness, and I had the confidence behind me that I had completed a marathon before, so I was less anxious about doing it again.
It seemed to take me a while to build back up to longer runs though - in fact it took until the 28th of August to get into double digit runs again. I had my first half marathon-distance run planned for the 17th of September, and I'd handily entered a virtual half marathon around Loch Leven. This was a brilliant idea of Kinross Road Runners to use up leftover t-shirts and medals from their half marathon event back in May, with the entry fee of £8 going to the RSPB at Vane Farm on the shores of the loch. As my in-laws live near Kinross, running here is such a treat because it's a change from the norm (I do get a bit fed up of running the same road in and out of Stow!), a beautiful place, and there's a hot shower and delicious food awaiting me within ten minutes of completion!
I was going steadily until just before the six mile mark when I tripped and fell, landing mostly on my elbow which broke the fall and meant my hand and knee didn't see too much damage. It hurt! I thought I'd dust myself off and keep running, but I couldn't stop the blood from my elbow (despite my best efforts to wipe it on the grass!) and I felt a bit shaken. Ironically my nearest landmark was Vane Farm, so I started walking a mile and a half back to there. I was lucky it happened within such close reach of shelter! I waited for Dave there, who had to have a much quicker dog walk than he'd intended! I was fine of course - but annoyed as I had been feeling good and my legs and head were in the game.
The following week I completed my virtual Loch Leven half marathon entry, and added two - painful - miles onto the end to make it up to fifteen miles.
The first two weeks of October then saw my longest runs - 18 miles and 20 miles. The eighteen mile run was on the back roads of Stow, made even tougher by a headwind and the fact I didn't feel very enthusiastic about my route. My twenty mile run was out at West Linton, somewhere else I love running for variety and the proximity of my mum and dad's home comforts! It was tough of course, but more enjoyable than the previous week's run.
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| A low sky day! |
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| The dogs helping me foam roll! |
Towards the end of the training cycle, I started to read back my journal from Edinburgh Marathon training, and was quite shocked to realise I've lost nearly a stone in weight in the past year! Whilst this wasn't my motivation to start running, I felt (and am feeling) a lot better for it.
I'm really chuffed now to be able to say I ran two marathons in just over five months. I never thought I would be capable of this.
I'm happy to focus now on my parkrun goals, and perhaps introduce a wee bit of mid-week running occasionally should I feel like it - but I'm happy not to feel I have to do that. A break from thinking about marathons and training for a marathon is very welcome indeed - but I'm no longer saying never when it comes to marathon number three. Watch this space!
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